On the 2nd of February, 1873, the Pilgrim, a tight little craft of 400 tons burden, lay in lat. 43° 57′, S. and long. 165° 19′, W. She was a schooner, the property of James W. Weldon, a wealthy Califo...

On the 2nd of February, 1873, the Pilgrim, a tight little craft of 400 tons burden, lay in lat. 43° 57′, S. and long. 165° 19′, W. She was a schooner, the property of James W. Weldon, a wealthy Califo...

There was no poop upon the Pilgrim’s deck, so that Mrs. Weldon had no alternative than to acquiesce in the captain’s proposal that she should occupy his own modest cabin. Accordingly, here she was ins...

At the sound of Dick’s voice all the crew, in a moment, were upon the alert. The men who were not on watch rushed to the deck, and Captain Hull hurried from his cabin to the bows. Mrs. Weldon, Nan, an...

In spite of the watchfulness of the French and English cruisers, there is no doubt that the slave-trade is still extensively carried on in all parts of equatorial Africa, and that year after year vess...

Meantime the Pilgrim pursued her course, keeping as much as possible to the east, and before evening closed in the hull of the Waldeck was out of sight. Captain Hull still continued to feel uneasy abo...

It was only what might be expected that the dog’s singular exhibition of sagacity should repeatedly form a subject of conversation between Mrs. Weldon, the captain, and Dick. The young apprentice in p...

Great was the excitement that now prevailed, and the question of an attempt to capture the sea-monster became the ruling theme of conversation. Mrs. Weldon expressed considerable doubt as to the prude...

Experienced whaleman as he was, Captain Hull knew the difficulty of the task he had undertaken; he was alive to the importance of making his approach to the whale from the leeward, so that there shoul...

The first feeling experienced by those on board the Pilgrim, after witnessing the terrible disaster, was one of grief and horror at the fearful death that had befallen the victims. Captain Hull and hi...

Dick Sands, captain of the Pilgrim, would not lose a moment in getting his ship under sail. His prime object was to land his passengers safely at Valparaiso or some other American port, and to accompl...

During the ensuing week nothing particular occurred on board. The breeze still freshened, and the Pilgrim made on the average 160 miles every twenty-four hours. The speed was as great as could be expe...

The wind had now increased to a hurricane; it had veered to the southwest, and had attained a velocity little short of ninety miles an hour. On land, the most substantial of erections could with diffi...

It was not long before Dick’s sanguine expectations were partially realized, for on the very next day, which was the 27th, the barometer began to rise, not rapidly, but steadily, indicating that its e...

Thus, after a voyage of seventy-four days, the Pilgrim had stranded. Mrs. Weldon and her fellow-voyagers joined in thanksgiving to the kind Providence that had brought them ashore, not upon one of the...

At daybreak, next morning, Austin, who happened to be on guard, heard Dingo bark, and noticed that he started up and ran towards the river. Arousing the inmates of the grotto, he announced to them tha...

Although there was no obvious cause for apprehension, it cannot be denied that it was with a certain degree of foreboding that Dick Sands first entered that dense forest, through which for the next te...

Most travellers who have passed a night in a South American forest have been roused from their slumbers by a matinée musicale more fantastic than melodious, performed by monkeys, as their ordinary gre...

The morning of the 18th dawned, the day on which, according to Harris’s prediction, the travellers were to be safely housed at San Felice. Mrs. Weldon was really much relieved at the prospect, for she...

The “slave-trade” is an expression that ought never to have found its way into any human language. After being long practised at a large profit by such European nations as had possessions beyond the s...

The “slave-trade” is an expression that ought never to have found its way into any human language. After being long practised at a large profit by such European nations as had possessions beyond the s...

On the day following that on which Dick Sands and his party had made their last halt in the forest, two men met by appointment at a spot about three miles distant. The two men were Harris and Negoro, ...

“Africa! Africa!” was the terrible word that echoed and reechoed in the mind of Dick Sands. As he pondered over the events of the preceding weeks he could now understand why, notwithstanding the rapid...

Just at this moment Jack woke up and put his arms round his mother’s neck. His eyes were brighter, and there was manifestly no return of fever. “You are better, darling!” said Mrs. Weldon, pressing hi...

The storm had now burst in full fury, and fortunate it was that a refuge had been found. The rain did not fall in separate drops as in temperate zones, but descended like the waters of a cataract, in ...

This sudden revelation that Mrs. Weldon was acquainted with the true state of things left Dick speechless. Even had he been capable of replying, she gave him no opportunity, but immediately retired to...

The storm of the previous night, by swelling the tributaries of the Cuanza, had caused the main river to overflow its banks. The inundation had entirely changed the aspect of the country, transforming...

The storm of the preceding evening had now passed away, but the sky was still cloudy and the weather far from settled. It was the 19th of April, the time of the masika, or second period of the rainy s...

By the 26th of May, when the caravan reached Kazonndé, the number of the slaves had diminished by more than half, so numerous had been the casualties along the road. But the dealers were quite prepare...

So sudden was Dick’s action that it had been impossible to parry his blow. Several of the natives rushed on him, and in all likelihood would have struck him down upon the spot had not Negoro arrived a...

The afternoon was passing away, and it was now past four o’clock, when the sound of drums, cymbals, and a variety of native instruments was heard at the end of the main thoroughfare. The market was st...

On the following morning the town of Kazonndé presented an aspect of unwonted desolation. Awestruck at the event of the previous evening, the natives had all shut themselves up in their huts. That a m...

So far from Mrs. Weldon and Jack having succumbed to the hardships to which they had been exposed, they were both alive, and together with Cousin Benedict were now in Kazonndé. After the assault upon ...

Mrs. Weldon’s first feeling on being left alone was a sense of relief at having a week’s respite. She had no trust in Negoro’s honesty, but she knew well enough that their “marketable value” would sec...

To say the truth, it was the very vaguest of hopes to which Mrs. Weldon had been clinging, yet it was not without some thrill of disappointment that she heard from the lips of old Alvez himself that D...

On finding that Cousin Benedict did not return to his quarters at the proper hour, Mrs. Weldon began to feel uneasy. She could not imagine what had become of him; his tin box with its contents were sa...

“Off we go!” It was the voice of Hercules addressing Dick Sands, who, frightfully debilitated by recent sufferings, was leaning against Cousin Benedict for support. Dingo was lying at his feet. Mrs. W...

Thus the canoe drifted on for a week, the forests that for many miles had skirted the river ultimately giving place to extensive jungles that stretched far away to the horizon. Destitute, fortunately ...

The canoe inclined to the west readily enough; the fall in the riverbed was so sudden that the current remained quite unaffected by the cataract at a distance of three hundred yards. On the bank were ...

Two days after Dick’s marvellous deliverance the party had the good fortune to fall in with a caravan of honest Portuguese ivory-traders on their way to Emboma, at the mouth of the Congo. They rendere...

These ten orders are (1) the Orthoptera, e.g. grasshoppers and crickets; (2) the Neuroptera, e.g. dragonflies; (3) the Hymenoptera, e.g. bees, wasps, and ants; (4) the Lepidoptera, e.g. butterflies an...