



Produced by Al Haines










[Illustration: Cover art]





[Frontispiece: "HE PLACED THE CHILD UPON THE CHEST, AND HELD HIM THERE
THAT HE MIGHT NOT FALL OFF."  p. 38.]





DONALBLANE OF DARIEN


BY

J. MACDONALD OXLEY,


_Author of_

"_Norman's Nugget_," "_In the Swing of the Sea_,"
  _etc., etc._




_ILLUSTRATED BY W. RAINEY, R.I._




TORONTO:

THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY, LIMITED.

1902




CONTENTS.


CHAP.

    I.  BY WAY OF BEGINNING
   II.  DONALBLANE CARRIES HIS POINT
  III.  OFF TO DARIEN
   IV.  A RESCUE AND A RETREAT
    V.  ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
   VI.  A BRUSH WITH BUCCANEERS
  VII.  THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY OF DARIEN
 VIII.  A SUCCESSFUL EMBASSY
   IX.  IN PERILOUS PLIGHT
    X.  THE CHASE OF THE MANATEE
   XI.  THE MIDNIGHT ATTACK
  XII.  NEW YORK AND HOME




ILLUSTRATIONS


"HE PLACED THE CHILD UPON THE CHEST, AND HELD HIM THERE THAT HE
  MIGHT NOT FALL OFF."................ _Frontispiece_

"'YE'VE A GREAT LIKING FOR THE SEA, THEY TELL ME, LAD,' BEGAN MR.
BLANE."

"THE RAVENING SWINE WERE GAINING UPON HIM."

"GLARING DOWN UPON HIM... THE MOST APPALLING EYES HE HAD EVER BEHELD."

"PRESENTLY RAYMON ROSE IN THE BOW, HARPOON IN HAND."

"CHANCED TO OVERHEAR A CONVERSATION WHICH MADE IT CLEAR THAT THEY HAD
DESIGNS UPON MR. PATERSON'S LIFE."




DONALBLANE OF DARIEN.


CHAPTER I.

BY WAY OF BEGINNING.

It was not just an ordinary sort of name, but one of those which made
you think "thereby hangs a tale."  In this case the thought goes to the
mark, and the tale in question will be told after a fashion in the
following pages.

At the outset a quick glance back to times long past is necessary in
order to a fair start, and without a fair start it were hardly worth
going ahead.

As the seventeenth century drew to its close there came into prominence
in England a remarkable Scotsman named William Paterson, among whose
notable achievements was having a large share in the founding of the
Bank of England, which subsequently grew to be the greatest monetary
institution in the world.

He was a member of the board of directors at the opening of the bank,
but appears to have sold out not long after, and with his money in hand
to have looked about him for some way of investing it that would be for
the public good.

Now, these were the days of vexatious monopolies and irritating
restrictions in commerce.  The trade of Britain with the distant parts
of the globe was divided between two great grasping corporations--the
East India Company and the African Company--which, although they were
at deadly enmity with each other, heartily co-operated in crushing
every free-trader who dared to intrude within the elastic limits of
their "spheres of action."

William Paterson was an ardent free-trader, and he became inspired with
the noble mission of freeing commerce from the hurtful restraints laid
upon it by short-sighted selfishness.  With a keenness of instinct that
makes it easy to understand his previous success, he surveyed the then
known world and put his finger upon the spot best suited for the
carrying out of his beneficent design.

The Isthmus of Panama, or Darien, is, beyond a doubt, one of the most
interesting, as it is certain yet to be one of the most important bits
of terra firma on this