



Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England




The Perils and Adventures of Harry Skipwith, by W.H.G. Kingston.

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THE PERILS AND ADVENTURES OF HARRY SKIPWITH, BY W.H.G. KINGSTON.



CHAPTER ONE.

MY FIRST ADVENTURE--PROGRAMME OF TRAVEL--OFF ACROSS THE ATLANTIC--THE
MISSISSIPPI--HOW WE GOT SNAGGED--I SAVE PETER ROBERTS--THE CAYMAN'S
COMPANY--THE ISLAND REFUGE.

The love of travel was a family instinct, and was born with me.  My
maternal grandfather went to Central Africa--at least, he left us
intending to do so, but never came back again.  I had a great uncle who
voyaged three times round the world, and one sailor uncle who, half a
century ago, spent a winter at the North Pole along with Parry and
Franklin.  Then I had a cousin who was very ambitious of reaching the
moon, and spent his life in studying its maps and making preparations
for the journey, which, however, he never accomplished.  When asked when
he was going to start, he always replied that he had deferred his
journey for six months--circumstances requiring his longer sojourn on
this planet Tellus; but he never expressed the slightest doubt about his
being able ultimately to accomplish his proposed journey.  I held him in
great respect (which was more than any of the rest of the family did);
but as my ambition never soared beyond an expedition round this
sublunary globe, I resolved as soon as possible to commence my travels
in the hopes of having the start of him.

My voluntary studies were of a character to feed my taste.  The travels
of the famed Baron Munchausen, "Gulliver's Travels," those of Sir John
Mandeville and Marco Polo, were read by me over and over again.  I
procured others of a more modern date, and calculated to give more
correct information regarding the present state of the world; but I
stuck to my old friends, and pictured the globe to myself much in the
condition in which they described it.  Not having the patience to wait
till I grew up, I resolved at the commencement of my summer holidays to
start by myself, hoping to come back before their termination, having a
full supply of adventures to narrate.  I was some days maturing my plans
and making preparations for my journey.  I had denied myself such
luxuries as had been brought to our school by the pieman, and had saved
up my pocket-money--an exercise of self-denial which proved the
earnestness of my resolve.  I had had too several presents made to me by
relations and friends who happened to be in the house.  I paid a visit
also to my cousin, Booby Skipwith, as he was called.  I did not confide
to him all my plans; but I hinted that I had one of great importance in
hand, and, to my great delight, he presented me with a five-pound note,
observing that he believed that such things were not current in the
moon, and that, therefore, he could dispense with them.  I hinted that
if such was the case he might hand me out a few more, for that where I
was going they would be greatly in demand; but it proved that this was
the only one of which he was possessed.

I had got a small portmanteau, into which I packed all my best clothes
and valuables, with a few glass beads and knives which I had purchased
to bestow on any savages I might encounter.  I had a lance-head brought
home by my great uncle.  With this I purposed manufacturing a lance for
my defence.  I knew that, as England is an island, I must cross the
water.  My idea, when on the other side, whether north, south, east, or
west I did not care, was to purchase two steeds--one for myself and
another for my luggage and a squire, whom I intended to find.  I was
certain that he would turn up somewhere, and be very faithful and brave.
The first, thing, however, was to get away from home.  I wrote an
affectionate letter to my father, telling him that I was going on my
travels as my ancestor had done, and that I should be back, I hoped, by
the end of the holidays; that if I was not, it could not much signify,
as I should be gaining more information from my intercourse with the
great world than I could possibly hope to reap from the instruction of
Dr Bumpus.

This done, one very fine morning I crept out of the house with my
portmanteau on my shoulders, and getting over the park palings, so as
not to be seen by the lodge-keeper, I stood ready for a coach that would
pass by, I had ascertained, about that time.  I waited anxiously,
thinking that it must have already passed.  At last I saw it coming
along the road in a cloud of dust.  I hailed it in a knowing way, handed
up my portmanteau to be placed by the coachman in the boot under his
feet, and climbing up behind in a twinkling before any questions were
asked, away we bowled at a famous rate.  "All right," I thought; "I am
now fairly off on my travels."  We had twenty miles to get to the
railway station.  Once in the train, I should be beyond pursuit.  I had
no fear of that, however.  I should not be missed for some hours, and
then no one would know in what direction I had gone.

We approached the station near Burton.  My heart throbbed with
eagerness.  In a few minutes the train would be starting.  The coach
stopped before the hotel.  At that a moment a gentleman on horseback was
passing.  He saw me before I had time to hide my face.

"Why, Harry, where are you going?" he exclaimed.  It was my uncle,
Roland Skipwith, the arctic voyager.  He looked into the coach,
expecting to see some one.  "What, are you all alone?  Where are you
going, boy?"

"On my travels, uncle," I answered, boldly, hoping that he might approve
of my purpose, seeing that he was himself a great traveller.  "You will
not stop me, I know."

"We'll see about that," he answered, in a tone I did not quite like.
"Get down, youngster.  I'll give you a little advice on the subject.
You can't go by this train, that's certain."

