he boat rocked idly on a ground
swell.

"Now, let's run ashore," said Billy Bowlegs.

"What will we run with? There isn't a cap full of wind on the Gulf of
Mexico, and there won't be while this fog lasts."

"What shall we do, then?"

"Nothing, for there is literally nothing to be done," answered Sam.

"Mas' Sam," said Joe, "I'll tell you what."

"Well, Joe, what is it?"

"Ef we jist had a couple o' paddles."

"But we just haven't a couple of paddles," answered Sam. "No, what we
need now is courage and endurance. We must wait for a wind, and keep
our courage up. We are suffering already with hunger and thirst, and
will suffer more, but it can't be helped. We must keep our courage up,
and endure that which we cannot do anything to cure. It is harder to
endure suffering than to encounter danger, but a brave man, or a brave
boy, can do both without murmuring."

Sam's words encouraged his companions, and they managed to get some
sleep. After awhile day dawned, and the fog was still thick around
them, while not a zephyr was astir. Nearly an hour later, a sudden
booming startled them. It was a cannon, and was very near.

"What is that?" asked the boys in a breath.

"A sunrise gun, I think," said Sam, "and it's on a ship or a fort. Now
then all together with a shout."

They shouted in concert. No answer came. They shouted again and again,
and finally their shout was answered. A little later a row boat came
out into the fog, and the first man Sam saw in it was Tandy Walker.

It is not necessary to repeat the greetings and the explanations that
were given. Sam learned that the gun had been fired from Fort Bowyer,
the guardian fortress, which, standing on Mobile Point, commanded the
entrance to the bay. The fort had been garrisoned only the day before,
and Tandy was one of the garrison. Sam's boat had drifted further west
than he had supposed, and he found himself now precisely at the point
he had tried to reach.

* * * * *

As Sam was too weak to walk, and there was no wind with which to sail
up to the town, a messenger was sent by land from the fort, bearing to
General Jackson a detailed account of Sam's wanderings and adventures
in the shape of a written report. When the wind served, the little
band of weary wanderers sailed up to Mobile, and when Sam reached the
hospital to which he had been assigned for the treatment of his
wounds, he found there an official despatch from Gene