The Big Nightcap Letters

"'What's that you say?' shouted the sailor, with a mocking air. 'You forget, my fine friend, that I gave you a dinner; pay me for it.'

"Harry shook his pockets, they were empty. 'If you can't pay, you must stay,' cried the sailor, and just then the ship left the harbor.

"The heedless boy burst into tears. Alas! sorrow and repentance came too late! It was only now that he remembered his father and mother, probably made ill with grief at his disappearance; and the worry the good market man must be in, thinking the boy to whom he had been so kind was lost, perhaps murdered, in the great and wicked city.

"In the midst of these doleful lamentations, the sailor came up and pulled Harry by the ear.

"'Come, you sniffling booby! go to work,' he said.

"Harry looked at him in astonishment.

"'My eyes! do you think you can eat and drink for nothing? Come, take this broom; do you hear?'

"Our dismal friend took the broom, and would liked to have broken it over the head of the brutal sailor, but he was not strong enough.

"'Will you go to sweeping or not?' cried the sailor, swearing in the most terrible manner.

"'I don't want to sweep,' said Harry.

"'Don't want to?'

"'No!' Harry, perfectly red with anger, threw down the broom, and crossed his arms.

"'Oh! that's the way you behave, is it?' said the sailor. 'Come to me, Susan.'

"With that he caught up a knotted rope's end, and gave Harry half a dozen blows over his shoulders. You see blows from Susan were given rather more frequently on board ship than sugar plums. 'Now, my dear friend,' said the sailor, 'this is only the beginning of your fun. Now, you know what will happen if you are idle. Susan is my wife, and my name is Jack Bowsprit; so take care of Susan and Jack, and pick up the broom and sweep the deck, if you don't want some more of our delicate attentions.'

"Poor Harry began, to sweep with a trembling lip, his heart swelling with rage and misery: then he had to wash the decks, and after that to scrape the carrots and peel the potatoes, and then he was rewarded by having a piece of salt pork given him for his supper, and eating it with the sailors.

"Harry was in despair. When supper was over he came up and sat on the deck to think. Tears came thick and fast as his misconduct and its miserable consequences rose up in his mind. He knelt down for the first time since he had left home, and prayed his Heavenly Father to forgive him, and promised that if he only was permitted to see his dear parents again, he would indeed be an obedient, thoughtful boy: he would try to be so from that moment.

"Meanwhile, a fair, keen breeze rose, and continued for many days, and the ship sailed swiftly on to her destination. In a month more they beheld Senegal. Entering the river, they soon came to Saint Louis, where they landed.

"You can imagine how rejoiced Harry was to set foot once more upon the firm earth – not with the permission of the captain, though: for fearing they might keep him on the ship all the time, in the dusk of the evening he slid down a rope that was hanging over the side, and, scrambling on shore without being seen, made the best possible use of his heels.

"Liberty is a very fine thing; but some other things are wanted besides to make it perfect – dinner, for instance, and a house containing a comfortable bed to sleep in.

"Harry was not much afraid at first at finding himself in a savage country, alone and unprotected. To the heedless, whatever is new is charming.

"It was now bright moonlight, serene and still. Harry, exhausted and tired with his flight, lay down on the luxuriant grass.

"At home, lying down in such a bed would have given him so severe a cold in his head, that he would have nearly sneezed and snuffled it off. Not so in Senegal. Still there were other inconveniences, for Harry had not rested for five minutes, when he heard a stealthy footstep; his heart began to beat. He had learned in his Geography that Senegal was full of wild beasts, as well as the sugar plums the treacherous sailor talked about. He began to wish he had staid in the ship; but if he returned, there was Jack Bowsprit, and there was Susan as sure as a gun. It is no doubt very disagreeable to be devoured by wild beasts; but then again it is very painful to be beaten by a Susan. Harry was sure of the beating if he returned, and he was not quite sure of being eaten up if he remained; so he concluded to stay.

"While he was cogitating all these things, he heard again the same stealthy tread; and, in a moment, he saw in the bright moonlight a jackal, about the size of a big dog.

"Our heedless Harry was without weapons of defence, but he was by no means without courage. Up he sprang, seized a large stone, and flung it at the jackal; at almost the same instant the wild beast leaped at him and bit his leg.

"Both gave a howl of pain at the same moment. Happily, Harry was not much hurt; while the jackal, with another cry, lay dead at his feet.

