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diff --git a/old/68182-0.txt b/old/68182-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 4983f12..0000000 --- a/old/68182-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9497 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The quest of the Silver Swan, by W. -Bert Foster - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The quest of the Silver Swan - A land and sea tale for boys - -Author: W. Bert Foster - -Release Date: May 26, 2022 [eBook #68182] - -Language: English - -Produced by: D A Alexander, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by the - Library of Congress) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUEST OF THE SILVER -SWAN *** - - -[Illustration: “WELL, SHIPMATE, OUT GUNNING?”] - - - - - THE QUEST OF THE - SILVER SWAN - - A Land and Sea Tale for Boys - - BY - W. BERT FOSTER - - Author of “In Alaskan Waters,” “With Washington at - Valley Forge,” “The Lost Galleon,” “The Treasure - of Southlake Farm,” etc. - - _ILLUSTRATED_ - - NEW YORK - CHATTERTON-PECK COMPANY - PUBLISHERS - - - - -GOOD BOOKS FOR BOYS - - - The Young Builders of Swiftdale. By Allen Chapman. Cloth. Price, 60 - cents. - - Andy the Acrobat. By Peter T. Harkness. Cloth. Illustrated. Price, 60 - cents. - - Canoe Boys and Camp Fires. By William Murray Graydon. Cloth. Price, - $1.00. - - From Office Boy to Reporter. By Howard R. Garis. Cloth. Illustrated. - Price, $1.00. - - With Axe and Flintlock. By George Waldo Browne. Cloth. Illustrated. - Price, $1.00. - - The Crimson Banner. By William D. Moffat. Cloth. Price, $1.00. - - The Quest of the Silver Swan. By W. Bert Foster. Cloth. Price, 75 - cents. - - - Copyright, by Frank A. Munsey Co., 1894 and 1895, as a serial. - - Copyright, 1907, by Chatterton-Peck Company. - - THE QUEST OF THE SILVER SWAN. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. THE RAFT AT SEA 9 - - II. INTRODUCING BRANDON TARR AND UNCLE ARAD 21 - - III. AN ACCOUNT OF THE WRECK OF THE SILVER SWAN 34 - - IV. BRANDON COMES TO A DECISION 40 - - V. UNCLE ARAD HAS RECOURSE TO LEGAL FORCE 45 - - VI. RELATING A MEETING BETWEEN UNCLE ARAD AND THE SAILOR 51 - - VII. INTRODUCING “SQUARE” HOLT AND HIS OPINIONS 59 - - VIII. SOMETHING ABOUT LEAVING THE FARM 66 - - IX. ANOTHER LETTER FROM NEW YORK 72 - - X. BRANDON’S ARRIVAL AT THE METROPOLIS 79 - - XI. THE FIRM OF ADONIRAM PEPPER & CO. 85 - - XII. IN WHICH BRANDON VENTURES INTO RATHER DISREPUTABLE - SOCIETY 90 - - XIII. THE OLD SAILOR WITH THE WOODEN LEG 98 - - XIV. THE OLD SAILOR’S EXCITEMENT 103 - - XV. CALEB RECEIVES A STARTLING COMMUNICATION 110 - - XVI. TELLING HOW BRANDON BEARDED THE LION IN HIS LAIR 116 - - XVII. HOW THE OMNIPRESENT WEEKS PROVES HIS RIGHT TO THE - TERM 123 - - XVIII. BRANDON LISTENS TO A SHORT FAMILY HISTORY 130 - - XIX. TELLING A GREAT DEAL ABOUT DERELICTS IN GENERAL 137 - - XX. THE CONTENTS OF SEVERAL INTERESTING DOCUMENTS 144 - - XXI. IN WHICH MR. PEPPER MAKES A PROPOSITION TO CALEB - AND DON 151 - - XXII. INTO BAD COMPANY 156 - - XXIII. MR. ALFRED WEEKS AT A CERTAIN CONFERENCE 163 - - XXIV. HOW A NEFARIOUS COMPACT WAS FORMED 171 - - XXV. UNCLE ARAD MAKES AN ANNOUNCEMENT 176 - - XXVI. CALEB WETHERBEE OBSTRUCTS THE COURSE OF THE LAW 183 - - XXVII. WHEREIN BRANDON TARR CONCEALS HIMSELF 188 - - XXVIII. THE DEPARTURE OF THE WHALEBACK, NUMBER THREE 197 - - XXIX. THE STOWAWAY ABOARD THE SUCCESS 208 - - XXX. SHOWING WHAT MISS MILLY DOES FOR BRANDON 217 - - XXXI. WHEREIN NUMBER THREE APPROACHES THE SUPPOSED - VICINITY OF THE SILVER SWAN 224 - - XXXII. RELATING HOW THE SILVER SWAN WAS HEARD FROM 229 - - XXXIII. IN WHICH COMRADES IN COURAGE LAUNCH THEMSELVES - UPON THE DEEP 234 - - XXXIV. THE INCIDENTS OF A NIGHT OF PERIL 240 - - XXXV. SHOWING HOW CALEB APPEARED ON THE SCENE JUST - TOO LATE 250 - - XXXVI. THE CASTAWAYS ON THE BRIG SUCCESS 257 - - XXXVII. LEFT IN DOUBT 264 - - XXXVIII. HOW THE ENEMY APPEARED 270 - - XXXIX. SHOWING HOW MR. WEEKS MADE HIS LAST MOVE 278 - - XL. IN WHICH THE ENEMY IS DEFEATED AND THE QUEST OF - THE SILVER SWAN IS ENDED 286 - - - - -THE QUEST OF THE SILVER SWAN - - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE RAFT AT SEA - - -THE sun, whose upper edge had just appeared above the horizon, cast its -first red beams aslant a deserted wilderness of heaving billows. - -Here and there a flying fish, spurning its usual element, cut the air -like a swift ray of light, falling back into the sea again after its -short flight with a splash that sent myriad drops flashing in the -sunlight. - -There were not a few triangular objects, dark in color, and looking -like tiny sails, darting along the surface of the sea, first in this -direction and then in that. There was a peculiar sinister motion -to these fleshy sails, an appearance to make the beholder shudder -involuntarily; for these objects were the dorsal fins of sharks, and -there is nothing more bloodthirsty and cruel than these “tigers of the -sea.” - -It was quite noticeable that these monsters had gathered about an -object which, in comparison with the vast expanse of sea and sky, was -but a speck. It labored heavily upon the surface of the sea, and -seemed to possess a great attraction for the sharks. - -It was really a heavily built raft, more than twenty feet in length, -and with a short, stumpy mast lashed upright amidships. Near each end -was a long sea chest, both placed across the raft, and there were also -a broken water butt and several empty cracker boxes lashed firmly (as -were the chests) to the strongly built platform. - -At one end of this ungainly craft, behind one of the chests, lay two -men; at the further side of the opposite chest reclined another. - -One might have thought the sea chests to be fortifications, for all -three men were heavily armed, and each was extremely careful not to -expose his person to the party behind the opposite chest. - -Between the two boxes lay the figure of a fourth man; but he was flat -upon his face with his arms spread out in a most unnatural attitude. He -was evidently dead. - -Of the two men who were at the forward end of the raft (or what was the -forward end for the time being, the ocean currents having carried the -craft in various directions during the several past days), of these -two, I say, one was a person of imposing, if not handsome, presence, -with curling brown hair streaked with gray, finely chiseled features, -and skin bronzed by wind and weather; but now the features were most -painfully emaciated, and a blood stained bandage was wrapped about his -brow. - -His companion was a hearty looking old sea dog, well past the half -century mark, but who had evidently stood the privations they had -undergone far better than the first named. - -He was burned even darker than the other, was of massive figure and -leonine head, and possessed a hand like a ham. One leg was bent up -beneath him, but the other was stretched out stiffly, and it took only -a casual glance to see that the old seaman had a wooden leg. - -Every few moments the latter individual raised his head carefully and -peered over the chest, thus keeping a sharp watch on the movements of -the single occupant of the space behind the other fortification. - -This person was a broad shouldered, deep chested man, seemingly quite -as powerful as the wooden legged sailor. Privation and hardship had -not improved his appearance, either, for his raven black beard and -hair were matted and unkempt, and his bronzed face had that peculiar, -pinched expression with which starvation marks its victims; and this -look did not make his naturally villainous features less brutal. - -In truth, all three of these unfortunates were starving to death; the -fourth man, who lay so still upon the rough boards between the two -chests, was the first victim of the hardships they had suffered for the -last ten days. - -These four men had been members of the ship’s company of the good brig -Silver Swan, bound to Boston from Cape Town and Rio Janeiro. After -leaving the latter port three weeks before, several severe storms had -arisen and the brig was beaten terrifically by the elements for days -and days. - -Finally, after having every stick wrenched from her and even the jury -mast the crew had rigged, stripped bare, the brig, now being totally -unmanageable, was blown upon a narrow and barren reef several leagues -to the south and west of Cuba. - -The crew, who had ere this most faithfully obeyed the captain and mate, -Caleb Wetherbee, now believing the vessel about to go to pieces, madly -rushed to the boats, and lowering them into the heavy sea, lost their -lives in their attempt to leave the brig. - -Captain Tarr and mate Wetherbee were able to save only two of the -unfortunates--Paulo Montez, a Brazilian, and Jim Leroyd, the latter the -least worthy of all the crew. - -These four had built the rude raft upon which they had now floated so -long, and not daring to remain with the brig during another storm that -seemed imminent, they set sail in the lumbering craft and left the well -built and still seaworthy brig hard and fast upon the reef. - -This storm, which had frightened them from the Swan, was only severe -enough to strip their rude mast of its sail and rigging and drive them -seemingly far out of the course of other vessels, for not a sail had -they sighted since setting out on the raft. - -Slowly their provisions had disappeared, while the now calmed sea -carried them hither and thither as it listed; and at last the captain -and mate had decided to put all hands upon still shorter allowance. - -At this, Leroyd, always an ugly and brutal fellow even aboard ship, -had rebelled, and had tried to stir up his companion, Paulo, to mutiny -against the two officers; but the Brazilian was already too far gone -to join in any such scheme (in fact, he died the next forenoon), and -Caleb Wetherbee had driven Leroyd to his present position behind the -further chest, at the point of his pistol. - -Captain Tarr, who had received a heavy blow on the head from a falling -block at the time of the brig’s wreck, was far less able to stand the -hardship than either of his living companions, and, now that ten full -days had expired since leaving the Silver Swan, he felt himself failing -fast. - -Alone, he would have been unable to cope with Leroyd; but Caleb -Wetherbee stood by him like a faithful dog and kept the villainous -sailor in check. As Leroyd had demanded his share of the water and -scanty store of provisions, the mate had, with careful exactness, given -him his third and then made hint retire behind his chest again; for he -could not trust the fellow an instant. - -“The scoundrel would put two inches o’ steel between both our ribs for -the sake o’ gettin’ the whole o’ this grub,” declared Caleb, keeping a -firm grip upon his pistol. - -“He’d only shorten my time a little, Cale,” gasped Captain Tarr, a -paroxysm of pain weakening him terribly for the moment. “I can’t stand -many such times as _that_,” he added, when the agony had passed. - -“Brace up, cap’n,” said the mate cheerfully. “You’ll pull through yet.” - -“Don’t deceive yourself, or try to deceive me, Caleb,” responded -Captain Tarr gloomily. “I know my end is nigh, though I’m not an old -man yet--younger than you, old trusty, by ten years. And my life’s -been a failure, too,” he continued, more to himself than to his -companion. - -“Tut! tut! don’t talk like that ’ere. Ye’ll have ter pull through for -the sake o’ that boy o’ yourn, you know.” - -“I shall never see him again,” declared the injured man, with -confidence. “And how can I die in peace when I know that I shall leave -my son penniless?” - -“Penniless!” exclaimed Wetherbee. “Didn’t you own the brig, an’ ain’t -you been makin’ v’y’ges in her for the past ten year?” - -“I _did_ own the Silver Swan, and I _have_ made paying voyages with -her,” replied the captain weakly; “but, shame on me to have to say it, -all my earnings have been swallowed up by a speculation which turned -out to be utterly worthless. A sailor, Caleb, should stick by the sea, -and keep his money in shipping; I went into a mine in Nevada and lost -every cent I had saved.” - -“But there was the Swan,” said the dumfounded mate; “there’ll be the -int’rest money on her--and a good bit it should be, too.” - -“Aye, _should_ be,” muttered Captain Tarr bitterly; “but the brig is on -that reef and there’s not a cent of insurance on her.” - -“What! no insurance?” gasped Wetherbee. - -“No. When I left port last time my policy had run out, and I hadn’t a -cent to pay for having it renewed. So, if the old brig’s bones whiten -on that reef, poor Brandon will not get a cent.” - -“_If_ they do,” exclaimed the mate in wonder. - -“Yes, _if_ they do,” responded Captain Tarr, rising on his elbow and -speaking lower, so that there could be no possibility of the man at the -other end of the raft hearing his words; “for it’s my firm conviction, -Caleb, that we’d done better to stick by the old Swan. This last storm -drove hard from the west’ard. Suppose she’d slipped off again into -deep water? She didn’t leak enough to keep her sweet, in spite of the -terrific pounding she got from waves and rocks, and she might float -for weeks--aye, for months--and you know she’d have plenty of company -drifting up and down the Atlantic coast.” - -“But that ain’t probable, cap’n, though I’ll grant ye that we might -have done better by stickin’ by her a while longer.” - -“Probable or not, Caleb, I _feel_ that it is true. You know, they say a -dying man can see some things plainer than other folks.” - -Caleb was silenced by this, for he could not honestly aver that he did -not believe his old commander to be near his end. - -“And we had a valuable cargo, too, you know--very valuable,” murmured -Captain Tarr. “I put every cent I received from the sale of the goods -we took to Cape Town into this cargo, and would have cleared a handsome -profit--enough to have kept both Brandon and me in good circumstances -for a year. And then, there is something else.” - -“Well, what is it?” Caleb asked, after taking a squint over the top of -their breastwork to make sure that Leroyd had not ventured out. - -“If I’d got home with the Silver Swan, Caleb, I should have been rich -for life, and _you_, old trusty, should have had the brig just as she -stood, for the cost of makin’ out the papers.” - -“What?” exclaimed Caleb. - -He looked at his commander for several moments, and then shook his head -slowly. He believed that the privation they had suffered had at length -affected even Captain Horace Tarr’s brain. - -“I’m not crazy, Caleb,” said the captain faintly. “I tell you I should -have been immensely wealthy. Brandon should have never wanted for -anything as long as he lived, nor should I; and I had already decided -to give the brig to you.” - -“What--what d’ye mean if ye _ain’t_ crazy?” cried Caleb, in -bewilderment. - -“Do you remember the man who came aboard the brig at Cape Town, just -before we sailed?” asked Captain Tarr, in a whisper, evidently saving -his strength as much as possible for his story. “He was a friend of my -brother Anson.” - -“Anson!” interjected Caleb. “Why, I supposed _he_ was dead.” - -“He is now,” replied the captain; “but instead of dying several years -ago, as we supposed, he had been living in the interior of Cape Colony, -and just before he actually did die he gave a package (papers, this -man supposed them to be) to an acquaintance, to be delivered to me. -I happened to touch at Cape Town before the friend of my brother had -tried to communicate with me by mail, and he brought the package aboard -the brig himself. - -“He did not know what he was carrying--he never would have dared do it -had he known--for with a letter from Anson was a package, done up in -oil silk, of--diamonds of the purest water!” - -“Diamonds!” repeated Caleb. - -“Yes, diamonds--thousands of dollars’ worth--enough to make one man, -at least, fabulously rich!” The captain slowly rolled his head from -side to side. “After all these years the luck of the Tarrs had changed, -Caleb. Fortune has ever played us false, and even now, just when wealth -was in our grasp, it was snatched from us again. - -“After wandering up and down the earth for forty years, Anson finally -‘struck it rich,’ and am I, who was to profit by his good fortune, and -the son whom I love more than I do anything else on earth, to lose this -treasure after all?” - -He fell back upon the raft, and the exertion set the wound in his head -to bleeding again. A dark stream appeared beneath the bandage and -trickled down his forehead, while he lay, gasping for breath, upon the -bit of sailcloth which served him for a bed. - -“What did you do with the diamonds?” the mate asked, when the dying man -had again become calm. - -“I--I have written a letter to Brandon, telling him all about it,” -gasped the captain. “That is what I wrote the second day we were on the -raft. I dared not take them with me from the brig, and they are hidden -in the cabin. I know now that we made a grave mistake in leaving the -Silver Swan at all, for she may hold together for months. - -“Take--take the papers from my pocket, Cale,” he added, feebly -unbuttoning his coat, “and keep them. If you are saved I charge you to -give them to Brandon with your own hands, and I can trust you to assist -him in every possible way to recover his fortune, should such a thing -be possible.” - -The mate bent over the unfortunate owner of the Silver Swan, and with -trembling hands removed several thick documents from his pocket and -thrust them into the breast of his flannel shirt. - -As he did so and turned again, he saw the scowling visage of Jim Leroyd -peering at them above his chest. Quick as a flash he seized his pistol -and aimed it at the sailor; but Leroyd dodged out of view at once. -Without doubt, however, he had seen the papers passed from the captain -to mate Wetherbee. - -“Take good care of them, Cale,” whispered Captain Tarr. “And let nobody -else see them. I believe that Leroyd suspected something back there at -Cape Town, for he came into the cabin on an errand just as that friend -of poor Anson gave the package into my hands, and I caught him snooping -about the companionway several times afterward. It was he I feared most -when we left the brig, and therefore dared not take the diamonds with -me.” - -“I’ll shoot him yet,” muttered the old seaman fiercely, with his -weather eye cocked over the top of the chest. “I