FLORIDA COAST ***




Produced by Al Haines.




[Illustration: Cover]




[Illustration: "Hallo!" cried Harold, his own voice husky with emotion.
.. Frontispiece]




                                  THE
                           YOUNG MAROONERS ON
                           THE FLORIDA COAST


                                   BY
                             F. R. GOULDING



                          WITH INTRODUCTION BY
                          JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS
                             (Uncle Remus)



                              ILLUSTRATED



                                NEW YORK
                         DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
                                  1927




                            COPYRIGHT, 1862
                           BY F. R. GOULDING

                            COPYRIGHT, 1881
                           BY F. R. GOULDING

                            COPYRIGHT, 1887
                       BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY



                          PRINTED IN U. S. A.




                              INTRODUCTION


I have been asked to furnish an introduction for a new edition of "The
Young Marooners."  As an introduction is unnecessary, the writing of it
must be to some extent perfunctory.  The book is known in many lands and
languages.  It has survived its own success, and has entered into
literature.  It has become a classic. The young marooners themselves
have reached middle age, and some of them have passed away, but their
adventures are as fresh and as entertaining as ever.

Dr. Goulding's work possesses all the elements of enduring popularity.
It has the strength and vigour of simplicity; its narrative flows
continuously forward; its incidents are strange and thrilling, and
underneath all is a moral purpose sanely put.

The author himself was surprised at the great popularity of his story,
and has written a history of its origin as a preface.  The internal
evidence is that the book is not the result of literary ambition, but of
a strong desire to instruct and amuse his own children, and the story is
so deftly written that the instruction is a definite part of the
narrative.  The art here may be unconscious, but it is a very fine art
nevertheless.

Dr. Goulding lived a busy life.  He had the restless missionary spirit
which he inherited from the Puritans of Dorchester, England, who
established themselves in Dorchester, South Carolina, and in Dorchester,
Georgia, before the Revolutionary War.  Devoting his life to good works,
he nevertheless found time to indulge his literary faculty; he also
found time to indulge his taste for mechanical invention.  He invented
the first sewing-machine that was ever put in practical use in the
South. His family were using this machine a year before the Howe patents
were issued.  In his journal of that date (1845) he writes: "Having
satisfied myself about my machine, I laid it aside that I might attend
to other and weightier duties."  He applied for no patent.

"The Young Marooners" was begun in 1847, continued in a desultory way,
and completed in 1850.  Its first title was a quaint one, "Bobbins and
Cruisers Company."  It was afterward called "Robert and Harold; or, the
Young Marooners."  The history of the manuscript of the book is an
interesting parallel to that of many other successful books.  After
having been positively declined in New York, it was for months left in
Philadelphia, where one night, as the gentleman whose duty it was to
pass judgment upon the material offered had begun in a listless way his
task, he became so much absorbed in the story that he did not lay it
down until long after midnight, and hastening to the publishers early
next morning, insisted that it should be immediately put into print.
Three editions were issued in the first year, and it was soon reprinted
in England by Nisbet & Co., of London, followed by five other houses in
England and Scotland at later dates.

Dr. Goulding was the author of "Little Josephine," published in
Philadelphia (1848); "The Young Marooners" (1852); "Confederate
Soldiers' Hymn-Book," a compilation (1863); "Marooner's Island," an
independent sequel to "Young Marooners" (1868); "Frank Gordon; or, When
I was Little Boy" (1869), and "The Woodruff Stories" (1870).  With the
exception of "Little Josephine" and the "Hymn-Book," they have all been
republished abroad.  Born near Midway, Liberty County, Georgia,
September 28th, 1810, he died August 21st, 1881, and is buried in the
little churchyard at Roswell, Georgia.

JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS.




                        THE HISTORY OF THIS BOOK


In a vine-covered piazza of the sunny South, a company of boys and girls
used to gather round me, of a summer evening, to hear the varied story
of my early years. As these boys and girls grew larger, I found it
necessary to change my plan of instruction. There were many _facts in
nature_ which I wished to communicate, and many _expedients_ in
practical life, which I supposed might be useful. To give this
information, in such shape as to insure its being remembered, required a
story. The result has been a book; and that book is "The Young
Marooners"--or, as my young folks call it, "Robert and Harold."

