Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. III.djvu/298

Rh Enterprise stood in deep sand, and the rooms seemed so uncomfortable and the people so ill, that we determined to pass the night upon the Lake in our little floating habitation, with which we are now become almost good friends. We put off, therefore, from the wretched, temporary quay at the unfortunate Enterprise, steered nearer to Fort Melun, and cast anchor at a short distance from it. At no great distance from the shore, stood the home of the turtle-doves No. 3, and they were now about to leave the steamer. It was a beautiful sight before they left to see the husband and the wife sitting together on their baggage, quietly but joyfully awaiting the boat which would take them on shore. It was beautiful also to see them in the little boat, with their children and their effects, advancing towards the verdant shore, nodding a friendly farewell to us. If the daughter Molly had only been a little more charming! The last torment and the last memory of her was, when she took hold of my shoulder, just as a man would take hold of a hedge-stake to help himself to climb up a bank, as her father's voice was heard calling her to the boat. No, no, amid the summer of Florida, she ought yet to bloom out like a rose, and be married to the commandant at Fort Melun, or to the owner of Enterprise.

We lost sight of the colonist family when they reached the shore; but a bright light was soon afterwards seen glimmering in a house near the spot where they landed. It was now dusk, and twilight increased rapidly, although the sky was still clear. I sate for a long time on deck enjoying the quiet scene. The dark, low shore, lay like a vast myrtle garland around the mirror-like lake. Fireflies glimmered here and there above it, and fishes large and small, struck out their circles incessantly. The bird of evening, whip-poor-will, whistled his pleasing note from the shore, and the alligators grunted in chorus. The negroes of our little vessel began to play duets upon