Charles Boardman Hawes
The Great Quest
A romance of 1826, wherein are recorded the experiences of Josiah Woods of Topham, and of those others with whom he sailed for Cuba and the Gulf of Guinea
Published by Good Press, 2021
EAN 4064066187187
Table of Contents
CHAPTER II MY UNCLE BEHAVES QUEERLY
CHAPTER V A MYSTERIOUS PROJECT
CHAPTER VI GOOD-BYE TO OLD HAUNTS AND FACES
CHAPTER VIII THE BRIG ADVENTURE
CHAPTER XI NEW LIGHT ON AN OLD FRIEND
CHAPTER XII CAPTAIN NORTH AGAIN
CHAPTER XIII ISSUES SHARPLY DRAWN
CHAPTER XVII THE MAN FROM THE JUNGLE
CHAPTER XVIII A WARNING DEFIED
CHAPTER XXIV SPEARS IN THE DARK
CHAPTER XXVIII DOWN THE CURRENT
CHAPTER XXIX THE FIGHT AT THE LANDING
CHAPTER XXXI A PASSAGE AT ARMS
CHAPTER XXXIII THE DOOR OF DISASTER
CHAPTER XXXIV AN OLD, OLD STORY
THE GREAT QUEST
CHAPTER I
THE STRANGER
One morning early in the summer of 1826, I brushed the sweat from my forehead and the flour from my clothes, unrolled my shirt-sleeves to my wrists, donned my coat, and, with never a suspicion that that day was to be unlike any other, calmly walked out into the slanting sunshine. Rain had fallen in the night, and the air was still fresh and cool. Although the clock had but just struck six, I had been at work an hour, and now that my uncle, Seth Upham, had come down to take charge of the store, I was glad that some business discussed the evening before gave me an excuse to go on an errand to the other end of the village.
Uncle Seth looked up from his ledger as I passed. "You are prompt to go," said he. "I've scarce got my hat on the peg. Well, the sooner the better, I suppose. Young Mackay's last shipment of oil was of poor quality and color. The rascal needs a good wigging, but the best you can do is tell the old man my opinion of his son's goods. If he gets a notion that we're likely to go down to nine cents