n the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at
Washington, D.C.)

VOL. XIII.

JAMES ELVERSON, Publisher.
N.W. corner Ninth and Spruce Sts.

PHILADELPHIA, NOVEMBER 12, 1892.

TERMS
$3.00 Per Annum, In Advance.

No. 51.

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* * * *
* * * * *

OFF SHORE,

or

Matt and Natt's Venture.

BY WM. PENDLETON CHIPMAN,

Author of "The Mill Boy of the Genesee,"
"The Young Linemen," etc.

CHAPTER I.

MATT HIRES OUT.

It was a raw, cold day in early April. Since morning, the clouds had
been gathering, and they now hung, dark and heavy, over both land and
sea. The wind, too, which had been steadily increasing for hours in
violence, now blew little short of a gale. It evidently was going to be
a terrible night, and that night was nearly at hand.

No one realized this more than the boy who, with a small bundle in one
hand and a stout staff in the other, was walking rapidly along the road
that runs, for the greater part of the way, in sight of Long Island
Sound, from New Haven to New London.

He was a youth that would have attracted attention anywhere. Tall for
his age, which could not have been far from eighteen years, he was also
of good proportions, and walked with an ease and stride which suggested
reserved strength and muscular development; but it was the boy's face
that was most noticeable. Frank, open, of singular beauty in feature and
outline, there was also upon it unmistakable evidences of intelligence,
resoluteness and honesty of purpose. A close observer might also have
detected traces of suffering or of sorrow--possibly of some great burden
hard to bear.

The boy was none too warmly clad for the chilly air and piercing wind,
and now and then drew his light overcoat about him, as though even his
rapid walking did not make him entirely comfortable.

He, moreover, looked eagerly ahead, like one who was watching for some
signs of his destination. Reaching at length the foot of a long hill, he
drew a sigh of relief, and said, aloud:

"I must be near the place now. They said it was at the top of the first
long hill I came to, and this must be it."

As he spoke, he quickened his pace to a run and so