Not the faintest foaming speck Swift, swift, they sweep! That dark courser's headlong speed! Coldly and slowly broke the ruddy glow of morning in the grey east. The moon and stars had paled their fires on the eye of Ontwa, and he now looked with anxiety for the coming light of the dawn to guide him on his way. During the darkness, his steed had suddenly come upon the lonely banks of a bend in the broad and turbid Arkansas, and the rider hoped that this watery barrier would prove a friendly limit to his career. But the steed paused not a moment on its sandy edge, but boldly plunged in the foaming tide, and stemming gallantly the torrent, soon reached its opposite bank, and held on its way, as before. Many a tangled thicket, interlaced with the twisting vine and the sharp bramble and many a creeping plant, did they toil through. Through many a swamp, choked up with rank grass and brittle reeds, did they penetrate. Many a broad belt of woodland, where the tall cotton-wood, the branching elm, and the rough oak, intermingled their leafy tops, did they traverse; and often as they dashed madly under their branches, through whose almost impervious screen the moonbeam entered not, save through an occasional gap in the verdant roof, the rider was placed in imminent peril. Often did the wet and heavy foliage that draped their lower limbs brush rudely across his face, and well nigh dash him to the earth. But he seemed to wear a charmed life, for no harm from flood or forest at any time befel him. He would gladly have relinquished his perilous seat, but so swiftly was he hurried along, that he felt it to be impossible so to do. He was fully conscious, when too late, that the steed he bestrode, was the winged Lightning of the Desert, and he knew that no effort of his own could extricate him from its mystic power. He felt that he must submit himself to his fate. Hour after hour of daylight rolled away, and still the untiring steed and his panting rider pursued their course. The vast tract of the Missouri territory had been traversed, had sunk deeply through many a league of its prairie, and forest, and woodland. The Canadian and the South Fork had been forded by the daring animal, without a moment's hesitation or delay. Many an Indian village had been passed, and many a group of warriors and women had hurried forth from their tents to view in astonishment their flight. The Creek, the Choctaw, and the Cherokee, had never before looked on so gallant Original. BY RUFUS DAWES. THE earth is full of riches,-solid rock Shines on the surface like a drop of dew Beyond the grasp of thought. Thou, Socrates, 260 Original. THE LEGACY SHIP.* A SEA STORY. BY MRS. E. F. ELLET. DAME Otto was a widow, whose husband, an honest laborer, had been dead a long while. She lived here in Hamburg some years ago. I well remember her shop, half under ground, where she carried on a small retail business in wood and coal, besides selling liquors and other refreshments to the guests who occasionally dropped in, thus managing to earn a tolerably comfortable, though humble maintenance. her substance wasted away, and she was at length obliged to betake herself to the business above mentioned, to keep her son and herself from actual want. Matthias was a lad of very high-flown notions, and of great ambition; and moreover had never learned the lesson of self-denial. He sometimes assisted his mother in her work, but always spent much more than he earned ; for he would dress in a manner that suited the son of a rich burgher, rather than a youth in his very humble circumstances. Whenever his poor mother ventured to remonstrate mildly with him upon his extravagance, for she never had the heart to reprove him severely, he would answer rudely, "Let me alone, mother!" adding not unfrequently the taunt-"If you had been wiser when you were young, and had married the rich Master Arnold Schorr, you might have been now a respectable merchant's wife; you would not have been obliged to live in a musty old cellar, and show a wheedling face to every fellow that chances to come in to spend his sixpence or shilling!" At this, the poor old dame would go aside and The dame, in her young days, had been at service in the house of a rich merchant, Schorr, by name, whose only son, a wild though good hearted young man, chanced to fall violently in love with her. This was not strange, when we consider the extreme beauty and modest demeanor of the girl; and Arnold, taking into view his superiority in point of rank and wealth, did not dream of being unsuccessful in his wooing. So that when Marie, instead of encouraging his advances, shrank from him, the dis-weep bitterly, while her son threw himself on a bench, appointment only increased his passion; he pursued her the more closely-and even went so far as to make her a formal offer of marriage. But Marie was not disposed to take advantage of his infatuation. She had no ambitious wishes; and acting like a prudent damsel even in the first impulse of her surprize, she went to the old merchant, and informed him of all that had passed. He The elder Schorr was a rational, amiable man. applauded the discretion of his