portis'--Open the gates for laziness. Ah, I should have done well at old
Winton, they tell me, if I had not happened to run away to sea."



CHAPTER IX

THE MAROON


If yet there remained upon our southern coast a home for the rarer
virtues, such as gratitude, content, liberality (not of other people's
goods alone), faith in a gracious Providence, and strict abstinence from
rash labor, that home and stronghold was Springhaven. To most men good
success brings neither comfort, nor tranquillity, nor so much as a stool
to sit upon, but comes as a tread-mill which must be trodden without any
getting to the top of it. Not so did these wise men take their luck. If
ever they came from the fickle wave-bosom to the firm breast of land on
a Saturday, with a fine catch of fish, and sold it well--and such was
their sagacity that sooner would they keep it for cannibal temptation
than sell it badly--did they rush into the waves again, before they had
dried their breeches? Not they; nor did their wives, who were nearly
all good women, stir them up to be off again. Especially at this time of
year, with the days pulling out, and the season quickening, and the fish
coming back to wag their tails upon the shallows, a pleasant race of men
should take their pleasure, and leave flints to be skinned by the sons
of flint.

This was the reason why Miss Dolly Darling had watched in vain at
the Monday morning tide for the bold issue of the fishing fleet. The