All-Over-the-World Series

AMERICAN BOYS AFLOAT

OR

CRUISING IN THE ORIENT

By OLIVER OPTIC

AUTHOR OF "THE ARMY AND NAVY SERIES" "YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD" FIRST
AND SECOND SERIES "THE BOAT-CLUB SERIES" "THE GREAT WESTERN SERIES"
"THE WOODVILLE STORIES" "THE ONWARD AND UPWARD SERIES" "THE LAKE
SHORE SERIES" "THE YACHT-CLUB SERIES" "THE RIVERDALE STORIES" "THE
BOAT-BUILDER SERIES" "THE BLUE AND THE GRAY SERIES" "A MISSING
MILLION" "A MILLIONAIRE AT SIXTEEN" "A YOUNG KNIGHT-ERRANT" "STRANGE
SIGHTS ABROAD" ETC.

BOSTON
LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS
10 MILK STREET

Copyright, 1893, by Lee and Shepard

All Rights Reserved

American Boys Afloat

Type-Setting and Electrotyping by
C. J. Peters & Son, Boston, U.S.A.

S. J. Parkhill & Co., Printers, Boston, U.S.A.

TO
MY EXCELLENT FRIEND
DR. WILLIAM P. LEAVITT
ONE OF MY FELLOW-TRAVELLERS
IN FOREIGN LANDS
This Volume
IS CORDIALLY DEDICATED

PREFACE

"American Boys Afloat" is the fifth volume of the "All-Over-the-World" series; and it is a continuation of the travels and adventures of Louis Belgrave and his faithful and life-long friend and constant associate, Felix McGavonty, who are still inseparably united wherever they are and whatever they do. But they have been reinforced by two other American boys, and "The Big Four," as they have been named by some of the humorously inclined passengers in the Guardian-Mother, become the heroes of the adventures recounted in the volume.

These additions to the force of the young millionaire are not wholly strangers to the readers of this series, for Morris Woolridge filled a prominent place as an actor in some of the events already related, though he had not then become one of the party whose moving home was on board of the steam-yacht. From the beginning the Belgraves and the Woolridges have been intimate friends; and at the close of the preceding volume the manner in which they became members of the expedition around the world in the same steamer was narrated.

The wild and reckless Scott, reformed by the excellent discipline of the commander of the steamer, and his association with such high-minded young men as Louis, Felix, and Morris, becomes more of a character than even his companions. The little steam-yacht, the Salihé, is discovered at Gibraltar, and the events which caused her owner to dispose of her to the combined millionaires of the Guardian-Mother are detailed. This little steamer, with her Mohammedan name changed to one more Christian, becomes the tender of the ship, and very naturally falls into the possession of the big four. They organize a regular ship's company, and the reformed member of the quartet, who is more of a sailor and navigator than the others, becomes Captain Scott. Under his command, the little craft, though not so small as to be uncomfortable, makes the voyage from Gibraltar to Constantinople, keeping on the African side, and thus "cruising in the Orient" all the way.

The steamer and her little consort visit Algiers and Constantinople, where the party devote themselves to sight-seeing, and listen to historical and descriptive lectures of the countries in whose waters they float, for the commander insists upon the instructive element of the cruise.

While the author was wondering how he could crowd the story of the voyage of the Guardian-Mother, including the adventures of the big four, into six volumes, his publishers very graciously permitted him to extend the series to twice that number. The voyage will therefore be continued on the same plan, the little steamer, with the young navigators on board of her most of the time accompanying the ship.

WILLIAM T. ADAMS.
Dorchester, Mass., Aug. 15, 1893.

CONTENTS

AMERICAN BOYS AFLOAT

CHAPTER I

THE SALIHÉ ALONGSIDE THE GUARDIAN-MOTHER

"It seems to me that I have seen that little steam-yacht before," said Louis Belgrave, as the four young Americans stood upon the promenade deck of the Guardian-Mother, of which the speaker was the owner, though the young man was only seventeen years of age.

"Be the modther of me, it's the Sally Hay!" exclaimed Felix McGavonty, the Milesian of the party, though he could pronounce the President's English as well as any of his companions when he chose to do so.

"She certainly looks just like the Salihé," added George Scott Fencelowe, whom everybody on board addressed as Scott simply: and the three who had spoken had made a voyage in the little steamer from Funchal in Madeira to Gibraltar, where the Guardian-Mother was now moored inside of the New Mole.

"You fellows who have made a long cruise in her ought to know her if she is the Salihé," said Morris Woolridge. "I never even saw her but once, and I can throw no light on the subject."

"She was painted white when we made our trip in her, and now she is the color of a black cat," continued Scott, the oldest of the party and the best sailor and boatman, for he was eighteen, while Morris, the youngest, was only fourteen.

"It seems to me to be hardly possible that she can be the Salihé, though she looks like her in everything except her color," replied Louis. "If the Fatimé were here, I should have no doubt it was she."

"But the large steam-yacht of His Highness, Ali-Noury Pacha, is not here, and we know that she passed through the strait and went to sea; and that is what makes me think the craft is not the Salihé," added Scott, who had been for a short time in the service of the Pacha, and had made the voyage in the little steamer from Funchal.

"I suppose Ali-Noury could not very well take her with him on his trip up the Mediterranean, and he left her here," suggested Louis.

"If that were true, the Pacha would not have had her painted black," reasoned Scott; and there seemed to be a good deal of force in the argument.

"Where is Philopena?" demanded Felix. "Sure, he ought to know the shtaymer if he's acquainted wid his own fadther, for he was ingineman of the craft."

Felipe Garcias, a young Spaniard of eighteen, had been the engineer of the Salihé in the service of the Pacha, and being ill-treated by his Mohammedan employer, he had run away from Mogadore with the small steam-yacht. The steam-launch which was the subject of the conversation was coming out from the dockyard inside of the New Mole, and approaching the Guardian-Mother. Felipe, who was now an oiler on board of the steamer, was called by Morris, and his attention was directed to the approaching steam-yacht. He looked her over very carefully; but the change of color evidently perplexed him at first, though a little later he came to his conclusion.

