University of Virginia Library

CAPTAIN VELASCO;
AND
THE YOUNG LIEUTENANT.
OR, OUR
PRIVATE BUCCANEERING ADVENTURE.

BY J. H. INGRAHAM.

1. CHAPTER I.

In the month of September 183—, I
took passage in a small, rakish-looking
Spanish schooner, bound for Havana—
We weighed anchor about eight in the
morning, and sailed out of the harbor
with a fair wind and the prospect of
reaching our port in four or five days.—
I was the only passenger. The crew
consisted of five men forward, a black
cook, and the captain and mate. They
were all Spaniards. The vessel was one
of two or three regular traders that run
monthly between Havana and the Southern
ports of the Union. It was a long,
narrow craft, sharp in the bows and very
low in the water, with masts that raked
like a pen when one writes it. She was
a saucy-visaged looking sea-dog, but
having the reputation of being a fast sailer,
which reputation she did not belie, I
resolved to take passage in her, in preference
to a heavy Kennebec lumber brig
that was to sail that same afternoon. I
had not seen the Captain until after I got
on board, my passage having been taken
at the counting-room of the consignee,
while he was at the Custom House.

After I had settled myself in the state
room assigned me, which the mate had
resigned for my accommodation, finding
that the Captain had come on board, and
that we were fairly in motion, I put on
my sea blouse and ascended to the deck.
We were moving, or rather gliding thro'
the water at the rate of five knots, the
foresail and mainsail, with the fore-topsail
drawing free, and running dead before
the wind.

The tall, slender, pliant masts, the
withe-like yards across, the long and narrow
well kept deck, the foreign air about
every thing on board for a few moments
fixed my attention. The Spanish sailors,
in their striped woolen shirts, red,
peaked caps, and with their huge whiskers,
or mustaches, were at their posts
ready to obey the next order of the mate,
a fine-looking, tough old Spanish seaman,
with thick grey hair, and a pepper and
salt colored mustache on his lip as

enormous as the tail of a grey squirrel;
nevertheless, there was a bluff humor in
his clear black eyes, that showed he was
a good hearted man, ferocious as his
`bogotes' were.

At the helm stood a young, dark looking,
but exceedingly handsome man not
above four or five and twenty. He wore
no whiskers, but a jet black imperial relieved
the fine curve beneath his under
lip and chin. His face was sparkling
with intelligence and feeling, and his
large black expressive eyes were lively
with animation. His figure was slight
and symmetrical, well set off by a loose
gingham coat, striped with scarlet and
blue, which he wore with the most careless
negligence. His hair was dark and
flowing to his shoulders; a massive ring
glittered on the little finger of the hand
that grasped the tiller, and in the bosom
of his blue checked camisa glared a ruby.
A fine, bold expression of determination,
united with a seaman-like frankness, at
once prepossessed me in his favor. I knew
it was Captain Velasco, for I had heard
the mate address him by his title just as
I came on deck.

As he saw me look towards him, he
bowed with a smile and said with that
courtesy which never deserts the Spaniard,

`Buenos dias, caballero! I am glad
to see you on deck! We have a fine
wind and shall soon be on the open sea!
Is the Senor sea-sick?'

I answered in the negative, when he
smiled with much gratification and said,

`Bueno! It will be pleasant then!
I am happy to have you a passenger. I
hope your quarters below suit you!'

`I am quite well pleased with them,' I
answered.

`They are comfortable for one. I seldom
take passengers; but it is pleasant
to have one or two agreeable persons,
when the wind is fair and the sea smooth.
I hope, Senor, you will make a passage
highly to your satisfaction.'

`I have no doubt of it, Senor Velasco,'
I replied; and the ice being thus broken
to our acquaintance we were very soon
afterwards talking together very cordially;
he having resigned the helm to one
of the crew after passing the light.

It was noon and we were seated at
dinner together below, (I would here remark
that my friend, the Captain was
quite an epicure and lived accordingly,)
when the mate reported a boat in sight
towards the coast making a signal. The
handsome young captain was just then
relating to me the history of his life; how
that he was the nephew of an Havana
merchant, who had sent him both as
captain and supercargo of the schooner,
which the uncle owned; but, said he, I
shall purchase half of her when I reach
Havana, having laid up enough for the
purpose. One must grow rich, you know!'

`Are you married?' I asked him.

