U5 
 
 Prmu Cibrarp, 
 
 Urtbur R. Cratborne. 
 
TEXAR'S REVENGE' 
 
 
 NORTH AGAINST SOUTH 
 
 BY JULES VERNE. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 HURST & COMPAiSTY, Publishers 
 
 134-136 ORAî^P ^TREE-y 
 
 OB, 
 
THE A^GY.E PRESSj 
 PRINTING AND BOOK-B,NO.„G, ^63-267 ChERRy 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 On Board thb "Shannon" 5 
 
 CHAPTER TT 
 
 Camdless Hay.. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The War of Secession. 23 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Burbank Family • 30 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Black (JrejsJ£, 38 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Jacksonville.. 46 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Before the Court 55 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 The Last Slays 67 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Waiting 79 
 
CONTENTS. 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Morning of the 2nd of March 86 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 The Evening of the 2nd of March 94 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 The Six Days that Followed 103 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 A Few Hours lU 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 On the St. John's 124 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Sentence.... , 135 
 
 PAR T II. 
 
 ' CHAPTER I. 
 After the Capture 141 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A Strange Operation 149 
 
 i 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Day Before , 159 
 
 CPIAPTER IV. 
 
 A Gale from the North-east 168 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 A Prisoner I77 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 St. Augustine 188 
 
PAQS 
 
 199 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 iiAST Words and a Last Sigh. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 From Camdlbss Bay to Lake Washington.... 208 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The Great Cypress Forest ' 317 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 A Meeting • 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 The Everglades • 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 What Zermah OvBRHBArtD , ... 239 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 A Double Life. ^^'^ 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Zermah at Work 252 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 '^fHE Two Brothers 258 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Conclusion 265 
 
r 
 
\ 
 
 TEXAR'S REVENGE 
 
 PART I. 
 
 BURBANK THE NORTHERNER, 
 
 CHAPTER 1. 
 
 OÎT BOAED THE SHAÎ^-^OIT. " 
 
 iqF^^?^^^^ annexed to the American federation in 
 1H19; It was organized into a state a few years afterwards. 
 ±Jy the annexation the area of the republic was increased 
 by some 67,000 square miles. But the star of Florida 
 shmes with second-rate brilliancy in that constellation of 
 thirty-eight which spangle the banner of the United States 
 01 America. 
 
 Florida, throughout, is a low, narrow tongue of land 
 and its rivers, with one exception— the St. John Wowing 
 to the narrt)wness of the country, are of no importance! 
 i^rom such a slight rise, there is not sufficient fall for the 
 watercourses to be of any rapidity; there are no moun- 
 tains, only a few hues of -bluffs^' or low hills such as are 
 numerous m the central and southern regions of the 
 Union. In form the peninsula is not unlike the tail of a 
 beaver dipping into the ocean between the Atlantic on the 
 east and the Gulf of Mexico on the west. 
 
 Florida's nearest neighbour to the north is Georgia, the 
 frontier running a little above the isthmus which ioins the 
 peninsula to the continent. ^ 
 
 h J^^'if^ '^q^'^l }^ ^ country apart, with its people 
 hali Spaniards half Americans, and the Seminole Indians 
 so dilierent to their congeners in the west. In the south 
 It IS and, sandy, almost entirely bordered by sand-hills 
 
ÏEXAR'S REVkNGK 
 
 formed by successive irrnptioi^s of the Af c; but in th^ 
 north its plains are of marvellous fertihty. its name is 
 hSified to the letter. The flora is superb, vigorous, and 
 S exutoan variety, more especially in that portion wa- 
 tered bv the St. John's. This river is a broad stream flow- 
 W from south to north, over a course of some two hun- 
 dred aTd fifty miles, of which one hundred ^-^^^Jf^^^^ 
 up to Lake George, are navigable TI^^b fivers flow^n 
 east and west have no room for length ; ^^f^ 
 from its central course to the north, suffers from nojuch 
 hindrance, andnumerousbranchesrunmtoi^^^^^^^^ 
 the multitudinous creeks along its banks, ihe bt. J onn s 
 fin Set the chief artery of the country, jhich receives 
 its Ufe from its waters, for water is the blood of the earth. 
 
 It was tTe 7th of February, 1862 ,^1^^/^^ ^^^lo^W 
 non was running down the St. John's. At four o clock m 
 The afternoon she was due at Picolata after calling at the 
 p^ers higher up the river, and the forts m St. John s and 
 Putnam counties. A few miles beyond she would enter 
 Duval county, which is bordered by Nassau county and cut 
 off from it by the river bearing that name. 
 
 Picolata itself is not of much importance, but its neigh- 
 bourhood is rich in indigo plantations, sugar plantations, 
 rice fields, cotton fields, and vast cypress groves, .bor 
 some distance round the population is numerous, and it s 
 an important centre for trade and tfj^^ll^^^/ , ^^^^^^ 
 landinl-place for St. Augustine, one of the chief towns of 
 eastern Florida, situated some dozen miles away on that 
 part of the sea-coast sheltered by the long island of Anao- 
 tasia. An almost straight road leads from the river poit 
 
 On^thTpier at Picolata there are to-day many more trav- 
 ellers than usual. Some speedy vehicles known as stages, 
 each seating eight persons, drawn by four or six mules 
 galloping like mad along the road across the marsh, had 
 brought them from St. Augustine. It was i^^portant for 
 them not to miss the steamboat; to do so would be to risk 
 a delay of at least forty-eight hours in getting back to the 
 towns and villages down the river. For the Shannon made 
 only one passage up or down each day, and she was tne 
 only means of transport. It was therefore ^^^^^y 
 at Picolata when she called; and the vehicles had unloaded 
 their passengers an hour before she was due. 
 
ÔîT BOARD THE " SHANNON." 
 
 7 
 
 There were about fifty men on the gangway at Picolata. 
 While they waited they were talking excitedly. They had 
 divided into two groups not at all anxious to mix with each 
 other. What had b--'ight them from St. Augustine? 
 Was it some serious matte- some political contest? It 
 vv^as obvious that there was nv. jhance of their agreeing. 
 Enemies they had come and enemies they would return. 
 That could be seen clearly enough from the angry looks 
 they exchanged, from the marked division between the 
 gi-oups, from several ill-sounding words whose defiant 
 meaning no one could mistake. 
 
 A prolonged whistling began to be heard above stream. 
 
 The Shannon soon appeared at the bend of the right 
 bank half a mile above Picolata. Thick clouds of smoke 
 escaioed from her two funnels, and crowned the large trees 
 which the sea breeze was shaking on the opposite bank. 
 The moving mass grew larger rapidly. The tide had just 
 turned; and the current, which for three or four hours 
 had been against her, was now in her favor and taking tho 
 w;iters of the St. John's towards the sea. 
 
 At length the bell was heard. The wheels going astern 
 stopped the Shannon, and her hawsers brought her along- 
 side, the pier. 
 
 The passengers went on board somewhat hastily. One 
 of the groups went first; the other did not move. It 
 looked as though they were waiting for one or several trav- 
 ellers who ran a chance of being late. Two or three men 
 went up the pier to the place where the road from St. Au- 
 gustine came in; and then they looked towards the east, 
 evidently with impatience. 
 
 And not without reason ; for the captain of the Shannon, 
 who v/as on the bridge, shouted to them,— 
 
 " Now then ! come on 
 
 " In a minute or two,'' answered one of the men in the 
 group that remained on the gangway. 
 •^'I can't wait, gentlemen." 
 A few minutes !" 
 No ! not one !" 
 Only a moment !" 
 'impossible! The tide is running out, and I may 
 have no water over the bar at Jacksonville." 
 
 "And besides," said one of those on board, "there is 
 no reason why we should put up with their fancies." 
 
Ô TEXAR^S EEVJJNGË. 
 
 "That is what I think, Mr. Burbank," said the cap- 
 tain. Duty first. Now then, gentlemen, come on board; 
 
 ^ ^And the sailors began to pnsh away the steamboat from 
 the pier, while sonorous jets escaped from the steam- 
 whistle, A shout stopped the manœuvre. 
 
 " There is Texar ! There is Texar !" -, ^ . -, 
 
 A carriage came rattling along at full speed and dashed 
 ioun4 the turning up to the pier. The four mules, which 
 formed the team, stopped at the gate. A man 'got down. 
 Those of his companions who had gone up the road re- 
 joined him at a run. Then all of them went aboard the 
 
 " A moment more, Texar, and you could not have gone. 
 That would have been awkward for you," said one of the 
 
 group. -, , » x 
 
 "Yes ! it would have been two days before you got 
 back to— where?— We shall know when you choose to tell 
 us !" added another. 
 
 "And if the captain had listened to that rascal Bur- 
 bank," said a third, ''t\iQ Shannon would have been a 
 quarter of a mile down stream by now." 
 
 Texar had just stepped onto the fore deck-house, accom- 
 panied by his friends. He contented himself with a look 
 at James Burbank from where he was only separated from 
 him by the bridge. Although he said not a word, the 
 look he gave was sufficient to show the implacable hatred 
 that existed between the two men. Burbank looked 
 Texar straight in the face, turned his back on him, and 
 went to sit on the after deck-house, where his friends had 
 already seated themselves. 
 
 " Burbank is not happy !" paid one of Texar's compan- 
 ions. " And no wonder ! He lost by his lies, and the re- 
 corder did justice to his false witness — " 
 
 "But not to himself," interrupted Texar, "and that 
 justice I will undertake." 
 
 The Shannon had slacked off the hawsers. Her bow, 
 pushed off by the long poles, took the line of the current, 
 and driven by her powerful wheels, helped by the ebbing 
 tide, she glided rapidly between the banks of the St. 
 John's. 
 
 American river steamboats are well known. They are 
 ■ many-storied houses crowned with wide terraces, and 
 
ON BOARD THE "SHANNON." S) 
 
 dominated by the two funnels and the flagstaffs 'which 
 support the ironwork of the awnings. On the Hudson as 
 on the Mississippi, these steamboats are floating palaces, 
 and can hold the population of a small town. But there 
 was no need for such grandeur on the St. John^s. The 
 Shannon was only a floating hotel, although in its interior 
 and exterior arrangements it was similar to the Kentucky 
 and the Dean Richmond. 
 
 The weather was magnificent. The very blue sky was 
 spotted with light freckles of vapor that thinned off to- 
 wards the horizon. In the thirtieth parallel of latitude 
 the month of February is almost as warm in the New 
 World as it is in the old on the confines of the Sahara; 
 but a gentle breeze blown in from the sea tempers its ex- 
 cess. 
 
 Most of the passengers on the Shannon stopped on the 
 deck-house to breathe the fresh air that the wind brought 
 them from riverside forests. The slanting rays of the sun 
 could not reach them beneath the awnings which were 
 shaken like punkahs by the speed of the steamboat. 
 
 Texar and the five oi^ six companions who had embarked 
 with him, had thought well to go below to one of the 
 boxes in the dining-room. There, with throats seasoned 
 to the strongest drinks of American bars, they tossed off 
 whole glasses of gin and Bourbon whiskey. They were 
 indeed a rough lot, rude in habit and speech, wearing 
 more leather than cloth, and more accustomed to-'live in 
 the woods than in cities. Texar appeared to have some 
 right of superiority over them, due, doubtless, to the en- 
 ergy of his character as well as to his position and means. 
 When Texar did not talk, his comrades remained silent 
 and spent the time in drinking. 
 
 Texar, after carelessly running his eye over one of the 
 newspapers which littered the dining-room tables, had just 
 thrown it aside, saying, — 
 
 "That is all old news.^' 
 
 " I believe you/^ said one of his companions, " the paper 
 is three days old.^^ 
 
 " And a good many things happen in three days," added 
 another. 
 
 " What is the latest' about the war T asked Texar. 
 As far as we are concerned, the latest is that the 
 
10 
 
 TEX Ait's REVENGE. 
 
 Federals are preparing an expedition against Florida, and 
 that means we may expect an invasion of northerners !" 
 'as that true 
 
 I don't kndw, but I heard of it at Savannah, and I 
 heard of it again at St. Augustine.'' 
 
 " Well, let these Federals come !" exclaimed Texar, 
 striking his fist on the table so as to make the glasses and 
 bottles shake. Yes, let them come ! and we shall see if 
 the Florida slave-owners will allow themselves to be robbed 
 by the' abolitionist thieves." 
 
 Texar's reply will have told two things to those readers 
 who are unacquainted with what was then happening in 
 America. First, that the war of Secession, declared really 
 by the gun fired on Fort Sumter on the 11th of April, 1861, 
 was then in its most critical phase, for it had extended 
 almost to the farthest limits of the Southern States; and 
 secondly, that Texar, a supporter of slavery, made com- 
 mon cause with the immense majority of the people in the 
 slave states. On board the Sliannon were representatives 
 of both parties. One — ^to use the different appellations 
 bestowed on them during the long struggle — consisting of 
 northerners, anti-slavery men, abolitionists or federals; the 
 other of southerners, slavery men, secessionists or confed- 
 erates. 
 
 An hour afterwards Texar and his comrades, having 
 had quite enough to drink, appeared on the upper deck of 
 the Shannon. She had already passed Trent Creek and 
 Six Mile Creek on the right bank, Trent Creek coming 
 in from a vast cypress grove. Six Mile Creek bringing its 
 waters down from the Twelve Mile Marsh, of which the 
 name tells the extent. The steamboat's course lay between 
 borders of magnificent trees, tulip-trees, magnolias, pines, 
 cypresses, yuccas, and many others, whose trunks were 
 hidden by the wild undergrowth of azaleas and serpenta- 
 rias. Occasionally, at the mouths of the creeks leading up 
 to the marshy plains of St. J ohn and Duval counties, a 
 strong odor of musk impregnated the atmosphere, coming 
 not from the shrubs, whose emanations are so penetrating 
 in this climate, but from the alligators hurrying under 
 the bushes at the noisy passage of the Shamion, Then 
 there were birds of all sorts, woodpeckers, herons, jaca- 
 mars, bitterns, white-headed pigeons, mocking-birds, and 
 a hundred others differing in form and plumage, whij© the 
 
ON BOARD THE SHANKON." 
 
 11 
 
 cat-bird reproduced all the sounds of the forest with his 
 ventriloquial voice. 
 
 As Texar mounted the last of the steps on to the upper 
 deck, a woman met him on her way down to the interior 
 of the saloon. When she found herself face to face with 
 him, she stepped back. She was a half-breed in the 
 service of the Burbank family; her first movement had 
 been one of unconquerable repulsion at finding herself 
 suddenly face to face with the declared enemy of her 
 master. 
 
 Texar gave her an evil look as she stepped back, and 
 then shrugging his shoulders, he joined his companions. 
 
 " Yes, it is Zermah,'' he said, ^' one of the slaves of 
 Mr. James Burbank, who says he does not approve of 
 slavery." 
 
 Zermah madfe no reply. When the way to the saloon 
 was clear, she went down it without turning to take any 
 notice of the observation. 
 
 Texar strolled toward the bow of the steamboat; there, 
 after lighting a cigar, he apparently dismissed from his 
 notice the friends who had followed him, and began to 
 watch with some attention the left bank of the St. John^s 
 along the border of Putnam county. 
 
 Meanwhile, on the after-deck of the Shannon, the con- 
 versation had run on the war. When Zermah went, Bur- 
 bank had remained with two of his friends, who had ac- 
 companied him to St. Augustine. One was his brother- 
 in-law, Edward Carrol, the other was Mr. Walter Stannard, 
 a Floridan, living at Jacksonville. They were talking 
 with considerable animation of the sanguinary strife of 
 which the issue was a question of life or death to the 
 United States. But, as we shall see, BurbanFs opinion of 
 the issue dilfered considerably from Texar^s. 
 
 ^'^ I am anxious," said he, ''to get back to Camdless 
 Bay. We have been two days away. Perhaps some news 
 of the war has arrived. Perhaps Dupont and Sherman 
 are now masters of Port Royal and the islands of South 
 Carolina." 
 
 ''Anyhow, it will not be long before they are," said 
 Carrol, "and I shall be much astonished if President 
 Lincoln does not carry the war into Florida." 
 
 "And it will not be before it is time !" said Burbank. 
 is quite time that the will of the "CmoDi should 
 
12 TEXAE s EEVEKGE. 
 
 imposed on these southerners of Georgia and Florida, who 
 fancy they are too far off to be reached ! See to what a 
 degree of insolence vagabonds like Texar are led ! He f eels 
 that he is supported by the slaveholders, and excites them 
 against us northerners, whose position, which gets more 
 and more difficult every day, lays us open to the back- 
 wash of the war/' / t+ 
 
 You are right, James," said Edward Carrol. it is 
 6f consequence that Florida should return as soon as pos- 
 sible to the authority of the Washington Government, it 
 the Federal army does not come quickly we shall have to 
 abandon our plantations/' -n i. i co^/i 
 
 ^at may be only a question of days, Burbank, said 
 Stannard. "When I left Jacksonville the day before 
 yesterday, people were getting uneasy at the news ot 
 Commodore Dupont's supposed plans for opening up the 
 St. John's, and that would give a pretext for threatening 
 those who do not think with the slave-owners, i am 
 afraid that a rising would turn out the authorities ot the 
 town in favor of fellows of the worst description 
 
 " I should not be surprised if it did," said Burbank. 
 "We shall have a bad time of it till the Federal army 
 comes; but it cannot be helped." ^ 
 
 " What can we do?" asked Walter Stannard. Sup- 
 posing there exist at Jacksonville and other places a few 
 brave colonists who think as we do on this slave question; 
 they are not strong enough to withstand the Secessionists. 
 We can only reckon for safety on the arrival of the 
 erals, and wish that wheu intervention is decided on it 
 will take place without delay." . - a ti ^t^o..v 
 
 Yes. Would they were here," exclaimed Burbank, 
 " to deliver us from these blackguards!" 
 
 And we shall soon see that these Northerners, who, on 
 account of family or other interests, were obliged to live 
 amid a slave-holding population and conform to the 
 usages of the country, were fully justified in their fears 
 and the language they held concerning them. 
 
 The news dîscussed by Burbank and -his friends was 
 true The Federal Government was preparing an ex- 
 pedition for the subjugation of Florida; not so much, 
 however, for the military occupation of the State as tûe 
 closing of the outlets against the blockade-runners, who 
 took away local productions and brought m arms ana 
 
ON BOARD THE SHANNON." 
 
 13 
 
 munitions of war. It was in consequence of this block- 
 ade that the Shannon no longer plied up the southern 
 coast of Georgia, which was then in the power of the 
 Northern generals. For prudential reasons she stopped 
 a little beyond the mouth of the St. John's, towards the 
 north of Amelia Island, at the port of Fernandina, the 
 terminus of the Cedar Keys railway, which crosses the 
 Florida peninsula obliquely to the Gulf of Mexico. Higher 
 than Amelia' Island and the river St. Mary the Shannon 
 would have risked capture from the Federal cruisers 
 which were constantly on the coast. 
 
 It follows that the passengers were chiefly Floridans, 
 whose business did not require their crossing the frontier. 
 All of them wore dwellers in the towns or villages on the 
 St. John's and its affluents, and for the most part lived 
 at St. Augustine or Jacksonville. At the different places 
 they landed, and embarked either by the gangways from 
 the wharves, or by piers built out in the English fashion. 
 
 One of the passengers intended, however, to quit the 
 steamer in mid-stream. His plan was to leave her at a 
 part of the river where there was no wharf or pier, nor 
 village, nor isolated house, nor even a hunting or fishing 
 hut in sight. 
 
 The passenger was Texar. 
 
 About six o'clock the Shannon gave three sharp screams 
 from her steam whistle. Her wheels were almost imme- 
 diately stopped, and she began to drift along with the 
 stream, which hereabouts runs slowly. She was then off 
 the entiance to Blapk Creek. 
 
 This creek is a deep gash in the left bank, into which 
 flows a small river of the same name, which runs by the 
 foot of Fort Heilman, almost on the boundary between 
 Putnam and Duval counties. Its nai^row opening is en- 
 tirely hidden beneath an arch of boughs and foliage mat- 
 ted together, as close as the woof of some close tissue. 
 This gloomy lagoon was almost unknown to the people of 
 the country. No one knew that Texar had there his 
 dwelling. The opening of the creek seemed in no way to 
 break into the line of bank, and as night was falling 
 rapidly, it would require a very skilful boatman to take a 
 boat into such a place. 
 
 At the first whistle of the Shannon, a shout had come 
 in answer — three times. A light burning among the 
 
14 ïexar's revenge. 
 
 trees on the bank was put in motion, showing that a 
 canoe was coming out to meet the steamer. 
 
 It was only a skiff— a little bark boat, driven by one 
 paddle. Soon the skiff was half a cable-length from the 
 Shan7ion, 
 
 Texar stepped up to the front of the fore-deck and 
 making a speaking-trumpet with his hands, shouted, — 
 ^^AhoyP 
 
 Ahoy!" came back in answer. 
 " Is that you, Squambo?" 
 Yes, master!" 
 Come alongside." 
 The skiff came alongside. By the light of the lantern 
 attached to its bow, the man could be seen who was pad- 
 dling it. He was an Indian, black-headed, naked to the 
 waist, and sturdily built, to judge from the torso revealed 
 in the fitful light. 
 
 Texar returned towards his companions and. shook 
 hands with them, bidding them a significant au revoir. 
 Then giving a threatening look towards Mr. Burbank, he 
 descended the ladder from the sponson, and stepped into 
 the skiff. In a few turns of the paddle-wheels the steamer 
 was out of sight, and no one on board could suspect that 
 the little craft was about to vanish under the dark thick- 
 ets on the bank. 
 
 ''One scoundrel the less on board," said Carrol, with- 
 out caring if he were heard by Texar's companions. 
 
 " Yes," said James Burbank, and at the same time, 
 a dangerous scoundrel. I have no doubt of it myself, 
 although he has always been able to escape conviction." 
 
 ''Anyway," said Stannard, "if a crime is committed , 
 to-night in the neighbourhood of Jacksonville, they can- 
 not accuse him, for he has left the ShannoJi" 
 
 "I don't know that," said Burbank, " if they told me 
 he had been stealing or assassinating this very moment 
 fifty miles off in the north of Florida, I shouhl not be 
 surprised. And if he managed to prove that he was not 
 the author of the crime, I should not be surprised after 
 what has happened. But it is not worth while to worry 
 ourselves about such a man. You are going back to 
 Jacksonville, Stannard?" 
 "To-night." 
 
 " Is your daughter expecting you?" 
 
ON" BOARD THE "SHANNON." 
 
 15 
 
 . '*Yes, I am going to meet her." 
 
 "I understand," said Burbank; ''and when are you 
 coming to Oamdless Bay?" 
 
 *' In a day or so." 
 
 " Then come as soon as you can, my dear feHow. We 
 are on the eve of very important events, and matters will 
 get worse as the Federal troops come nearer. And I fancy 
 your daughter Alice and you would be in greater safety 
 at Castle House than in the town, where the Southerners 
 are capable of any excess." 
 
 ''Am I not a Southerner, Burbank?" 
 
 "Certainly, but you think and act as if vou belonged 
 to the North." 
 
 An hour afterwards the Shannon, carried along by the 
 ebb which became stronger and sti'onger, passed the little 
 village of Mandarin, placed on its green hill. Then five 
 or six miles farther she stopped on the right bank of th^ 
 river. A quay had been built there for ships to load and 
 discharge at. A little above was an elegant pier, with 
 a light wooden bridge suspended from two chains. This 
 was the landing-place for Camdless Bay. 
 
 At the end of the pier were two blacks with lanterns, 
 for the night was now very dark. 
 
 Burbank took leave of Stannard, and followed by 
 Edward Carrol stepped off on to the pier. 
 
 Behind him went the half-breed Zermah, who answered 
 from a distance to a child's voice. 
 
 " I am here, Dy! I am here!" 
 
 "And father?" 
 
 " Father is here too!" 
 
 The lights receded, and the Shannon continued her 
 voyage, crossing obliquely to the left bank. 
 
 Three miles beyond Camdless Bay, on the other side of 
 the river, she stopped at the pier of Jacksonville to put 
 ashore most of her passengers. 
 
 There Walter Stannard went o3 with three or four of 
 the men whom Texar had left an hour and a half before. 
 Only half a dozen passengers were left on board, some for 
 Pablo, a little town near the lighthouse at the mouth of 
 the St. John's, others for Talbot Island, off the coast at 
 the opening of the channels of the same name, and others 
 for the ]iort of Fernandina. 
 
 The Shannon continued to beat the waters of the river. 
 
16 
 
 ^•exar's revenge. 
 
 and cleared the bar without accident. An hour afterwards 
 she disappeared at the turn of Trout Creek, where the St. 
 John's mingles its already rough waters with the waves of 
 the ocean. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 GAMDLESS BAT. 
 
 Camdless Bay was the name of the plantation that 
 belonged to James Burbank. There he lived, with his 
 family. The name of Camdless comes from one of the 
 creeks of the St. John's, which runs in a little above Jack- 
 sonville, and on the opposite side of the river. Communi- 
 cation with the city was thus easy. A good boat, a north 
 or south wind, and the ebb for going and the flood for 
 returning, and in an hour the three miles could be sailed 
 between Camdless Bay and the chief towii^ of Duval 
 county. 
 
 Burbank owned one of the finest properties in the 
 country. He was rich himself, and his family was rich, and 
 in addition to the Florida estate he held important landed 
 property in the state of New Jersey, which adjoins the 
 state of New York. , 
 
 The site on the right bank of the St. John's had been very 
 happily chosen for the foundation of a wealthy establish- 
 ment. To its natural conveniences man had little to add. 
 The land itself was adapted for all the requirements of ex- 
 tensive works, and the plantation of Camdless Bay, man- 
 aged by an intelligent man, active and in the prime of life, 
 well helped by his staff, and with no want of capital, was 
 in a most flourishing state. 
 
 The plantation was twelve miles round, and had an area 
 of four thousand acres. There were larger plantations in 
 the Southern States, but there were none better managed. 
 Dwelling-house, outbuildings, stables, cattle-sheds, huts 
 for the slaves, farm-buildings, stores for the products of the 
 soil, yards for handling them, workshops and mills, rail- 
 ways converging to the landing-place and carriage roads, — 
 everything was marvellously arranged from a practical 
 
CÀMDLÈSS BAY. 
 
 1^ 
 
 point of viëw; that it was a Northerner who had con- 
 ceived, organized, and executed these works could be seen 
 at the first ghince. It was^ only plantations of the first 
 class in Virginia or the Carolinas that could rival Camdlo5S 
 Bay. Besides, the ground consisted of " high hummocks," 
 adapted for the culture of cereals, *'low hummocks," 
 specially fitted for coffee-shrubs and cocoa-trees, and 
 marshes, or salt savannahs, where rice and sugar-cane 
 fields could flourish. 
 
 It is well known that the cotton of Georgia and Florida 
 is the most appreciated in the different markets of Europe 
 and America,' owing to the length and quality of its fibres, 
 and the cotton-fields, with their plants in long, regularly - 
 spaced lines, their leaves of tender green and their yellow 
 flowers, were among the chief sources of revenue. At 
 harvest- time these fields, for an acre or an acre and a half, 
 would be covered with huts in which lived the slaves, 
 women and children, whose duty it was to collect the 
 capsules and take out the tufts — a very delicate operation, 
 for the fibres must not be disturbed. The cotton, dried in 
 the sun, was cleaned in a mill by means of toothed wheels 
 and rollers, squeezed in a hydraulic press, done up in bales, 
 hooped with iron, and so packed for exportation; and 
 sailing-ships or steamers could load alongside the wharf at 
 Camdless Bay. 
 
 James Burbank also devoted much attention to large 
 fields of coffee-shrubs and sugar-canes. Here were plan- 
 tations of from a thousand to twelve hundred trees, from 
 fifteen to twenty feet high, resembling Spanish jasmine 
 in their flowers, and with fruits as big as a cherry con- 
 taining the two grains, which it was only necessary to 
 extract and dry. There were large fields, we might say 
 marshes, bristling with thousands of those long reeds, nine 
 to eighteen feet high, with their crests shaking like the 
 plumes of a troop of cavalry on the march. This crop, 
 which was the subject of special care at Camdless Bay, 
 yielded the sugar in the form of a liquor, which the refinery 
 transformed into refined sugar, and then, as derived prod- 
 ucts, the syrups used m the manufacture of tafia and rum, 
 and cane wine, a mixture of saccharine liquor with pine- 
 apple and orange juice. Although the crop was less im- 
 portant than that fjom the cotton, the cultivation was. 
 there a very profitable one. A few enclosures of cocoa- 
 
18 TSXâr's feEVlSMGE. 
 
 trees, fields of maize, yams, potatoes, tobacco, and two Ot 
 thi-ee hundred aci-es under rice, brought in a large amount 
 ot* additional profit. 
 
 But James Burbank had another enterprise on hand 
 which produced at least equal profit to that of the cotton 
 industry. This was the clearing of the forest which covered, 
 much of the estate. To say nothing of the products 
 of the cinnamons, pears, oranges, citrons, olives, figs, 
 ma,ngoes, and bread-fruits, or of all the fruit trees of 
 Europe acclimatized so splendidly in Florida, the forests 
 were regularly and constantly thinned. And great was 
 the value of the logwoods, gazumas or Mexican eln:is, now 
 used for so many purposes, baobabs, coral woods, with 
 twigs and flowers as red as blood, buckeyes, a kind of 
 yellow- flowered chestnut, black walnuts, oaks, southern 
 pines, which yield such admirable specimens for the car- 
 penter and shipwright, pachiriers whose seeds the sun at 
 noon explodes like so many petards, parasol pines, tulip- 
 trees, firs, cedars, and above all cypresses, the most widely 
 extended tree in the peninsula, with its forests from sixty 
 to a hundred miles in length. Jaines Burbank had erected 
 several sawmills in different parts of the plantation. Dams 
 had been placed in several of the tributaries of the St. 
 John's, and the peaceful streams broken into falls, which 
 gave the mechanical power required to produce the beams, 
 joists and planks of which the ships each year took entire 
 cargoes. 
 
 There was, besides, a considerable stretch of prairie, on 
 which flourished the horses, mules, and cattle in numbers 
 enough to supply every agricultural want. 
 
 There are birds of all species in the woods or on the 
 fields or plains of every part of Florida, and it can be 
 imagined how they swarmed at Oamdless Bay. Above 
 the trees soared the white-headed eagles with great spread 
 of wing, whose shrill call resembles the fanfare of a cracked 
 trumpet, vultures of extraordinary ferocity, giant bitterns, 
 with a pointed beak like a bayonet. On the banks of the 
 river among the reeds and beneath the interlacement of 
 gigantic bamboos were flamingoes, pink or scarlet, white 
 ibises looking as if tliey had been stolen from some 
 Egyptian monolith, pelicans of colossal stature, myriads 
 of terns, sea-swallows of all kinds, crab- catchers with tuft 
 and green pelisse, purple-plumaged curlews, with browu 
 
CAMDLÈSS BAt. 
 
 down spotted with white, jacamars, kingfishers with golden 
 reflections, a whole world of divers, waterhens, widgeons of 
 the whistling species, quails, plovers, to say nothing of the 
 petrels, puflBns, scissorbeaks, seacrows, gulls, and tropic- 
 birds which the wind would bring into the St. John's, and 
 occasionally even flying-fish, beloved of epicures. On the 
 prairies swarmed snipe, woodcock, curlews, marbled god- 
 wits, sultan-fowls with plumage of red, blue, green, yellow, 
 and white, like a flying palette, partridges, and white- 
 headed, red-winged pigeons; among the eatable quadru- 
 T)eds, grey squirrels, long-tailed rabbits, half-way between 
 the hare and rabbit of Europe, and herds of deer, and 
 besides these, raccoons, turtle, ichneumons, and unfortu- 
 nately a good many serpents of venomous species. Such was 
 the representation of the animal kingdom at Camdlesg 
 Bay, without reckoning the negroes, male and female, 
 employed on the plantation. And if these were human 
 beings, what excuse was there for the monstrous custom 
 of slavery, by which they were bought and sold like 
 
 cattle ? . J. 1 i.. 
 
 How was it that James Burbank, a partisan of the anti- 
 slavery cause, a Northerner, hoping for the triumph of 
 the North, had not been able to free the slaves on his 
 plantation ? Would he hesitate to do it when circum- 
 stances became favourable ? Certainly not ! And it was 
 now only a question of weeks, of days perhaps, before the 
 Federal army, which already occupied the outposts, 
 would advance into Florida. 
 
 Already Burbank had done all he could to improve the 
 lot of his slaves, There were about seven hundred blacks, 
 of both sexes, properly lodged in the large barracoons, well 
 looked after and kindly treated, and worked well within 
 their powers. The overseer had orders to treat them all 
 with justice and consideration; and the duties were done 
 none the worse for corporal punishment having for some 
 time been abandoned at Camdless Bay. This was a strik- 
 ing contrast with the custom of the generality of Floridan 
 plantations, and the system was not looked on with favour 
 by James Burbank's neighbours. And, as may be imag- 
 ined, this- made matters somewhat embarrassing, particu- 
 larly now the fortune of arms had come to the solution of 
 the- slavery question. 
 
 The slaves dwelt in healthy, comfortable huts. Grouped 
 
20 TEXAE*S REVENGE. 
 
 in fifties, these huts formed a dozen villages, otherwise 
 called barracoons, by the side of a running stream. There 
 the blacks lived with their wives and children. Each 
 family was as much as possible employed in the same 
 work in the fields, the forests, or the workshops, so that 
 its members were not scattered during working hours. 
 At the head of these villages was a sub-overseer, acting as 
 mayor practically, with his head-qUarters in the private 
 
 f rounds of Camdless Bay. These grounds were enclosed 
 y a high palisade, of which the pointed stakes rose verti- 
 cally, half -hidden beneath the verdure of the exuberant 
 vegetation. Inside the palisade rose the private house of 
 the Burbank family. Half house and half castle, it had 
 appropriately been called Oastle House. 
 
 For many years Camdless Bay had belonged to the 
 ancestors of James Burbank. When there was a fear of 
 Indian depredations, the owners had fortified the princi- 
 pftl house. The time was not very distant when General 
 Jessup defended Florida ^gainst the Seminoles. The 
 colonists had suffered much from these nomads. Not 
 only did the Indians rob them, but they added murder to 
 the burning of their homes. Even the towns were threat- 
 ened with invasion and pillage. In many a spot rose the 
 ruins that the bloodthirsty Indians left smoking behind 
 them. Less than fifty miles from Camdless Bay there 
 was still to be seen ''the house of blood ''in which Mr. 
 . Motte and his wife and three daughters had been scalped 
 and massacred by the Seminoles. But the war of exter- 
 mination between the white man and the red man is prac- 
 'tically over; the Seminoles were conquered, and sought 
 refuge to the west of the Mississippi. People spoke of 
 them no more, though a few bands still roamed among 
 the marshes of southern Florida. 
 
 It will therefore be understood that the houses of the 
 colonists were built so as to defy a sudden attack of the 
 Indians, and hold out until the arrival of battalions of 
 volunteers, enrolled in the towns or neighbouring villages. 
 And on this plan Castle House had been designed. 
 
 It stood on a slight rise of the ground, in the centre of 
 a small park of about three acres, situated a few hundred 
 yards from the St. John's. A rather deep watercourse 
 ran round the park, and the palisading on its inner bank 
 completed the defence. The only entrance was by a little 
 
21 
 
 bridge thrown across the circular moat. Behind the rise, 
 a mass of beautiful trees covered the slopes of the park. 
 An avenue of young bamboos, with the stems crossing in 
 pointed arches, formed a long nave, leading from the lawn 
 to the landing-place. Beyond, among the trees, were 
 green lawns and wide paths with white borders, ending 
 in a • sandy terrace along the principal front of Castle 
 House. 
 
 The castle was irregularly built, and offered much of 
 the unexpected in its grouping and of the capricious in 
 its details. But should its assailants ever break through 
 ■ the park palisades, it would remain defensible, and could 
 maintain a siege of some hours. Its windows on the 
 ground-floor were protected by iron bars. The main door 
 in the front face was as strong as a portcullis. At certain 
 points along the walls, which were built of a sort of mar- 
 ble, were a few turrets, which rendered the defence easier, 
 as they allowed of the aggressors being taken in flank. In 
 short, with its openings reduced to such only as were 
 strictly necessary, the central tower, on which flew the 
 standard "of the United States, its lines of battlements 
 along some of the ridges, the slope of its wall at the foot, 
 its high roof, many pinnacles, the thickness of its inner 
 walls, which here and there were loopholed, the place re- 
 sembled a fortress much more than a dwelling house. 
 
 As we have said, it had been necessary to build it so for 
 the security of its inhabitants at the time of the Indian 
 troubles in Florida. There was even in existence a sort 
 of subterranean tunnel which, after passing under the 
 palisade and circular moat, put Castle House in communi- 
 cation with a little creek of the St. John^s called Marine 
 Creek. This tunnel could serve as a means of secret 
 escape in case of extreme danger. 
 
 At the time in question, the Seminoles, having been 
 driven out of the peninsula twenty years before, were no 
 longer to be feared. But who could say what was re- 
 served for the future ? and might not the danger James 
 Burbank had no reason to fear from the Indians, come 
 from his compatriots ? Was he not an isolated North- 
 erner at the end of the Southern States, exposed to all the 
 changes of a civil war, which had been hitherto most 
 sanguinary and fertile in reprisals ? 
 
 But the necessity of providing for the safety of Castle 
 
Il 
 
 22 I^ëxar's kïîVeîïgîj. 
 
 House had in no way interfered with its interior comfort. 
 The rooms were large and luxuriantly and superbly fur- 
 nished. The Burbank family were blessed with every 
 comfort and every satisfaction fortune can give when it is 
 united to artistic feeling on the part of its possessor. 
 
 Behind the house, in the private park, were splendid 
 gardens, extending to the palisade. The stakes were 
 hidden beneath climbing shrubs and passion-flowers, amid 
 which humming-birds hopped in myriads. Orange-trees, 
 olive-trees, fig-trees, pomegranate-trees, and pontederias 
 with blue bouquets, and magnolias with calices of old 
 ivory perfuming the air, palm.-trees waving their fans in 
 the breeze, garlands of violet-shaded cobœas, clumps of 
 green resetted tupeas, yuccas with their sharp clicking 
 sabres, rosy rhododendrons, clumps of myrtle and shad- 
 docks — in fact everything produced by the 'flora of a zone 
 which touches the Tropics and could be gathered in its 
 parterres to perfume the air or please the eye* 
 
 At the extremity of the palisading, under the cypresses 
 and baobabs, were the stables, coachhouses, kennels, 
 dairy, and poultry-yard. Under the thick foliage of 
 these fine trees, impenetrable by the sun, the domestic 
 animals had nothing to fear from the heat of summer, and 
 the running water brought in from the streams close by 
 gave an agreeable and healthy freshness to all. 
 
 This private domain was, it will be seen, a marvellously 
 well-arranged nook in the centre of James Burbank's es- 
 tablishment. No rattle from the cotton-mills, roar from 
 the saw-mills, ring of the axes on the tree-trunks, nor any 
 of the sounds which are inseparable from such an impor- 
 tant concern, could be heard beyond the palisades. 
 
 The thousands of birds of the Floridan fauna would 
 pass and flatter from tree to tree. But these winged 
 songsters, whose plumage rivalled the brilliancy of the 
 flowers, were as welcome as the perfumes which the breeze 
 bore with it as it swept over the neighbouring woods and 
 prairies. 
 
 Such was Camdless Bay, the plantation of James Bur- 
 bank, one of the richest in eastern Florida. 
 
THÊ WAS Oî' gEÔES&lOÎÏ. 
 
 23 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE WAR OF SECESSION". 
 
 And now for a few words on the war of secession, with 
 which this history is intimately connected. 
 
 And in the first place let this be understood, as has 
 been well said, in his remarkable " History of the Civil 
 War in America," by the Comte de Paris, who was for- 
 merly one of General McClellan's aide-de-camps, this war 
 was not caused by any question of tariffs, nor of a differ- 
 enceof origin between the North and the South. The 
 Anglo Saxon race reigns over the whole territory of the 
 United States. The commercial question was never enter- 
 tained in this terrible fratricidal strife. "It was slavery, 
 which, prospering in one half of the Republic and abol- 
 ished in the other, created two hostile societies. It had 
 profoundly modified the manners of those where it pre- 
 vailed, while leaving untouched the outward forms of 
 government. It was not the pretext or the occasion, but 
 the cause, and the only cause, of the antagonism which 
 inevitably resulted in civil war." 
 
 In the slave states there were three classes. The lowest 
 consisted of four millions of enslaved negroes, a third of 
 the population. The highest was the caste of the slave- 
 holders, comparatively uneducated, rich, scornful, who 
 kept the direction of public affairs completely in their 
 hands. Between these clavsses was the lower class of 
 whites, turbulent, idle and miserable, ardent advocates for 
 the maintenance of slavery for fear of seeing the freed 
 negroes elevated to their level. 
 
 The Northerners had against them not only the rich 
 proprietors, but also those whites who lived, especially in 
 the. country, among the slave population. The strife was 
 consequently frightful. In families such dissensions wei-e 
 produced that brothers fought against each other, some 
 under the Federal, some under the Confederate flag. 
 But a great nation could not hesitate to destroy slavery 
 to its roots. In the last century the illustrious Franklin 
 had demanded its abolition. In 1807 Jefferson had rec- 
 
ommended Congress to prohibit a traffic of which the 
 morality, honour, and dearest interests of the country had 
 long required the disappearance." . The North was there- 
 fore in the right to march against the South and subdue 
 it. And to follow that with a closer union between the 
 elements of the Republic, and the destruction of that 
 fatal, threatening illusion that the citizen owed obedience 
 first to his own state, and in the second place to the fed- 
 eration. 
 
 lb was in Florida that the first question as to slavery 
 had arisen. At the commencement of the century a half- 
 breed Indian chief, named Osceola, had for his wife a ma- 
 roon slave born in the marshy part of Florida known as 
 the Everglades. One day the woman was recaptured as 
 a slave and taken away by force. Osceola raised the In- 
 dians, began an anti-slavery campaign, and was taken 
 prisoner and died in his prison. But the war continued, 
 and, says the historian Thomas Higginson, "the money 
 it cost was three times as much as that paid to Spain for 
 the purchase of Florida." 
 
 And now for the beginnings of the war of secession, 
 and the state of affairs in the month of February, 1862, 
 when James Burbank and his family were to experience 
 such terrible counterblows that it has appeared interest- 
 ing to us to make them the subject of this history. 
 
 On the 16th October, 1859, the heroic Captain John 
 Brown, at the head of a small band of fugitive slaves, liad 
 seized on Harper's Ferry in Virginia. His object was to 
 free the men of colour. He proclaimed it loudly. Beaten 
 by the militia, he was taken prisoner, condemned to 
 death, and hanged at Charlestown on the 3nd of December 
 1859, with six of his companions. 
 
 On the 20th of December, 1860, a convention assem- 
 bled in South Carolina and adopted with enthusiasm the 
 proposal of secession. The following year, on the 4th of 
 March, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of 
 the Republic. The Southern States regarded his election 
 as a menace to the institution of slavery. On the 11th of 
 April, Fort Sumter, one of the forts defending Charleston 
 harbour, fell into the power of the* Southerners com- 
 manded by General Beauregard. North Carolina, Vir- 
 ginia, Arkansas, and Tennessee at ouce threw in their lot 
 with the Separatists. 
 
THE WAR OF SECESSION. 
 
 25 
 
 Seventy-five thousand volunteers were raised by the 
 Federal Government. At the outset Washington, the 
 capital of the United States of America, was prepared 
 against a sudden attack, the arsenals of the North which 
 were empty were revictualled — those of the South had 
 been well provisioned by President Buchanan. War ma- 
 terial was got together with extraordinary effort. Then 
 Abraham Lincoln declared the Southern ports in a state 
 of blockade. 
 
 Active hostilities broke out in Virginia. McClellan 
 repulsed the rebels in the west ; but on the 21st of July, 
 at Bull Run, the Federal troops, under the orders of 
 MacDowell, were routed, and fled to Washington. The 
 Southerners feared no longer for the safety of Richmond, 
 but the Northerners had much to fear for the capital of 
 the American Republic. A few months afterwards the 
 Federals were again defeated at BulFs Bluff. These mis- 
 fortunes were compensated for by the expeditions that 
 put into the hands of the Unionists Fort Hatteras and 
 Port Royal Harbour, which the Separatists never retook. 
 At the end of 1861, thç command-in-chief of the armies 
 of the Union was given to Major-General George McClel- 
 lan. 
 
 During this year the Confederate corsairs swept the 
 seas of both worlds. They were welcomed in the ports of 
 France, England, Spain, and Portugal — a great mistake 
 which, by giving the Secessionists the rights of belliger- 
 ents, resulted in encouraging and prolonging the civil 
 war. 
 
 The naval events, which caused so much stir, were the 
 appearance of the Sumter and her famous Captain 
 Semmes; the appearance of the ram Manassas; on the 
 12th of October the sea-fight at the mouth of the Missis- 
 sippi; on the 8th of November, the stoppage of the Trent, 
 an English ship on which Captain Wilkes captured the 
 Confederate envoys — and which nearly brought on a war 
 between Great Britain and the States. 
 
 Meanwhile Abolitionists and Slaveholders were engaged 
 in sanguinary combats, with alternating success and de- 
 feat in the State of Missouri. One of the chief generals 
 of the North, Lyon, was killed, and this necessitated the 
 retreat of the Federals to RoUa, and the march of Price 
 and his Confederates towards the North, There was 9t 
 
26 
 
 tbxar's revenge. 
 
 fight at Frederictown on the 21st of October* and at 
 Springfield on the 25th, and on the 27th, Fremont oocvi- 
 pied the latter town with his Federals. On the 19th of. 
 December, the fight at Belmont between Grant and Polk 
 was indecisive. At lengh winter, which is always severet 
 in North America, put an end to the operations. 
 
 In the first months of the year 1862, truly prodigious 
 efforts were made by both sides. 
 
 In the North, Congress voted a levy of 500,000 volun- 
 teers — ^.there were a niillion before the end of the struggle 
 — and sanctioned a loan of 500 millions of dollars. Huge 
 armies were created, the chief being that of the Potomac. 
 Their generals were Banks, Butler, Sherman, McOlellan, 
 Meade, Thomas, Kearney, Halleck, to mention only the 
 most famous. Infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineers, were 
 formed and organized. War material was manufactured 
 at express speed, Miniè and Oolt carbines, rifled cannon 
 on the Parrott and Rodman systems, smoothbore cannon 
 and Dahlgren columbiads, howitzers, revolver-cannons, 
 siege artillery, and shrapnel shell. They organized army 
 telegraphs and army balloons, the reporting service of tlie 
 large newspapers, the transport service employing 20,000 
 carts, drawn by 84,000 mules. Provisions of all kinds 
 were got in under the direction of the chief of the com- 
 missariat. New ships of the ram type were built on the 
 plan of Colonel Ellet, ^and armoured gunboats were 
 built on the plan of the Commodore Foote, to make their 
 first appearance in maritime war. 
 
 In the South equal zeal was shown. The cannon 
 foundries of New Orleans and Memphis, and the forges 
 of Tredegar, near Richmond, turned out their Parrotts 
 and Rodmans. But that was not enough. Tiie Confed- 
 erate Government sent across to Europe. Liège and 
 Birmingham sent shiploads of arms, and cannon on the 
 Armstrong and Whitworth systems. Blockade-runners 
 brought the material into the ports, and took away cotton 
 in exchange. Then the army was organized. Its generals 
 were Johnston, Lee, Beauregard, Jackson, Crittenden, 
 Floyd, and Pillow. Irregular troops, militia and guerillas, 
 were raised in addition to the four hundred thousand vol- 
 unteers enrolled for three years at the most, or one year 
 at the least, voted by the Secessionist Congress on the 8th 
 of August, 
 
THE WAR OF SECESSION. 
 
 27 
 
 The preparations did not hinder the strife from begin- 
 ning before the winter was half over. Of the slaveholding 
 territory, the Federal Government occupied only Maryland, 
 Western Virginia, some part of Kentucky, most part of 
 Missouri, and a few points on the sea coast. 
 
 Hostilities first broke out again in the east of Kentucky. 
 On the 7th of January, Garfield fought the Confederates at 
 Middle Creek, and on the 25th they were beaten again at 
 Logan Cross, or Mill Springs. On the 2nd of February 
 Grant embarked with two divisions on some of the large 
 Tennessee steamboats, to support Foote's cuirassed flotilla. 
 On the 6th, Fort Henry fell into his power. Thus was 
 broken a link of the chain " on which," said the historian 
 of this civil war, rested the whole system of his adversary 
 Johnston's d*^fence.^' Cumberland and the capital of 
 Tennessee were thus threatened, and were within easy 
 reach of the Federal troops; and Johnston endeavoured to 
 concentrate on Fort Donelson, so as to regain a surer base 
 for the defensive. 
 
 At this time another expedition, consisting of six thou- 
 sand men, under the orders of Burnside, and a flotilla of 
 twenty-four armed steamers and fifty transports, descended 
 the Chesapeake and assembled in Hampton Roads on the 
 12th of January. In face of violent storms it started on 
 the 24th of January for Pimlico Sound, to capture Roa- 
 noke Island, and reduce the coast of North Carolina. But 
 the island was fortified. On the west the channel was de- 
 fended by a barrier of sunken ships. Batteries and field 
 works made access difiicult. Five or six thousand men 
 with a flotilla of seven gunboats were ready to withstand 
 any attempt at landing. Nevertheless, notwithstanding 
 the bravery of the defenders, on the 7th and 8th of Feb- 
 ruary the island surrendered to Burnside, with twenty 
 guns and more than two thousand prisoners. Next day 
 the Federals were masters of Elizabeth City and the coast 
 of Albemarle Sound, that is to say, the north of this in- 
 land sea. 
 
 But to. conclude this description of the position of af- 
 fairs up to the 6th of February, it is necessary to speak 
 of the Confederate general, the old professor of chemistry, 
 Jackson, the puritan soldier who defended Virginia. After 
 the recall of Lee to Richmond he commanded the army. 
 He left Winchester on the 13th of January, with his 
 
28 
 
 texae's revenge. 
 
 10,000 men, then he crossed the AUeghanies, to advance 
 on Bath on the Ohio railroad. Defeated by the climate, 
 overwhelmed by the snowstorms, he was forced to return 
 to- Winchester, without having attained his object. 
 
 And now for that which concerns us niore specially, on 
 the southern coast from Carolina to Florida. 
 
 During the second half of 1861, the Northerners pos- 
 sessed sufficient swift vessels to police the seas, although 
 they could not catch the famous Sumier which in Jan- 
 uary, 1862, put in at Gibraltar, before beginning her 
 cruise in European waters. The Jefferson Davis endeav- 
 ouring to escape from the Federals had fled to St. Augus- 
 tine in Florida, and sunk as she entered the channel. 
 Almost at the same time the Anderson, one of the cruisers 
 off the Florida coast, captured the privateer Beauregard. 
 But in England new ships were fitting out for the fray. 
 It was then that President Lincoln's proclamation ex- 
 tended the blockade, a fictitious blockade of 2800 miles. 
 To watch them only two squadrons were available: one to 
 blockade the Atlantic, the other the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 On the 12fch of October, for the first time, the Confed- 
 erates endeavoured to clear the mouth of the Mississippi 
 with the Manassas — the first ship plated with iron used in 
 the war— and a flotilla of fire-ships. The attempt did not 
 succeed, and the corvette Richinoîid escaped from capture, 
 safe and sound, on the 29th of December, though a small 
 steamer, the 8eaUrd, carried ofE a Federal schooner in 
 sight of Fort Monroe. 
 
 It was, however, necessary to have a point which could 
 serve as a base of operations for the Atlantic cruisers. The 
 Federal government resolved to seize on Fort Hatteras, 
 which defends the channel of the same name, at that time 
 much used by the blockade-runners. Its capture was not 
 easy. It was supported by a square redoubt, called Fort 
 Clarke. A thousand men ana the Seventh North Caro- 
 lina regiment, were entrusted with its defence. The 
 Federal squadron composed of two frigates, three cor- 
 vettes, a despatch- boat, and two large steamers anchored 
 in the passes on the 27th of August. Commodore String- 
 ham and General Butler were in charge of the attack. 
 The redoubt was taken. Fort Hatteras, after a long re- 
 sistance, hoisted the white flag, and a base of ocerations 
 Mim secured by the Northerners for the rest of the war. 
 
THE WAR OF SECESSION. 
 
 29 
 
 In November the island of Santa Rosa, at the east of 
 Pensacola, on the Grulf of Mexico, a dependency of Flor- 
 ida, fell into the hands of the Federals, notwithstanding 
 the efforts of the Qonfederates. 
 
 The capture of Fort Hatteras not appearing sufficient 
 for the proper conduct- of their operations, it was decided 
 to occupy other positions on the coasts of South Carolina, 
 Georgia, and Florida. Two steam frigates, the Wabash and 
 Susquehannah, three sailing frigates, four corvettes, six 
 gun-boats, many despatch- boats, twenty-five colliers laden 
 with provisions, and thirty- two steamers transporting 15,- 
 600 men under the orders of General Sherman, were 
 placed under the command of Commodore Dupont. The 
 flotilla mustered on the 25th of October before Fort Mon- 
 roe. After experiencing a terrible storm off Cape Hat- 
 teras, the fleet reached Hilton Head between Charleston 
 and Savannah, close to Port Eoyal Harbour, one of the 
 most important in the States, and where General Ripley 
 held command. Forts Walker and Beauregard defended 
 the entrance, about two miles and a half apart; eight 
 steamers also formed part of the defences, and the bar 
 rendered the harbour almost impregnable to an enemv's 
 fleet. ^ 
 
 On the 5th of November, the channel having been 
 buoyed, Dupont entered the harbour after a cannonade, 
 but he Was not able to land Sherman's troops. On the 
 7th, in the afternoon, he attacked Fort Walker and then 
 Fort Beauregard. He overwhelmed them with his storm 
 of shell. The forts were evacuated; the Federals took 
 possession of them almost without a struggle; and Sher- 
 man occupied the position which was of so much impor- 
 tance for the military operations that were to follow. 
 
 This was a blow at the very heart of the Southern 
 States. The neighbouring islands fell one after the other 
 into the power of the Federals, even Tybee Island and 
 Fort Pulaski which commanded the Savannah river. At 
 the end of the year Dupont was master of the five great 
 bays of North Edisto, St. Helena, Port Royal, Tybee, 
 Warsaw, and all the islands scattered along the coast of 
 Carolina and Georgia. And on the 1st of January, 1862, 
 a final success enabled him to reduce the Confederate 
 works on the banks of the Coosaw. 
 Such was the" situation of the belligerents at the com- 
 
30 
 
 texar's eevenge. 
 
 mencement of February, 1862. Such was the progress of 
 the Federals towards the South, when the fleet of Dupont 
 and the troops of Sherman were menacing Florida. 
 
 CHAPTEK IV. 
 
 THE BURBANK FAMILY. 
 
 It was a few minutes past seven when James Burbank 
 and Edward Carrol mounted the steps on which opened 
 the principal door of Castle House, looking towards the 
 St. John's. Zermah, holding the little girl by the hand, 
 walked behind them. They entered the hall, which was 
 a kind of large vestibule with its back rounded into a 
 dome, and containing the double twist of the great stair- 
 case which led to the upper floors. 
 
 Mrs. Burbank met them, accompanied by Perry, the 
 chief overseer of the plantation. 
 
 " No news from Jacksonville?'* 
 
 "No news from Gilbert?" 
 
 "Yes— a letter." 
 
 " Heaven be praised!" 
 
 Such were the first questions and answers that passed 
 between Mrs. Burbank and her husband. James Bur- 
 bank, after kissing his wife and little Dy, opened the 
 letter which was handed to him. It had not been opened 
 in his absence, for, in consideration of the existing state 
 of affairs, Mrs. Burbank thought it best that her hus- 
 band should 'be the first to know what it contained. 
 
 "This letter did not come by the post?" asked Bur- 
 bank. 
 
 "No, sir," said Perry, "that would have been too 
 riskv. " 
 
 "Who brought it?" 
 
 " A Georgia man Mr. Gilbert felt he could trust." 
 
 " When did it arrive?" 
 
 "Yesterday." 
 
 "And the man?" 
 
 " Went away this evening." 
 
THE BUEBANK FAMILY. 
 
 31 
 
 ''Well paid for his work?" 
 
 " Yes, well paid/' said Mrs. Burbank, but by Gilbert, 
 and he would not take anything from us." 
 
 The hall was lighted by two lamps placed on a marble 
 table before a. large sofa. James Burbank went and sat 
 at the table, and his wife and daughter sat near him. 
 Edward Carrol, after shaking hands with his sister, had* 
 thrown himself into an arm-chair. Zermah and Perry 
 were standing together near the stairs; both of them were 
 sufficiently of the family for the letter to be read in theii 
 presence. 
 
 The letter was opened. 
 
 "It is dated the 3rd ôf February," said James Bnr- 
 bank. 
 
 "Four days after date!" said Carrol, '' that is a long 
 time under the circumstances." 
 
 ''Read it, papa, read it," said the little girl,- with a 
 very. natural impatience at her age. 
 
 " This is what it says, — 
 
 " On board the Wabash, at the anchorage of Edisto. 
 
 "3rd February, 1862. 
 
 " Dear Father,— I begin by sending my love to my 
 mother, my little sister and yourself, not forgetting Uncle 
 Carrol, and to omit nothing, I send Zermah all the re- 
 membrances of her husband, my brave and devoted Mars. 
 We are going on as weil as possible, and should very much 
 like to be with you. It will not be long before we are, 
 notwithstanding Mr. Perry, who, on seeing the progress 
 of the North, must be much concerned— obstinate slave- 
 owner as he is, the worthy overseer!" 
 
 " TJiat is one for you, Perrv," said Carrol. 
 
 '^ Every man is welcome to his ideas," said Perry, in 
 tlie tone of a man who had no intention of giving up his 
 own. ° 
 
 Burbank continued, — 
 
 " This letter will reach you by a man I can depend on. 
 l"u will have heard that Commodore Dupont's squadron 
 has gained possession of Port Royal Harbour and the 
 neighbouring islands. The North is gradually beating 
 the South, and it is very likely that the Federal Govern- 
 ment will occupy the chief ports of Florida. They are 
 talking of an exj^edition under Dupont and Sherman at 
 
92 
 
 texar's eevenge. 
 
 the end of the month. This is very probable, and we 
 shall occupy the bay of St. Andrew's whence we shall 
 adtnceTnto Florida^ I am in a hurry to get there, dear 
 ? mIt. i^articularlv wiih our victorious flotilla, ihe 
 
 W to Sre at Oamdless Bay. If I could get away I 
 ï^hould be with you in twenty-four hours; but that would 
 bXo risky fOT ™u as well as for me, and you must be 
 mtient In a fW months we shall again meet toge her 
 Ktie House. And now I must «"f asking myself 
 I have forgotten anybody in my message. And 1 have. 
 I have forlotten Mi-. Stannard and my charming Alice, 
 whom I am longing to see. Give my regards to her 
 fetC and to he? give more than my regards, 
 tamer, an g s sincerely yours, 
 
 ^ " Gilbert Burba.nk." 
 
 Tames Burbank laid the letter on the table, and Mrs. 
 Burbank iTf tedTt to her lips, then little Dy put a sound- 
 ing kiss on her brother's signature. 
 
 ::iTb^^lrL^ir^- a^dt^^^^^^^^ loo^-^ 
 
 ^^:f^£T'«^rotr^^^^^^^ James Burbauk 
 
 Te UnTonflag! Our position here may end m being un- 
 
 ^"if^îù as the war approached the South, a change 
 
 toll pUc'e in FtiTan of ion on %-bject 
 
 set the United States at varia,nce PP,*° "^f ^f'S 
 
THE BURBAHK: FAMILY. 
 
 33 
 
 majority among the authorities of St. Augustine, and 
 principally of Jacksonville, where their supporters wei-e 
 the vilest of the populace. Hence the position of James 
 Burbank, whose birth and ideas we know, had become an 
 anxious one. 
 
 Twenty years before, James Burbank had left New 
 Jersey, where he still possessed some property, and came 
 to Oamdless Bay with his wife and his son, then four years 
 old. We know how the plantation had prospered, thanks 
 to his own intelligent labours and the assistance of his 
 brother-in-law, Edward Carrol. He had taken a great 
 liking to the vast establishment which had been handed 
 down to him by his ancestors. Here was born his second 
 child, little Dy, fifteen years after he had fixed his home 
 in the South. 
 
 He was then forty-six years old, of strong constitution, 
 accustomed to work, and never sparing himself. We 
 know he was of energetic character; firmly attached to his 
 opinions, he did his utmost to let them be widely known. 
 He was tall and slightly grey; his face had a somewhat 
 severe but frank and encouraging look. With the goatee 
 of the Americans of the North, without whiskers or 
 moustache, he was a typical New England Yankee. 
 Throughout the plantation he was liked, for he was kind, 
 and he was obeyed, for he was just. His blacks were 
 devoted to him, and he waited not without impatience for 
 circumstances to permit of his giving them their liberty. 
 His brother-in-law was about the same age, and took 
 chai-ge chiefly of the accounts of Oamdless Bay. Carrol 
 was quite at one with him in everything, and shared in his 
 view of the slave question. 
 
 Mr. Perry, the overseer, was the only one of a different 
 opinion in this little world of Camdless Bay. Let it not 
 be thought that this worthy man ill-treated the slaves. 
 Far from it. He even tried to make them as happy as 
 their condition allowed him. 
 
 "'But," said he, "there are warm countries in which 
 work on the land can only be done by blacks, and blacks 
 who are not slaves are no longer blacks !" 
 
 Such was his theory, which he discussed on every 
 occasion that offered. But he was in no way discon- 
 certed at the fortune of war which favoured the anti- 
 slavery cause. He was, in short, an excellent fellow, and 
 
a brave one too, and when James Biirbank and Edward 
 Carrol had joined the militia, known as " tl)e minute 
 men," from being ready to start at any minute, he had 
 
 fallantly joined them in their last struggle with the 
 eminoles. 
 
 Mrs. Burbank was at this time thirty-nine years of age. 
 She was still very handsome. Her daughter would one 
 day resemble her. James Burbank had found in her a 
 loving, affectionate companion, to whom he owed most of 
 the happiness of his life. The unselfish woman lived but 
 for her husband and her children, whom she adored, and 
 for whose safety she felt the keenest apprehension now 
 that circumstances had brought the civil war into Florida. 
 Diana, or rather Dy, as she was familiarly called, a child 
 of six, quick, loving, and happy, lived at Castle House 
 with her mother, but Gilbert was away, his absence caus- 
 ing continued anxiety, which Mrs. Bui'bank could not 
 always dissimulate. 
 
 Gilbert was then in his twenty-fifth year, and in him 
 were conspicuous the moral qualities of his father, with a 
 little less stiffness, and the same physical qualities, with a 
 little more grace and charm, A bold companion, skilled 
 in all bodily exercises, he was as accomplished as a horse- 
 man as he was as a seaman and hunter. To the great 
 alarm of his mother, t!ie huge forests and marshes o'f 
 Duval county had often been the scene of his exploits, as 
 had the creeks and passes of the St. John's up to its fur- 
 thest mouth at Pablo. Gilbert felt himself fully trained 
 for the work of a soldier when the first shots were fired 
 in the war. He considered that his duty called him to the 
 Federal troops, and he did not hesitate. He asked to 
 be allowed to go. Great was the grief he thus caused his 
 mother, and great was the danger to all, but James Bur- 
 bank did not dream for a moment of refusing his son's 
 request. He thought, like him, that it was a duty, and 
 everything must give place to duty. 
 
 Gilbert, then, set out for the North; but his departure 
 was kept as secret as possible. If it was known at Jack- 
 sonville that James Burbank's son had entered tlie 
 Northern service, reprisals would at once have been taken 
 on Camdless Bay. The young man had been given letters 
 of introduction to his father's friends in New Jersey. 
 He had always shown a taste for the sea, and his friends 
 
THE BUKBANK FAMILY. 
 