hated the sight o’ -that fellow when he first boarded the brig at New York. His face is -enough to bring bad luck to any ship.” - -But the captain was not listening to him. He had floated away into a -restless slumber, from which he only awoke once to whisper, “Remember, -Cale!” and then passed into a dreamless sleep from which there could -be no awakening in this world. - -Caleb Wetherbee closed the captain’s eyes tenderly, wrapped him in the -bit of sailcloth which had served as his bed, and fastened his lifeless -body so that no unexpected roll of the raft would precipitate it into -the water. Then he took the scant share of food left of the captain’s -hoard, and religiously divided it into two equal portions. - -“Jim!” he said, when this was done, allowing himself but a moment to -gloat over the pitifully meager supply which he laid on the chest lid. - -“Aye, aye, sir!” responded the sailor gruffly, cautiously raising his -head from behind his fortification. - -“Captain Tarr is dead, Jim, and I have divided _his_ share o’ the grub. -Put down your weapons and come forward to the chest and take your part. -Remember, no slippery business or I’ll bore a hole in ye! Step out now.” - -Suddenly the sailor arose, his ungainly, dwarfish proportions being -more manifest now that he was on his feet, and approached his officer, -stepping over the body of Paulo without a glance at it. - -His fierce eyes lighted eagerly as he saw the little supply of food (he -had already consumed all his own), and he seized it at once. While he -did so he looked at the wooden legged sailor with a crafty smile. - -“Wot was it the old man give ye, Caleb?” he asked familiarly. - -The mate scowled fiercely at him, and did not reply. - -“Oh, ye needn’t act so onery,” went on Leroyd. “_I_ knowed there was -somethin’--money I bet--that was given to the old man at the Cape. -He’s acted like a new man ever since, and if there’s anything in it, -I’m goin’ ter hev my share, jest like this share o’ the grub, now I -tell ye!” - -“You take that food and git back to your place!” roared Caleb, pointing -the huge “bull dog,” which had a bore like a rifle, at the fellow’s -head. “An’ let me tell you that I shall be on the watch, I shall, an’ -it’ll be a long say afore you catch Caleb Wetherbee asleep. Ef I ain’t -saved, _you_ won’t be, let me tell you, for ef I feel myself a-goin’ to -Davy Jones, _you’ll go along with me_!” - -Leroyd sneaked back to his place again, and crouched behind the chest. -In that position he could not see the movements of Caleb, who, after a -few moments’ thought, deposited the packet of papers where he believed -no one would think of looking for them. - -“There!” he muttered grimly. “If I _do_ foller Cap’n Tarr, I reckon -these papers’ll never do that scoundrel any good, an’ he can throw this -old hulk to the sharks and welcome. If the cap’n’s boy don’t profit by -’em, _nobody_ shall.” - -Then he folded his arms, the pistol still in his grasp, and continued -his task of watching for the rescuing sail, which it seemed would never -come. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -INTRODUCING BRANDON TARR AND UNCLE ARAD - - -LEADING from the village of Rockland, Rhode Island, a wide, dusty -country road, deeply rutted here and there, winds up to the summit of a -long ridge, the highest land in that portion of the State, which past -generations have named Chopmist. - -It is a drizzly, chilly spring day, the showers pattering down in true -April style, the sun promising to show his face every few minutes, -and then, when you are expecting his warming rays, down falls another -shower and Sol hides his face in despair. - -Near the highest part of the ridge, on the easterly side of the road, -stood an old, gambrel roofed, weather beaten house, its end facing the -road and its front door at the side as though it, like its present -owner, had turned sourly away from the world, refusing even to look out -upon the highway which passed socially near it. - -The rain dripped steadily into the moss covered water butt at the -corner of the house, and a bedraggled chicken, who seemed not to -possess enough energy to get under better cover, sat humped up in a -most dismal manner under the lilac bush at the other corner of the -house. - -It was well nigh as dismal inside the house as out. A miserable little -fire of green wood sputtered and hissed in an even more miserable -stove, and the faded yellow cambric curtain at the little window, did -its best (with the aid of the dirt, which was considerable) to keep the -light from penetrating the panes. - -At one end of the kitchen was a square deal table littered with soiled -dishes left from the morning meal; the two or three chairs about the -room were in a state of great dilapidation; and even the old clock on -the mantel shelf ticked with a sort of rasping groan, as though every -stroke put its rheumatic old wheels and springs in agony. - -Before the stove, in a sadly abused, wooden bottomed armchair, and -with his back humped up a good deal like the chicken under the lilac -bush outside, sat an old man with weazened, wrinkled face, eyes like a -hawk’s, a beak-like nose, and a sparse settlement of gray hairs on his -crown and chin. - -He leaned forward in his seat, and both claw-like hands clutching the -arms of the chair, seemed to be all that kept him from falling upon the -stove. - -At the window, just where the light fell best upon the book in his -hand, sat a youth of sixteen years--a well made, robust boy, whose -brown hair curled about his broad forehead, and whose face was not -without marks of real beauty. - -Just now his brows were knit in a slight frown, and there was a flash -of anger in his clear eyes. - -“I dunno what’s comin’ of ev’rything,” the old man was saying, in a -querulous tone. “Here ’tis the first o’ April, an’ ’tain’t been weather -fit ter plow a furrer, or plant a seed, yit.” - -“Well, I don’t see as it’s _my_ fault, Uncle Arad,” responded the boy -by the window. “_I_ don’t make the weather.” - -“I dunno whether ye do or not,” the old man declared, after staring -across at him for an instant. “I begin ter believe yer a regular -Jonah--jest as yer Uncle Anson was, an’ yer pa, too.” - -The boy turned away and looked out of the window at this mention of his -parent, and a close observer might have seen his broad young shoulders -tremble with sudden emotion as he strove to check the sobs which all -but choked him. - -Whether the old man was a close enough observer to see this or not, he -nevertheless kept on in the same strain. - -“One thing there is erbout it,” he remarked; “Anson knew _he_ was born -ter ill luck, an’ he cleared out an’ never dragged nobody else down ter -poverty with him. But your pa had ter marry--an’ see what come of it!” - -“I don’t know as it affected _you_ any,” rejoined the boy, bitterly. - -“Yes, ’t’as, too! Ain’t I got you on my hands, a-eatin’ of your head -off, when there ain’t a sign of a chance o’ gittin’ any work aout o’ -ye?” - -“I reckon I’ve paid for my keep for more’n _one_ year,” the other -declared vehemently; “and up to the last time father went away he -always paid you for my board--he told me so himself.” - -“He did, did he?” exclaimed Uncle Arad, in anger. “Well, he----” - -“Don’t you say my father lied!” cried the boy, his eyes flashing and -his fists clenched threateningly. “If you do, you’ll wish you hadn’t.” - -“Well--I ain’t said so, hev I?” whined Uncle Arad, fairly routed by -this vehemence. “Ain’t you a pretty boy to threaten an old man like me, -Brandon Tarr?” - -Brandon relapsed into sullen silence, and the old man went on: - -“Mebbe Horace _thought_ he paid your board, but the little money he -ever give me never more’n ha’f covered the expense ye’ve been ter me, -Don.” - -His hearer sniffed contemptuously at this. He knew well enough that -he had done a man’s work about the Tarr place in summer, and all the -chores during winter before and after school hours, for the better part -of three years, and had amply repaid any outlay the old man had made. - -Old Arad Tarr was reckoned as a miser by his townsmen, and they were -very nearly correct. By inheritance the farm never belonged to him, -for he was the youngest son of old Abram Tarr, and had been started in -business by his father when he was a young man, while his brother Ezra -had the old homestead, as the eldest son should. - -But reverses came to Ezra, of which the younger brother, being -successful in money matters, took advantage, and when Ezra died at last -(worked to death, the neighbors said) the property came into Arad’s -hands. There was little enough left for the widow, who soon followed -her husband to the grave, and for the two boys, Anson and Horace. - -Anson was of a roving, restless disposition, and he soon became -disgusted with the grinding methods of old Arad, who sought to get -double work out of his two nephews. So he left the farm, and, allured -by visions of sudden wealth which led him all over the world, he -followed from one scheme to another, never returning to the old place -again, though his brother, Horace, heard from him occasionally. - -The younger lad was not long in following his brother’s footsteps (in -leaving