He colored, and his eyes beamed with
a gratified, happy expression, as he answered,
laughing,

`No, Senor, not yet! I shall be one
of these days. I am plighted to my
cousin Isabel, my uncle's daughter. She
is very beautiful, and I love her with all
my heart as my cousin, and I adore her
as my betrothed wife!'

It was at this crisis of our conversation
that old Jacobs the mate called down
the companion-way to inform us that a
boat was in the shore signalizing us.—
Captain Velasco went on deck and I followed.
We were running along parallel
with the coast about five miles off the
land, and about a mile from us we discovered
a small boat from which a white
handkerchief or flag was waving. The
boat was more than a league out to sea,
and as it did not seem to be a fishing
skiff the captain got his glass to take a
look at it.

`It is a green pleasure boat, and contains
a single person, who seems to be a
gentleman,' said he after a minute's observation.
`He is standing up in the
boat waving a handkerchief towards us!
It is some person adrift. Forward there!
Stand by to tack ship!

The next moment we had turned the
schooner's bows from her course and
were standing landward straight for the
boat. On seeing that he was observed,
the person in her ceased waving his
handkerchief. In about a quarter of an
hour we came up with him, and flinging
him a rope brought him along side. He
ascended the deck and thanked us, in
general, with the warmest expressions of
gratitude. He was a young gentleman,
well dressed, wearing a foraging cap such
as is worn in the army, and in an undress
military frock coat. He had a fine, manly
air, and was altogether a good looking
young fellow, with an air of decided
high breeding. He introduced himself
in English to the Captain, who understood
the language very well, as Lieut.
Henry — of the U. S. Army; and said
very handsomely,

`It is not enough that I thank you for
your humanity in relieving me from a
very perilous and annoying situation, for
you see (as we had done with surprise)
that I had no oars in my boat, and the
tide was drifting me rapidly out to sea.
It is my duty also to inform you, gentleman,'
he continued, laughing and blushing,
`how I came to be put in such a fix!'

`Come into the cabin, Senor Lieutenant;'
said the Captain courteously.—
`We were just dining when you signalized
us. You will need refreshment.—
Dine first, and then explain what you
choose afterwards. We ask nothing!—
As for me and my vessel, I am a Spanish
trader, between Charleston, Savannah
and the Havannah, and am now bound
to the latter port, with this gentleman as
a passenger and a fair cargo! So you
know us. If you desire it, you may visit
the Havana with us; or be put on shore
in this vicinity. It will be my pleasure
to serve you, Senor!'

The young officer bowed with deep
gratitude in his looks and descended with
us to the cabin. After we had progressed
a little with eating, he spoke again
and said, with an air of frankness,

`I cannot refrain any longer, in justice
to myself and your very natural curiosity,
to explain how I chanced to be placed in
such a ludicrous predicament. You are
both young men, and perhaps know what
it is to love! I shall therefore make no
concealment of my affair!'

The Captain smiled and his sparkling
glance confessed to the soft impeachment.
What our reply was is not on
record.

`Know then, my friends, I am engaged
to the daughter of a wealthy planter
who resides four miles up the river, the
mouth of which is in sight. I first saw
her at Saratoga last year, and we very
soon found from mutual tastes and sympathies,
and a union of hopes and fears,
that we were designed for each other.—
So we plighted our troth. But when
Col —, her father, was made acquainted
with the fact in a respectful letter
which I addressed to him, soliciting her
hand, he sent me in reply, the insulting
answer, that his child should never wed
a poor officer who had nothing but his
pay; and that as I doubtless thought
more of his dollars than his daughter, he
desired that I should cease to think
neither of the one nor the other as both
were equally beyond my reach.'

`The suspicious old dotard!' exclaimed
Captain Velasco with contempt.

`The next day he left the springs and
I saw no more of Isabel —.'

`Isabel? Is that her name?' demanded
ed the Captain with pleased surprise.

`It is. But why do you exclaim, Senor?'

`It is a very much loved name. I am
more interested now, for that name's
sake!'

`We corresponded secretly, and at
length I prevailed upon her to consent to
elope with me if I visited the South; for
gentlemen, it becomes me to say, that in
my family, character, and social position
there was nothing in the least exceptionable
to me. All my crime in the sight
of her father was, that I had only my
pay!'

`You had more! You had honor,
character, rank in the army! These
were an equivalent to his money! Aye,
my friend, more than an equivalent. A
rich man who marries his daughter to
these has `half a dozen for his six,' as
our proverb has it. But go on, Senor!'