serving maid, reproved his son for his unpardonable misconduct, and sent him forthwith upon some business into England. In his absence he adjusted matters so as to prevent a recurrence of difficulties; the pretty Marie was bestowed in marriage upon young Otto, to whom she had long been attached, and her former master expressed his approbation of her choice, and his kind regard for her, by giving her a rich dower, which he placed in the hands of her husband on her wedding-day. The good dame still remembered that happy time, though she had since gone through much trouble, which made her appear older than she really was. First she lost her kind master, and there were none but her and her husband to perform the offices of friendship for him in his last illness; for his son Arnold had been estranged from him ever since his disappointment. Then she heard that the rash young man had parted with his patrimony, and invested most of his fortune in a ship, the command of which he had taken, and was gone to sea. She was much grieved that one she had been taught highly to respect, had thus abandoned himself to a rover's life, the more so, as she had been innocently the cause of his self-banishment from his native country. But this sorrow was in time swallowed up by one much more severe; her husband died, and of seven children she had borne him, only one son, Matthias, survived his father. The finishing stroke, amid all her misfortunes, was the decay of her means of living; by little and little *Freely translated from the Diary of Burkhardt, the Pilot. and idled away his time in smoking and sleeping. One day, after rather a protracted scene of this kind, between mother and son, the door opened unexpectedly, and a man of somewhat remarkable appearance entered. His rough exterior, and his blustering manner, showed him to be a sailor. He was full six feet high, and indeed had to stoop in crossing the threshold; and seemed a man not so much advanced in years as worn by toil and hardship. His sunburnt visage was rendered more unprepossessing by a thick, dark beard, which was suffered to grow very long. A dark colored cord encir cled his neck, to which was attached a large pocketknife, usually carried by sailors. He wore, tied round his straw hat, a silken handkerchief, after the fashion of the East Indian seamen. "Holla-who waits?" he cried, as he came in. "Fetch me a glass of rum!" "Mother-a glass of rum!" called out Matthias, without moving from his favorite couch; and the poor woman quickly wiped her eyes, and prepared to obey the order. "The unmannerly boor!" cried the seaman. "What do you lie idle there for, and order about the old dame? Who are you, sir?" "He is my son, at your service, my good sir," said the dame, not a little mortified at the rude behavior of the youth. "A fine fellow, to be sure," muttered the stranger, "but it is your own fault. Why did you bring him up in idleness? If you had kept him at work, and given him now and then a taste of the discipline of the whip, he would have been worth more, I promise, to you. But what is the matter now? What are you crying about?" "Oh, sir," stammered the old woman, fearful that the stranger would think ill of her son, "I have been at work in the kitchen; the fire smokes badly, and it has given me a sad rheum in my eyes." “You are lying, mother," interrupted Matthias, angrily, but without moving from his place. "She has been quarrelling with me, as usual; and at such times she always takes to crying, so that our customers may think something terrible has happened." All the morning there had been an unusual commotion The dame went and seated herself in her corner, sob- about the harbor. Not that bustle which is occasioned bing; the sailor looked sternly at her son. by each having a good deal to do; for nearly everybody "Hold your insolent tongue, varlet," said he, "or I was idle; it was the head, not the hands that was so will soon teach you better behavior." "Your business here," replied the youth, pertly, "is to pay for your glass of rum and then to take yourself off. That is all, sir!" The stranger changed countenance, and looked as if much provoked, but suppressing his indignation, said, after a pause, in rather a scornful tone "Stand up on your feet, my lad, I want to see what sort of limbs you have, with so ready a tongue. Get up off the bench." "I choose to lie still," answered the young man, though at the same time he raised his head a little, to look at the seaman more attentively. "Well then, I will try if I cannot get you up," observed the other quickly; and forthwith he loosened the cord above spoken of, from his neck, and opened the large knife, the blade of which appeared sharp and bright. "For mercy's sake!" screamed the old woman, springing up when she saw this action, but too much frightened to come near the stranger, "Are you going to kill my child ?" "A true eye is a capital thing for a sailor, eh, dame," answered the man-" and I have such, as you will see.' With that he wound the cord round his wrist, and then threw the knife with such force, that whistling through the air it lodged deep in the wooden bench. The seaman