The Wanderers - Adventures in the Wilds of Trinidad and Orinoco

William Henry Giles Kingston

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The Wanderers

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• Publié par: dutad
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 23
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wanderers, by W.H.G. Kingston
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Title: The Wanderers
Adventures in the Wilds of Trinidad and Orinoco
Author: W.H.G. Kingston
Illustrator: Perat (31 engravings, all badly signed)
Release Date: May 15, 2007 [EBook #21483]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WANDERERS ***
Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
W.H.G. Kingston
"The Wanderers"
Chapter One.
Our Old Home in Pennsylvania—Reverse of Fortune—Arrival in Trinidad—
Uncle Paul and Arthur follow us—Settled on an Estate—Suspected of
Heresy—Our Mother’s Illness—Don Antonio’s Warning—Our Mother’s Death
—The Priest’s Indignation—We leave Home—Arthur’s Narrow Escape.
We lived very happily at the dear old home in the State of Pennsylvania, where
my sister Marian and I were born. Our father, Mr Dennis Macnamara, who was a
prosperous merchant, had settled there soon after his marriage with our mother,
and we had been brought up with every comfort we could desire. Uncle Paul
Netherclift, our mother’s brother, who was employed in our father’s house of
business, resided with us; as did our cousin Arthur Tuffnel, who had lately come
over from England to find employment in the colony.
Our father was generally in good spirits, and never appeared to think that a
reverse of fortune could happen to him. One day, however, he received a visit
from a person who was closeted with him for some hours. After the stranger hadgone, he appeared suddenly to have become an altered man, his vivacity and
high spirits having completely deserted him—while both Uncle Paul and Arthur
looked unusually grave; and young as I was, I could not help seeing that
something disastrous had happened. My fears were confirmed on overhearing a
conversation between my father and mother when they were not aware that I
was listening.
“We must start without delay. I must not allow this opportunity of retrieving my
fallen fortunes to pass by,” I heard my father observe, as he pointed to a
paragraph in a newspaper which he held in his hand. “The Spanish Government
have passed an edict, permitting all foreigners of the Roman Catholic religion to
establish themselves in the beautiful and fertile island of Trinidad, where they are
to be protected for five years from being pursued for debts incurred in the
places they have quitted. Now, if we can manage to get there in safety, my
creditors will be unable to touch me, and I shall soon have the means of paying
my debts and recovering the position I have lost.”
“But, my dear husband, it would soon be discovered that we are not Roman
Catholics; and we should be placed in an embarrassing, if not in a dangerous
position, were we to do as you propose,” observed my mother in a tone of
expostulation. “You would not, surely, have us conform, even outwardly, to a
religion in which we have no faith?”
“Depend on it, no questions will be asked, as it will be taken for granted that all
persons settling in the island belong to the ordinary form of religion sanctioned
by the Government,” answered my father.
My mother sighed, for she saw that my father was wrong, and that, blinded like
Lot of old by his desire to obtain worldly advantages, he was ready to sacrifice
the religious principles he professed. I am compelled, though with much pain, to
write this.
It was settled that we should start at once for Baltimore, to embark on board a
vessel bound from that place to Trinidad. Uncle Paul and Arthur were to remain
behind to arrange my father’s affairs, and to follow us as soon as possible.
The only other person to whom my father made known his intentions, was
Timothy Nolan, who had come out with him from Old Ireland, when quite a boy,
as his servant.
“I must leave you behind, Tim; but you will easily find a far better situation than
mine, though I shall be sorry to lose you,” said my father, after telling him of his
intentions.
“Shure your honour won’t be after thinking that I would consent to lave you, and
the dear young lady and Master Guy, with no one at all at all to take care of
them,” answered Tim. “It’s myself would be miserable entirely, if I did that same.
It isn’t the wages I’d be after asking, for to make your honour doubt about the
matter. The pleasure of serving you in the days of trouble will be pay enough;
only just say I may go, master dear, and shure I’ll be grateful to ye from the
bottom of my heart.”
My father could not resist Tim’s earnest entreaties, and so it was agreed that he
should form one of the party.
It was a sad day for us all when we set out on that rapid journey southward in the
waggon, without wishing goodbye to any one. Baltimore, however, was safely
reached, and without delay we got on board the good ship the Loyal Briton,which immediately set sail.
My father seemed to breathe more freely when we were clear of the harbour.
Our chief consolation was, that Uncle Paul and Arthur would soon rejoin us, as
they expected to be ready for the next ship—to sail in about a month—and they
would not have the difficulty in getting off which my father had experienced. It is
a satisfaction to me to believe that, had they not been able to remain behind to
make arrangements with his creditors, my father would not have left the country
in the secret way he did; but the laws in those days were very severe, and had he
not escaped, he might have been shut up in prison without the means being
allowed him of paying his debts, while we all should have been well-nigh reduced
to penury. Had such, however, been the case, I am very sure that Uncle Paul and
Arthur would have done their utmost to support my mother and Marian, while I
might soon have been able to obtain employment. This is a subject, however, I
would rather not dwell upon. Whether my father acted wrongly or rightly, it is not
for me to decide; but I hold to the opinion that a man under such circumstances
should remain, and boldly face all difficulties.
We had a prosperous voyage, and my father and mother appeared to recover
their spirits. Marian and I enjoyed it excessively, as it was the first time we had
been on the sea. We took delight in watching the strange fish which came
swimming round the ship, or which gambolled on the waves, or the birds which
circled overhead; or in gazing by night at the countless stars in the clear
heavens, or at the phosphorescence which at times covered the ocean, making it
appear as if it had been changed into a sea of fire.
At length we sighted the northern shore of the island which for a time was to be
our home. As we drew near we gazed at it with deep interest, but were sadly
disappointed on seeing only a lofty ridge of barren rocks rising out of the water,
and extending from east to west.
“Shure it would be a hard matter to grow sugar or coffee on that sort of
ground!” exclaimed Tim, pointing towards the unattractive-looking coast.
“Stay till we pass through the ‘Dragons’ Mouths’ and enter the Gulf of Paria,”
observed the captain. “You will have reason to alter your opinion then, my lad.”
We stood on with a fair and fresh breeze through the “Boca Grande,” one of the
entrances into the gulf, when a scene more beautiful than I had ever before
beheld burst on our view. On our right hand appeared the mountains of Cumana,
on the mainland of South America, their summits towering to the clouds; on our
left rose up the lofty precipices of Trinidad, covered to their topmost height with
numerous trees, their green foliage contrasting with the intense blue of the sky.
The shore, as far as the eye could reach, was fringed with mangrove-trees, their
branches dipping into the sea. Astern were the four entrances to the bay, called
by Columbus the ‘Dragons’ Mouths,’ with verdant craggy isles between them;
while on our larboard bow, the western shore of the island extended as far as the
eye could reach, with ranges of green hills intersected by valleys with glittering
streams like chains of silver running down their sides, towards the azure waters
of the gulf.
We brought up in Chagaramus Bay, the then chief port of Trinidad, and the next
morning we went on shore at Port Royal; for Port of Spain, the present capital,
was at that time but a small fishing-village. Several other vessels having arrived
about the same time, there was much bustle in the place; and although
numerous monks were moving about, no questions were asked at my father as
to the religion he professed. It was, as he had supposed would be the case, takenfor granted that we were, like the rest of the people, Roman Catholics.
He lost no time in selecting an estate at the northern end of the island, near the
foot of the mountains, well wat