`I came out South, having got a furlough
of two months. I secretly met her
in the grounds of her father's villa, and
there planned our elopement. The distance
to Charleston was but forty miles
—'

`It is about that from here by sea,'
said Captain Velasco in parenthesis.

`I had come from thence in a close
carriage with fleet horses. This I had
left on the opposite shore under the care
of a tried friend who had volunteered to
act as coachman in the affair. I crossed
the river in a leaky skiff I found on the
shore, and landed at the foot of the lawn.'

`When was this?' I asked.

`About nine o'clock last evening, just
before the moon rose! I found Isabel
and a faithful old African nurse awaiting
me with every thing prepared for flight.
As the skiff I crossed in would not be a
safe conveyance across the river, I took
for the purpose one of two boats belonging
to Colonel — which were under
the boat-house. Isabel had left a note for
her father informing him of her destina
tion, and that she should as my wife be
happy to meet him at Charleston the next
day. I had just started from the shore
with my precious prize, when Col. —
appeared on the bank in great excitement.
By some means he had discovered
Isabel's absence from the house, and
perhaps suspected something like the
truth, as I had seen in Charleston, his
body servant whom he had with him at
Saratogo, who doubtless had informed
his master that he had met me there.—
He now appeared on the shore, and seeing,
for it was light enough for this, that
Isabel was in the boat, he hailed and
called her by name. She was silent, I
pulled with all my strength to widen the
distance. Instantly he began to call upon
his slaves, and in three minutes he
was in the other boat in pursuit. The
river is wide and before I got half way
across, he was close upon me, with four
negroes at the oars! The upshot of it
was that he overtook me, and in spite of
my best efforts at withstanding him he
succeeded in securing me by the aid of
four slaves, binding my hands behind me
and taking possession of his daughter.—
He then gave me a parting word of advice
well laced with enraged oaths and
removing the oars, thwarts and every
thing available for paddling from the boat
he set me adrift.'

`The barbarous monster!' cried the
Captain indignantly.

The current was strong and I was set
rapidly down the river, having the pain
of seeing Isabel borne from me, filling
the air with her cries. I will not attempt
to describe, for I cannot, my feelings,'
he said, after a pause of deep emotion.
`I finally succeeded in releasing my
hands from their confinement. By this
time I was going out to sea. By midnight
I found I was rocking upon the
ground swell, and far from the land.—
The tide turned and carried me back to

within a mile of the beach, when again
at eleven o'clock it flowed seaward again
and my hopes of reaching the shore were
destroyed on discovering that I was again
receding from it towards the open sea. I
then looked for help seaward and discovered
your vessel. I continued to make
signals until, happily, you saw me and had
the humanity to turn from your course to
my relief!'

We had listened with deep interest to
the young officer's story; and when he
had ended we remained seated some time
in silence. Suddenly the young Captain
sprang to his feet and called to Jocobo.

`Senor!'

`How far are we from the mouth of the
river — off which we last tacked?'

`Two leagues!'

`Put the schooner about!'

`Si Senor!' answered the mate; and
in a few moments afterwards to our surprize
we were running back towards the
spot where we had taken the young officer
on board.

2. CHAPTER II.

The handsome young Spanish Captain
remained quietly seated at table after
he had given his sudden order to put
the schooner about, and seemed for some
time to be wholly absorbed in extracting
the meat from the labarynthine cells of a
walnut. He was silent and thoughtful.
At length he called for a chart and began
to examine it. We both regarded
him attentively, and then looked at each
other. Our mutual interchange of glances
showed me that the young American
officer did not yet even suspect what the
motive was which led to this command
to change the course of the vessel. His
look was full of surprise and inquiry,
I, however, guessed the cause; for by
this time I had pretty well understood
the chivalrous character of the captain;
I, however, decided to remain silent also,
until he choose to communicate what I
saw was working upward in his mind.—
At length he looked up, and said with a
smile, addressing the lieutenant,—

`My friend, would you like to see your
fair mistress once more?'

`See her? I would give half the years
of my life if I thought I should ever lay
eyes off her again!' he answered, with
deep and enthusiastic ardor.

`Then you may be happy—you shall
see her at less sacrifice!' said he, with a
peculiar smile of inward gratification, as
enjoying within the happiness he was
about to communicate.

`Speak! how?' he cried, half hoping,
half doubting, and looking quite bewildered;—for
the chivalrous idea which
had arisen in the mind of the noble and
gallant young Spanish seamen, and which
had prompted him to put his vessel about,
had never once occurred to him.