then jerked the line so as to overset the bench completely, and the astonished Matthias came to the ground,|| much to his discomfiture and the inconvenience of his nose, which was bruised by the fall. All this happened in an instant. The dame screamed, "Help!" the young man picked himself up, rubbing his nose, while the sailor took back his knife, and burst into loud laughter. I "Well, I have you up at last," cried he, "in truth, you are as rough a lad as ever chewed sea-biscuit. say, sir, how do you relish standing upright? Dame Otto-you need not be surprized that I know your name, though I have never been in your shop before-let me advise you to look after your son, if you would not have him turn out a scapegallows. Here is the pay for your liquor, you need not give me any change; may it do you much good!" so saying, he threw a guinea on the table, and walked out of the door. much busier than usual. Curiosity was on tiptoe to know what was meant by the sudden apparition of a large ship, which daylight had discovered in the river, outside the port. Her hull was dark colored, and marked with strange figures, and her sails showed like mountains of snow in relief against the sky. She seemed to have no beak, aad the name on her stern was effaced. The men on her deck seemed occupied with business of their own, and not desirous of holding any communication with those on the crafts around them. All this was suspicious, but after the closest observation, the spectators could see nothing to justify dread of the strange-looking ship, though all were obliged to own there was something odd and remarkable about her, especially as she carried no flag nor pennon, nor anything to mark the particular country to which she belonged. By degrees the novelty wore off, and even the idlers on the wharf ceased to talk about her, as towards noon, the harbor-master was seen to go on board, and bring the vessel up to the raft, just outside. Soon after, several of her crew landed, and among the rest the sailor we have already seen in Dame Otto's cellar. He walked about the wharf, seemingly in thought, and up and down the street, nor spoke to any one, till he encountered Matthias, just coming from a tavern in the neighborhood, where, with a set of drunken vagabonds, he had spent the guinea left on his mother's table. The young man was on his way home, sadly inebriated; his flushed face wore an expression of stupid glee, and the effect of the liquor had been to give him a more ready flow of talk. "Ha, ha!" he cried, when he perceived the sailor, "hang me, but if I see straight, you are the very man who ordered a glass of rum at our shop and left a guinea to pay for it! I can tell you, sir, your liberality pleases me well Pray do us often the favor to call. But come, I believe I have a shilling or two of odd change left, shall we have a glass of Port-wine together?" "As you please, tippler!" answered the seaman, laughing, "I am ready for you; but we will not go into your dirty cellars, where you can hardly see the sun at We will go, if it like you, on board my vessel, where you will find plenty of flasks, of the best growth. Will you go with me?" noon. "You do me great honor," replied Matthias, with a ble difficulty in recovering his footing. "I beg-sirwhat is the name of your admirable vessel ?" "What a strange man," said the old woman, as soon as she had recovered breath. 'How his eyes glared-scraping acknowledgment, after which he found incrediand he looked all the while as if he were mocking usand I noticed, he did not even glance towards the crucifix hanging under the looking glass! Who may he be, I wonder?" "What the mischef do I care, who he is ?" answered her son, pettishly, and going up to the table, he emptied, at a draught, the glass of liquor which the stranger had left untouched, then snatched up the guinea, thrust it "The Lucifer!" said the stranger, and burst into a peal of laughter. "The Lucifer?" repeated the youth, very thicktongued. "Very well, you, a good Christian, and christen your vessel with such a name! Lucifer! the name is not very common here. But how is it, sir? What were we talking about? I thought the matter was a glass or two of Port." honorable," answered the old woman, in a firmer voice, wiping her eyes. "A man who read his bible and went "So it was," said the other, and putting his arm in to church, and helped the poor, and never passed an idle that of the drunken youth, he led him to the wharf, and day. But I pray you, sir, tell me, where is my son?" down the steps, at the foot of which the boats landed." "Your son is better off than he deserves," was the They stepped into a little yawl and were pulled across reply; "do not be uneasy on his account. Is he to spend the bay towards the dark colored ship. On the way, his life here, lying on yonder bench, and vexing you day Matthias managed to collect a few of his scattered senses, after day? No! he must go out into the world, and and crowded his questions, 'till the yawl stopped along-learn something that will drive his big thoughts out of side the ship, and the seaman caught hold of a rope flung his head. He is on board my vessel, and