 35 
 
 had had no difficulty in procuring him an appointment in 
 the Federal navy. Promotion was rapid in those days, 
 and as Gilbert was not one of those who remained in the 
 rear, he soon got on. The Washington Government had 
 its eyes on this young man who in the position he found 
 his family, did not hesitate to offer his services. Gilbert 
 distinguished himself at the attack of Fort Sumter. He 
 was on the Richmond when that ship was rammed by the 
 Manassas at the mouth of the Mississippi, and contrib- 
 uted largely to recapture her. After this affair he was 
 made an ensign, although he had not been through the 
 naval school at Annapolis any more than many of the 
 other officers who had been transferred from the mercan- 
 tile marine. In his new capacity he joined the squadron 
 of Commodore Dupont, and assisted at the brilliant attack 
 on Fort Hatteras and the capture of the Sea Islands. 
 During the last few weeks he had been a lieutenant on 
 one of Dupont's gunboats which were about to force the 
 mouths of the St. John's. 
 
 Gilbert himself longed for an early termination of the 
 war. He loved and was loved ; and when his service was 
 over, he would return to Oamdless Bay and marry the 
 daughter of one of his father's best friends. 
 
 Mr. Stannard did not belong to the class of Floridan 
 planters. A widower, and a man of fortune, he had de- 
 voted himself entirely to the education of his daughter. 
 He lived at Jacksonville, so that to get to Cam d less Bay 
 he had only to go up three or four miles of the river. 
 For fifteen years not a week had passed without his visit- 
 ing the Burbanks. It might almost be said that Gilbert' 
 and Alice were brought up together, and a marriage that ' 
 had been planned for years had now been decided on, 
 which would bring happiness to both. Although Walter 
 Stannard was a native of the South, he was an anti-slavery 
 man, as were several others of his Floridan fellow-citizens; 
 but these were not numerous enough to withstand the 
 majority of the inhabitants of Jacksonville, whose 
 opinions daily tended more and more in favour of the 
 Saparatist movement. Stannard and his friends began 
 consequently to be looked upon unfavourably by the 
 leaders of the county, and especially by the small whites 
 and populace, who were ready for any excess. 
 
 Walter Stannard was born at New Orleans. Mrs, 
 
86 
 
 TEXAR*S REVENGE. 
 
 Stannard was a Frencliwoman; slie had didd young, and 
 left to her daughter those noble qualities which are 
 peculiar to French blood. When Gilbert went away, 
 Alice had shown an energy that had given Mrs. Burbank 
 much comfort and support. Although she loved Gilbert 
 as she herself was loved, she invariably told his mother 
 that it was his duty to go and fight for the good cause, to 
 fight for the freedom of a race, and, in short, for liberty. 
 She was then nineteen; fair, with eyes almost blue, of 
 warm complexion, elegant figure, and distinguished 
 features. She might be a little serious, but so mobile 
 was her expression, that the least smile would light up 
 her beautiful face. 
 
 The Burbank family would not be known in all its most 
 faithful members, if we omitted to say something of its 
 two servants, Mars and Zermah. 
 
 As we have seen from his letter, Gilbert had not gone 
 away alone. Mars, the husband of Zermah, had accom- 
 panied him. He could not have found a more devoted 
 companion than this slave from Camdless Bay, who had 
 become free by setting foot on anti-slavery soil. But 
 to Mars, Gilbert was always ''the young master," and he 
 would not leave him, although the Federal Government 
 had already formed regiments of negroes, where he would 
 have found a place. 
 
 Mars and Zermah were not of the negro race by birth." 
 They were half-breeds. Zermah's brother was that heroic 
 slave, Robert Small, who, four months later, captured 
 from the Confederates, in the very bay of Charleston, a 
 steamer with two guns, which he took over to the Federal 
 fleet. 
 
 The marriage of Zermah and Mars was a happy one ; 
 which more than once, during its first years, the odious 
 traflBc in slaves had threatened to break. It was at the 
 moment when they were about to be separated by the 
 fortune of the auction-room, that they came to Camdless 
 Bay. 
 
 These were the circumstances. 
 
 Zermah was thirty-one years old. Mars thirty-five. 
 Seven years before, they had been married when they, 
 belonged to a Mr. Tickborn, whose plantation was on the 
 river, twenty miles above Camdless Bay. For some years 
 Tickborn had had business transactions with Texar, who 
 
was often a welcome visitor to the plantation. There was 
 nothing surprising in this, for Tickborn was not thought 
 much of in the county. His abilities were not very bril- 
 liant ; and, his affairs not prospering, he was obliged to 
 put up a lot of his slaves for sale. 
 
 At this very time, Zermah, who was very badly treated 
 like all the rest on Tickborn's plantation, brought a baby 
 into the world, which was immediately taken away from 
 her, for while she was in prison for a crime of which she 
 was innocent, her baby died in her arms. It may be 
 guessed what was the grief of Zermah, and the anger of 
 Mars. But whal^ could they do against a master to whom 
 belonged their flesh, living or dead, because he had bought 
 it? 
 
 To this sorrow another no less terrible was added. Tbe 
 day after their child died. Mars and Zermah were packed 
 off to the auctioneer, and threatened with separation. 
 Yes! The consolation of finding themselves together 
 under a new master was denied them. A man presented 
 himself who offered to buy Zermah, and Zermah alone, 
 although he did not own a plantation. This man was 
 Texar. His friend Tickborn was about to sign the agree- 
 ment when, at the last moment, another bidder appeared 
 on the scene and offered a higher price. This was James 
 Burbank, who happened to be at the sale, and was touched 
 at the fate of the unhappy half-breed, praying in vain 
 that she should not be separated from her husband. 
 
 j^urbank was in want of a nurse for his little girl, and 
 learning that one of Tickborn's slaves had just lost her 
 child, he came to look at her ; but, touched by Zermah's 
 toîirs, he did not hesitate to offer for herself and husband 
 a price that exceeded all that had been bid up to then. 
 
 Texar knew James Burbank. He had been several 
 times warned off his plantation as a suspicious person. 
 And from this arose the hatred which Texar had vowed 
 to all the family of Camdless Bay. Texar tried to bid 
 against the rich planter. It was in vain. He grew 
 obstinate. He rose to double the price that Tickborn 
 had asked for the half-breed and her husband. This 
 made Burbank pay very dearly for them — but he got 
 them. 
 
 And so, not only were Zermah and Mars not separated 
 from each other, but they had entered the sei'vice of the 
 
38 
 
 best planter in Florida. Six years afterward?, Zermah 
 was ritill in all the maturity of her half-breed beauty. Of 
 energetic character, heartily devoted to her master, she 
 hact more than once had occasion — and would soon have 
 occasion again — to prove her fidelity. Mars was worthy 
 ot the wife to whom the charitable act of James Burbank 
 had forever attached him. He was a remarkable speci- 
 men of those Africans in whom there is a large propor- 
 tion of Creple blood. Tall, stout, courageous to a fault, 
 he served his new master well. 
 
 These two new servants were not treated like slaves. 
 They had soon become appreciated for their kindness and 
 intelligence. Mars was specially occupied in looking 
 after young Gilbert ; Zermah was Diana's nurse. In such 
 positions they were bound to be admitted to a certain 
 intimacy with the family. 
 
 Zermah always felt a mother's love for the little girl, 
 the love she could not bear the child she had lost. Dy 
 returned it, and the filial affection of the one responded 
 to the maternal cares of the other, and Mrs. Burbank was 
 as friendly to Zermah as she was grateful. 
 
 The same feeling existed between Gilbert and Mars. 
 Active and strong, the half-breed had made his young 
 master an expert in all manly exercises, and James Bur- 
 bank could only congratulate himself at having found 
 him for his son. 
 
 Never had Zermah and Mars been so happy, and that 
 after leaving the hands of Tickborn and nearly falling 
 into those of Texar. They were never to forget it. 
 
 • CHAPTER V. 
 
 BLACK CREEK. 
 
 At dawn, the morning after the Shannon's journey 
 down the St. John's, a man was walking on the bank of 
 one of the islets at the bottom of the lagoon of Black 
 Creek. It was Texar. A few steps away was an Indian 
 sitting in the skiff which had met the steamer. It waa 
 Squambo. 
 
After walking up and down for a minute or two, Texar 
 stopped under^ a magnolia- tree, drew down one of the 
 lower branches and picked off a leaf and its stem. Then 
 he drew from his note-book a short letter, containing only- 
 three or four words written in ink. He rolled up the 
 letter and stuffed it into one of the lower veins of the 
 leaf. This was done so cleverly that the leaf lost nothing 
 of its usual look. 
 
 *' Squambo !" said Texfir. 
 Master !" replied the Indian. 
 Go — you know where !" 
 
 Squambo took the leaf, put it in the bow of the skiff, 
 sat down in the stern, paddled himself off, turned the 
 extreme point of the islet, and entered the tortuous pas- 
 sage under the thick bower of trees. 
 
 'J'he lagoon is cut up into a labyrinth of channels, 
 among which only a man thoroughly conversant with the 
 tangled network of black waters could find his way. 
 
 However, Squambo did not hesitate. Where no one 
 could see an outlet he boldly entered with his skiff. The 
 lower branches that he lifted up fell behind him, and left 
 no trace of anything having passed beneath them. Along 
 winding channels, no larger than drains, he paddled his 
 canoe. Quite a world of aquatic birds flew up at his 
 approach. Slimy eels, with suspicious heads, slipped 
 under the roots which emerged from the water. Squambo 
 cared for none of these things, no more than he did for 
 the sleeping caymans, which he could wake by striking 
 them as they lay on their beds of mud. He kept on 
 without a stoppage, and when he had no room to paddle, 
 he pushed himself along as if with a boat-hook. 
 
 Although it was now broad daylight, and the heavy 
 night mist had. begun to evaporate under the first rays of 
 the sun, nothing could be seen of it beneath this impene- 
 trable roof of verdure. Even in the noonday sun no 
 ray of light could pierce it. All was shrouded in semi- 
 obscurity, which suited well the crawling creatures that 
 swarmed in its black waters, and the thousands of aquatic 
 plants that floated on their surface. 
 
 For half an hour Squambo advanced from one island to 
 another. When he stopped, it was because his skiff had 
 reached one of the last branches of the creek. 
 
 At this spot, where the marshy part of the creek ended? 
 
40 
 
 the trees were less crowded and intergrown, and the light 
 of day found admittance. Beyond was a vast prairie bor- 
 dered with forest, but slightly above the level of the St. 
 John's. The foot, in treading on the marshy ground, 
 gave the same sensation as if treading on an elastic mat- 
 tress. A few sassafras bushes with slender leaves and 
 violet berries dotted the surface with their capricious zig- 
 zags. 
 
 After,mooring his canoe to one of the twigs on the 
 bank, Squambo jumped ashore. The night mist was dry- 
 ing off, the prairie, quite deserted, was gradually rising 
 from the fog. Among a group of five or six trees close 
 by was a magnolia of moderate height. 
 
 The Indian stepped towards this tree. He reached it 
 in a few minutes, and drew down one of the lower bran- 
 ches. To its end he fixed the leaf that Texar had given 
 him, then the bough, left to itself, sprung up, and the 
 leaf was lost in the foliage. 
 
 Squambo returned to his skiff, and paddled back to the 
 islet where his master awaited him. 
 
 Black Creek is so called from the colour of its waters, 
 and covers an area of about six hundred acres. Fed by 
 the St. John's, it is a sort of archipelago quite impene- 
 trable to those who do not know its infinite windings. 
 A hundred islands dot its surface ; no bridges or cause- 
 ways join them. A few high branches interlace above 
 the thousands of channels that separate but do not form 
 easy communication lines between the different points of 
 the lagoon. 
 
 , One of these islands, nearly in the centre of the system, 
 is the most important on account of its size — some twenty 
 acres — and its elevation, five or six feet above the mean 
 tide of the St. John's. 
 
 At some distant period,- this island had served as the 
 site of a fortress, a sort of blockhouse, now abandoned — 
 at least in a military sense. Its palisades, half ruined by 
 rot, still stood beneath the large trees, magnolias, 
 cypresses, oaks, black walnuts, and austral pines, inter- 
 laced by festoons of cobœas and other endless creepers. 
 
 Beyond the outer ring the eye could make out under 
 the heap of verdure the geometrical lines of the little 
 fortress, or rather the outpost, which had never been in» 
 tended to hold more than a score of men. Narrow loop- 
 
BLACK CEEEK. 
 
 41 
 
 holes peeped out of the wooden walls. Turfed roofs cov- 
 ered them with a carapace of earth. Inside were a few 
 rooms arranged round a central apartment, containing a 
 store of provisions and munitions. To enter the fortress, 
 it was necessary to get through the palisades at the 
 narrow postern, then to cross the yard, planted with a 
 few trees, and mount a few steps built up of boards. 
 These led to the only door giving admittance to the inte- 
 rior, and was merely an embrasure that had been altered 
 to suit the purpose. 
 
 Such was the usual retreat of Texar — a retreat which 
 nobody knew. There, hidden from all eyes, he lived 
 with this Squambo, who was devoted to a master of whom 
 he did not think much, and with five or six slaves, who 
 thought even less of him. 
 
 This islet of Black Creek was, it will be seen, some dis- 
 tance from the wealthy establishments on each side of the 
 river. There was barely a living on it for Texar and his 
 companions, whose wants were not great. A few domes- 
 tic animals, half a dozen acres planted with potatoes, 
 yams, cucumbers, twenty fruit-trees, almost in their wild 
 state, — that was all, without counting what the hunter 
 could find in the neighbouring forests, or the fisherman in 
 the lagoon, which never failed to yield its harvest. But, 
 doubtless, the dwellers at Black Creek had other resources, 
 of which only Texar and Squambo knew the secret. 
 
 The safety of the blockhouse was almost assured by its 
 situation in such an inaccessible spot. Besides, who 
 would seek to attack it, and why ? In any case, any sus- 
 picious approach would be signalled at once by the dogs 
 of the island, two of those ferocious bloodhounds im- 
 ported from the Caribbees, formerly employed by the Span- 
 iards to hunt down the negroes. 
 
 Such was Texar's dwelling, and it was worthy of him. 
 Now for Texar himself. 
 
 Texar was then about thirty-five. He was of medium 
 height, and of vigorous constitution, hardened by the ad- 
 venturous life in the open air which had always been his. 
 A Spaniard by birth, he did not hide his origin. His 
 hair was black and coarse, his eyebrows thick, his eyes 
 greenish, his mouth large, with thin indrawn lips, as if it 
 had been made by a sabre-stroke, his nose short, and his 
 nostrils like those of a wild beast. His whole physiog- 
 
42 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 nomy denoted craft and violence. He had formerly grown 
 his full beard; but for the last two years, after it had been 
 half burnt in some affair that no one knew anything 
 about, he had shaved it off, and the cruelty of his features 
 was rendered all the more apparent. 
 
 Twelve years before, this adventurer had come to settle 
 in Florida in this abandoned blockhouse, the possession 
 of which nobody thought of disputing. Whence came 
 he ? Nobody knew. What had been his former life ? It 
 was said, and rightly so, that he had been a slave-dealer, 
 and had sold his cargoes of blacks in the ports of Georgia 
 and the Carolinas. Had he made a fortune in this odious 
 trade ? It did not seem like it. And, in fact, his repu- 
 tation was of the slightest even in a country where men 
 of his sort are numerous. 
 
 Nevertheless, if Texar was better known than respected, 
 that did not prevent his exercising a Teal influence in the 
 county, and particularly at Jacksonville, although it was, 
 it is true, among the least reputable inhabitants. He often 
 went to the chief town on business, which he never spoke 
 about, and had made a number cf friends among the 
 small whites and more objectionable people of the place. 
 This we have seen when he was returning to St. Augus- 
 tine with his companions. His influence extended to a 
 few planters on the St. John's, whom, he sometimes vis- 
 ited, though they never visited him, for no one knew of 
 his retreat at Black Creek. 
 
 Sport was a natural pretext for this intercourse, which 
 established itself without difficulty among people of the 
 same habits and tastes. This influence had grown during 
 the last few years, owing to the opinions which Texar 
 ardently defended. The slave question had hardly 
 brought about the division between the United States, 
 than the Spaniard had posed as the most obstinate and 
 determined of slavery partisans. It should be understood 
 that he had little real interest in the matter, for his slaves 
 only amounted to half a dozen. It was the principle he 
 sought to defend. By what means ? By an appeal to 
 the most hateful passions, by exciting the cupidity of the 
 populace,! by urging them to pillage, incendiarism, even 
 to murder, against the inliabitants or planters who shared 
 in the ideas of the Northerners. And now this danger- 
 ous adventurer was seeking to supersede the civil authori- 
 
BLACK CREEK. 
 
 43 
 
 ties of Jacksonville, men of moderate opinions and higli 
 character, by the most furious of his partisans. By be- 
 coming master of the county, he would have a free field 
 for the exercise of his personal vengeance. 
 
 It will be understood from this, why James Biirbank 
 and other planters had not neglected to keep an eye on 
 the proceedings of such a man, whose evil instincts had 
 already made him formidable ; and why the hate on one ^ 
 sid^ and defiance on the other had been augmented by the 
 approaching events. 
 
 Besides, there was much in thé past life of Texar after 
 he had retired from trade which was suspicious. During 
 the last outbreak of the Seminoles, everything seemed to 
 prove that he had a secret understanding with them. 
 Had he told them what blows to strike, what plantations 
 to attack ? Had he helped them in their ambushes and 
 surprises ? There was a strong suspicion that this was the 
 case, and the magistrates had issued a warrant against the 
 Spaniard, and brought him to trial. But Texar had 
 pleaded an alibi, a plan of defence of which he again availed 
 himself later on; and it v^^as proved he could not have 
 taken part in the attack on a farm in Duval county, when 
 at the same moment he was at Savannah, in the State of 
 Georgia, about forty miles to the north. . 
 
 During the following years there were many serious 
 robberies, sometimes from plantations, sometimes from 
 travellers. Was Texar an author or accomplice in these 
 crimes ? Suspicions were strong, but as there was no 
 proof, nothing could be done. 
 
 At last an opportunity offered which seemed to bring 
 this hitherto unseizable malefactor within reach of the 
 law; and this was the affair for which he had the day 
 before been brought before the court of St. Augustine. 
 
 Eight days before, James Burbank, Carrol, and Stan- 
 nard were returning from visiting a plantation not far 
 from Oamdless Bay, when about seven o'clock in the even- 
 ing, as night was falling, they heard cries of distress. 
 They came to the spot whence the cries proceeded, and 
 found themselves in front of the buildings of an isolated 
 farm. The buildings were on fire. The farm had been 
 previously pillaged by half-a-dozen men who had just dis- 
 persed. The authors of the crime were not îar off. Two 
 of them could be seen running away through the woods. 
 
44 texar's revenge. 
 
 James Burbank and his friends courageously started in 
 pursuit, and the chase took them towards Camdless Bay. 
 It was in vain. The incendiaries escaped in the woods. 
 But Burbank, Carrol, and Stannard had recognized one 
 of them. It was the Spaniard. 
 
 And more than this— and corroborating . th« proof— at 
 the instant this indiyidual had disappeared on the bound- 
 ary of Camdless Bay, Zermah, who was passing, had been 
 knopked aside by him. And she, like the others, recog- 
 nized him as Texar, running at full speed. 
 
 It is easy to imagine that such an affair would make 
 considerable stir in the county. A robbery, followed by 
 incendiarism, was a most serious crime where the planta- 
 tions were spread over a large extent of country. Bur- 
 bank brought a formal accusation against Texar, and 
 the authorities took proceedings. 
 
 The Spaniard was brought to St. Augustine before the 
 Eecorder, and then, when confronted by the witnesses, 
 James Burbank, Walter Stannard, Edward Carrol, and 
 Zermah, was unanimously recognized as the man who 
 was running away from the fire. There could be no mis- 
 take as far as they were concerned. Texar was one of 
 the authors of the crime. 
 
 The Spaniard, for his defence, brought a number of 
 witnesses to St. Augustine. They declared that on the 
 evening in question they were with Texar at Jacksonville, 
 in the tienda of Torilla, a sufficiently ill-famed drinking- 
 sh^.p in those parts. Texar had not left them all the 
 evening. And that there could be no mistake about this, 
 at the very time the crime was committed, the Spaniard 
 had had a dispute with one of them which had ended in 
 blows and threats, for which legal proceedings would 
 probably be taken. 
 
 At this evidence, which was beyond suspicion— for some 
 of the witnesses were strangers to Texar— the magistrate 
 at St. Augustine could only close the inquiry and allow 
 the defendant his expenses. , , , 
 
 The alibi had thus been once more fully established to 
 the advantage of this strange individual. 
 
 It was after this affair, and in company with his wit- 
 nesses, that Texar had returned to St. Augustine on the 
 evening of the 7th of February. We have seen how ho 
 conducted himself on board the Shannon while the steamer 
 
BLACK CEEEK, 
 
 45 
 
 iescended the river. Then, on the skiff brought to meet 
 him by Squambo, he had regained the abandoned block- 
 house. 
 
 Squambo was a Seminole, intelligent and crafty, and 
 had become the confidant of Texar, who had taken him 
 into his service immediately after the last expedition of 
 the Indians with which his name had been mixed up. 
 
 The Spaniard had resolved to avenge himself on James 
 Burbank by all possible means. Amid the many con- 
 junctions that the war daily gave rise to, if Texar could 
 upset the authorities of Jacksonville he could make him- 
 self formidable to Camdless Bay. James Burbank was of 
 such energetic and determined character that he had no 
 fear of such a man, but Mrs. Burbank had only too many 
 reasons to tremble for her husband and her family. 
 
 And all the more would she have been anxious had she 
 known that Texar suspected Gilbert Burbank of having 
 joined the Northern army. How had he learnt this, for 
 the departure had been secret ? Probably from his spies. 
 
 If Texar thought that James Burbank's son was in the 
 Federal ships under the orders of Dupont, would he not 
 probably devise some trap for the young lieutenant ? 
 Yes ! And if he could entice him on to Floridan terri^ 
 tory and capture him, we can imagine what would be his 
 fate at the hands of these southerners, exasperated at 
 the progress of the Northern arms. 
 
 Such was the state of affairs when this story begins. 
 Such was the position of the Federals on the maritime 
 frontier of Florida, of the Burbanks in Duval county, and 
 of Texar not only at Jacksonville but throughout the slave 
 territorities. If the Spaniard could gain his ends, if the 
 authorities could be replaced by his partisans, it w(5uld be 
 easy for him to send forth on Camdless Bay a populace 
 maddened againsts the abolitionists. 
 
 About an hour after Squambo had left Texar, he 
 returned. He drew his skiff to the bank, entered thd 
 palisades, and mounted the steps into the blockhouse. 
 
 " Is it done ?" asked Texar. 
 
 " It is done, master." 
 And— nothing ?" 
 
 "Nothing." 
 
46 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 JACKSONVILLE. 
 
 f'YES, Zermah, yes, you were created and placed in the 
 world to be a slave !" said the overseer, mounting his 
 favourite hobby. " Yes ! a slave, and never to be a free 
 creature." 
 
 ^* That is not my opinion," replied Zermah calmly, 
 without the least animation, so many had been these dis- 
 cussions with the overseer- of Oamdless Bay. 
 
 *'It is possible, Zermah ! Bat in any case you will in 
 the long run come over to the opinion that no equality 
 can exist between the whites and the blacks." 
 
 " It already exists, Mr. Perry, and it has always existed." 
 
 "You are mistaken, Zermah, and the proof is that the 
 whites are ten times, twenty times — what am I talking 
 about ? — a hundred times more numerous on the earth 
 than the blacks." 
 
 And it is on that account that they have made slaves 
 of them," answered Zermah, "they had the strength and 
 they abused it. But if the blacks had been in the major- 
 ity, the whites would have been the slaves ! Or rather 
 they, would not, for the blacks would have shown more 
 justice, and certainly less craelty." 
 
 Do not let it be supposed that this conversation hin- 
 dered Zermah and the overseer from remaining on good 
 terms ^yith each other. At the moment they had nothing 
 else to do but talk. They might, .perhaps, have chosen 
 a more useful subject of conversation, and they doubtless 
 would have done so had it not been for the overseer's 
 mania for continually discussing the slave question. 
 
 The two were seated in the stern of one of the Oamdless 
 Bay boats, worked by four men from the plantation. 
 They were crossing the river, taking advantage of the 
 ebbing tide, on rheir way to Jacksonville. Tiie overseer 
 h;id some of Mr. Bnrbank's business matters to attend to, 
 and Zermah was going to buy a few things for little Dy. 
 
 It was the }Oih of February. Three days before James 
 
JACKSONVILLE. 
 
 47 
 
 Burbank had returned to Castle House, and le^fir to 
 Black Creek after the affair at St. Augustine. 
 
 The day before Mr. Stannard had heard from Camdless 
 Bay, about the last letter from Gilbert. The news did 
 not arrive any too soon for Alice, whose life had been one 
 of continual anxiety since tlie outbreak of the war. 
 
 The boat slipped along swiftly. In a quarter of an 
 hour she reached Jacksonville. The overseer had, there- 
 fore, little time to develop his pet theory, but he made the 
 best of it, 
 
 ^'JSTo, Zermah," said he. **No! If the blacks had 
 been in the majority, it would have made no difference. 
 And I tell you this, that whatever may be the result of 
 the war, we shall certainly go back to slavery, for slaves 
 are necessary to work the plantations.^' 
 
 *'Mr. Burbank does not think so, as you know,'' said 
 Zermah. 
 
 **I know, but I think Mr. Burbank is wrong notwith- 
 standing the respect I have for him. A black ought to 
 be part of the estate in the same way as the animals and 
 implements. If a horse could go away when it chose, if a 
 plough could change hands when it pleased, no work 
 would be possible. Let Mr. Burbank emancipate his 
 slaves, and you will see what will become of Camdle«s 
 Bay." 
 
 "He would have done so already," said Zermah, *'if 
 circumstances had allowed him to do so. And would you 
 like to know what will hap])en when the emancipatio» of 
 the slaves is proclaimed at Camdless Bay ? Not a single 
 black will leave the plantation, and nothing will be 
 changed, except the right to treat them as beasts. And, 
 as you have never exercised that right, Camdless Bay 
 will remain as it was."- 
 
 *'Do you consider you have converted me to jour 
 ideas ?" asked the overseer. 
 
 ''Not in the least. It would be useless to do so, and 
 for a very simple reason." 
 What is that ?" 
 
 " That at the bottom you think just the same as Mr. 
 Burbank, Mr. Carrol, Mr. Stannard, and every one els© 
 who has a generous heart and a just mind." 
 
 " Never, Zermah, never ! And I even affirm that what 
 Î say i^ in the best intei*ests of the blacks, If you leav§ 
 
48 texar's revenge. 
 
 them to themselves they will perish, and the race will soon 
 
 " I k^iiow nothing about that, Mr. Perry. But anyhow, 
 better the race should disappear than be condemned to 
 the perpetual degradation of slavery." ' ^ . . , 
 
 The overseer would have replied, for he had by no 
 means reached the end of his arguments; but the sail 
 was taken in and the boat ran alongside the pier, there to 
 await the return of Zermah and the overseer, who landed 
 at once and set off about their business. » o- 
 
 Jacksonville is situated on the left bank of the bt. 
 John's, at the end of a somewhat low plain, surrounded 
 by an horizon of magnificent forests, which form an eyer- 
 verdant frame. Fields of maize and sugar-cane and rice, 
 particularly by the river side, occupy a part of the plain. 
 
 Twelve years ago Jacksonville was but a big village, 
 with a suburb, where the black population lived m huts 
 built of mud and reeds. At the time of our story the 
 village was becoming a town. Its houses were becoming 
 more comfortable, its streets better planned and better 
 kept, and the number of its inhabitants doubled. And 
 the year before the chief town of Duval county had gained 
 considerably by being united by railway to lallahasseq, 
 which is the capital of Florida. 
 
 The overseer and Zermah noticed that there was a good 
 deal of excitement in the town. Some hundreds of the 
 inhabitants, Southerners of American birth, and mulattoes 
 and half-breeds of Spanish origin, were waiting for the 
 arrival of the steamboat, of which the smoke was m sight 
 down stream over a low point of the St. John s. Some 
 even, in order to reach the vessel more quickly, had started 
 towards her in rowing-boats, and others had gone off in a 
 few of those one-masted dogger-boats which are so common 
 at Jacksonville. ^ , ^ 
 
 There had been serious news from the war the evening 
 before. The scheme of operations hinted at in (filbert 
 Burbank's letter had become partly known. It had been 
 ascertained that Commodore Dupont's flotilla was getting 
 ready for sea, and that General Sherman was to take his 
 troops on board. Where was the expedition going ? 
 They could not say for certain, but everything pointed 
 to the St. John's and the co^çt of Florid^ as being its 
 Objectv 
 
4d 
 
 When the steamer, which came from Feniandma, had 
 stopped at Jacksonville, her passengers could only confirm 
 that news. They even added that Commodore Dupont 
 would probably anchor in St. Andrew's Bay, while waiting 
 for a favourable moment to force the passes at Amelia 
 Island and the estuary of the St. John's. 
 
 Immediately the mob swarmed up into the town, putting 
 to noisy flight the flock of urubus which do the scaven- 
 gering of the streets. Shouts arose, '*Down with the 
 Northerners ! Death to the Northerners !" Such were 
 the cries that Texar's friends started to further excite the 
 already excited population. The crowd gathered in f^ont 
 of the court-house, the police-office, and the episcopal 
 church. The authorities would have more trouble m 
 quieting the outbreak, particularly as Jacksonville, as we 
 have already remarked, was divided on this slave question. 
 And in times of trouble, the noisiest and the hastiest 
 make the law, and the moderate men eventually submit 
 to their domination. 
 
 Naturally in the taverns and tien das the shouts were 
 the loudest. There it was that the plans were formed for 
 offering an indomitable resistance to the invasion. 
 
 '*Let us send the militia to- Fernandina," said one. 
 
 "Let us sink some ships in thè channel of the St. 
 John's," said another. - n j. 
 
 " Let us run up some earthworks round the city, and get 
 the guns for them," said another. 
 
 "Let us send for help by the railway from Fernandina 
 to Keys." 
 
 " Let us put out the light at Pablo, and so prevent the 
 enemy's fleet getting in at night." 
 
 " Let us put down torpedoes in the river." 
 
 The torpedo was almost a new thing in the American 
 war, and although they were not too well acquainted with 
 the way to manage it, they were evidently longing to 
 use it. 
 
 "Above all," said one of the most excited orators at the 
 tienda of Torillo, "we should send to gaol all the North- 
 erners in the town, and all those Southerners who think 
 
 with them." , -, . -, 4. 
 
 It would have been very strange if somebody had not 
 brought forward this proposition, the ultima ratio of 
 sectaries everywhere. And, of course, it was received 
 
so 
 
 With cheers. Luckily for the honest people of Jackson- 
 ville the magistrates were to hesitate some time before 
 giving in to this popular prayer. 
 
 As she passed through the streets, Zermah took careful 
 notice of what was going on, so as to tell her master. He 
 would be seriously affected by the movement. If violent 
 measures were taken, such measures would not stop at the 
 town. They would extend beyond it to the plantations 
 in the county. Oamdless Bay would be one of the first 
 to bç visited. Hence the half-breed, in order to obtain 
 more precise information, called at Mr. Stannard's house 
 a little way out of the town. 
 
 _ This was a charming, comfortable dwelling, agreeably 
 situated in a sort of green oasis which the clearing-axe had 
 left in a corner of the plain. Under Alice's care the inside 
 as well as the outside of the house was excellently looked 
 after. 
 
 Zermah was received with great cordiality. At first 
 Alice spoke to her about Gilbert's letter, and Zermah was 
 able to tell her almost his very words. 
 
 Yes," said Alice, he is not far off now. But under 
 what circumstances will he come back to Florida ? And 
 what dangers may there not be for him before the expe- 
 dition is over !" 
 
 "Dangers, Alice?" said Mr. Stannard. "Do not be 
 nervous. Gilbert faced greater when cruising off the 
 coast of Georgia and in that Port Eoyal affair. I do not 
 think Florida's resistance will be very terrible or very 
 long. What can we do with this St. John's, which will 
 let the gunboats into the very heart of the countrv ? All 
 defence seems to me difficult, if not impossible." " 
 
 "May what you say be true," said Alice, "and may 
 heaven grant that the war will soon be over !" 
 
 " It will only end by wiping out the South," replied Mr. 
 Stannard. " That will take a long time, I am afraid; and 
 Jefferson Davis and his Generals— Lee, Johnston, and 
 Beauregard— will hold out for some time in the centre. 
 The Federals will not have an easy triumph over the Con- 
 federates. But as to Florida, that can easily be captured; 
 unfortunately its possession will not ensure the final 
 victory.^' 
 
 It is to be hoped that Gilbert will not be imprudent/' 
 
JACKSONVILLE. 
 
 51 
 
 Said Alice, joining her hands. " If he yields to the wish to 
 see his family for a few hours when he is so near thein — " 
 And seeing you, Miss Alice," said Zermah, *'for are 
 you not already one of the family ?" 
 "Yes, Zermah, in heart." 
 
 "No, Alice, there is nothing to be afraid of," said Mr. 
 Stannard. " Gilbert is too sensible to run any risk when 
 Commodore Dupont could occupy Florida in a few days; 
 there would be no excuse for the foolhardiness of coming 
 here until the Federals are masters." 
 
 Particularly now that people are more than ever ready 
 to break out into violence," answered Zermah. 
 
 The town, this morning," said Mr. Stannard, "is in a 
 very excited state. I saw who are the ringleaders, and I 
 heard them. Texar is with them, and is urging them on 
 and exciting them. The scoundrels will end by raising 
 the lower classes not only against the magistrates, but 
 against all who do not agree with them." 
 
 " Do you not think, Mr. Stannard," said Zermah, " that 
 it would be better for you to leave Jacksonville^ — at all 
 events for a short time ? It would be wisest not to come 
 back till after the coming of the Federal troops. Mr. 
 Burbank told me to tell you that he would be glad to see 
 you and Miss Alice at Castle House." 
 
 "Yes, I know," said Mr. Stannard. "I have not for- 
 gotten Mr. Burbank's offer. But is Castle House any 
 safer than Jacksonville ? If these adventurers become 
 masters here, will they not spread over the country, and 
 will the plantations escape their ravages ?" 
 
 "Mr. Stannard," said Zermah, "it seems to me that if, 
 there is any danger it would be better to be together." 
 
 "Zermah is right, father. It would be better for us all 
 to be at Camdless Bay." 
 
 "Certainly, Alice," said Mr. Stannard. "I am not 
 going to refuse Burbank^s invitation; but I don't think 
 the danger is so pressing. Zermah can tell our friends 
 that it will take me a few days more to put things in 
 order, and then we will avail ourselves of the hospitality 
 of Castle House." 
 
 " And when Mr. Gilbert arrives," said Zermah, " he 
 will at least find there all he loves." 
 
 Leaving Mr. Stannard and his daughter, Zermah made 
 
52 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 her way through the crowds, which grew more and more 
 excited, and regained the pier, where the overseer was 
 waiting for her. They got into the boat, and Mr. Perry 
 resumed the usual conversation at the very point he had 
 left it. 
 
 In saying that the danger was not imminent Mr. Stan- 
 nard was mistaken. Jacksonville was to have immediate 
 experience of the effects of the war. 
 
 The Federal Government acted th^ughout with much 
 circumspection; they proceeded step by step. Two years 
 after the outbreak of hostilities, Abraham Lincolsi had 
 still to proclaim the abolition of slavery throughout the 
 whole territory. Many months were still to elapse before 
 the president's message proposed to solve the slave ques- 
 tion by gradually buying out and emancipating the blacks, 
 before the vote was passed of $1,000,000, with the author- 
 ity, by way of indemnity, to give $300 for every slave 
 freed. If some of the Northern generals had been 
 authorized to suppress slavery in the counties invaded by 
 their armies, they had, up to then, disavowed it. Opinions 
 were not unanimous on the subject, and there were several 
 Unionist chiefs reported to be against the measure, as 
 being neither logical nor opportune. 
 
 Meanwhile the war dragged on, and much to the dis- 
 advantage of the Confederates. General Price, on the 
 13 th of February, had had to evacuate Arkansas with his 
 contingent of Missouri militia. 
 
 We have seen that Fort Henry was captured and 
 occupied by the Federals. Now they were attacking Fort 
 Donelson, which was defended by powerful artillery and 
 covered by three miles of works, embracing the little town 
 of Dover. Notwithstanding the cold and the snow, the 
 fort, attacked on the land by the 15,000 men under 
 General Grant and on the water by the gunboats of Com- 
 modore Foote, surrendered on the 14th of February, with 
 an entire division of men and materials of war. 
 
 This was a serious check for the Confederates. The 
 effect produced by the defeat was immense. As an imme- 
 diate consequence came the retreat of General Johnston, 
 who had to abandon the important town of Nashville on 
 the Cumberland. The inhabitants were seized with panic, 
 and left it as soon as he had gone, and a few days afterwards 
 
JACKSONVILLE. 
 
 53 
 
 tlie same thing happened at Columbus. The whole State 
 of Kentucky was thus in Federal hands. 
 
 We can easily imagine with what feelings of anger and 
 ideas of revenge these events were received in Florida. 
 The authorities were powerless to arrest the agitation, 
 which spread to the most distant villages in the counties. 
 The danger hourly increased for those who did not share 
 in the opinions of the Southerners and join in the plans 
 of resistance against the Federal troops. At Tallahassee 
 and St. Augustine there were troubles which were easily 
 put down ; but at Jacksonville the rising of the populace 
 threatened to degenerate into acts of unqualified violence. 
 
 The position at Oamdless Bay became more and more 
 disquieting. With his men so thoroughly devoted to him, 
 James Burbank might perhaps hold out for a time, 
 although it was then very difficult to procure arms and 
 ammunition in sufficient quantities. At Jacksonville, 
 Mr. Stannard was in great danger of losing his house, his 
 daughter, and all he possessed. James Burbank, knowing 
 how he was placed, wrote him letter after letter. He sent 
 many messengers asking him to come to Castle House 
 without delay. There he would be in comparative safety, 
 and if he had to find another retreat, if he had to take 
 refuge in the interior until the Federals had quieted the 
 country by their presence, it would be easier for him to 
 do so. 
 
 'Mr. Stannard at last resolved to leave Jacksonville and 
 take refuge at Camdless Bay. He started on the morning 
 of the 23rd, with as much secrecy as possible, and without 
 informing any one of his plans. A boat waited for him 
 at a little creek about a mile up the St. John's. Alice 
 and he reached it in safety, crossed the river, and landed 
 at the Camdless Bay pier, where the Burbanks were 
 waiting for them. 
 
 It is easy to imagine their reception. Was not Alice 
 already Mrs. Burbank's daughter ? Now they were re- 
 united. The dark days that were coming would be passed 
 together in greater safety and less anxiety. 
 
 It was indeed time to leave Jacksonville. The next 
 day Mr. Stannard 's house was attacked by a lot of 
 scoundrels, who marked their violence under a show of 
 local patriotism. The authorities had great diflaculty in 
 
54 
 
 ÏEXAe's EEVEISTGE. 
 
 saving the house from pillage, and in protecting some 
 other houses belonging to honest citizens who did not 
 share in the opinions of the mob. Evidently the hour 
 was coming when the magistrates would be replaced Uj 
 the chiefs of the rioters, who were doing their best to in- 
 crease the excitement. 
 
 As Mr. Stannard had told Zermah, Texar had left his 
 unknown retreat and was in Jacksonville among his 
 habitual companions, who had been recruited from the 
 very worst of the population, drawn from the plantations 
 up the river. These scoundrels had resolved that they 
 would have their way in the towns as they had had it in 
 the country. They corresponded with their adherents in 
 the different counties of Florida, and by keeping the 
 question of slavery well to the front, gained in numbers 
 every day. In a short time at Jacksonville, as at St. 
 Augustine, the vagabonds, adventurers, and backwoods- 
 men who had come crowding in, would become the masters 
 and have the military and civil power in their hands. 
 The militia and regular troops would hasten to make 
 common cause with them, as has often happened in times 
 of trouble when violence is the order of the day. 
 
 James Burbank was fully aware of what was passing. 
 Many of his confidential agents, on whom he could depend, 
 kept him informed of what was taking place at Jackson- 
 ville. He knew that Texar had reappeared there, and 
 that his detestable influence had extended over the whole 
 of the lower population which, like him, was of Spanish 
 origin. Such a man at the head of affairs was a direct 
 menace to Oamdless Bay. And so Burbank was making 
 ready for either resistance, if it werè possible, or retreat 
 if it became necessary to abandon Castle House to' fire 
 and pillage. Above all things to provide for the safety 
 of his family and friends was his first and constant care. 
 
 During these days Zermah's devotion knew no bounds. 
 At all hours she watched the boundaries of the planta- 
 tion, particularly on the river side. A few slaves, chosen 
 from among the most intelligent and best, lived day and 
 night at posts which had been assigned to them. Any 
 attempt against the estate would have been reported 
 immediately. The Burbanks would not be taken un- 
 awares, without having time to take refuge in Castle House, 
 
•4".' f s^nssissviir 's'CTs 
 
 pressure of public opinion the magirfrate^wei^ brought 
 to decide on a measure that would live a sort of Tt^»/ 
 t,on^o^hesW, partisans, whowS^^^^^^ 
 
 Burbank was the most important of the FJorida TilantPr» 
 That was all. 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 BEFORE THE COURT, 
 
 flash îhi^t7eceded'r'''P '■^'^'-ng- 
 What rreTh^v"'?"''^' T'^^'^'- a^hor tiS" 
 
 b^xpoS *° would^his peS 
 
"You shall not go, James." , . ^, - 
 It was Mrs. Burbank, who spoke in the name of all. 
 « No, Mr. Burbank," said Alice. You must not think 
 
 ^^"To'put yVurself in the power of such people," added 
 
 ^ Bulbank did not answer. When he first read the curt 
 order to appear he had become so angry that he could 
 scarcely restrain himself. What had happened to make 
 the magistrates so daring ? Had Texar's companions and 
 partisans found their way into 0*^^ ? Vhffwto 
 cured the dismissal of the authorities who had hitherto 
 acted with some moderation ? No. Overseer Perry ha^^ 
 returned in the afternoon from Jacksonville and brought 
 
 ^ Could Tt * be some event of the war ?" said Mr. Stan- 
 nard ; some advantage gained by the Southerners which 
 has led them to attack us ?" i Tf 
 
 - 1 am afraid that must be it," said Edward Carrol. " If 
 the North has experienced some check, these scoundrels 
 will fancy they are no more in danger from Oommo^ 
 dore Dupont, and are capable of proceeding to any 
 
 ^^'^Thev say that in Texas," said Mr. Stannard, the 
 Federal troops have had to retire before the mihtia, and 
 re-cross the Rio Grande, after a severe defeat at Valverde. 
 At least, that is what I was told by a Jacksonville man i 
 met about an hour ago." -, xi. * n ^« o« 
 
 '^Evidently that is what has made these fellows so 
 bold," said Carrol. .„ . 
 
 Then Sherman's army and Dupont's flotilla will not 
 come !" exclaimed Mrs. Burbank. 
 
 "It is only the 26th of February," said Ahce, and, 
 according to Gilbert's letter, the Federal ships will not be 
 ready for sea before the 28th." 
 
 "Then vou want the time to get down to the mouths 
 of the St. John's," added Mr. Stannard, " to force the 
 passes, clear the bar, and make a descent on Jacksonville. 
 That will take ten days." 
 
 " Ten days !" said Alice. . , , • 
 
 " Ten days !" added Mrs. Burbank. " And before then 
 what may not happen to us ?" 
 
BEFORE THE COURT. 
 
 51 
 
 James Burbank took no part in the conversation. He 
 was thinking. He was asking himself what he was to do. 
 To refuse to obey was to see the whole populace of Jack- 
 sonville advance on Camdless Bay with the open or tacit 
 approval of the authorities. How great would then be 
 the danger to his family ! Better risk his own safety than 
 theirs. If his life or liberty were in peril, better that the 
 peril should threaten him alone. 
 
 Mrs. Burbank looked at hpr husband with the keenest 
 anxiety. She felt that he was fighting a battle with him- 
 self. She hesitated to question him. Neither Alice, nor 
 Stannard, nor Carrol dare ask him what his answer was 
 to be. It was little Dy who, unconsciously, no doubt, 
 made herself the mouthpiece of the family. She had gone 
 near her father, who took her on his knee. 
 
 "Father !" said she. 
 
 "What is it, dear?" 
 
 " Are you going to those wicked people who want to do 
 you such harm ?" 
 
 *'Yes. I will go." 
 
 " James !" exclaimed Mrs. Burbank. 
 
 " I must ; it is my duty. I will go !" 
 
 James Burbank had spoken so resolutely that it was 
 useless ta say anything against his determination. He 
 had evidently thought over all the consequences. His 
 wife went and sat beside him, and put her arms round 
 him, but she said nothing. And what could she say? 
 
 "My friends," said Burbank, "it is possible that we 
 are exaggerating the importance of this arbitrary act. 
 What can they say against me? Nothing, as they know 
 well. Accuse me of my opinions? My opinions are my 
 own. I have never hidden them from my adversaries ; 
 and, as long as I live, I shall not hesitate to proclaim 
 them to their face." 
 
 " We will go with you, James!*' said Carrol. 
 
 " Yes," added Stannard. " We will not let you go to 
 Jacksonville alone." 
 
 "No, my friends," answered Burbank. "To me alone 
 comes the order to appear before the magistrates, and I 
 alone will go. I may be kept there for some days. It is, 
 therefore, better that you stay at Camdless Bay. To yon 
 I entrust my family during my absence*" 
 
58 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 " And you are really going?" said Dy. 
 
 " Yes, my little daughter," said Burbank playfully ; 
 ^*but if I do not lunch with you to-morrow I will come 
 back to dinner, and we'll pass the evening together. Now, 
 tell me if, while I am in Jacksonville, there is anything I 
 can buy you? What can I do to please you? What shall 
 I bring you?" 
 
 Bring yourself, father," said the child ; and at this 
 expression of what all felt, the family separated, after 
 Burbank had taken such measures of security as the occa- 
 sion required. 
 
 The night passed without an alarm. In the morning 
 Burbank was awake with the dawn, and was soon on his 
 way doWn the avenue of bamboos leading to the pier. 
 There he gave orders for a boat to be ready at eight o^clock 
 to take him across the river. 
 
 As he returned to Oastle House from the pier he was 
 met by Zermah. 
 
 Master," she said, '^your mind is made up? You are 
 going to Jacksonville?" 
 
 Yes, Zermah, and in the interest of all. You under- 
 stand, do you not?" 
 
 Yes, master. A refusal on your part would bring 
 Texar's mob on Camdless Bay." 
 
 And that is a serious danger which must be avoided 
 at all cost," said Burbank. 
 
 " Do you wish me to go with you?" 
 " On the contrary, I wish you to remain on the planta- 
 tion. It is necessary that you should be near my wife, 
 near my child, in case any danger should threaten them 
 before my return." 
 
 I will not leave them." 
 
 You have no news?" 
 
 No ! It is true, however, that suspicious characters 
 are prowling around the plantation. They have been 
 watched. Last night two or three boats crossed the river. 
 Do they think that Mr. Gilbert is with the Federals under 
 Commodore Dupont, and is coming secretly to Camdless 
 Bay?" 
 
 "My brave boy!" said Burbank. "No! he is too 
 sensible to be so rash." 
 " I am afraid ïexar ba? some suspicion on the subject, 
 
BEFORE THE COURT. 59 
 
 They tell me his influence gets greater every day. When 
 you are at Jacksonville beware of Texar, mastei*— " 
 
 " Yes, Zermah, as of a poisonous, reptile ! But I am 
 on my guard. While I am away, if he makes any attempt 
 against Castle House—" ^ 
 Never fear, master, for yourself • and never fear for 
 us. Your slaves will defend the plantation, and, if neces- 
 ^ry, will die to the last man. They are devoted to you. 
 ihey love you. I know what they think, what they say. 
 what they will do. There have been people here from other 
 plantations to raise them against you, but they will not 
 listen to them. They are all one family with yours, and 
 you can depend upon them." 
 
 "I know it, Zermah, and I trust to them." 
 Burbank returned to the house. The moment came ; 
 he bid tarewell to his wife, his daughter, and Alice He 
 promised them to do nothing to provoke the magistrates 
 to violence. He would be sure to come back that niffht. 
 He bid everybody good-bye and left them. Certainly 
 James Burbank had much to fear for himself : but there 
 was much to be feared for those he left at Castle House 
 btannard and Carrol went with him to the landing-place 
 at the end of the avenue. There he gave them his last 
 instructions ; and with a beautiful breeze from the south- 
 west, the boat rapidly left the pier of Camdless Bay 
 
 An hour afterwards, about ten o'clock, Burbank landed 
 at Jacksonville. The quay was then deserted. There 
 were only a few sailors discharging the cargoes of the 
 dogger-boats. He was not recognized; his arrival was 
 not announced at all, and he was able to cross to the 
 end 0Ï the harbour and call on one of his friends Mr 
 Harvey. ' 
 
 Mr. Harvey was much surprised and uneasy at seeing 
 him. He had not thought that he would have obeyed thi 
 order to present himself at the court. In the town it was 
 not thought that he would. As to who had been the cause 
 of the order being given, Mr. Harvey did not know. Prob- 
 ably, with a view to satisfy public opinion, the magistrates 
 were going to ask him to explain his conduct since the 
 beginning of the war, particularly with regard to his 
 slaves. Perhaps they were going to keep the richest 
 -tederal farmer m Florida as a hostage. Would it not 
 
go texab's eevengk. 
 
 have been better to have stopped at Camdless Bay ? So 
 thought Mr. Harvey. Could he not go back as nobody 
 knew he had come ? . „ 
 
 Burbank had not oorae merely to go back agam ^e 
 wished to know what it was all about, and he would know 
 
 Some very interesting questions as to the state of affairs 
 generally were then put by him to his corresponde' 
 ^ Had the authorities been replaced by the ringleaders of 
 
 %Xyet, but their position had become precarious. 
 
 Had the Spaniard Texar any hand m the popular move- 
 ment that was about to take place ? , 
 
 Yes. He was looked upon as the leader of the ad- 
 vanced slave-holding party in Florida. He and his com- 
 panions would probably soon be masters of the town. 
 
 Had the last news from the war been confirmed ? 
 
 Tt had been. The organization of the Southern btates 
 had just been complete!. On the 32nd of February the 
 Government had been definitely formed, with Jefierson 
 Davis as President and Stephens as Vice-President, and 
 they had been invested with power for six years. Con- 
 gress, composed of two houses had assembled at Eich- 
 mond. Jefferson Davis, three days before had asked for 
 Smpnlsory service. Since then the Confederates had had 
 a few successes of no great importance On the 34th, an 
 important detachment of McOlellan's had crossed the 
 Upper Potomac, and the Southerners had consequently 
 evacuated Columbus. A great batt e was imminent on 
 the Mississippi between them and the army of General 
 
 *^ And how about the squadron that Dupont was to bring 
 tothemouths of the St. John's? 
 
 Rumours were afloat that in ten days it would attempt 
 to force the passes. If Texar and his Partisans were 
 meditating an outbreak to get the town into their hands, 
 
 no time was to be lost. , -, i -ii . „„;i w>.f. 
 
 Such was the state of affairs at Jacksonville; and who 
 could tell if the Burbank incident would not hasten tne 
 
 "^Whe'ï'thè time came for him to appear James Bur- 
 bank left his friend's house and ^^^l^ed to the Courts of 
 Justice, There was much excitement m the streets. 
 
BEFORE THE COUEar. 
 
 61 
 
 The people were crowding towards the courts. It seemed 
 as though the case, though it might be of little impor- 
 tance in itself, would bring about a rising that might have 
 deplorable consequences. 
 
 The square was full of people, mostly of the poorer 
 whites, half-breeds, and negroes. Naturally they were 
 noisy. If those who could obtain admission to the court 
 we fu^, a good many of Texar's partisans would never- 
 theless -be there. With them would be a sprinkling of 
 law-abiding citizens oppose to such an act of injustice, bu 
 it would be difficult for them to withstand the party benl 
 on removing the authorities of Jacksonville. 
 
 As soon as Burbank appeared in the square he was rec- 
 ognized. A loud shouting arose; and it was not in his 
 favour. ^ A few courageous citizens surrounded him, hav- 
 ing no intention that an honourable and much-respected 
 man should be exposed to the brutalities of the mob. In 
 obeying the summons he had received Burbank had 
 shown his dignity and decision of character, and his doing 
 so was worthy of recognition. He was therefore able to 
 make his way across the square. He reached the door of 
 the court, entered, and stopped at the bar to which he 
 had been so unjustly summoned. 
 
 The chief magistrate of the town and his assistants 
 were already on the bench. They were moderate, reason- 
 able men. The menaces and recriminations to which 
 they had been subject ever since the outbreak of the war 
 may be imagined. To remain at their posts required no 
 little courage and energy. It was only because the slave 
 question caused less excitement in Florida than in the 
 other states of the South that they had been able to with- 
 stand the attacks of the turbulent party. Secessionist 
 ideas were, however, making way; and with them the in- 
 fluence of the lower classes and adventurous vagabonds 
 daily increased; and it was to satisfy public opinion, to a 
 certain extent under the pressure of the more violent 
 agitators, that the magistrates had decided to summon 
 James Burbank, on information given by one of their 
 leaders— the Spaniard Texar. 
 
 The murmur— of approbation from one side, of disap- 
 probation from another— which greeted the proprietor of 
 Camdless Bay as he entered the court soon subsided. 
 
62 
 
 texae's revenge. 
 
 Erect, with the dauntless look of a man that had never 
 failed, he did not even wait for the magistrate to ask him 
 the usual questions, but in a firm voice he said,- — 
 
 " You asked for James Burbank. James Burbank is 
 before you/' 
 
 After the first formalities, to which Burbank answered 
 very briefly, he said, Of what am I accused ?" 
 
 "Of opposing by word, and probably by deed, such 
 ideas and hopes as are now held by the majority in 
 Florida/' 
 
 " And who is my accuser ?" 
 
 " I am. " 
 
 It was Texar. Burbank recognized his voice. He did 
 not even turn his head; he contented himself with 
 shrugging his shoulders in token of his contempt for his 
 accuser. 
 
 On the other hand, Texar's partisans encouraged their 
 leader by voice and gesture. 
 
 And in the first place," said he, "I tell James Bur- 
 bank to his face that he is a Northerner ! His presence 
 at Jacksonville, in a Confederate State, is a standing in- 
 sult. He is a Northerner at heart and by birth; why has 
 he not gone back to the North ?" 
 
 " I am in Florida," replied Burbank, "because it suits 
 me to be there. I have lived in the county for twenty 
 years. If I was not born in it you know at least where I 
 came from ; and that is more than you can say for those 
 whose past is unknown, and who live not in the light of 
 day, and whose private life ought to be inquired into 
 much more than mine." 
 
 Although this was a direct attack on Texar, he made 
 no sign. 
 
 " What next ?" asked Burbank. 
 
 "Next," said the Spaniard, "when the country h?is 
 risen for the maintenance of slavery, and is ready to shed 
 its blood to repulse the Federal troops, I accuse James 
 Burbank of being an anti-slavery man, and the head of an 
 anti-slavery propaganda." 
 
 " James Burbank," said the magistrate, " in the cir- 
 cumstances in which we are placed, you will understand 
 that this charge is of exceptional gravity. I shall be gla<? 
 to have your answer." 
 
BEFORE THE COUET. 
 
 63 
 
 " Sir/' said Burbank, my answer is very simple. I 
 have assisted in no propaganda, nor do I intend doing so. 
 The charge is false. As to my opinions on slavery, if I 
 am permitted to refer to them here, I may say that I am 
 an abolitionist! I deplore the strife that is raging between 
 the South and the North. I am afraid that the South is 
 marching to inevitable disaster, and it is in her own. in- 
 terest that I wish to see her on another road instead of 
 engaging in a war against common sense. You will re- 
 member some day that those who spoke to you as I am 
 speaking were in the right. When the time has come for 
 a change, for a step in moral progress, it is fooiit^h to 
 withstand it. The separation of the North from the 
 South would be a crime against the American country. 
 Neither reason, nor justice, nor force is on your side, and 
 the crime will never be accomplished." 
 
 These words were received with a few shouts of ap- 
 proval, speedily drowned in more noisy demonstrations. 
 The majority were not prepared to accept them. 
 
 When the magistrate had obtained silence in the court 
 James Burbank continued: — 
 
 "And now," said he, "I am ready for more precise 
 charges, as to facts, be it understood, and I will reply to 
 them when you tell me what they are." 
 
 The magistrates were much embarrassed by this digni- 
 fied bearing. They knew of no fact that could be charged 
 against Mr. Bnrbank. Their object had been to let the 
 charges be made and let them be proved, if proofs existed. 
 
 Texar saw that he must explain in greater detail or he 
 would fail. 
 
 Be it so," said he. But it is not my notion of what 
 is best to invoke freedom of opinion on the slav^ question 
 when the country has risen in support of the cause. But 
 if James Bnrbank has the right to think as he likes on 
 the subject— if it is true that he abstains from making 
 converts to his ideas, at least he might abstain from corre- 
 sponding with the enemy at the gates of Florida." 
 
 This accusation of complicity with the Federals was a 
 very serious one at that time, and hence the thrill of ex- 
 citement that ran through the audience. It was, how- 
 ever, still vague, and had to be proved. 
 
 " You pretend that I correspond with the enemy V 
 
64 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 " Yes," said Texar. 
 Prove it. I should like you to." 
 
 " Very well," said Texar. About three weeks ago a 
 messenger to James Burbank left the Federal army, or 
 rather, the flotilla of Commodore Dupont. The man 
 came to Oamdless Bay, and he was followed from the time 
 he left the plantation till he re-crossed the frontier. Do 
 you deny that?" 
 
 Evidently this was the messenger who had brought the 
 young lieutenant's letter. Texar's spies had not been 
 deceived. This time the charge was definite, and Bur- 
 bank's reply was anxiously waited for. 
 
 He did not hesitate to tell them what was only the 
 truth. 
 
 Yes," said he, " a man did come about that time to 
 Oamdless Bay, but the man was only a messenger. He 
 did not belong to the Federal army, and he simply brought 
 a letter from my son — " 
 
 **From your son,^' interrupted Texar; "from your 
 son, who, if we are correctly informed, is in the Unionist 
 service, who is, perhaps, in the van of the invaders now 
 on the march to Florida." 
 
 The vehemence with which Texar pronounced these 
 words made a strong impression on the people in the 
 court. If James Burbank, after admitting that he had 
 received a letter from his son, admitted that Gilbert was 
 in the Federal army, how could he get over the charge of 
 being in communication with the enemies of the South? 
 
 "Will you reply to the evidence against your son?" 
 asked the magistrate. 
 
 " No, sir," replied Burbank, I have nothing to say in 
 the matter. There is no charge against my son that I 
 know of. I alone am accused of holding communication 
 with the Federal army, and I deny it, and I defy this man 
 who attacks me on account of his own personal hatred 
 towards me to bring forward a single proof." 
 
 He admits, then, that his son is now fighting against 
 the Confederates !" exclaimed Texar. 
 
 ** I admit nothing," said Burbank. " It is for you to 
 prove the charge you bring against me." 
 
 " Good Î I will prove it," replied Texar. " In a few 
 days I shall be in possession of the proof you ask, and 
 wli«H I have it — 
 
ÊEP^OliBÎ TSE ÔOUBT. 
 
 65 
 
 "When you have it/' replied the magistrate, *^we can 
 take it into consideration. Until then, I do not see what 
 charges Mr. Burbank has to answer." 
 In deciding in this way the magistrate acted like an 
 
 he was wrong to be right with a public so prejudiced 
 against the planter of Camdless Bay. And then followed 
 an ominous murmuring, and even protesting on the part 
 of Texar's companions. The Spaniard saw how things 
 were going, and abandoning the charges against Gilbert 
 Burbank, returned to those against his father. 
 
 Yes," he said, I will prove all that I have advanced 
 with regard to James Burbank's being in communication 
 with the enemy preparing to invade Florida. Meanwhile 
 the opinions. he publicly professes — opinions so dangerous 
 for the cause of slavery — constitute a public danger; and, 
 in the name of all the slaveholders who will not submit to 
 the yoke of the North, I demand that he be secured." 
 
 " Yes ! yes !" exclaimed the partisans of Texar, while 
 some of the audience endeavoured in vain to protest 
 against the unjustifiable proposal. 
 
 The magistrate succeeded in quieting the assembly, and 
 then Burbank replied, — 
 
 " I îshall do all that my strength and my rights allow 
 me to oppose such tyranny. I am an abolitionist. And 
 I have already told you so. But opinion is free, I sup- 
 pose, in a system of government founded on freedom. 
 Up to now it has not been a crime to be an anti-slavery 
 man, and as I am not a criminal the law is powerless to 
 punish me." 
 
 Renewed shouts of approval seemed to show that Bur- 
 bank was getting the best of it. Texar saw xhat the time 
 had come to change his batteries. We need not, there- 
 fore, be surprised when he hurled at Burbank the follow- 
 ing unexpected challenge: — 
 
 Well, if you do not believe in slavery, why do you not 
 free your own slaves ?" 
 
 " 1 will do so," answered James Burbank. I will do 
 so as soon as the time comes." 
 
 " Indeed ! That means you will do so when the Fed- 
 eral army is in possession of Florida. You want Sher- 
 man's soldiers and Dupont's sailors to give you courage 
 
 honest man. He was 
 
 unfortunately 
 
66 
 
 texa-r's revkngè. 
 
 to act up to your ideas ! That is prudent, but it is cow- 
 ardly." 
 
 " Cowardly !" exclaimed Burbank indignantly, and not 
 seeing the snare spread for him. 
 
 "Yes cowardly," said Texar. ^'You dare not put 
 your ideas into practice ! You only want to curry })opa- 
 larity with the Northerners! You are an abolitioiiisr, 
 only for appearance, sake; at heart you are a slavery man." 
 
 James Burbank drew himself up. He gave his oppo- 
 nent a long look of scorn. Such hypocrisy was mani- 
 festly absurdly out of keeping with his frank, loyal exist- 
 ence. In a clear, decided tone, that could be heard by 
 all, he said: — 
 
 "Inhabitants of Jacksonville, from this day forth I 
 shall not keep a slave. This very day I proclaim the 
 abolition of slavery over the whole plantation of Camdless 
 Bay." 
 
 At first this bold declaration was greeted with cheers. 
 It had required true courage to do such a thing — courage 
 more than prudence perhaps. Burbank had allowed his 
 indignation to get the better of him. 
 
 It was evident that his action would compromise the 
 interests of the other Florida planters, and at once a re- 
 action took place in the court. The applause was silenced 
 by the vociferations not bnly of those who were slave- 
 liolders on principle, but of those who till then had been 
 indifferent 6n the slavery question. 
 ^ And Texar's friends would have profited by this reac- 
 tion to commit some act of violence on James Burbank if 
 the Spaniard himself had not restrained them. 
 
 " Leave him alone," said he. " Burbank has disarmed 
 himself. Now he is ours !" 
 
 His meaning was immediately understood, and his pji;- 
 tisans refrained from any act of violence. He even felt no 
 misgivings when the magistrates told Burbank he might 
 go — there was no proof to warrant his incarceration. If the 
 Spaniard could make good his words later on, and produce 
 witnesses to show that Burbank was in communication 
 with the enemy, the magistrates could take action. Until 
 then Burbank was free. 
 
 True, the declaration of enfranchisement relative to 
 Camdless Bay was made publicly, and might eventually 
 
THÏJ LASÏ SLAVE. 
 
 67 
 
 eei-ve as a pretence on the part of the mob for proceedings 
 against the authorities of the town. t 
 
 As he left the court Burbank was followed by a dis- 
 orderly crowd very evilly disposed towards him, but the 
 police kept them from assaulting him. There were 
 shouts and threats, but no acts of violence. Evidently 
 Texar'^ influence protected him. 
 
 He reached 'the quay, where his boat was waiting. 
 There he took leave of his friend Mr. Harvey; and then, 
 pushing off, he was soon out of range of the vociferations 
 with which the rabble of Jacksonville saluted him as he 
 left them. 
 
 As the tide was going down, the boat took at least two 
 hours to get across to Camdless Bay, where the family 
 were waiting for him. Great was their joy when they 
 saw him coming back. Many reasons had they had for 
 fearing he would be kept away from them. 
 
 "No," said he to little Dy as he kissed her; " I prom- 
 ised to come home to dinner, my dear, and you know I 
 never brèak my promises." 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 THE LAST SLAVE. 
 
 That evening James Burbank told his people what had 
 happened at the court. Texar's hateful conduct was re- 
 vealed. It was at his instigation that the summons had 
 been sent to Camdless Bay. The conduct of the magis- 
 trates had been worthy of praise. When the charge of 
 communicating with the Federals had been made they had 
 asked for the proof, and as the proof was not forthcoming 
 jBurbank was set at liberty. 
 