While I reluctantly obeyed, he inquired of Tomkins, the coachman, how he
came to bring me away from home.  Tomkins apologised--thought that I was
going on a visit to my aunt, Miss Rebecca Skipwith, who lived at Burton,
and finished by handing out my portmanteau, and receiving my fare to
Burton in exchange.

I was sold, that was clear enough.  The portmanteau was deposited in the
bar till the coach would return soon after noon.

"Come along," said my uncle, who had given his horse to the hostler.  "I
have ridden over to breakfast with your Aunt Rebecca, so we'll hear what
she has to say on the matter."

I felt rather foolish as he took my hand and led me away.

We soon reached Aunt Becky's neat trim mansion.  My uncle had time to
say a few words to her before she saw me.  She received me with her
usual cordiality, for I was somewhat of a pet of hers.  I was
desperately hungry, and was soon seated at a table well spread with all
sorts of appetising luxuries.  My uncle, after a little time, when I had
taken the edge off my hunger, began to question me as to my proposed
plans, to an account of which he and Aunt Becky listened with profound
gravity.  I began to hope that he was going to approve of them, till
suddenly he burst out laughing heartily.  Aunt Becky joined him.  I
found that they had been hoaxing me.  I was sold again.  This was the
last attempt I made during that period of my existence to commence my
travels.

On arriving at manhood, and having just quitted college and had an
independence left me, the desire once more came strongly on me to see
the world--not the fashionable world, as an infinitesimal portion of the
human race delight to call themselves, but the great big round globe,
covered with our fellow-creatures of varied colours, languages, customs,
and religions.

"Good-bye, Aunt Becky!  I really and truly am off this time," I
exclaimed, as I rushed into my dear, good old aunt's drawing-room at
Burton, she looking as neat and trim as ever, being the perfection of
nice old-maidenism, not a whit older than when, some thirteen years
before, I had been brought there a prisoner by my uncle.

"Where are you going to, my dear?" asked Aunt Becky, lifting up her
spectacles from her nose with a look of surprise.

"Oh, only just across the Atlantic, to take a run up and down North and
South America, as a kind of experiment before I attempt a tour, by land
and water, to China and Japan, and home again by way of Australia, New
Zealand, and Tahiti, by the Panama route, which I mean to do some of
these days."

"Well, well," said Aunt Becky, "you are a true Skipwith, and if that
Captain Grant hadn't got the start of you, I suppose you would have
discovered the source of the Nile and the snow mountains under the
equator, and, like Hercules, in that gem on my finger, which I wear for
the sake of an old friend, have come home with a lion's skin across your
shoulder, or dressed up like an ape, as Monsieur de Chaillu did sometime
ago.  However, I shall wish, Harry, if you ever want an additional
hundred pounds or so, draw on me; I have always some spare cash at the
banker's.  But you'll never came back if you attempt half you talk of
doing.  You'll be scalped by Indians, or roasted and eaten by other
savages; or be tossed by buffaloes, or lost in the snow; or be blown up
in one of those dreadful American steamers, which seem to do nothing
else; or you'll catch a fever, or be cast away on a desolate island, and
we shall never hear anything more of you; or something else dreadful
will happen to you, I am certain."

"Never mind, Aunt Becky; I shall be embalmed in your memory, at all
events," I answered; "and besides, I am going to have a companion to
look after me."

"Who can he be who would venture to accompany such a harum-scarum fellow
as you are, Harry?" said my aunt, looking more satisfied.

"One who has ever proved faithful, aunt: his name is Ready."

"Why, he's your dog, Harry!" she exclaimed, disappointed.

"Could I have a more trustworthy and, at the same time, active and
intelligent follower?"  I asked.  "I had thought of taking Bunbry," (he
was my father's old butler, and remarkable for his obesity and
laziness); "but you see, aunt, in the first place, my father could not
spare him; and, in the second, he could not exactly keep up with me on a
day's march of thirty or forty miles, and would certainly be nowhere
when chasing wild buffaloes, or hunting panthers or grizzly bears.  So I
gave up the idea of having a servant at all; and as for a friend, I
don't happen to be supplied with one ready to go, and I hope to find
plenty on the way."

Having at length consoled Aunt Becky, by assuring her that I would take
very good care of myself, and promising to bring her home trophies from
all the lands I should visit, I gave her a parting kiss, in return for
her blessing, and a few days afterwards I found myself, with Liverpool
astern, sailing down the Mersey on board the good ship _Liberty_, bound
for New Orleans, which the people on board pronounced New Orle-e-ens.

The striped and starry banner waved over our heads.  "There, now, that's
the flag of flags," said the skipper, pointing to it.  "You Britishers
talk of your flag which has `braved a thousand years the battle and the
breeze,' but I guess that flag of ours will be flying proudly in every
quarter of the globe when your old obsolete government will have come to
a consummate smash."  He looked so savage at me, that Ready would have
flown at his leg, had I not held him back.