"Salihé!" he exclaimed.

When Felipe came on board of the Guardian-Mother, he could not speak a word of English; but in the time that had since elapsed he had made good progress in acquiring it, though he was not yet fluent in the use of it.

"Are you sure of it, Phil?" asked Louis, who had translated his Spanish name into English, and then abbreviated it.

"Ver sure," replied Felipe decidedly. "I see some things what I know."

"She was white when we brought her here," added Louis.

"She has become black now; but I know some marks," persisted Felipe; and he proceeded to mention and point them out; but he spoke in Spanish to Louis, who had become tolerably fluent in the language by this time.

"Why don't ye's shpake to the man forninst her poilot-house," suggested Felix. "Perhaps he knows somephwat about her."

"That's a bright idea of yours, Felix; he would be likely to know something about her," laughed the owner of the Guardian-Mother.

The Salihé was making a course within twenty feet of the side of the steamer, and it was not a difficult matter to hail her. The man in the little box that was dignified with the name of pilot-house was the only person that could be seen on board of the little steamer, though there was doubtless another in the engine-room. The boat was moving along very slowly, and the pilot seemed to be looking about him all the time and in every direction.

"Salihé, ahoy!" shouted Louis.

"On board the steamer!" replied the man at the wheel, as he threw it over so as to direct the boat towards the gangway.

The Guardian-Mother was the steam-yacht of Louis Belgrave, who had become a millionaire at sixteen, less than a year before; and she was also the college of the young gentleman, for the vessel was provided with a study, or schoolroom, abaft the principal cabin, in which Professor Giroud, a very learned Frenchman, instructed him and his fellow-students in literature, science, history, and languages.

In what manner the steamer became the yacht and college of the young millionaire has been fully related and repeated in the preceding volumes of this series, and need hardly be repeated at length. She had sailed from New York on the first of December before, and had made an eventful voyage to the Bermudas, to Nassau, and around the island of Cuba, visiting all the principal ports.

Louis Belgrave, on account of the peculiar family circumstances that surrounded him, had fallen into many and various adventures, and passed through and out of not a few perilous situations. None of them were of his own choice, and he was not a seeker after Quixotic enterprises, though his excellent friend and trustee had dubbed him a knight, and called him "Sir Louis;" and his example had been followed by the commander and others on board.

Captain Royal Ringgold, commanding the steamer, had always been a friend of Louis, and especially of Mrs. Belgrave, his mother. The young millionaire had requested him to visit and examine a schooner he proposed to purchase for a yacht; and his mother and Felix had been his companions. The stirring adventures to which this visit gave rise strengthened the friendship before existing.

The captain had advised the purchase of the steamer to which Louis gave the name of "Guardian-Mother" as a sort of recognition of her who had given him being, and to whom he was devoted to a degree rarely observed even in good and worthy sons. He originated the idea of making the vessel the young gentleman's college, in which the study of books could be combined with foreign travel.

Squire Moses Scarburn was an old-fashioned lawyer, usually called Uncle Moses, and was one of the party. Dr. Philip Hawkes, an eminent physician and surgeon of New York, and Professor Pierre Giroud had become passengers in consequence of an accident. The doctor and the lawyer each weighed two hundred and twenty-six pounds and a fraction, and both of them were humorously inclined.

Mrs. Blossom had been the housekeeper of the squire, and a friend of Mrs. Belgrave; and she was on board as the companion of the owner's mother. The party in the state cabin of the steamer who had made the voyage to the West Indies, across the Atlantic, visiting Teneriffe and Madeira, voyaging from one port to another in European waters till they had spent several months in England, Holland, France, and the western part of Spain, consisted of the seven persons named.

Among the Bahama Islands they had picked up a bank defaulter, whose adopted son, Scott Fencelowe, had brought him there in the Seahound, his yacht. When Captain Ringgold realized that the bank officer was a defaulter, and had secured his plunder, he sent him back to the United States, forwarding the money he had stolen at the same time. The adopted son was a wild and reckless fellow, and his foster-father had practically bound him to the captain as a sort of apprentice.

The young scapegrace had run away three times, but had been reclaimed. He had reformed his life and manners, and was now a worthy young man, as he had been for about three or four months. From a common sailor, berthing with the crew, the captain had promoted him to the rank of quartermaster, messing with the officers, for he was a good steersman. He was also a student in the study, where the professor had four pupils.

Mr. Lowell Woolridge was a Fifth Avenue millionaire of New York, whose wife, son, and daughter, as well as himself, had increased the number of the party in the cabin to eleven, making up a dozen with the commander, who spent with them all the time he could spare from his duties. Mr. Woolridge had become acquainted with the Belgrave family through the agency of his yacht, the Blanche.

His daughter, a very beautiful and graceful young lady of sixteen, having some slight symptoms of a pulmonary disease, had been sent to Orotavo, in the island of Teneriffe, by the physicians, and her father had been advised to take her there in his yacht. In a long and violent gale the Blanche had nearly foundered; but the Guardian-Mother had saved the vessel and the family. Dr. Hawkes declared that nothing ailed the fair patient, and the Blanche accompanied the steamer on her voyage as far as Southampton.

On the passage there the commander and the Belgraves decided to invite the Woolridges to join the party on board of the steamer; and the arrangements had been completed at Southampton, so that the expense of the voyage around the world should be equally divided between the two millionaires. While the two parties were travelling in the United Kingdom, some needed alterations were made in the cabin of the steamer, increasing the number of staterooms.

Six of the rooms on board were provided with bathrooms, with all the appendages, and were as luxurious as the suites of a first-class hotel. Mr. Melancthon Sage, the chief steward, was a caterer of established reputation, and Monsieur Odervie, the chief cook, was an artist in his profession of the highest rank. In fact, everything on board of the Guardian-Mother was luxurious. The ship was good for eighteen knots an hour when driven, and was officered by men of skill and long experience. Besides the boatswain and three quartermasters, her crew of sixteen seamen were all picked men, and it would have been difficult to find their equals as a whole in any yacht that sailed the seas.