home, at least), and went to sea, where he rose rapidly from -the ranks of the common sailor to the post of commander. - -He married a girl whom he had known in his boyhood, and Brandon, the -boy who was now left to the tender mercies of the great uncle, was -their only child. - -By patient frugality Captain Tarr had amassed sufficient money to -purchase a brig called the Silver Swan, and made several exceptionally -fortunate voyages to South and West African ports, and to Oceanica. - -But after his wife’s death (she was always a delicate woman) his only -wish seemed to be to gain a fortune that he might retire from the sea -and live with his son, in whom his whole heart was now bound. There was -a trace of the same visionary spirit in Horace Tarr’s nature that had -been the _motif_ of his brother Anson’s life, and hoping to gain great -wealth by a sudden turning of the wheel of fortune, he speculated with -his savings. - -Like many other men, he trusted too much in appearances and was wofully -deceived, and every penny of his earnings for a number of voyages in -the brig was swept away. - -His last voyage had been to Cape Town, and on the return passage the -good Silver Swan had struck on a rock somewhere off Cuba, and was a -total loss, for neither the vessel itself, nor the valuable cargo, was -insured for a penny’s worth. - -This had occurred nearly two months before, and the first news Brandon -and Uncle Arad had received of the disaster was through the newspaper -reports. Two surviving members of the crew were picked up by a New York -bound steamship, from a raft which had been afloat nearly two weeks, -and but one of the men was in a condition to give an intelligible -account of the wreck. - -From his story there could be but little doubt of the total destruction -of the Silver Swan and the loss of every creature on board, excepting -himself and the mate, Caleb Wetherbee, who was so exhausted that he had -been taken at once to the marine hospital. Captain Tarr had died on the -raft, from hunger and a wound in the head received during the wrecking -of his vessel. - -It was little wonder, then, with these painful facts so fresh in his -mind, that young Brandon Tarr found it so hard to stifle his emotion -while his great uncle had been speaking. In fact, when presently the -crabbed old man opened his lips to speak again, he arose hastily, threw -down his book, and seized his hat and coat. - -“I’m going out to see if I can pick off that flock of crows I saw -around this morning,” he said hastily. “If you _do_ get a chance to -plant anything this spring, they’ll pull it up as fast as you cover the -seed.” - -“We kin put up scarecrows,” said Arad, with a scowl, his dissertation -on the “shiftlessness” of Don’s father thus rudely broken off. “_I_ -can’t afford you powder an’ shot ter throw away at them birds.” - -“Nobody asked you to pay for it,” returned the boy gruffly, and -buttoning the old coat about him, and seizing his rifle from the hooks -above the door, he went out into the damp outside world, which, despite -its unpleasantness, was more bearable than the atmosphere of the farm -house kitchen. - -The farm which had come into Arad Tarr’s possession in what he termed a -“business way,” contained quite one hundred acres of cultivated fields, -rocky pastures, and forest land. - -It was a productive farm and turned its owner a pretty penny every -year, but judging from the appearance of the interior of the house and -the dilapidated condition of the barn and other outbuildings, one would -not have believed it. - -There was sufficient work on the farm every year to keep six hired -hands beside Brandon and the old man, himself, “on the jump” every -minute during the spring, summer, and fall. - -In the winter they two alone managed to do the chores, and old Arad -even discharged the woman who cooked for the men during the working -season. - -As soon as the season opened, however, and the old man was obliged -to hire help, the woman (who was a widow and lived during the winter -with a married sister in the neighborhood) was established again in -the Tarr house, and until the next winter they lived in a manner that -Brandon termed “like Christians,” for she was a good cook and a neat -housekeeper; but left to their own devices during the cold weather, he -and his great uncle made sorry work of it. - -“The frost is pretty much out of the ground now,” Brandon muttered as -he crossed the littered barnyard, “and this drizzle will mellow up the -earth in great shape. As soon as it stops, Uncle Arad will dig right in -and work to make up for lost time, I s’pose.” - -He climbed the rail fence and jumped down into the sodden field beyond, -the tattered old army coat (left by some hired hand and used by him in -wet weather) flapping dismally about his boots. - -“I wonder what’ll become of me now,” he continued, still addressing -himself, as he plodded across the field, sinking ankle deep in the wet -soil. “Now that father’s gone there’s nothing left for me to do but to -shift for myself and earn my own living. Poor father wanted me to get -an education first before I went into anything, but there’ll be no more -chance for that here. I can see plainly that Uncle Arad means to shut -down on school altogether now. - -“I’ll never get ahead any as long as I stay here and slave for him,” he -pursued. “He’ll be more exacting than ever, now that father is gone--he -didn’t dare treat me _too_ meanly before. He’ll make it up now, I -reckon, if I stay, and I just _won’t_!” - -He had been steadily approaching the woods and at this juncture there -was a rush of wings and a sudden “caw! caw!” - -Crows are generally considered to be endowed with a faculty for knowing -when a gun is brought within range, but this particular band must have -been asleep, for Brandon was quite within shooting distance as the -great birds labored heavily across the lots. - -The rifle, the lock of which he had kept dry beneath his armpit, was -at his shoulder in a twinkling, there was a sharp report, and one of -the birds fell heavily to the ground, while its frightened companions -wheeled with loud outcry and were quickly out of view behind the woods. - -Brandon walked on and picked up the fallen bird. - -“Shot his head pretty nearly off,” he muttered. “I believe I’ll go -West. Knowing how to shoot might come in handy there,” and he laughed -grimly. - -Then, with the bird in his hand, he continued his previous course, and -penetrated beneath the dripping branches of the trees. - -Pushing his way through the brush for a rod or two he reached a plainly -defined path which, cutting obliquely across the wood lot, connected -the road on which the Tarr house stood with the “pike” which led to the -city, fourteen miles away. - -Entering this path, he strolled leisurely on, his mind intent upon the -situation in which his father’s death had placed him. - -“I haven’t a dollar, or not much more than that sum,” he thought, “nor -a friend, either. I can’t expect anything but the toughest sort of a -pull, wherever I go or whatever I take up; but it can’t be worse than -’twould be here, working for Uncle Arad.” - -After traversing the path for some distance, Don reached a spot where -a rock cropped up beside the way, and he rested himself on this, still -studying on the problem which had been so fully occupying his mind for -several weeks past. - -As he sat there, idly pulling handfuls of glossy black feathers from -the dead crow, the noise of a footstep on the path in his rear caused -him to spring up and look in that direction. - -A man was coming down the path--a sinister faced, heavily bearded man, -who slouched along so awkwardly that Brandon at first thought him lame. -But the boy had seen a few sailors, besides his father, in his life, -and quickly perceived that the stranger’s gait was caused simply by a -long experience of treading the deck of a vessel at sea. - -He was a solidly built man, not below the medium height, yet his head -was set so low between his shoulders, and thrust forward in such a way -that it gave him a dwarfed appearance. His hands were rammed deeply -into his pockets, an old felt hat was drawn down over his eyes, and his -aspect was generally seedy and not altogether trustworthy. - -He started suddenly upon seeing the boy, and gazed at him intently as -he approached. - -“Well, shipmate, out gunning?” he demanded, in a tone which was -intended to be pleasant. - -“A little,” responded Brandon, kicking the body of the dead crow into -the bushes. “We’re always gunning for those fellows up this way.” - -“Crows, eh?” said the man, stopping beside the boy, who had rested -himself on the rock again. “They’re great chaps for pullin’ -corn--faster’n you farmers can plant it, eh?” - -Brandon nodded curtly, and wondered why the tramp (as he supposed him) -did not go along. - -“Look here, mate,” went on the man, after a moment, “I’m lookin’ for -somebody as lives about here, by the name of Tarr----” - -“Why, you’re on the Tarr place now,” replied Brandon, with sudden -interest. “That’s _my_ name, too.” - -“No, it isn’t now!” exclaimed the stranger, in surprise. - -A quick flash of eagerness came over his face as he spoke. - -“You’re not Brandon