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of not a little disappointment to those who affected to look down upon the poor "foundling" boy, as their own children, with all their advantages, could not keep up with him in the class. The countryside was now upon the qui vive, as Johnny of the Mountain grew up, to gather his paternal lineaments. But he bore not the least resemblance to either Janet or Elsi, and it was clear "that gentle blood ran in his veins," a circumstance which made the natives incline more to the story of his discovery. He was nevertheless despised; every body "looked down" upon him; and as the youth was now attaining to the years of discretion, the very mention of his name sounded painfully in his ears. His foster-parents were the only two for whom he entertained any affection; the other neighbours he regarded with at least as much hatred as they could have looked upon him with contempt. Possessed of strong faculties, and a proud and enterprising spirit, he at last made up his mind to quit the district for some more hospitable sphere, where an origin which he could not help would be no source of reproach to him. He made known his intentions to the two old maids, and obtained their consent; for they were fully persuaded that go where he would, Johnny would never forget the sufferings which they had endured on his account, and that no change of scene would alter the regard which he entertained for both of them.

On the 1st of September, 1805, John of the Mountain left home for Portree, the nearest seaport, whence vessels were constantly plying to Glasgow, in the kelp trade. He obtained a passage in a small sloop, called the Lord of the Isles, to the captain of which he was already known, from his having on several occasions shipped the wool and cheese which Mr. Roy sent to the southern market. After a voyage of ten days, he landed safely upon the Broomielaw. Compared to the great city of the present day, St. Mungo then covered but a small surface of the ground bordering on the Clyde; but it was even then the busy and the greatest mart of commerce in Scotland, and the people were active, industrious, and enterprising. The knowledge of the English language possessed by the young adventurer was not of the most perfect kind, and his inability to comprehend the dialect of the citizens was the cause of many vexations and difficulties. He could write correctly, and was well calculated for some situations; but genteel employment he could not procure, having no friend to take an interest in his endeavours. He applied for work as a labourer at several places; but was laughed at by the other men on account of his

dress, which was the kilt and short hose of the Highlander.

After several days' fasting, and during which he was obliged to sleep out in the night-time for want of a lodging, he, despairing of succeeding in Glasgow, betook himself to the country to look for work as a find. He took the direction of Falkirk, where he arrived upon the first day of the usual monthly tryst. Here he met with better fortune. In the course of a ramble through the market, he was accosted by the steward of the Duke of Hamilton (Mr. Johnston), who, noticing the pitiful appearance of the otherwise healthy and interesting youth, offered him board and clothing if he accompanied him to Hamilton in charge of a flock of sheep which he had just purchased a proposal which young John was only too thankful to acquiesce in; and accordingly, after the market, he accompanied his new master home.

Here he continued for two years, and so far did he advance in the good graces of his master, that he was soon provided with a comfortable bedroom in his own house, and seated at table with the family before he had been a single month in his employment. But the greater the kindness of his benefactor, the greater the jealousy of the other servants; and, indeed, some of the smaller tenants of the duke, who dreaded the growing influence of the young stranger. John only continued the first month tending the sheep, when Johnston, discovering some signs of his ability, and the integrity of his disposition, took him at once under his own roof, and employed him occasionally in making up the accounts of his noble master. He gave him several useful works to read, as well as the newspapers of the day; and Johnny, who paid great attention to current events, shortly became a very intelligent and well-informed youth. But the older servants, who, as we have said, were all the more jealous of the favours showered upon one whom they regarded in every respect as an intruder, carried their prejudices to such an extent as to render his life miserable. They called him by the name of his benefactor, but not in his hearing, and this was the name by which he was latterly known. But the petty acts of spite to which he was subjected, on account of the obscurity and poverty of his origin, he could no longer endure, and he resolved upon emigrating to America. This resolution he communicated to his master, who listened with unfeigned regret, and endeavoured to persuade him to remain at home, by promising him his own situation should he survive the

steward's death. The youth, however, cowed by the treatment of the people by whom he was surrounded, persisted in his resolution; and his sympathising employer ultimately advanced the means necessary to pay his passage. John sailed from Leith on the 2nd of April, 1808, and reached New York after a passage of six weeks. After undergoing many difficulties, he at last started business in that city as a retail merchant, and from small beginnings prospered, until he at length became one of the most wealthy citizens of the United States. Although not a speaker, he was one of the stirring spirits in almost every constitutional movement in the country; and, from his wealthy position and purity of character, he possessed great influence with successive governments.

