Chapter I: Preface

NOTWITHSTANDING kindness is at times rewarded with ingratitude, and even positive injury, it is by no means so frequent an occurrence as persons naturally censorious, or whose minds have been soured by an unblest experience, would have us suppose.

Benefits conferred usually excite gratitude, and sometimes, when the donors have passed away are repaid, with interest, to their posterity.

The story of Arthur Brown presents a striking illustration of this principle. Lashed to a raft, perishing with cold and hunger in the edge of the surf, he is rescued by Captain Rhines, who, when a boy, poor and unable either to read or write, had been instructed and started in business by Arthur’s father, who was afterwards lost at sea. The old captain, discovering, in the person he had perilled his life to save, the only son of his benefactor, receives him with open arms, with a nobility of soul that strengthens our faith in human nature, freely bestowing both time and property to aid the son and family of his benefactor, and repay the old debt. His efforts in this direction, together with those of the young man to help himself, at a most stirring period of our country’s history, the adventures growing out of those efforts, and the consequent development of character, will, we trust, prove interesting, and not without instruction.

Some references have necessarily been made to characters of the “Elm Island Series,” the reasons for which are given in the introductory chapter, and the references so explained as to render the connection plain to the reader.

CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY. 9

CHAPTER II.
THE WRECK AND THE RESCUE. 16

CHAPTER III.
A GLAD SURPRISE. 30

CHAPTER IV.
CAPTAIN RHINES MANIFESTS HIS GRATITUDE. 44

CHAPTER V.
“WE WERE PUT INTO THIS WORLD TO HELP ONE ANOTHER.” 60

CHAPTER VI.
THE YOUNG CAPTAIN UNDER FIRE. 74

CHAPTER VII.
LITTLE NED AND HIS MOTHER. 94

CHAPTER VIII.
MOONLIGHT CONVERSATION BY THE BROOK. 106

CHAPTER IX.
THE GRIFFINS. 122

CHAPTER X.
WHERE THE HARD STREAK CAME FROM. 137

CHAPTER XI.
RECONNOITRING. 155

CHAPTER XII.
DID I BEAR IT LIKE A MAN, WALTER? 169

CHAPTER XIII.
THE BASKET-MAKER. 181

CHAPTER XIV.
A STRANGE DISCOVERY. 191

CHAPTER XV.
HOMEWARD BOUND. 204

CHAPTER XVI.
DEAR-BOUGHT WIT. 223

CHAPTER XVII.
DEATH AND BURIAL OF TIGE RHINES. 240

CHAPTER XVIII.
THE MEETING. 253

CHAPTER XIX.
NED AMONG THE GRIFFINS. 272

CHAPTER XX.
A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE. 283

ARTHUR BROWN,

THE YOUNG CAPTAIN.