396 WILD SPOKTS IN THE SOUTH. 



could hold out until some one came to her relief, or until 

 the store-ship returned again. There were a bag of 

 crackers and several cans of lamp oil safe from the 

 flames stored in the lantern, but they formed a meagre 

 diet. She trimmed her lamp as was her wont, from time 

 to time stopping to watch the rising sea or scan the dis- 

 tant shore, where the Indians had disappeared. The 

 night was a severe one for coasting vessels. Many a 

 wreck would strew the Keys by the morrow, now that 

 the good light was destroyed. Many a brave ship with 

 its light hearts and cabins full of mirth would " crash 

 together the keel and the mast to be tossed up aloft in 

 the glee of the wave ;" a sense of duty and self-sacrifice 

 came over her mind, strengthening her to action. " The 

 ships, at least, should have the benefit of the light as long 

 as she was there," spoke the girl ; and so, when every- 

 thing was made as secure in the lantern as her means 

 admitted, she touched the wicks with turpentine, and 

 then with a match. In an instant, like the electric con- 

 tagion of a heroic deed, the bright light flashed over the 

 seething main, in a long tram of splendor; and the 

 watching mariner who had been longing, yearning, for 

 that light from his reeling deck, saw it and blessed it 

 aloud, though he wist not the enduring heart that bade 

 it. burn. 



Down among the tangled foliage of one of the islands 

 close bordering the far shore was crouched a band of 

 Indians. Over the fire cooked their supper. Their 

 canoes, inverted, lay along the shore. Their blankets 