"Harry gazed at his fallen enemy, his heart beating with excitement; he could not help thinking that if any thing a quarter as bad had happened to him at home, his kind mother could not have found caresses and court-plaster enough to console him; and here he was, alone, and wounded. He went to a stream near by, and washed and tied up his leg as well as he could; and then he began to think how he could pass the night without danger. To rest on the bosom of the earth was not safe; another jackal might come after the first to help him pick the bones. To be sure he might regain the ship – but Susan!! At last he concluded he would leave the earth, and climb a tree. After much toil, and terrible scratching and scrambling, he managed to get into an immense tree, and settling himself in a fork like an arm-chair, he fell into a troubled sleep.

"The first rays of the sun awoke our hero. Just as he was about to descend from the tree, he heard a slight noise above. He looked up, and there he saw (oh! oh! what I hope you may never see except in a Menagerie or Barnum's Museum) an enormous boa constrictor, at least fifty feet long, suspended from the top boughs of the tree, twisting about. With a fierce and horrible hiss, which froze the blood in Harry's veins, he twisted, and turned, and looked at the terrified boy.

"Harry screamed aloud. He had read of this dreadful monster, how he thought nothing of swallowing a bull whole for his breakfast; and, of course, our young friend would be only a side dish – a mere trifle. The boa advanced towards him with another dreadful hiss, which seemed to say – 'Here's a nice little mouthful! wait for me.'

"But Harry was determined to make one desperate attempt to postpone the feast. He slid down the trunk of the tree like lightning, and when he stood on the ground he did not stop to ascertain which way the wind blew, but ran like a rail car, under full steam, panting and screaming very much as they do.

"All at once he stopped short, for a terrible roaring, like an immense peal of thunder, shook the earth. What was it? Oh, mercy! it was a great lion who was just waking up.

"What was the luckless, heedless boy to do? Between the lion and the boa constrictor, Harry was certainly lost. Whichever was to eat him, it was certain he would make a breakfast for one of them; for on turning his head, he saw, to his increased horror, that the monstrous snake had followed him; and at the same moment an enormous lion appeared running, making bounds as high as the arch of a bridge.

"Harry threw himself on his knees. For one moment he was a prey to the most agonizing despair. Then he clasped his hands together, and implored for pardon for all his faults; and then rising, with a white and terror-stricken face, he endeavored to await with fortitude the coming of his cruel fate.

"But now a very remarkable thing happened. Harry, nearly petrified with amazement, saw the lion and boa advance with savage fierceness upon each other!

"Oh! then he thanked God in his heart! He carefully crept to one side, and watched, with an eagle-like glance, what would happen next.

"With a wild roar and savage bound, the lion sprang upon the serpent, and tried to tear him in pieces, while the boa, hissing like a thousand geese, twisted himself, fold after fold, round the body of his enemy, crushing him, squeezing him, and rolling over till his bones cracked. The angry roar changed into a cry of despair and frenzy. Soon that cry became weaker and weaker, fainter and fainter, then ceased altogether – the lion was dead.

"The monstrous serpent, without waiting to lay the table, or call for mustard, licked his prey all over, and then swallowed him whole.

"You will ask, perhaps, why Harry did not run away. He had two excellent reasons. The first was, he did not know where in this part of the world to run; he might find a tiger at the very next turn; and the second, that he was too frightened to move.

"So Harry stood by and witnessed this ruthless, shocking spectacle, to the end, his heart beating as if it would leap out of his breast; and when the boa had finished his frightful meal, the poor little fellow observed that the monster was so gorged, he could scarcely move, and that in a few moments more he was fast asleep.

"'There is one good thing,' he said to himself, 'the awful thing don't care to breakfast twice, so I am safe for the present.'

"As the boa seemed perfectly helpless, he conceived a splendid but bold idea, for he was by no means a timid child.

"He approached and stamped upon the tail of the reptile, who remained immovable; then he made a cord of a vine that was growing near, with a running knot at the end, and slipping this round the boa's neck, and drawing it with all his might, he strangled the serpent.

"Hardly had he concluded this brilliant achievement, when he heard the galloping of horses. Terrified and trembling, he waited half in hope and half in fear for what was to come, when in a few moments, to his great joy, he beheld some officers of the marine service, whom he was sure were Americans, approaching him.

"What was their astonishment at seeing a little boy standing, pale, and with eyes wild and distended with excitement, over the dead body of an enormous snake.

"'Good gracious!' exclaimed the one who appeared to be the captain, 'what on earth are you doing with that amiable creature?'

"Harry, with his eyes full of tears, simply told his history.

"The officers were very much affected. They belonged to an American ship of war that was just about returning home.

"'Would you like to go back with us?' said the captain, kindly.

"'Oh, Captain!' cried Harry, 'gladly will I go with you, but – '

"'But what?' asked the captain.

"'I want you to promise me that I shan't be beaten by Susan.'