Harper's Round Table, March 3, 1896

Harper's Round Table, March 3, 1896

Can you not see the boy of 1775 nowhis sturdy legs encased in stout black stockings, german-silver buckles to his knee-breeches, his hair plaited and tied with a smart black ribbon, and all this magnificence topped by three real silver buttons with which his hat is rakishly cocked? But the boy himself is better worth looking at than all his fineryso thought Captain Moore, of his Majesty's ship Margaretta, lying at anchor in the harbor of Machias. Jack Leverett was the boy's namea handsome stripling of sixteen, with a quiet manner but a fearless eye. The two were sitting opposite each other at the cabin table, and through the open port they could see the village and the harbor, bathed in the bright white light of a day in May. The Captain was conscious that this young guest was decidedly in a hurry to leave. A whole hour had they sat at the dinner table, Captain Moore, with the utmost art, trying to find out Jack's errand to Machiasfor those were the stirring days when every American had to take his stand for or against King Georgeand Captain Moore particularly desired to know how Squire Leverett, Jack's father, stood toward the King. But Jack, with native mother-wit, had managed to baffle the Captain. He had readily admitted that he was the bearer of a letter[Pg 470] from his father to Jerry O'Brien, master of Squire Leverett's sloop Priscilla, in regard to heaving down the sloop. But the Captain, with a seaman's eye, had noted that the Priscilla was in perfect order and did not need to be hove down, and he more than suspected that Jack was the bearer of other and more important news. Through the cabin windows they could see the sloop, a beautiful craft, being warped into her dock, while across the blue water was wafted sweetly the voices of the men, led by the shanty man,[1] singing the old shanty song: ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 56539
Author: Various
Release Date: Feb 11, 2018
Format: eBook
Language: English