to keep out of the way of the pirate
Alabama. Monday morning, about nine o'clock, we came in sight of a
gunboat. Soon after passing her, boom! went her cannon, and we came to a
stand-still. She sent her boat with an officer, who came on board and
got newspapers. That gunboat is stationed there to give warning of
pirates, I suppose, and she is required to stop every vessel. The final
excitement was left for Tuesday morning, when we were near Cape San
Antonio, Cuba. While at breakfast, word came that there were two
steamers ahead. It was whispered about that the larger was the Alabama;
so we all went on deck to get a good look. Though they showed the Union
flag, we were rather suspicious of them; and when they both started in
pursuit and fired their cannon, our captain steamed in toward the land;
for if vessels get within three miles of a neutral shore, no hostile
craft can touch them. We came to anchor in plain sight of Cuba's green
hills, and waited anxiously for our pursuers, who had fired a second
cannon. They both lowered a boat. We feared we should see the rebel rag,
but were joyful when our own stars and stripes were unrolled to the
breeze. The vessels proved to be the Wachusett, Com. Wilkes's flag-ship,
and the gunboat Sonoma, Capt. Stevens. So there ended our fright about
pirates. For the next two days we were sailing across the Caribbean Sea,
and on Friday, Jan. 23, about eight o'clock in the evening, went up Navy
Bay to the wharf at Aspinwall. It was too dark to see the groves of
cocoa-nuts on shore; so I had to wait for my view of tropical trees
until morning.

There is the tea-bell; so we shall have to pause here until to-morrow.

II.

Isthmus of Darien.

As soon as the clock struck four, Carrie, Alice, Willie, and Harry
reminded me of my promise, and having all finished their work, were
ready for story Number Two.

"Aunty," said Carrie, "Alice and I have finished our squares of
patchwork, and Willie and Harry have weeded that flower-bed for grandpa;
so you see we have done our part of the bargain, and now we have come
for your part."

I'm all ready for my part, said I.

Before we arrived at Aspinwall, old travelers told us that if we got
there before ten at night, we should have to leave the steamer and go to
the hotels. We were, therefore, selfishly relieved to find that all the
hotels had been burned to the ground about Christmas time. So we stayed
on board the steamer that night, and how