But, while he realised his wealth chiefly from a commercial connection with this country, he ever had a hostile feeling towards everything British; and this feeling he, on several occasions, carried to as great an extent as he possibly could do. The daily organ in New York

which some years ago obtained so much notoriety for its fiery attacks upon British policy and institutions, was well known to be the property of J-, and under his direction.

The late President Polk, as a private individual, was quiet and inoffensive in disposition, and possessed no personal prejudices towards his fatherland; but J-, of all the other friends with whom he was associated, had a greater influence over his mind; and it is known to some that the message of the President which some years ago created so much alarm, from the hostile spirit which it displayed towards England, was entirely the production of this individual.

After the death of his early protectors, Janet and Elsi, and of his benefactor at Hamilton, which took place shortly after his arrival in America, J-kept up no friendly correspondence with anybody in Scotland; and his own descendants always say, that his only motive for the animosity which he bore to his fatherland, was the treatment he had experienced in his carly youth.

AN OLD YARN REELED UP.

DURING a cruise along the coasts of Scandinavia, there was an old sailor on board our craft who was fond of reeling off his yarns on the calm, moonlight evenings, when we were wont to lie at anchor a long way up the Fiords. He had been a whaler in his youth; but that adventurous branch of the sea-service being fraught with more hardships and danger, and yet with no more profit than the plain sailing of a merchantman, he relinquished whale-killing, and getting at length a berth on board my friend's yacht, took to yarntelling. There was one story I remember in particular; and whether it made a deeper impression on my memory by the brightening eyes and enthusiastic manner of the narrator, at the time he recounted it, or whether the originality of the narrative impressed my fancy, I cannot say; but I have ever had a longing desire to reel up the yarn by repetition, and have done with it; and, unless I do so, I think it will pester my remembrance much after the same fashion as the roar of cannon, or twang of clarions, rings in the ear of an old warrior.

Lying S. W. of Cape Horn is the small island of Diego Ramirez. It is an inhospit

able spot, but a point of land where many of our ships were accustomed to resort for the purpose of taking whales. These whale-ships are as well manned and commanded as any vessels that leave the port of London, and are thoroughly provided with those miscellaneous stores so requisite for the particular and protracted expeditions in which they are engaged. It is a custom, never broken through, that when a whale-ship clears the land, the crew should be called aft, and the most sagacious and active man selected by the captain from the whole complement. The seaman so selected is called the "ship-keeper." Although, at the first moment, the duties of a "ship-keeper" may not seem onerous, or to require any more than ordinary care, on obtaining a closer acquaintance with the office, some degree of judgment and foresight becomes absolutely necessary. The superintendence of the vessel falls to his charge when the crew is in the boats, in search or chase of fish; and his activity is oftentimes put to a severe trial when only the steward and cook compose the whole remaining crew. Clambering to the maintop-mast head, his general position is to rest his chin on the cap, to scour the whole visible surface of the water,

and also, from that elevated position, to observe if all be going on well on deck. Scanning the horizon from E. to W. and N. to S., he lets no whale, or semblance of a whale, escape his glance, nor does his ever tireless eye fail to wander to the absent crew, that immediate aid may be offered when emergency makes it requisite. If the whales rise to windward of the pursuers, and they be too far to see the signal of his hand or hear his voice, the "shipkeeper" must run down the jib; if the game "breach" to leeward, he hauls up the spanker, and hoists a little black flag at the main so long as they remain on the surface. The little black flag disappears at the same instant that the whales "turn flukes" and go down, and he again hurries up the diminutive bunting when the "school" again ascend. Should the wind freshen, or a black cloud, ominous of ill, bulge above the horizon, or other circumstances occur which entitle him to recall the captain, the colours are displayed at the mizen peak. The "ship-keeper" is likewise an important caterer, and it is his place to see that provisions are prepared for the men when they return weary from the chase. Having explained so much, let my old friend spin his own yarn.

