in the woods, which had been partly cleared of under-brush,
and had the appearance of a park grove. Near the house a plot of land
had been reduced to a state of cultivation, upon which an old negro
servant managed to raise vegetables sufficient for the use of the
family.

The interior of the cottage was neatly furnished, though with none of
the gaudy trappings of fashion. Everything was plain and useful. On the
side fronting the stream, which served the inmates as a highway, were
two rooms,--a library, which was also the sitting-room, and a sleeping
apartment. The library was far the most substantial and
comfortable-looking room in the house, inasmuch as it was abundantly
supplied with modern and classical lore. In the middle was a large
writing-desk, upon which lay sundry manuscripts, apparently the last
labor of the occupant. The books and papers were all arranged with
scrupulous neatness and method.

The two rooms in the rear were the dining-room and another sleeping
apartment, while the attic was occupied by the old negro and his
wife,--the property of the proprietor, and his only attendants upon the
island. Back of the house, as is the custom of the South, was a small
building used as a kitchen. Near it was another building, appropriated
to the use of the cow aforesaid.

In the stream in front of the cottage, fastened to a tree on the bank,
was a beautifully-modelled sail-boat, which was worthy to rank with the
miniature yachts of our large cities. She was schooner-rigged, with a
small cabin forward. Her masts, by an ingenious contrivance, could be
lowered down aft, and, by means of a rope attached to the fore-top, and
running through a block on the bowsprit, could be instantly restored to
their original upright position. This arrangement the owner found
necessary, on account of the overhanging trees, which nearly concealed
the two openings of the stream into the river.

On the night of the Chalmetta's terrible disaster, a man wrapped in a
camlet cloak left the cottage, and approached the landing-place. In one
hand he carried a glass lantern, and in the other a double-barrelled
gun. Descending the steps to the rude pier of logs, he drew the boat
in-shore and seated himself in the stern-sheets. Unloosing the
stern-line, which alone held her, the boat was borne on by the rapid
stream. The helm the occupant handled with a masterly skill, and in a
moment the little bark swept through the half-hid opening into the b