Their interest in the story has steadily increased from the beginning to
the end; and sure am I, that if it excites one-half as much abroad, as
it has excited at home, no author need ask for more.

The story, however, is not all a story; the fiction consists mostly in
the putting together. With very few exceptions, the incidents are real
occurrences; and whoever will visit the regions described, will see that
the pictures correspond to nature. Possibly also, the visitor may meet
even now, with a fearless Harold, an intelligent Robert, a womanly Mary,
and a merry Frank.

Should my young readers ever go _marooning_, I trust their party may
meet with fewer misfortunes and as happy a termination.

F. R. G.




                                CONTENTS


CHAPTER

I  The Company and Their Embarkation

II  Mother Carey's Chickens--Fishing for Trout--Saw-Fish--Frank and the
Shark--Looming--Tom Starboard--The Nautilus--Arrival at Tampa

III  Tampa Bay--Bellevue--Unloading--A Dangerous Cut--How to Stop a
Bleeding Artery--Tom Starboard Again

IV  Confusion--Housekeeping in a Hurry--First Night on Shore--Company to
Dinner--"Blue Eyed Mary"--Robert at Prayer-Meeting--Danger of Descending
an Old Well--Recovering a Knife Dropped in a Well

V  Riley--A Thunderstorm--Ascertaining the Distance of Objects by
Sound--Security Against Lightning--Means of Recovering Life from
Apparent Death by Lightning

VI  The Only Way to Study--Taking Cold--Riley's Family--The Hare
Lip--Fishing for Sheephead--Frank Choked with a Fish Bone--His
Relief--His Story of the Sheep's Head and Dumplings--"Till the Warfare
is Over"

VII  Bug in the Ear--Visit to Fort Brooke--Evading Blood-Hounds--Contest
with Dogs and Means of Defence--Amusing Escape from a Wild Bull and
Conversation on the Subject

VIII  Marooning and the Marooning Party

IX  Embarkation--Abduction Extraordinary--Efforts to Escape--Alternative
Hopes and Fears--Despair--Vessel in the Distance--Renewed Hopes and
Efforts--Water-Spout--Flash of Lightning and its Effects--Making for
Shore--Grateful Acknowledgments

X  Waking Up--Good Resolutions--Alarm--Marooning Breakfast--Search for
Water--Unexpected Gain--Oyster Bank--Fate of a Raccoon--The Plume and
Fan

XI  Discussion Of Plans--Doubts--Differences of Opinion--What Was Agreed
Upon--Baking a Turkey Without an Oven--Flying Signal

XII  Results of the Cookery--Voyage--Appearance of the Country--Orange
Trees--The Bitter Sweet--Rattlesnake--Usual Signs for Distinguishing a
Fanged And Poisonous Serpent--Various Methods of Treating a Snake
Bite--Return

XIII  Disappointment--The Live Oak--Unloading--Fishing
Excursion--Harold's Still Hunt--Disagreeable Means to an Agreeable End

XIV  Frank's Excuses--Curing Venison--Marooning Cookery--Robert's
Vegetable Garden--Plans for Return--Preparation for the Sabbath

XV  Their First Sabbath on the Island, and the Night and Morning that
succeeded

XVI  A Sad Breakfast--Sagacity of Dogs--Search for the Boat--Exciting
Adventure--A Pretty Pet--Unexpected Intelligence

XVII  Mary and Frank--Examination of the Tent--Smoke
Signal--Devices--Brute Messenger--Raft--Blazing the
Trees--Voyage--Disastrous Expedition--News from Home--Return to the Tent

XVIII  Night Landing--Carrying a Wounded Person--Setting One's Own Limbs
when Broken--Splinting a Limb--Rest to the Weary

XIX  The Surprise and Disappointment--Naming the Fawn--Sam's
Story--Depression After Excitement--Great Misfortune

XX  Speculations and Resolves--Fishing--Inventory of Goods and
Chattels--Roasted Fish--Palmetto Cabbage--Tour--Sea-Shells, Their
Uses--The Pelican--Nature of the Country--Still Hunting--Wild Turkeys
Again--Work on the Tent