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Somewhere, your honour, about the 16th June, 1802, before a gentle breeze blowing from the south, we doubled Cape Horn. It was one of those calm and beautiful evenings common to a southern latitude; and the sea, with its surface waving like a sheet of gold, glistened in the slanting rays of the descending sun. Like so many islands, clouds of every brilliant dye floated in the amber light of the western sky, while, thrown against a paler heaven, looming darkly far away to the S. W., rose a solitary ebon column, the conical peak of Diego Ramirez. The wind being light, the ship would not stand her course, and drifted in upon the coast of Chili; but the captain put the helm about, and, with what little air we had, stood to the southward.

"The men were sharpening harpoons, spades, and lances, and weaving their labour with song or two; but thinking of home, as sailors sometimes do when they sing of it, we grew weary of thought, and, as the sun sank to rest, many of our eye-lids closed too-even the look-out at the masthead shut his peepers; yet, sleepless alone, with hasty stride, the captain paced the deck, turning a keen, cxpectant eye ever and anon on the darkening ocean. Walking up to the lee-quarter, he fixed his gaze intently on some object to leeward, and then cast his eyes aloft to learn, if possible, the reason of silence at the maintop.

"I say!' he shouted, in an angry tone, 'you leaden-eyed lubber, I say! Both ports shut! Look there!' and he pointed backwards, where a long white spout rose, like a bush, against the ruby-coloured horizon. 'Nice lazy son of a soger you are for a look-out! Come down, sir!'

"We all started to sensibility, as if a broadside had been fired into us.

"Back the main top-s'l, my sons!' shouted a second time the captain.

"There she blows, sir-sperm whaleregular soy, sir!' said the masthead-man, in a conciliatory voice, as he descended slowly from his nest in the air.

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Confound you! come down, sir!' reiterated the captain, furiously; 'a rope's end would do you a deal more good than your switchel!'

"Right ahead, sir,' persisted the man as he gradually approached the deck. Spout as long an's thick as the mainyard!'

"Stand by to lower!' exclaimed the captain, 'all hands; cook, boy, steward, cooper-every one of you stand by to lower!'

"Almost before the last words had left the skipper's lips, every man was at his proper post. Line-tubs, wafe-poles, water-kegs, were stowed away in the boats, and the irons were placed on the racks, at the same time that the evolutions of the ship were attended to with a precision and alertness that would have confounded a landsman. The vessel insensibly moved towards the object we had concluded was a whale. When within pistol-shot

"Lower away!' was the command. In a moment the keels splashed in the water.

"Jump in, my boys-ship the crotchline your oars-now pull!' were the rapid orders of the captain, as the men slided down the vessel's side, and taking their places, began to give way. Away the boats shot. The blades of the oars bent like willow wands to each stroke, and, as tempered steel quivering in the sunlight, they rose to sight from the tension of the retreating waves. As if unaware of our approach, the old "bull" heaved his huge bulk in unwieldly gambols not a mile from us; and the man who pulled the bowoar of the waist-boat, which was first, called out at the top of his lungs

"There he blows!-an old bull!'

"Hurra! my lads!' shouted the mate; 'eighty barrels waiting to be towed alongside. Long and quick-now she feels it!-shoot ahead! Waist-boat never could beat us. That's it-bend your backs to it, my lads! Now she feels it-lay down to it, stroke

that's the touch!-now she walks through it! Again!-win your switchel, my sons-now!'

"Such were the broken commands and exhortations of the mate, with which he urged his crew to exertion, not forgetting to ply with consummate tact and vigour his long steering-oar. How, backward and forward, flashed like sparks of light the shivering blades! How, in our arrowy course, the water boiled and dashed under and over our prow, while the trenched waves, hissing and whirling, closed in our wake as we swept onward, like a loosened shaft! Near and nearer in our electric flight we approached the fish, the mighty roar of whose spouting rose above the rush of the sea.