`In this way!—but first fill your glasses,
amigos. Now listen:—you say the
villa of Colonel — stands about five
miles, or thereabouts, up the river from
the sea. My chart, which I have just
been looking at, shows me that there is
a plenty of water and a good channel
even for several miles higher up the river.
The wind, as it now is, is fair;
and before five o'clock, by the time we
get abreast of the mouth of the river,
we shall have the tide setting out very

slowly. My plan then is this,' he said,
in a very positive way, peculiar to him;
`to run up the river and anchor abreast
of the villa. When there, I think we
three together can forge some plot for
getting the fair Isabel into our possession!
It is for this I have put my vessel
about.'

The young officer listened at first with
a surprise that lost itself, as the captain
went on, in the strongest joy. He impulsively
rose from the table, and seizing
the hands of the Spanish captain, thanked
him with the overflowing gratitude of
his heart.

We now began to discuss the whole
matter before us in a business-like manner.

`I have no doubt,' said the captain,
`we shall be able to effect the surprise
we meditate without any difficulty.'

`The villa stands quite alone,' said
the lieutenant; who, flinging his griefs
and despairings to the winds, now entered
heart and soul, life and hope, in the
enterprise. `There is a plantation-house
a mile above, and one or two miles nearer
the mouth of the river a carriage-road
on the bank connecting them. Opposite
is a small farm, from which a lane half a
mile in length conducts to the turnpike
to Charleston. It was at the bottom of
this lane, close by the water side, that I
left my friend Oglethrope with the coach.
What has become of him now I have no
idea. He must have heard the struggle
on the river, but in the darkness and
distance probably did not understand its
nature;—at all events, he could not have
aided me.'

`He will probably remain in the neighborhood
till he hears from you,' I remarked.

`Yes, unless the Colonel has sent to
see if any accomplices were lurking in
the vicinity.'

`It is my impression he thinks it was
my intention to escape altogether in the
boat, and is quite unsuspicious that any
carriage was in waiting.'

`So much the better,' answered Senor
Velasco. `Now, as I understand how
the land lays, I find that our plan is more
and more feasible. We shall apprehend
no danger from either of the plantations,
above or below; while the farm house
opposite will be unable to interfere. But
I don't mean any alarm or noise shall
be made. We must do what we do very
quietly;—for, gentlemen,' he added,
laughing, `it is a little better than a
buccaneering expedition we are bent
upon! But love must excuse it!—I am
in love—and it is an Isabel I love; and
were I in your case, I should expect you
to do for me what I am about to do for
you!'

`Noble captain!' exclaimed the young
officer, in the depth of his gratitude.

`I do but my duty. Come—let us on
deck and see how we progress.'

We left the table and ascended to the
deck. We were running along with a
light air from the south, within a league
of the shore, and about four miles from a
group of trees on a green promontory
that marked the mouth of the river. The
land visible was forest and open upland,
here and there interrupted by a plantation
inland, with its white mansion and group
of negro cottages. The scene was agreeable
to the eye, and particularly beautiful
about the mouth of the river, towards
which we were directing our course. At
length we came so near that we could
hear the birds singing in the trees upon
the land, and at intervals the bleating of
sheep and lowing of herds. It was a
lovely afternoon, and we were in excellent
spirits; for we felt that we were
upon a successful adventure, which was
not only exciting in itself, but which was
to make two young and true hearts happy.
We thought how overjoyed and

grateful Isabel would be;—we knew how
grateful her lover was. But the woe and
disappointment of Colonel — never
once entered our thoughts.

Thus we sailed along, towing alongside
the green boat the lover had been
cast adrift in, still containing all the baggage
(a valise, carpet-bag and trunk,
with a band-box also,) belonging to the
heroine, and which, in his haste to get
possession of his daughter and get rid of
her lover, the old gentleman had not
seen—at least had not removed. So all
that was wanted was the lady—or, as
Captain Velasco expressed it, `We have
the salt, all we now want is the egg.'

`Jacobo!' said he, as the schooner ran
into the river, and began to ascend, with
green shores on either hand.

`Senor!'

`Get up an American ensign, and set
it!'

`Si, Senor!' answered the mate.

`We must show American colors or
we shall frighten the country,' answered
Captain Velasco, with a smile, as the
stars and stripes ascended and floated in
the air over the stern.

