Mrs.Ashlock herself was probably eighteen or twenty years old, and a very handsome woman.

I was hurriedly informed that the murder trial was in progress at St.Augustine; that Ashlock had given his testimony, and had availed himself of the chance to take a wife to share with him the solitude of his desolate hut on the beach at Indian River.

He had brought ashore his wife, her sister, and their chests, with the mail, and had orders to return immediately to the steamer (Gaston or Harney) to bring ashore some soldiers belonging to another company, E (Braggs), which had been ordered from St.Augustine to Fort Pierce.

Ashlock left his wife and her sister standing on the beach near the pilot-hut, and started back with his whale-boat across the bar.

I also took the mail and started up to the fort, and had hardly reached the wharf when I observed another boat following me.