I was determined not to be put out of temper, so I answered quietly--

"Now, captain, I should be very happy to suppose that your stars and
stripes will fly to the end of the world; but I do not see why the
banner of old England should not be allowed to wave as long.  There's
room for both of us, surely.  It's my principle to live and let live."

"Why, stranger, because you are not a nation of free men, you don't know
what true liberty is," he replied, gnashing his teeth in a way which
made Ready show his in return.

"Our old obsolete government showed that it appreciated liberty when, at
a vast cost, it knocked off the shackles from every slave owned by a
Briton," I observed, calmly.

"I guess you'd better not touch on that there subject, stranger, when
you get to New Orle-e-ens, or Judge Lynch may have a word to say to
you," croaked out the skipper, curling his nose, and giving a malicious
wink at me while he squirted a stream of tobacco juice into the eye of
poor Ready, who went howling round the deck with pain.

I took the hint, and held my tongue on the dark subject.  It's ill to
talk of the gallows to a man whose father has been hung, and none but a
Knight of La Mancha runs a tilt against windmills when travelling in
foreign lands.  Still, I say, do not do at Rome as Rome does, but
protest, if not loudly, silently--by your conduct--against vice and
immorality, and all the abominations you may meet with.

We had a large number of emigrants on board, who were fully persuaded
that they were going to enjoy not only the most perfect government under
the sun, but every blessing this world can supply.  Poor people! how
different did they find the reality.  We kept to the southward of that
mighty stream which, coming out of the Gulf of Mexico, sweeps away
north, across the Atlantic, and, with its well-heated waters, adds
considerably to the warmth of our shores at home.  We saw neither
floating icebergs, whales, nor sea serpents, but had several births and
deaths, and at last made the island of St. Thomas, which appeared
floating like a blue cloud on the ocean.  As we drew nearer, a vast
mountain rose before us, seemingly, directly out of the water, having a
sterile summit, sprinkled round with spots of refreshing verdure.  The
harbour is in the form of an amphitheatre, and the land round, with its
glittering white town on three hills, its old fort advancing into the
sea, its green valleys, groves of cocoa-nuts, and fields of sugar-cane,
is a highly picturesque spot.  We put in to get a supply of water,
fruit, vegetables, and fresh provisions; but, as the yellow fever was at
the time carrying off about twenty of the inhabitants a day, <DW64>s and
mulattoes as well as white people, I was satisfied with admiring its
beauties at a distance.  Putting to sea again as fast as we could, we
weathered the north-western point of Cuba, and entered the Gulf of
Mexico, between that island and Florida.

About a week afterwards vast numbers of logs of wood, floating in yellow
water, indicated that we were at the mouths of the Mississippi, for, of
course, a mighty stream a thousand miles long, would not be content with
one mouth, like our poor little humble Thames.  The scenery, consisting
of mud-banks and swamps, as far as the eye can reach, is not very
attractive.  It is curious to look back after making numerous windings,
and to observe the sea over the mud-banks, considerably lower than the
water on which the ship is floating.  With a fair wind stemming the
stream for a hundred and thirty miles, we found ourselves amid a crowd
of vessels of all nations off New Orleans, the capital of Louisiana.  It
is a large handsome looking city, but, as the ground on which it stands
is lower than the surface of the river, I could not help feeling, while
I was there, that some night I might find myself washed out of my bed by
its muddy waters.

Intending to return to New Orleans, I left my traps at my hotel, and
embarked with Ready on board a huge steamer bound up the Mississippi.  A
cockney might describe her as like a Thames wherry with an omnibus on
the top of it, and vast paddles outside all.  I found that passengers
could only ascend to the upper saloon, which ran the whole length of the
vessel, the roof being of necessity sacred to the officers and crew.
There were numerous galleries, however, on each side of the
paddle-boxes, and forward and aft, whence I could observe the scenery.
It was not very attractive, consisting chiefly of low swamps--the
habitations of alligators and rattlesnakes.  Here and there were more
elevated spots, on which villages were perched, and patches where once
the forest grew, but which were now covered with fields of sugar-cane,
maize, and cotton bushes.

We were dashing on at a prodigious rate--I fancy the engineer must have
been sitting on the safety-valve--when, feeling a dreadful concussion,
and being thrown forward with my nose on the deck, I heard those around
me exclaim, "Snagged!"  "We are sinking!"  A snag is a log of timber
stuck sloping in the mud.  Against one of these snags we had run.  Down,
down sank the huge machine.  "Aunt Becky forgot to mention this, among
the other modes of losing my life which she enumerated," I thought to
myself.  "She forgot that Mississippi steamers could sink as well as
blow up."  However, I had no intention of going out of the world just
then, if I could help it.

The river was at that part very wide and shallow; but I observed an
island not far off, and I hoped to reach it.  If there were any boats
round the vessel, there was no time to lower them.  The awful plunge
came.  Some hundred human beings were hurled amid the turbid waters.
Many were carried down with the vessel; others were shrieking piteously,
and struggling for life.  The weather was intensely