"Stand ready, harpooner!" exclaimed the mate; "but don't dart till I give the word."

"Ay, ay, sir," replied the man; and turning with elated look to his companions, he continued, "Carry me on, and he spouts blood!"

Lashing the sea with his enormous flukes until he threw a cloud of surf and spray about him, the whale came onwards at full speed, "jaws on," with the apparent determination of giving battle in earnest; and drawing near, his long, curved back loomed occasionally above the surface of the billows.

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Pull easy," said the mate in a more suppressed tone; "just give her way enough to steer."

"The huge creature approached; but, at the distance of a cable's length, somewhat flagging in his frenzied speed, he changed his course to a sharp angle with our own.

"Stand up, harpooner!" again said the mate. "Don't be hasty-don't be flurried. Hold your iron higher-firmer. Now!-give it him solid!"

"The harpoon darted like lightning by the immense mass now wallowing heavily past within a boat's length of our bow, yet onward plunged the leviathan unharmed. The young harpooner had stood erect-he had planted his foot-he had grasped the coil-he had poised his weapon, but his knee shook, and his sinewy arm wavered. The shaft was hurled, but with unsteady aim, and, grazing the back of the monster, glanced off his thrashing flukes, and darted into the sea beyond. Sweeping on for a few rods, the giant animal flapped a storm of spray in our faces with his broad tail, as if in contempt of our childish efforts to injure him; and then, dashing far down into the depths of his native ocean, left our skiff among the waters were he sank, to spin and duck in the whirlpool.

"A choking sensation of disappointment

came over us all; but there was no help, your honour. Night being now at hand, the signal was flying for our return, and, soon assembled on board, we discussed the mischances of the day, and speculated on better luck for the morrow.

"Scarcely before seven bells had been struck, and while we were still at breakfast the next morning, we heard the man at the foretopgallant-head sing out merrily

"There she breaches!"

"In an instant coffee-pot, cans, cups, and saucers were sent adrift, and every one scrambling up the fore-hatch.

"Where away?' cried the skipper, before he had barely shoved his head above the companion.

"Three points off the starboard bow, sir.' "How far?'

"About a league, sir; heads same as we do. There she blows!' added the man, as he began slowly to descend the ratlines, with his eyes fixed on the spouting herd.

"Keep her off two points,' said the captain; 'steady, my man, steady.'

"Steady it is, sir,' replied the helmsman. "Weather braces, a small pull. Loose to'gallant-s'ls, my lads.'

"While these commands were being given and put in execution, the 'school' of fish had gone down, and every eye was strained to catch a glipse of their re-appearance.

"There she top-tails!' shouted the carpenter, as he glided down the lee back-stay— sperm whale!'

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"See the lines in the boats,' bellowed the captain; 'swing the cranes. Bear a hand, my sons! Back the maintop-s'l.' And no sooner was this done than the ship, that had a slight headway at the time, became motionless as if lying at anchor.

"Lower away; all hands:' and in the twinkling of an eye, larboard, starboard, and waist-boats struck the water. Each officer took his place, and the men followed with the nimbleness of monkeys. As we dashed towards our prey we could observe them frolicking on the surface of the water; for, flouncing out of its proper element, a shapeless, huge body would fall backward into it with a loud and heavy splash. After rowing for a mile, the mate, who commanded the same boat as the day before, ordered the men to 'lie;' for the whole school, as if by common consent, had sunk; and peaking our oars, we stood up to look along the sea for the first whale that should break water.