Tarr?” he added. - -“Yes, sir,” replied Don, in surprise. - -“Not Captain Horace Tarr’s son! God bless ye, my boy. Give us your -hand!” - -The man seized the hand held out to him half doubtfully, and shook it -warmly, at the same time seating himself beside the boy. - -“You knew my father?” asked Brandon, not very favorably impressed by -the man’s appearance, yet knowing no real reason why he should not be -friendly. - -“Knew him! Why, my boy, I was his best friend!” declared the sailor. -“Didn’t you ever hear him speak of Cale Wetherbee?” - -“Caleb Wetherbee!” cried Don, with some pleasure. - -He had never seen his father’s mate, but he had heard the captain speak -of him many times. This man did not quite come up to his expectation -of what the mate of the Silver Swan should have been, but he knew -that his father had trusted Caleb Wetherbee, and that appearances are -sometimes deceitful. - -“Indeed I _have_ heard him speak of you many times,” and the boy’s -voice trembled slightly as he offered his hand a second time far more -warmly. - -“Yes, sir,” repeated the sailor, blowing his nose with ostentation, -“I’m an old friend o’ your father’s. He--he died in my arms.” - -Brandon wiped his own eyes hastily. He had loved his father with all -the strength of his nature, and his heart was too sore yet to be rudely -touched. - -“Why, jest before he--he died, he give me them papers to send to ye, ye -know.” - -As he said this the man flashed a quick, keen look at Brandon, but it -was lost upon him. - -“What papers?” he asked with some interest. - -“What papers?” repeated the sailor, springing up. “D’ye mean ter say ye -never got a package o’ papers from me a--a month ergo, I reckon ’twas?” - -“I haven’t received anything through the mail since the news came of -the loss of the brig,” declared Don, rising also. - -“Then that mis’rable swab of an ’orspital fellow never sent ’em!” -declared the man, with apparent anger. “Ye see, lad, I was laid up -quite a spell in the ’orspital--our sufferings on that raft was jest -orful--an’ I couldn’t help myself. But w’en your father died he left -some papers with me ter be sent ter you, an’ I got the ’orspital nurse -to send ’em. An’ you must hev got ’em--eh?” - -“Not a thing,” replied Brandon convincingly. “Were they of any value?” - -“Valible? I should say they was!” cried the sailor. “Werry valible, -indeed. Why, boy, they’d er made our--I sh’d say _your_--fortune, an’ -no mistake!” - -Without doubt his father’s old friend was strangely moved by the -intelligence he had received, and Don could not but be interested in -the matter. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -AN ACCOUNT OF THE WRECK OF THE SILVER SWAN - - -“TO what did these papers bear reference?” Brandon asked. “Father met -with heavy misfortunes in his investments last year, and every penny, -excepting the Swan itself, was lost. How could these papers have -benefited me?” - -“Well, that I don’t rightly know,” replied the sailor slowly. - -He looked at the boy for several seconds with knitted brows, evidently -deep in thought. Brandon could not help thinking what a rough looking -specimen he was, but remembering his father’s good opinion of Caleb -Wetherbee, he banished the impression as ungenerous. - -“I b’lieve I’ll tell ye it jest as it happened,” said the man at -length. “Sit down here again, boy, an’ I’ll spin my yarn.” - -He drew forth a short, black pipe, and was soon puffing away upon it, -while comfortably seated beside Don upon the rock. - -“’Twere the werry night we sailed from the Cape,” he began, “that I -was--er--in the cabin of the Silver Swan, lookin’ at a new chart the -cap’n had got, when down comes a decently dressed chap--a landlubber, -ev’ry inch o’ him--an’ asks if this were Cap’n Horace Tarr. - -“‘It is,’ says the cap’n. - -“‘Cap’n Horace Tarr, of Rhode Island, U. S. A.?’ says he. - -“‘That’s me,’ says the cap’n ag’in. - -“‘Well, Cap’n Tarr,’ says the stranger chap, a-lookin’ kinder squint -eyed at me, ‘did you ever have a brother Anson?’ - -“Th’ cap’n noticed his lookin’ at me an’ says, afore he answered the -question: - -“‘Ye kin speak freely,’ says he, ‘this is my mate, Cale Wetherbee, an’ -there ain’t a squarer man, nor an honester, as walks the deck terday,’ -says he. ‘Yes, I had a brother Anson; but I persume he’s dead.’ - -“‘Yes, he is dead,’ said the stranger. ‘He died up country, at a place -they calls Kimberley, ’bout two months ago.’ - -“That was surprisin’ ter the cap’n, I reckon, an’ he tol’ the feller -that he’d supposed Anson Tarr dead years before, as he hadn’t heard -from him. - -“‘No, he died two months ago,’ says the man, ‘an’ I was with him. He -died o’ pneumony--was took werry sudden.’ - -“Nat’rally this news took the old man--I sh’d say yer father--all -aback, as it were, an’ he inquired inter his brother’s death fully. -Fin’ly the man drew out a big package--papers he said they was--wot -Anson Tarr had given him ter be sure ter give ter the cap’n when he -sh’d see him. Then the feller went. - -“O’ course, the cap’n didn’t tell me wot the docyments was, but I -reckoned by his actions, an’ some o’ the hints he let drop, that they -was valible, an’ I--I got it inter my head that ’twas erbout money--er -suthin’ o’ the kind--that your Uncle Anson knowed of. - -“Wal, the Silver Swan, she left the Cape, ’n’ all went well till arter -we touched at Rio an’ was homeward boun’. Then a gale struck us that -stripped the brig o’ ev’ry stick o’ timber an’ every rag o’ sail, an’ -druv her outer thet ’ere rock. There warn’t no hope for the ol’ brig -an’ she began to go ter pieces to once, so we tried ter take to the -boats. - -“But the boats was smashed an’ the only ones left o’ the hull ship’s -company was men Paulo Montez, and yer father, an’--an’ another feller. -We built the raft and left the ol’ brig, just as she--er--slid off er -th’ rock an’ sunk inter the sea. It--it mos’ broke yer father’s heart -ter see the ol’ brig go down an’ I felt m’self, jest as though I’d lost -er--er friend, er suthin!” - -The sailor paused in his narrative and drew hard upon his pipe for a -moment. - -“Wal, you know by the papers how we floated around on that ’ere raf’ -an’ how yer poor father was took. He give me these papers just afore he -died, an’ made me promise ter git ’em ter you, ef I was saved. He said -you’d understand ’em ter oncet, an’,” looking at Brandon keenly out of -the corners of his eyes, “I didn’t know but ye knew something about it -already.” - -Brandon slowly shook his head. - -“No,” he said; “I can’t for the life of me think what they could refer -to.” - -“No--no buried treasure, nor nothing of the kind?” suggested the man -hesitatingly. - -“I guess not!” exclaimed Don. “If I knew about such a thing, you can -bet I’d be after it right quickly, for I don’t know any one who needs -money just at the present moment more than I.” - -“Well, I believe I’ll go,” cried the sailor, rising hastily. “That -’orspital feller must hev forgotten ter mail them papers, an’ I’ll git -back ter New York ter oncet, an’ see ’bout it. I b’lieve they’ll be of -vally to ye, an’ if ye want _my_ help in any way, jest let me know. -I--I’ll give ye a place ter ’dress letters to, an’ I’ll call there an’ -git ’em.” - -He produced an old stump of a pencil from his pocket and a ragged -leather note case. From this he drew forth a dog eared business card -of some ship chandler’s firm, on the blank side of which he wrote in a -remarkably bad hand: - - CALEB WETHERBEE, - NEW ENGLAND HOTEL, - WATER STREET, - NEW YORK. - -Then he shook Don warmly by the hand, and promising to get the papers -from the “’orspital feller” at once, struck away toward the city again, -leaving the boy in a statement of great bewilderment. - -He didn’t know what the papers could refer to, yet like all boys who -possess a good digestion and average health, he had imagined enough to -fancy a hundred things that they _might_ contain. Perhaps there was -some great fortune which his Uncle Anson had known about, and had died -before he could reap the benefit of his knowledge. - -Yet, he felt an instinctive distrustfulness of this Caleb Wetherbee. He -was not at all the kind of man he had expected him to be, for although -Captain Tarr had never said much about the personal appearance of the -mate of the Silver Swan, still Don had pictured Caleb to his mind’s eye -as a far different looking being. - -As he stood there in the path, deep in thought, and with his eyes fixed -upon the spot where he had seen the sailor disappear, the fluttering -of a bit of paper attracted his attention. He stooped and secured it, -finding it to be a greasy bit of newspaper that had doubtless reposed -for some days in the note case of the sailor, and had fallen unnoticed -to the ground while he was penciling his address on the card now in -Don’s possession. - -One side of the scrap of paper was a portion of an advertisement, but -on the other side was a short item of news which Don perused with -growing interest. - - SAVANNAH, MARCH 3. The Brazilian steamship Montevideo, which arrived - here in the morning, reports having sighted, about forty miles west - of the island of Cuba, a derelict brig, without masts or rigging of - any kind, but with hull in good condition. It was daylight, and by - running close the Montevideo’s captain made the wreck out to be the - Silver Swan, of Boston, which was reported as having been driven - on to Reef Number 8, east of Cuba, more than a month ago. The two - surviving members of the crew of the Silver Swan were picked up from - a raft, after twelve days of terrible suffering, by the steamship - Alexandria, of the New York and Rio Line. The Montevideo’s officers - report the brig as being a most dangerous derelict, as in its present - condition it may keep afloat for months, having evidently withstood - the shock of grounding on the reef, and later being driven off by the - westerly gale of February 13th. - - Her position, when sighted by the Montevideo, has been reported to - the Hydrographic Office, and will appear on the next monthly chart. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -BRANDON COMES TO A DECISION - - -THE first thought which flashed across Brandon Tarr’s mind as he read -the newspaper item quoted in the previous chapter was that the story -of the wreck of the Silver Swan, as told by the old sailor, had been -totally misleading. - -“Why, he lied--point blank--to me!” he exclaimed, “and with this very -clipping in his pocket, too.” - -He half started along the path as though to pursue the sailor, and then -thought better of it. - -“He declared that he saw the Swan go down with his own eyes; and here -she was afloat on the 13th of March--a month after the wreck. He must -have wanted to keep the knowledge of that fact from me. But what for? -Ah! those papers!” - -With this Brandon dropped back on the rock again and read the newspaper -clipping through once more. Then he went over the whole matter in his -mind. - -What possible object could Caleb Wetherbee have in coming to him and -telling him the yarn he had, if there was no foundation for it? There -must be some reason for the story, Brandon was sure. - -Evidently there had been papers either given into the hands of the -mate of the Silver Swan, or obtained by him by dishonest means. These -papers must relate to some property of value which had belonged to -Anson Tarr, Don’s uncle, and, his cupidity being aroused, the sailor -was trying to convert the knowledge contained in them to his own -benefit. - -There was probably some “hitch” in the documents--something the -rascally mate could not understand, but which he thought Brandon could -explain. Therefore, his trip to Chopmist from New York to “pump” the -captain’s son. - -“Without doubt,” said the boy, communing with himself, “the papers were -brought aboard the brig just as this rascally Wetherbee said, and they -were from Uncle Anson. Let’s see, he said he died at Kimberley--why, -that’s right at the diamond mines!” For like most boys with adventurous -spirits and well developed imagination, Brandon had devoured much that -had been written about the wonderful diamond diggings of South Africa. - -“Perhaps--who knows?” his thoughts ran on, “Uncle Anson ‘struck it -rich’ at the diamond mines before he died. There’s nothing impossible -in that--excepting the long run of ill luck which had cursed this -family.” - -He shook his head thoughtfully. - -“If Uncle Anson had owned a share in a paying diamond mine, this -rascally sailor would have known at once that the papers relating to -it could not benefit him, for the ownership would be on record there -in Kimberley. It must, therefore, be that the property--whatever -it may be--is in such shape that it can be removed from place to -place--perhaps was brought aboard the brig by the friend of Uncle -Anson who told father of his death.” - -For the moment the idea did not assist in the explanation of the course -of Caleb Wetherbee in retaining the papers. But Brandon had set himself -to the task of reasoning out the mystery, and when one thread failed -him he took up another. - -“One would think,” he muttered, “that if there had been any money -brought aboard the brig, father would have taken it on the raft with -him when they left; but still, would he? - -“According to the report the brig grounded on Reef Number 8, and -perhaps was not hurt below the water line. The next gale from the -west’ard blew her off again. She is now a derelict, _and if the money -was hidden on board it would be there now_!” - -At this sudden thought Brandon sprang up in excitement and paced up and -down the path. - -He had often heard of the wrecks of vessels abandoned in mid ocean -floating thousands of miles without a hand to guide their helms, a -menace and danger to all other craft. The Silver Swan might float for -months--aye, for years; such a thing was possible. - -“And if the money--if it _is_ money--is hidden aboard the brig, the one -who finds the derelict first will have it,” was the thought which came -to him. - -“But why should the mate come to _me_ about it?” Brandon asked himself. -“Why need he let _me_ know anything about the papers, or the treasure, -if he wished to recover it himself? Didn’t he know where on the brig -the money was hidden? Or didn’t the papers tell that?” - -He cudgled his brains for several minutes to think _where_ his father -would have been likely to hide anything of value on the brig. Was there -any place which only he and his father had known about? - -This idea suggested a train of reminiscences. He had been aboard the -Silver Swan several times while she lay in Boston, and had been all -over her. - -Once, possibly four years before (it seemed a long time to him now), he -had been alone with his father in the cabin, and Captain Tarr had shown -him an ingeniously hidden sliding panel in the bulkhead, behind which -was a little steel lined cavity, in which the captain kept his private -papers. - -Perhaps Caleb Wetherbee did not know about this cupboard, and it was -this information that he wished to get from him. The idea seemed -probable enough, for if he did not know where the treasure was hidden -on the brig, what good would the papers relating to it be to him? - -“There may be a fortune there, just within my grasp, and yet I not be -able to get at it,” muttered Don, pacing the rough path nervously. - -“Despite his former confidence in this Wetherbee, father must have -doubted him at the last and not dared to take the treasure (if treasure -it really is) when he left the brig. - -“Instead, he gave him these papers, hoping the fellow would be honest -enough to place them in my hands; but, still fearing to fully trust the -mate, he wrote his directions to me so blindly, that Wetherbee is all -at sea about what to do. - -“Wetherbee knows that the brig is afloat--this clipping proves -that--and he hoped to get the information he wanted from me and then -go in search of the Silver Swan. _Why can I not go in search of it -myself?_” - -The thought almost staggered him for an instant, yet to his boyish -mind the plan seemed feasible enough. He knew that derelicts are often -carried by the ocean currents for thousands of miles before they -sink, yet their movements are gradual, and by a close study of the -hydrographic charts he believed it would be possible to locate the -wrecked brig. - -“I’ve got no money, I know,” he thought, “at least, not much; but I’ve -health and strength and an ordinary amount of pluck, and it will be -strange if I can’t accomplish my purpose if the old brig only holds -together long enough.” - -He looked at the soiled card the sailor had given him. - -“‘New England Hotel, Water Street,’” he repeated. “Some sailors’ -boarding house, likely. I believe--yes, I will--go to New York myself -and see this scoundrelly Wetherbee again. He can’t do _much_ without -me, I fancy, and perhaps, after all, I can use him to my own benefit. I -ought to be as smart as an ignorant old sailor like him.” - -He stood still a moment, gazing steadily at the ground. - -“I’ll do it, I vow I will!” he exclaimed at last, raising his head -defiantly. “Uncle Arad’s got no hold upon me and I’ll go. I’ll start -tomorrow morning,” with which determination he picked up his rifle and -left the woods. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -UNCLE ARAD HAS RECOURSE TO LEGAL FORCE - - -IN the several oceans of our great globe there are many floating -wrecks, abandoned for various causes by their crews, which may float on -and on, without rudder or sail, for months, and even years. Especially -is this true of the North Atlantic Ocean, where, during the past five -years, nearly a thousand “derelicts,” as these floating wrecks are -called, were reported. - -The Hydrographic Office at Washington prints a monthly chart on which -all the derelicts reported by incoming vessels are plainly marked, even -their position in the water being designated by a little picture of the -wreck. - -By this method of “keeping run” of the wrecks, it has been found that -some float thousands of miles before they finally reach their ultimate -port--Davy Jones’ locker. - -The average life of these water logged hulks is, however, but thirty -days; otherwise the danger from collision with them would be enormous -and the loss of life great. Many of those vessels which have left -port within the past few years and never again been heard from, were -doubtless victims of collisions with some of these derelicts. - -Several more or less severe accidents have been caused by them, and -so numerous have they become that, within the past few months, several -vessels belonging to our navy have gone “derelict cruising”--blowing up -and sinking the most dangerous wrecks afloat in the North Atlantic. - -At the time of the Silver Swan’s reported loss, however, it was -everybody’s business to destroy the vessels, and therefore nobody’s. -At any time, however, the hull of the brig, reported by the steamship -Montevideo as floating off Cuba, might be run into and sunk by some -other vessel, such collisions being not at all uncommon. - -Brandon Tarr realized that there was but a small chance of the Silver -Swan being recovered, owing to these circumstances; yet he would not -have been a Tarr had he not been willing to take the chance and do all -he could to secure what he was quite convinced was a valuable treasure. - -Derelicts had been recovered and towed into port for their salvage -alone, and the Silver Swan was, he knew, richly laden. It might also -be possible to repair the hull of the brig, for she was a well built -craft, and if she had withstood the shock of being ground on the reef -so well, she might even yet be made to serve for several years. - -These thoughts flitted through the mind of the boy as he slowly crossed -the wet fields toward the farm house. - -“I’ll go tomorrow morning--Uncle Arad or no Uncle Arad,” he decided. -“It won’t do to leave the old fellow alone, so I’ll step down after -dinner and speak to Mrs. Hemingway about coming up here. He will have -to have her any way within a few days, so it won’t much matter.” - -He didn’t really know how to broach the subject to the old man, for he -felt assured that his great uncle would raise manifold objections to -his departure. He had lived at the farm four years now and Uncle Arad -had come to depend on him in many ways. - -They had eaten dinner--a most miserable meal--and Don was washing the -dishes before he spoke. - -“Uncle Arad,” he said, trying to talk in a most matter of fact way, -“now that father is--is gone and I have nothing to look forward to, I -believe I’ll strike out for myself. I’m past sixteen and big enough and -old enough to look out for myself. I think I shall get along faster by -being out in the world and brushing against folks, and I reckon I’ll go -to New York.” - -Uncle Arad fairly wilted into his seat, and stared at Don in utter -surprise. - -“Go to New York?” he gasped. - -“That’s what I said.” - -“Go to New York--jest when yer gittin’ of some account ter me?” - -“Oh, I’ve been of some account to you for some time, and any way father -always paid my board before last fall, you know,” said Don cheerfully. - -Uncle Arad snorted angrily, and his eyes began to flash fire. - -“Paid your board!” he exclaimed. “I dunno what put _that_ inter your -head.” - -“Father put it there, that’s who,” declared Don hotly. - -“_I_ never give him no receipts for board money,” cried the old man. -“You can’t show a one!” - -“I don’t suppose you did,” returned Don, with scorn. “You never give -receipts for anything if you can help it. If you’d given receipts to -your own brother as you ought, you wouldn’t be in possession of this -farm now.” - -“I wouldn’t, hey?” cried the old man, goaded to desperation by this -remark, which he knew only too well to be true. “You little upstart -you! Ye’ll go ter New York, whether ’r no, will ye?” - -He arose in his wrath and shook his bony fist in Don’s face. The youth -looked down upon him scornfully, for the man would have been no match -for him at all. - -“Now don’t have a fit,” he said calmly. “I’m going to step ’round to -Mrs. Hemingway’s after dinner, and get her to come up here and look -after you. You’ll need her any way, in a few days.” - -“It won’t matter! it won’t matter!” shrieked Uncle Arad, exasperated -by the boy’s coolness. “It won’t matter, I s’pose, when I hev ter pay -three dollars--_three dollars_, mind ye--fur a hull week’s extry work!” - -He fairly stamped about the room in his fury. - -“It don’t matter, eh, when I’ll have ter hire a man ter take your -place? Be you crazy, Brandon Tarr?” - -“Guess not,” responded Don, wiping the last dish and hanging up the -towel to dry. “You must think _me_ crazy, however. Do you s’pose I’d -stayed here this season without wages?” - -“Wages!” again shrieked the old man, to whom the thought of paying -out a penny was positive pain, “Wages! an’ you a beggar--yes, sir, a -beggar!--’pendent upon my bounty, as it were.” - -Don smiled at this. - -“I’m a pretty sturdy beggar, as they used to call ’em in the old days,” -he said. - -“Wal, any way, I’m your guardeen, an’ I’ll see if you’re goin’ jest -when you like.” - -Don laughed outright now. - -“My guardian!” he responded. “I’d like to know _why_ I should have any -guardian. I’ve no property, goodness knows. And as you said about the -board receipts, _where are your papers giving you any legal control -over me?_” - -The old man was utterly taken aback at this and sat down again, -glowering at his nephew angrily, while the latter put on his hat and -coat and departed on his errand to Mrs. Hemingway’s. - -But Arad Tarr was not the man to see either money or its equivalent -slipping his grasp without strenuous efforts to retain it. His nephew -represented to him just so much hard cash saved, for if Brandon went -away Uncle Arad realized that the hiring of an extra hand would be an -absolute necessity. - -Therefore, the boy had not been gone long before the old man decided on -a line of action. He struggled into his own coat, locked up the house, -and harnessed a horse to a dilapidated light wagon. He was too careful -of his good vehicles to take anything but this out on such a nasty day. - -“That boy is a-gettin’ too upstartish!” he declared, climbing into the -wagon and chirruping to the horse. “He’s jest like Anson an’ Horace. -There was no livin’ with _them_, an’ now _he’s_ got this fool notion -inter his head erbout goin’ away! - -“But I’ll git _that_ aout o’ him,” he added, with emphasis. “If I -hain’t got no legal right ter his services, I _will_ have, now I tell -ye! Arter all I’ve done fur him an’ fur his shif’less, no ’count pa, -I ain’t goin’ ter let go o’ him till he comes of age--mos’ five years -yet.” - -He shook his head slowly at that thought. Five years of Brandon’s -services on the farm would be worth all of twenty-five hundred dollars! - -He clucked to the horse and drove on the faster at that. Suppose the -boy should take it into his head to go before he obtained the papers -which he was sure he could have made out? The idea was quite agonizing. - -“I reckon Squire Holt kin fix it up for me in short order,” he -muttered, as he urged his horse into a faster trot. “I’ll show that boy -’t he ain’t his own master, by no means!” - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -RELATING A MEETING BETWEEN UNCLE ARAD AND THE SAILOR - - -THE old man drove on through the mud and slush of the country road, the -wheels of the rickety vehicle first rattling over outcropping rocks and -boulders, and then splashing half way to their hubs in the yellow mire. - -A mile beyond his own farm he turned into a broader highway which -trended to the right--the city “pike.” Woods bordered the way on either -side and although the rain had ceased, the drops fell in showers from -the trees. It was a nasty day and the horse splashed itself to the -belly with the mire. - -Not many rods beyond the turn old Arad overtook a man walking in the -same direction that he was driving, and as the farmer rattled up, the -man stepped to one side and hailed him. - -He was a bronzed and bearded fellow, dressed in garments about as seedy -as the miser’s own clothing, and although he lacked all of twenty years -of Arad’s age, his back, as he stood there beside the cart path, seemed -almost as bent. - -“Hullo, shipmate!” was the man’s greeting, raising his hand for the -farmer to stop. “Goin’ toward the city?” - -“Wal, I be a piece,” replied Arad grudgingly. - -It was something of an effort for him to speak civilly to a casual -stranger. I presume he was afraid of wearing out the small stock of -civility he possessed. - -“Ye’re goin’ in ballast, I see,” said the stranger. “Can’t ye stow me -away there?” - -“Hey?” responded the farmer, who did not understand the other’s figure -of speech. - -“I say ye’re goin’ in ballast,” repeated the man; “yer wagon’s empty, -ye know. Give me a ride, will ye?” - -“Wal, I dunno,” said Arad slowly, with a sudden avaricious twinkle in -his eye. “I know the team’s empty, but th’ mare ain’t s’ limber ’s she -might be, an’ it’s hard trav’lin’.” - -“Got an eye on the main chance, ain’t ye, ye old land shark?” muttered -the man. Then he said aloud: “How fur ye goin’ on this road?” - -“’Bout three mile furder.” - -“What’ll ye take me that fur, for?” - -“Wall, I dunno,” began Arad. - -“Come, I’ll give ye a quarter,” said the stranger, fishing a handful of -silver from the depths of his pocket. - -The old man’s eyes flashed. - -“Jump aboard,” he said briefly, and the black bearded man sprang to the -seat with great agility. - -“Ye’re some limber,” said the