 With these vague charges Gilbert's name had been 
 mixed up. There could not be much doubt that the 
 young man was with the Northern army. Was not J ames 
 Burbank's refusal a half -admission that the assertion was 
 true ? And consequently great was the fear and anxiety 
 
6g 
 
 on the part of Mrs. Burbank, and Alice, and all the family. 
 If the son could not be got at would not the rabble of 
 Jacksonville take vengeance on his father ? Texar had 
 boasted that in a few days he would produce his proof; 
 and it was not impossible that he could do so. What 
 would have to be done then ? 
 
 Poor Gilbert/' said Mrs. Burbank, to know he is so 
 near to Texar, who will stop at nothing to attain his 
 end.'' ^ 
 
 "Could we not let him know what is happening at 
 Jacksonville ?" asked Alice. 
 
 " Yes," said Mr. Stannard, "we might let him know 
 that the slightest imprudence on his part will have the 
 most deplorable consequences for his and him." 
 
 "And how are you to let him know?" asked James 
 Burbank. "There are spies all round the plantation; 
 there can be no doubt of that. The messenger Gilbert 
 sent was watched back to the frontier. Every letter we 
 write may fall into Texar's hands. Ef^y man we send 
 with a verbal message may be arrested on the road. ISTo, 
 my friends, do not try to make matters worse. May 
 heaven send the Federals into Florida without delay ! 
 It is time they came now; the minority of honest people 
 is threatened by the scoundrels of the country." 
 
 J ames Burbank was right. Owing to the watch kept 
 round the plantation it would be very imprudent to hold 
 any communication with Gilbert. And the time was ap- 
 proaching when he and his people would be in safety under 
 the protection of the Federal army. 
 
 In fact, it was the very next morning that Commodore 
 Dupont was to start from his anchorage at Edi&to. In 
 three days his flotilla would have dropped down the 
 Georgia coast and reached St. Andrew's Bay. 
 
 Then James Burbank told his friends of the very serious 
 matter that had happened before the magistrates; how he 
 had been led to reply to Texar's taunt as to the slaves at 
 Camdless Bay. Strong in his right, strong in his con- 
 science, he had publicly declared the abolition of slavery 
 on his estate. This was what no Southern state had yet 
 allowed to be proclaimed without having been obliged by 
 the fortune of war. He had done it entirely of his own 
 free will. 
 
69 
 
 The declaration was as bold as it was magnanimous. 
 What would be its consequences no one could foresee. 
 Evidently it would not make Burbank's position less 
 hazardous in this slave-holding country. It might, per- 
 haps, provoke some desire of revolt among the slaves on 
 other plantations. That did not matter ! His friends, 
 excited by the grandeur of the action, fully approved of 
 what Burbank had done. 
 
 James," said Mrs. Burbank, whatever may happen, 
 you did quite right to reply in that way to Texar's odious 
 insinuations. 
 
 ( " We are proud of you, father said Alice, giving Mr. 
 Burbank the name for the first time. 
 
 And so, my dear girl,'' said James Burbank, " when 
 Gilbert and his Federals enter Florida they will not find 
 a single slave at Oamdless Bay.'' 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. Burbank," said Zermah. I thank 
 you for my companions and myself. As far as I am 
 concerned I never felt I was a slave. Your kindness and 
 generosity have always made me seem like as free as I am 
 to-day." 
 
 ''Quite so, Zermah," said Mrs. Burbank. ''Slave or 
 free, we shall love you none the less." 
 
 Zermah vainly tried to hide her emotion. She took 
 Dy in her arms and clasped her to her bosom. 
 
 Carrol and Stannard cordially shook hands with Bur- 
 bank to show how they applauded his deed of daring— and 
 justice. 
 
 Evidently the Burbank family in their generous en- * 
 thusiasm forgot all about the complications to which the 
 act might give rise. 
 
 No one at Camdless Bay would think of blaming James 
 Burbank, unless perhaps Mr. Perry, the overseer, when 
 he heard what had taken place. But he was away on duty 
 and would not be back till late at night. 
 
 When the family gathering broke up, Mr. Burbank told 
 them that next morning he would give the slaves their 
 liberty. 
 
 "We will be with you, James," said Mrs. Burbank, 
 " when you tell them they are free." 
 " Yes, so will all of us." said Carrol. 
 *' And me, too I" said little Dy. 
 
" Yes, my dear; you too." . 
 "Zermah/' said the little girl, " are you going to leave 
 us now 
 
 m, my child !" said Zermah. " No, I will never 
 
 ^^Yn fCmorning, the first person Mr. Burbank met in the 
 private warden was Perry the overseer. As the secret had 
 been kept, he had heard nothing about it. He soon 
 heard it from the lips of his master— much to his amaze- 
 ment. ^ 
 
 Oh, Mr. James ! oh, Mr. James ! 
 The worthy man was quite astounded, and other words 
 
 failed him. . „ ^ 
 
 But that ought not to surprise you. Perry, said Bur- 
 bank I am only anticipating matters. You know that 
 the enfranchisement of the blacks is an act imposed on 
 every State that is careful of its dignity." . 
 " Its dignity, Mr. James ! What sort of a thing is this 
 
 ^^^^Yoii do not understand the word ' dignity,' Perry ? 
 Well, careful of its interests !" 
 
 its interests— its interests, Mr. J ames ! You say care- 
 ful of its interests !" • -ux « 
 " Certainly, and the future will show you I am right. , 
 " But where are we to get the labour for the plantation, 
 Mr. Burbank ?" 
 
 " Amongst the blacks. Perry. 
 
 " But if the blacks are free not to work they will not 
 
 ^^"^They will work; and, what is more, work with more 
 zeal and more pleasure, for their condition will better 
 
 But your blacks, Mr. James ! Your blacks will begin 
 bv leaving; you." . , , 
 
 " I shall be much astonished if a single one does any- 
 
 thins: of the sort." ^ ^ , , ^ ^ 
 
 "But I am no longer overseer of the slaves at Camdless 
 
 No but you are overseer at Camdless Bay; and I do 
 not suppose your position will be any the worse for com- 
 manding free men instead of slaves." 
 
 " My dear Perry, I warn you that I have an answer for 
 
T^MË tASt St AVI. ^1 
 
 all your buts. Look after what you have to do regarding 
 a measure which you cannot prevent, and of which all my 
 lamily approve. " *^ 
 ''And do the blacks know nothing about it ^" 
 ''Not yet/' said Burbank; '^and do not say anything 
 about It to them. They shall be told it to-day. You can 
 assemble them in the park at three o'clock this afternoon, 
 and tell them I have a communication to make to them " 
 ihen the overseer retired with many a sesture of as- 
 tonishment. 
 
 " Blacks who are not slaves! Blacks who will work for 
 themselves ! Blacks who will have to look after their 
 own wants ! It is a regular capsize of the social order î 
 It IS the upsettmg of all human law ! It is against nature 
 — yes, against nature !" 
 
 During the morning Burbank, Stannard, and Carrol 
 went out in the break to visit the northern boundary of 
 the plaîitation. The slaves were busy at their usual work 
 in the fieids of rice and coffee-shrubs and sugar-canes. 
 Ihere was tlie same bustle going On in the workshops and 
 saw-miUs. The secret liad been well kept. JSTo commu- 
 nication had been established between Jacksonville and 
 Camdless Bay. Those who were so directly interested 
 knew nothing of James Burbank's project. 
 
 In driving along the boundary of the estate Burbank 
 and his friends wished to assure themselves that the 
 neighbourhood of the plantation presented nothing sus- 
 picious. After yesterday's declaration it was to be feared 
 that some of the Jackso,n ville mob or the people of the 
 country round might find their way to Camdless Bay.. 
 But nothing of the sort was to be seen. No prowlers 
 were noticed even on the bank of the river or along the 
 bt. John s. ihe Shannon, which passed at ten o'clock 
 did not stop at the pier, but continued her voyage to Pi- 
 colata. Neither up stream nor down stream was there 
 anything to alarm the inhabitants of Castle House 
 
 A little before noon Burbank. Stannard, and'Carrol 
 repassed the bridge into the enclosure and entered the 
 House ihe family were waiting for lunch. They 
 seemed less anxious and talked more at their ease It 
 seerned as though the course of events had paused for a' 
 while. Probably the energy of the Jacksonville magis- 
 
TfiXAR*S REVENGE. 
 
 tmtes had put a check on the violent spirits of Texar*s 
 party. If that state of things continued for a day or so, 
 Florida would be occupied by the Federal army, and anti- 
 slavery men, whether Northerners or Southerners, would 
 be in safety. 
 
 James Burbank could thus proceed to the ceremony of 
 emancipation— the first action of the kind that had ever 
 voluntarily taken place in a slave State. 
 
 Of all the blacks on the plantation, the one who would 
 be most gratified was evidently a fellow of about twenty, 
 whose name was Pvgnialion, or Pyg, as he was more com- 
 monly called. He'looked after the servants' quarters at 
 Castle House, and so lived there. He did not work m 
 the fields, nor in the factories, nor in the shops. Truth 
 to tell, Pvgmalion was a ridiculous, vain, idle fellow, 
 whose faults his master very kindly overlooked. Since 
 the slave question had come up, he had beenh(>ard to de- 
 claim in sounding phrases about human liberty. On all 
 occasions he indulged in pretentious speeches to his fel- 
 low negroes, and was generally laughed down. As they 
 said, he tried to ride a great horse when even a donkey 
 would have thrown him. Many discussions had he had 
 with Mr. Perry when the overseer was in a humour to 
 listen to him; and we can imagine the enthusiasm with 
 which he would welcome an act of enfranchisement that 
 gave him the dignity of manhood. ^ 
 
 The negroes had been told to assemble in the private 
 park in front of Castle House, as an important communi- 
 cati(jn was to be made to them by the planter. 
 
 A little before three o'clock— the time fixed for the 
 meeting— the slaves began to assemble. They had not 
 gone to work after the midday meal; and had tidied 
 themselves up and changed their working clothes as was 
 usual with them when admitted within the pahsades. 
 At the barracoons there had been great excitement, and 
 the overseer had walked from one to the other growling 
 to himself, — , 
 When I think that at this moment we can buy and 
 sell these fellows as if they were merchandise, and in 
 another hour we shall be able to do nothing of the sort ! 
 Yes ! I will say so to the last ! Mr. Burbank, you can 
 do what you like and say what you like, and so can Près- 
 
THE LAST SLAVE. 
 
 73 
 
 ident Lincoln, and so can all the Federals of the North, 
 and all the liberals of the world !" 
 
 And liere PjgmalioA, who knew nothing as yet, found 
 himself face to face with the overseer. 
 
 Why are we to be called together, please, Mr. Perry?" 
 asked he. "Do you know?" 
 
 "Yes, idiot! It is to—" 
 
 The overseer stopped, not wishing to betray the secret. 
 An idea occurred to him. 
 " Come here, Pyg," he said. 
 Pygmalion approached. 
 
 " Have I ever pulled your ear for you, my boy 
 
 " Yes, Mr. Perry, for contrary to all justice — human or 
 
 divine — you have a right to do so." 
 
 " Well, as it is my right I am going to use it once 
 
 more !" 
 
 And without heeding the cries of Pyg, but without do- 
 ing him any serious hurt, he pulled the ears which were 
 ah-eady of tolerable length. ^ And much did it relieve the 
 overseer to take advantage of his right for the last time. 
 
 At three o^clock James Burbank and his people ap- 
 peared on the terrace at Castle House. Before them 
 stood seven hundred slaves, men, women, and children, 
 among them a score of old negroes, who, when they were 
 past work, found a comfortable retreat for old age in the 
 Camdless Bay barracoons. 
 
 Deep silence fell on all. At a gesture from Mr. Bur- 
 bank the overseer made the negroes form up closer, so 
 that they could distinctly hear what was said to them. 
 
 "My friends," said James Burbank, "you know that 
 a civil war has been raging for a long time in the United 
 States. The real cause of that war is the question of 
 slavery. The South is only fighting for slavery, in which 
 it thinks its interests are bound up and which it wishes 
 to maintain. The North, in the name of humanity, de- 
 sires to put an end to it in America. God has heli)ed tlie 
 defenders of a righteous cause, and victory has already 
 more than once declared for those who are fighting for 
 the freedom of a race. For some time, as everybody 
 knows, I have shared in the opinions of the North with- 
 out being able to put them in practice. But now certain 
 things have happened, and I can lose no time in acting up 
 
74 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 to my ideas. Listen, then, to what I have to tell you in 
 the name of all my family.'' 
 
 There was a subdued murmur of emotion in the crowd, 
 but it died away almost instantly, and then James Bur- 
 bank, in a voice that could be heard by all, made the fol- 
 lowing declaration: — 
 
 ''From this 28th of February, 1862, henceforth the 
 slaves on this plantation are free. They can leave here or 
 stay here as they please. There are now none but free 
 men at Camdless Bay." ^ 
 
 The first greeting from those who had thus ceased to 
 be slaves was a loud cheering. Arms were lifted in sign 
 of thankfulness. The name of Burbank was shouted 
 agai^i and again. The crowd rushed to the terrace. 
 Men, women, and children wished to kiss the hands of 
 their liberator. The enthusiasm was indescribable, and it 
 was all the more vigorous from being unprepared. As 
 to Pygmalion, we can imagine how he gesticulated and 
 perorated and attitudinized. 
 
 Then an old negro, the oldest on the plantation, ad- 
 vanced to the steps of the terrace. Then he lifted his 
 head, and, speaking with much emotion, said, — 
 
 In the name of the old slaves of Camdless Bay, who 
 are now free, I thank you, Mr. Burbank, for having let us 
 hear the first words of freedom ever spoken in the State 
 of Florida. 
 
 As he spoke the old negro slowly mounted the steps, 
 and kissed James Burbank's hands; and then, as little 
 Dy stretched out her arms to him, he lifted her up and 
 held her out to his comrades. 
 
 " Hurray Î Hurray for Mr. Burbank 
 
 The joyous shouts again rent the air, loud enough to 
 carry to Jacksonville, on the other bank of the St. John's, 
 the news of the great deed that had been done. 
 
 The family were deeply moved. In vain did they try 
 to quiet these shouts of enthusiasm. It was Zermah who 
 succeeded in procuring silence as she advanced to the 
 edge of the terrace to speak. 
 
 " My friends," said she, " we are now free; thanks to 
 the generosity, to the humanity of him who was our mas- 
 ter, the best of masters !" 
 
 "Yes! yes!" shouted hundreds of voices in one great 
 shout of gratitude. 
 
THE LAST SLAVE. 
 
 15 
 
 We can now go where we please. We can, if we like, 
 avail ourselves of our liberty to leave the plantation. As 
 for me, I will follow the instinct of iny heart; and I am 
 sure that most of you will do as I do. ' For six years I 
 have lived at Camdless Bay. My husband and I have 
 lived here and we wish to die here. I ask Mr. Burbank 
 to keep us now we are free as he kept ns when we were 
 slaves. Those who wish him to do so — " 
 "All! all!" 
 
 And the words repeated a thousand times showed how 
 much the master of Camdless Bay was appreciated, and 
 proved the bond of friendship and gratitude that united 
 all on the estate. 
 
 James Burbank then spoke. He told all those who 
 wished to remain on the plantation that they might do 
 so under new conditions; all that was to be done was to 
 agree what price should be paid for their labour. It was 
 necessary that the matter should be finished in due form, 
 and consequently each of the negroes would now receive 
 a certificate of liberation. 
 
 To issue these was the duty of the assistant overseers. 
 Ever since Mr. Burbank had decided to free his slaves he 
 had had these papers prepared, and as negro after negro 
 came up to receive them, most affecting were the demon- 
 strations of gratitude. 
 
 The end of the day was devoted to rejoicing. In the 
 morning the blacks would return to their ordinary work, 
 but to-day must be given over to festivity. The Burbanks, 
 as they walked among the crowd, were greeted with tokens 
 of the sincerest friendship and assurances of boundless 
 devotion. 
 
 But among the crowd overseer Perry moved like a lost 
 
 soul. 
 
 " Well, Perry," said Mr. Burbank, "what say you?" 
 
 **I say, Mr. James, that although they are free, these 
 Africans are none the less Africans and have not changed 
 their colour. They were born black and they will die 
 black." 
 
 " But they will live white," said Burbank with a smile, 
 ** and that is everything!" 
 
 That evening the dinner at Castle House was a happy 
 one; and more confidence was felt as to the future. In a 
 
texar's revenge. 
 
 few days the security of Florida would be completely 
 assured. No bad news h^d come from Jacksonville. It 
 was possible that James Burbank's conduct before the 
 magistrates had had a favourable impression on the major- 
 ity of the inhabitants. . 
 
 One of the company at dinner was Mr. Overseer Perry, 
 who had been obliged to help in what he could not hinder. 
 He sat down opposite the old negro who had been invited 
 by Mr. Burbank, in order to show that the freedom given 
 him was not an empty declaration. Outside were heard 
 the sounds of the holiday-making; and the park was illu- 
 minated by the reflection of the bonfires lighted m differ- 
 ent parts of the plantation. In the middle of dinner a 
 deputation arrived with a magnificent bouquet for the 
 little girl, the finest, certainly, that "Miss Dy Burbank 
 of Castle House " had ever received. -, i ^ 
 
 When all had gone, the family went back into the hall, 
 to stay there till bedtime. It seemed as if a day so well 
 begun could not but end as well. About eight o'clock 
 the plantation was quiet. It seemed as though nothing 
 would occur to trouble it, when a voice was heard with- 
 out. 
 
 James Burbank rose and went to the front door. 
 
 In front of the terrace a few men were standing and 
 talking in a loud tone. 
 
 " What is the matter?" asked James Burbank. 
 
 " Ml-. Burbank," said one of the overseers, a boat has 
 just run alongside the pier." 
 
 " Where from?" 
 
 "The left bank." 
 
 " Who is on board?" m • 
 
 " A messenger sent to you from the Jacksonville magis- 
 trates." 
 
 " And what does he want?" 
 
 " He has a letter for you. Shall I let him land? 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 Mrs. Burbank came to her husband's side, Alice 
 stepped up to one of the windows, while Stannard and 
 Carrol walked to the door. Zermah, taking little Dy by 
 the liand, stood up. All felt that some serious incident 
 
 was at hand. , , -,. i m 
 
 The overseer went back to the landing-place, ien 
 
THE LAST SLAVE. 
 
 77 
 
 minutes afterwards he returned with the messenger whom 
 the boat had brought from Jacksonville. 
 
 He was in the uniform of the County Militia. He was 
 introduced into the hall, and asked for Mr. Burbank. 
 
 "I am James Burbank. What is your business?" 
 To hand you this letter. " 
 
 The messenger held out a large envelope which bore 
 the seal of the court. 
 
 Burbank broke the seal and read, — 
 
 " By order of the authorities newly constituted at Jack- 
 sonville, every slave set free without the permission of the 
 Confederate Government will be immediately expelled the 
 territory. 
 
 "The expulsion to take place within the following 
 forty-eight hoiirs; and, in case of refusal, force will be used. 
 
 **Texae. 
 
 " Done at Jacksonville, 28th February, 1862." 
 
 The magistrates had been superseded. Texar had been 
 placed by his partisans in charge of the town. 
 
 What ai^swer shall I take back?" asked the messenger. 
 *'None!" said James Burbank. 
 
 The messenger retired, and was escorted back to the 
 boat, which put off towards the other side of the stream. 
 
 And go, at the Spaniard's orders, the old slaves of the 
 plantation were to be dispersed! Although they were 
 free men, they were no longer free to live in Florida! 
 Camdless Bay was to be deprived of all the men on whom 
 he had reckoned to defend the plantation. 
 
 "Free on those conditions?" said Zermah. "Neverl 
 I refuse such freedom! And if I cannot remain near you 
 I would rather be a slave." 
 
 And, taking her certificate of freedom in her hands, 
 Zennah tor© it across, and fell James ^urbank's fef 
 
78 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 WAITING. 
 
 Such were the first consequences of the generous 
 action of freeing his slaves before the Federals were mas- 
 ters of the territory. 
 
 Texar and his partisans were now in power, and could 
 indulge in any deed of violence that their brutal natures 
 .suggested. By his vague denunciations the Spaniard had 
 not been able to put James Burbank in prison, but he 
 had gained his end none the less by taking advantage of 
 the excitement of the people at the conduct of the magis- 
 trates. After the acquittal of the anti-slavery planter, 
 who was going to proclaim emancipation on the estate, 
 Texar had raised a crowd of malcontents and headed a 
 revolution in the town. He had superseded the old mag- 
 istrates by the most advanced members of his party, 
 formed a committee of small whites and Floridans of 
 Spanish origin, and assured himself of the co-operation 
 of the militia, with whom he had oeen in treaty for a 
 long time, and who at once fraternized with the people. 
 The fate of every person in the county vva& now in his 
 hands. 
 
 James Burbank's conduct had not been approved by 
 tlie majority of the planters on the banks of the St. 
 John's, who feared that their own slaves would compel 
 them to follow his example. Most of them being ardent 
 Southerners, pledged to withstand the pretensions of the 
 Unionists, saw with extreme irritation the advance of the 
 Federal armies, and declared that Florida should resist 
 them as the other Southern States were resisting them. 
 At the outset of the war they had treated the question of 
 enfranchisement with indifference, but they had hastened 
 to range themselves under the flag of Jefferson Davis, 
 and to do their utmost to second the efforts of the rebels 
 against the Government of Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 Under snch circvimst^inceà tliere was hUU wonder that 
 
WAITING. 
 
 Texar, haTing tiie same opinions and interests to defend, 
 should have succeeded as lie had done, notwithstanding 
 his evil reputation. He had seized his post, however, not 
 so much to organize resistance and repulse Commodore 
 Dupont's flotilla as to gratif y his evil instincts; and that is 
 why, on account of the hatred hebore towards the J3urbank 
 family, his first care had been to reply to the liberation at 
 Camdless Bay by the edict which obliged the slaves who 
 had been freed to leave the territory in forty-eight hours. 
 
 " In acting thus," he said, ''I protect the interests of 
 the planters. They cannot but appi-ove of a measure 
 which will prevent the rising of the slaves in Florida.-" 
 
 The majority had thus applauded without reservation 
 this order of Texar's, arbitrary though it was. It was 
 arbitrary, unique, and indefensible. In freeing his slaves, 
 James Burbank was only acting within his right which 
 he had always, possessed. He could have done it before 
 the war had divided the United States on the subject of 
 slavery. Nothing had occurred to supersede this right, 
 and Texar^s action was neither just nor legal. 
 
 But Camdless Bay would be deprived of its natural de- 
 fenders, and Texar's object would be attained. 
 
 This was well understood at Castle House ; and it would 
 perhaps have been better if James Burbank had waited 
 till he could act without danger. But, as we know, he 
 had been charged before the Jacksonville magistrates 
 with acting contrary to his opinions, and so placed that 
 he must conform to them ; and, incapable of mastering 
 his indignation, he had declared himself publicly, and 
 had publicly proceeded before the people of his planta- 
 tion to give his slaves their freedom. By doing so he had 
 injured his own position and that of his guests, and now 
 it must be decided in all haste what was to be done. 
 
 In the first place — and this very evening the discussion 
 was entered upon — could they go back on this act of 
 emancipation? No. That would make no difference in 
 the statè of affairs. Texar would not recognize such a 
 tardy going back. Besides, the negroes, when they learnt 
 what the Jacksonville authorities had decided to do, 
 would unanimously imitate Zermah's e:iample. iRather 
 than leave Camdless Bay and be hunted from the State, 
 they would return to their coM*ti(^n ^s slaves ^ntil tbo 
 
80 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 time when they would have the right to be free and live 
 freely where they pleased. 
 
 But what would be the good of this ? They would, 
 under their old master, defend the plantation which had 
 become their home, and with all the more ardour now 
 they had been freed. This Zermah guaranteed. James 
 Burbank therefore decided that he would not recall what 
 he had done. All the rest were of his opinion. 
 
 And they were not mistaken. In the morning, when 
 the new decree of the Jacksonville Committee was known, 
 marks of devotion and tokens of fidelity came in from all 
 sides. If Texar attempted to put the edict in force they 
 would resist it. If he used force, they would use force to 
 repel him. 
 
 "And, besides," said Carrol, "events are hurrying on. 
 In a couple of days, in twenty-four hours, perhaps, the slave 
 question in Florida will be settled. To-morrow the Fed- 
 eral flotilla may force the mouths of the St. John's, 
 and then — " 
 
 "And if the militia, aided by the Confederate troops, 
 make any resistance ?" asked Mr. Stannard. 
 
 "If they resist, their resistance will not last long," said 
 Carrol. " Without ships or gunners, how can they oppose 
 the passage of Commodore Dupont, the landing of Sher- 
 man, the occupation of the ports of Fernandina, Jackson- 
 Tille, and St. Augustine ? When these points are occu- 
 pied, the Federals will be masters of Florida. Then 
 Texar and his friends will have to run." 
 
 " If they could only catch him," said James Burbank, 
 " then we should see if, when he is in the hands of Fed- 
 eral justice, he could substantiate some alibi to escape the 
 punishment he deserves." 
 
 The night passed without the security of Castle House 
 being disturbed. In the morning the rumours that were 
 flying about were inquired into. The plantation was not 
 threatened that day. Texar's decree had ordered the ex- 
 pulsion of the blacks in forty-eight hours. James Bur- 
 bank had determined to resist the order, and occupied the 
 time in preparing for the defence of his house. • 
 
 It was, however, important to get at ^11 the reports 
 from the theatre of war. Any moment the state of affairs 
 might be changed J* apd James Pm'b^nlç his brother- 
 
81 
 
 îh-law set off on horseback to learn what they could. 
 Descending the right bank of the St. John's, they rode 
 towards the mouth of the river, so as to explore for a 
 dozen miles the widening of the river, which ends at San 
 Pablo, where the lightiiouse stands. As they passed 
 Jacksonville they would be able to see if there was any 
 gathering of boats indicating an approaching attack on 
 Oamdless Bay. In half an hour they had passed the 
 boundary of the plantation. 
 
 Meanwhile Mrs. Burbank and Alice were walking in 
 , the park of Castle House. In vain Mr. Stannard tried to 
 calm their apprehensions. They both had a presentiment 
 of a coming catastrophe. 
 
 Zermah had been among the barracoons. Although the 
 threat of expulsion was known, the blacks heeded it not. 
 They had returned to their usual work. Like their old 
 master, they had made up their minds to resist. If they 
 were free, by what right were they to be expelled from 
 the country of their adoption? Nothing could be more 
 satisfactory than Zermah's report— the blacks of Oamdless 
 Bay could be trusted. 
 
 Yes," said she, ''my companions will all return to 
 slavery, as I have done, rather than leave their master! 
 And if they are obliged, they will defend their rights.'' 
 
 Nothing more was to be done than to wait for the re- 
 turn of James Burbank and Edward Carrol. 
 
 At this date, the 1st of March, it was not impossible 
 that the Federal flotilla had arrived in sight of Pablo 
 ^ lighthouse, ready to occupy the mouth of the St. John's. 
 The Confederates had not too many militia to oppose 
 their passage, and the authorities of Jacksonville would 
 have none to spare to carry out their threats against the 
 former slaves of Camdless Bay. 
 
 Mr. Perry made his daily visit to the different workshops 
 and storehouses on the estate. He also could bear wit- 
 ness to the good disposition of the negroes. Although he 
 did not care to admit it, he saw that if they had changed 
 their condition, their assiduity at their work and devotion 
 to the Burbank family had not changed. To resist all that 
 the Jacksonville populace attempted against them they 
 were firmly resolved. But, in Mr. Perry's opinion, these 
 fine feelings would not last. Nature would reclaim her 
 
rights. After tasting independence, these enfranchised 
 negroes would return to slavery, and descend to the place 
 that Nature intended for them, between the man and the 
 animal. 
 
 As he was thinking of these things, who should he run 
 against but the conceited Pygmalion, strutting like a pea- 
 cock with his head on high, his hands behind his back, 
 and evidently thinking very much of himself as a free 
 man. One thing was certain, and that was that he was 
 not doing much work. 
 
 Good -morning, Mr. Perry," said he superbly.' 
 What are you doing, Mr. Idle?" 
 
 *'l am taking a walk ! Have I not the right to do 
 nothing now I am no longer a vile slave, and have the 
 certificate of liberation in my pocket ?" 
 
 " And who is to feed you, Pyg ?" 
 
 ''I am, Mr. Perry." 
 
 «And how?" 
 
 "By eating." 
 
 **And who is to give you what you eat ?" 
 "My master." 
 
 "Your master! Have you forgotten that now you 
 have no master, noodle ?" 
 
 " No. I had one, and I shall have one ; and Mr. Bur- 
 bank will not send me away from the plantation, where, 
 I can say without boasting, I am of some use." 
 
 " But he will send you away." 
 
 " Will he ?" 
 
 " Certainly. When you belonged to him he could keep 
 you to do nothing. But now you do not belong to him 
 he will show you the door if you do not work, and we shall 
 see what you will do with your liberty, poor lunatic !" 
 
 Evidently Pyg had not studied the question from that 
 point of view. 
 
 " What, Mr. Perry ? Do you think Mr. Burbank would 
 be so cruel—" 
 
 It is not cruel ; it is only logical. Besides, 'whether 
 Mr. James wishes it or no, there is a decree of the Com- 
 mitee at Jacksonville ordering every freed slave out of 
 Florida." 
 
 "Then that is true, then ?" 
 Quite true ; and we shall now see how you and your 
 
WAlTINa. 
 
 83 
 
 companions will get out of the difficulty now you have 
 lost your master." 
 
 "1 am not going to leave Camdless Bay even if I am 
 free." 
 
 You are free to go, but not free to stop ! You had 
 better pack up." 
 
 " And what^s to become of me ?" 
 That is your business." 
 
 *'Fut if I am free," said Pjgmalion, returning again to 
 that point, if I am free — " 
 
 " That is not enough, it seems !" 
 
 "Tell me what I ought to do, Mr. Perry." 
 
 " What you ought to do ? Well ; listen, and follow me, 
 if you can." 
 
 "I follow." 
 
 "You are free, are you not ?" 
 
 " Yes, and I have got the certificate in my pocket." 
 
 " Well ; tear it up.^' 
 
 "Never." 
 
 " Then there is only one way I can see for you to stop 
 here." 
 
 "What is that?" 
 
 " Change your colour, Pyg 1 When you are white you 
 can live at Camdless Bay ; till then you cannot." 
 
 The overseer, chuckling at having given Pyg's vanity 
 such a lesson, turned on his heel. 
 
 Pyg remained deep in thought. He saw that to be no 
 longer a slave was not enough to keep him his place. He 
 must be white ! And how could he become white, when 
 Nature had made him black as ebony ? And as he re-, 
 turned to Castle House he scratched his head as if he 
 were tearing the hair from the skin. 
 
 A little before noon James Burbank and Edward Carrol 
 returned to Castle House. .They had seen nothing alarm- 
 ing at Jacksonville. The boats were in their usual place, 
 some moored to the pier, others anchored out in the 
 stream. A few detachments of Confederates had been 
 seen on the left bank of the river, marching towards the 
 north towards Nassau county. Nothing seemed to threaten 
 Camdless Bay. 
 
 When they reached the end of the estuary, Burbank 
 and his companion had looked out over the open sea. Ther« 
 
84 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 was not a sail in sight. Not a cloud of smoke from some 
 steamer could be traced on the horizon to indicate the 
 presence or approach of a squadron. Preparations for 
 defence there were none. Th«re were no batteries, no 
 earthworks. If the Federal ships appeared either at 
 Xassau Creek or at the mouth of the St. John's, there 
 was nothing to stop them. Only Pablo lighthouse was 
 dismantled ; the lantern was unshipped; and the passes 
 were thus unlighted. But that would only prevent the 
 entrance of a flotilla during the night. 
 
 Such was the report they brought back with them. 
 There seemed to be nothing doing at Jacksonville to indi- 
 cate an approaching attack on Oamdless Bay. 
 
 "That is well," said Mr. Stannard, "but it is unsatis- 
 factory that Dupont's ships are not yet in sight ; there is 
 a delay there that I cannot understand !" 
 
 "Yes," said Carrol ; "if the fleet sailed the day before 
 yesterday from St. Andrew's Bay, it ought now to be oft 
 Fernandina." 
 
 " It has been very bad weather during these last two op 
 
 with these westerly winds Dupont has had to go out to 
 sea. The wind went down this morning, and I should not 
 be surprisad if this very night — " 
 
 " May heaven listen to you, my dear James," said Mrs. 
 Burbank, " and come to our help." 
 
 If Pablo lighthouse," said Alice, "is not lighted, how 
 could the flotilla get into the St. John's to-night ?" 
 j "It would be impossible for them to get into the St. 
 J ohn's,'^ said Burbank. "But before attacking the mouths 
 of the river the Federals would have to capture Amelia 
 Island and then Fernandina, so as to command the rail- 
 way to Cedar Keys. I do not expect Dupont's vessels up 
 the St. John's for three or four days." 
 
 "That is so, James," said Carrol. "But I hope the 
 capture of Fernandina would force the Confederates to 
 retreat. The militia might even abandon Jacksonville 
 before the arrival of the gunboats. Then Camdless Bay 
 would no longer be threatened by Texar and his accom- 
 plices — " 
 
 "That is possible," said James Burbank. "Once the 
 Federals set foot in Florida, our safety will be, to a ce?- 
 
 three days," said James 
 
tain extent, secured. Is there any news on the planta- 
 tion r 
 
 ''None," said Alice. heard from Zermah that the 
 blacks had gone to work as usual, and that they are ready 
 to fight to the last in defence of Camdless Bay." 
 
 ''Let us hope we shall not have to put their devotion to 
 the proof ! I shall not be at all surprised if the scoundrels 
 who have got the upper hand at Jacksonville take them- 
 selves off as soon as the Federal fleet is signalled. But 
 we must be on our guard. After lunch, Stannard, come 
 with Carrol and me over to the most exposed part of the 
 estate. I do not want you and Alice to be in as much 
 danger here as at Jacksonville. In truth, I shall never for- 
 give myself for bringing you here, if things turn out 
 badly." 
 
 "My dear James," said Stannard, "if we had stayed 
 in our house at Jacksonville we should have been exposed 
 to the exactions of the authorities, like all the rest who 
 hold anti-slavery opinions." 
 
 "In any case, Mr. Burbank," said Alice, "even if the 
 danger is greater here, is it not better for us to share it 
 with you ?" 
 
 "Yes, my dear girl," said James Burbank. "Gome 
 on ! I hope and think that Texar will not have time to 
 put his scheme against our men into execution." 
 
 During the afternoon Burbank and his friends visited 
 the barracoons with Mr. Perry. They could see for them- 
 selves that the feeling among the blacks was excellent. 
 Burbank called the overseer's attention to the zeal with 
 which the newly freed negroes had returned to work. Not 
 one was absent from his post. 
 
 " Yes, yes !" answered Perry. "But we have to see 
 how the work will turn out in the end." 
 
 " But they did not change their arms when they changed 
 their condition, did they ?" 
 
 "Not yet ; but you will soon see that they have not the 
 same hands at the end of the arms." 
 
 "Well, Perry," replied Burbank gaily, "their hands 
 will always have five fingers, I imagine ; and we cannot 
 expect them to have more." 
 
 As soon as the round had been made, Mr. Burbank and 
 his friends returned to Castle House. The evening passed 
 
86 I^EXAE^S RKVÈKGÊ. 
 
 as quietly as the last, In the absence of all news from 
 Jacksonville there seemed to be ground for hope that 
 T'^xar had giren up his threat, or that ho had no time to 
 execute it. 
 
 Careful precautions were, however, taken during the 
 night. Perry and the assistant overseers stationed sentries 
 round the estate, and particularly watched the banks of 
 the river. The blacks had been cautioned to retreat on 
 the palisades in case of an alarm, and a sentry was on 
 guard at the gate. 
 
 Many times did James Burbank and his friends go out 
 to see that their orders had been attended to. When the 
 sun rose nothing had happened. The night had passed 
 without incident. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE MORNING OF THE 2ND OF MARCH. 
 
 Next day, March 2nd, James Burbank had news by 
 one of his assistant overseers, who had crossed the river 
 and returned to Jacksonville without awaking sus;^icion. 
 
 The news was undoubtedly correct and it was impor- 
 tant. 
 
 Commodore Dupont had anchored at daybreak in St. 
 Andrew's Bay, on the coast of Georgia. The Wabash^ on 
 which he had hoisted his flag, was at the head of a squad- 
 ron of twenty-six vessels, of which eig'- teen were gun- 
 boats, one a cutter, one an armed transport, and stx were 
 ordinary transports with Geneial Wright's brigade on 
 board. And, as Gilbert had said in his last letter, Gen- 
 eral Sherman accojnpanied the expedition. 
 
 Commodore Dupont, whom the bad weather had kept 
 back, had at once set to work to take possession of the 
 passes of the St. Mary's. These channels, difficult enough 
 of access, open off the mouth of the river of the same 
 name to the north of Amelia Island on the frontier of 
 Georgia and Florida. 
 
Î^ÎÎË MÔflNi:^G ÔF THE ^ND ÔF MAECH. 87 
 
 Feruandina, the principal position of the island, was. 
 protected by Fort Clinch with a garfison of fifteen hnn- 
 dred men behind its thick stone walls. Would the South- 
 erners hold out against the Federals in this fortress, 
 wherein they might make a lengthened defence? It 
 would tje thought so. 
 
 Nothmg of the kind was done. According to the as- 
 sistant overseer's report, a rumour had reached Jackson- 
 ville that the Confederates had evacuated Fort Clinch as 
 soon as the squadron appeared in St. Mary's Bay; and 
 not only had they abandoned Fort Clinch, but they had 
 cleared out of Fernandiria, Cumberland Inland, and* all 
 that part of the Florida coast. 
 
 This was all the news that reached Castle House, but 
 there is no need to dwell on its importance \'vith regard to 
 the position at Camdless Bay. Now that the Federals 
 had at last landed in Floiida, the whole State would soon 
 be in their power. Obviously a few days would elapse 
 before the gunboats crossed the bar of the St. John's. 
 But their presence would ha\'e its elfect on the new au- 
 thorities of Jacksonville, and there was room to hope 
 that, in fear of reprisals, Texar and his supporters would 
 not dare to take action against the plantation of so prom- 
 inent a Northerner as James Burbank. 
 
 This was reassuring for the family, whose fear was sud- 
 denly changed to hope. And Alice Stannard and Mrs. 
 Burbank ceased to tremble for Gilbert's safety, with the 
 certainty that he was not far off and the assurance that 
 he would soon return. The young lieuteuHut at St. An- 
 drew's was within thirty miles of Camdless Bay. He was 
 on board the gunboat Ottawa, which had jnst been dis- 
 tinguished by a feat of arms unexampled in naval an- 
 nals. 
 
 What had happened on the morning of the 2nd of 
 March was this. The assistant-overseer had not ascer- 
 tained these details during his visit to Jacksonville, but it 
 is important that they should be known on account of the 
 events that followed. 
 
 As soon as Commodore Dupont discovered that Fort 
 Clinch had been evacuated by the Confederate garrison, 
 he sent a few vessels of light draught across St. Mary's 
 Channel. Already the white population had retired into 
 
the interior of the country with the Southern troops, 
 abandoning the ^wns, villages, and plantations on the 
 coast. There was a regular panic due to the fear of the 
 reprisals which, the Secessionists falsely stated, were in- 
 tended by the Federal chief. Not only in Florida, but 
 along the Georgian frontier, along the whole extent of 
 country between the bays of Ossabaw and St. Mary% the 
 people beat a precipitate retreat so as to escape from the 
 troops landed by General Wright. Under these circum- 
 stances, Commodore Dupont did not have to fire a shot 
 ^ to get possession of Fort Clinch and Fernandina. The 
 
 funboat Ottawa, on which was Gilbert, accompanied by 
 [ars, acted as second, and had to use its guns in the 
 manner following. 
 
 The town of Fernandina is connected with the west 
 coast of Florida on the Gulf of Mexico by a branch rail- 
 way which runs to Cedar Keys. The railway runs along 
 the coast of Amelia Island; then before it reaches the 
 mainland it crosses Nassau Creek on a long bridge of 
 piles. 
 
 When the Ottawa reached the centre of the creek a 
 train was on the bridge. The garrison of Fernandina 
 was in flight, taking its provisions with it, and followed 
 by many of the more or less important people of the town. 
 Immediately the gunboat started at full speed towards the 
 bridge and fired her bow-chasers at the piles and the train. 
 Gilbert was in charge of the firing, and many good shots 
 were made; among them a shell struck the last carriage 
 of the train and broke the axle and the coupling. The 
 train did not stop for an instant — to do so would have 
 been dangerous — and leaving the carriage to look after it' 
 self, steamed off full speed to the south-west, A detach- 
 ment of Federal troops landed at Fernandina appeared at 
 this moment and rushed on to the bridge. The carriage 
 was captured with the fugitives it contained, who were 
 chiefly civilians. The prisoners were taken to the supe- 
 rior officer. Colonel Gardner, in command at Fernandina, 
 who took their names, kept them for twenty-four hours 
 on one of the vessels of the squadron, as an example, and 
 then released them. 
 
 When the train had run out of sight, the Ottawa went 
 off to attack and seize a vessel lad&n with war material, 
 
THE MORNING OP THE 2ND OF MARCH, 
 
 which had taken refuse in the bay. These events were 
 calculated to spread discouragement among the Confed- 
 erate troops and the people Of the Floridan towns; and 
 this was particularly the case at Jacksonville. The estu- 
 ary of the St. John's would be forced as easily as had been 
 that of the St. Mary's; that was very evident, and proba- 
 bly the Unionists would meet with no more resistance at 
 Jacksonville than at St. Augustine and the other coast 
 towns. 
 
 This was good news for James Burbank. He might 
 well believe that Texar dared not now give effect to his 
 plans. He and his partisans would be superseded, and in 
 due course the honest folks would resume the power of 
 which an outbreak of the mob had deprived them. 
 
 There was every reason to think in this way and to 
 hope; and as soon as the staff at Camdless Bay heard the 
 important news, which was soon known at Jacksonville, 
 their joy showed itself in noisy cheering, in which Pyg- 
 malion took a prominent part. Nevertheless, it would 
 not do to abandon the precautions which had been taken 
 to secure the safety of the estate, at least until the gun- 
 boats appeared in the river. 
 
 Unfortunately— and this James Burbank could neither 
 imagine nor suppose— a whole week was to elapse before 
 the Federals were ready to enter the St. John's. And 
 during that time what dangers were to threaten Camdless 
 Bayl 
 
 Commodore Dupont's plan was to show the Federal 
 flag at every point where vessels could go. He split up 
 his squadron into detachments. One gunboat was sent 
 up the St. Mary's Eiver to occupy the little town of that 
 name, and advance some sixty miles up the country. To 
 the south were sent three other gunboats, commanded by 
 Captain Gordon, to explore the bays, seize Jekyll and St. 
 Simon's islands, and take possession of the small towns of 
 Brunswick and Darien, which had been partly abandoned 
 by their inhabitants. Six steamers of light draught were 
 destined, under the orders of Commandant Stevens, to 
 enter the St. John's and reduce Jacksonville. The rest 
 of the squadron, under Dupont, was to take care of St. 
 Augustine's and blockade the coast down to Mosquito 
 Inlet, the passes of which would be then olpsed against; 
 contra-band of war. 
 
90 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 But this series of operations could not be accomplished 
 in twenty-four hours, and twenty-four hours would be 
 enough for the devastation of the country by the South- 
 erners. 
 
 About three o'clock in the afternoon James Burbank 
 had his first suspicions of what was being devised against 
 him. Mr. Perry, after a round of inspection on the 
 frontier of the plantation, came hurriedly into Castle 
 House and said, — 
 
 ''Mr. Burbank, they have reported that some suspi- 
 cious vagabonds are on their way to Oamdless Bay." 
 
 ''From the north?" 
 
 " From the north." 
 
 Almost at the same moment Zermah, returning from 
 the landing-place, told her master that there was a lot of 
 boats crossing the river and approaching the right bank. 
 
 " They are coming from Jacksonville ?" 
 
 "Certainly." 
 
 "Go into the house," said Burbank, "and don't go 
 out again, Zermah, on any pretence." 
 "No, master." 
 
 Burbank went off to reconnoitre. When he returned, 
 he could not but tell his friend" that matters looked 
 threatening. An attack seemed almost certain, and it 
 was better that all should be forewarned. 
 
 "And so," said Mr. Stannard, "these scoundrels, on 
 the eve of being curbed by the Federals, dare — " 
 
 " Yes," said Burbank, coldly. " Texar could not miss 
 such an opportunity of being revenged when he is free to 
 disappear as soon as his vengeance is satisfied." Then 
 with more animation he resumed, " But will this man's 
 crimes always remain unpunished ? Will he always get 
 away ? In truth after doubting the justice of man are we 
 to doubt the justice of Heaven — " 
 
 "James," said Mrs. Burbank, "at a time when we 
 may only have the help of God to trust to, do not re- 
 proach Him — " 
 
 "And let us put ourselves under His care," said Alice 
 Stannard. 
 
 James Burbank, recovering his coolness, set about giv- 
 ing his orders for the defence of the house. 
 
 " Have the blacks been told ?" asked ^Idward Çarrol, 
 
THE MORNING OF THE 2nD OF MARCH. 91 
 
 " They will be/' said Burbank. My idea is to defend 
 the palisades. We cannot think of defending the whole 
 boundary of Camdless Bay against an armed mob, for it 
 is likely that the assailants will be in large numbers. We 
 must get all the defenders into the inner ring. If, 
 unfortunately, the palisade is forced, Castle House, which 
 once defied the Seminoles, may perhaps be held against 
 Texar's bandits. My wife, Alice and D}^, and Zermah, 
 to whom I entrust them, must not leave the house with- 
 out my order. If matters become serious, everything is 
 prepared for them to save themselves by the tunnel which 
 communicates with the little Marine Creek of the St. 
 John's ; there a boat will be found in charge of two of 
 our men. It is hidden in the bushes ; and, Zermah, you 
 must go in it up the river to Cedar Kock." 
 
 " But you, James ?" 
 
 "And you, father?" 
 
 Mrs. Burbank had seized the planter by the arm, and 
 Alice had caught hold of Mr. Stannard, as if the time 
 had come for them to escape from Castle House. 
 
 We will do all we can to rejoin you," said Burbank, 
 
 when the position is no longer tenable. But you must 
 promise, if the danger becomes too great, to get away to 
 safety at Cedar Rock. We shall want all we have of 
 courage and audacity to keep back the scoundrels, and 
 resist them till our ammunition fails." 
 
 Evidently this is what would have to be done if the 
 assailants were too numerous and succeeded in forcing 
 the palisades and invading the park so as to make a direct 
 attack on Castle House. 
 
 James Burbank then called together his men, and Perry 
 and his assistants ran off to the barracoons with his orders. 
 In less than an hour the blacks, in fighting trim, were 
 drawn up near the gate in the palisades. Their wives 
 and children had gone off to seek safety in the woods 
 round Camdless Bay. 
 
 Unfortunately, the means of organizing a serious de- 
 fence were limited. Since the beginning of the war it 
 had been almost impossible to procure arms and ammuni- 
 tion in sufficient quantity. Burbank had in vain tried 
 to buy them at Jacksonville ; and he had to be content 
 with what remained in the house after the last siege by 
 the Seminoles. 
 
02 
 
 texae's revenge. 
 
 His plan was to preserve Castle House from being 
 burnt or stormed. He could not dream of protecting the 
 estate, saving the workshops, stores, factories, or barra- 
 coons, or preventing the plantation from being devastated. 
 He had hardly four hundred negroes in a state to oppose 
 the assailants, and these were insufficiently armed. A 
 few dozen muskets were distributed to the best men, 
 while the arms of precision were kept in reserve for James 
 Bu^-bank, his friends, Perry, and the assistant-overseers. 
 
 The whole force was drawn up at the gate in such a 
 manner as to repulse the threatened assault on the pali- 
 sades, which were also defended by the creek that ran 
 round them. 
 
 Amid the confusion Pygmalion was very busy and ex- 
 cited, bustling hither and thither and doing nothing. 
 He was like one of those circus clowns who pretend to do 
 everything and do nothing, much to the amusement of 
 the audience. Pyg, considering himself as belonging 
 specially to the defenders of the house, did not dream of 
 associating with his comrades outside. Never had he 
 felt himself so devoted to James Burbank. 
 
 All was ready in the garrison. On what side was the 
 attack to come ? If the assailants appeared on the 
 northern side the defence could be most easily conducted. 
 If, on the contrary, they attacked on the river-front, the 
 defence would be more difficult, owing to Oamdless Bay 
 being open on that side. A landing is always a difficult 
 operation, it is true, and, under any circumstances, it 
 would require a good many boats to transport an armed 
 band from one bank of the St. John's to the other. Thus 
 said Burbank, Carrol, and Stannard as they watched the 
 return of the scouts who had been sent to the boundary 
 of the plantation. It would not do to be in the dark as 
 to the manner of attack. 
 
 About half -past four in the evening the scouts returned 
 from the northern side of the estate and made their re- 
 port. 
 
 A column of armed men were advancing in that direc- 
 tion. Was this a detaôhment of the county militia or 
 only a division of the mob, attracted by the hope of pil- 
 lage, and charged with the execution of Texar's decree 
 concerning the freed sUves ? In any case, the çolumu 
 
THE MOENING OF THE 2ND OF MAECH. 93 
 
 Was a thousand strong, and nothing could be done against 
 it with the force on the plantation. It might perhaps be 
 hoped that, if the palisades were carried by assault. Castle 
 House would offer a longer and more serious resistance. 
 
 It was evident that the column had avoided a landing 
 under difficulties in the little harbour of Camdless Bay, 
 and had crossed the river below J acksonville in some fifty 
 boats, three or four journeys being sufficient to ferry it 
 over. And Burbank's precaution of collecting his men 
 within the palisades had been a wise one, for it would 
 have been impossible for him to defend his frontier 
 against such an army. 
 
 Who was at the head of the assailants— Texar in per- 
 son ? Probably not. At the time when the approach of 
 the Federals was threatened the Spaniard might consider 
 it too risky to place himself at the head of his men. If 
 he had done so, it would be because, when his work of 
 vengeance was accomplished, the plantation devastated, 
 the Burbanks massacred or fallen into his hands, he had 
 made up his mind to escape to the south, perhaps even to 
 the Everglades (the backwoods of Southern Florida), 
 where it would be difficult to get at him. 
 
 This was the most serious of the possibilities, and Bur- 
 bank had given it anxious thought. Hence it was that 
 he had decided to put in safety his wife and child, and 
 Alice Stannard, entrusted to the devotion of Zermah, at 
 Cedar Rock, which was about a mile above Camdless Bay. 
 If they had to abandon Castle House to the assailants, he 
 and his friends could there rejoin the family, and wait 
 till safety was assured to the honest people of Florida 
 under the protection of the Federal army. 
 
 And so a boat had been hidden in the reeds of the St. 
 John% and left to the keeping of two negroes at the end 
 of the tunnel which led from the house to Marine Creek. 
 But before the parting took place, it would be necessary to 
 defend the house for a few hours — at least until nightfall, 
 when, in the darkness, the boat could go up the river in 
 secret, without risk of pursuit from the suspicious-looking 
 canoes that were prowling about in such numbers. 
 
94 
 
 tbxar's eevenge. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE OF THE 2KD OF MARCH. 
 
 James Burbaiï"k, with his companions, and most of the 
 blacks were ready for the fight. He had now nothing to 
 do but to wait. His arrangements were to make his first 
 stand at the palisades round the private park, and then, if 
 driven back, to make another stand behind the walls of 
 Castle House. 
 
 About five o^clock the increasing tumult showed that 
 the assailants were not far off. From the shouting it was 
 only too easy to understand that they were in possession 
 of ibhe northern part of the estate. On the right, thick 
 columns of smoke began to rise above the trees. The 
 sawmills had been set on fire, and the barracoons, after 
 being pillaged, were in fiâmes. The poor people had not 
 had time to put in safety the few things that the act of 
 liberation had made their own the evening before; and 
 loud were the cries of despair and anger that answered the 
 «bouts of the marauders. 
 
 Gradually the shouters approached Castle House. A 
 strange light appeared in the northern horizon, as if the 
 sun was setting in that direction. Occasional puffs of 
 warm smoky air swept up against the hodse. Violent det- 
 onations produced by the burning of the dry wood in the 
 workshops were heard every now and then. Once a louder 
 explosion than the rest showed that the boiler at one of 
 the sawmills had been blown up. Devastation in all its 
 horrors was evidently in progress. 
 
 Burbank, Carrol, and Stannard were at the gate in' the 
 palisades. There they received and disposed of the last 
 detachment of negroes that were gradually coming in. 
 The assailants might appear at any moment. The increas- 
 ing crackle of the musketry showed that they could not 
 be far off from the ring, which was easy of assault, for the 
 nearest trees were not fifty yards away. The Confeder- 
 ates could keep in cover to the last moment; and the bul- 
 
THE EVENING OP THE 2ND OF MAECH. 95 
 
 lets began to rain on the palisades, while the rifles re- 
 mained invisible. 
 
 After consideration it was thought best to withdraw all 
 the men within the fortress. There the armed negroes 
 would be less exposed, as they could fire between the 
 angles at the top of the timbers; and when the assailants 
 tried to cross the stream and carry the stronghold by 
 storm, they might manage to repulse them. 
 
 The negroes were all withdrawn, and the gate was about 
 to be shut, when James Burbank, throwing a last glance 
 around without, caught sight of a man at full run towards 
 him, as if seeking safety amongst the defenders of Castle 
 House. A few shots were aimed at him from the woods 
 close by, but did not hit him. With a bound he jumped 
 on the drawbridge and was in safety within the palisades. 
 The gate was immediately shut and firmly fastened 
 Who are you r asked James Burbank. 
 One of the servants of Mr. Harvey, 3^our correspond- 
 ent at Jacksonville." 
 
 "'Did Mr. Harvey send you here with a message ?" 
 Yes, and as the river was guarded, I could not cross 
 it hereabouts." 
 
 ''And you came with the militia without beinff sus- 
 pected ?" ^ 
 
 "Yes. They are followed by a mob of looters. I 
 came with them, and as soon as I was within range, I ran 
 and risked a few shots." 
 
 Good, my friend ! Thanks ! You have Mr. Harvey's 
 message ?" 
 
 ''Yes, Mr. Burbank. Here it is." 
 Burbank took the letter and read it. Mr. Harvey said 
 he might put implicit confidence in his messenger, John 
 Bruce, of whose sincerity there could be no doubt. After 
 hearing the news he brought, Mr. Burbank would see what 
 was best to be done. 
 
 At this instant a volley was heard from without. There 
 was not a moment to lose. 
 
 " What would Mr. Harvey have me understand ?" asked 
 Burbank. 
 
 "That in the first place," said Bruce, " the armed mob 
 which is attacking Camdless Bay is from fourteen to fifteen 
 hundred strong." . 
 
96 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 I did not reckon them at less. What next ? Is Texar 
 at their head ?" * . 
 
 " Mr. Harvey found it impossible to ascertam. One 
 thing is certain, and that is that Texar has not been at 
 Jacksonville for the last fourr-and-twenty hours !" 
 
 "That ought to indicate some new scheme of the 
 scoundrel's," said Burbank. 
 
 Yes/' answered Bruce. " That is what Mr. Harvey 
 thinks. ' Besides, Texar need not be there to execute the 
 order as to setting adrift the freed slaves—" 
 
 " Setting them adrift !" exclaimed Burbank. " Settmg 
 them adrift and helping them in incendiarism and rob- 
 b cry " 
 
 "And Mr. Harvey thinks that while there is time, you 
 would do well to put your family in ^safety by sending 
 them away at once from Castle House." 
 
 " Castle House," said Burbank, " can be defended, and 
 we will only leave it when it is untenable. Is there any 
 fresh news from Jacksonville ?" 
 
 " None." 
 
 "Have not the Federal troops made any movement 
 into Florida ?" -, * 
 
 "None since they occupied Fernandma and the Bay of 
 St. Mary's." 
 
 - " And what is the chief reason of your bemg sent 
 
 " To tell you that the dispersal of the slaves was only a 
 
 pretext got up by Texar to enable him to lay waste the 
 
 plantation, and make you his prisoner." 
 
 " You do not know if Texar is at the head of these 
 
 rascals 
 
 "No", Mr. Burbank. Mr. Harvey tried to find out, 
 but could not. And I have tried since I left Jackson- 
 ville, but without success." 
 
 " Are there many of the militia with this mob?' 
 
 " A hundred, at the outside," replied Bruce, "but the 
 mob is composed of the very worst characters. Texar had 
 them supplied with weapons, and they will not stop at 
 any excess. I repeat, Mr. Burbank, Mr. Harvey's opm- 
 ion is that you should abandon Castle House at once. 
 He ordered me to invite you to his cottage at Hampton 
 Bed. It is about a dozen miles up stream on the right 
 bank, and there you would be s^f e for some days—" 
 
THE EVEKIKG OP THE 2Kt) OP MARCH. 97 
 
 "Yes, I know/' 
 I could take you and your family there without risk 
 of discovery, if you will go at once, before retreat is im- 
 possible." 
 
 " I thank Mr. Harvey, and you too, my friend, said 
 Burbank, "but we have not yet come to that.'' 
 
 "As you wish, Mr. Burbank," answered Bruce. "I 
 shall none the less remain until you require my services." 
 
 The attack, which now began, required all James Bur- 
 bank's attention. 
 
 A violent fusillade burst out, although the assailants 
 could not be seen owing to the shelter of the trees. The 
 bullets rained on the palisades, but did little damage. 
 Unfortunately, Burbank and his companions could only 
 reply feebly, having only forty guns amongst them. 
 Being stationed in the best positions for firing effectively, 
 their shots did more ' execution than those of the militia- 
 men at the head of the column, a few of whom were hit, 
 though hidden in the wood. 
 
 This long-range fight lasted for about half an hour, 
 rather to the advantage of the defenders. Then the as- 
 sailants rushed at the palisades to storm them. As the 
 attack was to be delivered on several sides at once, they 
 brought with them planks and beams from the work- 
 shops, now in flames. In twenty places these beams were 
 thrown across the stream, and over them rushed the 
 Spaniard's men to the foot of the palisades, losing several 
 of their number in killed and wounded. And then they 
 climbed up the planks and hoisted one another up; but 
 they did not succeed in getting over. The negroes, in^ 
 furiated against the incendiaries, repulsed them with 
 great bravery. But it was evident that the defenders of 
 Camdless Bay could not for long hold out at all points, 
 against the murderous foe. Until nightfall they might 
 keep them at bay, providing they were not seriously 
 wounded. Burbank and Stannard had, however, not 
 been touched. Carrol alone had been hit, by a ball that 
 tore open his shoulder. He had to retire to the hall, 
 where Mrs. Burbank, Alice, and Z«rmah gave him every 
 attention. 
 
 But night was coming to the help of the besiegers. 
 Under cover of the darkness some fifty of the most de- 
 
termined amongst them ran up to the gate, axe in hand. 
 Probably they would not have been able to force it had 
 not a breach been opened by a daring manœuvre. 
 
 A part of the outbuildings suddenly took fire, and the 
 flames, fed by the dry wood, seized on the palisades 
 against which the buildmg leant. 
 
 Burbank rushed towards the fire, if not to put it out, 
 at least to defend the breach. 
 
 By the light of the flames he saw a man run through 
 the smoke, climb the palisades, and escape over the 
 planks across the stream. 
 
 It was one of the assailants, who had penetrated into 
 the park on the St. John^s side, from among the reeds. 
 Unseen, he had entered the stables, and at the risk of 
 perishing in the flames, had set fire to some trusses of 
 straw. 
 
 A breach was thus opened. In vain Burbank and his 
 companions endeavoured to bar the way. A mass of as- 
 sailants threw themselves into it, and the jjark was in- 
 vaded by several hundred men. 
 
 Many fell in the hand-to-hand fight. The noise of the 
 firing was heard on all sides. Soon Castle House ^vas 
 entirely surrounded, while the negroes, overwhelmed by 
 the numbers, were forced out of the park to take flight 
 in the woods of Camdless Bay. They had fought as long 
 as they could, with courage and devotion; but if they 
 had resisted longer, they would have been massacred to 
 the last man. 
 
 Burbank, Stannard, Perry, the assistant-overseers, 
 John, Bruce, who had fought bravely, and a few blacks 
 had to take refuge in Castle House. 
 
 It was then nearly eight o'clock in the evening. The 
 night was dark in the west. In the north the sky was 
 ablaze with the glare of the conflagration. 
 
 Burbank and Stannard came hurriedly into the house. 
 
 " You must escape," said Burbank. You must go at 
 once. Whether the thieves force their way in, or are 
 kept outside till we are obliged to surrender, there is dan- 
 ger in your remaining. The boat is ready. It is time to 
 part. My wife, Alice. I implore you to follow Zermah 
 with Dy to Cedar Rock. There you will be in safety, 
 and if we are compelled to escape in our turn, we will 
 find you there, we will join you." 
 
[thê îjveniîtg of the 2nd op march. 
 
 99 
 
 My father/^ said Alice, " come with us, and you too, 
 Mr. Burbank." 
 
 Yes, James ! Yes ! Come said Mrs. Burbank. 
 ! I" answered Burbank, ^'I abandon Castle House to 
 these scoundrels ! Never, while resistance is possible ! 
 We can hold out for some time yet. And when you are 
 in safety we shall be stronger to defend ourselves I" 
 "James !" 
 " It is necessary !" 
 
 A terrible tumult was heard as he spoke. The door 
 .resounded with the blows dealt on it by the assailants, 
 who were attacking the principal or river front of the 
 house. 
 
 "Go!" exclaimed Burbank. "The night is already 
 dark; they will not see you in the shadow ! Go ! you 
 are only paralyzing us by remaining here ! For God's 
 sake, go !" 
 
 Zermah went first, holding little Dy by the hand. 
 Mrs. Burbank tore herself from her husband's arms, 
 Alice left her father's. They disappeared down the 
 staircase which led below the ground into the tunnel to 
 Marine Creek. 
 
 "And now," said Burbank, addressing himself to 
 Perry, the assistant-overseers, and the few negroes re- 
 maining, " now, my friends, we must resist to the death." 
 
 Then they all ascended the grand staircase from the 
 hall, and took up their positions at the windows on the 
 first floor. There, to the hundreds of bullets that honey- 
 combed the front of the house, they answered by fewer 
 but more effective discharges, firing, as they did, into the 
 mass of the assailants, who came on to force their way 
 through the door either by axe or flame. There was no 
 one this time to open a breach into the house. Such an 
 attempt as that against the wooden palisades would have 
 been useless against stone walls. 
 
 Nevertheless, a score of men, stealing along in the 
 darkness, which now was profound, gathered on the steps. 
 The door was then attacked furiously. It needed all its 
 solidity to withstand the blows of the picks and axes. 
 The attempt cost many of the assailants their lives, for 
 the position of the loopholes admitted of a cross fire on 
 to the step. 
 
loo 
 
 TEXAR^S REVENGE. 
 
 And ndw something happened to make matters worse. 
 Ammunition began to fail. Burbank, his friends and 
 overseers, and the blacks, armed with guns, had used the 
 greater part during the three hours the assault had lasted. 
 If they had to hold out much longer, how could they do 
 it after the last cartridges had gone ? Would they have 
 to abandon Castle House to the mob, who would leave 
 nothing of it but ruins ? 
 
 And this would certainly have to be done if the assail- 
 ants broke in the door,, which had already begun to shake. 
 Burbank saw this, but he resolved to wait till the last. 
 At any moment might not a diversion take place ? 
 There was now nothing to fear for Mrs. Burbank, his 
 daughter, nor Alice Stannard. And as men they could 
 fight to the end against this rabble of murderers, incen- 
 diaries, and thieves. 
 
 " We have still ammunition for an hour,'' said Bur- 
 bank. " Use it all, my friends, and don't let us give up 
 Castle House." 
 
 He had hardly finished speaking when a loud report 
 was heard in the distance. 
 
 ''A cannon-shot !" he exclaimed. 
 
 Another report was heard to the westward, on the other 
 side of the river. 
 
 "A second shot !" said Stannard. 
 ''Listen !" said Burbank. 
 
 A third report was heard, the wind bringing it more 
 distinctly to Castle House. 
 
 "Is that a signal to recall the assailants to the right 
 bank ?" asked Stannard. 
 