XXI  Rainy Day--The Kitchen and Fire--Hunting the Opossum

XXII  Frank and His "Pigs"--The Cage--Walk on the Beach--Immense
Crawfish--The Museum--Naming the Island

XXIII  Their Second Sabbath on the Island, and the Way They Spent It

XXIV  Mote in the Eye, and How It Was Removed--Conch Trumpet and
Signals--Tramp--Alarm

XXV  A Hunter's Misfortune--Relief to a Sprain--How to Avoid Being Lost
in the Woods, and to Recover One's Course After being Lost--A Still Hunt

XXVI  Crutches in Demand--Curing Venison--Pemmican--Scalding Off a
Porker's Hair with Leaves and Water--Turkey Trough--Solitary
Watching--Force of Imagination--Fearful Encounter--Different Modes of
Repelling Wild Beasts

XXVII  Turkey-Pen--Sucking Water Through Oozy Sand--Exploring
Tour--Appearance of the Country--"Madame Bruin"--Soldier's Remedy for
Chafed Feet--Night in the Woods--Prairie--Indian Hut--Fruit
Trees--Singular Spring

XXVIII  Plans--Visit to the Prairie--Discoveries--Shoe Making--Waterfowl

XXIX  Removal to the Prairie--Night Robbery--Fold--Dangerous
Trap--Mysterious Signals--Bitter Disappointment

XXX  Best Cure for Unavailing Sorrow--Mary's Adventure with a
Bear--Novel Defence--Protecting the Tent

XXXI  Hard Work--Labour-Saving Device--Discovery as to the Time of the
Year--Schemes For Amusement--Tides on the Florida Coast

XXXII  Christmas Morning--Voyage--Valuable Discovery--Hostile
Invasion--Robbery--Masterly Retreat--Battle at Last--A Quarrel Requires
Two Quarrellers--The Ghost's Visit

XXXIII  The Cubs--Voyage to the Wreck--Stores--Horrid Sights--Trying
Predicament--Prizes--Return--Frank Needs Another Lecture

XXXIV Second Voyage to the Wreck--Fumigating Again--More Minute
Examination--Return--Accident--Dangers of Helping A Drowning
Person--Recovering a Person Apparently Drowned

XXXV  Household Arrangements--Third Visit to the Wreck--Rainy
Weather--Agreement About Work--Mary in Great Danger--Extinguishing Fire
on One's Dress--Relief to a Burn--Conversation

XXXVI  Successful Work--Excursion--The Fish-Eagle--Different Methods of
Procuring Fire--Woodsman's Shelter Against Rain and Hail--Novel Refuge
from Falling Trees

XXXVII  Launching the Boats--More Work, and Yet More--Eclipse of Feb.
12th, 1831--Healing By "First Intention"--Frank's Birthday--Preparing
for a Voyage--Rain, Rain

XXXVIII  Voyage Round the Island--The Lost Boat--Strange Signals
Again--Hurricane--Night March--Helpless Vessel--Melancholy Fate--The
Rescue--Marooners' Hospitality--Conclusion




                             ILLUSTRATIONS


"Hallo!" cried Harold, his own voice husky with emotion...
_Frontispiece_

The company went together to the sea shore and planted the signal

Deliberately taking aim, he discharged the whole load of bullets between
the creature's eyes

They were not two hours in reaching the proposed landing place




                          THE YOUNG MAROONERS



                               CHAPTER I

THE COMPANY AND THEIR EMBARKATION


On Saturday, the 21st of August, 1830, a small but beautiful brig left
the harbour of Charleston, South Carolina, bound for Tampa Bay, Florida.
On board were nine passengers; Dr. Gordon, his three children, Robert,
Mary, and Frank; his sister's son, Harold McIntosh, and four servants.

Dr. Gordon was a wealthy physician, who resided, during the winter, upon
the seaboard of Georgia, and during the summer upon a farm in the
mountains of that beautifully varied and thriving State.  His wife was a
Carolinian, from the neighbourhood of Charleston. Anna