“That’s it, father! that’s it!  I’m sure it is.  Oh! isn’t she a beauty?” shouted Mark, wild with delight.  “Oh! father, how did he know just exactly what I wanted most?” and the excited boy rushed down into the cabin to beg his mother and Ruth to come on deck and see his Christmas present.

The canoe was followed by two paddles painted a bright vermilion, and as they were placed in her, and she was laid to one side of the deck, she was indeed as pretty a little craft as can be imagined, and one that would delight any boy’s heart.

“I knew we were going to live near a river, my dear,” said Mr. Elmer, in answer to his wife’s anxious expression as she looked at the canoe, “and as Mark is a good swimmer and very careful in boats, I thought a canoe would afford him great pleasure, and probably prove very useful to all of us.  So when Uncle Christopher asked me what I thought the boy would like most for a Christmas present, I told him a canoe.”

“Well, I hope it will prove safe,” sighed Mrs. Elmer; “but I wish it were flat-bottomed, and built of thick boards instead of that thin bark.”

“Oh, mother!” said Mark, “you might as well wish it were a canal-boat at once.”

“Yes, I believe canal-boats are generally considered safer than canoes,” answered his mother with a smile.  “By-the-way, Mark”—­and she turned to her husband—­“one of the letters you brought was from Uncle Christopher, and he says he thinks he forgot to tell us that there is a house on his place, which he hopes we will find in a fit condition to occupy.”

Mr. Elmer had expected to have to build a house, and had accordingly brought with him sashes, doors, blinds, the necessary hardware, and in fact everything except lumber for that purpose.  This material was now being transferred from the schooner to the lighter, and now it seemed almost a pity to have brought it; still they were very glad to learn that they were likely to find a house all ready to move into.

It wanted but two hours of sundown when the last of the Elmers’ goods were stowed in the lighter, and as there was nothing to detain him any longer, “Captain Li” said he should take advantage of the ebb tide that night to drop down the river and get started for Pensacola.  As rowing and poling the heavy lighter up the river would at best prove but slow work, and as there was no hotel or place for them to stay in St. Mark’s, Mr. Elmer thought they too had better make a start, and take advantage of the last of the flood tide and what daylight still remained.

So good-byes were exchanged, and feeling very much as though they were leaving home for the second time, the Elmers left the comfortable cabin that had sheltered them for nearly a month.  Followed by Jan, they went on board their new craft, and the lines were cast off.  The crew of four strong colored men bent over the long sweeps, and followed by a hearty cheer from the crew of the schooner, the scow moved slowly up the river.  In a few minutes a bend hid St. Mark’s and the tall masts of the Nancy Bell from sight, and on either side of them appeared nothing but unbroken forest.