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THE GREAT WESTERN SERIES.


                                 I.
GOING WEST; or, The Perils of a Poor Boy.

                                 II.
OUT WEST; or, Roughing it on the Great Lakes.

                                 III.
LAKE BREEZES; or, The Cruise of the Sylvania.

                                 IV.
GOING SOUTH; or, Yachting on the Atlantic Coast.

                                 V.
DOWN SOUTH; or, Yacht Adventures in Florida.

                                 VI.
UP THE RIVER; or, Yachting on the Mississippi.

                                (_In Press._)




_THE GREAT WESTERN SERIES_


DOWN SOUTH
OR
YACHT ADVENTURES IN FLORIDA



By

OLIVER OPTIC

AUTHOR OF YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD, THE ARMY AND NAVY SERIES,
THE WOODVILLE SERIES, THE STARRY FLAG SERIES, THE BOAT
CLUB STORIES, THE LAKE SHORE SERIES, THE UPWARD
AND ONWARD SERIES, THE YACHT CLUB SERIES,
THE RIVERDALE STORIES, ETC.


_WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS_



BOSTON
LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM
1881

COPYRIGHT,
1880,
By WILLIAM T. ADAMS.

Electrotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry
No. 4 Pearl Street.




TO MY YOUNG FRIEND,
WILFORD L. WRIGHT,
_OF CAIRO, ILL._,

EX-PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL AMATEUR PRESS ASSOCIATION,
WHO HAD THE COURAGE AND THE SELF-DENIAL TO
RESIGN HIS OFFICE IN ORDER TO PROMOTE
HIS OWN AND OTHERS' WELFARE,

This Book
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.




PREFACE.


"Down South" is the fifth and last volume but one of the "Great Western
Series." The action of the story is confined entirely to Florida; and
this fact may seem to belie the title of the Series. But the young
yachtman still maintains his hold upon the scenes of his earlier life
in Michigan, and his letters come regularly from that State. If he were
old enough to vote, he could do so only in Michigan; and therefore he
has not lost his right to claim a residence there during his temporary
sojourn in the South. Besides, half his ship's company are Western
boys, who carry with them from "The Great Western" family of States
whatever influence they possess in their wanderings through other
sections of the grand American Union.

The same characters who have figured in other volumes of the Series
are again presented, though others are introduced. The hero is as
straightforward, resolute, and self-reliant as ever. His yacht
adventures consist of various excursions on the St. Johns River, from
its mouth to a point above the head of ordinary navigation, with a run
across to Indian River, on the sea-coast, a trip up the Ocklawaha, to
the Lake Country of Florida, and shorter runs up the smaller streams.
The yachtmen and his passengers try their hand at shooting alligators
as well as more valuable game in the "sportsman's paradise" of the
South, and find excellent fishing in both fresh and salt water.

Apart from the adventures incident to the cruise of the yacht in so
interesting a region as Florida, the volume, like its predecessors in
the Series, has its own story, relating to the life-history of the
hero. But his career mingles with the events peculiar to the region in
which he journeys, and many of his associates are men of the "sunny
South." In any clime, he is the same young man of high aims and noble
purposes. The remaining volume will follow him in his cruise on the
Gulf of Mexico, and up the Mississippi.

DORCHESTER, MASS., August 25, 1880.




CONTENTS.


                                                           PAGE

CHAPTER I.
    MAKING A FLORIDA PORT                                    13

CHAPTER II.
    OUR LIBERAL PASSENGERS                                    23

CHAPTER III.
    A NATIVE FLORIDIAN                                        33

CHAPTER IV.
    A TRIP UP THE SAN SEBASTIAN                               43

CHAPTER V.
    SAVED FROM THE BURNING HOUSE                              53

CHAPTER VI.
    MOONLIGHT AND MUSIC ON BOARD                              63

CHAPTER VII.
    THE ENEMY IN A NEW BUSINESS                               73

CHAPTER VIII.
    A DISAGREEABLE ROOM-MATE                                  83

CHAPTER IX.
    A BATTLE WITH THE SERPENT                                 93

CHAPTER X.
    THE FELLOW IN THE LOCK-UP                                103

CHAPTER XI.
    THE HON. PARDON TIFFANY'S WARNING                        113

CHAPTER XII.
    SUGGESTIONS OF ANOTHER CONSPIRACY                        123

CHAPTER XIII.
    MR. COBBINGTON AND HIS PET RATTLESNAKE                   133

CHAPTER XIV.
    THE EXCURSION TO FORT GEORGE ISLAND                      143

CHAPTER XV.
    A WAR OF WORDS                                           153

CHAPTER XVI.
    GRIFFIN LEEDS AT A DISCOUNT                              163

CHAPTER XVII.
    POOR GRIFF AND HIS COUNSEL                               173

CHAPTER XVIII.
    THE EXCURSION TO MANDARIN                                183

CHAPTER XIX.
    THE ADVENTURES OF AN INVALID                             193

CHAPTER XX.
    DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF DEPARTURE                     203