The sail up was beautiful. We passed,
two miles from the sea, the first plantation
mentioned by the lieutenant, and
one or two opposite. The houses were
large and handsome, with spacious galleries,
and were situated at an imposing
distance back from the river, with lofty
trees around and a wide lawn in front;
while in the rear could be seen the white
`quarters' of the negroes.

`Little did I think last night, when I
was drifting down this river past these
plantations, I should be re-ascending it
so soon, and with the hopes that fill my
bosom.'

`Those hopes shall be realised, amigo
mio,' answered Senor Velasco very positively.
`I don't know what the underwriters
would say if they knew where
the vessel was. But that is my business!'

`There is a distant cupola on the left,
peering above the trees,' I remarked,
pointing out the object just after we had
turned a bend in the river.

`It is the villa!—it is Colonel —'s
place,' answered the lieutenant, colouring,
and his voice trembling with the
emotions of his heart, on once more beholding
the house that held her whom he
loved.

`That is the house, then,' repeated the
Captain, as he took the glass from his
eye. `I will stand on as if intending to
pass it—get a little ways above—then put
the schooner in the wind, and let her act
as if some accident had happened. I
will let her drift down till again opposite
the villa, and then drop anchor. Col.
— will thus suppose our stopping just
there accidental, and his suspicion will
not be awakened; for to confess the truth,
caballeros, I am told my craft hasn't the
most honest look for a civil trader!'

`Manage the matter your own way,
my good captain,' said the officer; `I
leave it entirely to you.'

`Bueno! Then you will see how I
manage. There is no doubt the old
Colonel, in setting you adrift as he did,
at ebb tide, taking from you every means
of getting to land, and tying your hands
so you could not even swim, meditated
your murder.'

`The idea is horrible! He possibly
did not think of the consequences in his
resentment,' answered the officer, with a
generous warmth in defence of one so
near a relative to Isabel.

`He doesn't deserve the least courtesy
at our hands,' answered the captain.—
`Nevertheless, for your sake, I will treat
him well if he falls into them. We now
approach the villa: keep out of sight
now, my friend, for if you are seen all
will be lost. Lie down upon the deck

on my hammock, and observe through
the opening under the taffrail, as well as
you can, what goes on. Stay, I have a
masquerading mask below—put that on
and my cloak and you are thoroughly
disguised.'

The disguise was complete, and the
young officer took his station on deck
with the rest of us. The mask was that
of an old Jew with a flowing beard, and
gave him quite a venerable aspect.

The schooner stood on until we came
in sight of the villa. We passed in front
of it, and with a glass I could see an old
gentleman on the portico, whom the officer
said was the Colonel. There was a
negro slave or two about him, but no lady
was visible.

`He has locked her up, I dare say,'
said the lover with angry vehemence, so
strongly through his huge Jewish nose,
that we laughed—he as well as the rest
of us.

`I'll find the key,' answered the Spaniard
very quietly, after having taken a
long and steady survey of the old gentleman.
`I have it—I see my way clear
now,' he added emphatically.

We stood on half a mile past the villa,
when the captain took the helm; and for
the next five minutes the schooner behaved
as if she was tipsy—if schooners
ever get tipsy. Now her topsail would
lay shivering—then backed—and then
filled again—and then lay back altogether.
Her foresail seemed to be undecided
which side of the vessel to swing,
and so kept moving from one side to the
other in the most restless manner. By
and by the nose of the vessel fairly swung
round, and so round and round she turned,
as if on a pivot, all the while drifting
downward. Colonel — was seen
to leave the portico, cross the lawn, and
approach the water side, to have a better
view of the vessel that seemed to him in
such extraordinary difficulties.

At length, as the schooner came opposite
his house, her boat was let down
—(the green boat, the baggage being removed,
having been towed ashore and
tied two miles below, to prevent any suspicion
that might arise from his seeing it
with the schooner)—and two men pulled
ashore, I acting the part of coxswain,
with a fourth person in the bows holding
the end of a light hawser, which was run
out of the vessel as we receded from it.
On nearing the shore I rose up and said,
very politely and civilly, in my assumed
character as captain,—

`Will you permit us, sir, to attach a
hawser to the bolt in your boat-house?
My rudder does not govern the vessel,
(which was true enough as she acted,)
and I don't care to let down an anchor,
as heaving it again will detain me.'

`Certainly, sir,' answered the Colonel
with a wave of his hand. `Pray what
has occurred?'

`A little matter, sir—I will soon have
all right again,' I answered, in my character—having
consented, to carry out
our plot, to take Velasco's place, as his
being a Spaniard might be against our
ultimate success.

