He then
inserted the iron keys which kept them in their place, and hoisted the
sails. By this time the boat had drifted to the lower extremity of the
island; so, bracing her sharp up, he stood away across the river.
Tacking before he reached the swift channel, which flowed close in
shore, he laid the boat's course up the stream. The wind was blowing
fresh, and, notwithstanding the contending force of the current, the
boat careened to her task, and made very good progress through the
water. While the gallant little bark pursues her way, we will introduce
her skipper to the reader.
Dr. Vaudelier was about fifty years of age. He was descended from one of
the old French families of Louisiana; and had been, for nearly thirty
years, a practising physician in the city of New Orleans, during which
time he had accumulated a very handsome fortune. At the age of
twenty-five he had been married to a lady, whose only recommendations
were her personal beauty and her fashionable accomplishments. Her vanity
had disgusted him, and her uncontrollable temper had embittered to its
very dregs the cup of his existence.
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