Felix McGavonty was born of an Irish father and mother, but within the United States; and he claimed to be as much an American as his friends and companions; and his claim was freely allowed by all of them. His mother was dead, and his father had "disappeared." The four young Americans on board of the Guardian-Mother were fast friends at the time of their introduction, though Scott had been heartily received as such at a recent date.

The little steam-yacht, though she was large enough to have a cabin, engine-room, and pilot-house, came up to the gangway of the ship. The boys, as the commander always called them when speaking of them collectively, went over the rail and descended the steps to the Salihé. Individually, Captain Ringgold, as well as all the officers and seamen, called Louis "Mr. Belgrave." Though he never put on airs, some little deference was extended to him by his companions on account of his ownership; but among themselves the boys were equals in every respect.

The man in the pilot-house stepped out, and when he had made fast to the side of the steamer, he invited the party on board. He was evidently an Englishman, for he slaughtered his h's without mercy, and was over fifty years old. He was well dressed, and one might have taken him for the mate of a merchantman. He was polite in his way, and provided his guests with seats.

CHAPTER II

THE BIG FOUR ARRANGE AN EXCURSION

"What steam-yacht is this, sir?" asked Louis, as he seated himself on a stool in front of the pilot-house.

"She's the Sali'é, sir," replied the man, pointing to the name above his head.

"That's an odd name; is it English?" added the young millionaire.

"Not at all, sir; it is a 'eathen name. She was built on the Clyde for the Grand Mogul of Mogadore; and a very fine craft she is, too, sir."

"But how came she here? This isn't a heathen place, and you don't have a great many Grand Moguls in Gibraltar, I believe."

"Bless you, no, sir! This place is a part of the realm of the Queen of Hengland, which she is likewise also the Hempress of Hindia, and is a Christian sovereign. Is it 'ow comes she 'ere?"

"His it the Queen? His she 'ere?" demanded Felix, opening as though he was immeasurably astonished; and Louis looked at him and shook his head in deprecation of the Milesian's travesty of the language of the present skipper of the Salihé. "If her gracious majesty's here, I'll go ashore and give her the top of the mornin' as the shades of aiv'nin' are gadtherin' forninst the big bit of a rock," continued he, taking his friend's decided hint and promptly acting upon it.

"The Queen which she is not in Gibraltar," replied the skipper, apparently not at all pleased with the style of the last speaker. "I was speaking of the Sali'é, sir, and not of the Queen."

"I beg your pardon, sir; I assure you on the honor of an Oirishman I mint no offince," added Felix, taking off his cap and bowing to the Englishman, entirely appeased by the apology.

"Is it 'ow the steam-yacht comes to be 'ere in Gib, sir? Well, it's a bit hodd 'ow she comes 'ere. The Grand Mogul as owned 'er 'ad a Spanish hengineer which he run away with the Sali'é, and brought 'er to Gib. But the Grand Mogul 'imself was 'ere in 'is big steam-yacht, and the Spaniard which 'e got frightened, and made fast the Sali'é to the Fatimé which it is the Grand Mogul's big yacht, and left for Spain without stopping to wipe the grease off 'is fingers."

"Then the engineer went to Spain?" queried Louis.

"I s'pose 'e did; where helse would a Spaniard go?" replied the skipper with a vacant stare.

"I give it up."

"You gives it hup! If any one gives hup the thief as stole the yacht, the Grand Mogul would cut 'im hup hinto five quarters."

"Four would be enough," interjected Felix.

"Is the Grand Mogul here now?" asked Louis.

"Not in Gib now, and I reckon he went back to Mogadore. He spoke Henglish like a rock scorpion."

"Like a what?" demanded Felix.

"Like a rock scorpion, Flix; and that is a pet name for a person born in Gibraltar," interposed Louis. "Where were you educated?"

"Not among the scorpions, moi darlint."

"Then the Spaniard returned the Salihé to her owner, did he?" asked Louis.

"'E left 'er alongside the Fatimé, and fled like a rat with a cat after 'im. The Grand Mogul was madder'n a bull with a bunch of Chinese fire-crackers tied to 'is tail. 'E couldn't do nothing with the yacht 'ere 'n Gib. 'E offered me ten pounds to sail 'er down to Mogadore; but I wouldn't go to sea in a craft no bigger'n she is. Then 'e sold her 'nd I bought 'er."

"What did you give for her?" inquired Felix.

"A 'undred pounds, which she is worth five 'undred," replied the skipper, whose name, later on, proved to be Giles Chickworth.

"And what do you do with her?" asked Louis.

"I makes 'er pay the interest on what she cost me, and good wages besides. I takes out parties as comes to the Rock," replied Chickworth.

"What do you charge for her?"

"Five shillings an hour, sir; and that's only two pound ten a day, which it is very cheap for a beauty like the Sali'é, sir. Per'aps you young gentlemen would like to take a turn in 'er?" suggested Giles Chickworth.

Louis liked the idea, and the boys had a hasty conference in regard to the matter. The passengers on board had not yet been on shore; for the Viking, whose commander and his wife were their friends, was moored near the Guardian-Mother, and they were having very pleasant times in visiting each other. Three of the young gentlemen had to dine that day with the guests of Mrs. Belgrave; and they thought it would be more agreeable to make the excursion in the evening, when it would be cooler, and the full moon would lend her splendors to the occasion.

"We cannot go now; but we should like to engage the Salihé for this evening at six o'clock," said Louis, at the close of the conference.

"Me and the hengineer is engaged this evening," replied the skipper. "We 'ave to go to a meeting of our society, and I must be there, for I'm the chairman;" and the latter clause seemed to be the idea he particularly wished to convey to his auditors.

"Very well, Mr. Chairman; but will you let the Salihé without the captain or engineer?" inquired Louis.