"It was a dead calm. Nowhere, high or far

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as the sight could pierce, was passing a single cloud across the deep blue heaven to vary its boundless transparency, or to shadow the gleaming ocean which it spanned. Within a short distance floated our gallant bark; and in festoons drooping from her yards hung the idle canvas, while her inverted image, on which she seemed to sleep, was glassed, beautifully distinct, on the smooth expanse beneath. The albatross, as it wheeled with flapping wings along the stagnant atmosphere, or the water lowly gurgling against the boat's side, were the only sounds, save our own heavy breathing, to disturb the solemn stillness. A few minutes thus passed in perfect quiet served to show some dark object moving on the sea right ahead. It was a small 'calf' sporting in the sunshine.

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"Pull up, and strike it,' said the mate; 'it may bring up the old one; or, perhaps, the whole school.'

"And so, with a vengeance, it did.

"Hardly had the calf been lanced, and made its first agonised plunge, when an enormous 'cow-whale,' rose beside her wounded offspring. Striving to take it under its fin, and bear it away, nothing could exceed the maternal tenderness with which she essayed to accomplish her purpose. How strikingly, yet vainly, she tried to coax it to follow her, until the poor thing rolled over, dying, and then floated dead by her side! Perceiving life to be beyond the reach of her caresses, she turned to wreak her vengeance on the slayers, and crashing her vast jaws, hurried towards the boat. Quitting the helm, the mate sprang forward, cut the line loose from the calf, and snatching the remaining iron from the crotch, plunged it with all his gathered strength into the body of the mother. The work was well done; but the crafty cow descended to such an amazing depth, that, to save our lives, we were compelled to sever the line, and let her go.

"Nearly at the same instant, a whale 'breached' close on our starboard quarter, and, from the glimpse we caught, we recognised our old friend of the previous evening. His back, your honour, was covered with remnants of harpoons and lances; for they had rusted to short stumps, being worn, no doubt, by lapse of time and the corrosive qualities of saltwater. He seemed to recognise us also, for the moment after he had raised his great square head above the sea, he made directly towards us, scattering in his advance the billows into spray, and leaving in his wake a track of foam that his flukes lashed into a breadth of many feet.

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"He's making for the bloody water!' cried the men; and onward he cleft his way to the very spot where the calf had been killed. Here, harpooner,' exclaimed the mate, 'come aft and steer the boat, and let me dart! he shall not dodge us this time though he were Satan himself! Pull for the red water!'

"While yet he spoke the anger of the animal appeared to abate, for he rested passively on the heavily-heaving waves, his arched, black back thrown up like the ridge of a mountain seen on a clear night.

"The old soy's lying to,' I called aloud with exultation.

"Crikey! what a hump!' exclaimed a second man-only look at the irons in his back!” "No, don't look, pull,' answered the mate, who was standing, harpoon in hand, on the head-thwarts. Now, my sons, if you love Old England, if you love me, pull a-head, that's all. Now then, to the thwarts-down, down! Lay back, my souls! I feel you, my hearties! Give her the touch! Only one sea off! not one sea off! One minute-half a minute more! So-softly-no noise-softly-softly with your oars; that'll do.'

"Even as the words were uttered, the harpoon was raised, poised above his head, and a rapid, yet no less certain aim sent it whistling deep, deep into the thick, sable side of the fish. The steel quivered in his body.

"Stern all, for your lives!' shouted the mate. Plunging his head beneath the water, the stricken leviathan wheeled round with rapidity, and, in convulsive agony and rage smote the sea violently with fin and fluke. The seething vortex nearly swamped our little boat. The fish now started to run. The line rasped, smoking, through the chocks; but a turn or so round the logger-head soon secured it. Leaping onward in the wake of the tethered monster, we went with oars a-peak and bows tilted to the sea; but in vain were his efforts to break from our hold; the strands were strong and the barbed iron fleshed too deeply; so that to drive, or breach, or madly to dash forward was only to let the frantic creature feel we held him still in check. Now in impotent rage rearing his blunt head, covered with barnacles, high above the surge, his jaws fell together with a crash that made me shudder; then gliding through showers of sparkling spray, the upper outline of his mighty form was dimly seen; while, on the white surf that boiled and frothed in his path, streaks of crimson gore showed how the shaft had been driven home. The leviathan at length began to lessen his impetuous struggles.

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