 Perhaps," said Bruce. "It is possible that there has 
 been an alarm over there. " 
 
 "Yes," said the overseer; "and if these cannon-shots 
 have not been fired from Jacksonville — " 
 
 "They have been fired from the Federal fleet !" said 
 Burbank. " Has the flotilla forced the entrance of the 
 St. John's and mounted the river ?" 
 
 And there was nothing impossible in Commodore Du- 
 pont's being now master of the river, at least in the lower 
 part of its course. 
 
 But it was not so. The three gunshots had been fired 
 from the battery at Jacksonville; that was quite evident. 
 
tfiE fiVÉNiKÔ OF THE ^ND MAËCIÎ. 
 
 101 
 
 as no more firing was heard. There had been no engage- 
 ment between the Northerners and Confederates on the 
 St. John's or in the plains of Duval county. 
 
 And there could be no doubt that this had been the sig- 
 nal of recall to the commander of the militia when Perry, 
 who was stationed at one of the side loopholes, exclaimed— 
 " They are retiring ! They are retiring !" 
 Burbank and his companions hurried to the central win- 
 dow, which they opened. ; 
 
 The sounds of the axe were no longer heard against the 
 door. Not one of the assailants was in sight. If their 
 shouts and yells were still heard in the air, they were 
 heard further and further away. 
 
 Evidently something had happened to oblige the author- 
 ities at Jacksonville to recall this mob to the other bank 
 of the St. John's. Doubtless it had been agreed that three 
 gunshots should be fired in case any movement of the 
 squadron should threaten the Confederate position. 
 
 So the assailants had abruptly abandoned their final as- 
 sault, and across the devastated fields of the estate had 
 taken their way, lighted by the fires they had kindled. An 
 hour later they re-crossed the river two miles below Gamd- 
 less Bay, where the boats were waiting for them. 
 
 Soon their shouts died away in the distance. To the 
 uproar succeeded absolute silence. It was as the silence 
 of death over the plantation. 
 
 It was then half-past nine o'clock. Burbank and his 
 companions went downstairs to the hall. There lay Ed- 
 ward Carrol, stretched on the sofa, slightly wounded; 
 and somewhat weakened by the loss of blood. 
 
 They told him what had happened since the signal from 
 Jacksonville. For the moment, at least, Castle House had 
 nothing to fear from Texar's gang. 
 
 *'Yes," said James Burbank. *'But the scoundrel 
 wished to disperse my liberated slaves, and they are dis- 
 persed ! He wished lay waste the plantation in revenge, 
 and only its ruins are left." 
 
 *^ James," said Walter Stannard, ''worse misfortunes 
 might still happen to us. None of us fell in defending 
 Castle House; but your wife, your daughter, and my 
 daughter might have passed into the hands of these ras- 
 cals, and they are safe." 
 
102 
 
 Bexar's eevengè. 
 
 ''You are right, Stannard, and God be praised for it ! 
 What has been done by Texar's orders shall not go unpun- 
 ished, and I will have justice to the last drop of his blood." 
 
 It is a pity," said Carrol, ''that Mrs. Burbank, Alice, 
 Dy, and Zermah left us ! I know we seemed to be in 
 great danger then; but I would rather now they were 
 here." ^ 
 
 "Before the morning," said Burbank, "I will rejoin 
 them. They will be dreadfully anxious, and we must set 
 their minds at rest. I will then see if we can bring them 
 back to Camdless Bay, or leave them for a day or two at 
 Cedar Rock." ^ 
 
 " Yes," said Stannard. " We must not be hasty. All 
 may not be over; and as long as Jacksonville is under 
 Texar's control we have something to fear." 
 
 " That is why I will act prudently," answered Burbank. 
 " Perry, you will see that a boat is ready a little before 
 daybreak. I shall only want one man to go with me — " 
 
 A cry of grief, a shout of despair, suddenly interrupted 
 him. 
 
 The cry came from that part of the park where the 
 lawn lay in front of the house. It was immediately fol- 
 lowed by the words — 
 
 "Father! Father!" 
 
 " My daaghter's voice !" exclaimed Mr. Stannard. 
 
 " What new misfortune?" asked Burbank. And open- 
 ing the door they rushed out. 
 
 Alice was standing a few yards away, and at her feet 
 lay Mrs. Burbank. 
 
 Neither Dy nor Zermah were with them. 
 
 " My child !" exclaimed Burbank. At the sound of his 
 voice his wife rose. She could not speak. She stretched 
 out her arms towards the river. 
 
 " Carried off ? Carried off ?" 
 
 "Yes ! by Texar !" said Alice. 
 
 And then she fell senseless by Mrs. Burbank's side. 
 
TfiÉ Six î)AlrS THAT FOLtOWfiî). 
 
 103 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE SIX DAYS THAT TOLLOWED. 
 
 When Mrs. Burbank and Alice were in the tunnel lead- 
 ing to Marine Creek, Zermah was in front. The slave 
 held the little girl with one hand; with the other she car- 
 ried a lantern, by whose feeble light they walked. When 
 she reached the end of the tunnel Zermah asked Mrs. Bur- 
 bank to wait for her. She intended to make sure that the 
 boat and the two negroes that were to take them to Cedar 
 Eock were at their post. Opening the door at the end of 
 the tunnel she stepped out towards the river. 
 
 For a minute — only a minute — Mrs. Burbank and Alice 
 waited for Zermah's return, when Alice noticed that Dy 
 was not with them. 
 
 Dy ! Dy !" shouted Mrs. Burbank, at the risk of be- 
 traying her presence. 
 
 The child did not answer. Accustomed to follow Zer- 
 mah, she had gone with her out of the tunnel towards the 
 creek before her mother had noticed her. 
 
 Suddenly a groaning was heard. Fearing some new 
 danger, and thinking not for a moment of their own 
 safety, they ran out to thé bank of the creek, and reached 
 it just in time to see a boat disappearing in the darkness. 
 
 " Help ! Help ! It is Texar !" shouted Zermah. 
 Texar ! Texar !" shouted Alice in reply. And with 
 her hand she pointed to the Spaniard, revealed by the re- 
 flection of the fires at Camdless Bay. He was standing 
 upright in the boat which rapidly shot away. 
 
 Then all was silent. 
 
 The .two negroes with their throats cut lay dead on the 
 ground. 
 
 Then Mrs. Burbank, in divstraction, followed by Alice 
 who in vain tried to stop her, ran along the bank, calling 
 after her little daughter. No cry answered hers. The 
 boat had become invisible, either because the gloom had 
 
m 
 
 veiled it from her sight, or because it had crossed the 
 river to some point on the left bank. 
 
 For an hour this vain pursuit continued. At last Mrs 
 Burbank fell exhausted. Alice, with extraordinary 
 energy, helped the unfortunate mother to rise, supported 
 her, and almost carried her. In the distance, in the 
 direction of Castle House, rang out the reports of the 
 tirearms, mingled every now and then with the terrible 
 ^ i?. } besiegers, But it was necessary to go back 
 in that direction, to try and get back to the house along 
 the tunnel, to open the door which communicated with 
 the underground stairs. When she reached that spot 
 how would Alice make herself heard ? 
 
 She dragged Mrs. Burbank along, but the mother was 
 unconscious of what she was doing. Twenty times did 
 they stop as they returned along the riverside. At any 
 instant they might fall into the hands of those who were 
 wrecking the plantation. Would it be better to wait till 
 daylight? But how in this place could she give Mrs. 
 Burbank the attention her state required? And so, cost 
 what it might, Alice resolved to get back to Castle House. 
 And as the winding of the river lengthened the way, she 
 thought it would be better to go straight across the fields, 
 guided by the light of the burning barracoons. This she 
 did, and thus it was she came near the house. 
 
 There Mrs. Burbank fell motionless at her feet. She 
 could support her no longer. 
 
 By this time the detachment of militia, followed bv the 
 horde of pillagers, had given up the assault, and were far 
 from the palisades. Not a shout was heard within or 
 vnthout. Alice imagined that the assailants had captured 
 the house and abandoned it without leaving one of its 
 defenders alive. Supreme was her anguish ; her strength 
 failed her, and she, too, fell to the ground, while a last 
 gi-oan escaped from her, a last appeal. It had been heard. 
 Burbank and his friends had rushed out. Now they 
 knew all that had passed at Marine Creek. What mattered 
 it to them that the plunderers had gone? What mat- 
 tered It to them that there was no fear of falling into 
 their power? A dreadful misfortune had come to them. 
 Little Dy was in the hands of Texar I 
 This was the story told by Alice, broken with many 
 
THE SIX DAYS THAT FOLLOWED. 
 
 105 
 
 sobs, and listened to by Mrs. Burbank,.who had returned 
 to consciousness and was bathed in tears. This is what 
 was learnt by Burbank, Stannard, Carrol, Perry, and 
 their few companions. The poor child, taken they knew 
 not where, in the hands of her father's cruellest enemy ! 
 What could be worse than that ? Could the future have 
 greater griefs in store ? 
 
 All were overwhelmed at the blow. Mrs. Burbank was 
 taken to her room and laid on her bed, and Alice remained 
 with her. 
 
 Below, in the hall, Burbank and his friends endeavoured 
 to devise some plan by which they could recover Dy and 
 rescue Zermah from Texar's hands. The devoted half- 
 breed would certainly endeavour to defend the child to the 
 death ! But as the prisoner of a scoundrel animated by 
 personal hatred, would she not pay with her life for the 
 curses she hurled at him ? 
 
 Then James Burbank blamed himself for having forced 
 his wife to leave Castle House, for having arranged such a 
 means of flight which had turned out so badly. Wàs 
 Texar's presence at Marine Creek to be attributed to 
 chance ? Evidently not. Texar, in some way or another, 
 had heard of the existence of the tunnel. He had said 
 to himself that the defenders of Camdless Bay would 
 endeavour to escape by it when they could no longer hold 
 out in the house. And, after leading his men to the right 
 bank of the river, after forcing the palisades, and driving 
 Burbank behind the walls of the house, there could be no 
 doubt he and some of his accomplices had posted them- 
 selves near Marine Creek. There he had suddenly sur- 
 prised the two blacks in charge of the boat, and cut their 
 throats, their cries being unheard amiu the tumult made 
 by the besiegers of the house. The Spaniard had waited 
 till Zermah appeared with little Dy close behind. Seeing 
 them alone, he probably thought that neither Mrs. 
 Burbank, nor her husband, nor her friends were going to 
 leave Castle House. Then he would have to be content 
 with this prey, and had seized on the child and the half- 
 breed to carry them off to some retreat whence it would 
 be impossible to recover them. ' 
 
 And with what more terrible blow could the scoundrel 
 have visited the Burbanks ? 
 
106 
 
 TEXAE's EE venge. 
 
 A horrible night was passed by the survivors. Was 
 there not a chance that the assailants might return in 
 greater numbers and better armed ? Fortunately, they 
 did not. When the day broke there had been no renewal 
 of the attack. 
 
 But it was important to know why the three cannon- 
 shots had been fired the night before, and why the assail- 
 ants had retired when one effort more— an hour's effort 
 at the outside— would have given them the house. Was 
 the recall due to some demonstration of the Federals at 
 the mouth of the St. John's ? Had Commodore Dupont's 
 ships become masters of Jacksonville ? Nothing in Bur- 
 bank's interest could be more desirable. In all safety he 
 could begin his search to recover Dy and Zermah, and 
 openly attack Texar— if the Spaniard had not retreated 
 with his partisans— and prosecute him as the promoter of 
 the havoc at Camdless Bay and the double abduction of 
 the half-breed and child. 
 
 This time no such aliU was possible as that which the 
 Spaniard had produced at the opening of this history, 
 when he appeared before the magistrate at Saint Augwstine. 
 If Texar was not at the head of this band of scoundrels 
 who had invaded Camdless Bay— as Mr. Harvey's mes- 
 senger had been unable to ascertain— the last cry of 
 Zermah had only too clearly revealed the part he took in 
 the abduction. And had not Alice recognized him as the 
 boat was rowing away ? 
 
 Yes ! Federal justice would make the scoundrel con- 
 fess where he had taken his victims, and punish the crimes 
 which he could not deny. 
 
 Unfortunately, nothing happened to confirm this hy- 
 pothesis concerning the arrival of the Northern flotilla in 
 the waters of the St. John's. At this date, the 3rd of 
 March, no ship had left the bay of St. Mary's, as was only 
 too clearly ascertained by the news which one of the 
 assistant-overseers brought in during the day from the 
 othei bank of the river, to which he had gone to inquire. 
 No vessel had appeared off Pablo light. The whole fleet 
 was employed at Fernandina and Fort Clinch. It seemed 
 as though Commodore Dupont could only advance into 
 the centre of Florida with extreme circumspection. At 
 Jacksonville the rioters were still in power. After the 
 
THE SIX DAYS THAT FOLLOWED. 
 
 107 
 
 expedition to Oamdless Bay the Spaniard had again, 
 appeared in the town, and was organizing the defence 
 against Stevens's gunboats, should they try to cross the 
 bar. Doubtless some false alarm the evening before had 
 called back the looters. After all, was not Texar's 
 vengeance sufiScient, now that the plantation had been 
 wasted, the factories fired, the negroes dispersed in the 
 forests with nothing but the ruins of the barracoons left 
 to them, and little Dy taken away from her father and 
 mother, with no trace as to where she had gone ? 
 
 Of this James Burbank felt only too certain, when 
 during the morning he and Walter Stannard explored the 
 right bank of the river. In vain they searched the smaller 
 creeks for some clue as to the direction taken by the boat. 
 The search could at the best be but incomplete, unless 
 the left bank was searched as well. 
 
 But at this time, was not this impossible ? Would it 
 not be necessary to wait till Texar and his partisans were 
 reduced to impotence by the arrival of the Federals ? 
 With Mrs. Burbank in such a state, Alice unable to leave 
 her, and Carrol laid up for some days, would it not be 
 imprudent to leave them alone at Castle House, when the 
 return of the assailants was not unlikely ? 
 
 And what was even more maddening was, that Burbank 
 could not dream of proceeding against Texar, either for 
 the devastation of his estate, nor the abduction of Zermah 
 and his daughter. The only magistrate to whom he could 
 address himself was the author of the crime. All that 
 could be done was to wait until regular justice had resumed 
 its course at Jacksonville. 
 
 James,''' said Mr. Stannard, ''it the dangers which 
 threaten your child are terrible, at kast Zermah is with 
 her, and you can depend on her devotion — " 
 
 "Till death— quite so!'' said Burbank. "And when 
 will Zermah be dead ?" 
 
 " Listen, my dear' James. Consider for a moment. It 
 is not Texar's interest to proceed to such extremities. 
 He hfts not yet left Jacksonville, and until he has I think 
 his victims have no act of violence to fear. Your child 
 will be a guarantee, a hostage against the reprisals which 
 he has to guard against, not only from you, but from the 
 Federals, for having suspended, the regular authorities of 
 
108 
 
 texae's eevenge. 
 
 Jacksonville, and devastated a Northerner's plantation. 
 It is his interest to spare them, and wait till Dupont and 
 Sherman are masters of the territory before you do any- 
 thing against him/' 
 
 And when will that be ?" asked Burbank. 
 
 To-morrow ! To-day, perhaps ! I tell you, Dy is 
 Texar's safeguard. It is for that purpose he took the 
 opportunity of carrying her off, knowing that it would 
 also break your heart, my poor James; and the scoundrel 
 has succeeded only too well/^ 
 
 V Thus reasoned Mr. Stannard, and he had good grounds 
 for doing so. Would he convince James Burbank ? 
 Doubtless, no. Would he give him any hope ? ]N"one. It 
 was impossible. But Burbank saw that he must force 
 himself to talk before his wife as Stannard had talked to 
 him. Otherwise she would not survive the blow. And 
 when he reached home, he made much use of the argu- 
 ments which had no effect upon himself. 
 
 Meanwhile, Perry and his assistant overseers visited 
 Camdless Bay. It was a heartrending spectacle which 
 even made a great impression on Pygmalion, who accom- 
 panied them. The ^^free man'' had never dreamt of 
 following the freed slaves dispersed by Texar. The liberty 
 to sleep in the woods and suffer cold and hunger seemed 
 to him excessive. As he preferred to remain at Castle 
 House, he ought, like Zermah, to have torn up his act of 
 enfranchisement to gain the right to live there. 
 
 You see, Pyg !" said Mr. Perry, " the plantation is 
 laid waste, our workshops are in ruins. That is what has 
 been the cost of giving liberty to people of your colour." 
 
 Mr. Perry," replied Pygmalion, it is not my fault — " 
 
 It is your fault. If fellows like you had not applauded 
 the speechifiers who thundered against slavery, if you had 
 protested against the ideas of the North, if you had taken 
 arms to repulse the Federal troops, Mr. Burbank would 
 never have to think of freeing you, and disaster would 
 never have come to Camdless Bay." 
 
 But what can I do now ?" said the disconsolate Pyg. 
 What can I do, Mr. Perry ?" 
 
 I will tell you, Pyg, if you have the least feeling of 
 justice about you. You are free, are you not ?" 
 
 It seems so," 
 
THE SIX DATS THAT FOLLOWED. 
 
 109 
 
 ''And consequently, you belonsrto yourself 
 ''Certainly/' 
 
 " And if you belong to yourself, there is nothing to post 
 you from doing what you like with yourself ?" 
 "JS'othing, Mr. Perry.'' 
 
 "Well, in your place, Pyg, I should not hesitate. I 
 would go to the nearest plantation and again become a 
 slave, and the price I realized by my sale I would bring 
 back to my old master, to indemnify him for the wrong I 
 did him when he set me free !" 
 
 Did the overseer speak seriously ? It was impossible to 
 know what nonsense the witty man might talk once he 
 had mounted his hobby. Pygamalion, the piteous Pyg- 
 malion, disconcerted, irresolute, abashed, did not know 
 what to reply. 
 
 It was only too evident that James Burbank's act of 
 generosity had brought misfortune and ruin on the plan- 
 tation. The disaster would cost him a considerable amount 
 of money. There were no barracoons left; they had fallen 
 after they had been sacked. The sawmills and workshops 
 were only heaps of cinders from which grey wreaths of 
 smoke still rose. In place of the stores where the timber 
 was kept, of the factories where the cotton was heckled, 
 of the hydraulic presses where it was squeezed into bales, 
 of the sugar-mills, there were only blackened walls ready 
 to fall, and where the chimney of the factory rose, there 
 was now but a mound of reddened bricks. The fields of 
 coffee and rice, the kitchen garden, the enclosures for the 
 domestic animals, had been completely laid waste, as if a 
 herd of wild beasts had ravaged them for hours. At the 
 sight of this lamentable spectacle, Mr. Perry could hardly 
 contain himself. His anger escaped in threatening words. 
 Pygmalion felt anything but comfortable at the fierce 
 looks the overseer gave him; and he ended by leaving, to 
 return to Castle House, in order that, as he said, he might 
 reflect more at his ease on the proposition as to selling 
 himself, which the overseer had made. And, doubtless, 
 the day was not long enough for his reflection, for when 
 evening came, he was still undecided. 
 
 During the day a few of the old slaves returned in secret 
 to Camdless Bay. It may be imagined what was their 
 distress when they found not a single hut undestroyed. 
 
no 
 
 texae's revenge. 
 
 James Burbank gave orders that as much as possible 
 should be done for them. A certain number were lodged 
 within the palisades in the servants' quarters that the 
 fire had not touched. They were, at first, employed in 
 burying their companions, who had died in the defence 
 of the house, and also the corpses of the assailants who 
 had fallen in the attack — the wounded had been carried 
 away by their comrades. And they also buried the two 
 negroes who had been killed by Texar and his accomplices 
 when surprised at their post near Marine Creek. 
 
 This done, James Burbank could not set about getting 
 his estate again into order nntil the question between 
 J^orth and South was settled in Florida. ' Other cares, 
 equally serio^s but very different, absorbed his attention 
 night and day. All in his power to do to recover some 
 trace of his little daughter he did. Mrs. Burbank's health 
 was in a precarious state, although Alice had not left her 
 for a moment, and watched over her with filial solicitude ; 
 and it was necessary to find a doctor for her. 
 
 There was one in Jacksonville who possessed the full 
 confidence of the Burbanks; and as soon as he was sent 
 for he did not hesitate to come to Camdless Bay. He 
 prescribed a few remedies. But would they be efficacious 
 so long as Dy remained unrestored to her mother ? 
 
 Leaving Carrol, who would have to keep to his room for 
 some days, Burbank and Stannard went out each day to 
 explore both banks of the river. They searched the Isl- 
 ands in the St. John's; they asked the country people; 
 they inquired in the smallest villages in the county; they 
 promised a heavy.reward to any one who would bring 
 them any clue. Their efforts remained useless. How 
 could they learn what was going on in Black Creek where 
 the Spaniard hid himself ? No one knew of it. And, 
 besides, to withdraw his victims the better from all search, 
 had not Texar taken them further up the river ? Was not 
 the county large enough, were there not enough hiding- 
 places in the vast forests in the centre, amid the immense 
 marshes in the South of Florida, in the region of the inac- 
 cessible Everglades, for Texar to hide his victims so that 
 they could not be reached ? 
 
 At the same time, through the doctor coming to Camd- 
 less Bay. Burbank was kept informed of what was passing 
 at Jacksonville and in the north of Duval county.. 
 
THE SIX DAYS THAT FOLLOWED. 
 
 Ill 
 
 The Federals had made no new demonstration. Had 
 special instruetions arrived from Washington forbidding 
 them to cross the frontier ? Such a proceeding would be 
 disastrous for the Unionists in the South, and particularly 
 so for James Burbank. 
 
 ]S[evertheless, Commodore Dupont's squadron remained 
 il) the estuary of the St. Mary's, and if Texar's men had 
 been recalled by the three cannon-shots fired on the 2nd of 
 March, it was because the Jacksonville authorities had been 
 deceived by a false alarm; and, through the error, Castle 
 House had escaped from pillage and ruin. 
 
 But would not the Spaniard send another expedition to 
 complete his work, seeing that James Burbank was not in 
 his hands ? An unlikely hypothesis ! At present, the 
 attack on Castle House and the carrying off of Dy and 
 Zermah were probably enough for him. Besides, some of 
 the better- class citizens had not hesitated to show their 
 disapprobation of the affair at Camdless Bay, and their 
 disgust at the chief of the Jacksonville rioters, although 
 their opinion might matter little to Texar. The Spaniard 
 was more powerful than ever in Duval county. His 
 vagabonds and unscrupulous adventurers were quite at 
 their ease. Each day they gave themselves up to pleasures 
 of all sorts, degenerating into orgies. The noise of the 
 merry-makings even reached the plantation; and the sky 
 glowed with the public illuminations, which might be taken 
 for the light of another incendiary fire. Moderate men 
 were reduced to silence, and had to submit to the yoke of 
 this faction, which was supported by the populace of the 
 county. 
 
 The temporary inaction of the Federal army oppor- 
 tunely came in to help the new authorities, who profited 
 by it to spread the report that the ISTortherners would 
 not pass the frontier; that they had received orders to re- 
 treat into Georgia and the Carolijias; that Florida would 
 not be subjected to the invasion of the anti-slavery troops; 
 that its position as an old Spanish colony put it outside 
 the question the United States were seeking to solve 
 V force of arms, &c., &c. And in all the counties there 
 was produced a certain current favourable rather than 
 contrary to the ideas which the partisans of violence rep- 
 resented, This was apparent in man^ places, particu- 
 
112 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 larly in the north, on the Georgian frontier, where the 
 planters with Northern sympathies were atrociously 
 treated, their slaves put to flight, their sawmills and 
 factories destroyed by fire, their establishments devas- 
 tated by the Confederate troops, as Oamdless Bay had 
 just been by the populace of Jacksonville. " 
 
 It did not, however, seem^ — at present at least — that 
 thère was a chance of the plantation being again invaded. 
 But much did James Biirbank chafe at the delay of the 
 Federals in making themselves masters of the territory. 
 As things stood, nothing could be done against Texar; 
 either to bring him to justice for what could not be 
 denied, or compel him to reveal the hiding-place of Dy 
 and Zermah. 
 
 Burbank could not bring himself to believe that the 
 Federals were going to remain quietly on the frontier. 
 Grilbert's last letter had expressly stated that the expe- 
 dition of Commodore Dupont and Sherman was destined 
 for Florida. Since this letter, had the Federal Govern- 
 ment sent different orders to ,Edisto Bay, where the 
 squadron was waiting? Had a success of the Confeder- 
 ate troops in Virginia or the Carolinas obliged the army 
 of the Union to halt in its march to the South? 
 
 Thus passed the five days which followed the attack on 
 Camdless Bay. There was no news of a movement of 
 the Federals. No news of Dy and Zermah, although 
 Burbank had done his best to come on their track, and 
 not a day passed without some fresh effort. 
 
 The 9th of March had come. Edward Carrol had com- 
 pletely recovered. He was now fit to join in tlie work of 
 his friends. Mrs. Burbank continued extremely weak. 
 It seemed as though her life threatened to take flight with 
 her tears. In her delirium she called her little daughter 
 in heartrending tones; she attempted to go in search of 
 her. These crises were followed by syncopes, which put 
 her life in danger. Often and often Alice feared that 
 the unhappy mother would die in her arms. 
 
 A war rumour reached Jacksonville on the morning of 
 the 9th of March. Unfortunately, it was calculated to 
 give new encouragement to the partisans of Secession. 
 
 The Confederate general. Van Dorn, had repulsed the 
 gojdiers of Çurtis on the 6th of March ^t the bfi,ttle gt 
 
THE SÏX BAYS THAT Î'OLLOWÉB. llg 
 
 Betonville, in Arkansas, and obliged them to retreat. 
 Really this was an engagement with the rear-guard of a 
 small Northern corps; and the success was more than 
 compensated for a few days afterwards by the victory of 
 Pea Ridge. It, however, provoked an increase of insolence 
 among the Southerners. At Jacksonville, the unimportant 
 action was celebrated as a complete check to the Federal 
 army; and there were new festivities and new orgies, the 
 murmur of which rolled mournfully over Camdless Bay. 
 
 When James Burbank returned, about six o'clock in the 
 evening, from his exploration of the left bank of the river, 
 he had ascertained the following facts : 
 
 A native of Putnam county fancied he had discovered 
 some trace of the abduction on an island of the St. John's 
 a few miles above Black Greek. During the preceding 
 night this man thought he had hearda cry of despair, and 
 had come to report the fact to James Burbank. Squambo, 
 the Indian, Texar's confidant, had been seen in the neigh- 
 bourhood in a skiff. There was no doubt about the In- 
 dian's being seen, for the fact was confirmed by a passen- 
 ger on board the Shannon, who, on his return to St. 
 Augustine, had landed during the day at Camdless Bay. 
 
 It need not be said how eagerly James Burbank started 
 on the track. Carrol and two negroes accompanied him 
 in the boat with which he started up the river. They 
 speedily reached the island in question, thoroughly 
 searched it, and visited a few fishermen's huts that did 
 not seem to have been recently occupied. Among the 
 ,almost impenetrable underwood in the interior there was 
 not a vestige of human beings. There was nothing on 
 the bank to show that a boat had put in. Squambo 
 could nowhere be seen, and if he had been prowling round 
 the island he had probably not landed. The expedition 
 was thus without result, like the others. The return had 
 to be made to the plantation with the knowledge that a 
 false track had been followed. In the evening, Burbank, 
 Stannard, and Carrol, as they were together in the hall, 
 talked over this useless search. About nine o'clock, 
 Alice, having left . Mrs. Burbank asleep, came to join 
 them, and found that the last attempt had been without 
 result. 
 
 The night was to be a dark one. The moon, in its first 
 
114 
 
 quarter, had ali-eadj disappeared below the horizon. A 
 deep silence enveloped Castle House, the plantation, and 
 the river. The few blacks in the servants' apartments 
 were asleep. When the silence Avas troubled it was by 
 the distant clamour and the reports of the fireworks at 
 Jacksonville, where, with great uproar, the people were 
 celebrating the successes of the Confederates. 
 
 Each time the noise was heard in the hall another blow 
 was struck at the B urban ks. 
 
 "We ought to find out what it means," said Carrol, 
 " and see if the Federals really have renounced their plans 
 on Florida." 
 
 " Yes ! It must be done," answered Stannard. "We 
 cannot exist in this uncertainty." 
 
 "Well," said Burbank, "I will go to Fernandina to- 
 morrow — and then I will see — " 
 
 At this moment there came a gentle tap on the front 
 door of Castle House, on the side facing the river. 
 
 A scream escaped from Alice, who rushed to the door. 
 Burbank vainly tried to keep the girl back. And as no 
 reply had come, another knock was heard, this time more 
 distinctly. 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 A FEW HOURS. 
 
 James Burbank stepped to the door. He did not ex- 
 pect anybody. It might be some important news from 
 Jacksonville brought by John Bruce from his correspond- 
 dent, Mr. Harvey. 
 
 A third time there came a knock, and from a more im- 
 patient hand. 
 
 "Who is there ?" asked James Burbank. 
 
 "I am," was the reply. 
 
 " Gilbert !" exclaimed Alice. 
 
 She was not mistaken. Gilbert at Camdless Bay! Gil- 
 bert appearing among his people, glad to come and pass 
 
A f'ÈW HOXJïiâ. 
 
 116 
 
 a few hours with them, knowing nothing, doubtless, of 
 the disasters that had fallen on them! 
 
 In a moment the young lieutenant was in his father's 
 arms; while the man who accompanied him carefully shut 
 the door, after taking a last look round outside. 
 
 It was Mars, Zermah's husband, Gilbert Burbank's de- 
 voted follower. 
 
 After embracing his father, Gilbert turned round. 
 Then, seeing Alice, he took her hand and clasped it with 
 an irresistible movement of affection. 
 
 *'My mother!" he said. "Where is mother? Is it 
 true that she is dying ?" 
 
 "You know all, then ?" said James Burbank, 
 
 " I know all: the plantation laid waste by the Jackson- 
 ville ruffians, the attack on Castle House, my mother- 
 dead perhaps !" 
 
 The young man's presence in the county where he ran 
 such peril was immediately explained. 
 
 This is what had happened: 
 
 That evening, some gunboats from Commodore Du- 
 pont's squadron had come to the mouth of the St. John's. 
 Ascending the river, they had . had to stop at the bar, 
 four miles below Jacksonville. A few hours later, a 
 man, calling himself one of the lighthouse-keepers at 
 Pablo, had boarded Stevens's gunboat, on which Gilbert 
 was second in command. The man had related all that 
 had passed at Jacksonville, including the attack on Camd- 
 less Bay, the dispersal of the blacks, and the serious con- 
 dition of Mrs. Burbank. It may be guessed what were 
 Gilbert's feelings on listening to the story of these de- 
 plorable events. 
 
 Then he was seized with an irresistible desire to see his 
 mother. With the permission of Commandant Stevens 
 he had left the flotilla in the gig. Accompanied by the 
 faithful Mars, he passed unnoticed in the darkness—by 
 the way he knew so well — and landed half a mile below 
 Camdless Bay, so as to avoid touching at the pier, which 
 would probably be watched. 
 
 But what he did not know, and could not know, was 
 that he had fallen into a snare spread by Texar. At any 
 price the Spaniard desired to obtain the proof required by 
 the magistrates — the proof that James Burbank was in 
 
116 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 correspondence with the enemy. To entice the yottng 
 lieutenant to Oamdless Bay, a lighthouse-keeper at Pablo 
 had been sent to acquaint Gilbert with what had occurred 
 at Castle House, particularly the condition of his mother. 
 The young lieutenant had set out, as we know; and he 
 had been watched as he went up the river. As he glided 
 along by the reeds that bordered the high bank of the St. 
 John's he had, however, thrown the Spaniard's men off 
 the track; but though the spies had not seen him land 
 below Oamdless Bay, they hoped to capture him on his 
 return, particularly as all that part of the river was under 
 their surveillance. 
 
 Mother!" continued Gilbert, "where is she?" 
 
 "Here, my son!" said Mrs. Burbank. 
 
 She had just appeared on the landing of the hall stair- 
 case; she descended slowly, holding the rail, and fell on a 
 couch, while Gilbert covered her with kisses. 
 
 In her troubled sleep she had heard the knock at the 
 door. Recognizing her son's voice, she had collected 
 sufficient strength to get up and meet Gilbert, to weep 
 with him and the others. The young man clasped her in 
 his arms. 
 
 "Mother! mother!" said he, "I see you again, after 
 all. How you are suffering! But you live! Ah! we will 
 cure you! Yes! These evil days will soon end. We 
 shall be re-united— soon! We will give you back your 
 health. Fear nothing for me, mother. No one knows 
 that Mars and I are here." And as he spoke, Gilbert 
 •saw his mother was fainting, and tried to revive her by 
 his caresses. 
 
 But Mars seemed to understand that he and Gilbert did 
 not know the full extent of the calamity. James Bur- 
 bank, Carrol, and Stannard stood silent with bôwed 
 heads. Alice could not restrain her tears. Dy was not 
 there, nor was Zermah, who ought to have guessed that 
 her husband was at Camdless Bay, that he was in the 
 house, that he was waiting 
 
 So with his heart torn by anguish, he looked into all 
 the corners of the hall, and then asked Mr. Burbank,— 
 
 " Master, what is the matter?" 
 
 At this moment Gilbert rose. 
 
 " And Dy?" he asked. " Has Dy gone to bed? Where 
 Î3 my little sister?" 
 
À PEW Hôtrss. 
 
 *' Where is my wife?" said Mars. 
 
 An instant afterwards the young officer and Mars knew 
 all. In coming from the St, John's, from the place 
 where their canoe was waiting for them, they had seen 
 enough in the darkness of the ruins of the plantation. 
 But they might naturally think that, with the disaster 
 consequent on the enfranchisement of the blacks, the 
 limit had been reached! Now nothing was hid from 
 them. One did not find his sister at home, the other did 
 not find his wife, and no one could tell them where Texar 
 had hidden them for these, seven days. 
 * Gilbert returned to kneel near Mrs. Burbank. His 
 tears mingled with hers. Mars, with bloodshot face and 
 panting chest, walked to and fro, unable to contain him- 
 self. 
 
 At last his rage exploded. 
 
 " I will kill Texar!" he said. " I will go to Jackson- 
 ville — to-morrow — this very night — this very instaiit — " 
 "Yes, come. Mars! come!" said Gilbert. 
 James Burbank stopped them. 
 
 " If thai was what ought to be done," said he, " I 
 should not have waited for you to come, my son! The 
 scoundrel would already have paid with his life for his 
 evil deeds. But, before that is done, it is necessary that 
 he should say \^hat he alone can say. And when I speak 
 thus, Gilbert — when I advise you and Mars to wait— it is 
 because it is necessary to wait." 
 
 "Be it so, father!" said the young man. "But at 
 least I will ransack the country; I will search — " 
 
 "And do you think I have not done so? Not a day 
 has passed without our exploring the river-banks and 
 islands which might serve as a refuge for Texar, and not 
 a trace have we found, not a thing to put us on your, 
 sister's track. Carrol and Stannard have helped me, and 
 up to now our search has been fruitless." 
 
 " Why did you not lodge a complaint at Jacksonville?" 
 asked the young officer. " Why have you not brought an 
 action against Texar for having caused the pillage of 
 Camdless Bay and the abduction — " 
 
 " Why?" answered James Burbank. " Because Texar 
 is now the master; because all honest men tremble before 
 the scoundrels who are devoted to him; because the popu- 
 lace is with him, and the county militia is with him." 
 
11^ 
 
 " I will kill Texar!" said Mars, as if lie were possessed 
 by some fixed idea. 
 
 " You shall kill him when the time comes," said James 
 Burbank. ^' At present it would make matters worse." 
 
 "And when will the time come?" asked Gilbert. 
 
 " When the Federals are masters of Florida — when they 
 have occupied Jacksonville." 
 
 " And if it is then too late?" 
 
 " My son! my son! I beseech you do not say that!" ex- 
 claimed Mrs. Burbank. 
 
 "No, Gilbert, do not say that," added Alice. 
 
 James Burbank took his son's hand. 
 
 " Gilbert, listen to me," he said. "We, like you and 
 Mars, will do instant justice on Texar if he refuses to tell 
 us what he has done with his victims. But for your 
 sister's sake, Gilbert — for your wife's sake. Mars — our 
 anger must give place to our prudence. There is good 
 reason to believe that in Texar's hands Dy and Zermah 
 are hostages for his safety. The scoundrel is afraid of 
 having to answer for turning out the honest magistrates 
 of Jacksonville and letting loose on Oamdless Bay the 
 mob of scoundrels to barn and pillage a Northerner's 
 plantation. If I did not believe this, Gilbert, would I 
 speak with such conviction? Would I be strong enough 
 to wait?" 
 
 "And would I still be alive?" asked Mrs. Burbank. 
 The unfortunate woman felt that if her son went to Jack- 
 sonville he would fall into Texar's power. And what 
 could save an oflQcer of the Federal navy fallen into the 
 power of the Southerners when the Federals were threat- 
 ening Florida? 
 
 Nevertheless, the young officer was not master of bim^ 
 self. He was obstinate in his wish to go; and, like Mars, 
 he repeated, " I will kill Texar!" 
 
 " Çome, then!" he said. 
 
 " You shall not go, Gilbert!" 
 
 Mrs. Burbank raised herself from the sofa. She placed 
 herself before the door; but, exhausted by the effort, she 
 could not support herself, and she fainted. 
 
 "Mother! mother!" exclaimed the young man. 
 
 Mrs. Burbank had to be carried to her room, where 
 Alice remained with her. Thèn James Burbank rejoined 
 Carrol and Stannard in the hall. 
 
Gilbert waâ sitting on the sofa with his face in his 
 hands. Mars was standing apart, and silent. 
 
 "Now, Gilbert," said James Burbank, "you are in 
 your right senses. Speak! On what you say depends 
 what we shall do. Our only hope is in a prompt arj ival 
 of the Federals in the county. Have they given up their 
 project of occupying Florida?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Where are they?" 
 
 " A part of the squadron at this moment is on the way 
 to Saint Augustine, to blockade the coast." 
 
 " But is not the Commodore going to take possession 
 of the St. John's?" asked Carrol. 
 
 The lower course of the St. John's is ours. Our gun- 
 boats are anchored in the river under the orders of Com- 
 mandant Stevens." 
 
 " In the river, and they have not yet endeavoured to 
 seize on Jacksonville?" asked Stannard. 
 
 "No, for they have had to stop at the bar, four miles 
 below the town." 
 
 "The gunboats stopped," said James Burbank, "and 
 by an insurmountable obstacle?" 
 
 " Yes, father," answered Gilbert; "stopped by want of 
 water. The tide must be high for them to ])ass the bar, 
 and even 'then the passage would be difficult. Mars 
 knows the channel, and he is to be the pilot." 
 
 "Waiting! always waiting!" exclaimed James Bur- 
 bank. " And for how long?" 
 
 Three days or twenty-four hours — how long the time 
 would be for the people in Castle House! And if the 
 Confederates saw that they could not defend the town! If 
 they abandoned it, as they had abandoned Fernandina, 
 Fort Clinch, and the other points of Georgia and northern 
 Florida! If Texardid not run away! Then where would 
 they search! 
 
 Mr. Stannard then asked if it was true that the Fed- 
 erals had met with a repulse in the North. What ^'as 
 thought of the defeat at Bentonville? 
 
 " The victory of Pea Eidge has enabled Curtis to re- 
 occupy the ground he for a moment lost. The situation 
 of the Northerners is excellent; their success is assured in 
 a delay which it was difficult to foresee. When they have 
 
m 
 
 texar's REVE*ras. 
 
 occupied the principal points in Florida, they will stop 
 contraband of war from entering through the coast passes; 
 and arms and ammunition will no longer reach the Con- 
 federates. Then, in a little time, the territory will re- 
 sume its calm and security under the protection of our 
 
 The idea of his sister being exposed to such peril re- 
 turned to him with such force that Mr. Burbank, to divert 
 his attention, changed the conversation. How did the 
 belligerents stand ? Could Gilbert give them any news 
 which had not reached Jacksonville or rather Camdless 
 
 Several things he could tell them, some of them of great 
 importance for the Northerners in Florida. 
 
 It will be remembered that after the victory of Donelson, 
 the State of Tennessee had almost entirely fallen under 
 Federal domination. By a simultaneous combined attack 
 of army and fleet, the Federals endeavoured to make 
 themselves masters of the entire course of the Mississippi. 
 They had descended it to Island 10, where the troops came 
 in contact with Beauregard's division, wljich had charge 
 of the defence of the river. Already, on the 24th of 
 February, General Pope's brigade, after landing at Com- 
 merce, on the right bank of the Mississippi, had repulsed 
 J. Thomson's corps. Arrived at Island 10 and the village 
 of New Madrid, they had, it is true, to halt before a for- 
 midable system of redoubts prepared by Beauregard. 
 Since the fall of Donelson and Nashville, all the positions 
 on the river above Memphis had been considered as lost 
 to the Confederates, but those below could still be de- 
 fended, and here it was a battle would soon be fought 
 which might be decisive. 
 
 But meanwhile, Hampton Roads, at the entrance of the 
 James River, had been the scene of a memorable combat. 
 The battle had been between the first examples of armour- 
 plated ships, the employment of which has modified the 
 navies and naval tactics of both the Old and New World. 
 
 On the 1st of March the Monitor, an armour-plated 
 vessel built by the Swedish engineer Ericcson, and the 
 Virginia, the old Merrimac much altered, had been ready 
 to put to sea, one at New York, the other at Norfolk. 
 
 At this time a Federal division, under the orders -^f 
 
 But now — ' 
 
 Bay? 
 
À FEW HOURS. 
 
 121 
 
 Captain Marston, was at anchor in Hampton Roads, near 
 Newport News. This division was composed of the 
 Congress, the Saint Lawrence, the Gumlerland, and two 
 steam frigates. 
 
 Suddenly, on the 2nd of March, in the morning, there 
 appeared the Virginia, commanded by the Confederate 
 Captain Buchanan. Followed by a few other vessels of 
 minor importance, she attacked the Congress, and then the 
 Cumberland, which latter she rammed and sank with a 
 hundred and twenty men of her crew. Returning then to 
 the Congress, stranded on the inud, she shelled her and set 
 her on fire. Only the night stopped her from destroying 
 the other three vessels of the Federal squadron. 
 
 It is difficult to imagine the effect produced by the 
 victory of a small armour-plated ship over the broadside 
 ships of the Union. The news was propagated with 
 marvellous rapidity. Great was the consternation among 
 the partisans of the North, for the Virginia might enter 
 the Hudson and sink every ship at New York. Great 
 was the joy of the Southerners, who saw the blockade 
 raised and trade again untrammelled along Iheir coast. 
 
 It was this naval success which was being so noisily 
 celebrated at J ackson ville. The Confederates now fancied 
 themselves safe from the Federal vessels. Following on 
 the victory at Hampton Roads, might not Commodore 
 Dupont's squadron be immediately recalled to the Potomac 
 or the Chesapeake ? No landing would threaten Florida. 
 The slavery ideas supported by the most violent of the 
 Southerners would triumph without a contest. And this 
 would strengthen Texar and his partisans in a position in 
 which they could do so much evil. 
 
 But the Confederates were in too great a hurry. And 
 the news already known in Florida, Gilbert was able to 
 supplement with that which was current when he left 
 Commandant Stevens's gunboat. 
 
 The second fight in Hampton Roads had been very 
 different from the first. On the morning of the 9th of 
 March, when the Virginia was preparing to attack the 
 Mi?inesota, one of the two Federal frigates, an enemy 
 whose presence was unsuspected by the Southerners 
 suddenly appeared before her. A strange machine came 
 awaj from the fripte's side, '*a cheçse-box on Sk raft/' g,s 
 
122 
 
 texae's eevenge. 
 
 the Confederates called it. This cheese-box'' was the 
 Monitor, commanded by Lieutenant Warden. He had 
 been sent to destroy the batteries on the Potomac, but on 
 reaching the mouth of the James River, had heard the 
 firing in Hampton Roads, and during the night had 
 brought the Monitor on to the scene. 
 
 At half a dozen yards from each other these two for- 
 midable engines of war fought for four hours, and then 
 the Virginia, struck on the water-line and in danger of 
 sinking, took flight in the direction of Norfolk. The 
 Monitor, which was to sink nine months later, had com- 
 pletely defeated her rival. Thanks to her, the Federal 
 Government resumed its superiority in Hampton Roads. 
 
 "jSTo, father," said Gilbert as he ended his story, " our 
 squadron has not been recalled to the nortll. Stevens's 
 six gunboats are anchored in the St. John's in front of the 
 bar. I tell you that in three days, at least, we shall be 
 masters of Jacksonville." ' 
 
 " Then. you must see, Gilbert, that you had better wait 
 and return on board ! But on your way to Camdless Bay 
 do you not think you have been followed ?" 
 
 "No. Mars and I have escaped all observation." 
 
 "And this man who told you what had passed at the 
 plantation, the fire, the robbery, the illness of your mother. 
 Who is he?" 
 
 " He said he was one of the lighthouse-keepers at Pablo, 
 and had come to warn Captain Stevens of the danger run 
 by the Northerners in this part of Florida." 
 
 "Did he know of your presence on board ?" 
 
 "No, and he seemed much surprised at it. But why 
 these questions ?" 
 
 "Because I am afraid it is some plot of Texar's. He 
 more than suspected — he knew that you were in the 
 Federal navy. He learnt that you were under the orders 
 of Commandant Stevens. If he wished to entice you 
 here — " 
 
 "Never fear. We have got to Camdless Bay without 
 being seen coming up the river, and it will be the same 
 when we go back." 
 
 " If you go on board — not otherwise !" 
 
 " I promise you, father. Mars and I sl^all be on bo^-rd 
 before daybreak," 
 
A FEW HOUBS. 
 
 123 
 
 " When will you go ?" 
 When the tide turns. That is about half-past two 
 o'clock." ^ 
 
 Who knows ?" said Carrol. " Perhaps the gunboats 
 will not stop three days at the bar ?" 
 
 " The wind must freshen to give enough water on the 
 bar," said the lieutenant. "May it blow a gale ! And 
 then we can get at the scoundrels ! And then — " 
 " I will kill Texar/' said Mars. 
 
 It was a little after midnight. Gilbert and Mars 
 would not leave Castle House for two hours, waiting for 
 the ebb to return to the flotilla. The darkness was great, 
 and there was every chance of their getting away un- 
 perceived, although several boats were on guard on the 
 St. John's below Camdless Bay. 
 
 The young officer went up to his mother. He found 
 Alice seated at the bedside. Mrs. Burbank, exhausted by 
 the efforts she had made, had fallen into a deep slumber— 
 a very sorrowful one to judge by the way she sobbed. 
 
 Gilbert would not interfere with this state of torpor in 
 which there was more prostration than sleep. He sat near 
 the bed after Alice had motioned him not to speak, adhere 
 in silence they watched together the poor woman whom 
 misfortune had struck so cruelly. Had tliey words in 
 which to excha,nge their thoughts? No! They felt 
 the same suffering, they understood each other and said 
 nothing— it was their hearts that spoke. 
 
 At last the time arrived for Gilbert to leave. He gave 
 his hand to Alice, and both bent over Mrs. Burbank, whose 
 eyes were half -closed and could not see them. 
 
 Then Gilbert pressed his lips to his mother's forehead, 
 which the girl kissed after him. Mrs. Burbank gave a 
 sorrowful sob, but she did not see her son go, nor Alice 
 follow him to bid him a last farewell. 
 
 Mars went out to see if the coast was clear. He came 
 back as Gilbert and Alice entered the hall. 
 
 "It is time to go," said he. 
 Yes, Gilbert," said James Burbank. "Go ! we shall 
 meet again at Jacksonville." 
 
 "Yes! At Jacksonville, and to-morrow if the tide 
 allows us to cross the bar. As for Texar—" 
 
 We must have him living ! Do not forget that 
 
124 
 
 texae's revenge. 
 
 " Yes, living P 
 
 The young man embraced his father and shook handg 
 with his uncle Carrol and Stannard. 
 ''Come, Mars," said he. 
 
 And following the right bank of the river they kept 
 along for half an hour. They met no one. They reached 
 the place where they had left the gig, and embarked in her 
 to ^et into the stream, which would take them rapidly to 
 the bar of the St. John's. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Oîf THE ST. JOHN'S. 
 
 They were alone on the river. Not a light could be seen 
 on the opposite bank. The lights of Jacksonville were 
 hidden by the bend of Camdless Creek, as it rounded 
 towards the north; but the reflection mounted on high 
 and tinged the lower bank of clouds. 
 
 Although the night was dark, the gig could without 
 difficulty make its way down stream to the bar. No 
 vapour, however, rose from the waters of the St. John's, 
 and it could easily be followed and pursued if any Con- 
 federate boat was in waiting for it, but this Gilbert and 
 his companion had no reason to expect. 
 
 Both were silent. Instead of heading down stream they 
 would much rather have crossed it to seek out Texar in 
 Jacksonville, and meet him face to face. Then ascending 
 the river they could search the forest and the creeks and 
 their banks, and though James Burbank had failed they 
 might succeed. But it was best to wait. When the 
 Federals were masters of Florida, Gilbert and Mars could 
 set to work against the Spaniard with more chances of 
 success. Their duty now was to re-join the flotilla under 
 Commandant Stevens. If the bar became practicable 
 sooner than they hoped, the young lieutenant ought to be 
 at his post ready for action, and Mars should be at his post 
 ready to pilot the gunboats up the channel, the depth of 
 
ON THE ST. JOHN*S. 
 
 125 
 
 which, at every moment of the rising tide, was so well 
 known to him. 
 
 Mars, seated in the stern of the gig, plied his paddle 
 with vigour. In the bow Gilbert kept careful watch down 
 stream, ready to signal any danger that presented itself 
 from boat or drifting tree. Leaving the right bank 
 obliquely, they made for the middle of the channel, so as 
 to take advantage of the full strength of the stream. 
 Once they were there. Mars, by a stroke to port or star- 
 board, could easily keep the gig on its course. 
 
 It would have been safer to have kept along by the 
 dark fringe of trees and gigantic reeds which bordered the 
 right bank of the St. John's. In the shadow of the thick 
 branches there was little risk of discovery. But a little 
 below the plantation a sharp elbow of the bank threw the 
 current out to the other side, and formed a wide eddy 
 which made the navigation somewhat difficult. Mars, 
 seeing nothing suspicious ahead, steered the boat out into 
 the current, which was swiftly running to the sea. From 
 the landing place at Camdless Bay to the anchorage of the 
 flotilla below the bar, the distance was four or five miles, 
 and helped by the ebb and the vigorous strokes of the 
 paddle, this ought to be accomplished within a couple of 
 hours. 
 
 A quarter of an hour after their start, Gilbert and Hars 
 were in mid-stream, and approaching Jacksonville. It 
 may be that Mars unconsciously headed towards the town, 
 drawn thither by some irresistible attraction. Never- 
 theless the hateful place must be avoided, for its neigh- 
 bourhood was probably better guarded than the middle of 
 the river. 
 
 " Starboard, Mars, starboard/' said the young officer, i 
 
 And the gig curved into the line of the current about a 
 quarter of a mile from the left bank. 
 
 Jacksonville was now neither dark nor silent. Scores 
 of lights were moving about on the wharves, or swaying 
 in the boats on the water. A few were gliding along from 
 point to point, as if an active guard had been organized. 
 
 At the same time songs and shouts showed that scenes 
 of amusement or riot continued to trouble the town. Did, 
 then, Texar and his partisans believe in the defeat of the 
 Northerners in Virginia and the possible retreat of th» 
 
126 
 
 texar's eevenge. 
 
 flotilla? Or were they making the best of the few days 
 that were left to them in launching out into every excess, 
 while the people around them were drunk with whiskey 
 and gin? 
 
 The gig kept on her course in mid-stream. Gilbert had 
 good reason to hope that he would be out of danger as 
 soon as he passed Jacksonville. 
 
 Suddenly he motioned to Mars to stop paddling.* 
 Within a mile below the town he had just caught sight of 
 a long line of black objects stretching like a range of reefs 
 from one side of the river to the other. 
 
 It was a line of boats broadside on, and guarding the 
 St. John's. Evidently, when the gunboats cleared the bar, 
 these would be powerless to resist them, and would have 
 to retreat, but if any Federal boats attempted 1k) ascend 
 the river they might offer some opposition to their 
 passage. For this reason they had been placed in posi- 
 tion durii]g the night. They lay without moving, kept 
 in station either by their grapnels or their oars. Al- 
 though no men could be seen, it was certain that a 
 number were on board and well armed. 
 
 Gilbert, of course, remarked that the string of vessels 
 had not barred the river when he came up to Oamdless 
 Bay. The precaution had been taken since the passage of 
 the gig, and perhaps in view of an expected attack from 
 Commandant Stevens. Anyhow, the gig was forced to 
 leave the centre of the stream, and keep as close as pos- 
 sible to the right shore, where it might pass unperceived 
 among the reeds in the shadow of the trees. This was 
 the only chance of passing the barrier. 
 
 '^Mars, mind you paddle without any noise until we 
 are through the line," said the lieutenant. 
 Yes, sir." 
 
 " We may get among the eddies, and if you want any 
 help—" 
 
 I shall not want any." 
 
 And with a powerful stroke he sent the boat towards 
 the river side some three hundred yards above the guarded 
 line. If she had not been sighted as she crossed the river 
 — and she might have been — she would certainly be safe 
 from discovery under the dark masses along its edge, and 
 if the end of the line of boats did not extend to the bank, 
 it was pretty certain she could get through. 
 
ON THE ST. John's. 
 
 127 
 
 Mars worked her carefully down in the darkness, 
 which the thick curtain of leafage rendered darker. The 
 stumps that here and there showed above the water he 
 dexterously avoided, and with noiseless strokes he ad- 
 vanced, occasionally cressingan eddy or a counter current 
 which, without some trouble, it was not easy to get 
 through. Coasting in this way quite an hour would be 
 lost, though it would matter little if daylight came before 
 the voyage ended, as by that time they would be near 
 enough to the gunboats to fear no danger from Jackson- 
 ville. 
 
 About four o'clock the gig reached the line of boats. 
 As Gilbert had expected, the shallowness of the river 
 close in shore had caused the passage near the edge to be 
 left unguarded. A few hundred feet beyond, a point 
 jutted out into the St. John's, thickly wooded and 
 crowded with mangroves and bamboos. This point on 
 the up-stream side was as dark and gloomy as could be 
 wished, but on the down-stream face the trees and shrubs 
 suddenly came to an end, and the shore was cut up into 
 marshes and creek?, and lay low and exposed, with noth- 
 ing to cast a shadow. The river there was as light as in 
 the open, and a black moving point like the gig would 
 probably be seen should any vessel be lying oH in the 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 Beyond it the eddies ended, and the current flowed 
 straight and strong. If the boat could double the point, 
 she would soon be swept down to the bar, and thence to 
 the anchorage. 
 
 Cautiously Mars glided by under the bank. Peering 
 into the darkness he intently watched the lower course of 
 the river. .Close to the edge as it was safe to go, clearing 
 the eddies which, as the point curved out, grew more 
 troublesome to him, he plied his paddle silently, while Gil- 
 bert, forward, kept a steady look-out over the whole sur- 
 face of the St. John's. 
 
 Gradually the gig neared the point. A few minutes 
 more and they would reach the end which ran out as a 
 fine tongue of sand. They were not more than thirty 
 yards from it when Mars abruptly stopped. 
 
 " Are you tired?" asked the lieutenant^ " Shall I take 
 your place?" 
 
128 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 **Not a word, Mr. Gilbert!" whispered Mars. 
 
 And with two strong strokes of the paddle, he drove 
 the gig towards the land as if to run her on the bank. 
 Then, instantly, he grasped one of the branches hanging 
 over the river, and under it guided the boat out of sight. 
 In an instant they were alongside the root of one of the 
 mangrove trees, and motionless in darkness so deep that 
 they could not see each other. 
 
 In ten seconds the manœuvra was accomplished. 
 
 The lieutenant seized his companion's arm, and was 
 about to demand an explanation, when Mars pointed 
 through the foliage and showed him a moving object juat 
 off the spit. 
 
 It was a boat with four men in her rowing up-stream, 
 and rounding the point so as to skirt the bank as she 
 passed. 
 
 The same thought occurred to Gilbert and Mars. Be- 
 fore everything, and in spite of everything, they must 
 regain their ship. If the gig was discovered they would 
 not hesitate to climb the bank, run under the trees, and 
 escape along the riverside to the bar. There at daybreak, 
 whether their signals were answered by the nearest of the 
 gunboats or tliey had to swim for it, they would do all 
 that was humanly possible to get back to their duty. 
 
 But a moment afterwards they found that all retreat by 
 land was cut off. 
 
 When the boat arrived at some twenty feet from the 
 spot where they lay hid, a conversation suddenly began 
 between the men in her and half a dozen others who ap- 
 peared in the gloom among the trees on the top of the bank. 
 
 **The worst is over!" said one from the land. 
 
 '*Yes," said a man m the boat. **To double that 
 point against the tide is almost as bad as pujling up a 
 rapid." 
 
 Are you going to anchor here now that we have been 
 landed on the point?" 
 
 " Yes. We shall guard the end of the barrier better." 
 
 " Right. We will look after the bank, and unless they, 
 take to the marshes, the scoundrels will not find it easy 
 to get by us." 
 
 " Have they done so, do you think?'* 
 
 " No; they couldn't. They'll try to get back on feoard 
 
ON THE ST. John's. 
 
 129 
 
 before daylight, and as they cannot pass the boat barrier, 
 they will make their attempt along here. And here we 
 are to stop them." 
 
 Few as were the phrases, they were sufficient to explain 
 what had happened. The departure of Gilbert and Mars 
 had been observed — there could be no doubt of that. Al- 
 though they had managed to reach Camdless Bay with- 
 out falling aboard of the boats ordered to stop them, 
 now that the river was barred, and their return waited 
 for, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to reach the 
 gnnboats. 
 
 The gig was fairly caught between the men in the boat 
 and the men landed on the point. Flight by the river 
 was impracticable, and none the less so was it impractica- 
 ble along this narrow bank, with the St. John's on one 
 side and the marshes on the other. 
 
 At the same time Gilbert learnt that his presence on 
 the St. John's was known; and there could be no doubt 
 it was known that he and his companion had landed at 
 Camdless Bay, that one of them was James Biirbank's 
 son, an officer in the Federal navy, and the other one of 
 his men. The lieutenant could not well mistake the dan- 
 ger that threatened him when he heard the last words of 
 the conversation. 
 
 Keep your eyes open, then," said one of the men on 
 the land. 
 
 All right," was the reply. "A Yankee officer is a 
 good prize, particularly when the officer is the sou of one 
 of our cursed Floridan Federals." 
 
 And they'll pay well for him, for Texar is the pay- 
 master." 
 
 " We may not catch them to-night, for they may lay up 
 in some of the creeks. But when day comes we'll search 
 every cranny so well that not a water-rat will escape us." 
 Don't forget, you are to take them alive." 
 
 "All right! Remember, if we get them on the land, 
 we have to hail you to take them over to Jacksonville." 
 
 " Unless we have to give chase we shall remain here." 
 
 ** And we shall stop here across the bank." 
 
 "Good luck to you! You had better have spent the 
 night in drinks at Jacksonville." 
 
 *'Yes, if the rascals outwit us I But never fear, to- 
 
ISO 
 
 Texar^s eëvêng^ 
 
 morrow we shall take them to Texar bound hand and 
 foot." 
 
 The boat then moved off some twenty feet, and then 
 the noise of a chain running out announced that she hud 
 dropped anchor. The men above spoke no more, but the 
 sound of their: feet was heard as they marched to and fro 
 oh the fallen leaves. 
 
 By the river as by the land flight was no longer possi- 
 ble. 
 
 So thought Gilbert and Mars. Neither of them had 
 made a single movement or uttered a word. There wiis 
 nothing to betray the presence of the gig under the dark 
 arbour of foliage — an arbour which was a prison." To 
 leave it was impossible. Supposing that they were not 
 discovered during the night, how could they escape when 
 day appeared? 
 
 The lieutenant's capture not only meant danger to 
 his own life, but another attack on his father by 
 Texar, and proof of James Burbank^s correspondence 
 with the Federals. When Gilbert was in Texar's power, 
 the necessary proof would be to hand. And then what 
 would become of Mrs. Burbank? What would become of 
 Dy and Zermah, when neither father, brother, nor hus 
 band could continue the search? 
 
 In a moment all these thoughts presented themselves, 
 and Gilbert recognized the inevitable consequences. 
 
 If they were taken only one chance was left. The 
 Federals might seize Jacksonville before Texar could in- 
 jure them. The prisoners might be given enough time 
 for this to take place between the sentence they could not 
 escape and their execution. That was their only hope. 
 But how could they hurry on the arrival of Stevens? 
 How could he clear the bar if the water was still wanting? 
 How could Stevens find his way through the windings of 
 the channel if his pilot. Mars, was in the hands of the 
 Confederates? 
 
 Evidently, then, Gilbert must risk even the impossible 
 to get on board before daylight; and he must, leave this 
 place at once. But could he do so ? Could not Mars, by 
 driving the gig suddenly across the eddy, get clear away? 
 While the men in the boat were losing time by weighing 
 the grapnel or letting out chain, could they not get by out 
 of reach ? 
 
ÔiT *Hfi Sî". JOHN*S. 
 
 lâi 
 
 That was impossible! The lieutenant knew it only too 
 well. The paddle was no match for four oars. The gig 
 would inevitably be caught. To make such an attempt 
 was to court certain capture. 
 
 What was then to be done ? Was he to wait? Day 
 would soon appear. It was already half -past four o'clock, 
 and a few atreaks of the dawn had risen above the eastern 
 horizon. 
 
 It was necessary to do something. Gilbert, bending 
 towards Mars, spoke to him in a whisper. 
 
 " We cannot wait much longer. We are both armed 
 with a revolver and a cutlass. In the boat there are only 
 four men. That is only two to one ; • and we shall have 
 the advantage of the surprise. You can send the gig up 
 to the boat in a stroke or two ; she is anchored and can- 
 not stop our boarding. We will fall on the men and settle 
 them before they have time to recognize us, and we can 
 make a dash for it. Before the fellows on the bank have 
 given the alarm we may have got through the barrier and 
 reached the ships. Do you understand?" 
 
 Mars replied by drawing his cutlass and slipping it into 
 his belt near his revolver. Then he slacked off the painter 
 of the gig from the mangrove root and grasped his paddle 
 ready for a vigorous stroke. 
 
 But as he stooped to begin Gilbert stopped him with a 
 gesture. 
 
 Something had come unexpectedly to alter his plans. 
 
 With the first streaks of the day, a thick mist began to 
 rise on the water. Like a humid pile of cotton-wool it 
 rolled along the river waves, clinging to them as it came. 
 Formed over the sea, such vapours enter the estuary, and 
 driven before a gentle breeze, ascend the course of the St. 
 John's. In less than a quarter of an hour Jacksonville, 
 on the left bank, and the trees on the right bank had dis- 
 appeared, wrapped in the yellowish mist whose character- 
 istic odour filled the valley. 
 
 Did not this offer a means of safety? Instead of engag- 
 ing in an unequal struggle in which they might both fall, 
 why should they not try to get by in the fog ? 
 
 Gilbert saw this, and that is why he stopped Mars from 
 beginning his stroke. Now, instead of dashing out, he 
 was to slip along cautiously and silently, and avoid the 
 boat, which slowly vanished as the mist closed round it. 
 
132 
 
 Then the voices were again heard replying to the bank 
 from the river. 
 
 " Look out in the fog/' 
 ' ''Yes. We are getting in the anchor, and coming 
 closer in shore/' 
 
 ''i^^^ ^^^^^ y^^^ communication with 
 
 the Ime. If they come near you, keep them back till the 
 fog lifts/' 
 
 '' Yes! Never fear; you see that the beggars don't get 
 past your shore/' 
 
 Evidently the orders were obeyed. There were certain 
 boats crossing the river from one bank to the other, that 
 also was obvious. But Gilbert did not hesitate. The 
 gig, paddled noiselessly by Mars, glided out from her 
 shelter under the trees, and crossed the eddy in which 
 the boat had been anchored. 
 
 The fog seemed to thicken, although it was penetrated 
 by a dim light such as is given by a horn lantern. Noth- 
 ing could be seen a yard or two away. If the gig passed 
 clear of the boat, there was an excellent chance of her 
 escaping unobserved. And it was not difficult to avoid 
 the boat, for the men in weighing the anchor made enough 
 noise with the chain to leave no doubt as to their exact 
 position. 
 
