Adrift in the Wilds

Adrift in the Wilds, by Edward S.
Ellis

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Adrift in the Wilds, by Edward S.
Ellis This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Adrift in the Wilds or, The Adventures of Two Shipwrecked
Boys
Author: Edward S. Ellis
Release Date: May 27, 2007 [EBook #21626]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADRIFT IN
THE WILDS ***

Produced by David Garcia, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced
from images generously made available by The Kentuckiana Digital
Library)

Adrift in the Wilds;

OR,
The Adventures of Two Shipwrecked Boys.
By EDWARD S. ELLIS

ILLUSTRATED.
NEW YORK: A. L. BURT, PUBLISHER.
Copyrighted 1887, by A. L. Burt.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
'May the good Lord preserve us! them are Injuns,' said Tim.
"The Indian drew forth a tiny canoe and shoved it into the water"
"We are lost."

ADRIFT IN THE WILDS;
OR,
The Adventures of Two Shipwrecked Boys.
CHAPTER I.
HO, FOR CALIFORNIA.
One beautiful misummer night in 18-- a large, heavily laden steamer
was making her way swiftly up the Pacific coast, in the direction of San
Francisco. She was opposite the California shore, only a day's sail
distant from the City of the Golden Gate, and many of the passengers
had already begun making preparations for landing, even though a

whole night and the better part of a day was to intervene ere they could
expect to set their feet upon solid land.
She was one of those magnificent steamers that ply regularly between
Panama and California. She had rather more than her full cargo of
freight and passengers; but, among the hundreds of the latter, we have
to do with but three.
On this moonlight night, there were gathered by themselves these three
personages, consisting of Tim O'Rooney, Elwood Brandon and Howard
Lawrence. The first was a burly, good-natured Irishman, and the two
latter were cousins, their ages differing by less than a month, and both
being in their sixteenth year.
The financial storm that swept over the country in 18--, toppling down
merchants and banking-houses like so many ten-pins, carried with it in
the general wreck and ruin, that of Brandon, Herman & Co., and the
senior partner, Sylvanus Brandon, returned to his home in Brooklyn,
New York, one evening worse than penniless. While he was meditating,
dejected and gloomy, as to the means by which he was to keep the wolf
from the door, his clerk brought him a letter which had been
overlooked in the afternoon's mail, postmarked, "San Francisco, Cal."
At once he recognized the bold, handsome superscription as that of his
kind-hearted brother-in-law, Thomas Lawrence. His heart beat with a
strong hope as he broke the envelope, and his eyes glistened ere he had
read one-half.
In short, it stated that Mr. Lawrence had established himself
successfully in business, and was doing so well that he felt the
imperative need of a partner, and ended by urging Mr. Brandon to
accept the position. The bankrupt merchant laid the epistle in his lap,
removed his spectacles and looked smilingly toward his wife. They
held a long discussion, and both decided to accept the offer at once, as
there was no other recourse left to them.
It was evident from the letter that Mr. Lawrence had some
apprehensions regarding Mr. Brandon's ability to weather the storm,
but he could not be aware of his financial crash, as it had only become

known on the street within the last twenty-four hours. Mr. Brandon
deemed it proper, therefore, before closing with the offer, to acquaint
his brother-in-law with his circumstances, that he might fully
understand the disadvantage under which he would be placed by the
new partnership.
The letter was written and duly posted, and our friends rather anxiously
awaited the answer. It came in the gratifying form of a draft for $1,000
to defray "his necessary expenses," and an urgent entreaty to start
without delay.
The advice was acted upon, and within two weeks of the reception of
the second letter, Mr. Brandon and his wife were on board the steamer
at New York, with their state-rooms engaged for California. They had
but one child, Elwood, whom they had placed at a private school where
he was to prepare himself for college, in company with his cousin,
Howard Lawrence, who had been sent from California by his father and
had entered the school at the same time.
Mr. Brandon learned that Mr. Lawrence was a brother indeed.