`I have been watching you,' he said,
as the man sprung ashore and took a
double turn with the hawser in the bolt;
`I saw something was the matter, and
faith, I expected to see you drift ashore,
—I am happy to see you escape.—
There, the rope brings your vessel up
now, sir.'

`Yes—she will hang steady by that till
I am ready to set sail on her again.'

`How far up the river do you go?'

`To Mr. — (I forget the name) 's
plantation to take in cotton.'

`Felton's, I dare say—he was looking
for a vessel, I hear. Stay, sir,' he added,
advancing nearer the boat as I was about
to put off. `Eh, have—that is—have
you fallen in with a—a—small green boat

by any chance?' Here he seemed very
much embarrassed and confused, looked
guilty, and added quickly, `I—I had
mine stolen last night by some scamp.'

`No, sir—I saw no stolen boat,' I answered
evasively, and put off from the
bank.

`What the deuce could have become
of the scoundrel!' I heard him say as he
turned away; `I fear I went too far!—
but I dare say he'll escape to torment
me yet.' I left him still soliloquizing
with himself half aloud, and reaching
the brig, was complimented by Captain
Velasco for the manner in which I had
performed my part of the conspiracy.

3. CHAPTER III.

The schooner having been brought to
by the hawser, and made stationary, and
the sails brailed up instead of being furled,
that we might move at a moment's
warning, we assembled at the tea-table,
there to discuss further proceedings.—
The Lieutenant had a very little appetite,
and was quite as restless and impatient
as became a lover under his circumstances.
At length it was decided that
a spy should be sent into the camp to see
where the young lady then was, and to
take note of the state of things at the
house.

The young officer at once offered himself
as the spy in question; but to this
arrangement Captain Velasco wisely and
very properly objected on the score that
he might be detected and recognized.

`But not in my disguise,' answered our
friend.

`Your disguise alone would be utter
ruin to our plans,' said the Spaniard
laughing. `Leave it to me, amigo mio.'
Be quiet and in due time we shall get to
the windward of the Colonel. Come, I
will be the spy! By and by I will return
and report myself to you!'

Captain Velasco then retired to his
state-room and in a little while returned
dressed with great elegance and taste as
a Spanish gentleman, to which station
his appearance and address, as well as his
education gave him full title. Without
explaining his intention, he ordered his
boat to be ready, and with a smile bade
us good evening and descended into the
yawl. The sun had just set, but still a
bright and glowing twilight filled the atmosphere.
We saw him land at the foot
of the lawn and slowly, with the air of a
stranger admiring the grounds, loiter towards
the portico of the villa on which
we could see the form of the Colonel.—
We looked in vain hoping to catch a
glimpse of his daughter. As the Captain
advanced, and came near the house,
he turned abruptly aside as if to avoid it,
when we beheld the Colonel, who had
been watching his progress, leave the
portico and approach him with an air of
hospitable courtesy. His salutation was
returned in the most graceful manner by
the young Spaniard, and after what
seemed sundry formal iuterchanges of
civilities, we saw Velasco accompanying
him to the house and enter it with him.

The twilight deepened and night veiled
objects from our sight, and full an
hour passed ere we heard the boat returning
to the schooner. We met the
young Spaniard as he ascended the side,
but asked him no questions until we were
all three seated in the cabin. He then
began:

`You saw me enter the house. My

ruse had the effect I contemplated; for
the Colonel supposing me to be a passenger
who had landed to view his grounds,
came out and invited me in!'

`Did you see her, my dear Captain?'
demanded the lover with anxiety mingled
with hope.

`In a moment you shall learn all, amigo
mio,' responded the Captain with an
encouraging smile. `I entered the drawing
room and took a seat directly opposite
a window which commanded a view
of the schooner. The Colonel and I
then entered into conversation. I commented
upon the beauty of his grounds,
and he alternated by putting me questions
touching my travels. I satisfied
him on that score, and as he ordered
wine, we soon became very civil to each
other, and drank one another's healths.
He particularly inquired if we had not
even seen any boat any where at sea, and
as he three times put questions concerning
the `stolen boat,' I asked him who
he suspected had taken her?

Well, being warmed with his own
wine, and finding me a very free and easy
companion after his liking, he opened
his heart to me, and told me the whole
affair.

`Is it possible?' exclaimed the lieutenant.

`Yes, only he gave his own complexion
to your physiognomy of course, and did
not compliment you at all!'

`I dare say,' remarked the young officer,
biting his lips.