"Sergeant Files told me as 'ow the Guardian-Mother was owned by a young gentleman in his teens as was sailing in 'er. With all due respect, which is the gentleman as owns 'er?" inquired Chickworth, touching his tarpaulin at random to the big four, as Captain Ringgold sometimes facetiously called them, evidently borrowing the term from a western railroad folder.

With one accord Felix, Morris, and Scott pointed at Louis, as though they were rehearsing a Scriptural tableau of what Nathan said unto David: "Thou art the man!"

"Which his name it is Mr. Belgrave," added Chickworth, taking off his tarpaulin and bowing low to the young gentleman indicated by his companions, for he had more respect for millions than for birth and attainments.

"My name is Louis Belgrave, at your service, Mr. Commander of the Salihé," replied the young millionaire, laughing heartily at the pantomime of his friends and the obsequiousness of the skipper.

"I knowed it was you, sir, from the gentility which it is marked on your honor's face, and shows itself in every motion you make," gushed Mr. Chickworth. "My name which it is Giles Chickworth."

"Mr. Chairman, I move that you use no more blarney; and I should say you had kissed the Blarney stone if you were an Irishman."

"The motion is not seconded, and I can't put it to the 'ouse," said the skipper.

"Put it to yourself and not to the house, and I shall be satisfied. Now, Mr. Giles Chickworth, let us talk business. Will you let the steam-yacht without captain or engineer?"

"Which I will do with the greatest pleasure in the world to a gentleman with millions in his trousers' pocket; for if you wreck or injure the beauty of a craft, you will pay for 'er like the Christian you are."

"Certainly, I will; but we do not intend to wreck or injure her," added Louis, as he proceeded to arrange the terms more definitely.

Everything was satisfactorily adjusted, and Chickworth promised to have the Salihé at the gangway of the ship at six o'clock. The Guardian-Mother had arrived at Gibraltar about noon on the day that the boys discovered the little steam-yacht. The Viking had come a couple of hours sooner. Captain W. Penn Sharp, her commander, had formerly been the third officer of the steamer, and his wife had been intimately connected with the affairs of the Belgrave family.

They came on board of the ship as soon as she was moored; and the rest of the party, including Captain Ringgold, were in the cabin while the big four were bargaining for the use of the Salihé. The two commanders had some business, and the ladies had more to say than could be disposed of in half a day. Fourteen persons sat down at luncheon together, and just escaped the fatal number by one, so that no life was sacrificed to the ominous thirteen.

The boys went on deck as soon as the meal was finished, for they were anxious to see more of the famous Rock, while the rest of the party remained in the cabin. The little steam-yacht cast off her cable, and stood off towards the town, where her enterprising captain probably expected to obtain a job for his boat.

"You have not said anything to Captain Ringgold about this excursion, Louis," suggested Morris Woolridge, as they observed the departing steamer.

"I did not consider it necessary to say anything to him," replied the owner of the Guardian-Mother.

"He will charge you with getting up another adventure like that you three had in the same little craft, or that we had in the felucca off Teneriffe, Sir Louis."

"If there is any adventure in a moonlight excursion in Gibraltar Bay in which you cannot get away more than five miles from the ship, I do not see it," added the young knight-errant, as Uncle Moses and Captain Ringgold insisted upon regarding him.

"I'm go'n' wid ye's, moi darlint, and Oi shall see that no harrum comes to ye's," interposed Felix. "I'll take as good care of ye's as your modther wud if she went wid ye's."

"Then I shall be perfectly safe, Squire Felix; but who will take care of you, my broth of a boy?" laughed Louis.

"St. Patrick hisself, long loife to 'm! is allus on the lukout for me; an' ye've nothin' to faer as long as Oi'm wid ye's."

"We have no pilot for these waters," suggested Scott.

"You can take a look at the big chart of this locality before we go, and then we shall be all right," replied Louis. "The water here is a hundred fathoms deep, and I believe there is only one island in all the bay."

"But there may be shoal places in the northern part of the bay, and it would not be pleasant to get aground and have to stay all night stuck in the mud," argued Scott.

"The tide rises and falls about four feet here; and by the looks it will not be at the flood before nine or ten this evening; and if we get caught, we can work off any shoal without much trouble. You will be the pilot, Scott, and you must study up the tide and the shoals before we leave."

"In what conspiracy are the big four engaged just now?" asked the commander, as he came out of the boudoir, in which was the grand staircase to the state cabin; and those rather high-sounding names were so marked on the plan of the interior of the ship, made by the original owner before she was purchased for the young millionaire. "Do you intend to set Gibraltar Bay on fire, blow up the Rock, or bridge over the Strait?"

"We may set the bay on fire to-night if it will only burn. Do you see that little steam-yacht, Captain, making for the town?" replied Louis, as he pointed to the pretty craft.

"I see her; and she is quite a handsome steam-launch," answered the commander.

"That is the Salihé, in which Flix and I, with the 'middy,' made the voyage from Madeira to Tarifa," added Louis.

"That? It seems to be quite impossible."

"She has been at the gangway, and her captain and owner, Mr. Giles Chickworth, told us all about her, and how he happened to buy her of the Grand Mogul;" and Louis proceeded to relate the entire history of the craft, and to inform the commander that the big four had engaged her for a moonlight excursion on the bay.

Captain Ringgold made no serious objection to the enterprise.

CHAPTER III

THE POSSIBLE DANGERS OF THE VOYAGE

Scott Fencelowe, who had been on probation over three months, proved very unexpectedly to the captain and others on board of the Guardian-Mother to be thoroughly reformed. As soon as the commander was satisfied on this point, he treated him with great kindness and consideration. The young man had been a very diligent student, and, having rather remarkable ability, he made rapid progress in his studies.

The stateroom formerly occupied by the third officer, leading off the promenade deck, like those of the first and second officers, had been assigned to him. He was nominally a quartermaster, though his services were seldom required at the wheel. He was the commander's messenger, and had come to be called the "middy." He had the charge of the flags and signals, and was made useful in any capacity in which he could be of service.