 The gig slipped by unnoticed, and Mars could ply his 
 paddle a little more vigorously. 
 
 The difficulty was to keep a proper course without run- 
 ning out into midstream. If possible he would have re- 
 mained at a little distance from the right bank ; but the 
 only guide was the lapping of the water on the shore. 
 The day was breaking, and the light flooded the mass of 
 vapour although the fog was very thick. 
 
 For half an hour the gig, so to speak, wandered about 
 at a venture. Sometimes a vague outline unexpectedly 
 appeared, which might be a boat much magnified by re- 
 fraction — an instance of a phenomenon commonly observed 
 in sea fogs. 
 
 In fact every object appeared with quite fantastic sud- 
 denness, and seemed to be of enormous dimensions. 
 Luckily what Gilbert took for a boat would be only a buoy, 
 or rock above water, or a pole with its upper end vanish- 
 ing in the mist. 
 
OK O^HE ST. ^oaK'S. 
 
 133 
 
 A few pairs of birds flew by with measured flap of wing. 
 They could scarcely see them, but they heard their pierc- 
 ing cry. Some came flying along the surface of the water/ 
 and turned to flight when the gig approached them. They 
 vanished, but it was impossible to say if they flew to the 
 bank or dived into the water. ' 
 
 From their paddling all the time with the stream Gil- 
 bert knew that he must be nearing the anchorage of the 
 gunboats ; but as the ebb had slackened he could not say 
 if he had passed the line, and he was in constant expecta- 
 tion of running aboard one of the boats. 
 
 All chance of serious danger was not over* And it soon 
 became evident that the danger was greater than ever. 
 At short intervals Mars had to stop and hold the paddle 
 out of the water. , The noise of oars, sometimes far off, 
 sometimes close by, would make itself heard. Shouts 
 would be exchanged between the boats. Vague masses 
 would loom and vanish in the fog, and these were evi- 
 dently the guard boats it was their object to avoid. Some- 
 times the mist would suddenly open as if a puff of wind 
 had penetrated it. The range of vision would increase to 
 a hundred yards and more, and Gilbert and Mars would 
 try to make out their whereabouts ; and then the mist 
 would thicken again, and all they could do was to drop 
 down with the stream. 
 
 It was a little past five o'clock. Gilbert calculated that 
 he was two miles from the anchorage. As a fact, he had 
 not yet reached the bar of the river, which would be easily 
 recognizable by the increase in the sound of the stream, 
 and by the numerous minor currents intermitigliugtumul- 
 tuously in a way no sailor could mistake. Had he crossed 
 the bar, Gilbert would have thought himself safe. It was 
 not likely that the boats would venture so far from Jack- 
 sonville under the fire of the gunboats. 
 
 Gilbert and Mars bent over almost to the level of the 
 water and listened. They could hear nothing. Perhaps 
 they had gone astray to the right or left of the river ? 
 Had they not better take an oblique course so as to reach 
 one of the banks, and wait till the fog grew lighter to 
 get their proper bearings ? 
 
 This seemed the best thing to do now that the mist had 
 begun to rise. The sun, which they knew was now up, 
 
l34 texar's eevengè. 
 
 was lifting the fog as it warmed it. The surface of the 
 St John's would soon come into view, for some distance 
 round before the sky would show itself. Then the curtain 
 would suddenly collapse, and the horizon appear out of 
 the mist. A mile perhaps below the bar Gilbert would 
 seethe gunboats swinging to the ebb, and he would be. 
 
 able to reach them. ' i . x xi. 
 
 At this moment a sound of waters rushing together was 
 heard. Almost immediately the gig began to turn as if 
 caught in a whirlpool. There could be no mistake. 
 
 " The bar!" exclaimed Gilbert. 
 
 "Yes; the bar!" said Mars; " and once we are over it 
 we shall be at the anchorage." . 
 
 Mars seized the paddle, and endeavoured to keep the 
 proper course. . . , -, j 
 
 Suddenly Gilbert stopped him. The mist had opened 
 for a moment, and he caught sight of a boat close behind 
 them. Had her men seen them? Were they trying to 
 stop the way? 
 
 '^Port!" said the young lieutenant. 
 In went the paddle, and in a few strokes the gig was 
 out of the line. , „. 
 
 But again voices were heard. They were hailing nois- 
 ily. , It was evident that in this part of the river many 
 boats were on guard. , , / -, .1 
 
 Suddenly, as if a powerful gust had cleared the space, the 
 mist fell shattered on the surface of the St. John's. 
 Gilbert could not restrain a shout of alarm. 
 The gig was in the centre of a dozen boats. They 
 were on the watch at this part of the winding channel 
 which the bar cut across in a long slanting line. 
 
 "There they are! There they are!" came from the 
 boats around them. 
 
 " Yesî here we are," said the heutenant. " Take your 
 cutlass and revolver. Mars, and we will defend our- 
 selves." , ^ . X i-u- X » 
 Defend themselves! Two against thirty! 
 In a moment three or four of the boats were alongside. 
 Mars and Gilbert fired their revolvers; the others did not 
 fire for the prisoners were to be taken alive. Three or 
 four of the sailors were killed or wounded. But m this 
 unequal strife, how could Gilbert and his companion fail 
 to be overpowered? 
 
m 
 
 The lieutenant was throttled in spite of his energetic 
 resistance, and dragged on to one of the boats. 
 
 "Escape, Mars! escape!'' he shouted for the last time. 
 
 With a sweep of his cutlass Mars released himself from 
 the man who held him, and before they could seize him 
 again he had thrown himself into the river. In vain they 
 sought to recapture him. He had vanished among the 
 whirlpools of the bar, where the tumultuous waters were 
 being lashed into torrents by the return of the rising 
 tide. ° 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SEKTEîfCE. 
 
 Ak hour later Gilbert was landed at Jacksonville. The 
 reports of the revolvers had been heard up-stream. Did 
 they mean an engagement between the Confederate boats 
 and the Federal flotilla? Was it not to be feared that the 
 gunboats had cleared the channel? No wonder that there 
 was serious excitement among the townspeople! Some of 
 them rushed to the stockades. The civil authorities, rep- 
 resenfced by Texar and the most determined of his parti- 
 sans, had followed them. All were looking in the direc- 
 tion of the bar, now free from mist. Field-glasses and 
 telescopes were in constant use. But the distance was tooi 
 great— about three miles— for them to ascertain the im- 
 portance of the engagement or its results. 
 
 The flotilla evidently remained at the anchorage it oc- 
 * cupied the night before, and Jacksonville need not fear 
 an immediate attack from the gunboats. The people who 
 had most deeply committed themselves would have time 
 to escape into the interior of Florida. 
 
 If Texar and two or three of his companions had more 
 reason than others to fear for their safety, there appeared 
 to be no cause for anxiety in what had occurred. The 
 Spaniard suspected that it meant the capture of the srig 
 that he wanted at any cost. 
 
136 
 
 " Yes, at any cost/' said he, endeavouring to recognize 
 the boat as it neared the quay. At any cost this son of 
 Burhank's must fall into the snare I spread for him. 
 Then I shall hold the proof that James Burbank is in 
 communication with the Federals! And when I have 
 shot the son, twenty- four hours shall not slip by before I 
 have éhot the father r 
 
 Although his party were masters of Jacksonville, Texar, 
 after the discharge of James Burbank, had been waiting 
 for a propitious occasion of again arresting him. The op- 
 portunity came in the trap laid for Gilbert Burbank. 
 W ith Gilbert identified as a Federal officer, arrested in 
 the enemy^s country, condemned as a spy, the Spaniard 
 could enjoy his revenge to the full. 
 
 Circumstances served him well. It was indeed the son 
 of the Oamdless Bay planter whom they were bringing to 
 Jacksonville. . That Gilbert v/as alone, that his compan- 
 ion had been drowned or saved made little difference so 
 long as the young officer was captured. Texar had only 
 to bring him before a committee composed of his parti- 
 sans, where he would preside in person. 
 
 Gilbert was received with howls and threats by the peo- 
 ple, who knew him well. He treated the shouts with 
 disdain. He gave no sign of fear, although a detach- 
 ment of soldiers had to be called up to protect his life 
 anainst the violence of the crowd. But when he saw 
 Texar he could not restrain himself, and would have 
 thrown himself on him had he not been stopped by the 
 soldiers. 
 
 Texar did not move. He did not say a word. He pre- 
 tended not to see him, and allowed him to be taken away 
 with the most perfect indifference. 
 
 A few minutes afterwards Gilbert Burbank found him- 
 self in the Jacksonville prison. There could be no doubt 
 as to the fate for which the Southerners were keeping 
 him. 
 
 In about an'hour Mr. Harvey, James Burbank's corre- 
 spondent, presented himself at the prison and attempted 
 to see Gilbert. He was denied admission. By Texar's 
 orders the lieutenant was kept in solitary confinement. 
 And the only result of Mr. Harvey's application was that 
 he himself wa^ put under strict surveillance. 
 
SENTENCE. 137 
 
 His connection with the Burbanks was known, and it 
 was not m accordance with Texar's plans that Gilbert's 
 arrest should immediately be known at Camdless Bay 
 
 When the verdict was given and the sentence pro- 
 nounced It would be time enough to inform James Bur- 
 bank ot what had passed, and when he was informed of 
 It there would be no time for him to leave Castle House 
 and escape from Texar. 
 
 And so Mr. Harvey was unable to send a messenger to 
 Lamdless Bay. An embargo had been put on all the 
 boats m the port. All communication was shut off be- 
 tween the left and right banks of the river. While h-'s 
 lather thought he was safe on board the gunboat the lieu- 
 tenant was m prison at Jacksonville. 
 
 At Castle House they listened with anxiety for some 
 distant sound of firing to announce the arrival of the 
 f ederals above the bar. Jacksonville in the hands of the 
 bank ^^^^^^ meant Texar in the hands of James Bur- 
 
 Not a sound was heard from downstream. Overseer 
 ir'erry who went out to explore the St. John's up to the 
 line of boats, Pyg and one of the assistant overseers sent 
 three miles down the riverside beyond the plantation, 
 came back with the same report. The flotilla was still at 
 
 stVfTr^^Sn^m ^^'^^ 
 
 And besides, howcould they cross the bar ? Admit- 
 ting that the tide rendered it practicable sooner thanthev 
 hoped, how could they venture along the intricate chan- 
 nel now that the only pilot who knew the soundings was 
 no longer with them ? For Mars had not reappeared. 
 And if James Burbank had known what had passed after 
 the capture of the gig, would he not have believed that 
 A %^?TVT ^^?^P,a»ion had perished in the whirlpools ? 
 And if Mars had been saved, would not his first care have 
 been to return to Camdless Bay as it was impossible for 
 nim to return on board ? 
 
 Mars had not appeared at the plantation. 
 
 Next day, the 11th of March, about eleven o'clock, the 
 cZTr^fl T'^^^t^' ""It^ ï'^^' P^'e«i<3ent, in the very 
 «^«^ntf T ^'^'"^^ ""ï^'^ the Spaniard had made his chargé 
 against James Burbank. This time, the charges against 
 
138 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 the young officer were too serious to allow of his escape. 
 He was doomed beforehand. Once this business of the 
 son was settled, Texar could devote himself to the father. 
 With little Dy in his power, Mrs. Burbauk would suc- 
 cumb to the successive blows he had dealt her, and he 
 would be avenged. Did it not seem as though everything 
 played into his hands to help him gratify his implacable 
 hatred? 
 
 Gilbert was brought from his prison. The crowd ac- 
 companied him, groaning and yelling as on the previous 
 evening. When he entered the court, where Texar's par- 
 tisans were already in force, he was saluted with violent 
 aproar. 
 
 Death to the spy ! Death \" 
 
 Gilbert took it all very coolly, and even in the Span- 
 iard's presence kept himself well under control. 
 
 " Youf name is Gilbert Burbank," said Texar. " And 
 you are ah officer iû the Federal Navy ?" 
 
 " Yes." . ^ XT, 
 
 "And you are now a lieutenant on board one of the 
 gunboats under Oomma.idant Stevens ?" 
 *'Yes." 
 
 " Yoii are the son of Jaîiïes Burbank, a Northerner, the 
 owner of the plantation at Oamdless Bay ?" 
 tfYes." 
 
 " You admit that you left the flotilla anchored below 
 the bar, during the night of t)ie .10th of March ?" 
 a Yes." 
 
 YouL admit that you were captured as you were trying 
 to regain the flotilla with one of your men?" 
 **Yes." 
 
 Will you tell me what your business was on the St. 
 Job^'s?" , ^ ^ ^. ^ ^ 
 
 "A man came onboard the gunboiit of which 1 was 
 second in command, and told me that my father's planta- 
 tion had been devastated by a horde of scoundrels, that 
 Castle House had been besieged by thieves. I need not 
 tell that to the President of this Committee, who is per- 
 sonally responsible for these crimes." 
 
 >'I tell Gilbert Burbank," said Texar, " that /iis father 
 had challenged public opinion by freeing his slaves, that 
 an order had been issued commanding the new|y freed 
 slaves to disperse, that this order was executed— 
 
SENTENCE, 
 
 139 
 
 "With pillage and incendiarism," replied Gilbert, 
 ''and rape, of which Texar is personally the author." 
 
 "When I am before my judges I will reply," said the 
 Spaniard coldly. Gilbert Burbank, do not attempt to 
 change our positions. You are the accused, not the ac- 
 cuser." 
 
 " Yes, the accused — at this moment, at all events, but 
 the Federal gunboats have only the bar of the St. John's 
 between them and Jacksonville, and then — " 
 
 Then the uproar broke out against the young officer, 
 who dared to Ijrave the Southerners to their face. 
 
 " Death ! Death !" shouted the crowd on all sides. 
 
 The Spaniard with difficulty quieted the angry crowd. 
 Then he resumed his questions. 
 
 " Will you tell us, Gilbert Burbank, why you left your 
 ship last night ?" . ^ ^ 
 
 **To see my dying mother." 
 
 " You admit, then, that you landed at Camdless Bay?" 
 "I have no reason to hide it." 
 "And only to see your mother?" 
 "Only." 
 
 " We have reason to believe you had another object?" 
 "What?" 
 
 " To communicate with your father, James Burbank, 
 who has been under suspicion for some time of being in 
 correspondence with the Federal army." 
 
 " You know that is not true," replied Gilbert with • 
 very natural indignation. "If I came to Camdless Bay, it 
 was not as an officer, but as a son." 
 
 " Or a spy," said Texar. 
 
 The shouts began again. 
 
 * ' Death to the spy ! Death !" 
 
 Gilbert saw that he was lost, and what was a terrible 
 blow to him, that his father was lost with him. 
 
 "Yes," said Texar, "the illness of your mother was 
 only a pretext! You came as a spy to Camdless Bay to 
 report to the Federals the state of the defences of the 
 St. John's." 
 
 Gilbert rose. 
 
 " I came to see my dying mother, as you know well. 
 Never should I have believed that in a civilized country 
 there could be judges who would consider it a crime for a 
 
140 
 
 tbxar's revenge. 
 
 sailor to come to his mother's deathbed, even in the en- 
 emy'^ territory! Let him who blames me and would not 
 do likewise dare to tell me so!" 
 
 Men in whom hatred had not extinguished all feeling 
 would have applauded a declaration so noble and frank. 
 But this was not the case here. 
 
 The declaration was received with renewed uproar; 
 and when the Spaniard remarked that in receiving an 
 officer of the enemy in time of war, James Burbank was 
 as guilty as the officer, his statement was loudly ap- 
 plauded. 
 
 Then the committee, making a note of the admissions 
 as to the father, condemned Lieutenant Gilbert Burbank, 
 of the Federal navy, to death. 
 
 The doomed man was then taken back to prison amid 
 the shouts of the populace, who followed him with cries 
 of — 
 
 " Death to the spy ! Death !" 
 
 That evening a detachment of the Jacksonville militia 
 arrived at Oamdless Bay. The officer in command asked 
 for Mr. Burbank. 
 
 James Burbank came forward to meet him, accom- 
 panied by Edward Oarrol and Walter Stannard. 
 
 "What is it they want?" asked James Burbank. 
 
 '^Eead that order!" answered the officer. 
 
 The order was to arrest James Burbank, as the accom- 
 plice of Gilbert Burbank, condemned to death as a spy 
 by the committee of Jacksonville, and who was to be shot 
 within twenty-four hours. 
 
PART II. 
 
 TEXAR THE SOUTHERNER. 
 
 CHAPTER 1/ 
 
 AFTER THE CAPTURE. 
 
 u A ^^t'^/h'''?.^ well-hated name that Zermah 
 
 had shouted into the darkness at the moment Mrs Bur- 
 bank and Alice reached the bank of Marine Creek ' The 
 girlr had recognized the Spaniard. There could 'be no 
 doubt he was the author of the abduction, of which he 
 now took personal charge. 
 
 It was indeed Texar, and with him were half a dozen 
 accomplices. 
 
 wtT.^ ifT.^ ^ ÎÎ- ^^^"^ planning this expedition, 
 which had for Its object the devastation of Camdless Bay 
 the pillage of Castle House, the ruin of the Burbank fam- 
 ily, and the capture or death of its head. It was with 
 this m view that he had launched his horde of pillagers 
 on to the plantation. But he had not put himself at their 
 head; he had left the task of leading them to a few of the 
 most violent of his partisans, and hence John Bruce was 
 right when he assured James Burbank that Texar was not 
 among the assailants. 
 
 P Jfif w""^' n ^ existence of the tunnel between 
 
 Castle House and the Creek. If the house was captured, 
 the defenders would evidently try to escape down the tun- 
 nel. Taking a boat fi-om Jacksonville, and followed by 
 miother boat with Squambo and two of his slaves, he had 
 
142 
 
 texae's revenge. 
 
 come to the creek to watch. He was not mistaken. That 
 he saw at once when he found one of the Oamdless Bay 
 boats stationed among the reeds. The blacks in charge 
 of it were surprised, attacked, aud strangled. All that 
 had then to be done was to wait. Soon Zermah appeared, 
 and with her the little girl. Fearing that help might 
 come in answer to Zermah's shouts, the Spaniard had 
 thrown her into Squambo's arms; and when Mrs. Burbank 
 and Alice appeared on the bank Zermali was being carried 
 off to the middle of the river in the Indian's boat. 
 We know the rest. 
 
 When the prisoners were secured, Texar did not think 
 it necessary to accompany Squambo, who vyas entirely de- 
 voted to him, and knew where to take Zermah and Dy. 
 And when the three cannon-shots recalled the assailants 
 from storming Castle House he had struck off obliquely 
 across the St. John's and disappeared. 
 
 Where had he gone? ISTo one knew. He did not re- 
 turn to Jacksonville during the night of the 3rd and 4th 
 of March, nor for twenty-four hours afterwards. What 
 was the meaning of this strange absence, which he took 
 no trouble to explain? No one could tell. But it would 
 be a somewhat compromising circumstance should he be 
 charged with carrying off Dy and Zermah. The coinci- 
 dence between the abductioii and his disappearance could 
 not but tell against him. Nevertheless, he did not return 
 to Jacksonville till the morning of the 5th to take the 
 necessary measures for the defence of the town— in time 
 enough, however, to lay the snare for Gilbert Burbank, 
 and preside at the committee which sentenced tlie young 
 officer to death. 
 
 One thing was certain, and that was that Texar was 
 not in the boat with Squambo, which was carried off into 
 the gloom by the rising tide. 
 
 Zermah, knowing that her shouts would not be heard 
 on the deserted banks of the St. John's, was silent. She 
 sat in the stern with Dy in her arms. The child was 
 quite frightened, and uttered not a single complaint. She 
 clung to the half-breed's breast, and hid herself in the 
 folds of her mantle. Once or twice only did a few words 
 escape her lips. 
 
 "Mamma! mamma! Good Zermah, I am afraid! lam 
 .^fraid! I want to see mummal" 
 
AFTER THE CAPTFRE. 
 
 143 
 
 ''Yes, my dear," answered Zermah, "we shall see her. 
 Never fear; I am near you." 
 
 At the same moment, Mrs. Burbank had run along the 
 right bank of the stream, and was seeking in vain to fol- 
 low her daughter as she was borne away to the opposite 
 side. 
 
 , The darkness was then profound. The fires on the 
 estate had begun to subside, but not without several ex- 
 plosions. From the heavy clouds of smoke in the north 
 the flames shot up but seldom, when they illuminated the 
 river for a second like a flash of lightning. Then all was 
 silent and dark. The boat was in mid-stream, and the 
 banks could not be seen. It could not have been more 
 isolated, more- alone, in the open sea. 
 
 Whither/ was Sqnambb bound? It was important for 
 Zermah to know. To ask the Indian would be useless; 
 and so she tried to make out the position for herself- — not 
 an easy thing to do in the darkness while Squambo kept 
 in the middle of the St. John's. The tide was running 
 in, and, paddled by the two blacks, the boat rapidly sped 
 to the south. 
 
 And would it not be wise for Zermah to leave some 
 trace of her route, so as to help her master in his search? 
 But on the river that was impossible. On land, a rag torn 
 from her mantle and left on a bush might be the begin- 
 ning of a trail which, once recovered, might be followed 
 to the end. But what would be the use of entrusting 
 anything to the stream? Could it be hoped that chance 
 would bring it to James Burbank's hands? The idea 
 must be given up, and she must content herself with as- 
 certaining where she landed. 
 
 An hour elapsed, and Squambo had not uttered a 
 word. The two slaves paddled in silence. No light ap- 
 peared on the banks, neither in the houses nor under the 
 trees. 
 
 Zermah watched right and left, ready to note the least 
 indication, and thinking only of the danger which threat- 
 ened the girl. Of her own danger she never thought; all 
 her fears were' concentrated on the child. It was Texar 
 who had stolen her— of that there could be no doubt. 
 She had recognized the Spaniard, who had been at Marine 
 Qreek either with the intention of entering Oastle Uow 
 
144 
 
 TEXAS's REVENGE. 
 
 through the tunnel or waiting for the defenders when 
 they attempted to escape. If Texar had not been in such 
 a hurry, Mrs. Burbank and Alice Stannard would now 
 have been in his power. If he had not headed the attack 
 of the militia and rabble, it was because he felt surer of 
 securing the Burbank family at Marine Creek. 
 
 In any case, Texar could not deny that he had taken 
 part in the seizure. Zermah had shouted his name, and 
 Mrs. Burbank and Alice must have heard her. Later on, 
 when the hour of justice came, when the Spaniard would 
 have to answer for his crimes, he would not on this occa- 
 sion be able to invoke one of those inexplicable alibis tliiit 
 had hitherto succeeded with him. 
 
 What fate had he in reserve for his victims? Was he 
 going to banish them to the marshy Everglades beyond 
 the sources of the St. John's? Did he look upon Zermah 
 as a dangerous witness, whose evidence would one day 
 ruin him? 
 
 Zerniah would willingly have sacrificed her life to save 
 the child that had been carried away with her. But if 
 she were dead, what would become of Dy in the hands of 
 Texar and his companions? The thought was torture to 
 her, and she clasped the girl more closely to her heart, as 
 if Squambo had shown some intention of taking her 
 away. 
 
 Zermah noticed that the boat was nearing the left bank 
 of the river. Would that give her any clue? No, for 
 she did not know that the Spaniard lived in Black Creek, 
 on one of the islets of the lagoon. Even Texar's partisans 
 were ignorant of this, for no one had ever been admitted 
 to the blockhouse which he occupied with Squambo and 
 the blacks. 
 
 It was to Black Creek that Squambo was taking the 
 prisoners. In that mysterious place they would be safe 
 from all search. The creek was, so to speak, impenetra- 
 ble, for no one knew the plan of its waterways. It offered 
 a thousand retreats where prisoners could be hidden with- 
 out it being possible to discover any traces of them. If 
 James Burbank tried to explore its tangled thickets, there 
 would be time enough to remove the half-breed and child 
 to the south of the peninsula. There all chance would be 
 ipst of recovering them ai^id the yast regions which thç 
 
145 
 
 î^loridati pioneers rarely visited, and the unhealthy plains 
 where only Indians wandered. 
 
 The forty-five miles between Oamdless Bay and Black 
 Creek were quickly covered. About eleven o'clock the 
 boat passed the bend which the St. John's makes two 
 hundred yards below the creek. All tiiat had to be done 
 was to find the entrance to the lagoon — not an easy thing 
 to do in the profound darkness which enveloped the left 
 bank of the river. Squambo, though well acquainted 
 with the place, kept off the shore as much as posisible. It 
 would have been easier for him to have run close in, but 
 the bank was cut into by a number of small creeks bristling 
 with reeds and other aquatic plants, and he was afraid 
 of running aground. And as the tide had turned, he 
 would be in a difficulty were he to do so. He would have 
 to wait nearly eleven hours till the tide came back, and 
 how could he avoid being seen during that time ? There 
 were always a good many boats on the river, and now 
 events necessitated constant communication between 
 Jacksonville and St. Augustine. If the members of the 
 Burbank family had not perished in the attack on Castle 
 House they would be sure to begin an active search in the 
 morning, and Squambo stuck on a shoal at the foot of the 
 bank would inevitably be seen. It would be a dangerous 
 position, and for many reasons it was better for him to 
 remain in the stream, even, if necessary, to anchor and 
 wait for the dawn, when he could be sure of his road. 
 
 Suddenly he heard a noise approaching him. It was 
 ^the sound of paddle-wheels. And almost immediately a 
 moving mass appeared ronnd the bend of the left bank. 
 
 A steamboat was advancing at half-speed. In less than 
 a minute it would be upon them. 
 
 By a gesture Squambo stopped his men, and with a 
 movement of the rudder turned the boat's head towards 
 the right bank so as to avoid being seen. 
 
 But the boat had been sighted by the look-out onboard, 
 and she was hailed from the steamer. 
 
 Squambo muttered a terrible oath. But he had to 
 obey. 
 
 A moment afterwards he ran alongside the steamer, 
 which had stopped to wait for him. 
 Zemab at ouce rose from her seat, Here was a chance 
 
of sjifefcy, Oould she not appe;il for help, make herself 
 
 known, and escape from Squambo ? 
 
 The Indian rose at the same moment, bowie-knife in 
 
 hand. With the other hand he caught hold of.Dy, whom 
 
 Zermah in vain tried to snatch from him. 
 ^'One word," he said, "and I will kill her/' 
 If it had been her own life that was threatened, Zermah 
 
 would not have hesitated. But as it was the child's, she 
 
 was silent. 
 
 From the deck of the steamer nothing could be seen of 
 what was taking place in the boat. 
 
 The steamer was coming from Picolata, where she had 
 embarked a, detachment of militia for Jacksonville, to re- 
 inforce the Southern troops defending the mouth of the 
 river. 
 
 An officer leaning over the bridge spoke to the Indian: 
 
 Where are you going ?" 
 " Picolata." 
 
 Zermah took note of the name, although she knew that 
 Squambo wished to keep secret his real destination. 
 " Where do you come from ?" 
 
 Jacksonville." 
 " Any news there ?" 
 "No." 
 
 "Nothing about Dupont's flotilla ?" 
 "Nothing." 
 
 "No news since the attack on Fernandina and Fort 
 Clinch ?" 
 "No." 
 
 "No gunboats in the St. John's ?" 
 "None." 
 
 " What was the meaning of the lights we saw, and the 
 reports we heard, while we were at anchor waiting for the 
 tide to turn ?" 
 
 "An attack on Oamdless Bay plantation." 
 
 "By the Northerners ?" 
 No. By the Jacksonville Militia. The planter de- 
 fied the orders of the committee — " 
 
 " Eight ! Right I You mean James Burbank, the mad 
 abolitionist ?" 
 
 "Just so." 
 
 **What was the result?" 
 
AiPl'EE THE CAPTTJEiE. 
 
 I do not know. I only saw it as I passed. It looked 
 as though everything was in flames/' 
 
 At this moment a feeble cry escaped from the child's 
 lips. Zermah put her hand on Dy's mouth as the ludian'a 
 fingers felt for her neck. The officer on the bridge heard 
 nothing. 
 
 " Were the guns in action at Camdless Bay?" 
 " I do not think so." 
 Why the three reports which seemed to come from 
 Jacksonville ?" 
 
 I do not know." 
 
 Is the St. John's clear from Picolata to the bar?" 
 Quite clear, and you need not trouble yourself about 
 the gunboats." 
 
 "All right. Sheer off!" 
 
 An order was sent down to the engine-room, and the 
 steamer resumed her way. 
 
 " Can you answer me a question ?" asked Squambo. 
 " What ?" asked the officer. 
 
 " The night is very dark. I hardly know where I am." 
 " Off Black Creek." 
 "Thank you." 
 
 The paddle-wheels churned the river face, and gradu- 
 ally the steamer disappeared in the night, leaving behind 
 her a considerable troubling of the waters. 
 
 Squambo, left alone in mid-stream, sat down in the 
 canoe and gave the order to resume paddling. He knew 
 his position, and starboarding his helm headed straight 
 for the opening of Black Creek. 
 
 That it was to this place of such difficult access that 
 the Indian was taking them, Zermah could no longer 
 doubt, and little good did the ^knowledge do her. How 
 could she tell her master, and how could he succeed in 
 searching this impenetrable labyrinth ? At the back of 
 the creek were there not the forests of Duval county of- 
 fering every facility for evading pursuit, in case James 
 Burbank managed to get through the lagoon? This part 
 of eastern Florida was in those days a lost country, in 
 which it was al^most impossible to find a trail. Nor was it 
 prudent to venture on doing so. The Seminoles wandered 
 about the forest and marshlands, and were formidable 
 enemies. They robbed the travellers who fell into their 
 
148 
 
 texae's revenge. 
 
 hands, and massacred those who attempted to defend 
 themselyes. 
 
 A strange affair, much talked of at the time, had hap- 
 pened in the upper part of the county a little to the 
 northwest of Jacksonville. 
 
 Twelve Floridans had landed on the coast of the Gulf 
 of Mexico and been surprised by a tribe of Seminoles. 
 They bad not been put to death because they had made 
 no resistance, which, as they were one to ten, was not to 
 be thought of. They were stripped, and robbed of all 
 they possessed, even of their clothes. They were forbid- 
 den, on pain of instant execution, to again enter the ter- 
 ritory, which the Indians claimed as their own; and, to 
 recognize them in case they disobeyed the order, the chief 
 of the tribe availed himself of a very simple device. He 
 tattooed them on the arm in a curious way with the juice 
 of a dye-plant and a needle-point, so that they could not 
 remove the mark. Without further ill-treatment, they 
 were turned adrift. They reached the northern planta- 
 tions in a piteous plight, branded, so to speak, with the 
 crest of the Indian tribe, and not at all anxious, as may 
 be imagined, to again fall into the hands of these Semi- 
 noles, who would massacre them in order to honour their 
 signature. 
 
 At any other time the militia of Duval county would 
 not have allowed such a proceeding to pass with impunity. 
 They would have gone off in pursuit of the Indians. But 
 at present they had something else to do besides under- 
 taking an expedition against the nomads. The fear of 
 seeing their country invaded by the Northerners over- 
 shadowed everything. Their only object was to prevent 
 the Northerners becoming masters of the St. John's and 
 the district it watered, and they could not spare a man 
 from the Southern forces at Jacksonville and on the 
 Georgian frontier. There would be time enough later on 
 to take the field against the Seminoles, when they had 
 been emboldened by the Civil War to the point of mvad- 
 ing the enemy's territory. Then they would not be con- 
 tented to drive them back into the Everglades, but would 
 endeavour to destroy them to the last man. 
 
 It was thus dangerous to venture into the territoriea 
 of Western Florida; and if James Burbank pushed his 
 
researches in that direction, it would be to meet with 
 more than the usual dangers. 
 
 The boat had reached the left bank of the river. Squam- 
 bo, knowing where Black Creek enters the St. John's, had 
 no fear of grounding on a shoal, and in less than five 
 minutes he was under the branching trees in darkness 
 deeper than that extending over the river. Accustomed 
 as he was to the navigation of the network of the lagoon, 
 he could advance without fear, but as he could no longer 
 be seen, why should he not have more light on his path? 
 A resinous branch was cut from one of the trees, and 
 lighted, and stuck in the bow of the boat, -so that its 
 smoky light showed the way. In about half an hour 
 Squambo traversed the meanderings of the creek, and at 
 last he reached the island of the blockhouse. 
 
 Zermah was there made to land. Overcome with fa- 
 tigue, the Ittle girl was asleeip in her arms. She did not 
 wake when the half-breed entered the door of the fortress 
 and was shut up in one of the rooms communicating with 
 the central-redoubt. 
 
 Dv, wrapped in a covering which was dragged from one 
 of the corners, was laid on a sort of pallet. Zermah 
 watched by her side. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A STRANGE OPERATIOIf. 
 
 lîT the morning, at eight o'clock — it was the 3rd of 
 March — Squambo entered the room where Zermah had 
 passed the night. He brought some food — bread, a piece 
 of cold venison, fruits, a jug of strong beer, a pitcher of 
 water, and the different utensils for the table. At the 
 same time, one of the blacks placed in one of the corners 
 an old piece of furniture with toilet necessaries, towels, 
 and other things for the half-breed's own use and that of 
 the little girl. 
 
m 
 
 Dy was still asleep. By a gesture Zermah had besought 
 Squambo not to wake her. 
 
 When the negro had gone out, Zermah asked the In- 
 dian in a low voice, — 
 
 What are they going to do with us ?" 
 
 "I do not know," said Squambo. 
 What orders have you had from Texar?" 
 
 " Whether they come from Texar or from somebody 
 else they are these, and you would do well to conform to 
 them. So long as you are here, this room will be yours, 
 and you will be kept in it during the night." 
 And during the day?" 
 
 " You can walk about the enclosure." 
 While we are here. But where are we?" 
 Where I was told to bring you." 
 And are we to remain here?" 
 
 " I have said what I had to say," said the Indian. " It 
 is useless to ask me more; I shall not answer." 
 
 And Squambo, whose manner gave no hope of further 
 conversation, left the room. 
 
 Zermah looked at the girl. A few tears rose to her eyes, 
 tears which she at once wiped away. It would never do 
 for Dy, when she awoke, to see that she had been crying. 
 It was necessary that the child should gradually become 
 accustomed to her new position, precarious as it might be, 
 for all depended on the Spaniard. 
 
 Zermah thought over what had . passed during the 
 night. She had seen Mrs. Burbank and Alice on the 
 bank while the boat moved away. Their desperate ap- 
 peals, their heartrending cries, had reached her. But 
 had they been able to get back to Castle House along the 
 tunnel, reach the besieged, and tell James Burbank and 
 his companions of the new misfortune that had fallen on 
 them ? Had they been captured by the Spaniard's men, 
 dragged far from Camdless Bay, killed perhaps ? If so, 
 James Burbank would not know that his child had been 
 carried off with Zermah. He would think that his wife, 
 Alice, his daughter, and the half-breed had got away 
 from Marine Creek and reached Cedar Eock in safety. 
 He would then make no immediate search for their re- 
 covery! 
 
 Supposing that Mrs. Burbank and Alice had got back 
 
151 
 
 to Castle House, and James Burbank knew everything, 
 was there Tiot cause to fear that the house had been en- 
 tered by the assailants, pillaged, burnt, destroyed ? In 
 that case, what had become of its defenders? If they had 
 been made prisoners or killed in the struggle, Zermah 
 could not hope for any assistance on their part. Even if 
 the Northerners had become masters of the St. John^s 
 she was lost. JSTeither Gilbert Burbank nor Mars would 
 know that the sister of one and the wife of the other 
 were imprisoned in this islet in Black Creek. 
 
 And although these things were so, and Zermah had 
 only herself to look to, her energy would not leave her. 
 She would do all she could to save this child who had 
 perhaps only her in the world to look to. Her life would 
 centre in this idea — escape ! Not an hour should pass 
 without her doing something towards doing so. 
 
 But was it possible to escape from the fortress watched 
 by Squambo and his companions, to get away from the 
 ferocious bloodhounds that prowled around the enclosure, 
 to fly from this island lost in the thousand windings of 
 the lagoon ? Yes, it was possible, but only on condition 
 that she was secretly helped by one of the slaves who 
 knew the channels of Black Creek. Why should not the 
 temptation of a large reward induce one of the men to 
 help her in her escape ? That was the direction in which 
 she must work. 
 
 J)j had just awoke. The first word she uttered was a 
 call for her mother. Then she looked round the room. 
 The remembrance of last night's events returned to her. 
 She saw the half-breed, and ran to her. 
 
 "Good Zermah ! Good Zermah V she murmured, '^I 
 am afraid ! I am afraid !" 
 
 "You must not be afraid, my dear." 
 
 " Where is mamma ?" 
 
 "She will come — soon. We have been obliged to save 
 ourselves — as you know ! We are now in safety. There 
 is nothing to fear. As soon as they have helped your 
 father, he will come to us." 
 
 Dy Iboked at Zermah, as much as to say — 
 
 "Is that really true?" 
 
 " Yes," said Zermah, who wished to give the child con- 
 fidence at any cost. " Yes, Mr. Burbank told us to wait 
 for him here/' 
 
" But the men who took us away in the boat?'' said the 
 child, returning to the charge. 
 
 "They are the servants of Mr. Harvey, my dear. You 
 know Mr. Harvey, your father's friend who lives at Jack- 
 sonville. We are in his cottage at Hampton Red." 
 
 " And mamma and Alice, who were with us, why are 
 they not here?" 
 
 Mr. Burbank called them back as they were going to 
 get into the boat. Do you not remember? As soon as 
 the naughty men have been hunted from Camdless Bay, 
 they will come and look for you. See now! Don't cry! 
 Don't be afraid, my dear, even if we stay here for some 
 days. We are well hidden. And now let me put you 
 straight." 
 
 Dy kept her eyes obstinately fixed on Zermah, and not- 
 withstanding what she had been told, a heavy sigh es- 
 caped her lips. She had not woke with a smile as she 
 usually did. It was important to keep her busy to dis- 
 tract her attention. 
 
 And Zermah tried to do so with the most tender solici- 
 tude. She performed her toilet with as much care as if 
 the child were at Castle House, and at the same time 
 tried to amuse her with her stories. Then Dy ate a little, 
 and Zermah shared her first breakfast with her. 
 
 "Now, my dear, if you like, we will go out into the 
 enclosure." 
 
 " Is Mr. Harvey's cottage very nice?" asked the child. 
 
 "Nice? No!" said Zermah. "I think it is an old 
 hovel. But there are trees and watercourses, and a place 
 where we can walk. We shall stay here for some days, 
 and if you are not too tired, and are very good, mamma 
 will be pleased." 
 
 "Yes, good Zermah, I will be good!" said the littls 
 girl. 
 
 The door of the room was not locked. Zermah took 
 the child's hand and went out with her. They first 
 found themselves in the central redoubt where it was 
 dark. A moment afterwards they were in full daylight 
 beneath the foliage of the great trees through which the 
 sun shot its rays. 
 
 The enclosure was not large; it was about an acre in 
 extent, and of this the blockhouse occupied the greater 
 
A STEANGE OPEBATION. 
 
 I5S 
 
 portion. The palisade which surrounded it did not allow 
 Zermah to reconnoitre the position of the island in the 
 lagoon. All she could see through the old gateway was a 
 tolerably wide channel, with troubled waters separating 
 it from the neighbouring islands. A woman and a child 
 could not but find it difficult to escape. Even supposing 
 Zermah could get possession of a boat, how could she get 
 out of the interminable labyrinth? She did not know 
 that Texar and Squambo alone knew the way, for the 
 negroes rarely left the blockhouse. To reach the St. 
 John's, or the marshes to the west of the creek, she 
 would have to trust to chance. And was not that run- 
 ning to certain destruction ? 
 
 During the next day or two Zermah, on thinking mat- 
 ters over, saw that no help could be hoped from Texar's 
 slaves. They were for the most part half -brutish negroes 
 of forbidding appearance. The Spaniard did not keep 
 them chained, but they had not more liberty than if he 
 had. With plenty to eat grown on the island, and ad- 
 dicted to strong drink, which Squambo was not at all 
 stingy in giving them, and specially kept for defending 
 the blockhouse, they had no interest in changing their 
 existence for another. The slave question debated a few 
 miles from Black Creek had no interest for them. To 
 gain their freedom? Why? And what would they do 
 with it? Texar assured their existence, and Squambo 
 did not ill-treat them, although he would have smashed 
 the head of the first man who advised them to mutiny. 
 They never dreamt of such a thing. They were, indeed, 
 brutes inferior to the hounds prowling round the pali- 
 sade. And without exaggeration it could be said that 
 the hounds excelled them in intelligence, for they knew 
 all the ins and outs of the creek, and swam its multiple 
 passes, running from islet to islet, guided by a marvellous 
 instinct which never led them astray. Often their bark 
 would be heard along the left bank of the river, and be- 
 fore night they would come back to the blockhouse all 
 by themselves. No boat could enter Black Creek with- 
 out being at once discovered by these formidable guar- 
 dians. Except Squambo and Texar, no one would dare 
 to leave the fortress without running the risk of beinff 
 devoured hj these savage Carib dogs. 
 
154 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 When Zermah saw how the enclosure was watched, 
 when she saw she could expect no help from those who 
 guarded her, it might be thought that she gave up all 
 thought of escape in despair. But she did not. Help 
 might come from outside, and in that case it would come 
 from James Bur bank, if he was free to act, or from Mars 
 wheh Mars learnt how his wife had disappeared. Failing 
 these she must depend on herself for the child^s safety. 
 And she would be equal to the task. 
 
 Isolated in this lagoon, she saw herself surrounded 
 only by brutish men. Sometimes she thought that one 
 of the negroes, who was still young, looked at her with 
 pity. Was there any hope in that? Could she trust 
 him to tell her the way to Oamdless Bay, and help her 
 to escape to Castle House? It was doubtful. And 
 Squambo had evidently noticed that the slave was taking 
 an interest in her, for now he was kep^ away, and Zer- 
 mah met him no more in her walks about the enclosure. 
 
 Several days passed and there was no change in the 
 circumstances. From morning till night Zermah and Dy 
 were at liberty to move about as they chose. When night 
 came, although Squambo did not lock them in their room, 
 yet he did not allow them to leave the central redoubt! 
 He never spoke to them, and Zermah had given up all 
 attempts to question him. Not for a moment did he 
 seem to leave the island. She felt that his watch over 
 them was unceasing. And she employed herself in look- 
 ing after the child, who constantly asked for her mother. 
 
 She will come !" Zermah would reply. " I have had 
 news of her. Your father will come too, my dear, and 
 with Miss Alice.'' ' 
 
 And when she had said this she knew not what else to 
 imagine ; and then she did her best to amuse the child, 
 who showed more sense than could be expected at her 
 age. 
 
 The 4th, 5th, and 6th of March went by. Although 
 Zermah listened for some distant detonation to announce 
 the presence of the Federal flotilla on the waters of the 
 St. John's, no sound reached her. All was silence at 
 Black Creek. It was reasonable to suppose that Florida 
 did not yet belong to the soldiers of the North. And 
 this increased the half-breed's anxiety to the utmost. 
 
A STRANGE OPERATION. 
 
 155 
 
 Failing James Buibank, she must trust to Gilbert and 
 Mars. And what was very strange was that the Spaniard 
 had not once shown himself at the blockhouse, either in 
 the day or the night. At least, Zermah saw nothing to 
 make her think so. And she scarcely slept, passing her 
 long hours of insomnia in listening — always in vain. 
 
 What could she do if Texar came to Black Creek ? 
 Would he listen to her prayers or her threats ? Was not 
 the Spaniard's presence more to be feared than his 
 absence ? 
 
 It was the night of the 6th of March, and about eleven 
 o'clock. For the thousandth time Zermah was thinking 
 over these things, as little Dy quietly slept. The room 
 which served them for a cell was in deep darkness. No 
 sound was heard without, except the whistling of the 
 wind along the crumbling planks of the blockhouse. 
 
 Suddenly she heard some one walking into the central 
 redoubt. At first she supposed it was the Indian going 
 to his room opposite hers, after making his usual round 
 to see that all was safe. 
 
 Then she heard a few words spoken by two voices. She 
 glided to the door, and placed her ear close to it, and 
 listened. She recognized Squambo's voice, and almost 
 immediately afterwards Texar's. 
 
 A shudder seized her. What did the Spaniard want at 
 this hour ? Was it some new scheme against her and the 
 child ? Were they going to take them from their room, 
 carry them to some more unknown retreat, more impene- 
 trable than this of Black Creek ? In a moment all these 
 suppositions presented themselves. Then her energy 
 took the' upper hand, and she leant against the door and 
 listened. 
 
 " Nothing new ?" said Texar. 
 
 " Nothing, master," said Squambo. 
 
 "And Zermah?" 
 
 " I refused to answer her questions." 
 " Have any attempts been made to reach them from 
 Camdless Bay ?" 
 
 "Yes, but none have succeeded." 
 
 From this reply Zermah learnt that people WTO 
 gearching for them. Who could they bç ? 
 Hqw do you know ?" 
 
166 
 
 texar's retinge. 
 
 " I have been several times to the river-bank," said the 
 Indian. And a day or two ago I saw a boat lying off 
 the Creek. The two men landed on one of the islands by 
 the bank." 
 
 ** Who were these two men ?" 
 
 "James Burbank and Walter Stapnard." 
 
 Zermah could hardly restrain her emotion. James 
 Burbank and Walter Stannard ! And so the defenders 
 of Castle House had not perished in the attack on the 
 plantation. And if they had begun to search, it was 
 because they knew that she and the child had been 
 carried off. And if they knew that, it must be because 
 Mrs. Burbank and Alice had told them so. So that they 
 were alive, and they must have got back to Castle House 
 after hearing her last shout for help against Texar. 
 James Burbank thus knew what had happened. He 
 knew the scoundrel's name. Perhaps he even suspected 
 where he had hidden his victims. He might even reach 
 them ! 
 
 This chain of thought linked itself together instantly 
 in Zermah's mind. A great hope took possession of her 
 — a hope that vanished immediately when she heard the 
 Spaniard answer — 
 
 *^Yes! Let them search, and they will never find 
 them. In a few days we need have no fear of James 
 Burbank !" 
 
 What these words meant Zermah could not divine ; but, 
 coming from the man whom Jacksonville obeyed, they 
 were a formidable menace. 
 
 " And now, Squambo, I want you for an hour," said 
 the Spaniard. 
 
 ''Right." 
 
 "Follow me." 
 
 A moment afterwards they had entered the Indian's 
 room. 
 
 What were they doing there ? Was it some secret that 
 Zermah ought to know ? In her position she should 
 neglect nothing that might be of use to her. 
 
 Her room door, as we know, was not locked during the 
 night. The precaution would have been useless, as the 
 redoubt was locked, and Squambo kept the key. It was 
 impossible to get out of the blockhouse, aud oonsequently 
 tQ attempt escape, 
 
A STRANGE OPERATION. 157 
 
 1, ^r^^Y'^^Y}^ ^P®^ ^'^^ ^^^^ step out. She 
 held her breath as she did so. ^ ^ 
 
 The darkness was intense. Only a few streaks of li^ht 
 came from the Indian's room. ^ 
 
 Zermah crept to the door, and peeped through the 
 crack between two planks. What she saw was too strange 
 lor her to understand its meaning. ^ 
 
 Although the room was lighted only by the fag-end of a 
 resmous torch, the light was enough f 0/ the Indian, who 
 was occupied m a work of great delicacy 
 
 Texar was seated in front of him, with his leather coat 
 thrown back and with his left arm bare and stretched out 
 on a httle table just under the light of the torch. A piece 
 of paper of curious shape, pierced with little ^es, was 
 laid on the inner part of the forearm. With a fine needle 
 bquambo pricked the skin in every place where there was 
 a hole m the paper. The Indian was tattooing, and, as a 
 bemmole he was an expert at such work. He did it with 
 such skill and hghtness of hand^ that the epidermis was 
 
 fetn^thS^^^^ ^P--^ 
 When he had done Squambo lifted the paper ; then, 
 
 ht^'l ^ \Z^^T' ^ P\"^* ^^^^^^ brought with 
 him he rubbed them oyer the fore-arm. The sap of the 
 
 itht^wl'''^^ r'^^' punctures caused a sharp 
 itching, but the Spaniard was not the man to trouble him- 
 self about such small matters. 
 
 Tnis part of the operation over, Squambo held the 
 torch close to the tattooed place. A reddish design then 
 appeared on the skin. The design was an exact^copy of 
 that formed by the needle-holes in the paper. It was a 
 series of mter-crossed lines, representing one of the^™! 
 bohc figures of the Seminole religion. ^The mark couTd 
 LTpuTit "^"""^ ^''"^ ^^i^^ ^^^^^^o 
 
 Zermah had seen it all, and, as we have said, could 
 understand nothing of it. What interest could Texar 
 havembemgthustattooed? Why this - partLXr sin - " 
 
 hi^ doTn^l ^dniit of 
 
 mlvkZdZil^\^tl\^''^ connection between this 
 mark and that which had been put on the Floridans who 
 
158 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 had been robbed by the Seminoles ? And, on account of 
 it, was he going to prove one of those inexplicable alibis 
 which had hitherto stood him in such good stead ? 
 
 Perhaps this was one of the secrets of his life which the 
 future would reveal. 
 
 Another question presented itself to Zermah. Had not 
 the Spaniard come to the blockhouse to avail himself of 
 Sqaambo's cleverness as a tattooer? Was he going back to 
 Jacksonville, where his partisans were still in power? 
 Or was he going to stop at the blockhouse day after day 
 and make fresh arrangements regarding his prisoners? 
 
 Zermah's anxiety was not of long duration. She had 
 slipped back to her room as soon as the Spaniard rose to 
 enter the central chamber. Hidden by the door, she heard 
 the few words exchanged between the Indian and his 
 master. 
 
 " Watch them with more care than ever," he said. 
 
 " Yes," replied Squambo. But if we are closely 
 pressed by James Burbank — " 
 
 ^' James Biirbank, I tell you, will not trouble you after 
 a few days. Besides, you know where to take the half- 
 breed and child — vhere I shall meet you again." 
 
 '^Yes, master/' said Squambo; ^^for we must provide 
 against Gilbert Burbank, or Mars, Zermah's husband — " 
 Before forty-eight hours they will be in my power, 
 and when I get them — " 
 
 Zermah did not hear the end of the sentence which 
 threatened her husband and Gilbert so seriously. 
 
 . Texar and Squambo then left the redoubt, and the door 
 shut behind them. 
 
 A few minutes later the skiff paddled by the Indian 
 left the island, traversed the sombre sinuosities of the 
 lagoon, and put the Spaniard on board a boat that was 
 waiting for him off the creek. Squambo and his master 
 then separated, Texar going down with the tide to Jack- 
 sonville. 
 
 He arrived there at dawn, in time to put his plans into 
 execution. And soon afterwards Mars disappeared in the 
 waters of the St. John's, and Gilbert Burbank was cou«^ 
 demned to death. 
 
THE DAY BEFORE. 
 
 159 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 V 
 
 THE DAY BEFORE. 
 
 It was in the morning of the 11th of March that Gilbert 
 Burbank had been tried by the Jacksonville Çommittee; 
 and the same eyening his tiither had been arrested. The 
 next day but one the young officer was to be shot, and 
 doubtless James Burbank, charged as being his accomplice, 
 and sentenced to the same penalty, would die with him. 
 
 As we know, Texar held the Committee in his hand. 
 His word alone was law. The execution of the father and 
 the son would be the j)relude to sanguinary excesses against 
 the Northerners in Florida, and all who shared in their 
 ideas on the slavery question. What an amount of per- 
 sonal vengeance would be gratified under the cloak of 
 civil war! Nothing but the presence of the Federal troops 
 could put a stop to this. But would they come, and, 
 above all, would they come before the first victims had 
 been sacrificed to the Spaniard's hatred? 
 
 Unfortunately it seemed to be doubtful. 
 
 One can fancy the anguish at Castle House at this pro- 
 longed delay. 
 
 It seemed as though the plan of ascending the St. John's 
 had been temporarily abandoned by Stevens. The- gun- 
 boats made no movement to leave their anchorage. Did 
 they not dare to clear the bar now that Mars was not with 
 them to pilot them along the channel? Had they given 
 up the idea of taking Jacksonville, and by the capture 
 assuring safety to the plantations on the St. John's? 
 What new events of the war had modified the projects of 
 Commodore Dupont? 
 
 Such were the questions that Mr. Stannard and Over- 
 seer Perry asked themselves during this interminable day 
 of the 12th of March. 
 
 From the news then current it seemed that the Federal 
 efforts in this part of Florida, between the river and the 
 
160 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 sea, was confined to the coast. Commodore Dupont, in 
 the Wabash, with the heaviest gunboats of the squadron, 
 had just appeared in the Bay of St. Augustine. It was 
 even reported that the mihtia were preparing to abandon 
 the town without attempting to defend Fort Marion any- 
 more than Fort Church had been defended at the surrender 
 of Fernandina. 
 
 Such, at least, was the news brought by the overseer 
 during the morning to Castle House; and he at once 
 reported it to Mr. Stannard and Edward Carrol, who, his 
 wound not having healed, was obliged to recline on one 
 of the sofas in the hall. 
 
 " The Federals at St. Augustine!" said the latter; " and 
 why do they not come to Jacksonville?" 
 
 " Perhaps they wish only to blockade the river without 
 taking possession," answered Perry. 
 
 ''James and Gilbert are lost if Jacksonville remains in 
 Texar's hands," said Mr. Stannard. 
 
 "Could I not go," said Perry, ^'and tell Commodore 
 Dupont that Mr. Burbank and his son are in such danger?" 
 
 ''It would take a day to reach St. Augustine," said 
 Carrol, " even supposing that you were not stopped by 
 the retreating militia. And before Dupont could order 
 Stevens to occupy Jacksonville, too much time would 
 have gone! Besides, there is this bar — this river bar, 
 which the gunboats cannot pass. How can they save our 
 poor Gilbert, who is to die to-morrow? No! it is not to 
 St. Augustine you should go, but to Jacksonville! It is 
 not to Commodore Dupont you should appeal, but to — 
 Texar!" 
 
 " Mr. Carrol is right, father, and I will go!" said Alice, 
 who had heard the few last words. 
 
 The brave girl was ready to risk everything for Gilbert's 
 safety. 
 
 The evening before, when he left Camdless Bay, James 
 Burbank had particularly enjoined that his wife should 
 not be told of his departure to Jacksonville. It was better 
 to hide from her that the Committee had ordered his 
 arrest. Mrs. Burbank was thus unaware of his having 
 gone, as she was unaware of the fate of her son, whom she 
 believed to be on board the flotilla. How could the un- 
 happy woman bear up under the double blow that had 
 
THE BAY BEFOEE. 
 
 161 
 
 fallen on her? Her husband in the power of Texar, her 
 son on the eve of being executed! She would never survive 
 it. When she had asked to see James Burbank, Alice 
 had replied that he had left Castle House in resumption 
 of his search after Dy and Zermah, and that he would be 
 away forty-eight hours. So that all Mrs. Burbaiik's 
 thoughts were concentrated on her stolen child. 
 
 Alice knew all the dangers that threatened James and 
 Gilbert Burbank. She knew that the young officer was 
 to be shot in the morning, and that the same fate was in 
 stoie for his father. But though she knew all this, she 
 resolved to see Texar, and asked Mr. Carrol to take her 
 across the river. 
 
 *'You — Alice— at Jacksonville!" exclaimed Mr. Stan - 
 nard. 
 
 Father, it is necessary!" 
 Mr. Stannard's very natural hesitation suddenly ceased 
 before the necessity of acting without delay. If Gilbert 
 could be saved, it was only by the way Alice wished to 
 try. Perhaps by casting herself at Texar's knees she could 
 sha'ke his resolution! Perhaps she might obtain a respite! 
 Perhaps she might find support among the better citizens 
 who might be induced to rise against the intolerable 
 tyranny of the Committee! In short, she must go to 
 Jacksonville whatever danger she might run. 
 
 Perry," she said, will you take me to Mr. Harvey's 
 house?" 
 
 "Immediately," said the overseer. 
 
 " No, Alice; I will go with you," said Mr. Stannard. 
 " Yes, I will! Let us start—" 
 
 " You, Stannard?" asked Carrol. " You are exposing 
 your life. They know your opinions." 
 
 What does it matter ?" said Mr. Stannard. I will 
 not let my daughter go alone amongst those vagabonds. 
 Perry can stay at Castle House, as you cannot walk yet, 
 for we must prepare in case we are detained — " 
 
 "If Mrs. Burbank asks for you," said Carrol, "if she 
 asks for Alice, what am I to say ?" 
 
 Say that we have gone with James in his search on 
 the other side of the river. Tell her, if necessary, that we 
 have had to go to Jacksonville — in fact anything you like 
 to keep her quiet, but nothing to lead her to suspect the 
 
162 
 
 TEXAR^S EEVEIfôE. 
 
 dangers that surround her husband and son. Perry, get à 
 boat ready/^ 
 
 The overseer retired at once, leaving Mr. Stannard to 
 prepare for his journey. 
 
 It would be better for Alice not to leave Castle Hou e 
 without telling Mrs. Burbank that she and her father had 
 been obliged to go to Jacksonville. If need be she 
 could even say that Texar^s party had been superseded, 
 that the Federals were masters of the river, that to -morrow^ 
 Gilbert would be at Camdless Bay. But would the girl 
 have sufficient self-command, would her voice not betray 
 her when she asserted as facts what now seemed impossi- 
 ble ? 
 
 When she arrived in the invalid's room, Mrs. Burbank 
 was asleep, or rather deep in sorrowful slumber, in pro- 
 found torpor, from which Alice had not the courage to 
 wake her. Perhaps it was better that the girl had no need 
 to speak and soothe her. 
 
 One of the women of the house watched near the bed. 
 Alice told her not to leave for a moment, and to ask Mr.* 
 Carrol to answer Mrs. BurbanFs questions. Then she 
 bent over the unhappy mother, almost till their lips met, 
 and then she went out and joined her father. 
 
 As soon as she saw him, Let us go/' she said. 
 
 They clasped CarroFs hand and went out from the hall 
 In the middle of the bamboo-path to the landing-path thev 
 met the overseer. 
 
 The boat is ready,'' said he. 
 
 "Good " said Mr. Stannard. "Keep careful guard 
 over the house, my friend." 
 
 " Never fear, Mr. Stannard, our blacks are coming back 
 to the plantation, and that means much. What would 
 they do with a freedom for which nature has not created 
 them Bring us back Mr. Burbank, and they will all be 
 found at their post." 
 
 Mr. Stannard and his daughter took their places in the 
 boat with four of the Camdless Bay men. The sail was 
 leïtthe sh^re"^^^^ ^ easterly breeze they speedily 
 
 Mr. Stannard thought it best not to land at the wharf 
 at Jacksonville, where he would inevitably be recognized, 
 but to run into a little creek a short distance above. 
 
I6â 
 
 î^rom there it would be easy to reach Mr. Harvey's house, 
 which was on this side and well out in the suburbs. 
 Once there they could consult over matters and act ac- 
 cordingly. 
 
 The river at this time was deserted. Nothing above 
 stream; nothing below. There had been no fight between 
 the Floridan vessels and the gunboats under Commandant 
 Stevens, whose anchorage could not even be seen, owing 
 to a bend in the St. John's closing the horizon below 
 Jacksonville. 
 
 After a quick passage, Mr. Stannard and his daughter 
 reached the left bank. Without being noticed they were 
 able to land in the creek, which was not watched, and in 
 a few minutes they found themselves in the house of James 
 BurbanJi^'s correspondent. 
 
 Mr. Harvey was much surprised and much alarmed to 
 see them. Their presence could not be without danger 
 among a mob more and more excited and quite devoted 
 to Texar. It was known that Stannard shared in the 
 anti- slavery ideas adopted at Camdlese Bay, The pillage 
 of his house at Jacksonville was a warning that could not 
 be disregarded. 
 
 Assuredly tie was running a great risk. The least that 
 could happen to him, if he was discovered, w^s to be im- 
 prisoned as an accomplice of James Burbank's. 
 
 "We must save Gilbert !" was all that Miss Alice could 
 answer to Mr. Harvey's observations. 
 
 Yes,'' he said. " We must try ! But Mr. Stannard 
 must not go out of this house ! He must stay here while 
 we act." 
 
 " Will they let me into the prison .P" asked Alice. 
 
 do not think so, Miss Stannard." 
 " Shall I get to see Texar ?" 
 ''WewiUtry." 
 
 " Will you not let me go with you ?" asked Mr. Stan^ 
 nàrd. 
 
 "No ! that would do harm with Texar and his Com- 
 mittee." 
 
 " Come, then, Mr. Harvey," said Alice. 
 
 Before they left, however, Mr. Stannard asked if there 
 had been any war news which had not yet reached Camd- 
 less Bay. 
 
164 
 
 TEXAB*S EEVÏ5NGE. 
 
 None/ said Mr. Harvey; at least none that concérns 
 Jacksonville. The Federal flotilla has appeared in the 
 J3ay of bt. Augustine, and the town has been surrendered 
 At the St. John's nothing has been done: the gunboats 
 are still at anchor below the bar.'' 
 
 "^;The water is too low for them to get over." 
 
 ''Yes, Mr. Stannard; but to-day we are to have one of 
 the highest tides of the equinox. It will be high water 
 lor three hours, and perhaps the gunboats will clear it—" 
 
 " Clear it without a pilot, now that Mars is no longer 
 tnere to guide them through the channels !" said Alice in 
 a tone which showed that she thought little of this hope. 
 
 ^ 0 1 It IS impossible ! Mr. Harvey, I must see Texar, 
 and If tie repulses me, we must sacrifice everything to help 
 Gilbert escape — " ^ & 
 
 ''.And we will do so. Miss Stannard." 
 Stlmard^^^ not changed in Jacksonville asked Mr. 
 
 " ISTo," rei)lied Mr. Harvey. '^The roughs are the 
 masters and Texar leads them. But owing to the exac- 
 tions and menaces of the Committee the respectable people 
 are growling with indignation, and it only wants a move- 
 ment of the Federals on the river to bring about an im- 
 mediate change. The mob is a cowardly mob; and if they 
 have cause to fear, Texar and his partisans will be upset, 
 the Commandant Stevens will be able to clear 
 
 wa'^!i,'^'"tT*.i^^'' that," said Alice resolutely; -and 
 before then I shall have seen Texar " J' » ^ 
 
 It was then agreed that Mr. Stannard should remain in 
 
 w t^T' ^i' Presence in Jacksonville should 
 
 plan^ fh?'"''- ^%Hf7ej was to help Alice in all her 
 
 Ff S!ïnTi- ? ^.'f ' ^'^^^^^ ^'^^ Gilbert his life, 
 the cost of a fortune to procure the escape of the prwîoners. 
 lpft fb?l! ""^/^T^n^^^^^"^ ^^^^ ^li^e Mr. Harvey 
 
 mi tee ut^^^^^ ^"^-'i^ J^^^^^^' ^^^^^^ the Com- 
 
 mittee under Texar's presidency was in permanent session. 
 
 miîif i^ ^Z/^' Z ^ ^r^^t excitement. The 
 
 Sontj^^^r''^''''i by the detachments arrived from the 
 bouth, were constantly on the move. Those set free bv 
 
DAY BEPOÎtl. 1^1 5 
 
 the surrender of St. Augustine were expected during the 
 day, either by the St. John's or by the road through the 
 forests on its right bank. The people thronged the streets 
 A thousand rumours were afloat, contradictory as usual* 
 and provoking a tumult akin to disorder. It was easy to 
 8ee that if the Federals did arrive there would be no unity 
 of action m the defence; there would be no serious re- 
 sistance. Fernandina had surrendered nine days before to 
 the troops landed under General Wright; St. Augustine 
 had received Dupont^s flotilla without even attempting to 
 bar his passage; and so would it be at Jacksonville. The 
 i^lorida Mihtia would give place to the Northern troops, 
 and would retire into the interior of the country There 
 was only one thing to save Jacksonville from capture, to 
 prolong the powers of the Committee and allow them to 
 accomplish their sanguinary plans; that was, that for want 
 of water or want of a pilot the gunboats kept outside the 
 bar And m a few hours it would be seen if this were to 
 be the case. 
 
