In one of them the Elmers were shown a large, jagged hole, broken through the brick floor of one of the upper stories.  This, the sergeant in charge told them, had been made by a party of sailors who deserted from a man-of-war lying in the harbor, and hid themselves in this Martello tower.  They made it so that through it they could point their muskets and shoot anybody sent to capture them as soon as he entered the lower rooms.  They did not have a chance to use it for this purpose, however, for the officer sent after them just camped outside the tower and waited patiently until hunger compelled the runaways to surrender, when he quietly marched them back to the ship.

In all of the forts, as well as in all the houses of Key West, are great cisterns for storing rain-water, for there are no wells on the island, and the only fresh-water to be had is what can be caught and stored during the rainy season.

It was a week after the orange auction that Mr. Elmer came into the cabin of the schooner one afternoon and announced that the court had given its decision, and that they would sail the next day.

This decision of the court gave to the schooner Nancy Bell five thousand dollars, and this, “Captain Li” said, must, according to wrecker’s law, be divided among all who were on board the schooner at the time of the wreck.  Accordingly, he insisted upon giving Mr. and Mrs. Elmer each two hundred dollars, and Mark, Ruth, and Jan each one hundred dollars.  As neither of the children had ever before owned more than five dollars at one time, they now felt wealthy enough to buy the State of Florida, and regarded each other with vastly increased respect.  While their father took charge of this money for them, he told them they might invest it as they saw fit, provided he and their mother thought the investment a good one.

At daylight next morning the Nancy Bell again spread her sails, and soon Key West was but a low-lying cloud left far behind.  For three days they sailed northward, with light winds, over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.  On the evening of the third day a bright light flashed across the waters ahead of them, and “Captain Li” said it was at the mouth of the St. Mark’s River.  As the tide was low, and no pilot was to be had that night, they had to stand off and on, and wait for daylight before crossing the bar and sailing up the river beyond it.

CHAPTER VI.

A queer Christmas-day.

All night long the Nancy Bell sailed back and forth within sight of the light that marked the mouth of the river.  Soon after day-light a pilot-boat was seen approaching her in answer to the signal which was flying from the main rigging.  As the boat ran alongside, a colored pilot clambered to the deck and declared it did him good to see a big schooner waiting to come into the St. Mark’s once more.

“Uster be a plenty of ’em,” said he to “Captain Li,” “but dey’s scurcer’n gole dollars now-adays, an’ I’se proud to see ’em comin’ ag’in.”