He messed with the officers, and as a sort of reward of merit he was occasionally invited to dine with the cabin party, as were the other principal officers of the ship. The other boys treated him as though he had been in every respect their equal, as indeed he was, except that he was a petty officer, as Felix was the captain's clerk. Scott was a very skilful boatman, and in three months he had learned his duty as a seaman.

"I suppose this moonlight excursion means an adventure of some sort, Sir Louis," said Captain Ringgold, when the serious part of the business was settled, and no objection had been made to the enterprise of the big four.

"Of course I am bound to be a knight-errant wherever I go and whatever I do, and I am as sure to get into an adventure as I am to get into my berth when I turn in," replied Louis, laughing with the captain all the time.

"It generally happens so. You were going to the top of the Peak of Teneriffe; but instead of going there, you had a battle with banditti, and whipped out your captors in a felucca."

"But the big four came back safe and sound, and brought the enemy with them."

"You were all plucky, and I believe you never fail to get the better of all enemies in whatever form they come."

"Now, beloved commander of the Guardian-Mother, can you tell me what possible chance there is for an adventure in the excursion we have arranged?" asked Louis, rather more seriously.

"If you should undertake to capture the Rock of Gibraltar, it will be well for you to know that it is garrisoned by about five thousand soldiers of all arms; and that number of full-grown men are too many for even the big four," continued the commander, not disposed to be serious.

"The big four don't mind five thousand soldiers; if there were ten thousand of them, we might hesitate."

"Perhaps you will prefer to pick up the entire Rock and drop it into the bay; but the water is not deep enough to cover up the highest points of it, and somebody might find out what you had been about."

"Now, Captain, could you be reasonably serious for a moment, only long enough to guess the conundrum I put to you just now?" asked Louis.

"I might try. What was the conundrum?" asked the commander, smoothing off his face.

"If my mother knew I was going ashore, or off in a boat, she would immediately conclude that I was to be shot, pitched over a precipice, or sunk to the bottom of the bay with a fifty-six tied around my neck."

"Formerly she would; but Dr. Hawkes has wonderfully improved her nervous system, so that she would not conclude that anything of the sort would happen to you. You have got into so many scrapes and always come out of them without the singeing of a hair of your head, that she has acquired some confidence in your happy destiny," replied the captain.

"Then can you indicate nearly or remotely what possible adventure I can fall into in this excursion?"

"I give up the conundrum; I cannot guess as to how it is to come about; but if I were a sporting man, I should be willing to wager that you will have an adventure of some kind; but I should wish to wager at the same time that you would come out of it unscathed, and with the head of the enemy under your arm," answered the captain, resuming his mirthful rallying.

"I cannot see for the life of me where the adventure is to come in. John Scoble is hard at work in Sing Sing prison, and"—

"He may have been pardoned, or escaped from the stone walls that held him," interposed the commander, very cheerfully, as though he did not anticipate either of these events.

"Mr. Fobbington, alias Wilson Frinks, is mending roads with his ankles chained together in Santa Cruz, in the island of Teneriffe; these two were the most virulent enemies I ever had, and I do not know where to look for any others," replied Louis, as he saw his mother with the rest of the party come out of the boudoir.

Captain Ringgold told her all about the proposed excursion of the big four; but Mrs. Belgrave did not offer a single objection. She asked her son some questions about it, and then joined Mrs. Sharp in a walk on the deck.

"But which of the big four is to be the engineer of the Salihé?" asked the commander.

"No one of them, Captain; and that reminds me that I wish to borrow Felipe Garcias, the oiler, for that office," replied Louis.

The commander sent the middy to summon Felipe; and both of them soon returned together. The young Spaniard was very willing to undertake the duty, as he was anything that was for Louis, to whom he was fully devoted. The dinner in the cabin, complimentary to Captain and Mrs. Sharp, was served at five o'clock in Monsieur Odervie's best style. The boys retired early, and were at the gangway when the steam-yacht came alongside.

Giles Chickworth was in the pilot-house, and the same engineer as when they had seen the craft before was at the door of the engine-room. Felipe was in readiness to take the place of the latter, as Scott was that of the former. But the young engineer did not appear to be in a very cheerful mood, and looked furtively about the vicinity of the ship as if in search of somebody or something.

"Ali-Noury Pacha here?" he said, looking earnestly at Louis, for he had been generally confined to his duties below, and had not heard the news that the Pacha's yacht had gone to the southward three weeks before.

"The Grand Mogul is not here now," replied Louis, laughing at the fears of the young Spaniard. "His steam-yacht has probably gone back to Mogadore."

"Sure?" persisted Felipe.

"I am sure the Fatimé is not here, though I am not sure where she has gone. Besides, he has sold the Salihé to the man in the pilot-house, and he has no claim to her," Louis explained.

"I don't know; the Grand Mogul is a bad man; I am afraid," added the engineer, shaking his head doubtfully.

"He cannot harm you now."

"He send me back to Mogadore; he whip me on the feet; he put me in the prison," continued Felipe.

"He cannot touch you here."

"I am not so sure of that," interposed Uncle Moses, the lawyer. "He could be arrested for stealing the steam-yacht;" but the trustee spoke in a low tone, so that the Spaniard could not hear him, and he could not yet speak or understand English very readily.

"He could in Morocco, but not here, under the British flag," suggested Louis.

"There may be an extradition treaty between the two countries," replied Uncle Moses. "But I don't think Filopena is in any great danger of being arrested. Don't be afraid, my boy," he added to the engineer.

"It is all right, Felipe; the Pacha can have no idea of what has become of you," said Louis, as he led the way down the steps and on board of the Salihé. "You are here on time, Mr. Chickworth."

"Which I am halways on time, sir," replied the owner of the craft.

"This man owns the Salihé now," added Louis, turning to Felipe, who closely followed him.