 Through a crowd which grew closer at every step, Alice 
 and Mr. Harvey made their way to the principal square. 
 How were they to get into the court ? They could not 
 imagine Once there how could they get to see Texar ? 
 They did not know Who could tell if the Spaniard, when 
 he heard that Ahce Stannard demanded to see him 
 would not arrest her and imprison her until after the 
 lieutenant s execution ? But she would not think of 
 such things. To see Texar, to compel him to have mercy 
 on (xilbert, no personal danger would be too great for her 
 to run. ^ 
 
 When she and Mr. Harvey reached the square, they 
 found there a still more tumultuous crowd. Shouts rent 
 the air and these words of menace were yelled from one 
 group to another: "Death! Death 
 
 Mr. Harvey ascertained that the Committee had been 
 sitting as a court of justice for an hour. A dreadful pre- 
 sentiment seized on him, and the presentiment was only 
 too well justified. The Committee were trying James 
 Burbank for being the accomplice of his son Gilbert, and 
 holding communication with the Federal army The 
 same crime, the same sentence, there could be no doubt 
 and the crowning of Texar's work against the Burbank 
 
166 
 
 Mr. Hiirvey would have gone no further. He tried t6 
 lead Alice away. He would not subject her to the sight 
 of the violence which the people threatened when the 
 condemned men came out of the court after sentence was 
 pronounced. This was hardly the time to seek an inter- 
 vievy with the Spaniard. 
 
 ^' Come away, Miss Stannard," said Mr. Harvey. 
 "Come away! We will come back when the Commit- 
 tee—" 
 
 No !" answered Alice. " I will throw myself between 
 the accused and their judges — " 
 
 The girl's resolution was such that Mr. Harvey de- 
 spaired of overcoming it. Alice led the way. He was 
 bound to follow her. The crowd was quiet — some of 
 them recognized her, perhaps, and yet it opened to let 
 her pass. The cries of "Death!" sounded horribly in 
 her ears. Nothing could stop her. She reached the 
 doors of the court. Here the crowd was rougher than 
 ever, — not the roughness that follows the storm, but 
 that which precedes it. The most terrible excesses were 
 to be feared. 
 
 Suddenly a tumultuous wave burst from the court. 
 The shouts redoubled. Sentence had been given. 
 
 James Burbank, like Gilbeijt, had been condemned for 
 the same pretended crime to the same penalty. Father 
 and son would fall before the same firing platoon. 
 
 " Death! Death!" yelled the crowd of roughs. 
 
 James Burbank appeared on the steps. He was calm, 
 and collected. A look of scorn was all he had for the 
 shouting crowd. 
 
 A detachment of militia surrounded him, with orders 
 to take him back to prison. 
 
 He was not alone. 
 
 Gilbert was by his side. 
 
 Taken from the cell where he awaited the hour of exe- 
 cution, the young officer had been brought into the Com- 
 mittee's presence to be confronted with James Burbank, 
 who could only confirm what his son had said. Gilbert 
 had come to Castle House to see his dying nlother for the 
 last time. On the evidence the charge would have col- 
 lapsed, had not the trial been settled beforehand. The 
 same doom awaited both innocent men — a doom imposed 
 
THîî î)ÀY i&mon% lé^ 
 
 judge?^^"^^ vengenace, and pronounced by iniquitous 
 
 rI^^?'''l^'^ """^ prisoners. It was with great 
 
 ditbculty that the mihtia could clear the wav. 
 
 There was a sudden movement in the crowd. Alice 
 rushed towards the father and son. 
 
 Involuntarily the mob recoiled, surprised by this unex- 
 pecceu. attempt. 
 
 Alice!" exclaimed Gilbert. 
 
 " Gilbert! Gilbert!" murmured Alice as she fell into 
 nis arms. 
 
 I ^ Alice! why are you here?" asked James Burbank. 
 To ask- mercy for you. To beg it from your judges. 
 Mercy! mercy for them!" j j 6 • 
 
 The girFs cries were heart-breaking. She clung to the 
 stopped bloomed men, who had for a moment 
 
 Could they hope for pity from the wild crowd that sur- 
 rounded them ? No ! But her intervention for a moment 
 prevented them from proceeding to violence, in defiance 
 01 the militia guard. 
 
 fT.^?f' "'u"^?'''?!? "^^^"^^^^^ "^^^ happening, appeared at 
 the threshold of the Courts of Justice. A gesture from 
 him silenced the crowd. The order he gavlwas to take 
 the Burbanks back to prison. 
 
 The detachment resumed its march 
 
 Texa^îsTnees"''''''^^"'' ^""^^^^ ^^'""^^ throwing herself at 
 
 The Spaniard's reply was a gesture of refusal. 
 
 The girl stood up 
 Scoundrel!" she said. 
 
 She would have rejoined the prisoners, followed them 
 to the prison, and spent with them the last hours left 
 t liera to live. 
 
 • ^^u^ were already out of the square, the crowd escort- 
 ing them with yells and insults. 
 
 .hi/^^AT'^ ^f" ^^'""^ ^^"^^ Her strength 
 
 abandoned her. She sfaggered and fell. She had neither 
 fee mg nor consciousness when Mrs. Harvey received her 
 m her arms. 
 
 4. "^Jr^ not come to herself till she was with her father 
 m Mr. Harvey s house. 
 
m 
 
 TEXAR*S EEVENGB. 
 
 "To the prison! To the prison!" she murmured. 
 
 Both of theiii must escape." 
 
 Yes," said Mr. Stannard. " That is all we can try! 
 Wait till night comes!" 
 
 Nothing could be done during the day. When dark- 
 ness enabled them to act with more safety, without fear 
 of being surprised, Mr. Stannard and Mr. Harvey would 
 endeavour to help the prisoners escape with the con- 
 nivance of their guard. They would take money with 
 them, so much — so they hoped — that the man would be 
 unable to resist them; particularly as a single shot from 
 Stevens's gunboats migiit end the Spaniard's power. 
 
 But night came, and they had to give up all thought 
 of their scheme. The prison was guarded by a detach- 
 ment of militia, and all idea of flight was in vain. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A GALE FEOM THE KORTH-EAST. 
 
 There was now only one chance for the doomed men — 
 that before a dozen hottrs had elapsed the Federals were 
 masters of the town. At sunrise James and Gilbert Bur- 
 bank would be shot. Their prison was watched, so was 
 Mr. Harvey's house; how could they escape? 
 
 The capture of Jacksonville could not be made by the 
 troops landed at Fernaadina, who could not abandon 
 that important position in the north of Florida. The 
 task must be that of the gunboats: to accomplish it the 
 bar must be crossed. Then when the line of boats was 
 driven back, the flotilla could anchor opposite the town. 
 Oiico they had the town under their guns, the miliiia 
 would beat a retreat to the marshes. Texar and his 
 partisans would certainly follow them, to avoid the well- 
 deserved reprisals; The respectable citizens would then 
 resume the place from which they had been hunted with 
 such indignity, and negotiate with the Federal represent- 
 atives for th@ surrender. 
 
A GALE FEOM THE NOETH-EAST. 169 
 
 Was it possible to effect this passage of the bar, and 
 within the time? Was there any way of overcoming the 
 obstacle which the want of water put in the way of the 
 gunboats? It was very doubtful, as we shall see. 
 
 After sentence was pronounced Texar and the com- 
 mander of the militia went down to the wharf to inspect 
 the lower course of the river. Their attention was fixed 
 on the bar. 
 
 '' Nothing fresh has been reported?" asked Texar, as 
 
 he stopped at the end of the stockade. 
 
 "Nothing " said the officer. - A reconnaissance I 
 .^''^}J^ the north tells me that the Federals have 
 
 not left Fernandina for Jacksonville. Probably they are 
 
 kept m observation on the Georgian frontier until their 
 
 flotilla has forced the channel." 
 
 Have any troops come from the south, from St. 
 
 Augustine, and crossed the St. John's at Picolata?" 
 
 I think not. Dupont has only troops enough to 
 
 occupy the town and his object is to blockade the whole 
 
 coast from the St. John's to the furthest inlets of Florida. 
 
 We have nothing to fear from that side, Texar!" 
 
 +1, " K u ^^'^^ flotilla if it clears 
 
 the bar, below which it has been at anchor for three 
 
 That is so. And the question will be decided in a 
 few hours. Perhaps, after all, the enemy's object is to 
 close the river so as to cut off the communication between 
 fet Augustine and Fernandina! It is most to his interest 
 not to occupy Florida at present, but to stop the contra- 
 band of war coming in from the south. The expedition 
 has no other object— at least I think not." If it had, the 
 troops at Amelia Island wonld have been on the march to 
 Jacksonville." 
 
 T^nf J'''' ^1^^ "^^*'" ^^'^ " It doesn't matter! 
 
 i5ut i wish this question of the bar was over " 
 
 • It will be settled this very day." 
 
 If the gunboats do come, what will you do^^" 
 
 Act according to my orders, and take the militia into 
 
 the interior, so as to avoid all contact with the Federals. 
 
 If they can occupy the towns, let them. They cannot 
 
 keep them long for they will be cut off from their com- 
 
 munications with Georgia and the Carolinas, and we shall 
 
 soon retake them. 
 
m 
 
 texar's eevbngb. 
 
 '* But," said Texar, if they are masters of Jackson- 
 ville only for a day, we mast expect reprisals. All these 
 pretended honest men, these rich planters, and abolition- 
 ists will return to power, and then — But it sliall not 
 be! , N"o! and rather than abandon the town — " 
 
 The Spaniard did not finish his thought, but it was 
 easy to see his meaning. He would not surrender the 
 town to the Federals, who would place it in the hands of 
 the magistrates he had supplanted. He would give it to 
 the flames; and perhaps his measures were taken with a 
 view to this work of destruction. Then he and his fol- 
 lowers would retire after the militia, and in the marshes 
 of the south find an inaccessible retreat, where they could 
 await events. 
 
 But there was nothing of this to be feared if the gun- 
 boats could not clear the bar, and the time had come to 
 settle the question. 
 
 The people came crowding on to the wharves. A 
 moment was enough to show why they had come. Deaf- 
 ening shouts arose. 
 
 "The gunboats are coming!" 
 No! they have not moved." 
 The sea is open!" 
 
 "They are going to try it at full speed!" 
 
 "Look! look!" 
 So they are!" said the commander of the militia. 
 
 There is something! Look, Texar!" 
 
 The Spaniard did not reply. He never took his eyes 
 from where the horizon was closed by the line of boats 
 drawn across the stream. Half a mile below were the 
 spars and funnels of the gun- vessels. A thick smoke was 
 rising, and driven by the wind came floating up to Jackson- 
 ville. 
 
 Evidently Stevens, taking advantage of the full tide, 
 was trying to cross the bar at all costs. Would he do so? 
 Would he find enough water, even if he scraped his keels 
 as he came? No wonder there was violent excitement 
 among the crowds on the bank of the St. John's. 
 
 And the excitement increased as some thought they 
 saw something, and others thought they did not. 
 
 "They have gained half a cable!" 
 
 "No! they have not ir^^^^nd further than if their anchor 
 was still down." 
 
A GALE FROM THE NORTH-EAST. 171 
 
 There is one moving." 
 
 Yes; but she is swinging on a pivot because she has 
 not got water enough/' 
 "What a smoke!" 
 They may burn all the coal in the States, but they 
 won't get over." 
 
 "And now the tide is slackening!" 
 "Hurrah for the South!" 
 "Hurrah!" 
 
 The flotilla's attempt lasted about ten minutes— ten 
 minutes which appeared long to Texar, to his partisans, 
 and to all there whose liberty or life would be endangered 
 by the capture of Jacksonville. What had really hap- 
 pened they did not know; the distance was too great for 
 them to be sure. Had the channel been forced or not?* 
 By discharging all useless weight to lighten his draught' 
 had Stevens been able to clear the narrow shoal that kept 
 him out of the deep water, by which the passage up to 
 the town would be easy? So long as the tide was on the 
 turn there was a chance that he might. 
 
 But, as the people said, the tide had begun to run out 
 Once the ebb began, the level of the St. John's would 
 soon sink. 
 
 Suddenly arms were stretched towards the bar, and 
 there was a shout that was heard over all, — 
 "A boat! a boat!" 
 
 A little boat was sighted coming along the left bank 
 where the flow of the tide was still perceptible, while the 
 ebb appeared in mid-channel. The boat rowed up rapidly. 
 In the stern sat an officer in the uniform of the Florida 
 Militia. He soon reached the stockade, and, running up 
 the ladder, landed on the wharf. Perceiving Texar he 
 came towards him, followed by a crowd almost choking 
 with anxiety to see and hear. 
 
 " What is it?" asked the Spaniard. 
 
 "Nothing, and there will be nothing!" said the officer. 
 
 " Who sent you?" 
 
 " The commander of the boats, who will soon be back 
 here. 
 
 "And why?" 
 
 "Because the gunboats have failed in crossing the bar 
 although they were lightened for draught and were driven 
 at lull speed. There is now nothing to fear " 
 
172 
 
 texab's revekge. 
 
 For this tide?" asked Texar. 
 Nor for any other — at least for some months. 
 "Hurrah! Hurrah!" 
 
 The cheers spread over the town. And as the roughs 
 more than ever cheered the Spaniard, in whom all their 
 detestable instincts were incarnate, the respectable people 
 saw with despair that for some time yet they would be 
 under the iniquitous rule of the Committee and its 
 chief. 
 
 The officer's report was true. From that day the tide 
 would decrease each day. The tide of the 12th of March 
 was one of the highest of the year, and several months 
 would elapse before it again reached the same level. The 
 bar being impassable, Jacksonville would escape Stevens's 
 guns. Texar would remain in power; the scoundrel would 
 accomplish his work of vengeance. Even if General 
 Sherman sent Wright to occupy the town with the troops 
 landed at Fernandina, the march would take several days. 
 As far as the Burbanks were concerned, their execution 
 being fixed for the next morning, nothing could save 
 them. , . , 
 
 The news spread to the suburbs. We can imagine its 
 effect on the riotous portion of the community. Decent 
 people prepared to leave a town in which they could not 
 be safe. 
 
 The cheering and shouting reached the prisoners, and 
 told them that all hope of life had vanished, and they 
 were heard in Mr. Harvey's house. We need not dwell on 
 the despair with which they filled Mr. Stannard and his 
 daughter. What could they do now to save James Bur- 
 bank and his son? Corrupt the gaoler? They could not 
 now leave the house in which they had taken refuge! A 
 troop of desperadoes kept them in sight, whose curses 
 COP Id be heard at the door. 
 
 Night came on. The weather, which had been threaten- 
 ing for some hours, changed rapidly; the wind had gone 
 round to the north-east. Great masses of grey, broken 
 clouds came racing past, too hurriedly to dissolve in rain, 
 and almost low enough to sweep the surface of the sea. 
 A frigate's masts would certainly have reached into the 
 mass of vapour. The barometer suddenly fell, and there 
 was every sign of a storm over the distant Atlantic. 
 
A GALE FEOM THE NOETH-EAST. 
 
 173 
 
 From its position the storm would strike full into the 
 estuary of the St. John's. It would raise the waters and 
 drive them back like the bores of large rivers, and the 
 flood would rise over the lauds by the river-side. 
 
 During this night of trouble Jacksonville was swept 
 with terrible violence. A part of the stockade succumbed 
 to the fury of the surf against the stockades; the water 
 came over the wharf, and dashed to pieces on it several 
 dogger-boats, whose cables broke like threads. It was 
 impossible to remain in the streets or squares owing to the 
 shower of fragments that rained down from the roofs. 
 People took refuge in the public-houses, and the noise 
 therein contended, not without advantage, with the roar 
 of the storm. 
 
 It was not only over the land that the gale raged. In 
 the St. John's the agitation of the waters produced quite 
 a furious sea. The boats moored above the bar were 
 caught in the storm before they could get into safety 
 their grapnels broke, aud their cables parted. The night's 
 tide, mcreasrd by the gale, carried them up the river re- 
 sistlessly. Some were stove againstHhe piles, others were 
 swept past Jacksonville and lost on the islands and points 
 miles up the St. John's. Many of the sailors lost their 
 lives in the storm, which came on so suddenly as to ren- 
 der useless the measures usually taken under such cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 Had the gunboats weighed anchor and steamed off to 
 shelter m the creeks at the mouth? Had thev, thanks to 
 this precaution, escaped complete destruction? Had they 
 gone out of the river? That they had remained at their 
 anchors Jacksonville could not believe, for the bar would 
 now be impassable. 
 
 Darkness enveloped the valley of the St. John's, while 
 the air and the water mingled together as if some chemical 
 action was trying to combine them into one element. It 
 was one of those cataclysms which are so frequent at the 
 equinox, but in violence it exceeded all that this part of 
 Florida had experienced. 
 
 Owing to its violence the storm lasted but a few hours. 
 Before the sun rose the storm had passed over into the 
 Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 About four o'clocl^, as thp first streaks of dawn wer§ 
 
174 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 tinting the horizon, a calm succeeded to the tumult of the 
 night, and the people began to crowd into the streets 
 from the drinking-bais where they had taken refuge. 
 The militia reapi)eared at their deserted posts. The 
 damages caused by the tempest began to be taken in hand 
 particularly along the river front, where they were 
 considerable, the tide bringing down with it many of the 
 drifted boats that had beeti wrecked and carried up the 
 river. 
 
 But these wrecks could only be seen for a few yards out 
 from the bank, as a dense fog" had accumulated over the 
 river, and was rising towards the higher zones that had 
 been cooled by the tempest. At five o'clock the centre of 
 the stream was still invisible, although but a few moments 
 would elapse before it would be dissipated in the rays of 
 the sun. 
 
 Suddenly, just after five o'clock^ loud reports broke 
 through the mist. There could be no mistake. It was 
 not the long roll of thunder, but the formidable detona- 
 tions of artillery! Something whistled characteristically 
 overhead; a shout of terror rose from the crowd, who 
 rushed towards the wharf. 
 
 The fog began to open; it was pierced by bang after 
 bang. Its wreaths mingled with the smoke from the guns 
 and fell to the river. 
 
 There lay Stevens's gunboats in line before Jackson- 
 ville, which they commanded completely within short 
 range ! 
 
 " The gunboats! The gunboats!'^ 
 
 The words, repeated from mouth to mouth, soon spread 
 to the outskirts. In a few minutes the respectable popu- 
 lation with extreme satisfaction, the disreputable popula- 
 tion with extreme alarm, learnt that Stevens was master 
 of the St. John's. 
 
 What had happened ? Had the Northerners found the 
 storm of unexpected assistance ? Yes. The gunboats 
 had not sought shelter in the lower creeks of the estuary. 
 Notwithstanding the violence of the wind and sea, they 
 had held to their anchors. While the enemy cleared oil 
 with his small craft. Stevens rode out the hurricane at the 
 risk of disaster, so as to attempt the passage, which cir- 
 cumst-ances had made practicable. 
 
A GALE FROM THE KORTH-EAST. 175 
 
 The Storm, by driving back the waters up the estuary, 
 had raised the level of the stream above the normal height 
 and the gunboats being driven at full speed at the bar! 
 had safely got over, although they had scraped the saud 
 with their keels. 
 
 ^ About four o^ock in the morning, Stevens, coming up 
 in the fog, calculated that he was off Jacksonville There 
 he had anchored. And when all was ready he had rent 
 the mists by the discharge of his heavy guns, and hurled 
 r projectiles at the left bank of the St. John^s 
 Ihe effect was instantaneous. In a few minutes the 
 militia had evacuated the town, following the example of 
 the Southern troops at Fernandina and St. Augustine 
 Stevens, seeing the wharves deserted, began at once to 
 Blacken fire, his object being not to destroy Jacksonville, 
 but to occupy it. ' 
 
 Almost immediately a white flag was displayed on the 
 Courts of Justice. 
 
 When the guns were first heard in Mr. Harvey's house 
 great was the anxiety. The town was certainly attacked! 
 Ihe attack could only come from the Federals. Either 
 they had ascended the St. John^s or come from the north 
 of h lorida. Was this the unhoped-for chance of safety— 
 the only one that could save James and Gilbert Burbank? 
 
 Mr.^ Harvey and Alice rushed to the door of the house* 
 iexar s men who were on guard had taken flight and fol- 
 lowed the mihtia. 
 
 Alice and her companion rushed to the riverside The 
 fog was just vanishing and the other bank of the river 
 could be seen. 
 
 The gunboats were silent, for already Jacksonville had 
 abandoned its resistance. 
 
 A number of boats had put off from the flotilla, and 
 were landing on the quay a detachment armed with rifles 
 revolvers, and axes. ' 
 
 Suddenly a shout was heard among the sailors. 
 
 The man who had shouted rushed towards Alice 
 ^ ^^Mars! Mars!" she exclaimed, stupefied to find 'herself 
 m the presence of Zermah's husband, who she thought 
 had been drowned. ^ 
 ^^-Mr. Gilbert! Mr, Gilbert!'' asked Mars, ^' Whm if 
 
176 
 
 texâe's revenge. 
 
 "Prisoner with Mr. Burbank ! Save him, Mars! Save 
 him! and save his father!" 
 
 "To the prison!" shouted Mars, turning and joining 
 his companions. 
 
 And then all set off at a run to prevent a last crime 
 beiiig committed by Texar. 
 
 Mr. Harvey and Alice followed them. 
 
 So that, after jumping into the water. Mars had escaped 
 the eddies on the bar? Yes! And the brave half-breed 
 had prudently refrained from letting his safety be known 
 at Oastle House. To have sought there for shelter would 
 have been to risk his safety, and to accomplish his work 
 he must be free. Having swum to the right bank of the 
 river, he had been able, by creeping through the reeds, to 
 get down opposite the flotilla. There his signals had been 
 noticed, and a boat had been sent to bring him on board 
 Stevens's vessel. Stevens was fully informed of what had 
 occurred, and on account of Gilbert's imminent danger 
 efforts were made to get through the channel. But they 
 were useless, as we know, and the operation was about to 
 be abandoned when, during the night, the storm raised 
 the river level. But without knowledge of the difficult 
 waterway the flotilla might have grounded on the shoals. 
 Fortunately Mars was there. He had skilfully piloted 
 the commandant's gunboat, and the others followed, not- 
 withstanding the storm. And before the fog had risen 
 on the St. J ohn's they were anchored with the town under 
 their guns. 
 
 It was time, for the two men were to be executed at 
 daylight. But already all cause for fear had been re- 
 moved. The magistrates had resumed the authority 
 usurped by Texar. And when Mars and his companions 
 reached the prison, James and Gilbert Burbank were com- 
 ing out, free at last. 
 
 In a moment the young lieutenant had clasped Alice to 
 his breast, while Stannard and James Burbank fell into 
 each other's arms. 
 
 "My mother?" asked Gilbert. 
 
 "She lives! she lives!" answered Alice. 
 
 " Well, let us go to Castle House!" said Gilbert. 
 
 "Not before justice is done!" answered James Burbank. 
 
 Mats understood his master. He rushed towards the 
 iTiniu square, in the hope of finding Texar* 
 
Would not the Spaniard have already taken flight, so as 
 to avoid reprisals? Would he not have withdrawn him- 
 self from public vengeance with all those concerned with 
 him in the late period of excess? Would he not have fol- 
 lowed the militia, who were in full retreat ? 
 
 It would have been thought so. 
 
 But, without waiting for the intervention of the Fed* 
 erals, a number of the inhabitants had run to the Courts 
 of Justice. Texàr was arrested at the moment he was 
 about to escape. He was put under a guard ; and very 
 resigned to his fate did he appear. But when Mars came 
 towards him, he saw that his life was in danger. 
 
 The half-breed threw himself on him. In spite of the 
 efforts of those who guarded him, he seized him by the 
 throat, and would have strangled him there and then, if 
 James Burbank and his son had not appeared. 
 
 "No! no! Living !" shouted James Burbank. ''He 
 must live! he must speak!" 
 
 " Yes, he must !" said Mars. 
 
 A few minutes later Texar was locked up in the very 
 cell where his victims had awaited the hour of execution. 
 
 CHAPTEE y. 
 
 A PRISOI^-ER. 
 
 At last the Federals were masters of Jacksonville, and 
 consequently of the St. John's. The troops brought by 
 Commandant Stevens immediately occupied the chief 
 points of the city. The usurping authorities had fled. 
 Of the old committee only Texar had been captured. 
 
 Whether owing to weariness at the exactions of the last 
 few days, or to indifference on the slavery question, the 
 people did not give at all a bad reception to the officers of 
 the flotilla, who represented the government of Washing- 
 ton. 
 
 Meanwhile, Commodore Dupont at St. Augustine 
 busied himself in closing the Floridan coast against con- 
 
m 
 
 traband of war. The passes of Mosquito inlet were all 
 seized. That at once cut off the trade in arms and muni- 
 tions with the Bahamas. It was evident that henceforth 
 Florida would be subject to the Federal Government. 
 
 The same day as the surrender of Jacksonville, James 
 and Gilbert Burbank and Mr. Stannard and his daughter 
 crossed the St. John's to Oamdless Bay. 
 
 Perry and the assistant-overseers were waiting for them 
 at the little landing-place with a few of the blacks who 
 had returned to the plantation. It can be imagined how 
 they were received, and with what demonstrations they 
 were welcomed. 
 
 Soon James Burbank and his companions were at his 
 wife's bedside. 
 
 It was when she thus again beheld her son that for the 
 first time she learnt what had passed. The young officer 
 clasped her in his arms. Her people would never leave 
 her again. Ahce could give her all her attention. She 
 would soon recover her strength. There was nothing now 
 to fear from Texar's schemings. The Spaniard was in 
 the hands of the Federals, and the Federals were masters 
 of J acksonville. 
 
 But if she had to tremble no more for her husband and 
 son, her whole thought was on her daughter. She wanted 
 Dy; and Mars must find Zermah. 
 
 .c^l^^ ^^^J} them!" exclaimed James Burbank. 
 
 Mars and Gilbert will help in the search." 
 Yes, father, and without losing a day !" 
 
 "As we have got hold of Texar," said Mr. Burbank, 
 " Texar must speak." 
 
 ^^"And if he refuses to speak?" asked Mr. Stannard. 
 
 It he pretends he knows nothing about the disappear- 
 ance of Dy and Zermah ?" 
 
 And how can he? " said Gilbert. " Did not Zermah 
 recognize him at Marine Creek? Did not Alice and 
 niother hear Zermah shout his name as the boat moved 
 off; Can you doubt that he was the author of the out- 
 rage, and was m command there?"' 
 
 Texar!" said Mrs. Bnrkank, risiilg as if she 
 would have thrown herself out of bed. 
 ^ " Yes," said Alice, " I recognized him ! He was stand- 
 ing up m the stern of the boat, which he was steering 
 mto mid-stream. 
 
lid 
 
 "Be it so/' said Mr. Stannard. "It was Texar. 
 There is no doubt ! But if he refuses to say where he has 
 hidden them, where are we to look?^for we have searched 
 in vain along the river for miles." 
 
 To this question, so clearly put, there was no reply. 
 All depended on what the Spaniard said. Was it his in- 
 terest to speak or be silent? 
 
 " Do you know where the scoundrel usually lives ?" 
 asked Gilbert. 
 
 "No one knows; no one has ever known," said James 
 Burbank. " In the south of the country there are so 
 many huge forests and inaccessible marshes where he could 
 hide himself. To explore that country would be in vain. 
 The Federals themselves could not there pursue the re- 
 treating militia. It would be trouble thrown away." 
 
 " I must have my daughter !" exclaimed Mr. Bur- 
 bank. 
 
 " My wife ! I will find my wife !" said Mars ; " and I 
 will force the rascal to tell me where she is." 
 
 '*Yes," said James Burbank, "when the man sees he 
 may save his life by speaking, he will speak. If he were 
 in flight we might despair. With him in Federal hands, 
 we can get his secret out of him. Have confidence, my 
 poor w3e ! We are on the track, and we will give you 
 back your child." 
 
 Mrs. Burbank fainted and fell back on her bed. Alice 
 remained with her, while Mr. Stannard, James Burbank, 
 Gilbert and Mars went down into the hall to talk matters 
 over with Edward Carrol. 
 
 It was agreed to wait till the Federals had organized 
 their capture, and that Commodore Dupont should be in- 
 formed of the facts relative not only to J ackson ville, but 
 to Camdless Bay. Perhaps he would decide to bring 
 Texar at once before a military tribunal. 
 
 Gilbert and Mars would not let the day pass without 
 starting on their search. While James Burbank and 
 Stannard and Carrol were thinking over the first steps, 
 they would be off up the St. John's, in the hope of dis- 
 covering a clue. 
 
 Was it not to be feared that Texar would refuse to 
 speak, and in his hatred prefer to nndergo the last penalty, 
 rather than surrender his victims ? Better to do without 
 
180 
 
 TEiAR'g REVENGE. 
 
 him. Let them discover where it was he lived. But that 
 was a vain search. Thej knew nothing of Black Creek. 
 They thought the lagoon was inaccessible. And they 
 passed along by the thicket on the bank without discover- 
 ing the narrow entrance. 
 
 Inuring the 13th of March there was no change in the 
 situation. At Camdless Bay the reorganization of the 
 estate proceeded slowly. From all parts of the district, 
 from the neigbouring forests, into which they had been 
 forced to disperse, the blacks were returning in great 
 numbers. Although set at liberty by the generous act of 
 James Burbank, they did not think that all obligation 
 to him was at an end. They would be his servants if 
 they could not be his slaves. They longed to get back on 
 the plantation, to rebuild the barracoons destroyed by 
 Texar's roughs, to set up the factories and refit the work- 
 shops, and resume the work which for so many years had 
 been the welfare and happiness of their families. 
 
 The routine of the plantation was first taken in hand. 
 Edward Carrol, almost cured of his wound, resumed his 
 accustomed work. There was plenty of zeal on the part 
 of Perry and the assistant- overseers. Even Pyg bestirred 
 himself, although he did not do much. . The poor creature 
 had rather come down in his ideas. He called him- 
 self free, but he acted like a platonic freedman, much em- 
 barrassed to use the liberty which he had the right to en- 
 joy. When the men had returned to Camdless Bay, and 
 rebuilt the houses that had suffered, the plantation would 
 soon resume its accustomed aspect. Whatever might be 
 the issue of the war, there was every reason to hope that 
 security was assured to the Florida planters. 
 
 ^ Order was re-established at Jacksonville. The Federals 
 did not attempt to interfere with the municipal adminis- 
 tration. They occupied the town for military purposes, 
 and left the civic authority to the magistrates whom the 
 outbreak had for a time suspended. It was enough that 
 the stars and stripes floated over the buildings. If the 
 majority of the inhabitants were not indifferent to the 
 question which divided the States, they at least showed no 
 repugnance at submitting to the victorious party. The 
 unionist cause would meet with no opposition. The doc- 
 trine of " state's right" dear to Georgia and the Oarolinaa 
 
A fftîSOtfËK. Igj 
 Was not hold in Florida with anything like the same 
 theîvl^oZ " ''''' Federals withdiw 
 
 ThJ'o ^T^' "î ^^'^ had been as follows 
 
 I he Confederates, in order to support Beanre-'ard had 
 sent S.Z gunboats, under Commodore Hollins! who had 
 taken up his position on the Mississippi, between New 
 Madrid and Island Ten. A struggle be|an, in wWeh hi 
 
 vn ! 1?, + it'"^ ^^^^^^^'^ The day that Jackson 
 
 Tille fellto Stevens, the Federal artillery opened against 
 Hollins's gunboats The advantage rested with the Sh 
 erners, who took Island Ten and, New Madrid, and thus 
 occupied the course of the Mississippi for a hundred and 
 
 At this time much hesitation showed itself in the plans 
 
 submit hff'.'^T™'"'"*- ^«'^^'•^1 MacClellan had ?o 
 submit his Ideas to a council of war, and although thev 
 were approved by the majority of the council, President 
 Lincoln's yieldingto regrettable influences postponed the r 
 execution. The army of the Potomac was divided so as 
 to assure the safety of Washington. Fortui atelv tbp 
 Victory of the Monitor and the flifht of the Fï"S had 
 
 ÎKf.fJ^'rr^f'''^ Chesapeake; and Xeprecip 
 
 rtate retreat of the Confederates, after the evacuation of 
 
 te thatTo'wn '/^rv *° ^° cantonments 
 
 Ô"f ttVXLc wasttS*'^ '"'''^^^^ 
 Politics have always a disastrous effect on military 
 ffn^'L the„,,take of the North now suffered Severely 
 from a decision come to for political purposes. GeS 
 
 command^-in-chiefof the 
 Federal armies. His command was reduced to that of 
 the army of the Potomac, and the other corps now be 
 
 afr^his-'S.vK^^^^^^^ 
 
 fate Thl verv'^ lîî"'^ i"*y^ '•«^■■«"«d himself to h 
 »i,-\ ^"^jefy "e^t day he formed a plan the obiect of 
 
 îhé'LT*"''^'^ °" *he beach V Fort Zn oe 
 
 The plan was adopted by the chiefs of the corps and ap-' 
 
J §2 tEXAR*S REVEîïGÏÏ. 
 
 proved by the president. The war minister sent orders 
 to New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and vessels 
 of all kinds arrived in the Potomac to take on board 
 General MacCellan's army and its baggage. The threats 
 which so long had made Washington tremble would cease, 
 and Eichmond, the Southern capital, would in its turn 
 be threatened. , , ^ -rn 
 
 Such was the situation of the belligerents when Florida 
 submitted to General Sherman and Commodore I>ilPoijt. 
 At the same time that their squadron completed the 
 blockade of the Eloridan Coast, they had become masters 
 of the St. John's, and assured themselves of the complete 
 possession of the peninsula. , . 
 
 In vain had Gilbert and Mars explored the banks and 
 islands up to Picolata. And all that could be done was 
 to deal with Texar. From the day when the doors of the 
 prison shut on him he had had no communication with 
 his accomplices. And it seemed to follow that Dy and 
 Zermah would be found wherever they might have been 
 before the Federal occupation. 
 
 The state of things at Jacksonville was now such that 
 justice could safely be left to take its course against the 
 Spaniard, if he refused to give information. But before 
 proceeding to extremes it was hoped he would make cer- 
 tain confessions on condition of being set at liberty. 
 
 On the 14th it was decided to try what could be done, 
 the military authorities having previously signified their 
 approval. 
 
 Mrs. Burbank had recovered her strength. The return 
 of her son, the hope of soon seeing her child, the peace 
 which had settled down on the country, and the safety 
 now guaranteed to Camdless Èay had all united in restor- 
 ing to her the energy she had lost. There was no more 
 to fear from the partisans of Texar, who had terrorized 
 over Jacksonville. The militia bad retired into the in- 
 terior of Putnam county. If, later on, the St. Augustine 
 militia, after passing the river farther up, joined hands 
 with them in attempting an expedition against the Fed- 
 erals, the peril would be distant, and need cause no anx- 
 . iety while Dupont and Sherman remained in Florida. 
 It was agreed that James and Gilbert Burbank should go 
 to Jacksonville this very day, and go alone. Carrol, Stan* 
 
A PfiiSÔNBS. 18S 
 
 hard and Mars would remain at the plantation; Alice 
 could not leave Mrs. Burbank. The young officer ^nd his 
 father thought they would be back' before night, and 
 
 i r "'P'"^ t'^'^y would see about 
 
 their deliverance, which would doubtless be accomplished 
 m a few hours, or a day at the outside. 
 
 ficwapart**^ "'^'''^ ^"'"^ '""'^ "f- 
 
 har^ii"?!'," lî'*"*!'^: Soing to see a man who 
 
 has done much evil to your family. He is a scoundrel 
 who would have killed both you a^^nd your father Tèit 
 
 aré ;fth\7xar.?''''"''' *° ""''^ ^^'"P^^ ^l'^» 
 
 "Keep my temper!" exclaimed Gilbert, who grew pale 
 wi h anger at the mere mention of the Spaniard's name. 
 . It IS necessary for you to do so. You will gain noth- 
 ing by being angry. Forget all idea of vengealce to se- 
 cure the safety of your sister, who will soon be mine- 
 li^or that you must sacrifice everything. You must make 
 Texar feej sure that he has nolhi^ig to^fear in the futuiX" 
 "Nothing! Do you forget that owing to him mv 
 mother might have died, my father mifht have be^^ 
 
 ""'g'?*.!""- Gilbert; you whom I never 
 
 not thmk of It any more! I tell you, because I am afraid 
 that your father will not control himself, and if you do 
 not do so you will fail. Why did you decide to <.o to 
 Jacksonville without me? I might have gained by kind! 
 
 this man refuses to answer?" asked Gilbert 
 who felt the justice of Alice's advice. ^"oeit, 
 
 V ''l^"^®-^ ^V"- ^^"""^ the magistrates to com- 
 Ft Kv""- v?' ^-'f, ''^"' ^hen he lees he can save 
 the name of our love, promise me—" 
 don7?f y^'' .Whatever he may have 
 
 " rond Vrf"'w°'? '"y^ter, I will forget it." 
 
 trial whthwl."''- P^^'^*^ a'terrible 
 
 trial, which will soon be at an end. For the sad davs we 
 have been through God will give us years of happS." 
 
fBXAB^S EfiVËÎ^tdfi!. 
 
 Gilbert clasped the hands of his sweetheart, who could 
 not restrain a few tears, and they parted. 
 
 At ten o'clock James Burbank and his son took leave 
 of their friends, and entered a boat at the little landing- 
 
 ^^The river was being speedily crossed when, at an ob- 
 servation of Gilbert's, the boat, instead of running 
 straight to Jacksonville, was steered for Captain Stevens s 
 
 gunboat. <. i - ti. 
 
 Stevens was in military charge of the town. It was 
 therefore best that James Bnrbank's undertaking should 
 be first of all submitted to him for approval. His com- 
 munications with the authorities were frequent. He 
 knew what Texar had done when in power, what was his 
 share of the responsibility in the events that had laid the 
 plantation waste, and why and how he had been arrested 
 when the militia had begun to retreat. He knew of the 
 reaction which had taken place against Texar, and how 
 the whole respectable population of Jacksonville were 
 asking that he should be punished for his crimes. 
 
 Stevens gave a willing reception to the Burbanks. For 
 the young officer he had particular esteem, having been 
 able to appreciate his character and courage while Gilbert 
 was under his orders. After the return of Mars to the 
 flotilla, when h« learnt that Gilbert had fallen into the 
 hands of the enemy, he did his utmost to save him. But 
 stopped before the bar of the St. John's, how could he 
 reach him in time? We know under what circumstances 
 the safety of the prisoners had been obtained. 
 
 In a few words Gilbert told him what had passed, con- 
 firming what had already been reported by Mars. There 
 could be no doubt that Texar was personally responsible 
 for the outrage at Marine Creek, and that he alone could 
 say where Dy and Zermah were now detained by his ac- 
 complices. That their fate was in the Spaniard's hands 
 was only too evident, and Stevens saw this at once. Would 
 he allow the Burbanks to take the matter in hand and act 
 as they thought fit? He approved of all that had^ been 
 done; and if it was necessary to set Texar free, he would 
 do so, and take the responsibility with the Jacksonville 
 magistrates. 
 
 James and Gilbert Burbank, having obtained full per- 
 
mission, thanked the captain, and reeeived fr©m Mm a 
 written permission to communicate with the Spaniard 
 Ihey then resumed their voyage to Jacksonville. 
 
 Ihere they met Mr. Harvey, by appointment. The 
 three then went to the court, where they received from 
 the magistrates an order to enter the prison 
 
 A psychologist would have been much interested in 
 lexar s bearing and conduct since his incarceration. There 
 could be no doubt that he was very angry at the arrival of 
 the Federal troops, which put an end to his beinff first 
 magistrate of the town. Although he had held the power 
 to do what he liked, and had every facility for ffiatifyinff 
 his personal hatred yet a delay of a few hours had pre- 
 vented him from shooting James and Gilbert Burbank^ 
 But his regret went no further. That he was in the 
 hands of his enemies, imprisoned on the most serious 
 charges, responsible for all the violent deeds that could be 
 so justly laid to his charge, seemed to be a matter of per- 
 fect mdifference to him. His only trouble was that he 
 had not brought to completion his plans against the 
 Burbanks. He seemed to take no interest whatever 
 m the proceedings against him. Would he now render 
 h^m? ^^^^^^^^ ^^out to be made to get a word from 
 
 The door of the cell opened. James and Gilbert Bur- 
 bank were in the prisoner's presence. 
 
 "Ah ! the father and the son,'' said Texar in the inso- 
 lent tone that was habitual to him. I ou^ht to be much 
 obliged to the Federals ! Without them I sLuld not have 
 had the honour of this visit. The mercy you no longer a^k 
 for yourselves you have doubtless come to offer me " 
 
 liie tone was so provoking that James Burbank would 
 have exploded had not his son restrained him 
 
 Father let me speak. Texar would like to meet us on 
 ground where we cannot follow him-that of recrimination. 
 It IS useless to talk about the past. It is with the present 
 we are concerned— the present alone." 
 
 "€^he present!'' exclaimed Texar; ''or rather the 
 present situation Î It seems to me that is clear enough ? 
 Ihree days ago yon were in this cell, which you would 
 never have left but to meet your death. To-day I am i^ 
 S^''^""^' '^''''^ '^''''^ comfortable than you 
 
186 
 
 texab's revenge. 
 
 The reply was disconcerting, for the Burbanks had oome 
 to offer him his freedom in exchange for his secret. 
 
 **Texar," said Gilbert, "hsten to me. We will act 
 frankly with you. What you have done at Jacksonville is 
 no qoncern of ours. What you have done at Camdless 
 Bay we are willing to forget. We are interested in only 
 one thing. My sister and Zermah disappeared the night 
 your partisans invaded the plantation and laid siege to 
 Castle House. It is certain that both were carried off — 
 
 Carried off V answered Texar, mechanically. " I am 
 delighted to hear if 
 
 "To hear it!" exclaimed James Burbank. "Do you 
 deny, you scoundrel, dare you deny — " 
 
 "Father," said the lieutenant, "keep cool — ^you must. 
 Yes, Texar, they were carried off during the attack on the 
 plantation. Do you admit that you did it ?" 
 
 "I have nothing to answer." 
 
 "Do you refuse to tell us where my sister and Zermah 
 have been taken under your orders ?" 
 " I repeat, I have nothing to answer." 
 "Not even if by speaking we could set you free?" 
 "I do not want to be free." 
 
 " And who will open the gates of this prison for you ?" 
 exclaimed James Burbank, whom so much impudence had 
 completely astounded. 
 
 " The judges I ask for." 
 
 " The judges ! They will condemn you without mercy." 
 " Then I shall see what is to be done." 
 " So you definitely refuse to reply?" asked Gilbert, for 
 the last time. 
 "I refuse." 
 
 " Even at the price of the liberty I offer ?" 
 ^ " I do not want your liberty." 
 ' " Even at the price of the fortune I offer you ?" 
 
 " I do not want your fortune. And now, gentlemen, 
 leave me alone." 
 
 It must be admitted that the Burbanks were completely 
 bewildered at such assurance. On what could it rest? 
 How dare Texar expose himself to a trial which could only 
 have one result? Neither liberty nor all the gold they 
 had offered could tempt him to answer. Was his inex- 
 tinguishable hatred forcing him to act against his owu 
 interests ?^ 
 
A PEISONEE. jg^ 
 
 "Come, father, come !" said the youn^ officer • anrl Tip 
 led James Burbank out of the prison. At tte door they 
 rejomed Mr. Harvey, and the three went off trCaptein 
 ^^T""' \ ''^I'^^* ^^^t «f success. ^ 
 
 Meanwhile a proclamation from Commodore Dnnont 
 had arrived on board the flotilla. It was addressed f?fh« 
 
 De talten ot pohtical opmions, nor of what had happened 
 m Florida since the outbreak of the civil war. SubEon 
 to t^he flag covered all responsibihties in a public pdnt of 
 
 an^^^jf ^""^^^ ^xî' a very wise one in itself and in 
 
 accordance with President Lincoln^s policy in all similar 
 
 lexar s case. He had usurped the powers of the regular 
 au horit.es and used them ^to organL resistance. Tet 
 so. ihat was a question between Southerners arid 
 
 concerned But attempts on persons, the invasion of 
 Camdless Bay directed against a Northerner, the destrac 
 tiou of James Burbank's property, the capture of his 
 daughter and a woman in his service, were crimes aSinst 
 ordinary law, and for them redress could be had T the 
 regular course of justice. 
 
 fo/ Vexlr"?o™Zef 'Yl'^^ ^''''}^ ™ "^"^^^ ^^^^^ 
 lor iexar to appear before the mil tary tribunal on the 
 
 double charge of pillage and abduction: It was before 
 
 would ha;no*an,w*'°/ the acouid 
 
 wouia nave to answer for his crimes. 
 
188 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ST. AUGUSTIKE. 
 
 St. Augustine is one of the oldest towns m North 
 Ajnerica and dates from the fifteenth century. It is the 
 of St. John^s county, which, large as it is, contains 
 
 it It ris"^-^^^ the ei^ of one of the islands on the 
 
 coast. Its harbour is a safe ijfuge for ship of war 
 commerce; it is well protected against the winds which 
 unœSy sweep in from the sea along the dangerous 
 Zre But to enter it vessels have to cross the bar which 
 the eddies of the Gulf Stream heap back at its mof h^^ 
 
 The streets of St. Augustme are narrow, like those of all 
 cities beneath the direct rays of the sun. .Owing to th^^^^ 
 position, and to the sea-breezes which night and morning 
 freshen the atmosphere, the climate is a mild one, and the 
 town is to the United States what Nice and Mentone are 
 
 ^'^TCpopulation is thickest about the ^larbour and th^^^ ' 
 neighbouring streets. The suburbs, with their few huts 
 covlred with palm-leaves, would be completely deserted 
 were it not for the dogs, pigs, and cows allowed to wander 
 
 The^cfty,^?^^^^^^ so called, has a very Spanish look. 
 The houses have strongly-barred windows, and m the 
 interior they have the traditional patio, or central court, 
 surrounded by slender colonnades, fantastic gables, and 
 carved balconies. Sometimes, on Sundays or hohday^ the 
 houses pour forth their inhabitants into the town, iiien 
 there is the strangest mixture of se^ioras, négresses, mu- 
 lattoes, half-breeds, Indians, thoroughbred blacks, English 
 ladies, gentlemen, clergymen, monks, and Cathohc priests, 
 all with a cigarette in their lips, even when they are going 
 to the Calvary, which is the parish church of St, Augustine, 
 
ST. AUGUSTIKE. Igg 
 
 •whose bells have rung their peal almost without interruu- 
 tion since the middle of the seventeenth century ""'^""P 
 We must not forget the markets, richly stored with 
 vegetables fish, poultry, pigs, lambs-siau|htered arre- 
 quired by the buyers-egg., rice, boiled bananas, friioTes- 
 a sort of smal cooked bean-in short, all the troScal 
 fruits, pineapples, dates, olives, pomegknate», omneS 
 
 fo Se^fft''^''' \i' "'T^''^^-''" the best'coTdS 
 to make life agreeable and easy in this part of Florida 
 
 Ibe highways are not cleansed by paid scavens-ers but 
 
 bLrv,r^/""r'' law^otectrand foS 
 
 being killed under very strong penalties. The birds eat 
 
 nlS^^' ir^'^^'^Wchtre'^in considerable nur^bers 
 notwithstanding the voracity of the feathered scavengers 
 
 town m»lT '""'^"S "^'"^ of the 
 
 town. Where the roads cross, a glance will show manv a 
 group of trees with its branches above the roofs of the 
 houses and alive with its noisy crowd of wild parrots 
 Often there are huge palms waving their foliage inCair 
 Ike huge fans or Indian punkaht. Here Jd there are 
 large oaks garlanded with lianas and glycenas and 
 bouquets of gigantic cactuses, which at theif base form an 
 impenetrable hedge. Everything is cheering and at 
 
 tW w!; ^""'"^ ^« if the vulture! oni; did 
 
 their work more conscientiously. Decidedly they are not 
 as good as mechanical sweepers. ^ 
 
 At St. Augustine there are but one or two steam saw 
 mills, acgar factory, and a turpentine dirtiUery S 
 \Zlf commercial than industrial, and exports o? 
 fiZ Ind'^rit''''\t'''''."^' '"l"""' i"<3.go, gums, timber' 
 eno^^h wfth\. the harbour is busy 
 
 în thf tr!i\ ^ 'l'^P^rture of steamers employed 
 
 m the trade and passenger service to the different porti of 
 the ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. e lu poi is oi 
 
 . St. Augustine is the seat of one of the six courts of 
 justice existing in Florida. Its only means of defence are 
 a solitary fort-Fort Marion, or St. Mark-built "n the 
 Oastihan style m the seventeenth century. Vauban or 
 buT?M=''r? T?''^ "^^htless have made ^ery littk o? it 
 but It IS admired by archaeologists and antiquaries for its 
 
 Z'luZVf T'^ "^«^""«^ ml^hi elation 
 and Its old guns and mortars, whieh weuld be moie 
 
190 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 dangerous for those that fire them than those they are 
 fired against. . 
 
 It was this fort which the Confederate garrison had hur- 
 riedly abandoned at the approach of the Federal flotilla, 
 although the Government, a few years before the war, 
 ha^ improved its means of defence. After the militia 
 had left, the inhabitants of St. Augustine had voluntarily 
 submitted to Commodore Dupont, who occupied the 
 town without a blow. 
 
 The proceedings against the S])aniard, Texar, had 
 made much noise in the county. It seemed as though 
 there was at last to be an end to the strife between this 
 suspicious individual and the Burbank family. The ab- 
 duction of the little girl and Zermah was calculated to in- 
 tensify the public opinion, which had pronounced em- 
 phatically in favour of the planter of Camdless Bay. 
 Tliere could be no doubt that Texar was the author of the 
 crime. But it would be curious to see how he would get 
 out of the charge, and whether he would get off, as he 
 had always done before. 
 
 Excitement threatened to be great at St. Augustine. 
 The proprietors of the neighbouring plantations crowded 
 in. The matter was of great interest to them personally, 
 as one of the charges referred to the overrunning and 
 pillage of Camdless Bay. Other plantations had also 
 been ravaged by the Southerners, and it was important 
 to know how the Federal Government would look upon 
 such crimes against the common welfare, though perpe- 
 trated under cover of politics. 
 
 The chief hotel in St. Augustine, the City, had accom- 
 modated a goodly number of visitors whose sympathy was 
 entirely with the Burbank family, and it could accommo- 
 date a great many more. And, for a hotel, there could 
 be no more appropriate building than this huge sixteenth- 
 century house, the old home of the corregidor, with its 
 puerta, or principal door, covered with carvings, its sola 
 or room of honour, its interior court with the columns 
 garlanded with passion-flowers, its verandah, on to which 
 opened the most comfortable rooms with their wainscot- 
 ing hidden under the brightest colours of emerald and 
 golden yellow, its miradors on the walls in Spanish fash- 
 ion, its leaping fountains and, smiling grass plats, all in a 
 vast enclosure, the high-walled patio. 
 
ST. AUGUSTINE. Jgj 
 
 There it was that James and Gilbert Burbank, and Mr. 
 Stannard and his dangliter, accompanied by Mars, had 
 taken up tlieir abode the evening before 
 
 vilt uilT "'^ P"-''^"" Jackson- 
 
 Hn,î;; w, and h,s son had returned to Castle 
 
 House. When they leai'nt tliat Texar refused to answer 
 any questions about Dy or Zermah, the family felt tTei r 
 last hope vanish, although the news that Texar won , 
 
 ■ IZ'n "''"''"■^ j"^''''^ his doings at Oamd 
 
 Bay was some consolation. In view of a sentence 
 which he could not escape, the Spaniard would doubtle4 
 
 In this matter Alice Siannard would be the princinal 
 witness. She had been at Marine Creek when^Zermal 
 had shouted Texar's name, and she had recognized the 
 scoundrel in the boat which bore him away. ^ She had 
 corne to St. Augustine, and her father and his friends 
 had accompanied her. After dinner, on- the 16tl they 
 had bidden farewell to Mrs. Burbank and Edward Carrot 
 One of the steamboats liad embarked them at Camd]^ 
 landed tliem at Picolata, and thence a" a^ 
 
 the oaks, and cypresses, and plantains, whilh here abound 
 Before midnight con.fortable hospitality had received 
 them in the apartments of the City Hotel ™<=ei^ea 
 
 be imagined "''h'^''" abandoned by his friends, as might 
 be imagined H.s partisans were chiefly among the 
 smaller planters, all of them embittered slavehofdei s 
 Knowing that they would not have to answe for a i v oi 
 the troubles at Jacksonville, his companions resolved to 
 rally round their old chief. Many of them had coi^e to 
 
 tl e C fv Hotpl patio of 
 
 tlie City Hotel that one would look for them; but there 
 
 were many of them in the inns in the town, in the tieS 
 
 where the half-bred Spaniards and Creeks ell evernhing 
 
 tnat can be eaten, drunk, or smoked. There these indi 
 
 viduals of low origin and equivocal reputation lost no op 
 
 portunity of protesting in Texar's favSun ^ 
 
 Commodore Dupont was not now at St. Augustine He 
 
 was away on the blockade. But the troops fanded after 
 
 the surrender of Fort Marion were in fir£ possession S 
 
192 
 
 texar's eevenge. 
 
 the city. There was no movement to be feared on the 
 •part of the Southerners or of the militia, who were re- 
 treating on the other side of the river. If the partisans 
 of Texar attempted any rescue, they would be immediately 
 put down. . 
 
 One of the gunboats had brought the Spaniard to 
 Picolata, and thence he had been brought under a strong 
 escort, and placed in one of the cells in the fort, from 
 which escape was impossible. As he had demanded a 
 trial, he was not likely to attempt an escape. His par- 
 tisans were aware of this. If he were condemned this 
 time, they would see what they could do to help him, but 
 till then they would be quiet. 
 
 In the absence of the Commodore, Colonel Gardner was 
 in military command. He was the president of the court- 
 martial, appointed to try Texar in one of the rooms of 
 Fort Marion. This was the colonel who had assisted at 
 the capture of Fernandina, and it was at his orders that 
 the prisoners captured from the train by the Ottawa had 
 been detained for forty-eight hours, a fact which it is here 
 important to notice. 
 
 The court-martial opened at eleven o'clock in the 
 morning. A numerous public filled the room. Amongst 
 the noisiest of the crowd were the friends and partisans of 
 the accused. 
 
 James and Gilbert Burbank, Mr. Stannard, his 
 daughter, and Mars occupied the place reserved for the 
 witnesses. There seemed to be no defence. No witnesses 
 were apparently to be called. Did the Spaniard scorn all 
 evidence,' or had he found it impossible to bring any to 
 his help? It would soon be known. Anyhow, there 
 seemed to be no doubt as to the issue of the affair. 
 
 An indefinable presentiment had seized upon Jame» 
 Burbank. Was it not in this very town that he had b<^- 
 fore prosecuted Texar? Had not he then, by an incow- 
 testable alibi, escaped from justice? 
 
 As soon as the court-martial was seated Texar wa».' 
 brought in. He sat down coolly and quietly. Nothinj; 
 seemed to be able to disturb his natural impudence. A. 
 smile of disdain for his judges, a look full of assurance 
 for the friends he recognized in the room, a look ol 
 hatred for James Burbank, and then he settled himself 
 and waited for Colonel Gardner to begin. 
 
ST. AtTOtTSTINE. 
 
 m 
 
 The interrogatories began in the usual way. 
 
 Your name?'' asked Colonel Gardner. 
 '^Texar." 
 ''Your age?" 
 "Thirty-five." 
 " Where do you live?" 
 ''At Jacksonville; at Torino's tienda.'' 
 " I want to know your usual abode." 
 " I have none." 
 
 James Burbank felt his heart beat as he heard this 
 reply, given in a tone which plainly denoted a firm re- 
 solve to keep secret the teal place of residence. 
 
 The president again tried to get at the facts, but Texar 
 persisted that he had no fixed abode. He gave himself 
 out to be a nomad, a backwoodsman, a hunter in the vast 
 forests, a dweller in the cypress-groves, living by his rifle 
 and his decoys. That was all that could be got from 
 him. 
 
 " Be it so," said Colonel Gardner. "It, does not mat- 
 ter much." 
 
 "It does not matter much," said Texar impudently. 
 " Put down, if you like, Colonel, that my domicile is 
 now Fort Marion, in St. Augustine, where I am detained 
 contrary to all justice. Of what am I accused, if you 
 please?" he asked, as if he wished to take the manage- 
 ment of his own trial. 
 
 " You are not called upon to answer for anything that 
 took place at Jacksonville. A proclamation from Com- 
 modore Dupont has been issued announcing that the Gov- 
 ernment will not interfere in the local revolution which 
 substituted for the regular authorities of the county 
 certain new magistrates, whoever they may have been. 
 Florida is now under the Federal flag, and the Governmenr 
 of Washington will soon proceed with its reorganization." 
 
 " If I am not charged with the change in the munici- 
 pality of Jacksonville, and that with the support of the 
 majarity of the people, why am I brought before thi« 
 court-martial?" 
 
 '^ I will tell you what you pretend not to know. Crimes 
 against the common welfare have been committed while 
 you were exercising the functions of chief magistrate of 
 the town. You are accused of having excited the violent 
 part of the population to commit them." 
 
1Ô4 
 
 ÏEXAE^S REVÉNGÊÎ. 
 
 " What are these crimes?" 
 In the first place, there is the outrage at Camdless 
 Bay plantation, where a horde of thieves was set loose." 
 
 "And a detachment of soldiers, commanded by an 
 ofiS'cer of the militia," added the Spaniard quickly. 
 
 "Be it so. Biit there was robbery, incendiarism; and 
 armed attack against a house, which it was right to repel 
 — as was done." 
 
 "Right?" answered Texar. "Eight was not on the 
 side of him who refused to obey the orders of a properly 
 constituted Committee. James Burbank — for he it was 
 — had given his slaves their freedom in defiance of pub- 
 lic opinion, which, in Florida, as in most of the southern 
 states of the Union, is in favour of slavery. That act 
 might have been the cause of much disaster on the neigh- 
 bouring plantations by exciting the blacks to revolt. The 
 Committee of Jacksonville decided that under the circum- 
 stances it was their duty to interfere. They did not 
 annul the act of enfranchisement, but they thought fit to 
 expel the newly freed slaves from the district. James 
 Burbank refused to obey the order, and the Committee 
 had to use force. That is why the militia, accompanied 
 by some of the inhabitants, proceeded to disperse, the 
 former slaves at Camdless Bay. 
 
 " Texar," replied Colonel Gardner, "the court-martial 
 cannot admit that the view you take of the outrage is the 
 correct one. James Burbank is a Northerner by birth, 
 and was quite within his rights in freeing his slaves. 
 Nothing can excuse the excess which took place on his 
 plantation." | 
 
 " I consider that I am losing time in discussing matters 
 of opinion with the court-martial. The Committee of 
 Jacksonville considered it their duty to act as they did. 
 Am I accused as president of that Committee? Is it your 
 intention to make me alone responsible for its acts?" 
 
 " Yes. You were not only the president of the Com- 
 mittee, but you in person led the thieves." 
 
 "Prove it," said Texar coolly. "Have you a single 
 witness who saw me among either the citizens or the 
 soldiers of the militia who carried out the Committee's 
 orders?" 
 
 At this reply Colonel Gardner called on James Burbank 
 to give his evidence. 
 
§t. ÀlTGUSTlNÎÉ. 
 
 105 
 
 James Burbank related what had happened since Texar 
 and his partisans had superseded the regular authorities 
 of Jacksonville. He laid stress on the attitude of the 
 accused in inciting the people to attack his estate. But 
 to Colonel Gardner's question as to the presence of Texar 
 among the assailants, he could only reply that he had not 
 himself seen him. We know in fact that when John 
 Bruce, Mr. Harvey's messenger, had been asked if the 
 Spaniard was one of the mob, the reply was he could not 
 say. 
 
 " In any case no one can doubt,'' added James Bur- 
 bank, **that this man is solely responsible for the crime. 
 Hé it was who incited the people to attack me, and had 
 he had his way my house would have been given to the 
 flames, and destroyed with its last defenders. His hand 
 was in all this, as it will be found to have been in a still 
 more criminal act." 
 
 The witness offered no further evidence. Before deal- 
 ing with the abduction it was best to finish with the first 
 charge. 
 
 "And so," continued Colonel Gardner, ''you say that 
 you only had a share in the responsibility which lay on 
 the Committee in executing their order?" 
 
 "That is so." 
 
 " And you adhere to your statement that you were not 
 at the head of those who attacked the plantation?" 
 
 " I do. You have not a single witness who can swear 
 he saw me. No; I was not among the brave citizens who 
 executed the Committee's orders. And I may add that 
 on that day I was absent from Jacksonville." 
 
 "Yes; that is possible after all," said James Burbank, 
 who considered that it would be better to rely on the 
 second charge. 
 
 "It is true," said Texar. 
 
 " But if you were not amongst the thieves at Camdless 
 Bay," continued James Burbank, "you were at Marine 
 Creek, waiting for the opportunity of committing another 
 crime." 
 
 "I was not at Marine Creek," coolly answered Texar. 
 " I was at Jacksonville during that day." 
 
 It will not have beon forgotten that John Bruce had 
 told James Burbank that Texar had not been seen at 
 
196 
 
 Jacksonville during the forty-eight hours from the 2nd 
 to the 4th of March. 
 
 After this statement of the Spaniard's the president oi 
 the court-martial put to him the following questions:— 
 
 ",U you were not at Jacksonville, where were you?" 
 
 "I will tell you when the times comes," said Texar. 
 " It IS enough for me now to have proved that I was not 
 on the plantation during the attack. And now, colonel, 
 what is the next charge?" 
 
 And, with his arms crossed, he glared impudently at 
 his accusers, and defied them to their face. 
 
 The charge was not long in coming, and Colonel Gard- 
 ner put it m a way that made it difficult to meet. 
 
 you were not at Jacksonville, the charge is that 
 you were at Marine Creek." 
 
 " At Marine Creek? And what did I do there?" 
 
 "You carried away a child. Diana Burbank, the 
 daughter of James Burbank, and Zermah, the wife of -a 
 
 ^1 ; ^^^^^ ^^1'^ present, who was with the 
 
 child." 
 
 " Ah ! I am charged with this carrying away!" said 
 iexar, m a tone of profound irony. 
 
 "Yes, you!" exclaimed James Burbank, Gilbert, and 
 Mars, all at once. 
 
 r ^ accused, if you please, and not some- 
 
 body else?" 
 
 prime "^^^^^ alone were interested in committing this 
 "How interested?" 
 
 "As an act of revenge on the Burbank family. More 
 tiiaji once before James Burbank had prosecuted you. 
 ±}y pleading an ahbi you escaped from justice; but you 
 on many occasions proclaimed an intention of being re- 
 venged on those who accused you." 
 
 T ''^^'K^'^'l' ^f'^ "^^^^^^ ''Tha<^ between me and 
 James Burbank there is an implacable hatred I do not 
 aeny; that I had an interest in making him break his 
 heart over his child I do not deny; but that I did what 
 Jaw m J?" ^^""^^ ^"^^ witnesses who 
 
 ^iaJ'^^'A/^l^ Colonel Gardner; and he called on Alice 
 otannara to be sworn. 
 
Miss Stannard related what had passed at Marine 
 Creek, bhe was absolutely certain as to the facts. In 
 coming from the tunnel she and Mrs. Burbank had heard 
 the name shouted by Zermah, and that name was Texar's. 
 
 Atter stumbhng over the corpses of the murdered 
 negroes, she had run along the river bank. Two boats 
 were pushing off In one were the victims; in the other 
 iTahf nffi!' ^P/^ght m the stern. And by the 
 
 nfzedfhflp'^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ -og. 
 
 "You swear that?" asked Colonel Gardner. 
 I swear it," answered Alice, 
 nf T^ïli""" P™fse declaration there could be no donbt 
 of Texar's guilt. But James Burbank and the entire 
 audience could not help observing that the accused had 
 not for a moment lost his coolness 
 
 JJJ^^nLfZ^ ^ charge?" asked the 
 
 president of the court-martial. 
 
 Mil7sl«Cn?J^ *V ^P^'."'»'^- J'l âo not wish to accuse 
 Miss btannard of perjury. Nor do I accuse her of 
 serving the hatred of tfie iurbank family ^gSt me, by 
 if^T^Î on oath that lam the authorof a crime of wl ict 
 i Z fd'''''^ t'" "^t"' A" I i« that she 
 
 boaTs." '"y' ™ of tJie 
 
 said^rnlnLf'r «i^taken on that point," 
 
 said Colonel Gardner, "she cannot be mistaken when 
 
 Texarf- '''' ^'"""^ ^'^"'^ "'y' '^elp! It Ts 
 
 wa','i!!tYi fl*^ ^PT'"'^' "then if Miss Stannard 
 « w M'-'taken, Zermah was, that is all." 
 
 not therer ''^ , "^""^ 7°" ^ere 
 
 at mZ^G^Ii.''' ' ''''''' «'^'î I 
 
 That you must prove." 
 " That is easy enough." 
 "Another alibi?" asked Colonel Gardner. 
 "Another!" said Texar. 
 