`After he had got through, I of course
gave him my full sympathy, on being so
near losing his daughter; and I so won
upon his favor that he looked as if he
would have been very glad to have made
me his son-in-law! Don't be jealous,
my friend,' said the Captain laughing;
`for I have an Isabel of my own, you
know. When I found I had got well into
the Colonel's good opinion, through my
sympathy for him, I ventured to say that
it would afford me great satisfaction to
have the honor of seeing his daughter.

`She is in her chamber now,' he answered,
`and has not left it to-day, being
very highly incensed against me. But I
will go and see if I can prevail upon her
to come down!'

While he was gone I took a card and
wrote rapidly upon it these words:

`Your friend Lieutenant — is safe.
He awaits you on board the schooner
which picked him up in the boat. Her
Captain is his friend, and is here to befriend
him and you. Be secret and courageous.'

`Noble Velasco!' cried the lover, pressing
his hands.

`No, don't thank me yet. I had no
time to write more; for, at this moment
the Colonel re-entered and said that his
daughter declined leaving her room that
night. He seemed highly displeased and
I was not a little disappointed; for I had
hoped to have seen her and slipped the
card in her hand!'

`And you did not see her?'

`Listen, mi amigo! I set my wits to
work and finally hit upon a plan. I said,
I trust I shall have the pleasure of seeing
your fair daughter on my return from
up the river; in the meanwhile permit
me to send up my card, so that, if she
should chance never to see me, she may
know who has solicited that honor. He
bowed and said he should be most happy
to have me send my card up to his
daughter. I then wrote upon a blank
card, the name of `Don Carlos Ferdinand
del Cabellero,' a fancy name of my own,
and handed him the card, at reading the
name upon which he bowed very profoundly
at the card and then as profoundly
at me.

`John,' said he to a slave, `take up
this card to your mistress and tell her it

is that of the gentleman who has done
her the honor to inquire for her.'

As the servant was leaving the room I
called him back, saying,

`Stay, I omitted to affix my address to
the card, sir!' and taking it from him I
wrote upon it, after the name, `Havana,
Cuba;' then watching my opportunity,
I exchanged one card for the other, and
gave the slave the one which I had first
written.

`Admirable!' we both exclaimed with
gratified surprise.

`He left the room with it, while I,
having laid my train, proceeded to engage
the Colonel in conversation upon
cotton, tobacco and politics. In about
twenty minutes a female slave came into
the room and approaching me said,

`Mistress says she sends you her card,
sir!' and the girl handed me a card which
I immediately put up lest the Colonel
should desire to examine it. But he only
said with a smile,

`My daughter is coming to, I perceive
sir! If your schooner was to wait till
to-morrow I have no doubt you could
then see her. I would like to have your
opinion, as a stranger, of our Southern
females; and Isabel has been no little admired.'

I told him I regretted I could not detain
the schooner but gave him hopes
after the cotton had been taken in, I
might again call at the villa. I then proceeded
to speak of you, as adroitly as I
could,' added the Captain looking at the
lieutenant; `and after getting from him
his objections to you, (which all lumped
in one, amounted to only this, that you
were like myself and half of the finest
fellows in the world, poor!) I eloquently
took up the gloves in your defence, as an
entire stranger to you of course, and
showing how much wiser it was to marry
his daughter to a noble, honorable young
ellow with a heart to love her and a
sword to defend her, than to some fellow
without a soul and whose only merit lay
in having so many negroes, and making
so many bales of cotton or hogsheads of
tobacco! Well, the old gentleman listened
to me! I used the argumentum ad
hominem, alluding to his own title (a
militia one at that though) and the honor
of the profession. Said I, `Sir, Mr.
— is a young man now it is true.—
He is a lieutenant it is true, and lives on
the miserable pay with which Congress
starves the army officers, as if they were
trying a great national experiment, to ascertain
practically how much a young
man in the army can live upon per annum
and not be obliged to eat his sword.
(The Colonel laughed, and I meant he
should.) He is a lieutenant and he is
young; but he will not always be a lieutenant!
he will not always be young.
There are steps in the army, and they
keep going up and up till by and by the
lieutenant becomes a General! Your
daughter may marry a poor lieutenant;
but you forget she may be the wife of a
General! Besides, said I, if he is poor,
and this is your only objection, it is in
your power to remove it. You can make
them rich and happy. You have enough
for all. If it is eventually to be your
daughter's, you think she would prefer
sharing it now with the man of her
choice. My dear sir, I continued, on
your own account and your daughter's,
I should be delighted if you could reverse
your decision in this matter and make
two young persons perfectly happy!'

