224

_Adventures of Bartholomew Portugues, a Pirate_ 326

_The Return of the French Freebooters_ 330

PLATES

_Montezuma greets the Spaniards_ _Frontispiece_

_The Findhorn_ _To face_ 36

_Grace Darling_ " 44

_'Some of the Pirates . . . had thrown several
Buckets of Claret upon him'_ " 60

_The Ball hit the Middle Stump_ " 108

_He prepared to attack the Sentry_ " 126

_Montezuma greets the Spaniards_ " 270

_Cortes in the Temple of Huitzilopochtli_ " 276

_Montezuma assailed by Missiles_ " 296

_A BOY AMONG THE RED INDIANS_

THE earliest event of my life which I distinctly remember (says John
Tanner) is the death of my mother. This happened when I was two years
old, and many of the attending circumstances made so deep an impression
that they are still fresh in my memory. I cannot recollect the name of
the settlement at which we lived, but I have since learned it was on the
Kentucky River, at a considerable distance from the Ohio.

My father, whose name was John Tanner, was an emigrant from Virginia,
and had been a clergyman.

When about to start one morning to a village at some distance, he gave,
as it appeared, a strict charge to my sisters, Agatha and Lucy, to send
me to school; but this they neglected to do until afternoon, and then,
as the weather was rainy and unpleasant, I insisted on remaining at
home. When my father returned at night, and found that I had been at
home all day, he sent me for a parcel of small canes, and flogged me
much more severely than I could suppose the offence merited. I was
displeased with my sisters for attributing all the blame to me, when
they had neglected even to tell me to go to school in the forenoon. From
that time, my father's house was less like home to me, and I often
thought and said, 'I wish I could go and live among the Indians.'

One day we went from Cincinnati to the mouth of the Big Miami, opposite
which we were to settle. Here was some cleared land, and one or two log
cabins, but they had been deserted on account of the Indians. My father
rebuilt the cabins, and inclosed them with a strong picket. It was early
in the spring when we arrived at the mouth of the Big Miami, and we were
soon engaged in prep