Chapter I: Preface

"In regard to prefaces," says the author of "Curiosities of Literature,"--"ladies consider them so much space for a love story lost, though the Italians call them _la salsa del libra_,--the spice of the book."

Be this as it may, I must mention that many of the men whose names occur in these pages, bore the part ascribed to them during the operations of Sir Charles Grey's army in the Antilles.

A duel, nearly similar to that which is described as having taken place on board of the _Adder_ frigate, actually occurred on the deck of one of H.M.'s ships-of-war when lying in a South-American port, in 1821.

The situation of the wreck in the Isle of Tortoises was suggested to me by the discovery of a mysterious vessel in a cavern of the island of Baccalieu, when I was at Fort Townsend in Newfoundland, where it excited much speculation.

As a few Mexican dollars were found on the rocks near, she was supposed to be Spanish; and such rumours were circulated of the vast treasure she contained, that H.M.S. _Comus_ was despatched from Halifax to investigate the matter; but the hull contained a few dead bodies alone.

That the marvellous might not be wanting, there was told a story of a gigantic anchor being thrown by the sea on the desert shore near her. There it lay for a time, till a party came to remove it; but it had vanished, like the treasure,--by no mortal agency, of course!

26, DANUBE STREET, EDINBURGH.

_May_, 1861.

CONTENTS.

CHAP.

1.--BOYHOOD

2.--THE MINISTER

3.--MESSRS. HARPY, QUIRKY, AND MACFARISEE

4.--APPLEWOOD

5.--THE WILL

6.--AMY LEE

7.--TWO YOUNG HEARTS

8.--FROM POETRY TO PROSE AGAIN

9.--SEQUEL TO THE STORY OF THE WILL

10.--MAHOGANY _v._ LAW

11.--EDINBURGH IN 1792

12.--THE FRIENDS OF THE PEOPLE

13.--THE PRESS-GANG

14.--MR. MACROCODILE

15.--THE PRESSING-TENDER

16.--THE WHITE-SLAVE SHIP

17.--JACK THE MARINE

18.--OVERBOARD!

19.--THE SANDRIDGE LIGHT

20.--DICK KNUCKLEDUSTER

21.--RETRIBUTION

22.--COMPTON RENNEL

23.--THE "MAID AND THE MAGPIE"

24.--SERGEANT DRUMBIRREL

25.--HEAD-QUARTERS

26.--THE ROUTE

27.--THE "ADDER" FRIGATE

28.--LAND!

29.--THE SNAKE

30.--THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT

31.--THE STORY OF EULALIE

32.--STORY OF EULALIE CONTINUED

33.--OUR ESTEEM PROGRESSES

34.--THE MANGROVE CREEK

35.--THE EMIGRANT PRIEST

36.--THE SPY

37.--ANXIETY

38.--A REVELATION

39.--A SEA OF FIRE

40.--THE LANDING

41.--LA CHAPELLE

42.--A PAIR OF COLOURS

43.--A HALT

44.--THE SKIRMISH AT LE MORNE ROUGE

45.--THE BLANK FUSILADE

46.--CAPTURE OF ST. PIERRE

47.--THE CONVENT OF ST. URSULE

48.--LA FLEUR D'EPÉE

49.--THE ASSAULT

50.--"SMITH" OF THE ROYALS

51.--THE HURRICANE

52.--THE DESERT ISLAND

53.--THE TREASURE-SHIP

54.--A SURPRISE

55.--WE VISIT THE "GALLEON"

56.--KNUCKLEDUSTER'S STORY

57.--A SAIL IN SIGHT

58.--SAVED!

59.--CAPTAIN CRANKY

60.--THE YELLOW FEVER

61.--I REJOIN THE REGIMENT

62.--THE DOS D'ÂNE

63.--THE WORSHIPPERS OF THE DEVIL

64.--SCIPIO

65.--CAPTURE OF POINT À PETRE

66.--THE OBEAH NEGRO

67.--M. DE THOISY

68.--A DISCOVERY

69.--GEORGETTE

70.--A CRISIS

71.--CONCLUSION

OLIVER ELLIS.