 «n^iJ?i' ^^^""^ a movement of voices amongst the 
 the ace'^^^^^^^ of doubt that was not in favour of 
 
198 TÈXAB^S REViENGi. 
 
 Texar," said the colonel, if you plead another alibi, 
 can you prove it?" 
 
 " Easily, for I have only to ask you a question. 
 
 "What is that?" , ^ -, x 
 
 " Were you not in command of the troops landed to 
 capture Fernandina and Fort Clinch?" 
 
 i( Yes." 
 
 " You remember the train for Cedar Keys that was 
 attacked by the Ottawa on the bridge between Amelia 
 Island and the mainland?" 
 
 "Yes." _/ 
 
 " Well, the rear carriage was knocked off and stopped 
 on the bridge, and a detachment of Federal troops cap- 
 tured the fugitives, and the prisoners had their names 
 taken, and did not receive their liberty for forty-eight 
 hours afterwards/' 
 
 " I know that." 
 
 " Well, I was one of those prisoners." 
 
 "You?" 
 
 "Yes, I!" 
 
 A fresh murmur still more unfavourable to the accused 
 
 greeted this declaration. 
 
 " Then," continued Texar, "as these prisoners were m 
 your custody from the 2nd to the 4th of March, and the 
 attack on this plantation took place on the night of the 
 ' 3rd of March, it is simply impossible that I could have 
 been , at Marine Créek. Alice Stannard co\ild not have 
 heard Zeruiah shout my name. She could not have seen 
 me in the boat, for I was then a Federal prisoner." 
 
 " That is false!" exclaimed James Burbank. " It can-^ 
 not be!" 
 
 " I swear I saw that man," said Alice, and I recog- 
 nized him there as I do now." 
 
 " Look at the papers!" said Texar. 
 
 Colonel Gardner searched among the papers that had 
 been sent to Commodore Dupont after the capture of 
 Fernandina, and in the list of prisoners there appeared 
 the name of Texar, with his description. 
 
 There could be iio room for further doubt. The 
 Spaniard was innocent of the abduction. Miss Stannard 
 must have been mistaken. He could not have been at 
 Marine Creek. His absence from Jacksonville for forty- 
 
lÀëT WOËDS Àîfr> A LAST SiGH. 
 
 19Ô 
 
 eight hours was fully accounted for; he was then a 
 prisoner on one of the gunboats. And, again, an indis- 
 putable alibi, proved by official evidence, had come to 
 clear hirii of the charge. 
 
 James Burbank, Gilbert, Mars, and Miss Stannard 
 were overwhelmed at the result. Texar had again 
 escaped them, and with them all chance had gone of 
 ascertaining what bad become of Dy and Zermah. 
 
 The decision of the court-martial could not be in doubt 
 for an instant. Texar was discharged, and walked 
 out of the room amid the enthusiastic cheers of his 
 friends. 
 
 Before night he had left St. Augustine, and no one 
 knew to what part of Florida he had gone to resume his 
 mysterious life of adventure. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 LAST WORDS AîfD A LAST SIGH: 
 
 The same day, the 17th of March, James and Gilbert 
 Burbank, Mr. Stannard and his daughter, and Zermah's 
 husband returned to Camdless bay. 
 
 They could not hide the truth from Mrs. Burbank. 
 The unfortunate mother received a fresh blow which, in, 
 the weak state she was, might prove fatal. i 
 
 The last attempt to discover the Jute of her child had 
 failed. Texar had refused to answer. And how could he 
 be obliged to do so when he asserted that he was not the 
 author of the abduction ? By an alibi more unintelligible 
 than those that had preceded it, he h«d proved that he 
 was not at Marine Creek when the crime took place. 
 Had he been found guilty, they could have given him his 
 choice between suffering the consequences or revealing the 
 whereabouts of his victims. 
 
 ^ 'J But if it. was not Texar," asked Gilbert, "who was 
 it?" 
 
 "It must have been some of his people," said Mr. 
 Stannard. 
 
2ÔÔ texae's RËVËIÎGÎÎ. 
 
 '^That is the only explanation," said Edward Carrol. 
 
 " No, father, no, Mr. Carrol!" said Alice. " Texar was 
 in the boat. I saw him. 1 recognized him when Zermah 
 shouted his name! I saw him! I saw him!" 
 
 What could be the answer to this? Alice adhered to 
 her statement that it was impossible for her to have been 
 mistaken. And if she was not mistaken, how could the 
 Spaniard have been at Fernandina, in one of Dupont's 
 gunboats, at the time? 
 
 It was inexplicable. But if the others had any doubt, 
 Mars had none. He made no effort to comprehend the 
 incomprehensible. All he did was to make up his mind 
 to follow after Texar and to wring from him the secret, 
 even if it became necessary to tortui'e him. 
 
 "You are right, Mars," said Gilbert. " But we may 
 have to do without the .scoundrel if we do not know what 
 has become of him. We must start in our search again ! 
 I have orders to remain on leave as long as is needful, and 
 to-morrow — " 
 
 **Yes, Mr. Gilbert, to-morrow!" 
 
 And the half-breed went to his room, where he could 
 give free vent to his sorrow and his anger. 
 
 In the morning Gilbert and Mars completed their prep- 
 arations for departure. They were going to devote the 
 day to a careful search among the minor creeks and small 
 islets on both banks of the St. John's above Camdless 
 Bay. 
 
 During their absence James Burbank and Edward Car- 
 rol would prepare for a more extended campaign. Pro- 
 visions, ammunition, means of transport, men — nothing 
 would be neglected. If they had to go to the wild regions 
 of Lower Florida, to the southern marshes, and through 
 the Everglades, they would go. That Texar had left 
 Florida was impossible. To the north he would have 
 found the Federal troops on the Georgian frontier. By 
 sea he would have to make for the Bahamas, and Com- 
 modore Dupont's flotilla had closed all the passes. He 
 must be in Florida, hidden where his victims had boeu 
 hidden for a fortnight, and the expedition would seek for 
 his traces over the whole territory. 
 
 There was peace at Jacksonville. The old magistrates 
 had resumed their position in the municipality. There 
 
LAST WOEDS AND A LAST SIGH. 201 
 
 were no more citizens in prison for their opinions. Tex- 
 ar's partisans had all fleC 
 
 The war continned in the central states much to the 
 advantage of the Federals. On the 18th and 19th the 
 fiist division of the army of the Potomac landed at Fort! 
 ress Monroe. On the 22nd the second division prepared 
 to leave Alexandria for the same destination. In spite of 
 the military genius of the old professor of chemistry 
 f^T'^^u'^^''"''.'}' Southerners were beaten at KernI: 
 wWh „i """^ was thus no rising to be feared in Florida, 
 which always remained somewhat indifferent to the heate. 
 passions of North and South. 
 
 th gradually came back: After 
 
 the capture of Jacksonville, the orders of Texar and his 
 Committee relative to the expulsion of the freed men 
 
 of the blacks had returned, and were bu..y rebuilding the 
 barracoons, while many were at work clearing the rufns of 
 
 ct^r P ''"^ "^TT^^'- ■ '3"-^<'ti«° of Edward 
 
 oariol, Ferry and the assistant overseers were very busy 
 
 fn^i;;. ''^"'^ '^''s ''«^oted to the search 
 
 îeredtn'iheir ^X""""' ^"«^ - 
 
 Whei-e was the expedition to so? There was mnoh 
 =^ï;|:^^'iT,„e --^Vd^r sta-n^ 
 
 plantation accompanied them. It was necessSy to act as 
 secretly as possib e, so as not to awake the suspicion of 
 the spies who might be watching Oastle House.^ 
 
 Uilbert and Mars were coasting along the left bank 
 by the^w/h "f-T' '""^ floatingilands detaS' 
 
 dfseoyery^ ' " '■"^ "° «f 
 
 m^fh*%*t''t-1"^S!°l.*^''"'^''"" t"^" "^«r " almost a 
 maish. At high water the stream overflows the low banks 
 
 the St'jo"hn'^"/t-*''^ that theebb is enough to reduce 
 tiie &t. Johns to its norma level. The rilht hsiik- ic 
 higher; the fields of maize are above the level of the perl! 
 
202 
 
 texae's be venge. 
 
 odical floods, which prevent any tillage being attempted. 
 It might even be called a ridge, along which rise tlie few 
 houses of Mandarin; and the ridge ends in a cape project- 
 ing into the stream. 
 
 Below numerous islands occupy the bend of the river, 
 and, reflecting the white canopies of their magnificent 
 magnolia-trees, the river divided into these channels runs 
 in or out with the tide. 
 
 After examining the western arm, Gilbert and Mars 
 were making their way along the main bank; they were 
 assuring themselves that no creek opened up beneath the 
 branches of the tulip-trees. Up to the present they had 
 seen nothing but the wide marshes of the lower river, val- 
 leys bristling with tree-ferns and liquidambars, whose 
 early blossoms, mingling with the garlands of serpentarias 
 and aristolochias, impregnated the air with their pene- 
 trating perfumes. But the water was of no depth; it was 
 running off in tiny streams, and the ebb would soon leave 
 the ground quite dry. Among the streams were a few 
 huts, which did not seem to have been recently occupied, 
 although it seemed as though a good many animals had 
 made it their home. There were dogs barking, and cats 
 mewing, and frogs croaking, and snakes hissing, but 
 there were neither dogs nor cats, nor frogs nor snakes, 
 for the cries were the call of the cat- bird, a sort of thrush 
 with a black head and orange throat. 
 
 It was about three o'clock in the afternoon. The boat 
 was alongside a thick clump of reeds, when a powerful 
 stroke of the gaff from Mars cleared away a heap of ver- 
 dure that had seemed to be impenetrable. Beyond was a 
 sort of backwater some half-acre in extent, where the 
 sun never penetrated through the dome of tulip-trees. 
 
 ^'I did not know of this pond," said Mars, rising so as 
 to look round the banks. 
 
 ''Let us explore it then," said Gilbert. *'It ought to 
 communicate with that row of lagoons, which may be fed 
 by some creek up which we may find our way." 
 
 "That is so," said Mars, "and I see an opening over 
 there to the north-west." 
 
 "Do you know where we are?" 
 
 " Not exactly, unless this is what they call Black Creek; 
 but I thought, like everybody else, that it was impossible 
 
LAST WORDS AST) A LAST SIGH. 203 
 
 to get into it, and that it had no communication with the 
 St. John's/' 
 
 ''Had there not used to be a blockhouse here, to keep 
 the Seminoles in check?" 
 
 ''Somewhere, yes. But that was years ago, and the 
 entrance to the creek is shut and the fortress abandoned 
 I have never been there, but it is all in ruins." 
 
 " Let us get there," said Gilbert. 
 
 " We'll try/' said Mars, " although it will be difficult 
 to do so. The water will soon be off, and the marsh will 
 not give very good footing." 
 
 *' Well, if there is not enough water, we'll stop in the 
 boat." ^ 
 
 "We must not lose anytime; it is three o'clock, and 
 the night soon makes under these trees." 
 
 It was indeed Black Creek into which, by a lucky stroke 
 of the boat-hook, Gilbert and Mars had found an eutrance 
 The lagoon was, as we know, only practicable for light 
 skiffs such as that used by Squambo when he and his 
 master ventured on the St. John's. To reach the block- 
 house in the middle of the creek, a knowledge of the 
 thousand twists and turns was necessary, and for many 
 years no one had ventured to attempt such a thing. The 
 existence of the fortress had dropped out of recollection 
 and hence its security for the strange malignant person- 
 age who had made it his home. 
 
 To steer up the labyrinth required the thread of Ari- 
 adne, for it was always in darkness, even when the sun 
 was on the meridian. Without the thread, chance alone 
 could reveal the central island; and it was to chance 
 that Gilbert and Mars had to trust. When they were out 
 of the first pond they entered a series of channels, and 
 pa<ldled on, urged by some secret presentiment. As they 
 were going to explore the whole country, it would never 
 do to leave this lagoon unknown. 
 
 In about half an hour the boat had gone a mile More 
 than once some bank had blocked the way, and they had 
 had to paddle back and try another channel. Strong as 
 he was, the half-breed felt that he wanted a rest after his 
 efforts. But he would not stop until he had reached a 
 larger island than the rest, where a few rays of the sun 
 found their way through the trees. 
 
204 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 " That is queer," said he. 
 
 What is the matter ?" asked Gilbert. 
 
 There are signs of cultivation on that island." 
 Soon they landed on a less marshy bank than most of 
 the others. 
 
 Mars was not mistaken. There were traces of culture. 
 A few yams were visible here and there; there were four 
 or five furrows in the soil; a pick was sticking in the 
 ground. 
 
 " The creek is inhabited !" said Grilbert. 
 
 "It looks like it. At any rate, it is known to some 
 backwoodsmen or Indians who grow vegetables." ; 
 
 " Then they may have built houses, cabins—" 
 
 " If there is one to be found we shall find it." . 
 
 It was of great interest to discover what sort of people 
 lived at Black Creek. Were they hunters from the lower 
 country, or were they Seminoles, who still live in the 
 marshy parts of Florida ? 
 
 Without thinking of returning, Gilbert and Mars got 
 back into the boat, and followed up the curves of the 
 creek, peering into the thick of the bushes in every direc- 
 tion. Sometimes they thought they saw a house, but it 
 was only a curtain of verdure stretching from tree to tree. 
 Sometimes they thought a man was looking at them, but 
 it was only a twisted root with an outline in the shape of a 
 human figure. Perhaps what was hidden from their eyes 
 would reveal itself to their ears? The least noise in this 
 deserted place would reveal a man's presence. 
 
 Half an hour after their first halt they reached the central 
 * island. The blockhouse was so completely hidden in the 
 trees that nothing could be seen of it. It seemed as though 
 the creek ended, and that further passage was imprac- 
 ticable. 
 
 " I do not think we can go further," said Mars; " there 
 is no water." 
 
 But," said the officer, ''we cannot have been wrong 
 about that cultivated patch. People come to this creek. 
 They may have been here recently. Perhaps they are 
 here now." 
 
 '' Perhaps; but we must make the best of the daylight 
 to get back to the St. John's. Night is coming on. The 
 darkness will soon be thick, and how can we then make 
 
I-^ST WOEDS AND A LAST SIGH. 205 
 
 out the way ? 1 think we had better return and come 
 back first thing to-morrow morning. Let us go back, as 
 usual, to Castle House. We can tell them what we have 
 seen, and prepare to explore Black Creek with better 
 cnance of success — " 
 
 " Yes; that is best. But before we go I should like— 
 (xilbert was standing motionless, taking a last look under 
 tJie trees, and he was about to give the order to put off 
 when he stopped Mars by a gesture. 
 The half-breed stood up and listened. 
 A cry, or rather a sort of groan, was heard which could 
 not be confounded with that of a beast of the forest. It 
 was a cry of despair and lamentation, the appeal of a 
 human being m great pain, the last appeal of a voice 
 about to be silent forever. 
 
 "That is a manP^ said Gilbert. -He wants help! 
 Perhaps he is dying. ^ 
 "Yes,- said Mars. "We must go to him. We must 
 find out who he is. Jump ashoi^ 
 
 This was done in a moment. The painter was hitched 
 on to a stump, and they were up the bank and under the 
 trees and looking at the footprints of men as revealed bv 
 the last rays of the sun. They followed these up. ml 
 and then they stopped and listened. Could they hear the 
 noise? They listened again. They heard it close by, very 
 near them now; the darkness was growing deeper, but 
 they would reach the spot from which the sounds caiîie 
 
 buddenly a more doleful cry was heard. There was no 
 mistake about the direction. In a few steps Gilbert and 
 Mars were through a thicket and in the presence of a man 
 stretched on the ground near a palisade. 
 
 Stabbed in the chest, the blood was flowing from him 
 and formed a pool around. The last breath was on his 
 lips. He had but a few moments to live. 
 
 Gilbert and Mars stooped over him. He opened his 
 eyes and vainly tried to answer the questions put to him 
 
 "We must see this man!" said Gilbert. "Get a torch- 
 set a knot on fijre!" * 
 Mars had already snapped off a resinous bough from one 
 of the trees that grew in such numbers on the island. He 
 lighted It with a match, and its smoky flame illuminated 
 the gloom, ^ 
 
206 
 
 texar's eevenge. 
 
 Gilbert knelt near tlie dying man. He was a negro, a 
 slave, and still young. His shirt lay open and showed the 
 gash made by the knife. The wound was mortal, for the 
 lung was pierced. 
 
 Who are you ? Who are you ?' asked Gilbert. 
 
 JsTo reply. 
 
 ''Who stabbed you?" 
 
 The slave could not utter a word. 
 
 Mars swung round the torch to recognize the place where 
 the murder had been committsd. 
 
 ' He then saw the palisado, and through the open door 
 caught sight of the dim outline of the blockhouse. 
 ''The fortress r he exclaimed. 
 
 And leaving his master near the dying slave, he rushed 
 through the door. 
 
 In an instant he had entered the blockhouse, been in the 
 central redoubt, and into all the rooms. In one he found 
 the remains of a fire. ^The fortress had therefore been 
 recently occupied; but by whom ? Floridans or Seminoles? 
 That must be ascertained immediately, and from the 
 wounded man. Who were his murderers? They had fled 
 within the last hour or so. 
 
 Mars ran out of the blockhouse and round the palisade 
 in the enclosure. But no one did he find. If he and 
 Gilbert had come earlier in the day, they might have dis- 
 covered the inhabitants of this fortress, but now they wexe 
 too late. 
 
 The half-breed returned to his master, and told him they 
 were at the blockhouse of Black Creek. 
 " Can the man speak ?" he asked. 
 
 "No; he has lost consciousness, and I don't think he 
 , will regain it." 
 
 "Try and make him," said Mars. "There is a secret 
 here we must know, and no one can tell us when that un- 
 fortunate man is dead." 
 
 " Yes! Let us take him into the blockhouse. He may 
 come to himself there. We cannot let him die out here. ' 
 
 "You hold the torch, Mr. Gilbert; I can carry him." 
 
 Gilbert held the burning bough. The half-breed lifted 
 the inert body in his arms, mounted the steps of the 
 postern, entered the embrasure, and laid down his burden 
 jn one of the .rooms of the redoubt. 
 
LAST WORDS AND A LA&T SIGH. 207 
 
 The dying man was laid on a bed of herbs, and Mars put 
 his flask to his mouth. 
 
 The héart still beat but feebly, and at lohg intervals. 
 Life was failing. Would his secret escape him with his 
 last sigh ?^ 
 
 The few drops of brandy seemed to give him new life. 
 His eyes opened. He fixed them on Mars and Gilbert, 
 and strove to fight with death. He would speak! Some 
 vague sounds escaped from his lips— a name, perhaps! 
 
 ''Speak! Speak!'' said Mars. 
 
 The excitement of the half-breed was truly inexplicable/ 
 It seemed as though the task to which he had devoted hiî» 
 life depended on the last words of this dying man. 
 
 The young slave in vain endeavoured to utter a word. 
 He had not the strength. 
 
 At this moment Mars noticed a slip of paper in his 
 waistcoat pocket. 
 
 To seize this paper, open it, read it by the light of tht 
 torch, was the work of an instant. 
 
 There were a few words on it. 
 Carried off by Texar from Marine Creek—taken to 
 the Everglades — to Camera] Island — message given to the 
 young slave — for Mr. Bur bank.'' 
 
 The handwriting Mars knew well. 
 
 "Zermali!*' he exclaimed. 
 
 At this name the dying man opened his eyes, and his 
 head fell in sign of affirmation. 
 
 Gilbert raised him a little, and asked, ^ 
 
 ''Zermah?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "AndDy V 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Who stabbed you?" 
 " Texar." 
 
 And that was the pcqr slave's last word. He fell back 
 dead. 
 
i08 
 
 TBXAR S KJfiVBNGB, 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 FROM CAMDLESS BAY TO LAKE WASHII^GTOK. 
 
 It was not till just upon midnight that Gilbert and 
 Mars returned to Castle House. Great had been their 
 difficulty in getting out of Black Creek. When they left 
 the blockhouse night had begun to fall in the valley of 
 the St. John's, and beneath the trees of the lagoon the 
 darkness was complete. 
 
 Mars took the boat back among the shoals and islets, 
 guided by a sort of instinct, without which he would never 
 have reached the river. Twenty times and more had he 
 to stop before a barrier he could not pass, and return by 
 the way he had come in search of a practicable channel. 
 He had to light resinous pine-knots, and stick them in the 
 bow of the boat, so as to throw some light on his course. 
 The difficulty was greatest where he had to find the only 
 mouth by which the waters joined the St. John's. The 
 gap in the reeds by which they had entered a few hours 
 before proved unrecognizable; but luckily the tide was 
 ebbing, and the boat floated out with the stream. Three 
 hours afterwards they were at Camdless Bay. 
 
 At Castle House neither James Burbank nor his people 
 had gone to bed. They were waiting anxiously for their 
 long-delayed return. Gilbert and Mars came back every 
 night, why had they not come now ? Had they found a 
 clue ? 
 
 At last they arrived^ and, as they entered, all in the 
 room rushed towards them. 
 
 " Well, Gilt)ert T' said James Burbank. 
 
 " Father, Alice was not mistaken. It was Texar who 
 carried o:^ my sister and Zermah.'* 
 
 "You have the proof 
 
 "Readr 
 
 And Gilbert held out the scrap of paper wift the fçw 
 >for4§ i» tlie half-breed's writing. 
 
FBOM CAMDLESS BAY TO LAKE WAgamaTOK". 209 
 
 " Yes/' continued lie. Doubt is no longer possible. 
 It was the Spaniard ! And he took or caused to be taken 
 his two victims to the blockhouse at Black Creek, There 
 they have been living isolated from all. A poor slave to 
 whom Zermah had trusted this paper, that it might reach 
 Castle House, and from whom she doubtless learnt that 
 Texar was taking them to Carneral Island, has paid with 
 his life for his devotion. We found him dying, stabbed 
 by Texar, and now he is dead. But if Dy and Zermah 
 are not at Black Creek we know at least where they have 
 gone. They are in the Everglades, and there we must 
 find them. To-morrow we must start.'' 
 
 "We are ready, Gilbert." 
 
 " Then to-morrow let it be." 
 
 Hope had returned. There would now be no fruitless 
 endeavours. Mrs. Burbank, being told of what had hap- 
 pened, began to revive; and she had strength enough to 
 rise from her bed and kneel and thank Heaven. 
 
 According to Zermah, it was Texar in person who had 
 been in command at the capture at Marine Creek. He it 
 really was whom Alice had seen. But how could this be 
 reconciled with the Spaniard's alibi ? How could he have 
 been a Federal prisoner at the time the crime was com- 
 mitted ? Evidently the alibi was false like the others. 
 But how could it be explained ? What was the secret of 
 Texar's ubiquity ? 
 
 It mattered little after all. It had now been ascertained 
 that the half-breed and child had been taken first to the 
 blockhouse at Black Creek, and that now they had gone 
 to Carneral Island. There they must seek for them; 
 there they must take Texar by surprise. This time 
 nothing must hinder them from visiting him with the 
 just punishment of his crimes which he had so long 
 deserved. 
 
 And there was not a day to lose. From Camdless Bay 
 to the Everglades the distance was considerable. The 
 voyage would take many days. Fortunately the expedi- 
 tion had been organized carefully and was ready. 
 
 Carneral Island was shown by the maps to be on Lake 
 Okee-cho-bee. 
 
 The Everglades are in a marshy region bordering on 
 Lake Okee-cho-bee, a little below the twenty-seventh 
 
parallel, in the southern part of Florida. From Jackson- 
 ville to the lake was about four hundred miles. And it 
 was a rarely visited district; in fact, at this epoch it was 
 almost unknown. 
 
 If the St. Johns's had been navigable to its source the 
 journey would not have been a difficult one, but there was 
 every chance that they would only be able to sail up it for 
 one hundred and seven miles; that is to Lake deorge. 
 Beyond that the road would be choked with islands and 
 shoals, the channel might even sometimes at ebb tide be 
 dry, and a heavily-laden boat would under any circam- 
 stances find it difficult to pass. If it were possible to 
 reach Lake Washington, in about the twenty-eighth de- 
 gree of latitude, the end would be near. But it was only 
 wise to prepare for a journey of two hundred and fifty 
 miles across an almost deserted region, where there were 
 no means of transport and no likelihood of provision. 
 
 On the 20th of March the expedition mustered at the 
 landing-place. James Burbank and his son had said 
 good-bye to Mrs. Barbank, who was not able to leave her 
 room. Mr. Stannard and his daughter and the assistant 
 overseers were there, and Pyg had come to bid farewell to 
 Mr. Perry, for whom he, strange to say, had a great re- 
 gard. He remembered the lessons he had received as to 
 the inconveniences of a liberty for which he was not ready. 
 
 The expedition consisted of James Burbank and his 
 brother-in-law, now cured of his wound, his son, Mr. Perry 
 the overseer, Mars, and a dozen negroes chosen from the 
 most devoted of those on the estate— in all, seventeen. 
 Mars knew enough of the St. John's to serve as pilot below 
 as well as above Lake George. The blacks were all ex- 
 perienced boatmen, and, when the current or the wind 
 failed, could handle the oars to good purpose. 
 
 The boat, one of the largest on the plantation, would 
 be worked under sail whenever the wind was favourable. 
 She carried arms and ammunition sufficient for James 
 Burbank and his companions to fear nothing from either 
 the Seminole bands or Texar's companions. 
 
 Gilbert embraced Alice, and James Burbank clasped 
 her to his arms as if she were already his daughter. 
 ^ " Father— Gilbert," she said, bring back to us little 
 Pyl Bring me back my sister." 
 
tiiOM CAMDtESS BAY LÀKË WASHlN^GtON. 211 
 
 "Yes, dearest Alice, yes! we will bring her back. 
 May heaven protect us!" 
 
 Mr. Stannard and Alice and the assistant overseers 
 and Pyg remained at the landing-place till the boat put 
 off. They signalled their last adieux as before the north- 
 east wind and served by the flowing tide she disappeared 
 behind the little point at Marine Creek. 
 
 It was about six o'clock in the morning. An hour 
 afterwards the boat passed the village of Mandarin, and 
 it was nearly ten o'clock when, without having had to 
 take to the oars, she was off Black Creek. 
 
 All hearts beat as they ran by the left bank of the river 
 through which its waters flowed. It was behind those 
 clumps of reeds and canes and mangroves that Dy and 
 Zermah had first been hid. It was there that for more 
 than a fortnight Texar and his companions had so closely 
 concealed them that all trace of them had been lost. 
 Ten times had James Burbank and Stannard and Gilbert 
 and Mars passed by that lagoon without thinking for an 
 instant that the old blockhouse might be their prison. 
 
 This time there was no reason for stopping. Their 
 search took them now hundreds of miles to the south, 
 and the boat passed Black Creek without even stopping. 
 
 The first meal was taken together. The boxes con- 
 tained twenty days' provisions, and there were a number 
 of packages ready to be carried when the journey had to 
 be continued overland. And there were the necessaries 
 for camping, either by day or night, in the thick woods 
 with which the river-banks are clothed. 
 
 At eleven o'clock, when the tide turned, the wind re- 
 mained favourable, but the oars had to be taken to keep 
 up the speed. The blacks bent cheerily to their work, 
 and propelled by ten vigorous pairs the boat rapidly as- 
 cended the river. 
 
 Mars sat silently at the helm, taking the boàt without 
 hesitation through the channels among the islands and 
 islets with which the river is dotted. Where the stream 
 was weakest he took his way without hesitation. Never 
 did he enter an impracticable channel; never did he risk 
 grounding on any of the shoals which the ebb would soon 
 leave dry. He knew the river up to Lake George as well 
 as he knew it below Jacksonville, and he piloted the 
 
212 
 
 texar's revekge. 
 
 boat with as much, certainty as he had piloted Stevens's 
 flotilla over the bar. 
 
 Hereabouts the St. John's was deserted. Since the 
 capture of Jacksonville the' trading-boats on the river had 
 been stopped, and there was no vessel on the river except 
 for the use of the troops or under the orders of Comman- 
 dant Stevens. Above Picolata even these would probably 
 have disappeared. 
 
 About six o'clock in the evening Picolata was reached. 
 A detachment of Northerners occupied the pier. The 
 boat was hailed, and had to run alongside. Gilbert Eur- 
 obank made himself known to the commanding ofiScer, 
 and showing the pass with which he had been furnished 
 by Commandant Stevens, was allowed to proceed. 
 
 The halt lasted but a minute or so. The tide began to 
 turn, the oarsmen stopped, and the boat under sail sped 
 on between the woods that fringed the stream. On the 
 left bank the forest soon ended in a marsh. On the 
 right, the forest remained thick and interminable, and 
 they would have it with them all the way to Lake 
 George. At times it ran back a little, and fields of rice 
 and mdigo and cotton filled up the stretches in front, 
 and bore witness to the fertility of the Floridan penin- 
 suia. 
 
 A little after six o'clock a bend of the river shut ont 
 the view of the red tower of the old Spanish fort, which 
 ±or a century and more had been abandoned. 
 
 ''Mars,'' asked James Burbank, "you are not afraid 
 to keep to the river during the night .?^' 
 
 ïJ'-^^' f^C ^^^^ answer for myself aH 
 
 •the way to Lake George. Beyond that we shaD see. We 
 have not a moment to lose, and as long as the tide serves 
 we had better take advantage of it. I think we might 
 as well carry on night and day." 
 
 There was no occasion to regret this decision. All 
 night the boat kept on her way; when the tide failed the 
 oars were got out Neither that night nor the following, 
 nor the day of the 22nd of March, nor the next twelve 
 hours, were marked by any adventure. The upper course 
 ot the river seemed to be quite deserted. The route lay 
 through a long forest of ancient cedars, whose leaé 
 masses again and again came close to the bank and f ormea 
 
a thick bower of verduro Villa o-^cï +1.^, 
 Plantations or isolated habUatioS werTn'onl "Thé 
 
 opene/ou^^^^^^^^ flat, and 
 
 liiey had reached the lake which the St lahj,'^ f.o 
 
 p^^fît^sf -^'^^ w\l*hit°ty/: 
 
 came^'to'^het Lake George, which I 
 
 river." ™ expedition to the upper 
 
 Jame1 BuAanl^'"' '''"^ B-J?" asked 
 
 ."^i,^??'*'*^'' ""'^6^'" said Hars. 
 said Kf ' ^'^^ ^'"'^'^ to Everglades," 
 
 wf^rv:r»;rfo 
 
 a slow, laborious affair. When we are thrnniwl 
 cannot we keeD fn wol^l V through the lake, 
 
 " ill try it, Mr. Gilbert.'^ 
 And they could not have done better. 
 kpJrf rfr""^"^.^' ^^^^^1^ ^0 take to the land To 
 
 ..mW„«t tïïïdâu" ûd'Jr li'lh?* ".'!:."• 
 
2J[4 TEXAR'S EEVÈÎSrGïj. 
 
 ous snakes, whose hissings could be even heard in the 
 boat, and whose ravenous enemies, the white pehcans, 
 rose m flocks along the margin of the lake. 
 
 The boat slipped along rapidly under sail with the 
 wind from the north. The breeze was so fresh that the 
 oars were not needed throughout the day, and when 
 evening came the thirty miles which Lake George meas- 
 ures from north to south had been traversed without 
 
 iOxmt six o'clock James Burbank and his men had 
 reached the lower angle by which the St. John's enters 
 
 the lake. i i. i. i 
 
 If they stopped— and the stoppage was only to take 
 breath for half an hour at the outside --it was because 
 three or four houses formed a village at this place. 
 These were occupied by some of those nomadic Floridans 
 who devote themselves chiefly to hunting and fishing at 
 the beginning of the season. At Oarrol'a suggestion it 
 seemed opportune to ask for information relative to the 
 passage of Texar. . ^ t -i^ . tx. 
 
 One of the inhabitants was questioned. During the 
 last few days had he seen a boat crossing Lake George 
 towards Lake Washington; a boat with seven or Q}ght 
 people, one a woman of colour, and a little child of white 
 
 ^irth? _ ^ T 1. 4. 
 
 "Yes," said the man. "Two days ago I saw a boat 
 
 like that." 
 
 " Did it stop here ?" asked Gilbert. 
 " No ! It kept on as hard as it could go to the upper 
 I distinctly saw a woman with a child in her 
 
 river, 
 arms. 
 
 " My friends," said Gilbert, there is hope for us ! We 
 are really on the traces of Texar !" , - , 
 
 " Yes," answered James Burbank, " he is only forty- 
 eight hours in front of us; and if we can keep to the boat 
 we shall gain on him." ^„ -, j 
 
 " Do you know the river about Lake George ? asked 
 Cîarrol. , j j 
 
 " Yes, sir; I have been up it more than a hundred 
 miles." , 
 " Do you think it is navigable for a boat like ours t 
 " What does she draw ?" 
 
mOM CAMDLÊSS bait to LAKE WASHlNGTOî^. ^15 
 
 About three feet/' said Mars, 
 f .tl ^^'^ " That may do. If you 
 
 Lgton/'^ ^""^^ ^^^«^^ke S- 
 
 LaL^olS^^^^^ '^^^^ from 
 
 Z ^ hundred and fifty miles." 
 
 '^l hanks, my friend." 
 
 water tr^s^" '''^'^ "^^^P «II the 
 
 eTenmg d^osed; the oars were got out and pulled with 
 
 nigJittall the boat had made many miles to the south 
 There was no need to stop, as they eonld sleep on Wd 
 
 by ffil": 'atl/^h' , The jfghtwas eno^gî^to^e; 
 l7n„- ^T-J I ^a^'s ''as in front with a 
 
 Z\lf^fn ^''t'"^J '""""^^"S all the time, and orderW 
 the boat to starboard or port as occasion required hI 
 
 off withofreS*^ r'^.*^^' r/'"" ^"^«h time 
 
 ott without effort. About four o'clock in the morning 
 
 mUeshadbelT' ^^^^-^ that at leasTfiS 
 
 mues ftad been rowed daring the night 
 
 It the river continued navigable for a few more dav«L 
 
 ^Zed XT^ ' '^r''' ~s would be muchlS 
 proved But several serious difficulties arose durinir the 
 day. On account of the windings of the river there were 
 37f °f''*«f Pr^^ « it^ ~ where the acM 
 
 avoitd -f' tl^at had to be' 
 
 avoided. The wide sweeps necessary to avoid these made 
 
 «H tfTJ: '^■J'''''^ "«^«î caused delay The ^nd 
 
 although rt did not shift, was brought round so bv the 
 
 Td bft fhe W 'Ï'T aîw5« be 
 
 St^Tol.n'^rViî''*'*''''' ^ere met with peculiar to the 
 
21b ïaXAE^S BfiVÈNGÊ. 
 
 such vegetable masses, as withdrawal would not be easy, 
 and so Mars did his best to avoid them. 
 
 On the river-banks the thick forest again had appeared. 
 But now there were none of those innumerable cedars with 
 their roots bathed by the river. There were, in their stead, 
 quantities of pines, a hundred and fifty feet high, belong- 
 inff to the southern species, which found a favourable soil 
 amid the inundated tracts known as "barrens.'' The 
 mould there has a peculiar elasticity, so much so as to 
 throw a man off his balance should he attempt to walk 
 over it. Fortunately James Burbank's men did not 
 make the experiment. 
 
 The St. John's continued to carry them through the 
 regions of Lower Florida. The day passed without ad- 
 venture. So did the night. The river continued to be 
 completely deserted. Not a boat appeared on the waters. 
 In this there was nothing to complain of. Better to find 
 nobody in this distant country than to risk disaster, for 
 the backwoodsmen and professional hunters of these parts 
 are people to be treated with suspicion. 
 
 And there were the militia from Jacksonville or bt. 
 Augustine, whom Dupont and Stevens had driven to the 
 south, who might be met with, and the meeting would 
 have been still more undesirable. Among them iexar 
 certainly had many partisans, who might attempt to 
 avenge him on James and Gilbert Burbank. It was the 
 object of the expedition to avoid fighting with every one 
 except the Spaniard, and only to fight with him should 
 he attempt to carry off his prisoners by force. ^ 
 
 Fortunately, James Burbank was so well served by cir- 
 cumstances that on the evening of the 25th of March he 
 reached Lake Washington. There the narrowness and 
 shallowness of the river brought the boat to a stop. 1 wo- 
 thirds of the distance had, however, been sailed or rowed, 
 and James Burbank was now only a hundred and forty 
 miles from the Everglades. 
 
THE GBEAT CYPBESS POBEST. 
 
 21? 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE GREAT CYPRESS FOREST. 
 
 Lake WASHiNGTOîf is about a dozen miles lonff. It is 
 Plnni Tf''^ important lakes in this part of southern 
 wlTwi. ^'^^*r ^^^^^^t^e^P' and they are crowded 
 with bushes and branches brought down bv the sfrp^jm 
 from the floating fields, where the snaLs Ve in such 
 numbers as even to render the navigation dangerous 
 Like Its banks, its surface is almost deserted, and feldom 
 indeed is it that a boat from the St. John's ventures s^ 
 
 At the southern end of the lake the river resumes its 
 course bending more towards the middle of theTnin! 
 
 l^^' t ^^^'^ ^l"^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ a shallow brook, its 
 souice being some thirty miles further south, between the 
 twenty-eighth and twenty^seventh degrees of latitude. 
 
 Below Lake Washington the St. John's is not navigable 
 Much to the regret of James Burbank, the stream h^d to 
 bybandoned and the land-road taken through a ver? 
 
 r"""".*'^'-?!^^!? ^ ^ars^^ through 
 
 endless forests with the ground so cut up with rivulfts 
 and quagmires as to be almost impassable. 
 
 Ihe expedition landed. The weapons and bales of 
 provisions were divided amongst the blacks. Every one 
 knew his place and there would be no cause for delay. 
 All had been thought out in advance, and when a halt 
 wus called the camp could be pitched in a few minutes 
 
 (xUbert and Mars occupied themselves in hiding the 
 boat, so that it might escape the observation of any Sem- 
 moles or Floridans who might pass that way. Under 
 the drooping branches of the trees by the bank, and 
 among the gigantic reeds, it was easy to find a fitting 
 place of concealment. ** uttm^ 
 
 Had^o finf T ^'^^^'^ ^^^^^ ^a^e been 
 
 glad to fin^—th^t whiQh Ijad brought Dy and ^ermah W 
 
218 
 
 texar's revenge. 
 
 Lake Washington. Evidently Texar must have aban- 
 doned it somewhere in the neighbourhood. What James 
 Burbank had been obliged to do the Spaniard must have 
 done. And for some hours in the afternoon a search for 
 this boat was made, in order to procure positive proof 
 th^t Texar had reached Lake Washington. 
 
 The search was in vain. The boat could not be found. 
 Perhaps the Spaniard had destroyed it, thinking it would 
 be of no further use to him. 
 
 How painful must the journey now have become! There 
 was no longer the river to save the woman and child 
 from fatigue. Dy, carried in Zermah's arms, forced to 
 follow the men who were used to such marches through 
 this difficult country; the half-breed subject to insults 
 and violence, and beaten to hasten her steps, and falling 
 often to save the child when thinking nothing of herself 
 ^all this was pictured to the minds of those in pursuit. 
 As Mars thought of all this he grew pale with anger, and 
 muttered to himself— 
 
 "I will kill Texar!" 
 
 Would he were at Carneral Island face to face with the 
 villain whose abominable machinations had caused such 
 suffering to the Burbanks, and injured him more deeply 
 by taking away Zermah his wife! 
 
 The camp was formed at the extremity of a small cape 
 projecting northwards into the lake. It had not been 
 thought wise to risk travelling in the forest during the 
 night, and it was decided to wait for the dawn before the 
 start was made. At four o'clock the signal to move was 
 given. The bales and packages were distributed amongst 
 half the crew, it being intended to work in relays. All, 
 masters and men, were armed with Minie rifles, loaded 
 with a bullet and four buckshot, and Colt revolvers, which 
 came into general use during the war of Secession. 
 
 Armed in this way they were equal to attacking Texar 
 even at the head of sixty of his men. ] 
 
 It had been decided to keep to the course of the river 
 as closely as possible. This would take them to the .south 
 in the direction of Lake Okee-cho-bee. It was a thread 
 through the forest labyrinth, and was followed easily 
 enough. Along the right bank was a sort of footpath, a 
 towing-path, m fact, used by those who ho-d dragged their 
 
THE GREAT CYPRESS FOREST. 
 
 219 
 
 light canoes up stream. Gilbert and Mars went first; 
 James Burbank and Edward Carrol brought up the rear; 
 Perry was in the middle, and every hour saw that the loads 
 were changed. Before the start a rapid breakfast had 
 been taken, a stoppage was to be made at noon for dinner, 
 and another at six o'clock for supper and camping, if 
 matters did not look promising for a night-march. That 
 was the programme, and it was punctually adhered to. 
 
 At first the road lay along the eastern shore of Lake 
 Washington, low and flat, and almost on the move. Then 
 the forest came on, but of slight extent compared to what 
 it was to be. This forest was chiefly composed of thickets 
 of logwood with small leaves and yellow clusters, and with 
 the brownish heart-wood so well-known to dyers; then 
 there were Mexican elms, guazumas with white bouquets, 
 used in so many ways, and with a shade giving, it is said' 
 a most obstinate cold. Dotted about were a few groups 
 of cinchonas, here mere shrubs instead of magnificent 
 trees as in Peru. Evei-ywhere rose large masses of bright- 
 coloured plants, such as gentians, amaryllides, and ascle- 
 pias; all plants and flowers yellow or white in Europe be- 
 ing here of different shades of red and purple. 
 
 Towards evening the thickets disappeared, to give 
 place to the great cypress forest, which extends to the 
 Everglades. 
 
 During the day they had walked twenty miles. Gilbert 
 dsked of the negroes if they were tired. 
 
 We are ready to go on, sir," said one of them, an- 
 swering for the rest. 
 
 *'Arewe not likely to go astray during the night.^'' 
 asked Edward Carrol. 
 
 "ISTo," said Mars. We have only got to keep to tke 
 ^river.^' 
 
 " And the night is clear," said the young ofiBcer, the 
 sky is cloudless; the moon will rise at nine and last till 
 day. Besides, the foliage of the cypresses is not very 
 thick, and the darkness is not as great as in any other 
 forest." 
 
 So they made a fresh start. The next morning, after 
 travelling part of the night, they stopped to breakfast at 
 the foot of one of those huge cypres?-trees which can be 
 pounted in millions in this region of Florida, 
 
220 texar's revenge. 
 
 He who has not explored these natural marvels can 
 hardly figure them to himself. Imagine a stretch of green 
 more than a hundred feet above the river, with tree-trunks 
 straight as towers, on whose tops it seems almost possible 
 to walk. Below the ground is wet and marshy; the water 
 in pools on the impermeable soil, round which and m 
 which are crowds of frogs and toads, and lizards and 
 <-corpions, and spiders, turtles, snakes, and aquatic birds, 
 ^bove the pools flash, like shooting stars, bright- 
 »lumaged orioles; in the trees leap squirrels and gather 
 |>arrots, who fill the forest with their noisy screeches. A 
 curious country it is, and difficult to penetrate. The 
 ground must be carefully studied, for a foot-passenger 
 may sink to his armpits in the many quagmires. But 
 keeping a sharp look-out in the clear night, the expedi- 
 tion advanced without accident. 
 
 The river still gave them their true course. And this 
 was fortunate, for the cypresses all resembled each other, 
 with their twisted, spiral trunks, hollow below, and 
 throwing out their long roots that ridged the soil, and 
 rose for twenty feet or more in cylindrical stems, huge 
 ribs with knotty handle supporting an immense green 
 umbrella that gave but little protection from either rain 
 
 ^\Twas beneath these trees that James Burbank and his 
 companions were journeying a little before daybreak. 
 The weather was magnificent. There was no storm to 
 fear, which might make the -ground an impracticable 
 marsh, although a constant look-out was necessary to 
 keep clear of the never-drying- bogs. , ^ _ 
 
 During the day no trace was met with of either boutn- 
 erners or Seminoles. It might be that the Spaniard had 
 gone down the left bank, which was clear of obstacles; 
 but by either bank the road lay direct to the country 
 mentioned in Zermah's letter. . 
 
 The night came. James Burbank halted for six hours; 
 then the rest of the night speedily slipped away. The 
 road lay in silence through the sleeping cypress-grove. 
 Not a breath of wind troubled the dome of foliage. The 
 moon outlined on the ground a light network of shadow. 
 The river murmured in its almost level bed; many shoals 
 appeared above its surface, and showed that it could be 
 easily crossed, if necessary» 
 
THE GBEAT CYPRESS FOEEST. 221 
 
 After a halt of two hours, the march was resumed, but 
 during this day the guiding-thread occasionally gave out 
 as though the end of the skein would soon be reached' 
 llie river was a mere streak, diving every now and then 
 under a clump of cinchonas, while beyond the cypress- 
 forest shut m three-quarters of the horizon. At last it 
 gave out altogether; they had passed its source. 
 
 And now they reached a cemetéry reserved, according 
 to native custom, for the blacks who had become Chris 
 tians and died m the faith. Here and there were humble 
 crosses, some of stone, some of wood, rising from the 
 little mounds and marking the graves between the trees 
 iwo or three aerial burials had taken place, and the 
 S bfuX^^"*^^^'' swaying in the wind on their cradle 
 
 J' The existence of a cemetery," said Carrol, ''ought to 
 show that we are near a village—" 
 
 " Which need not exist," said Gilbert, "for it is not 
 nwi^fff fl"' and villages often disappear in thèse parts, 
 owing to the inhabitants abandoning them or their beini 
 destroyed by Indians." ^ 
 
 Ji^l^^^^FT^^'^, i^"^^^ Burbank, .-what shall we *do 
 now the St. John's has gone out.^^" 
 
 We must follow the compass. However thick the 
 selves ""^^^ ^^^^ ^® impossible for us to lose our- 
 
 ''Well, let us get on," said Mars, who could hardly 
 
 tru?t t^rtidlce."' " 
 
 Half a mile beyond the negro cemetery they came out 
 south ^ ^""^^^ ^ ' ' compass in hand, struck off due 
 
 TT^^3.*^' fv* ^uKl^ incident occurred. 
 
 had been found to give a clue ; would 
 
 t':^rtt ^^IJ;f' ^^^^ ^^^^ object, or 
 
 At noon they stopped. Gilbert, taking account of the 
 di^ ance from Lake Washington, estimated that they Vere 
 
 l iZ tl f Oamdless Bay, and more than three hundred 
 miles had been traversed with exceptional rapidity. U 
 the absence of heavy rain, which would have made the 
 
222 
 
 texae's revenge. 
 
 course of the St. John's unnavigable, and flooded the 
 country, and in the clearness of the moon, everything had 
 been favourable for the journey. 
 
 A comparatively short distance now separated them 
 from Oarneral Island, and they expected to reach it during 
 tke next two days. What was to happen then it was 
 impossible to foresee. 
 
 But if hitherto good fortune had. been theirs, it seemed 
 as though they were now to meet with insurmountable 
 difiBculties. 
 
 The journey had been resumed as usual after the noon- 
 day meal. The character of the road had not changed. 
 There were still large sheets of water and quagmire to 
 avoid, and tiny streams to be crossed knee-deep. 
 
 About four o'clock Mars suddenly stopped. When his 
 companions came up with him he pointed out the print 
 of feet on the ground. 
 
 " There can be no doubt," said James Burbank, " that 
 a body of men have recently passed here." 
 And a large body," said Edward Oarrol. 
 
 " Where do the footsteps come from ? Where do they 
 go to ?" asked Gilbert. We must find that out before 
 we do anything else." 
 
 And they set to work to do so. 
 
 For five hundred yards to the east they traced the foot- 
 steps, and it seemed useless to go further. It was clearly 
 shown that a band of from a hundred and fifty to two 
 hundred men had come from the Atlantic coast into the 
 cypress grove. The footprints were continued westward 
 towards the Gulf of Mexico, and thus seemed to lead 
 across the peninsula, which is here only two hundred 
 miles wide. It was apparent that these men had camped 
 on the very spot that the Burbanks were now examining ; 
 and Gilbert and Mars went off to follow the westward 
 trail for a little. To their astonishment, they found that 
 it soon turned to the south. When they returned, Gilbert 
 explained. 
 
 We are preceded by a body of men who are going the 
 same road as we are. They are armed, for we found the 
 bits of the cartridges they used to light their fires with. 
 Who they are I know not. All I can say is that they are 
 numerous, and are going to the Everglades." 
 
A MEETING. 
 
 223 
 
 r?^'"^^^ J?^^ ^ ^^^^ wandering Seminoles ?" asked 
 Edward Carrol. 
 
 ^^No," answered Mars ; ^Hlie footprints show they are 
 Americans." ^ 
 gJ^^P^rhaps soldiers of the Floridan militia," said James 
 
 That is to be feared," said Perry. " They seem to me 
 to be too manny of them to belong to Texar." 
 
 /'Unless he has been joined by some of his partisans, 
 who must have come to him in hundreds," said Carrol. 
 V^e are only seventeen," said the overseer 
 ' What does that matter ?" exclaimed Gilbert. "If thev 
 attack us, not one of us will run." " 
 ''^o I no !" said all his companions. 
 Their courage was the same as it had been ; but it 
 seemed hard to meet with an obstacle when so near 
 their object. And what an obstacle ! A detachment of 
 Southerners, come to join the Spaniard in theEverdades 
 
 of F ni?l ^""^ ^^^^ ^PP^^ ^^^^ the north 
 
 Ly Jh \i. ^^Ti" V' felt it to be so. 
 
 And after the first display of enthusiasm, they stood silent, 
 ^^^l^/^^^'^f^and asking what orders he would 
 
 CnH •fTf^'^i''''^ ^^^^on impression, 
 
 but notwithstanding, he gave the word— 
 " Forward !" 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A MEETIIÎ-G. 
 
 . Yes ; forward they must go. But under these serious 
 circumstances every precaution was taken. It was indis- 
 pensable to clear the march, to reconnoitre the thickets 
 on the road, to be ready for anything. 
 
 The weapons were carefully examined and held ready 
 for immediate service. At the least alarm the packages 
 
 K t- ""V^^ ^'^"^^ the men wolld 
 
 fight behind them. The order of march remained 
 
224 
 
 texar's sevenge. 
 
 before. Gilbert and Mars formed the vanguard, but they 
 kept further ahead to guard against surprise. The rate of 
 progress was the same, but it seemed better not to follow- 
 in the same track as the others had gone. Better would 
 it be if they did not meet with the detachment in advance 
 of them on the road to the Everglades. But this did not 
 seem to be easy, for the detachment had not moved in a 
 straight line, but had diverged to the right and left, 
 showing a certain amount of hesitation, though the general 
 advance was unmistakably southwards. 
 
 A day passed. Nothing happened to bring James 
 Barbank to a standstill. He had kept on at a good pace, 
 and had evidently gained on those in front of him. Horn- 
 by hour the traces of their passage became more recent. 
 It became easy to see how often they had halted either to 
 camp or take counsel. 
 
 Gilbert and Mars studied the trail with great care ; 
 almost as if they had been Seminole trackers. 
 
 " We are certain," said Gilbert, ''that neither Zermah 
 nor Dy are with this party. There are no footprints of a 
 horse, and if Zermah was with them it is obvious that with 
 Dy in her arms her footprints would be easily recognizable, 
 and we should see Dy's footsteps at the halting-places. 
 But there is no mark of woman's foot or girl's foot. The 
 detachment carries firearms. We can see the marks of 
 the stocks on the ground. But I notice that the stocks 
 are like those on the rifles carried by sailors. Probably 
 the Florida militia has such arms ; if not, I cannot under- 
 stand it. One thing is certain, and that is that the band 
 is ten times as numerous as ours, and we must be very 
 careful as we get nearer to them." 
 
 And everything was done to carry out this suggestion. 
 His deductions from the evidence of the footprints were 
 correct. It was obvious that neither Dy nor Zermah were 
 with the detachment, and it seemed from this certain that 
 they were not on the track of the Spaniard. The men 
 from Black Creek could not be so numerous or so well 
 armed. And there could be little doubt that a strong 
 body of militia were on the march to the Everglades, 
 where Texar had probably arrived a day or two before. 
 And these militiamen might make matters serious for 
 James Burbank. 
 
225 
 
 That evening they halted on the edge of a narrow clear- 
 ing, which had been occupied an hour or two beforehand, 
 to judge from the heap of scarcely cold cinders and the 
 traces of the camp. When this was ascertained, it was 
 decided not to resume the march till after nightfall. The 
 night was dark. The sky was cloudy. The moon did 
 not rise till late. They could approach the detachment 
 under the most favourable conditions. Could they recon- 
 noitre the camp without being perceived? Could they 
 get round it during the night, and hurry on in front so 
 as to be first at Lake Okee-cho-bee and Camera! Island ? 
 
 The expedition, with Mars anâ Gilbert ahead as scouts, 
 started about half-past eight, and silently entered into the 
 darkness under the trees. For two hours they kept on, 
 making as little noise as possible. 
 
 A little after ten o'clock James Burbank stopped with 
 a word the group of blacks at whose head he and the over- 
 seer were walking. His son and Mars were coming back 
 towards him, and he waited anxiously for an explanation 
 of their rapid retreat. 
 
 The explanation was soon given. 
 What is it?" he asked, " What do you see?" 
 
 " A camp under the trees, and the fires aliffht." 
 Far off ?" asked Carrol. ^ 
 About a hundred yards." 
 
 ''Did you see who they were?" 
 
 "No; the fires are dying down," said Gilbert. " But I 
 do not think we are wrong in saying there are two hun- 
 dred men." 
 
 ''Are they asleep?" 
 
 " Most of them, but they have got men on the watch. 
 We saw the sentinels with their rifles on their shoulders 
 pacing backwards and forwards under the cypresses." 
 
 " What are we to do?" asked Carrol. 
 
 "We must first of all reconnoitre them," said Gilbert 
 " and see who they are, if possible. " ' 
 
 " I am ready," said Mars." 
 
 " ril go with you," said Perry. 
 
 "No, rilgo,'^said Gilbert; ''I would rather see for 
 myself." 
 
 "Gilbert," said James Burbank, "there is not one of 
 us who would not risk his life for the goed of us all; 
 
 i 
 
526 
 
 TEXAR*S EEVENGE. 
 
 but to make this reconnaissance with some chance of not 
 being seen, only one ought to go." 
 '^'11 go alone." 
 
 *'No, my son. I would rather you stayed with us." 
 
 I am ready, master!" 
 And Mars, • without another word, disappeared in the 
 darkness. 
 
 While he was gone James Burbank prepared for an 
 attack. The bales and packages were laid down in a cir- 
 cle; the bearers took to their weapons, and with the others 
 went into hiding among the trees, awaiting further 
 orders. 
 
 From where James Burbank stood he could not see the 
 camp. He had to go about fifty yards before the fires 
 were visible; and he resolved to wait till the half-breed re- 
 turned before he took any further measures. The lieu- 
 tenant was more impajtient, and]went forward a few yards. 
 
 Mars approached the camp, gliding silently from trunk 
 to trunk, hoping to get near enough to see how the men 
 were placed, and who they were, and how many they 
 were. This did not seem to be difficult. The night was 
 dark, and the fires gave but little light. But to succeed 
 he must get almost inside the camp. 
 
 To have the free use of his limbs as much as possible 
 he had taken with him neither rifle nor revolver. It 
 would be necessary to defend himself in silence, and his 
 only weapon was his axe. 
 
 Soon the bra^'e half-breed was close to one of the sen- 
 tries, who was only seven or eight yards from the fires. 
 All was still. Evidently the nien were tired after their 
 long march, and were asleep. The sentinels alone were 
 watching at their posts with more or less vigilance. 
 
 For a moment or so he looked at the man who was 
 nearest him. He was standing upright against a cypress- 
 trunk, and gave no si^/n of moving. His gun was rest- 
 ing on the ground, and he seemed half -asleep. Was it 
 possible to slip round him? 
 
 Mars crept stealthily towards him. Suddenly the 
 crackling of a dry branch revealed his presence. 
 
 Instantly the man raised his head and looked to the 
 right and left. 
 
 Doubtless he saw something suspicious, for he brought 
 his gun to his shoulder. 
 
Ëefore he Could fire Mars had knocked his gun up 
 against him and sent him flying to the ground, and at the 
 same time clapped his large hand on his mouth so that he 
 could utter no cry. A moment afterwards the man was 
 gagged, and carried hurriedly to James Burbank. 
 
 The other sentinels took no notice of what had passed. 
 Evidently their watch was a negligent one. 
 
 Mars laid his burden ai his young master's feet. The 
 blacks crowded up. The man was half-suffocated, and 
 when the gag was removed he could not for a moment or 
 so say a word. The darkness was too great for his uni- 
 form to be seen. 
 
 Help!" he shouted. 
 
 Not a word!" said James Burbank, stopping him. 
 " You have nothing to fear from us." 
 ^' What do you with me?" 
 " To answer truthfully to our questions." 
 "That will depend on your questions," said the man. 
 Are you for the South or the North?" 
 " For the North." 
 "I am ready to reply." 
 Gilbert took up the examination. 
 
 How many men are there in that camp?" 
 " Nearly two hundred." 
 "Where are they going?" 
 " To the Everglades." 
 "Who is in command?" 
 " Captain Ho wick." 
 
 "What, Captain Howick of the Wabash f 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Is it a detachment of seamen from Commodore Du- 
 pont's squadron?" 
 
 "Yes; Federals, Northerners, Anti-slavery men. 
 Unionists!" said the man, apparently quite proud at an- 
 nouncing the different titles of the followers of the good 
 cause. 
 
 And so, instead of a body of Florida militia, of Texar's 
 partisans, James Burbank had met with friends, with 
 companions in arms, whose reinforcement was most wel- 
 come. 
 
 " Hurrah!" they shouted with such vigour that the . 
 whole camp was instantly afoot. 
 
Suddenly torches flared up in the darkness. Burbank's 
 men rushed into the clearing, and Captain Howick, with- 
 out a word of explanation, held out his hand to the young 
 lieutenant, whom he never expected to meet on the road 
 to the Everglades. Explanations did not take lonff, nor 
 were they difficult. 
 
 ''What are you doing in Lower Florida, captain?" 
 asked Gilbert. 
 
 My dear Burbank," said the captain, we have been 
 sent on an expedition by the commodore." 
 
 Where do you come from?^' 
 _"From Mosquito Inlet, and we have been to capture 
 JNew Smyrna m the interior of the county." 
 
 " And where are you going now?" 
 
 " To punish a band of Southerners who took a couple 
 of our boats in an ambuscade, and to avenge the deaths 
 of our brave comrades." 
 
 And Captain Howick related what James Burbank 
 could not know, for it took place two days after he left 
 Oamdless Bay. 
 
 ^ Commodore Dupont was, it will be remembered, organ- 
 izing the effective blockade of the coast. In doing this 
 his flotilla was stationed off Anastasia Island, above St, 
 Augustine, at the mouth of the channel separating the 
 Bahamas from Cape Sable at the southern end of Florida. 
 But this did not seem enough to him, and he resolved to 
 give chase to the Southern vessels in the smaller rivers of 
 the peninsula. One of the expeditions on this service 
 consisted of a detachment of seamen and two boats. The 
 Southerners kept a careful watch on their proceedings, 
 and allowed the boats to get well up into the wild part of 
 Florida. To advance so far was certainly imprudent, for 
 the Indians and militia were in great foi ce in the neigh- 
 bourhood, and the result was that they fell into an ambus- 
 cade on the shore of Lake Kissimmee, about eighty miles 
 westward of Cape Malabar. They were attacked by a 
 numerous body of the enemy, and the two officers in com- 
 mand and many of the men were killed. The survivors 
 regained Mosquito Inlet by miracle, and Commodore 
 Dupont at once sent off an expedition to avenge the mas- 
 sacre of the Federals. 
 A detachment of two hundred men was placed under" 
 
coast, and, afL takint^^pl^™-^''"^' ''^"^ ""il-^^ f™» the 
 Captain How^L sS off to If '"''"'.f "^cessarj, 
 theVparty who" resnf .ihlf^ southwest in chase of 
 .acre anUis pa^^^ IfK t tt ^'^S-r^^ 
 
 /'fea1rtirolir^?^^L!r"' ^'^'"«"^^^^^ 
 
 there?" omcei. What are you going to do 
 
 gojn^tdo! cIS?'''* t"^-' - you are 
 
 II scoundrels 
 
 Eight days ago/' 
 
 "And you have not met anv mrfv nf q^, ^t, 
 your way^*" party. ot boutherners on 
 
 Do i ku^rhTmT'"' detachment you are after? 
 
 be so?S''?''- '^"'^ " ""t^h him Mr. Burbank will not 
 
 Au^g™ 
 
 sa„'lyo'^*a;;:^tr'' "Texarchief of theparti 
 
 sacre^'LTt'Lad^l L^%7tv ?eVo "^^-f't™-- 
 
 ascertained at New srvra thMr^'l^? """^ 
 to the Everglades." h« had taken himself off 
 
 asked^Oarrol.^"" '^^'^ ''^^^ J"" going to do?" 
 
 4h!t7s%h'rcom''«*teKef' d^'^^'r 
 ehall execute it wiSt deiay " ' """^ ^^^"^'i 
 
 prod:cedZttiank'''^Thîs ^'''^ 
 the almost certain de ivemnce of n!'"*T^™'"' ""«^n* 
 a^seured capture of the SpaS and V,^ """^ ^^T''''' t"»^ 
 the inerita^lepuBishLtt for his crime8'°°°'"P'''='^' ^''^ 
 
^3Ô ÏEiAR*S REVEîfÔE. 
 
 Gilbert tnen told Captain Howick the object of thei* 
 expedition to Southern Florida, which, in the first place, 
 meant the deliverance of Zermah and the girl, carried off 
 to Oarneral Island, as the half-breed's letter showed. The 
 captain also learnt that the alibi invoked by the Spaniard 
 at the court-martial could not be true, although they 
 could not at present disprove it. But with this ma^acre 
 at Kissimmee there seemed to be no chance of iexar 
 
 ^^An unexpected observation of James Burbank's, how- 
 ever, led to somewhat different thoughts. . , , 
 
 " Can you tell me," he asked Captain Howick, "when 
 the Federal boats were attacked?" ^„ , ^ , „ 
 The massacre took place on the 22nd of March 
 ^^But on the 22nd of March Texar was at Black Creek I 
 How could he have taken part in the massacre at Kissim- 
 mee, two hundred miles away?" 
 
 What do you mean?" asked the captain. 
 " I mean that Texar could not have been at the heaa 
 of the Southerners who attacked your men." ^ 
 
 You are mistaken, Mr. Burbank. The Spaniard was 
 seen by some of the men who escaped. I examined them 
 myself, and they recognized Texar from having seen him 
 
 at St. Augustine." ^ r^i -^i. 7^v 
 
 ^' That cannot be, captain. The letter written by Zei- 
 mah proves that on the 22nd of March Texar was at 
 
 Black Creek." , tt ^x. ^ i,;» 
 
 Gilbert had listened without a word. He saw that His 
 father must be right. The Spaniard could not have been 
 near Kissimmee on the day of the massacre. 
 
 '^What does it matter?" he said. -There is some- 
 thing about the man which at present we cannot under- 
 stand, and why should we try to do so? On the 22nd of 
 March he was at Black Creek, as Zermah says. On the 
 22nd he was at the head of a party of Floridans, two hun- 
 dred miles away, so you say. Well, .be it so We are 
 agreed that he is now in the Everglades. Let us catch 
 him as soon as we can!" , . tt - ^ a k^a 
 
 " Yes, Gilbert, that's it," said Captain Howick. And 
 we'll shoot him anyhow! Let us be off." 
 
 The fact, like the others, was none the less incompre- 
 hensible. It seemed as though the Spaniard had a double. 
 
ÏHË ÉVESGtAfiÈS. 231 
 
 Would the mystery be cleared up? In any case the 
 only thing to do was to make snre of Tezar and 
 Howick's seamen and Burbank's negroes fell in toeetW 
 and resumed their way to the south togeUiei, 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE ETEKGLADBS. 
 
 A HOEEIBLB district is that of the Everglades and vp+ 
 It IS superb Situated in the southern part of PIorM 
 extends right down to Cape Sable, the extreme no nt' of 
 waterôf 'V'-f ™mense marsr The 
 
 =oft;:^ASp„VL'MSfr 
 œiiShi^a^^r^ 
 
 ^But let It not be supposed that it is barren On thp 
 Z^f'rTT' Përtmes o^ he^wtnTerSlX:" 
 
 tSe^œ^^^^^^^ 
 
 IS just a little below the twerty^eyL th mr.n;? ' T^'''''' 
 flnZr^'r", '''^^ Clr3 li'nî wire Tex"ar 
 
 def^'^usuit''' '° which Te Sum 
 
 The country was worthv of him on/f t.;. 
 