We listened to the young Spaniard's
eloquent recital of his address to the
Colonel, with surprise and admiration.

`He consented—he yielded!' I at once
exclaimed.

`No—no, never!' repeated the lieutenant
shaking his head. `I am sure he
did not.'

`You are right, my friend. He did not

yield. He listened and at first seemed
softened; but at length looked very
black, and said that you had stolen away
his daughter, and this act would forever
bar all reconciliation with you. Finding
that all my eloquence had been thrown
away, I felt not a little annoyed, and
soon rose to take leave; pleading the
necessity of being on board. But as I
left I said,

`Perhaps, sir, the destruction of the
young gentleman you so inhumanly
treated, by shipwreck and death, may
forever prevent any reconciliation. I
question if he survives.'

`I care not, if he be at the bottom of
the sea,' he said warmly and with this
I left him. `Now cabelleros,' continued
the young Spaniard, `after this I consider
Colonel — as having placed himself
out of the limits of our forbearance
and courtesies. I shall treat him without
ceremony. It had been my wish to
endeavor to reconcile him to the match
and then acquaint him that you were on
board. But I must change my tactics,
and treat him as he deserves.'

`But the card? What was it?' cried
the lover.

`I did not read it in the house, and
tried by moonlight to make it out, but
without success. I could only see it
contained writing on the side opposite to
that the name was written upon Here
it is.' Taking it from his pocket, he extended
it to the lieutenant who passionately
pressed it to his lips, and then read,
first to himself, and then aloud as follows:

`She will be on the watch from her
window for every movement on board
the schooner,' said the lover. `Dearest
Isabel! Noble and brave and true to me
to the last.'

`She suggests the best plan for her
escape,' said the Captain. `In two hours
the moon will cast the front of the house
in shadow. By that time the Colonel
will have retired. I will drop the vessel
down a few rods so as to be hidden to
his eyes by that group of trees on shore,
and he will then go to bed with more
confidence. In the meanwhile let us
have a ladder made in two parts so that
we can easily carry it and with joints to
put it together readily. Soon as the
moon gives us shadow enough on this
side of the house we will start on our adventure.'

Every thing was propitious. At the
time given we went ashore, all three of
us, well armed, with four oarsmen, and
bearing the joints of the ladder, which
we had made more like stairs with board
steps than like a ladder. I first advanced
and carefully reconnoitered the house,
and reported all quiet. The Lieutenant
then left a group of trees which had sheltered
the party, and coming near her window
made a signal with the wave of a
handkerchief. The blind was slowly
opened and a white signal fluttered in
answer. We then advanced with our
ladders, jointed it, and planted it. The
lover lightly ascended to the balcony.—
He was lost to us a moment below, but

the audible sounds of a brace of kisses
and a subdued exclamation of joy in a
female voice, told us he had not gone
astray. The next moment he appeared
descending the ladder with her, and the
Captain rescued her in his arms, and
placed her upon the ground in safety.—
We immediately retreated, the Captain
leaving the ladder as a significant sign
to the Colonel not only that his daughter
had flown but that she had had ample
assistance from friends outside the garrison.

In ten minutes afterwards we were
safely on board the schooner; and as
Oglethrope, the lieutenant's frlend, (I
had forgot to say) had been discovered
by us from the deck before dark, still
hovering in the neighborhood on the opposite
shore, waiting for his friend or
some intelligence from him, and had the
horses harnessed again and in readiness
with the carriage, after a short delay for
mutual congratulations on board the
schooner, we pulled to the other shore,
and saw our lovers safely in the carriage,
with Oglethrope on the box. We bade
them a hearty farewell, and amid a
shower of adieus and words of gratitude
the carriage rolled off at ten miles an
hour in the direction of Charleston.

The next morning, as the sun rose,
Cape — at the mouth of the river
where we had perpetrated our buccaneering
adventure, bore from us N.N.W.
1-2 North, twelve miles distant.

We afterwards learned by letter, from
the Lieutenant, that they arrived in
Charleston by daylight, drove to the
house of a Justice of the Peace and were
married just as the sun was rising. The
Colonel afterwards became reconciled to
them both, and when he was made fully
acquainted with the conspiracy he laughed
heartily, and swore he would go a
thousand miles to see and have another
evening `with that rare rogue, Don Velasco.'