"Lo he comprado" (I have bought her), said the skipper, seeing that the engineer was a Spaniard. "She is mine now."

But he had no idea that the person he addressed was the one who had run away from the home of the Pacha with the steamer; and Louis did not deem it wise to enlighten him in this particular.

"Esta aqui el Pacha?" (Is the Pacha here?) asked Felipe of the skipper.

"No esta aqui" (He is not here), replied Chickworth. "Now, Mr. Belgrave, I suppose you are in no 'urry, and per'aps you would not mind setting me and my hengineer on shore by the Ragged Staff," he continued, turning to Louis.

"In no hurry at all, and we had as lief go to the Ragged Staff, whatever that may be, as anywhere else. Run for the shore at any place you please. By the way, Mr. Chairman, where shall we leave the Salihé when we return?"

"Just make 'er fast by the gangway of your ship, and I will come on board to-morrow morning," replied the skipper, as he rang the bell to go ahead.

Scott stood at the door and asked some questions about the navigation of the bay; but Chickworth seemed to have no doubt that the temporary pilot would be able to keep the steamer on the top of the water. It was a run of only half a mile to the stairs where the skipper wished to land, and a few minutes later he was set ashore there. He stood at the head of the steps observing the Salihé as she headed up the bay, and seemed to be informing himself whether or not her new crew knew how to manage her.

Of course Felipe was entirely at home in the engine-room, for he had served there in the employ of the Pacha, as well as on the broad ocean when all his present shipmates were with him. Scott was a skilful wheelman, and had steered the craft on the voyage from Madeira. No commander had been chosen for the present trip, but Louis fell naturally into this position without any appointment, for his ability invariably made him the leader in all enterprises in which the big four engaged. In fact, he had a talent for commanding as well as for obeying; and the latter sometimes requires more talent than the former. But he was modest and did not make himself offensive by an overbearing manner.

The Salihé was abreast of the town of Gibraltar after she left the landing stairs, where there is a fixed light, showing green, which Scott noted as his guide for the return run. Four miles from it to the westward was a light on Verde Island, near the city of Algeciras, visible nine miles; and between the two the helmsman was not likely to get lost, unless a dense fog should shut them out from his view, of which there was no immediate prospect.

"It is about time to give the pilot some instructions in regard to the course," said Scott, addressing Louis, who stood on the forecastle with Felix. "It won't take long to use up this bay, which don't pan out more than five miles in any direction."

"Sailing for itself don't amount to much, for we are somewhat accustomed to that sort of thing," replied Louis. "I think you had better keep her within about a quarter of a mile of the shore, and make the circuit of the entire bay as far as Carnero Point on the other side. Then we can see the coast by daylight or moonlight. If anybody objects, let him say so."

This course was followed, and the voyagers had a good view of the town and of the Rock. Scott had studied the chart, and announced to his companions the Old Mole, the Neutral Ground, and finally Point Mirador, with St. Roque on the hills above it.

CHAPTER IV

AN EXPLORATION OF GIBRALTAR BAY

"I say, Flix," said Louis, as he seated himself on one of the stools with which the forecastle was provided, as they were passing the Old Mole, "did it ever occur to you that our voyage from the Bahama Islands was over about the same track as that taken by Columbus when he discovered the New World?"

"I never thought a word about it, my darling," replied Felix.

"I wonder you didn't, for I persuaded you to read Irving's 'Life of Columbus'; and you know he took his final departure from the Canary Islands."

"I know he did; but he did not come back that way, and he had some mighty tough weather, just as we had in coming to the Canaries."

"He returned by the Azores. But I was going to ask you a question, Flix."

"Is it a question?"

"Do you remember seeing the word 'cosmography' in the book?"

"I do remember that same; and I remember seeing the dictionary in regard to it. It is a very big word for a mighty small matter."

"Not at all. What do you understand by the word?"

"I should say that, according to Columbus, it meant the science or the art of drawing maps."

"More than that; for it includes geography and astronomy and something more than that, for it is the science of the universe, comprehending the laws and relations of all its parts."

"Then it is a big subject; but Captain Columbus did not mean by it much more than the description of countries, seas, and oceans. He might as well have called it geography. A cosmographer is one who studies the world or the universe; and that is what Columbus was, for he had an astrolabe, and took the sun like any other old salt."

"Very good, Flix; and I am glad you read so understandingly."

"Did you think I was a fool?" asked Felix with a little gentle indignation in his tone and looks.

"I knew you were not; and, like Captain Columbus, you are a cosmographer," replied Louis, rallying his companion with a laugh.

"Is it I? Not much!"

"But you are"—

"Neutral Ground!" called Scott from the pilot-house. "It's about a half-mile wide, and then comes San Felipe."

"Named after our engineer," added Felix.

"Precisely so: and that place is in Spain. You are studying the coast of that country, and therefore you are a cosmographer," continued Louis.

"Well, I haven't got it bad," protested Felix.

"You have it as badly as any of us; for we are all studying the cosmography of the countries we visit, and especially the shores we approach. We are all cosmographers."

"The hill directly ahead of us is the Carbonera Mountain," shouted Scott; and it is possible that he desired to display the knowledge he had picked up during the afternoon to prepare himself as a pilot.

"Carbonera!" exclaimed Felix. "What a word! I wonder if it means anything. What does it mean, Scott?"

"I'm no Spaniard, and I don't know; all I study is the navigation," replied the pilot.

"Navigation! Are you going to take us up to the top of that hill in the Sally Hay?" chuckled Felix, believing he had made a point.

"Not at all; and I am not going to take you to the top of the lighthouse on Verde Island when we return; but I shall use it all the same as a guide to assist me in the navigation, as I do the mountain, which is nine hundred and seventy-one feet high, and therefore in sight even in the night."

"You have got him, Scott," laughed Louis. "Flix, you talk as though you were an old lady who believed that lighthouses were put up to illuminate the watery region where they are placed, instead of to give the mariner his bearings."

