Martin Rattler | Page 2

of Adventure among the Slaves of East
Africa," 1873; "Life in the Red Brigade, a Story for Boys," 1873; "The
Ocean and its Wonders," 1874; "The Pirate City, an Algerine Tale,"
1875; "Under the Waves, or Diving in Deep Waters," 1876; "Rivers of

Ice, a Tale illustrative of Alpine Adventure and Glacier Action," 1876;
"The Settler and the Savage, a Tale of Peace and War in South Africa,"
1877; "Jarwin and Cuffy" (Incident and Adventure Library), 1878; "In
the Track of the Troops, a Tale of Modern War," 1878; "Six Months at
the Cape, or Letters to Periwinkle from South Africa," 1879 (1878);
"Post Haste, a Tale of Her Majesty's Mails," 1880 (1879); "The Red
Man's Revenge, a Tale of the Red River Flood," 1880; "Philosopher
Jack, a Tale of the Southern Seas," 1880; "The Lonely Island, or the
Refuge of the Mutineers," 1880; "The Robber Kitten" (in volume of
tales by two or three authors), 1880; "The Collected Works of Ensign
Sopht, late of the Volunteers, illustrated by himself," 1881; "My
Doggie and I," etc., 1881; "The Giant of the North, or Pokings round
the Pole," 1882 (1881); "The Kitten Pilgrims, or Great Battles and
Grand Victories," 1882; "The Madman and the Pirate," 1883; "The
Battery and the Boiler, or Adventures in the Laying of Submarine
Cables," etc., 1883; "Battles with the Sea, or Heroes of the Lifeboat and
Rocket," 1883; "Dusty Diamonds Cut and Polished, a Tale of City-arab
Life and Adventure," 1884 (1862); "Twice Bought, a Tale of the
Oregon Gold-fields," 1885 (1863); "The Island Queen, a Tale of the
Southern Hemisphere," etc., 1885; "The Rover of the Andes, a Tale of
Adventure in South America," 1885; "Red Rooney, or the Last of the
Crew," 1886; "The Big Otter, a Tale of the Great Nor'-West," 1887
(1864); "The Middy of the Moors, an Algerine Story," 1888; "Blue
Lights, or Hot Work in the Soudan, a Tale of Soldier Life," 1888; "The
Crew of the Water Wagtail, a Story of Newfoundland," 1889; "A
Gallant Rescue" (stories jolly, stories new, etc.), 1889; "The Fight on
the Green" (Miles' Fifty-two Stories for Boys), 1889; "Charlie to the
Rescue, a Tale of the Sea and the Rockies," with illustrations by the
author, 1890; "The Garret and the Garden..., or the Young
Coast-guardsman," 1890; "The Coxswain's Bride, or the Rising Tide,
and other Tales," with illustrations by the author, 1891; "The Hot
Swamp, a Romance of Old Albion," 1892; "Hunted and Harried, a Tale
of the Scottish Covenanters," 1892; "The Walrus Hunters, a Romance
of the Realms of Ice," 1893.
Ballantyne's Miscellany was started in 1863.

MY DEAR YOUNG READERS,
In presenting this book to you I have only to repeat what I have said in
the prefaces of my former works,--namely, that all the important points
and anecdotes are true; only the minor and unimportant ones being
mingled with fiction. With this single remark I commit my work to
your hands, and wish you a pleasant ramble, in spirit, through the
romantic forests of Brazil.
Yours affectionately,
R.M. BALLANTYNE.
[October, 1858.]

MARTIN RATTLER
CHAPTER I
THE HERO AND HIS ONLY RELATIVE
Martin Rattler was a very bad boy. At least his aunt, Mrs. Dorothy
Grumbit, said so; and certainly she ought to have known, if anybody
should, for Martin lived with her, and was, as she herself expressed it,
"the bane of her existence,--the very torment of her life." No doubt of it
whatever, according to Aunt Dorothy Grumbit's showing, Martin
Rattler was "a remarkably bad boy."
It is a curious fact, however, that, although most of the people in the
village of Ashford seemed to agree with Mrs. Grumbit in her opinion of
Martin, there were very few of them who did not smile cheerfully on
the child when they met him, and say, "Good day, lad!" as heartily as if
they thought him the best boy in the place. No one seemed to bear
Martin Rattler ill-will, notwithstanding his alleged badness. Men
laughed when they said he was a bad boy, as if they did not quite

believe their own assertion. The vicar, an old whiteheaded man, with a
kind, hearty countenance, said that the child was full of mischief, full
of mischief; but he would improve as he grew older, he was quite
certain of that. And the vicar was a good judge, for he had five boys of
his own, besides three other boys, the sons of a distant relative, who
boarded with him; and he had lived forty years in a parish overflowing
with boys, and he was particularly fond of boys in general. Not so the
doctor, a pursy little man with a terrific frown, who hated boys,
especially little ones, with a very powerful hatred. The doctor said that
Martin was a scamp.
And yet Martin