THE "Amelia was a coasting schooner, which, in the early part of this century, plied between several of our Atlantic ports. It was in the summer of 1813 that she lay in the harbor of a little seaport town, to which her captain and most of her crew belonged. Late in the afternoon of an August day, she dropped down with the tide from the pier, at which she had been taking in ballast in preparation for a voyage northward, and anchored some distance below the town, where she would be obliged to wait until the tide rose sufficiently high for her to cross the bar at the mouth of the harbor, which was not passable for a vessel of the size of the "Amelia," excepting at high tide.

While she was lying here, a boat with a man and his wife and a load of fruit put off from the shore; and, rowing up to the ship, the boatman tried to open a trade with the sailors, who were idly waiting for the time to set sail.

Among the crew was a young fellow named Tom Wallen, who was about to set off on his second voyage in the "Amelia." While the man with the melons was offering his fruit for sale, an idea struck Tom.

"I don't want any of that stuff," he said to himself; "but I should like very much to go on shore with Jacob Hopkins and his wife. We sha' n't weigh anchor for six hours at least, for the tide has n't run out yet, and I should like to bid my old father and mother a better good-bye than the one I gave them a little while ago."

Tom had been in the town that afternoon, when he heard that his captain did not intend to wait for flood-tide before leaving the wharf, but would drop down with the ebb to the end of the island opposite the town, and, therefore, the crew must be on board sooner than they expected. Tom had only time to run down to the little cottage, some distance below the town, in which his father and mother lived, to bid them a hasty farewell, and to hurry back to the schooner, to which his chest had been carried that morning.

Those were war times, and Tom did not know when he might see his old father and mother again, and he had left them very much shocked and disturbed at his sudden departure, for they had expected to have him with them all the evening. Accordingly, he went to the captain, and stated his case. He said that, as the vessel lay not far from the cottage, Jacob Hopkins could take him ashore in a short time, and that he would bring him back

long before midnight. This was the time they expected to set sail, as the tide would then be at its height, and the moon would have risen. The captain was a kind-hearted man, and was well acquainted with Tom's parents. After a little consideration, he gave the young fellow the permission he desired, and Tom, having speedily struck a bargain with Jacob Hopkins, was rowed ashore.

Old Mr. and Mrs. Wallen were delighted when their son popped in on them, and told them he was going to take supper, and spend a couple of hours with them. They had seen the ship at anchor before the house, and knew that she would not go over the bar before midnight; but they had not expected that their son would get leave to come on shore.

The evening passed pleasantly, and when Tom took leave of his parents, about ten o'clock, he left them in a much more contented state of mind than when he had hurriedly torn himself away in the afternoon. Tom's father went down with him to the skiff, which Jacob Hopkins had left tied to a stake near the house, and to which he had promised to return about this time, to row Tom back to the vessel. But when they reached the skiff, no Jacob was there; and, although Tom and his father walked some distance toward the town, and called loudly, they could find no sign of the missing melon-man.

"It's too bad!" said Tom. "It's now halfpast ten, and I ought to have been on board by this time. I don't see why Jacob should have disappointed me in this way."

"I'll tell you what we 'll do, Tom," said his father. "We'll both get into the boat, and you can row her over to the Amelia,' and I'll bring her back."

"No, indeed, Father!" cried Tom. "I'm not going to let you row a mile over the harbor this night. The wind is rising, and it is getting cloudy, and I should n't want to be on board the 'Amelia,' and think that you were pulling back home by yourself through the dark. No, sir; I'll take the boat and row myself to the schooner, and then I'll anchor the skiff there, and go on board. You see, she has a long coil of rope and a grapnel, and old Jacob can get another boat, and row over after her in the morning. He ought to be put to that much extra trouble for disappointing me in this way."

Old Mr. Wallen was obliged to confess that this was the better plan, and he knew that his son could

So Tom bade his father good-bye once more, and pulled away into the darkness. It is always

lighter on water than it is on land, and Tom knew the harbor so well that he had no difficulty in rowing straight to the point where the "Amelia" had anchored.

But, when he had rowed some distance, he was surprised on turning around to find that he could not perceive the " Amelia's " lights.

"Why, where is the schooner?" said Tom to himself. And then he rowed with redoubled vigor. But, before long, he was quite certain that the "Amelia" was not on her anchorage ground.

"She must have dropped down farther, around the end of the island, before the tide turned," he said to himself. "That may have helped a little, but it was a mean trick for the captain to do, after letting me go on shore."

But Tom did not hesitate. He laid to his oars again, and pulled around the island. He could see no signs of the ship, but supposed she was lying directly inside the bar, which spot was concealed from him by a projecting point of woodland. Tom rowed on and on, until, at last, he actually reached the entrance to the harbor, but still he saw no signs of the "Amelia." Could it be possible, he thought, that the captain had taken advantage

on a night as dark as this-cloudy, and without a moon. And yet, what else could the "Amelia" have done? He could not have passed her in the harbor as he rowed along. She could not have quietly sunk out of sight. She must have gone to sea.

As Tom, without thinking what he was doing, kept rowing on, he looked out over the long waves that came swelling in between the two lines of breakers, which guarded the entrance to the harbor. And there, not a quarter of a mile from the shore, he saw the lights of a ship, evidently lying to, with her head to the wind.