taken into my overboard to him. service. To-morrow we shall sail. In a year or more you may expect to see us again, and I warrant you, you will find your good-for-nothing son mightily improved." "Here is the Lucifer!" cried he, "now if you will take the trouble to hoist yourself up, you shall soon see what kind of stores she has. Up with you! you can run fast enough into Old Nick's arms, so hold fast the rope, and give a spring." Matthias obeyed as well as he could, and followed his entertainer into the cabin. They seated themselves at the table, on which were speedily placed several bottles of wine. The youth drank so freely, that he soon lost all command over his tongue and his limbs, and at last sank helpless upon the floor. The captain, for such was the rank of his companion, saw him fairly lodged under the table, then casting upon him a look of compassion, rose and quitted the cabin and the vessel. Dame Otto sat alone in her little shop, wondering at the prolonged absence of her son. It was late at night. A slender tallow-candle was burning in a wire candlestick, and gave a light so feeble, as scarcely to enable one to distinguish the different articles of furniture in the mean apartment. The old woman sat with her hands folded and her head drooped; but she started up when she heard a noise of heavy footsteps. The door was pushed open unceremoniously, and the tall sailor she had seen before, came in, grumbling complaints at the darkness, and his trouble in finding the door. Great was her surprize at seeing a stranger at so late an hour, while she eagerly inquired his wishes. "Not much," answered the man shortly; "I bring you only a message of farewell from your son, and want to know if you have any word to send him?" "For pity's sake, sir," cried the old woman, "tell me what is become of my son? What is the meaning of his sending me his farewell? Why does he not come home, I have waited very long for him." "And who are you?" asked the dame, half curious, half suspicious, "that you take such care of my Matthias? I have good right surely, to know." "I am the captain of the Lucifer!" replied the stranger; as noble a ship as ever was launched-as safe in a storm as a calm. Depend upon it, your boy is in the way of good on board of her, for we do not spare the rope's end where it is necessary." Dame Otto heard nothing of the latter allusion, being taken up with her superstitious terror on hearing the name. "The Lucifer! Maria help us!" she screamed; "what blessing can you look for, when you sail under such a name? What must I think of a man who commands such a vessel?" "Think what you will," answered the other, indif ferently; "you will find me a reasonable fellow, for all that. It is true, I handle the cup rather freely, and sing drinking songs, but what can you expect of a sailor! We must have something to keep up our spirits, while our jackets are wet with salt-water. Well, I must begone. You will see us again in time, and shall have your son alive, and changed for the better, I assure you. Now, farewell-Marie! It is very long since I called you by this name." "Who are you?" visitor earnestly, and dim light. asked the dame, looking at her trying to read his features by the "A weather-beaten fellow, who has been in all parts of the world. I can tell you my story in a few words. I was in love with a pretty girl, who rejected me and married another. I went to sea with a tempest in my heart-was shipwrecked, after a while, and lost every "You will not see him very soon again!" observed thing. Then I came into possession of another noble the sailor. "Oh, good sir! have pity on a mother who loves her child better than anything in the world!" exclaimed she, wringing her hands. "Where is my Matthias? Is he angry with me? He has often spoken harshly to me, it is true, and sometimes he strikes me when in a passion, but I love him dearly, for he is my only child, the only one that remained to me when I lost my children and my dear, good husband." "Your dear good husband!" repeated the seaman, somewhat scornfully. "What was he, but a mean paltry creeping fellow! He never had anything good or noble in him." The dame looked at the "My good man, Otto was respected through life, and seemed inclined to open it. box a long time before she When, at length, she lifted the lid, the first thing she saw, besides a well-filled purse of gold, was the miniature of a young female. The face was exquisitely beautiful. The white forehead shaded by brown curls, and the blue eyes and blooming cheeks called up long absent recollections. “This is my own picture!" she said, after a pause. "I was like this, it seems but a few years ago! This is the minature my husband had painted for me just after our marriage; which was stolen from us, and no one knew where it was gone. What else is here?" On taking out the miniature she saw that another was fastened at the back of it. It was the portrait of a young man. The eyes and hair were black, and the forehead marked with a broad scar. All the features showed a rash, impulsive temper, and the air of deep melancholy was not to be mistaken. "Arnold Schorr !" murmured the