From this
last vessel we learned all the latest news of the French war, and how
things were going on in the country. The fourth day after we were put
on board this craft, Rupert and I landed near Peck's Slip, New York,
with nothing on earth in our possession, but just in what we
stood. This, however, gave us but little concern--I had abundance at
home, and Rupert was certain of being free from want, both through me
and through his father.
I had never parted with the gold given me by Lucy, however. When we
got into the boat to land at the cape, I had put on the belt in which
I kept this little treasure, and it was still round my body. I had
kept it as a sort of memorial of the dear girl who had given it to me;
but I now saw the means of making it useful, without disposing of it
altogether. I knew that the wisest course, in all difficulties, was
to go at once to head-quarters. I asked the address of the firm that
owned, or rather _had_ owned the John, and proceeded to the
counting-house forthwith. I told my story, but found that Kite had
been before me. It seems that the Tigris got a fair wind, three days
after the blow, that carried her up to the very wharves of
Philadelphia, when most of the John's people had come on to New York
without delay. By communications with the shore at the cape, the pilot
had learned that his boat had never returned, and our loss was
supposed to have inevitably occurred.
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