Tom was very angry at this sight. "If it were not for my chest," he thought, "which holds everything I own, I'd row back, and have nothing more to do with her."

Tom was not the man to go back when he had started out to do anything. And so he rowed on and on toward the inlet, where the long waves, which became breakers on either side of the narrow passage, were rolling in from the sea. It was not an easy matter to row a boat over these waves, but Tom had been used to such work from a boy, having often rowed out to sea on fishing expeditions, and he knew exactly how to pull his boat against

the incoming surf. It was not long before he was out on the gently swelling waters of the ocean, and pulling vigorously for the vessel. He forgot, entirely, that it would be necessary for him to return Jacob Hopkins's boat, but he determined to give a piece of his mind to his shipmates, who, whatever might have been the cause of their sudden departure, could certainly have found some means of giving him notice of it.

He pulled up to the bow of the vessel, and loudly called for a line. A rope was soon thrown to him, and, fastening this to his skiff, he sprang into the rigging, under the bowsprit, and nimbly clambered on board.

"This is a pretty piece of business!" he cried, as soon as his feet touched the deck. "Why did you fellows sail off and leave me in this way?"

"What do you mean?" said a man, stepping up toward him and holding up a lantern. "Who sailed off and left you?

Tom looked at the man, and then hastily glanced about him. It was a pretty piece of business! By the uniform of the officer before him, and by the appointments and armament of the ship, he saw

never would have mistaken this vessel for the "Amelia."

"I made a mistake," he said, his voice trembling a little. "I thought this was my ship, the 'Amelia.'"

And then he made a movement backward, as if he would scramble overboard and get again into his little boat. But the officer laid his hand on his

shoulder.

"Stop, my good fellow," he said. "You must go and report to the captain. I have been watching you for some time, and wondered what was bringing you here. Your ship must be a good one if you mistook His Majesty's sloop-of-war 'Saracen' for it."

"I should not have made such a blunder," said Tom, "if I had looked out better." And he dejectedly followed the officer to the quarter-deck. The captain heard his story, and asked him a good many questions.

"What is the cargo of your ship, the Amelia'?" he asked.

"Nothing but stones and old iron," answered "She's going north for a cargo, and sails

Tom.

"If this boy's story is true, the 'Amelia' would be no great prize."

Tom was very sorry that he had caused Jacob Hopkins the loss of his boat, but he was still more sorry for the fate that had befallen himself.

"Fourteen feet," answered Tom.

"That would be a tight scrape for the 'Saracen,'" remarked the captain to his officer. "But she could do it."

"Oh yes, sir," said the other, "and a couple of feet to spare."

The captain then addressed Tom again: "The channel of the harbor runs around the end of the island opposite the town, does it not?" said he. "Yes, sir," answered Tom.

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what he was told to do, and the officers found no fault with him. It suited him much better to work, even on the ship of his enemies, than to be shut up as a prisoner of war; and, before long, he became moderately contented with his lot.

"Oh yes, sir," said Tom. vessels in, three or four times."

"Well, sir," said the captain, "if I make you a handsome present, will you pilot the 'Saracen' into the harbor?"

"Bring a British vessel into our harbor?" cried Tom. "I will never do that! Our bar, and our crooked channel, as Father has often said, are better for us than a fort; and I am not the man to show an enemy's vessel the way through."

"Suppose I were to order you to be tied up and flogged until you should agree to do what I ask," said the captain.

Tom lost no time in making his way down to his native town. He found his parents alive and well, although they had been in great grief ever since their son rowed away in the night to go on board the "Amelia." They had never known for certain what had become of him, although many persons supposed that he might have been captured by an English war vessel which had been seen in the offing, and which sailed away before daylight on

"I

The captain looked at Tom attentively. don't think I will trust you," he said. "Even with a pistol at your head, I believe you would run me aground. I may not be able to take any prizes in your harbor; and I doubt if there is anything there worth taking. But an able-bodied young fellow like you is no slight prize, and so I will take you. You may go forward, and Mr. Burns will assign you to a watch."

Tom went forward with the officer, thinking sadly enough of the dreadful scrape he had got into; but determining in his heart that he would never assist the crew in fighting one of his country's ships. They might kill him first. He would do his duty as a seaman in working the ship, but he would never fight. On that point he was determined.

As soon as he had an opportunity, Tom went to one of the sailors and said: "That little boat that I came in belongs to Jacob Hopkins, and I 'd like to get it back to him if I could."

earnestly hoped that this was the case, for it would be much better to have had their son taken prisoner than to have had him drowned.

Tom soon heard the reason why he could not find the "Amelia." A man living on the island opposite the town had discovered the British vessel, and, while Tom was spending the evening with his parents, had rowed over to the "Amelia" to tell the captain of the danger which awaited him outIside the harbor. The "Amelia" immediately weighed anchor, and, there being a favorable breeze, she sailed past the town to a point where she would be tolerably safe from an attack by the enemy's boats. The town was greatly excited by the news, and Jacob Hopkins, supposing that Tom knew all about the matter, had never thought of rowing him over to the "Amelia," which would certainly now be in no hurry to sail.

Tom's prize-money amounted to much more than he could possibly have made by a dozen voyages in the "Amelia," and he was not only able to make his parents very comfortable, but seriously