232 TEXAr'S REVEKGliî. 
 
 Creeks and Seminoles and nomadic Indians who were 
 only subdued after the long bloody war that ended m 
 1845. 
 
 Oameral Island seemed safe from all attack. On the 
 eastern side it is separated from the mainland by a narrow 
 channel about a hundred feet across, and the only means 
 of communication was a heavy boat. To escape by swim- 
 ming was impossible, for no one would dare to enter the 
 slimy water which bristled with long interlacing plants and 
 swarmed with reptiles. i, i* 
 
 Beyond was the cvpress forest with the ground Jùaii 
 under water and traVersed but by narrow paths which 
 were by no means easy to trace. A clayey soil sticking 
 to the feet like glue, enormous trunks of fallen trees bar- 
 ring the way, and a sufEocating odour pf mouldiness were 
 among the other obstacles to be overcome m .the ap- 
 proach. And there were masses of formidable plants, 
 such as the phylacias, and millions of pezizas, gigantic 
 mushrooms, as explosive as if they were charged with 
 gun-cotton or dynamite, going off with a violent report at 
 the slightest shock and filling the air with a choking 
 cloud of tawny spores that give the human skm an erup- 
 tion of painful pustules, so that the spiteful vegetables 
 have to be avoided as carefully as the most dangerous ani- 
 mals of the teratologic world. ^ 
 
 Texar's dwelling was an old Indian wigwam built on 
 piles under the branches of the large trees in the eastern 
 end of the island. Hidden amid the foliage, it was invis- 
 ible even from the nearest bank. The two hounds 
 guarded it with as much vigilance as they did the block- 
 house at Black Creek, and, trained to the chase of men, 
 would tear in pieces any one attempting to approach the 
 
 wigwam. t\ a 
 
 Two days had passed since Zermah and little Dy naa 
 arrived. The journey had been easy enough till they 
 reached Lake Washington, but after entering the cypress 
 forest it had been exceedingly painful, even for the vig-or- 
 ous men who were used to the unhealthy climate and the 
 long wearisome advance through the marsh. What the 
 woman and child had suffered can be imagined! But 
 Zermah was strong, brave, and devoted, and throughout 
 the journey had carried little Dy whose legs would soon 
 
"CHE BVEBGLADBS. 233 
 
 hare failed her; and when she re;iched Car-.oral Island 
 she was almost exhausted. ^wduu 
 And after what had passed when Texar and Sqnambo 
 
 sJie stui held out ? She had no means of knowing that 
 the letter she had given to the young slave hadfa Hel into 
 
 with his life for the act of devotion by which he had at 
 tempted to save her. He had bee/ surprised at the 
 moment he was starting for Camdless Bay, and had been 
 mortally wounded; and the half-breed had said to herself 
 that now James Burbank would never know that the 
 Spaniard was going to Carneral Island, and how could he 
 get any clue to her whereabouts ? How then couW she 
 retain the shadow of a hope ? Every chance oî ZtTtt 
 
 knewloo^weT T^' " '"^^^ -gio/wtr holS 
 -^.i T**": , ^^'^ o° escape was possible ! 
 
 ,„i7» !f 7 ^ °* Srei^^ weakness ; and in 
 
 111. l'aie and emaciated as if she had been poisoned bv 
 lno,rwf the marshes, she was no logger strong 
 bu? f f.w "î'^ ^""^ •'""I'i difficulty uttef 
 
 but a few words, which were always an inquiry for her 
 mother. Zermah could no longer tell her, a7she had 
 
 cZk Lf\^''^ -^^y^ ^''"^ arriÇal at Black 
 Creek that she would soon see Mrs. Burbank, and that 
 
 cZitV'^mk b'" ^^'^ M-^' soon 
 
 come to her. With her precocious intelligence rendered 
 more acute since the dreadful scenes at th^ plantation 
 Dy saw that she had been torn from her home and wal ?n 
 
 her ' i ^ ""'t""^ ^""^ ""^les^ «"""^ ca^ to 
 so 7err^»rt' "^T^'- ^S^™ «60 Camdless Bay. And 
 so Zermah knew not what to answer, and in spite of all 
 she could do, saw the child gradually'wasting Zly 
 season Tffffi '™ o?ly a huge hut which fn the winter 
 season afforded no adequate protection. The wind and 
 the ram penetrated it on all sides. But in the hTseaton 
 which was now coming on in this latitude? it at lea 4 pro 
 yided shelter from the heat of the sun. 'it wa divided 
 
 badlya[e"dTnd1-;'^'r*' ■ O"*' narrow and 
 tot w f tbf communicate with the open air, 
 
 but with the other room,, which obtained its light from â 
 
234 texar's eevbnge. 
 
 door that opened on to the bank of the narrow channel. 
 Zermah and Dy had been lodged in the small room, where 
 a litter of herbs served them for a bed. _ 
 
 The other room was occupied by Texar and the Indian 
 Squambo, who never left his master. For furniture, they 
 had a table with many jars of brandy, and glasses and a 
 few plates, a sort of cupboard for provisions, a half -squared 
 tree-trunk for a seat and two bundles of herbs for beds. 
 The fire necessary to cook the meals was made on the 
 stone hearth outside, in one of the angles of the wigwam 
 and it proved sufficient for the preparation of the dried 
 meat and venison that a hunter could find on the island, 
 and the fruits and vegetables in an almost wild state, just 
 enough, in fact, to keep them from dying of hunger. 
 
 The half-dozen slaves Texar had brought with him 
 from Black Greek slept out of doors like the dogs, and 
 like them served as guards on the approaches. 
 
 From the first day Dy and Zermah were allowed to go 
 out and in as they pleased. They were no longer impris- 
 oned in their rooms. But they were watched. The pre- 
 caution was superfluous, for no one could cross the chan- 
 nel without using the boat that was always m the sate 
 keeping of the blacks. And as she walked about Zermah 
 took careful notice of the difficulties of escape. 
 
 The first day the half-breed was never out of sight of 
 Squambo; but she did not see Texar. When night came 
 she, however, heard the Spaniard talking to the Seminole, 
 and ordering him to keep a strict watch. And soon all 
 but Zermah were asleep in the wigwam. 
 
 Up to then Zermah, it should be said, had not had a 
 single word spoken to her by Texar. As she ascended 
 the river towards Lake Washington, she had in vain asked 
 him what he was going to do with her and the child. 
 And while she spoke the Spaniard contented himself with 
 shrugging his shoulders and fixing his cruel eyes on her, 
 and looking as if he scorned to answer. But Zermah had 
 no intention of giving in. When she reached Carneral 
 Island, she resolved to attack Texar so as to excite his 
 pity, if not for herself, at least for the unfortunate child, 
 and if his pity failed her to appeal to his self-interest. 
 
 An opportunity offered. The day after her arriva), 
 while the little girl was asleep, Zermah walked out towards 
 
THE EVERGLADES. 235 
 
 the channel by the side of which Texar was then standing 
 and giving orders with Squambo to the slaves, who were 
 at work weeding, for the water was so choked that the 
 barge could hardly pass. , While this was being done two 
 ot the negroes were striking the surface of the water with 
 long poles so as to frighten away the reptiles whose heads 
 appeared every now and then above the surface 
 
 A moment afterwards Squambo left his master, and 
 lexar was also going away when Zermah came up 
 
 Texar -vsaid Zermah firmly, -I wish to speak to you. 
 I^his will be the last time, doubtless, and I beg you to hear 
 
 The Spaniard, who had just lighted his cigarette, did 
 not answer, and Zermah having waited a few seconds con- 
 tmued, — 
 
 Burbank ^""^^ me what you are going to do with Dy 
 No reply. 
 
 "I say nothing about my own fate. All I have to do 
 with now IS that of this child, whose life is in danger, and 
 who will soon escape you." 
 
 At this Texar made a gesture of the most absolute in- 
 credulity. 
 
 fl-'iT-?^ .Tf7 f^^^" continued Zermah. "If not by 
 flight it will be by death." . "J 
 
 reefed ^^'"'^'"'^ ^^""^ ^ ^^^^ ^^^^ cigarette, and 
 
 V \ S^^^ ^^g^t after a few days' 
 
 rest, and I reckon on your care, Zermah, to retain its nre- 
 cious existence for us." ^ 
 
 A 'l^^^i/^Ç®''*'.-, •^^^^''^ ^^^3^ 1^^^ child will be 
 dead, and dead without any profit to you " 
 
 -Without profit!" replied Texar, - when I have her 
 lar from her dying mother, her father and her brother 
 reduced to despair?" ^Jiotner 
 
 T " -^^'^'^''r'^'^ Zermah. -You have your revenge, 
 Texar, but beheve me it would be more to your advantage 
 to give up the child than to keep her here " 
 ''What is that you say?" 
 
 or.'^'^i.^îw^* you have made James Burbank suffer 
 enough; that now it is your interest to sneak " 
 My interest ?" 
 
236 texar's revenge. 
 
 " Certainly. The plantation of Camdless Bay has been 
 laid waste. Mrs. Burbank is dying, perhaps dead at this 
 moment: her daughter has disappeared, and her father is 
 vainly endeavoring to find her. All this has been done 
 bv vou, Texar. I know it ! and I have the right to tell 
 vou so to your face. But take care 1 Your crimes will 
 be discovered some day, and think of the punishment that 
 will come to you! Your best interest now is to show pity. 
 I do not speak for myself, though my husband wiU not 
 find me when he returns. No, I speak only for the little 
 sirl who is dying. Keep me if you like, but send the child 
 back to Camdless Bay to her mother; then they will never 
 ask you about the past, and if you want it they will even 
 pay you well for the girFs liberty. If I take upon myself 
 to speak like this, and propose this exchange it is because 
 I know James Burbank and his people to the bottom ot 
 their hearts; because I know they would sacrifice all their 
 fortune to save the child, and I call God to witness they 
 will keep the promise their slave has made." 
 
 "Their slave?" exclaimed Texar ironically. " ihere 
 are now no slaves at Camdless Bay." 
 
 " There are; for in order to stay with my master 1 re- 
 fused to be set free." ^ a - a 
 "Indeed, Zermah, indeed!" answered the bpaniara. 
 "Well, since you do not mind being a slave we can under- 
 stand each other. Six or seven years ago I wished to buy 
 vou of my friend Tickborn. I offered for you, for you 
 alone, a considerable sum, and you would have belonged 
 to me ever since if James Burbank had not got hold oî 
 vou. Now I have you, and I will keep you." 
 
 " Be it so, Texar," said Zermah. " I will be your slave. 
 But the child ! Will you not give her up ?" 
 
 " The child of James Burbank !" answered Texar m a 
 tone of the deepest hatred. Give her up to her father . 
 Never !" 
 
 " Villain !" exclaimed Zermah in anger. It her father 
 does not take her from you, God will !" 
 
 A OTin, a shrug of the shoulders, and that was all the 
 Spaniard's answer. He had rolled up a second cigarette 
 and lighted it calmly with the end of the last, and strolled 
 off up the bank of the channel without another look at 
 Zermah, who would have struck him as if he had been a 
 
THE EVERGLADES. 237 
 
 wild beast, at the risk of being massacred by Squambo 
 and his companions, had she only had a weapon. But she 
 could do nothing. Motionless she stood and watched the 
 blacks at work Nowhere a friendly face; nothing but 
 the faces of brutes hardly seeming to be human. And she 
 went back to the wigwam to resume her part of mother 
 to the child who m a feeble voice was calling her She 
 tried to console the poor little creature, whom she took 
 m her arms and animated with her kisses; and then she 
 brought the child outside and gave her a warm drink made 
 on the hearth. All she could do in her state of destitu- 
 tion she did. Dy thanked her with a smile-and such a 
 smile— sadder than if it had been tears. 
 
 A^^'Th^f ""^^ '"w*^^ Spaniard again all that day. 
 And she did not seek to see him. What good would it 
 do He would not change his sentiments, and by these 
 recriminations things might become worse. For though 
 ^itJ f^ during her stay at Black Creek, and since ter 
 arrival at Carneral Island, the worst treatment had been^ 
 spared her and the child, there was everything to be feared 
 from such a man. A fit of anger might drive him to the 
 greatest violence. No pity could be expected from him! 
 
 7^if \ if .r.^ «f liis hate 
 
 Zermah had given up all hope in the future. As to the 
 Sî^iTï?" companions, Squambo and the slaves, how 
 could they be expected to be more human than their 
 nia^ter ? They knew the fate that awaited them if they 
 showed the slightest sympathy. From them nothing 
 was to be hoped. Zermah must trust to herself Her 
 
 tSght! ""^^ ^''''^^ ^""^ ^"^"^^^ 
 
 But how ? The ring of water that surrounded the island 
 must be crossed, and though near the wigwam the chan 
 ne was narrow, yet it could not be swum. There was 
 only one chance and that was to seize on the barge 
 
 on ' V^'^ come 
 
 on and the wind swept fiercely across the marsh. 
 
 A^^^ impossible for Zermah to quit the wigwam 
 
 aUn^uT ""^^^ perhaps it would n™ 
 
 through. ' "^^^^ ^ ^""^^ ^^"^ ^''^ 
 
 Ten o^dock came, and nothing was heard outside but 
 
238 
 
 texab's eevenge. 
 
 the moaning of the storm. Texar and Squambo were 
 asleep. The hounds hiding under one of the thickets no 
 longer prowled round the dwelling. 
 The moment was favourable. 
 
 While Dj lay sleeping on the couch of herbs, Zermah 
 begân to pull away quietly the straw and reeds in the side 
 wall of the wigwam. 
 
 At the end of an hour the hole was only large enough 
 for the girl to get through, and she was making it larger 
 when a noise suddenly stopped her. 
 
 The noise came from far out in the darkness, and was 
 the barking of the hounds announcing some arrival. Texar 
 and Squambo, suddenly awakened, got up, and hurriedly 
 went out. 
 
 Voices were heard. Evidently a troop of men had 
 reached the opposite bank of the channel. Zermah must 
 for the present give up her attempt at flight. 
 
 Soon, in spite of the tumult of the storm, it was easy to 
 distinguish the sound of many footsteps. Zermah listened. 
 What was happening? Had Providence taken pity on 
 her ? Had the help come on which she had not dared to 
 reckon ? 
 
 No, and she knew it could not be so, for there was no 
 sound of a struggle as the channel was crossed, no reports 
 of firearms. It was a reinforcement that had arrived at 
 Carneral Island. 
 
 A minute afterwards Zermah saw two persons enter the 
 wigwam. The Spaniard was accompanied by another man 
 who could not be Squambo, for the Indian's voice could 
 be heard outside on the bank of the channel. 
 
 Two men were, however, iii the room. They had begun 
 to talk in a low voice, when they suddenly stopped. One 
 of them, lantern in hand, came towards Zermah's room, 
 and she had only just time to throw herself on the bed so 
 as to hide the hole in the wall. 
 
 Texar, for it was he, opened the door, looked round the 
 room, saw the half-breed apparently asleep by the side of 
 the child, and retired. 
 
 Zermah then took her place behind the door he had 
 shut. If she could not see or recognize the strange man, 
 she could hear all that passed. 
 
 And this is what she heard. 
 
WHAT ZEBMAH OVEEHEABD. 
 
 239 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 WHAT ZEEMAH OVERHEARD. 
 
 *^You, at Carneral Island 
 
 Yes. I have been here for some hours/^ 
 " I thought you were at Adamsville, near Lake Apop- 
 
 ka 
 
 " I was there a week ago." 
 " And why have you come here 
 Because I had to do so/^ 
 
 We ought never to meet, you know, except in the 
 marsh at Black Creek, and then only after you have writ- 
 ten to tell me \" 
 
 ^'But I had to beat a hurried retreat, and escape to the 
 Everglades/' 
 
 ^^Whyr 
 
 '^I am going to tell you." 
 "But is there no risk of our being found out V 
 "No ! I came in the dark, and none of your slaves 
 saw me/' 
 
 Zermah listened, but she could not up to this point 
 make out the meaning of the conversation, nor could she 
 imagine who was the wigwam's unexpected guest. There 
 were certainly two men talking; and yet it seemed as 
 though it was only one man who questioned and answered. 
 The voice was the same; the accent was the same; the 
 words seemed to come from the same mouth. In vain 
 Zermah tried to look through a crack in the door. The 
 room was lighted but feebly, and remained in a half- 
 shadow which prevented the least object from being dis- 
 tinguished. The half-breed had therefore to content her- 
 self with listening as intently as possible to a conversation 
 which might be of extreme importance for her. 
 
 After a moment's silence the two men had continued as 
 follows. Evidently it was Tç^ar who asked the first ques- 
 tion, ^ 
 
240 
 
 TEXAR*S REVENGE. 
 
 You have not come alone?" 
 " Ko; some of our men came with me to the Ever- 
 glades." 
 
 "How many?" 
 "Forty." 
 
 " Are you not afraid that they will find out what we 
 have kept secret from them for so long?" 
 
 "' No. They will never see us together. When they 
 leave Oarneral Island they will have learnt nothing, and 
 the plan of our life will in no way be changed." 
 
 And Zermah thought she could hear the clasp of the 
 hands as they met in token of continued friendship. 
 
 Then the conversation was resumed. 
 
 " What has happened since Jacksonville was taken?" 
 
 "A serious business. You know that Dupont took 
 possession of St. Augustine?" 
 
 " Yes, I know; and you, I suppose, know whyl know?" 
 
 "Yes! The story of the Fernandina train came in 
 handy to allow you to establish the aliM that forced the 
 court to acquit you." 
 
 " Which did not quite suit them! Bah! It is not the 
 first time we have got off like that." 
 
 " And it won't be the last. But do you know what 
 the Federals are after in occupying St. Augustine? It 
 was not so much to hjold the capital of St. John's 
 county as to organize the blockade of the Atlantic coast." 
 
 "So I heard." 
 
 " Well, to watch the coast from the mouth of the St. 
 John's to the Bahamas did not seem to be enough for 
 Dupont, and he resolved to follow up contraband of war 
 into the interior of Florida. So he sent off two boats' 
 crews. Have you heard of this?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "But when did you leave Black Creek? Some days 
 after you were acquitted?" 
 
 " Yes! The 22nd of this month." 
 " This took place on the 22nd." 
 
 It should be remembered that Zermah knew nothing of 
 the ambuscade at Kissimmee, of which Captain Howick 
 had spoken to Gilbert at their meeting in the forest. So 
 she, like the Spaniard, heard for the first time how the 
 boiits h^(î been tjurnt, hardly a dozen guvviyorç had 
 
WHAT zmuAQ ormnuARî). 
 
 241 
 
 found their way back to the Commodore with news of 
 the disaster. 
 
 ''Well! well!" exclaimed Texar. ''That is a happy 
 revenge for the capture of Jacksonville, and if we can 
 hire those infernal Northerners into the thick of Florida, 
 not one of them will get back." 
 
 "Not one. If we can get them among the marshes of 
 the Everglades. And we shall have them there before 
 long." 
 
 " What do you mean?" 
 
 " Dupont has sworn to avenge the death of his officers 
 and sailors, and a new expedition has been sent out to 
 the south of St. John's county." 
 
 "The Federals are coming from that quarter?" 
 
 " Yes, but more numerous and better armed, and well 
 on their guard against ambuscades." 
 
 " Have you met them?" 
 
 "No, for our people are not in force now, and we have 
 had to retreat. But, as we retired we drew them on after 
 us. When we have been joined by the militia who are 
 somewhere about, we will fall on them, and not one shall 
 escape." 
 
 " Where did they come from?" 
 
 " Mo.quito Inlet." 
 
 " Which way did they come?" 
 
 " Through the cypress grove." 
 
 " Where are they now?" 
 
 " About forty miles from Carneral Island." 
 
 " Good," said Texar. '• We must get them further 
 south, for there is not a day to lose in concentrating the 
 militia. If necessary, we must be off to-morrow to the 
 shore of the Bahama Channel." 
 
 " And from there, if we are pressed before we can col- 
 lect our friends, we will find a safe retreat in the English 
 islands." 
 
 The different matters alluded to in this conversation 
 were of the greatest interest to Zermah. If Texar de- 
 cided to leave the island, would he take the prisoners with 
 him, or would he leave them at the wigwam in charge of 
 Squambo? In that case it would be better not to attempt 
 to escape until after the Spaniard's departure. Then she 
 might, perhaps, have a better chance of success,- And 
 
242 
 
 perhaps the Federal expedition then in Lower î^lorida 
 might reach Lake Okee-cho-bee, in sight of Carneral 
 Island. 
 
 But these hopes vanished almost as soon as they rose. 
 For the next question that was asked was, what was to be 
 done; with the half-breed and child, and to it Texar an- 
 swered, without hesitation, 
 
 " I shall take them with me, if necessary, to the Ba- 
 hamas." 
 
 But will the little girl bear the discomforts of the 
 voyage?" 
 
 '*Yes! I will answer for that; and besides, Zermah 
 knows how she can avoid them!"^ 
 " But if the child were to die?" 
 
 " I had rather have her dead than give her back to her 
 father!" 
 
 Ah! you are a good hater of these Burbahks!" 
 As good as you are!" 
 
 Zermah could hardly contain herself, and was on the 
 point of throwing open the door and meeting face to face 
 these two men, who were so like to each other, not only 
 in voice, but in evil instinct and want of conscience and 
 heart. But she controlled herself. Better hear to the 
 end what Texar and his accomplice had to say. When 
 their talk was at an end perhaps they would sleep! Then 
 there might be time to escape before they left the island. 
 
 Evidently the Spaniard was in the position of one who 
 had everything to learn from him he was talking to. 
 And so he continued to question him. 
 
 "What news is there from the north?" 
 
 "Nothing of much importance. Unfortunately, it 
 seems as though the Federals were getting the best of it, 
 and that the slave cause is done for." 
 
 "Bah!" said Texar, in a tone of indifference. 
 
 " Well, we are neither for South nor N"orth, really, are 
 we?" 
 
 "No. The only thing is, while they are at each other's 
 throats to be always on the side where most is to be 
 gained." 
 
 In this remark Texar revealed his true character. The 
 two men fished in the troubled water of civil war only 
 for what they could catch. 
 
WHAT ËERMAH OVERHEARD. 
 
 248 
 
 ^'But," said Texar, "what has happened in Florida 
 during the last week?" 
 
 "Nothing that you do not know. Stevens remains 
 master of the St. John^s up to Picolata." 
 
 " And he does not seem to care to come further down?" 
 
 "No; the gunboats have not been sent to the south of 
 the county. And I fancy the occupation of this river 
 will soon end, and that the Confederates will get back the 
 command of the whole stream." 
 
 "How?" 
 
 "There is a rumour that Dupont intends to abandon 
 Florida, and leave two or three ships to blockade the 
 coast." 
 
 "Can that be possible?" 
 
 "They are talking about it; and if so, St. Augustine 
 will soon be evacuated." 
 "And Jacksonville?" 
 "Jacksonville, too." 
 
 " Then I can go back, get the committee together again, 
 and resume the place the Federals pushed me from! 
 Ah! my northerners, if I come back, you will see how 1 
 will treat you !" 
 
 "That is so." 
 
 "And if James Burbank and his people have not 
 cleared out of Camdless Bay they will not again escape 
 me." 
 
 " That is right. All that you have suffered from them 
 I have suffered with you. What you wish, I wish ! what 
 you hate, I hate! The two of us are but as one." 
 
 "Yes ! as one !" replied Texar. 
 
 The conversation stopped for an instant. The clink 
 of the glasses told Zermah that the Spaniard and the other 
 man were drinking together. Zermah was thunderstruck. 
 To listen to them it seemed as though these two men had 
 had an equal hand in every crime committed during the 
 last few years in Florida, and more particularly in those 
 against the Burbank family. She learned much as she 
 listened to them for another half-hour, and all the time 
 the same voice gave question and answer, as. if Texar were 
 alone and talking to himself. Here was a mystery which 
 the half-breed had the greatest interest in discovering. 
 But if the villains knew that Zermah had heard some of 
 
244 
 
 texab's revenge. 
 
 their secrets would they not settle the danger by killing 
 her ? And what would become of the child when Zermah 
 was dead ? 
 
 It was about eleven o'clock. The weather continued 
 terrible ; wind and rain blew and fell without ceasing. 
 Assuredly Texar and his companion would not leave their 
 shelter'. They would pass the night in the wigwam, and 
 do nothing till the morning. 
 
 And Zermah's doubts ended when Texar's accomplice 
 —who ought to have been Texar himself— asked,— 
 
 " Well, what shall we do ?" 
 
 " This,'' said the Spaniard. " To-morrow morning we 
 will go with our men and reconnoitre round the lake. 
 We will explore the cypress grove for three or four miles, 
 after sending on in advance those who know it best, par- 
 ticularly Squambo. If there are no signs of the approach 
 of the Federal detachment, we will return and wait till it 
 is time to retreat. If there is danger, we will get together 
 our partisans and my slaves, and I will take Zermah off 
 to the Bahama Channel while you concentrate the militia 
 in Lower Florida." 
 
 Agreed," said the other ; " while you reconnoitre I 
 will hide in the woods on the island. It will not do for 
 us to be seen together." 
 
 "No! certainly not!" said Texar. "We must keep 
 from any imprudence that would reveal our secret. Do 
 not come back here till to-morrow night ; and, if I am 
 obliged to go off during the day, do not leave the island 
 till I have got clear away. Meet me, then at Cape Sable." 
 
 Zermah then saw that she could not be rescued by the 
 Federals. If in the morning their approach was discov- 
 ered, the Spaniard would not leave the island without 
 her. She could only be saved by her own efforts, great 
 as was the danger. Escape under such difficult circum- 
 stances was almost impossible. 
 
 But with what courage would she have attempted it 
 had she known that James Burbank, Gilbert, Mars and 
 his companions at the plantation were on their way to 
 deliver her from Texar ; that her letter had told them 
 where to look for her ; that already Mr. Burbank was up 
 the St. John's, beyond Lake Washington; that the 
 greater part of the cypress grove had been crossed ; that 
 
WtiÀ'r ZEEMAH oveehêaMo. , 24S 
 
 the little band from Camdless Bay had been joined by 
 the detachment under Captain Howick; that it was 
 Texar whom they looked upon as the author of The 
 
 Wed tn'/\?'''TT' ^^'^ scoundrel was to be 
 hunted to death and that he would be shot on the spot 
 if they could only get hold of him ' ^ 
 
 l,«l^"L^f™'''' ''"f V^i^'^S of this. She could wait for 
 he p no longer And she resolved to risk everything to 
 get away from Carnaral Island. eveiyi,niug to 
 
 But she must wait for twenty-four hours before she 
 made her attempt, although the iight was very dark and 
 favourable for her chance of escape The men who had 
 
 ifZm *1hë ^'^'^r r""' '''''' an round the 
 wigwam. She could hear them walking about on the 
 
 feT"."^""^ and talking. If her attempt failed, Tf her 
 plan was discovered, she would be worse o4 than she wa^ 
 Sfï^^l'*^ «^''"^^ for his violence. ' 
 
 „nt th! Q "l?"® ^'f^'P* ''«"«r to-morrow ? Had 
 Zn ÏL^rî'^''^ T'^ companions, his slavesT 
 
 even the Indian Squambo, would accompany him to 
 
 com°e out of th^i', ^f'^''"' "t^^"".* • ^""^^ JornèSing 
 come out of this to increase her chance, of getting awav^ 
 
 I j^ TJu ^"^"^^ "•'annel without beilgle/n" 
 safe ''st con d7'^' '^'.^'^ she wo^uW bê 
 
 hanàs CaZ n "'^^ ?Sain fall into Texar's 
 
 nanas. Captain Howick could not be far off. If he was 
 
 IhlZ'f^ .'T''^' t^' Okee-cho-bee, was there nol a 
 chance that she might meet with him ' 
 
 Better, therefore, wait for to-morrow! But hardlv had 
 
 she so decided, than something happened that at once 
 
 swe^t away the scaffold on which ^er last hopes were 
 
 There came a knock at the wigwam door. It was 
 
 ^"Zt' v^^ T^t ï"'^^" '^'^«^û to "taster, 
 inter!" said the Spaniard. 
 
 Squambo came in. 
 
 "'k^J^ TJ """iT ?" asked. 
 
 aW" ^ ^""^ ^"o^ at the least 
 
 will do so," said Squambo. 
 in the WtT '""^'^g^^^"! reconnoitre for some miles 
 
' ' The half -breed and Dy ?" " 
 Will be under guard as usual. See that no one dis- 
 turbs us here." 
 Right." 
 
 What are the men doing?" . 4. w 
 
 " Walking about. None of them seem to care to rest. 
 
 See that none get far away.". 
 ''None shall go." 
 " What is the weather like?" 
 
 " Not so bad as it was. . The rain has stopped, and the 
 wind will soon drop." 
 ''Good." 
 
 Zermah had listened to all this. The conversation was 
 evidently nearing its end, when a stifled sigh, a sort of 
 rattle, made itself heard. 
 
 Zermah^s blood flowed back to her heart. She rose, 
 rushed to the bed of herbs, and bent over the httle 
 2'irl. 
 
 Dy had just awoke, and in what a state! A choking, 
 husky breath was escaping from her lips. Her little hands 
 were beating the air, as if she sought to drag it into her 
 mouth. Zermah could just hear the words,— 
 
 '• Drink! water!" 
 
 The child was being suffocated. She must be taken 
 into the air at once. In the darkness Zermah, distracted, 
 took her in her arms to revive her with her own breath. 
 She felt her struggle in a convulsion. She uttered a cry 
 —she burst open the door of the room. 
 
 Two men were there, standing before Squambo. But 
 so like were they in face and build that Zermah could not 
 tell which of them was Texar. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ADOUBLELIFE. 
 
 A FEW words will sufiice to explain that which has 
 hitherto seemed inexplicabJe in this story. 
 
 The men before whom Zermah had suddenly appeared 
 were twins. 
 
 Where they were born they themselves did not know. 
 Probably their birthplace was some village of Texas— 
 whence the name of Texar by merely changing a letter. 
 _ Texas, it will be remembered, is an extensive tern tory, 
 situated in the south of the United States, and on the Gulf 
 of Mexico. After revolting against the Mexicans, Texas 
 assisted by the United States in its woi-k of independence 
 was annexed to the Union in 1845, under the présidence 
 of John Tyler. 
 
 It was about fifteen years before this annexation that 
 two children were found abandoned in a village on the 
 Texan coast, and were taken care of and brought up by 
 public charity. 
 
 Attention was first directed to the children on account 
 of their marvellous resemblance. They had the same 
 gestures, the same voice, the same attitudes, the same 
 physiognomy, and it may be added the same instincts tes- 
 tifying to a precocious perversity. We know not how 
 they were educated, nor what instruction they received, 
 nor to what family they belonged, unless it was to one of 
 those who roamed about the country after the declaration 
 of independence. 
 
 As soon as the brothers Texar thought they could sup- 
 port themselves, they disappeared. This was when they 
 were about twelve years old. They then took to a life of 
 thieving among the fields and farms, stealing bread in 
 one place, fruit in another, ending at length in highway 
 robbery. Then they ceased to be seen in the Texan 
 villages m the company of lawbreakers, who, even in 
 
m 
 
 those early days, had put their strange resemblance toao 
 
 forgotten even by name. And although the name be- 
 came notorious enough in Florida, nothing happened to 
 show that they had passed their early years in the coast 
 districts of Texas. 
 
 But how was it that after their disappearance no one 
 knew that there were two ïexars? It was on this igno- 
 rance that their plans had been built. As was ascertained 
 later on when the duality was discovered and proved, the 
 brothers for twenty or thirty years lived apart. Fortune 
 they sought in all ways; but they did not meet again 
 except at rare intervals away from observation, either in 
 America, or wherever their search after fortune led 
 them. 
 
 One of them — which it was not known, though it was 
 probably both — engaged in the slave trade. They brought 
 cargoes of slaves from the coasts of Africa to the Southern 
 States of the Union, acting as intermediaries between the 
 merchants on the coast and the captains of the ships em- 
 ployed in the inhuman traffic. 
 
 i)id their trade prosper? We do not know. But prob- 
 ably not; for it diminished rapidly, and was finally put 
 a stop to when the slave trade was denounced as a barbar- 
 ism, and gradually abolished by the civilized world. 
 
 The brothers had not made their fortune, and they re- 
 solved to do so at any price. It was then they resolved 
 to avail themselves of their extraordinary resemblance. 
 
 It often happens that such a resemblance dies away as 
 the children grow to manhood. But this was not the 
 case with the Texars. The older they got, the more their 
 physical and moral resemblance increased. It was im- 
 possible to distinguish one from the other either by his 
 face or his figure or his gestures or voice. And resolving 
 to take advantage of this natural peculiarity, they entered 
 upon a hateful career of crime, intending if one was caught 
 to establish an alibi by means of the other. When one 
 went off to commit some act that would bring him within 
 reach of the law, the other would show himself in public, 
 so that all criminating evidence would fail. Of course, 
 they never allowed themselves to be taken in the act, for 
 then no alibi could have been pleaded. 
 
 The Texar brothers were soon 
 
À DOUBLE LIFE. 
 
 249 
 
 Having drawn up their programme the twins came to 
 Florida, where neither of them was known, the attraction 
 being the numerous opportunities offered in a state where 
 the Indians still carried on a struggle against the Ameri- 
 cans and the Spaniards. 
 
 It was about 1850 or 1851 that Texar appeared in the 
 Floridan peninsula— Texar, not the Texars, be it under- 
 stood, for it was their intention never to be seen together, 
 never to be on the same day in the same place. 
 
 Hiding themselves thus under a complete incognito, 
 they found a retreat that was quite as mysterious. This 
 was in Black Creek which they discovered in one of 
 their explorations of the St. John's. There they brought 
 a few slaves, to whom their secret was not revealed. 
 Squambo alone knew the mystery of their double exist- 
 ence. The confidant was worthy of his masters, whom 
 he served with unequalled devotion and discretion, and 
 pitilessly executed their commands. 
 
 Never, it need scarcely be said, did they appear to- 
 gether at Black Creek. When they wished to consult on 
 any matter they wrote to each other. We have, in fact, 
 seen their post-office. A letter was slipped into the stalk 
 of a leaf, snd the leaf was fixed to the branch of a tulip- 
 tree in the neighbouring marsh. This means never failed 
 them. Every day Squambo cautiously visited the tree. 
 If he was the bearer of a letter from the Texar then at 
 Black Creek he fixed it to the branch of a tulip-tree. If 
 the letter had been written by the other brother the In- 
 dian found it in the usual place and took it back to the 
 blockhouse. 
 
 After their arrival in Florida the Texars leagued them- 
 selves with all that was bad among the population. Many 
 of the criminal classes became their accomplices in the 
 numerous robberies that then took place, and these be- 
 came their accomplices later on when the war brought them 
 to the front in political matters. But although some- 
 times one and sometimes another took the lead in these 
 matters, their companions never knew that there were 
 two Texars. Thus it was that an alihi was always forth- 
 coming when a Texar was brought to answer for his 
 crimes. Thus it was that although James Burbank and 
 Z^mah had positively recognized the Spaniard as the 
 
250 
 
 Texas's revenge. 
 
 author ot the fire^, he had been acquitted by the tribunal 
 at St. Augustine, for numerous witnesses swore that at 
 the time of^the crime he was in Torillo^s tienda at Jack- 
 sonville. And so it was regarding the attack on Camdless 
 Bay. How could Texar be leading the assault at Castle 
 House/ or carrying away Zermah and Dy when he was 
 one of the prisoners made by the Federals at Fernandina, 
 and then in safe keeping on one of the gunboats ? 
 
 And even admitting that the duality of Texar was 
 known, how could they tell which of them was the cul- 
 prit ? Were there not in fact two who were guilty ? 
 Should not the justly-merited punishment fall on both ? 
 
 At Jacksonville it was probable that both brothers had 
 in turn played the same part after the outbreak. When 
 Texar No. 1 absented himself on some agreed expedition, 
 Texar No. 2 would take his place without the people be- 
 ing aware of the change. They thus took an equal part 
 in the excesses then committed against the colonists of 
 Northern birth and the Southern planters holding anti- 
 slavery opinions. 
 
 Both were aware of what passed in the Central States 
 of the Union, where, as in Florida, civil war underwent 
 such unexpected changes in fortune; bot-h had aéquired 
 great influence over the lower class of whites, and over the 
 Spaniards, and even the American slave partisans. Their 
 correspondence was considerable, and their meetings in 
 out-of-the-way places were many, to enable them to 
 conduct their operations and prepare their future alibis. 
 
 It was while one was in the hands of the Federals that 
 the other organized the expedition at Camdless Bay. 
 And we know how they had turned this to account at the 
 court-martial at St. Augustine. 
 
 Age, as it has been said, confirmed and increased the 
 resemblance between the brothers ; but it was possible 
 that an accident or a wound might alter that resemblance. 
 For instance, in a night-attack some time after their 
 arrival in Florida, one of the Texars had his beard burnt 
 by a rifle fired at hjm point blank. Immediately the other 
 shaved his beard so as to be like his brother, a fact that 
 was mentioned in tlie early part of this history. 
 
 Another fact requires explanation. It will not have been 
 forgotten th^t one night while she was at Blac]^ Orçek 
 
A DOUBLE LIFE. 
 
 251 
 
 Zerman saw the Spaniard's arm tattooed. The reason 
 was that his brother had been captured by a band of 
 Seminoles, and had been so indelibly marked on his left 
 arm. Immediately a tracing of the device was sent to the 
 fortress and Squambo set to work, so that the identity 
 continued absolute. 
 
 In fact if Texar Ko. 1 had happened to lose a limb, 
 Texar No. 2 would have submitted to amputation to re- 
 semble him. 
 
 For twelve years the Texar brothers lived this double 
 life, but with such skill and prudence that justice was set 
 , at defiance. 
 
 Had the twins grown rich at this trade ? Yes, in a 
 certain measure. A considerable sum of money saved from 
 the proceeds of pillage and theft had been hidden in a 
 secret redoubt of the blockhouse at Black Creek, but as 
 a precaution it had been taken away by the Spaniard 
 when hé started for Oarneral Island, and we may rest 
 assured he would not leave it behind him if he went to 
 the Bahamas. 
 
 When the twins learnt that Commodore Dupont con- 
 templated an early evacuation of Florida, they saw that 
 there would be a chance of further enriching themselves, 
 and the ISTorthern planters could be made to pay dearly for 
 the Federal occupation. They had therefore resolved to 
 keep on the watch. Once they were back at Jacksonville, 
 with the help of their partisans and the Southerners in 
 league with them, they could resume the position which 
 a riot had given them once and could give them again. 
 
 And besides this they had a means of acquiring wealth 
 almost beyond their desires. They had only to listen to 
 the proposition Zermah had made to one of them ; they 
 had only to return Dy to her parents. James Burbank 
 would have given his fortune as his child's ransom. He 
 would have undertaken to make no complaint or instigate 
 any pursuit against the Spaniard. But among the Texars 
 hate was stronger than self-interest. They wished to be 
 revenged on the Burbanks before they left Florida. 
 
 Such is all that need be said about the history of the 
 brothers Texar. We can now resume our story. 
 
 When Zermah suddenly found herself in their presence, 
 she understood all. The past instantly rushed back 
 
252 
 
 texar's eevenge. 
 
 through her mind. In astonishment she looked at the men — motion- 
 less as if rooted in the ground, holding the little girl in her arms. For- 
 tunately the air in the room was abundant, and all fear of the child's 
 suffocation had gone. Her appearance before the brothers, her discov- 
 ery of the secret of their lives, meant, she well knew, sentence of death. 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ZEBMAH AT WOBK. 
 
 The. Texars were furious at Zermah's interruption. With the ex- 
 ception of Squambo, never before since their childhood had a third 
 person seen them together. And this persoii was their mortal 
 enemy. Their first impulse was to hurl themselves at her and mur- 
 der her, so as to save the secret of their double life. The child 
 raised herself in Zermah's arms; and holding out her little hands, 
 she cried: " I am afraid ! I am afraid !" At a gesture from the two 
 brothers Squambo stepped roughly up to the half-breed, took her by 
 the shoulder, and pushed her back into her room and shut the door. 
 Then Squambo returned to the brothers. His attitude told them 
 they had only to command for him to obey. But the interruption 
 had been so unexpected that it had troubled them more than might 
 be supposed. They seemed to consult each other with a look. Zer- 
 mah had thrown herself into a corner of the room, after laying the 
 little girl on one of the beds. Her self-possession returned to her; 
 and she went to the door to hear what was passing. In a moment 
 her fate would probably be decided. But the Texats and Squambo 
 had just gone out of the hut, and were no longer within earshot. 
 And this is what they were saying: "Zermah must die." "She 
 must ! If she escapes, or if the Federals get hold of her, we are 
 lost ! She must die !" " This moment !" said Squambo. And knife 
 in hand he had turned to go to the hut, when one of the Texars 
 stopped him. " Wait," said he. It will always be time enough to 
 put Zermah out of the way; and we have need of her to take care of 
 the youngster. Let us first see how we stand. A detachment of 
 Northerners is now in the cypress grove. Let us take a careful look- 
 out round the lake, for there is no proof as yet that the detachment 
 is coming this way. If it is coming we shall have time to get away; 
 if it is not coming we can stop here and let it get deeper into the 
 wilds of Florida, when it will be at our mercy. We shall have time 
 to muster the militia and cut off the Federal retreat. Some escaped 
 from Kissimmee, but none will escape here." This was obviously 
 the best thing to do under the circumstances. A large number of 
 Southerners were in the neighborhood, only waiting for an opportu- 
 nity to try a stroke at the Federals. One of the Texars could go out 
 and reconnoitre, and then they could decide either to remain at 
 Oarneral Island or move ofE to Cape Sable. That could be done to- 
 morrow, and Squambo could be trusted to take care of Zermah what- 
 ever might be result of the exploration. As for the child," said one 
 of the brothers, **it is our interest to keep her alive. She cannot 
 have understood as Zermah did, and she may be the price of our ran- 
 som should one of us fall into the h mds of Captain Howick. To get 
 back his daughter, James Burbank would accept any condition we 
 like to impose." "If Zermah dies," said the Indian, "are you not 
 afraid that the child will die too?" "No, she will be well looked 
 after, and I can easily find an Indian woman to take the place of the 
 half-breed." " Do so then! We must not have anything to fear from 
 Zermah," " Well, whatever happens, we shall soon put her out of 
 
ZERMAH AT WORK. 253 
 was gone would mIia >5nrvi^^9 a /i Tu f out when Zermah 
 
 ^^^SSi^^^ ^^^^^^^ 
 
 breed. -And mamma-whe^^ /'^^^thmg-notlimg !" said the half- 
 you see thfm ?" "ïes and rtL '"""'^^'i* men ! Did 
 
 SO alike that vou cannot ifu^Wf I ^ ^""^ ^'^^ brothers Texar, 
 them that too?"UTthe <^^^^^^ Vt.'îuC ^^^teli 
 
 am not there, yon must not forget it " " AnV l^^'^if- ^ 
 
 have a long »! w'«'.^^f/ ii! t^JJlL^^l'' go out, as we 
 
 eaten had she tried owing to the st J. .V''" -r'^^^ "^^^^ °ot ha^e 
 soon as the child hr^lnii.^ y ^ ° V^^^^^^^ As 
 conch, and went to a «^on„ k """^^ ^^«^ t^^e her 
 
 and thence The watehfd^^^^^^^^ ^ the room; 
 
 were being made for denarttTre Zl % f^^^? «ntside. Preparations 
 
 mustering the meÏÏhatCelero^o^^^^ ^^^^ 
 whom none of the men had «15 ^ ''^^''^/^ S^^^^- Theother, 
 warn or in some cor^r of theTsLT'' Anf?^' 11!^^^ T '''' ^^g' 
 who knew how earXl fV.lt 7* A* ^®^^t' thought Zermah, 
 
 And sheThougIt to hersel/^^^^^ ^ " their lives 
 
 able to take some flvror L at a tL' Z^Z^^^^^ ^''T ^"'"^ 
 .«-au groups and wal. „p St£S%a^T bul .hTcoXoTsef tS 
 
254 
 
 TEXAr's REVENGE. 
 
 surface of the water. Texar remained tiU the last, and then went off, 
 foUowedby one of the dogs, whose instinct was to be made use of 
 during the expedition. At a sound from his master the other hound 
 returned to the hut, as if he was to be the only guard. A minute after 
 Zermab saw Texar move up the opposite bank, and stop for an mstant 
 to arrange his men. Then, with Squambo at their head, and accom- 
 panied by the dog, the men disappeared among the trees. Doubtless 
 one of ;the negroes had brought back the barge, so that no one could 
 cross over to the island. But the half breed did not see this. She, 
 however, hesitated no longer. Dy had just awoke. ' ' Come darling, 
 saidZermah. " Where ?" asked the child. "There! Into the forestl 
 Perhaps we shaU find your father— your brother! You are not afraid? 
 " Not when you are with me. ' ' Then the half-breed opened the door 
 carefully. As she had heard no noise in the hut, she supposed that 
 Texar was not there. And she was right. She sought about for some 
 weapon of defence. On the table was one of those large knives used 
 by the Indians when hunting. She picked it up and hid it under her 
 clothes; and she took a little diied meat to last her for a few hours. 
 But the time came for her to leave the wigwam. She looked out 
 through the palisade in the direction of the channel. There was not 
 a living creature m sight. The half-breed tried to open the outer door. 
 The door was shut from the outside, and would not give way. iben 
 Zermah went back to the hut. There was only one thing to be done 
 That was to make use of the hole she had already made m the waU ot 
 her sleeping-room. The work was easy. She had only to use her knife 
 to cut into the reeds-and this she did with as Uttle noise as posfhla 
 But if the hound that had not gone with Texar were to appear i Would 
 he not throw himself on her and the child? There was, however, no 
 time to hesitate. The hole was made large enough, and through it 
 ZermaJi drew tha child, whom she passionately embraced as sne did 
 so Dy gave back kiss for kiss; she had understood. It was necessary 
 to escape through this hole. Zermah gUded through and looked to 
 the left, to the right, and hstened. Not a sound could she hear. But 
 soon she heard the bark of a hound. It seemed to come from the west 
 of the island. She picked up the child. Her heart beat ready to burst. 
 She could not think she was safe until she was through the reeds on 
 the opposite river-bank. But to cross the hundred yards between the 
 wigwam and the stream was the most critical part of the escape. 
 There was a chance of her being seen either by Texar or by the slaves. 
 Luckily, to the right of the hut was a thicket of arborescent plants 
 and reeds, extending to the bank of the channel, a few yards only 
 from the barge. Zermah entered the thicket. The plants opened to 
 give passage to the fugitives, and closed behind them. The backing 
 of the dog was heard no longer. The way through the thicket was 
 not easy. There was but a narrow path between the interlacing 
 shrubs. Zermah's dress was in rags, and her hands were torn. Little 
 did it matter so long as the child was unharmed! The brave half- 
 breed uttered no complaint, and although Dy often made acquaintance 
 with the thorns, not a cry did she utter. Although the distMioe was 
 short, about sixty yards at the outside, it took quite half an hour be- 
 fore the channel was reached. Zermah then stopped, and through tne 
 reeds she looked first at the wigwam, then at the forest. There was no 
 one to be seen. On the other bank was no sign of Texar and his com- 
 panions, who were a couple of miles or so away. Unless they met 
 ttie Northerners they would not be back for some hours! But Zerma^ 
 did not believe she had been left alone in the hut. It was not 
 
ZERMAH AT WORK. 266 
 
 Hkely that one of the Texars had gone off unseen and taken the doe 
 . A^"V ^^s^^^s, had not the half-breed heard the barking— a proof 
 that the hound was stiU prowling under the trees ? Any moment she 
 might ^ee one or the other appear. But if she made haste she might 
 reach the cypress grove. While she watched the Spaniard's nfen 
 m their journey from bank to bauk she had not been able to see the 
 surface ot the stream, and she supposed that the barge had been 
 brought back by one of the slaves. Ihis was necessary for the safety 
 of the wigwam, m case Captain Howick and his men defeated the 
 Southerners. But if the barge was on the other side, so as to be ready 
 to help in Texars retreat, should he have to retreat? If it were not 
 there, would he not have to find another hiding-place? But Zermah 
 must have the barge to get across. She could not see it. Where 
 could It be ? For half a dozen yards she glided through the reeds. 
 Ihen she stopped. The barge was on the other side of the channel. 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE TWO BROTHBBS. 
 
 The position was critical. How could she cross ? The boldest 
 swimmer could not do it without risking his life a score of times. 
 There were but a hundred feet from bank to bank, but without the 
 boat It was impossible to cross them. Triangular heads appeared 
 every now and then above the surface of the water, and the weeds 
 waved to let the reptiles pass. Little Dy, almost dead with fright, 
 clung close to Zermah. If she could have saved the child by throwing 
 herself into the thick of this crowd of snakes, who would have closed 
 on toherhkethe^arms of some giant octopus, the half-breed would 
 notJiave hesitated for a moment! But only some special intervention 
 of Providence could save her. And Zermah knelt and prayed for help 
 Ajiy moment some of Texar's companions might appear on the edge 
 of the forest If the Texar remaining on the island went back to the 
 wigwam and missed her, would he not come in pursuit ? *' Oh God» 
 have pity on me! " And as she prayed she looked to the right of the 
 channel. A gentle current was running through towards the north of 
 the lake, where a few affluents of the smaU river Calaooschatches flow 
 out to the Gulf of Mexico. It is this river which feeds Lake Okee- 
 cho-bee at the great monthly tides. A trunk of a tree came drifting 
 along from the right, and had just struck against the bank. Would 
 not this tree afford the means of crossing the channel ? Evidently. 
 In any case it Oie tree drifted back to the island the fugitives would 
 be no worse off than they were now. Without stopping to think, 
 Zerruah as if by instinct, ran to the floating tree. If she had stopoed 
 she might haye hesitated at the hundreds of reptiles swarmit-g i£ the 
 water and the chance that the weeds would keep the trunk motion- 
 less, in mid-channel! Butanything would be better thanremaining on 
 ,-^f!^'fK''K ^?d so Zermah with Dy iu her arms, climbed along 
 into the branches and pushed off the tree, which immediately began 
 to move off with the current. She tried to hide among the f oliSge 
 which partly covered it. The banks were deserted. There was no 
 ti'^'rlf^ island or the cypress grove. Once across the channel 
 the half-breed would hide away till night-time, and then enter the 
 forest without being seen. Hope returned to her. She scarcely gave 
 a thought to the reptiles that swam open-mouthed round the tree 
 and glided over its lower branches. The little girl kept her eyes shut 
 as Zermah clasped her to her breast with one hand, while she held 
 the kmfe m the other ready to defend herself. But whether it was 
 
256 
 
 THE TEXAR's flEVENGE. 
 
 that the monsters feared the sight of the knife, or were only dangerous in th« 
 water they made no attempt to attack her. At length the trel reached the 
 middle of the stream and was being steadily borne toward the forest, in a 
 quarter of an hour if it did not get caught in the weeds it would ground on the 
 *t ' gj;?^* ^8 ^^ere the dangers she had to face, Zermah 
 
 thought herself safe from Texar. Suddenly she clasped the child more tightlr 
 to her. There was a furious barking on the island. And soon afterwards a doe 
 came bounding along the river-side. Zèrmah recognized the hound that thë 
 Spamai-d had left to guard the wigwam. With coat bristling with anger and eyes 
 flashing fire, he stood ready to leap among the reptiles that crowded the surface 
 of t^ie water. At the same moment a man appeared on the bank. It was the 
 Texar who had stopped on the island. Warned by the dog's bark he had run up 
 to see what had happened. His rage on finding Zermah and Dy on the driftine 
 tree may be imagined. He could not follow them, for the barge was on the op- 
 posite side of the stream Only one thing could he do to stop them, and that was 
 to shoot Zermah at the nsk of killing the child. He had brought his gun with 
 him, and he did not hesitate to use it. He took careful aim at the half-breed 
 who tried to cover the child with her body. Suddenly the dog in his mad excite'- 
 ment jumped into the water. Texar thought he had better wait to see what it 
 could do. The hound swam swiftly toward the tree, and Zermah, knife in hand 
 was ready. But it was not necessary In a moment the snakes had twisted 
 themselves on to their prey, and with a few bites from its teeth in answer to 
 those from their venoinous fangs, the dog had sunk among the weeds. Texar 
 saw the dog die before he could help it, and now Zermah was escaping them 
 Die then ! he exclaimed . But the drifting tree had now reached the opposite 
 bank, and the bullet only grazed the half-breed's sh'oulder. Next moment the 
 tree grounded Zermah, carrying the child, stepped ashore and vanished into a 
 t™ «r +if^^- f • ^t!'^*^ ^"^^ 'ûissed. She had escaped from the 
 
 Texar on the island, but she was now in danger of falling into the hands of 
 ^ioo-^? w^.^®"" first endeavor was to get as far from Carneral Island as 
 oîm^i „ n ''i?^* ''f'"^ "^^"^^ I^ake Washington. 
 
 ^ ^",1 ^^"^ strength and energy, she fled along, running 
 
 rather than walking and carrying the child in her arms. Dy's little 
 legs refused to run ou the irregular ground among the quagmires that sunk like 
 traps and the roots which grew in such tangled masses as to be impossible for 
 her. She did not seem to feel the weight of her burden Sometimes she stopped 
 less to take breath tha > to listen to the sounds of the forest. Sometimes she 
 thought she could hear the bark of the other dog that Texar had taken with him 
 Sometimesshe thought she could hear the report of firing in the distance. And 
 she wondered If the Southerners had come up with the Federal detachment 
 Then, when she recognized that the noises were but the cries of a, bird or the 
 breaking of some dry branch, she would resume her flight, and full of hone 
 think nothing of the dangers that threatened her until she reached the sources 
 of the St Johns. For an hour she continued to leave Lake Okee-cho- 
 bee, making towards the east, so as to approach the Atlantic shore. 
 It appeared probable to her that ships of the squadron would be 
 cruismg off th9 coast in support of the detachment under Captain Howick. 
 Suddenly she stopped This time there could be no mistake A furious barking 
 was heard under the trees, and it was coming quickly towards her. Zermah 
 reco^ized the bark as one she had often heard while the dogs kept watch round 
 the Black Creek blockhouse. "The dog is on our track," thought she. "and 
 Texar cannot be far off " She looked round in search of a thicket, in which she 
 and the child could hide. But the dog was as intelligent as he was fierce, and 
 had been trained to slave-hunting, would he not scent her out? The barkine 
 came nearer and nearer, and shouts could be heard in the distance. A few yards 
 away stood an old cypress- tree, hollow with age. round which serpeutarias 
 and hanas had thrown a thick network of branchlets. Zermah ran to the hol- 
 low, which was just large enough to hold her and the child, while the network 
 of hanas concealed them. But the dog was on their track. A minute afterwards 
 Zermah saw him in front of the tree. He barked with reneweé fury aud 
 sprang at the cypress. A stab with the knife made him retreat; and he began tb 
 bark more furiously than ever. A minute or so afterwards voices were heard 
 those of Texar and Squambo, among others. It was the Spaniard and his com- 
 panions who were running to the lake in an endeavor to escape from the Federal 
 detachment which they had unexpectedly met in the cypress grove, and found 
 too strong to resist. Texar's object was to get back to Carneral Island by the 
 shortest way, so as to put a ring of water between the Federals and himself. 
 The Federals would not be able to cross it without a boat. After a few hours of 
 respite the Southerners could reach the other side of the island, and when night 
 came make use of the barge to land on the southern side of the lake. When 
 Texar and Bquambo reached the cypress-tree in front of which the dog con- 
 
5dÔE TWO ÊROTHÈftS. âS? 
 
 îin^®»^®-.^*''^'*^®''^^^'^^^** ^"""""^ ï^eâ with the blood that flowed 
 from an open wouud m the flank. Lookl look! ' exclaimed the IndSu " 
 
 So Ih^hin*^'/- T^^^ ^^r^""- . " mounded by a knife and not a minuS 
 blood IS stm smoking " - Who could have done t?" And heîe 
 
 mushrooms exploded like a gun. and a luminous dust cmckled în the air A? 
 
 tS But yplmJ'^^'^M' ^"f ""Inarmed while the spores crackled above 
 tnem. But Zermah could not escape from Texar Alreadv thp air nf+^r-tTJ 
 
 had riin a stnde or two towards the lake, when a gun was fired He fill Lad 
 
 ZVïS^lSbe^t^'r^d'r^^V''"^'^^"^"^"^^- ^^'^ eîme up James 
 
 lit. V ^ijbert and Carrol, and Perry, and Mara, and the blacks from Camd 
 ivnl^^'f"^^*?!*'" Howick's seamen, who had made prisoners of th^ So^h 
 
 OnT/a few o?^ti5'r?^rh T ^'""^^"^ '^^"^^^ Squ^mbo's corpse' 
 
 umy a few oi the men had escaped towards Oarneral Island Uv was in w 
 father 8 arms, and he was clasping her as tightly as if he feared she was to b« 
 again taken away from him. Gilbert and Mars were leaning over Ze^iah en 
 Sn W hP^^Ï" ''7r^' ?T '^'^^ breathed, but she could no! speak M?rs held 
 ""t^^^^ *° ^'^^^^ Slie opened her eyes. She saw the chi d 
 
 ¥Lfn her eveSds f^-l^^'^r''^^^ ^^"^'"'"^ Msses and smiïed 
 
 fs^^^'P'ttï^,, .S ^S!"^iiirTÏÏ*^S^°^..1C Ma^r^^^p^t^î 
 ^^^^^ 
 
 JiîmedTn '^fn^f Y'^J"^* ^^^^^^'^^ ««ddenly!as tïeîxinïpâxïv 
 
 formed up, a man leaped past them and stood bv the Spaniard's side It 
 
 otdPT fnrf.^"^ ?^ hesitation in carrying out the odmmodore's orders. The 
 whi/h t>f. ^"^y referred to the author of the ambuscade in 
 
 which the officers and men of the Federal boats had perished The author of 
 
 tak'en S^r/.^ ''^"'f ^•"'.^ ^^I ^«^^"^'^ the cS ought certainly ?o be 
 
 sSp^pÏ .n^, 11^^ re-tried at St. Augustiue But could not both brothers be con^ 
 sidered eqiially responsible for the long series of crimes they had been ableTo 
 
 fcTtïoug^UtTeîïïo Sit?h'f • '''I'' ilw CaptaifnU^ 
 
 best to put the foUowmg question: "Which of you was ffuiltv of 
 the massacre at Kissimmee ?" There was no reply Evidentlv the T^xnrs in 
 ÎpÎÎ wh-*^'*^ nothing in reply to the questions put t'^ them ZeiUh a W could 
 
 îoillïSt bTtheïutor'^ït^"*'^"^' ^^'^^ Creek on tr22d of Ma?ch 
 
 dav 7prT^«h >f ^ '''^ the massacre committed a hundred miles off the same 
 she nofdP^fnïw'î *M Identifying the man who carried her off. But was 
 
 ward In a vof.T +i,^.'* Supported by her husband she was seen to come for- 
 me off is tattooed on îh?r\1 ^^'^Ay : The man who carried 
 Si the îfn<f nf ?hf K V'l- . , ^^'^''^ ^«''^'^ ^ of disdain appeared 
 a?m of P^Ph « ? M^'^^ÏT' ^'^«fpld«^ "P their sleeves and showed on the left 
 one from t?« ofW*/^ tattoo mark At this new impossibility of distinguishing 
 one from the other. Captain Ho wick thought it was time to bring the soeue to f 
 
m 
 
 CÔÎÎCLtîSÏOÎÎ. 
 
 close. The author of the massacre at Kisslmmee is to be shot. Which of you 
 
 was it? " I was," said both the brothers together That was enough. At the 
 words the firing-party took aim. There was a flash and a report, and hand in 
 liand the Texara fell. That was the end of these two men, whose extraordinary 
 resemblance had enabled them for so many years to commit crime with impu- 
 nity. The only human sentiment they could be credited with was this savage 
 friendship of brother to biother which had been theirs till death. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI.— OOKCLUSION. 
 Thk civil war continued with varying fortune. Some things had recently hap- 
 pened of which James Burbankhad not heard since his departure from Camdless 
 Bay, and which he only knew when he got back. During this time it seemed a» 
 though the advantage rested with the Confederates round Corinth, while the 
 Federals occupied the position of Pittsburg Landing. The Southern army had 
 Johnston as general-in-chief, and under him were Beauregard, Harder, Braxton- 
 Wragg, and Bishop- Polk, an old pupil at West Point; and these cleverly profited 
 by the shortsightedness of the Northerners, who, on the 5th of April, were sur- 
 prised at Stiiloh. The result of that surprise was the dispersal of Peabody's 
 brigade and the retreat of Sherman. The Confederates, however, paid cruelly for 
 their success, the heroic Johnston being killed as he repulsed the Federal army. 
 Such was the first day of the battle of the 6th of April. The day but one after 
 there was another fight along the whole line, and Shei'man retook Shiloh. In 
 their turn the Confederates had to retreat before the soldiers of Grant. The 
 struggle was a sanguinary one; out of eighty thousand men engaged, twenty 
 thousand were wounded or killed. This was the last news of the war that Jamed 
 Burbank and his companions heard the morning after their return to Castle 
 House, on the 7th of April. After the execution of the Texars they had accom- 
 panied Captain Howick and his prisoners to the coast. At Cape Malabar one of 
 the vessels of the flotilla had been stationed to cruise off the coast, and in herthey 
 were taken to St. Augustine. Thence a gunboat took them from Picolata to 
 Camdless Bay. And so all got back to Castle House — even Zurmah, who had re- 
 covered from her wounds. Carried to the Federal vessel by Mars and his com- 
 panions, she had every attention, and in her happiness at having saved little 
 Dy, and restored her to those who loved her, how could she die ? Mrs. Burbank, 
 with her child near her, gradually recovered her health. With her had she not 
 her husband, her son, Alice (soon to become her daughter), Zurmah, and Mars ? 
 And she had nothing to fear henceforth from the scoundrel, or rather two 
 scoundrels, whose chief accomplices were in Federal hands. But a rumor was 
 abroad which, it will be remembered, was mentioned by the brothers at their 
 interview at Carneral Island. It was said that the Northerners were to abandon 
 Jacksonville; that Dupont, confining himself to the blockade of the coast, was 
 to withdraw the gunboats that assured the safety of the St. John's. This plan 
 would evidently jeopardize the safety of the planters who held anti-slavery no- 
 tions, and especially James Burbank. The rumor was well-founded. On the 
 8th of April, the day after that on which the family returned to Castle House, 
 the Federals began the evacuation of Jacksonville. A few of the inhabitants, who 
 were favorable to the Unionist cause, thought it better to leave the town, some 
 for Port Boyal, others for New York. James Burbank did not think it necessary 
 to follow their example. The negroes had returned to the plantation, notas 
 slaves, but as free men, and their presence would assure the safety of Camdless 
 Bay. The war had entered on a favorable phase for the North, and this allowed 
 of Gilbert remaining on leave at Castle House to celebrate bis marriage with 
 Alice Stannard. The work on the plantation was recommenced. There was no 
 question of putting in force against Mr. Burbank the order expelling the freed 
 slaves from Floridan territory. Texar and his companions were no longer at 
 hand to raise the populace, and the gunboats on the coast would promptly re- 
 establish order at Jacksonville. The war dragged on for three more years, and 
 even Florida was destined to receive a few more of its counter-effects. In the 
 month of September of this same year Dupont's flotilla appeared at St. John's 
 Bluffs, near the mouth of the river, and Jacksonville was occupied for the second 
 time. Later on it was occupied by General Seymour for a third time, after a 
 t»ifling resistance. On the 1st of January, 1863, a proclamation by President 
 Lincoln abolished slavery in all the States of the Union. But the war did not 
 •nd till the 9th of April, 1865. On that day, at Appomattox Court House, Gene- 
 ral Lee surrendered with his whole army to General Grant, under a capitulation 
 which did honor to both parties. The sanguinary struggle of North against 
 South had lasted four years. It had cost two thousand seven hundred millions 
 of dollars, and killed more than half a million of men; but slavery was abolished 
 throughout North America. And by it was assured the indivisibility of the Re- 
 public of the United States, thanks to the efforts of those Americans whose an- 
 cestors a century before had freed their country in the War of Independeno*. 
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