"I am not quite so green as the Ragged Staff Light," replied Felix, rather cut up by Scott's victory over him. "But I am as wise as the pilot, for I don't know any more than he does what the name of that mountain means."

"Well, Flix, you ought to have studied Spanish with me, as I asked you to do before we left New York," added Louis.

"Oh, bother! What do I want of Spanish?"

"To inform you what the meaning is of the name of that hill."

"And do you know what it means, darling?"

"It means a place where they burn charcoal."

"I am not going into the charcoal business at present; and it is of no great consequence to me," added Felix.

"Knowledge is not all for business purposes; and it is worth while to have it, even if you cannot make any money out of it in detail."

"Point Mala," said Scott.

"And what does that mean, Louis?" asked Felix.

"Malo means bad, wicked, or sickly. Mala is the feminine of the same word; and it also means the mail, or a mail-bag. I don't know the history of this punta, or point, so that I cannot tell whether it is a sickly place, a wicked locality, or is the place where they formerly landed the mail on its way to San Roque."

"That is San Roque on the hill to the left of Carbonera Mountain," said Scott, who could hear all that was said on the forecastle.

"Then learning Spanish don't teach you everything, Louis, my darling," chuckled Felix. "It ought to let you know whether Mala is a wicked place or a mail-bag."

"Knowledge has its limits; and generally they are not very far off. But you might as well refuse to believe you had any hair on your head because you can not tell how many capillary shafts it consists of."

"I have none of those things on my pate," laughed Felix, shaking his head vigorously. "If I have, I will scatter them. Are those shafts like the one that whirls the propeller of the Guardian-Mamma, Louis?"

"I am afraid the limits of your knowledge of the ornamental appendage of your fine head are not as near as they might be, for you do not seem to know the nomenclature of the hairs of your head."

"Are you talking Spanish just now, my darling? If not, I ought to have brought a dictionary with me," said Felix with a gasp to denote the depth of his despair.

"Point Mirador," called the pilot.

"Punta Mirador," added Louis.

"You ought to have your head bound with iron hoops, like a beer-barrel, to keep it from bursting with the fulness thereof, for some of the long words are sticking out through the cracks now."

"If it collapses, Flix, I hope you will gather up some of the fruits of the explosion; but at present I do not feel any extraordinary pressure, and I think you will have to acquire your own knowledge in the ordinary laborious manner."

"I don't see the p'nt of that point which you call a punta"—

"I don't call it a punta, but a poon-ta. Pronounce it correctly when you speak Spanish, Flix," interposed Louis.

"Poonta Mirador, then. There is more Mira-Por-Vos in it," added Felix, alluding to the group of islands among the Bahamas on one of which the foster-father of Scott had been picked up.

"Unfortunately for you there is none of that in it, for mirador means a person looking on, or a balcony. You pay your money and take your choice."

"Do you pay it in English or Spanish money? There is something on the hill that looks like a balcony; and I pay my money for that interpretation."

"There is another point before we come to Algeciras called Rinconcillo," added the pilot.

"Call it Rin-con-cil-yo, for double 1 in Spanish is treated like a single letter, sounded like ly joined," Louis explained.

"Cilyo it is, Don Louis; and I shall be wilying to remember it when I am spelying out a Spanish word and filying up my empty head with such eroodition through the capilyary shafts. But I suppose that four-sylyabler means something."

"You observe that the word is a diminutive."

"I observe," replied Felix, shrugging his shoulders, and extending his two hands like a puzzled or a deprecating Frenchman. "I always thought a diminutive meant something small, and this is a four-syllabler, with eleven letters, counting in the y."

"Does infinitesimal cover the length of the word or its meaning, Flix?"

"Give it up! You always beat me in a literary discussion, my darling; and Oi'm moighty proud of your lairnin'."

"Rinconcillo, without regard to the length of the word, means a small corner," said Louis.

"And that's just where I am!" exclaimed Felix. "There is only one thing in which I can beat you."

"What's that, Flix?" asked Morris, who had been too much amused to say anything before.

"In using the swate brogue of Ould Ireland, which I lairned from me modther, long life to her, though she died when I was a babby."

"Welcome to your superiority in that line, my boy; but I hoped you would forget your brogue before this time, for you have talked all the evening till now without a touch of it," added Louis.

"Forgit me brogue? Niver! I'd dhrown mesel' in half a point o' wather afore I'd forgit me modther tongue!"

"There is an opening in the land on the starboard side, just ahead of us," Scott announced. "I suppose it is the River Palmones, and there is a village on the north side of it. I missed the Guadarranque River.

"Small loss; but are we going into this river, Scott?" asked Louis.

"I guess not; I don't know the navigation, and it is not sounded on the chart of the bay. But there are some small vessels in there, for I can see their masts not half a cable's length from the shore."

"We don't want anything of them."

"There is a boat coming out of the river," said Morris.

"All right: there is room enough in this bay for both of us," added Louis, as he glanced in the direction of the outlet of the stream.

"I can see the lights in the houses on the shore of the river," continued Morris.

The moonlight did not produce a very brilliant illumination of Gibraltar Bay, though it was light enough to enable the voyagers on its waters to see all prominent objects on the shores, and to make out the shape of the points projecting from them. There was not a sail in sight in this part of the bay, though the masts of the small craft in the creek could be plainly distinguished. Both of them were schooners, and they were evidently larger than most of the feluccas seen on the Mediterranean.

The boat that was approaching contained five men, two of whom were at the oars. They were pulling out in a direction to intercept the Salihé. Louis examined the boat and the men as well as he could, and though he had been utterly unable to imagine any possible danger in connection with the moonlight excursion, he made up his mind that he, for one, did not care to encounter a group of five men in just this lonely and silent locality.

Scott had strictly observed his instructions to keep within about a quarter of a mile of the shore, and the steam-yacht was now at this distance from the land. The rowers in the boat did not seem to be hurrying themselves at the oars, and Louis concluded that it would be a very easy matter for the Salihé to run away from the strangers when it seemed necessary to do so.