dame, while a flood of thoughts crowded upon her mind, occupying her so absorbingly, that she sat many hours after the candle had burned out, supposing that only a few minutes had|| elapsed. When she at last roused herself, she wiped the tears from her eyes-but they were tears more tender and pleasurable than she had ever shed before. The next morning, every one was stirring about the harbor and the river; all was bustle on board the Lucifer also; boats were coming alongside, laden with provisions and freight, which the men were stowing in their places. Her sails flapped in the wind, but she was held fast by two strong hausers, while the tide was coming up. The captain gave his orders here and there loudly, looking now and then at the weathercock, which indicated that the wind was south-west. Presently the steersman came to him, and announced that all was ready. The bell of Saint Michael's was striking eight. "Where is my last night's guest ?" asked the captain. "Snoring on the cabin-floor," was the answer: "shall I wake him?" Arnold Schorr, the captain of the Lucifer, stood on one side of the deck, watching the foam of the waters dashed from his vessel's bow; the ship, which he now loved as if she had been his daughter. "She has served me well," he murmured, "the many years we have been on the deep together. Her timbers have weathered storms that would have sent many a statelier ship to the bottom. Heigho! I am tired of this cruising-I want to be at home! To whom shall I leave this legacy ship? 'Twould be a pity that any but an honest fellow should ever get command of her. None shall, with my leave. Poor Leyda! 'twould grieve her, too!" With this, the rough but good hearted seaman sank into a revery, and forgot all but the past. The days of his youth came back; he thought himself again at home, at his father's house; he remembered the lovely Marie, and the mad passion he conceived for her. He remem bered her coldness and fear of him, her rejection of his suit, and his father's stern rebuke. He called to mind the secret resolutions he had formed, even when forced to separate from Marie, of making her his own at some future day. He remembered his feelings when returning to his native city, full of hope and love; the ringing of the church bell that saluted his ears-the impulse he felt to enter the church-his horror and agony on meeting, at the threshhold, Marie and her newly wedded husband, accompanied by his cruel father-all these recollections swept over his mind like a dream. To the reader of this humble tale it may not be uninteresting to look back on some of the past events of his life. No language can describe the feelings of the young man, who thus saw his treasure snatched from him. He went about the city like one distracted, nor did time seem to mitigate the violence of his grief. The "Let him alone a while; now call the men to their elder Schorr was taken ill; the news did not affect the quarters, and be ready." "Ay, ay, sir," and all obeyed. The tide was now slack. "Take in the forward hauser!" cried the captain; "and hoist the mainsail and the jib! Bring the tiller to larboard, that the vessel may sheer off from the dock!" The order was obeyed-the ship turned her bowsprit up the stream, and the sails fluttered noisily. son, nor induce him to give up his foolish resentment. He became worse, and though anxious once more to embrace bis son, died, before a reconciliation took place. Arnold no longer expressed vehement resentment, but became a prey to the deepest melancholy. By the death of his father he came into possession of considerable property, but neither the accession of fortune nor the influence of a good education contri "Fetch her bow round, that she may catch the wind."buted, as his friends hoped, to soften his bitter feelings. It was done, and the hinder part of the ship pressed hard against the raft. "Let go the hind hauser, and square the topsail! Ho, Carpenter! go to the helm and steer for that fishingboat with the white bows. Hurrah, my lads! hurrah!" The men answered with loud huzzas. The upper yards were quickly fetched about, the helm was committed to more skilful hands, and the gallant vessel cut rapidly through the yielding eddies. As she receded from the dock, the wind blew more freshly and filled the sails; the city vanished from their sight, the river shores were passed while boldly she ploughed her way through the waters with the speed of an eagle on the wing. The truth was, he repented of his refusal to be reconeiled to his father, but the remorse that continually tormented him rendered him more averse than ever to intercourse with others. At length, he seemed to arouse himself from his melancholy. He was seen frequenting the wharves, and examining the vessels from morning 'till night. A taste for maritime employment grew up in his mind. He went several voyages as a common hand. Finally he disposed of his patrimony, and with the money, caused a light vessel to be built, of which he took the command. It was launched the last day of summer. He named it "The Lost Heart!" The beginning of autumn saw her ploughing the great ocean; and with no particular |