CHAPTER XXI.
    A VISIT TO ORANGE PARK                                   213

CHAPTER XXII.
    FISHING IN DOCTOR'S LAKE                                 223

CHAPTER XXIII.
    TROLLING FOR BLACK BASS                                  233

CHAPTER XXIV.
    GREEN COVE SPRINGS AND GOVERNOR'S CREEK                  243

CHAPTER XXV.
    ALLIGATOR-SHOOTING ON BLACK CREEK                        253

CHAPTER XXVI.
    ON BOARD OF THE WETUMPKA                                 263

CHAPTER XXVII.
    UP THE OCKLAWAHA TO LAKE GRIFFIN                         273

CHAPTER XXVIII.
    AN EXPEDITION TO INDIAN RIVER                            283

CHAPTER XXIX.
    A MYSTERIOUS SHOT                                        293

CHAPTER XXX.
    SHOOTING IN THE FOREST AND BEING SHOT                    303




DOWN SOUTH;
OR,
_YACHT ADVENTURES IN FLORIDA._




CHAPTER I.

MAKING A FLORIDA PORT.


"That's it, as true as you live, Captain Alick!" exclaimed Bob
Washburn, the mate of the Sylvania, as he dropped the spy-glass from
his right eye. "Your dead-reckoning was correct every time."

"I have no doubt you are right, Washburn," I replied, referring to an
open volume that lay on the shelf under the forward windows of the
pilot-house. "'A square tower, painted white, sixty-eight feet above
the sea,'" I continued, reading from the _Coast Pilot_. "But there
is another tower, more than twice that height. Ah, here is a note in
pencil I made: 'The government has built a new tower, one hundred and
sixty feet high.'"

"That must be St. Augustine Light: there can be no possible doubt of
it. It fits the description; and that is exactly where we ought to find
it," added the mate.

The Sylvania had been on a ten weeks' cruise to Nassau, Havana, and the
Bermuda Islands. In Havana we had been startled by the report of a few
cases of yellow fever, and we had hastily departed for the Bermudas,
where we had cruised by sea and journeyed by land for a month. The
steam-yacht was now on her return to Florida. The weather had been
thick and rainy, and for the last two days I had failed to obtain an
observation. But we had heaved the log every two hours, though there
was rarely a variation of half a knot from our regular speed. We had
made careful calculations and allowances for the current of the Gulf
Stream, and the result was that we came out right when we made the
Florida coast.

We had two sets of instruments on board; and Washburn and myself had
each made an independent observation, when the sky was clear enough to
permit us to do so, and had ciphered out the latitude and longitude. We
had also figured up the dead-reckoning separately, as much for practice
as to avoid mistakes. We had varied a little on the dead-reckoning, and
it proved that I was the nearer right, as the position of St. Augustine
Light proved.

The steam-yacht was under charter for a year to my cousin, Owen
Garningham, a young Englishman, who was spending the winter in the
South. The after cabin was occupied by four other persons, who were his
guests,--Colonel Shepard, his wife, son, and daughter. Miss Edith, the
daughter, was Owen's "bright particular star," and she was one of the
most beautiful young ladies I ever saw. I may add that she was as
gentle and amiable as she was pretty. All the Shepard family were very
pleasant people, invariably kind to the ship's company; and though the
Colonel was a very wealthy man, none of them ever "put on airs" in
their relations with the crew.

Though I did not pride myself on the fact that some of my ship's
company had "blue blood" in their veins, I certainly believed that no
vessel was ever manned by a more intelligent, gentlemanly, and skilful
crew. Robert C. Washburn, the mate, was a college student, who would
return to his studies at the end of the voyage. He was one of the best
fellows I had ever met, and was competent to command any vessel, on any
voyage, so far at least as its navigation and management were
concerned. We were devoted friends; but he received his wages and did
his duty as though he and I had had no other relations than those of
captain and mate.

Moses Brickland, the chief engineer, was the son of my guardian; and
though he was still in his teens, he was competent to build an engine,
or to run it after it was built. Bentley F. Bowman, the assistant
engineer, was a full-grown man, and had a certificate, besides being
one of the best seamen I ever sailed with. Our steward, who was our
only waiter until we sailed