The steamer continued on her course, and no one expressed any alarm. Suddenly the Salihé stopped short, her keel grinding in the sand or mud.

CHAPTER V

AT THE MOUTH OF THE PALMONES RIVER

Scott had certainly done exceedingly well in his study of the chart, which Louis had obtained for him, and he remembered much more than might have been expected of him; but he had failed to mention several towers on the shore, which could hardly be seen at night. There was one of them about a quarter of a mile inshore from the mouth of the river. At two cables' length from the shore the water was ten fathoms deep; but at the mouth of the Palmones there is a bar, and the bottom in the vicinity was mud.

The pilot had obeyed his orders, and he was not to be blamed, though the steamer was now aground. As soon as the grating of the keel was heard, and the boat came to a full stop, Scott rang the bell to stop her, and then to back her. But she had run on the bar when going at full speed, and she did not come off so easily as desired.

"How does she head now, Musther Shcott?" asked Felix in a rallying tone.

"South south-west by north north-east," replied the pilot, who was always good-natured except when he got mad.

"Faix, I think she's headed down for the place the volcanos vintilate."

"She isn't making any headway in that direction," added Scott.

"She will come off in a few minutes, for it will not be high tide for some time yet," said Louis. "You may as well stop the screw and take it easy, for she seems to be stuck hard. We are in no great hurry."

"What do you call this river, Scott?" asked Felix.

"The Palmones."

"And what might that mean, Dr. Belgrave?"

"If you mean me, I don't know," replied Louis.

"Is there anything you don't know, Professor?"

"There is at least one thing in particular that I don't know, and that is why you call me doctor and professor, Flix. I am not a pedant, and if you call me by such names, I shall give you the highest-sounding title I can find," replied Louis, rather tartly.

"I won't do it then; I didn't mean to vex you."

"You didn't vex me; but you talk to me as though I set myself up for a very learned or a very pretentious fellow. Barbers and bootblacks call themselves professors in these days; and there is no honor in the title unless a man is really a graduate of a college, and is what the name implies. I don't know what Palmones means, and it may be the proper name of some Spanish don."

"The boat is close aboard of us," said Scott, coming out of the pilot-house.

"And we are in for an advinture," chuckled Felix.

"I don't see any adventure yet," added Louis.

"Steamer, ahoy!" shouted a man in the bow of the boat.

"Answer him, Scott," said Louis.

"En el vapor!" shouted one in the stern-sheets of the craft, as though he thought the steamer's people might not understand English.

"In the boat!" replied the pilot.

The strangers did not wait for anything more to be said, but came alongside the Salihé, the man in the stern grasping the rail to hold the boat. As well as they could be made out in the dim light of the moon, they were not English lords nor Spanish grandees. On the contrary, they were rather a piratical-looking set of men. They were talking among themselves, but in Spanish; and the man in the bow appeared to be the only one who spoke English.

Louis was not at all pleased with the situation; and he thought it was possible, after all, that there might be an adventure to wind up the moonlight excursion in the bay. He found his knowledge of Spanish was likely to be serviceable, for he could understand all that he could hear of what was passing in the after part of the craft. The man in the stern called to the one in the bow to leap on board of the steamer. The former looked like a cut-throat villain. He wore a woollen cap in sugar-loaf form with the point of it turned over on the side of his head.

It looked as though the party intended to board the Salihé, and Louis took Felix by the arm, and led him to the rail of the yacht, in order to prevent anything of this kind if possible. At the same time he told Scott to make another attempt to back the steamer off the bar. The pilot returned to the wheel and rang two bells. The screw began to revolve, and the boat began to shake, for Felipe had a full head of steam, having just replenished the furnace with coal, in preparation for the work he was now called upon to perform. For a minute or so the yacht was shaking under the pressure applied.

Setting the wheel amidships, Scott came out of the pilot-house, and placed himself at the side of Louis. In the adventure on the island of Teneriffe, in which his present companions, with the exception of the engineer, had been captured to obtain a ransom from the millionaires, Scott had been on the wrong side, and was engaged against his present friends. On the current occasion he seemed to be desirous of redeeming his character, so far as it had not already been done, and to prove his loyalty to the owner of the Guardian-Mother.

"Board her!" called the Spaniard in the stern in his own language, evidently supposing from the answer in English, and from the appearance of those on the forecastle of the steamer, that they could not understand him. "Board her, Gray!"

"No, no," replied the man called Gray, in Spanish. "We don't want any trouble about this business. This is Giles Chickworth's steamer; but he is not on board of her, so far as I can see."

"There is not a particle of wind, and we cannot sail the Golondrina down the bay," continued the Spaniard impatiently. "You waste time, and we shall all be lost, and all the goods with us."

This remark fully enlightened Louis in regard to the character of the villanous-looking fellows in the boat. They were contrabandistas, as smugglers are called in Spanish. The town of San Roque on the hill has the reputation of being largely the abode of this class of people, and the surrounding country doubtless is inhabited by great numbers of them.

"Gibraltar is a free port, and a resort in consequence of Spanish smugglers, who drive an amazing trade by introducing contraband goods into Spain. The British government is not altogether free from a charge of a breach of faith, in the toleration it has given to these dishonest men; for it is bound by many engagements to use its best exertions to prevent any fraud on the Spanish revenues, in consequence of its possession of this peninsula." This is an extract from an English book, published in London. The writer has not set up a windmill for the purpose of giving the knight-errant on board of the Salihé a job to knock it down.

It was plain enough to Louis, who had read the account of Gibraltar from which we have quoted, that the occupants of the boat alongside had a small vessel in the Palmones, loaded for a voyage to some port in Spain. The wind had been tolerably fresh during the afternoon, but at sunset it had entirely subsided, and at the present time the surface of the bay was glassy in the moonlight. The custom-house officials from Algeciras or elsewhere might pounce upon them before morning, or the next day if the vessel was compelled to remain in the river for the want of wind.