What if that bottle contained a letter?
I cannot get this thought out of my mind, and it works me up into a great state of excitement.

Then objections crop up--this one among others: the bottle might be swept against the rocks and smashed ere ever it could get out of the tunnel.

Very true, but what if, instead of a bottle a diminutive, tightly closed keg were used?
It would not run any danger of being smashed and would besides stand a much better chance of reaching the open sea.
_September 20_ .-- This evening, I, unperceived, entered one of the store houses containing the booty pillaged from various ships and procured a keg very suitable for my experiment.
I hid the keg under my coat, and returned to the Beehive and my cell.
Then without losing an instant I set to work.

Paper, pen, ink, nothing was wanting, as will be supposed from the fact that for three months I have been making notes and dotting down my impressions daily.
I indite the following message: "On June 15 last Thomas Roch and his keeper Gaydon, or rather Simon Hart, the French engineer who occupied Pavilion No.

17, at Healthful House, near New-Berne, North Carolina, United States of America, were kidnapped and carried on board the schooner _Ebba_, belonging to the Count d'Artigas.