old farmer, in admiration, pocketing the -quarter and starting up his horse again. - -“_You’d_ be if ye’d shinned up as many riggin’s as I hev.” - -“Ye’re a sailor, then?” - -“I be. No landlubber erbout me, is ther’? I reckon ye don’t see many -sailors in these parts?” - -“Ya-as we do,” snarled Arad impolitely; “more’n’ we wanter sometimes. -I got a nevvy who was a sailor--a cap’n. Lost at sea erbout two months -ergo. Lef’ me er great, hulkin’ boy ter take keer of.” - -“Great Peter!” exclaimed the sailor, with some astonishment. “Ye don’t -mean Cap’n Horace Tarr?” - -“Yes, I do mean Cap’n Horace Tarr,” growled Arad. “He was my nevvy, an’ -it’s his no ’count, wuthless boy I’ve got on my han’s. My name’s Arad -Tarr--’n’ th’ only Tarr ’t ever knew ’nough ter make money an’ keep it.” - -The sailor looked at the weazened old figure curiously. - -“He didn’t favor you none,” he said. - -“Who didn’t? Horace Tarr? I reckon he didn’t!” exclaimed Arad. “He -favored a ca’f more’n he did anything else, ’cordin’ ter _my_ notion. -Did ye know him?” added the old man curiously. - -“In course I did. I sailed with him--er--lots. Why, I was with him this -’ere las’ v’y’ge o’ his.” - -“Ye don’t mean it!” - -“I guess I do.” - -“Wal, wal!” exclaimed Uncle Arad, roused out of himself for a moment. -“So you was on that raf’ fur so long, eh? Must er been quite an -experience. An’ Horace is really dead, is he?” - -“Dead’s a door nail,” the sailor declared. “Can’t be no mistake erbout -_that_. We had ter pitch him overboard--er--another feller and me; -’cause ’twas so all fired hot, ye know. Him and Paulo Montez both went -ter the sharks.” - -The old man shuddered. - -“An’ he died without leavin’ a cent, eh? Poor’s poverty! I allus -knew how ’twould be. ’N’ I s’pose Anson--fur he mus’ be dead by this -time--died poor, too.” - -The sailor looked at the old man sharply out of the corners of his -eyes, and after a minute spoke again. - -“Yes,” he said slowly, in confirmation of Uncle Arad’s remark. “I was -with the cap’n at the last.” - -“What ye doin’ ’way up here?” inquired the farmer, with sudden interest. - -“Well, I come up ter see Cap’n Tarr’s boy.” - -“Hey?” ejaculated the farmer. “Come ter see Brandon?” - -“That’s it,” said the sailor, nodding. - -“But ye didn’t see him?” - -“Yes, I did; over yonder in the woods.” - -“Why, he didn’t say nothin’ erbout it ter me,” gasped the old man. - -“Mebbe ye ain’t seen him since,” suggested the sailor. - -“When was yer er-talkin’ with him?” - -“Long erbout two hours back, ’r so.” - -“’Fore dinner?” - -“I reckon so. I seen him over in the woods yonder, an’ talked with him -quite a spell. I started ’long back towards the city a’gin, but I found -out I’d lost--er--somethin’, an’ went back ter hev er look fur it.” - -“What was it ye lost?” asked Uncle Arad, with perhaps a momentary -thought that, if it was of value and had been lost on his farm, he -might be able to find it himself. - -“Nothin’ but a piece of paper.” - -“Find it?” - -“Not me. Must ha’ blowed away. Howsomever, that ain’t ter the p’int. -It’s funny yer nevvy never tol’ erbout meetin’ me.” - -Old Arad was silent for a minute. - -“I wish ye hadn’t come ’round here, fillin’ up his head with fool -notions,” he grumbled. “Seein’ you must be what set him up ter leavin’ -so sudden.” - -“Goin’ to leave ye, is he?” asked the sailor quickly. - -“He _thinks_ he is,” returned the farmer, with a snarl. “Th’ little -upstart! But I’ll l’arn him who’s who, now I tell ye? Goin’ ter New -York, is he? Wal, I reckon not.” - -“To New York? What’s he goin’ there fur? I sh’d think ye’d want him -right here on th’ farm,” said the sailor, with a cunning smile. - -“So I do--an’ right here is where he’s goin’ ter stay,” declared Uncle -Arad wrathfully. “I’m er-goin’ down ter Square Holt’s ter see erbout it -now. I’m either goin’ ter hev him bound ter me till he’s twenty-one, ’r -git p’inted him gardeen. _Then_, I reckon he won’t talk no more erbout -runnin’ off ter New York.” - -“Yes, I reckon this place is the best fur a boy like him,” acquiesced -the sailor. “An’ then, ye orter be his guardeen. S’posin’ he had -prop’ty fallin’ to him now--you’d orter hev th’ handlin’ of it till -he’s of age.” - -“Prop’ty! I guess ther’ won’t be none ter fall to him,” sniffed Uncle -Arad. “_I_ ain’t a dyin’ man, by no means, an’ his pa didn’t leave a -cent. Didn’t even hev that brig o’ his’n insured.” - -“I dunno erbout that,” said the sailor shrewdly. - -“What don’t ye know erbout?” demanded Arad suspiciously. “The Silver -Swan wasn’t insured, were she?” - -“I reckon not.” - -“Then what d’ye mean?” - -Arad’s piercing eyes were fixed searchingly on his companion’s face, -but the sailor was not easily disturbed. - -“Well, now, I’ll put a case to ye--jest a s’posin’ case, now mind ye,” -he said calmly, as Arad, now thoroughly interested in the matter, let -the old horse walk along the muddy highway. “S’posin’ now this ’ere -Cap’n Tarr had knowed erbout a buried treasure, ’r some sich thing, an’ -he’d writ erbout it, an’ give the papers ter another man--his mate, fur -instance--ter be given ter his son. - -“Now, nat’rally, if ther’ was any money in it fur this Brandon, _you’d_ -orter know erbout it, hadn’t ye? You bein’ th’ boy’s guardeen, you’d -orter handle that money; un’ if _I_ could help you ter the gettin’ o’ -that money, _I’d_ orter hev a part of it, eh?” - -Old Arad stared at him with wide open eyes, and the hand which held the -reins trembled visibly. - -“Now, s’posin’ the mate sends them papers to Brandon through the mail, -’r writes a letter erbout ’em--_you’d_ orter know it, hadn’t ye? You’d -orter see that letter, or them papers, an’ you’d jest drop me a line, -an’ _I_ c’d help ye get ’em, ’cause I know all erbout sich things, -bein’ a sea farin’ man fur thirty year.” - -Uncle Arad moistened his trembling lips before he could speak. - -“But this is only s’posin’,” he said quaveringly. - -“But, _s’pose ’twas so!_ S’pose I seen them papers passed, an’ s’pose -I heered Cap’n Tarr say with his own lips ther’ was ’nough suthin ’r -other (I couldn’t ketch th’ word--gold, mebbe) there ter make a man -fabulously rich?” - -“Fabulously rich!” repeated Arad. - -“That’s it; fabulously rich, is wot he said. An’ if it’s so, _you_ -orter to get the letters from the post office, an’ open every one of -’em, hadn’t ye?” - -Uncle Arad nodded quickly. - -“O course ye had; and if the letter or papers sh’d come from Caleb -Wetherbee--thet’s the mate’s name; he’s in the ’orspital yet--you’d let -me know, an’ then we’d see wot we sh’d see, eh?” - -The sailor poked the old man familiarly in the ribs and slapped his own -knee. - -“That’s wot we’d do, shipmate,” he said. “Wot say ye? Ye’ll need me, -fur I reckon wherever th’ money’s hid, ye’ll need a sailor ter go ’long -with ye--er ter git it fur ye.” - -“I--I couldn’t go; my health ain’t good ’nough,” declared the farmer. -“Then--then--mebbe there ain’t nothin’ in it.” - -“Well, mebbe there ain’t,” said the sailor calmly, preparing to -dismount as the old man pulled up before a house; “an’ then ag’in -mebbe there is. Leastways, I adwise ye ter jest keep yer eyes open -fur letters f’om New York. An’ when one comes from Caleb Wetherbee, -p’r’aps ye’ll want ter talk with me furder.” - -“Where--where kin I find ye?” Arad asked, in a shaking voice. - -“Jest write ter Jim Leroyd, New England Hotel, Water Street, New -York--that’ll fetch me,” declared the sailor briskly. “Now remember, -old feller,” he added meaningly, “ye won’t be able ter do nothin’ with -them papers ’thout me. If ye try it ye’ll be up a stump ter oncet. Now, -take keer o’ yerself!” - -He turned away and rolled along the road toward the distant city, while -Uncle Arad climbed down from the wagon. - -“Fabulously rich!” he muttered to himself, as he fastened the horse to -the hitching post with trembling hands. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -INTRODUCING “SQUARE” HOLT AND HIS OPINIONS - - -“SQUARE” HOLT, who was a justice of the peace as well as the judge -of the probate court of the town, was a very tall and very angular -individual with a massive development of nose (old Arad Tarr’s was -as nothing beside it) and a wide mouth continually drawn into a -grim line, as though such a thing as a smile had never crossed his -imagination--if, indeed, he had an imagination. - -He had no children of his own (which was an exceedingly fortunate -thing for the unborn generations) and had apparently forgotten his own -boyhood. Boys, in his estimation, were made to work--the harder the -better. In this he was of the same opinion as Uncle Arad Tarr. - -Old Arad was at once admitted to the front parlor of the house at -which he had stopped, which was used by the judge as his office when -he was not at the town hall. Here, seated in one of the prim hair -cloth chairs, with which his soiled and badly fitting garments hardly -harmonized, the old man told his story. - -“That boy, square, comes o’ the shif’lessest kind o’ stock, ye know, -ef his gran’father _was_ my own brother,” he said, in conclusion. “You -’member Ezra?” - -“Oh yes, I remember Ezra,” said the judge, grimly. - -“Wal, then, ye know what a shif’less loose j’inted critter he was in -business matters, an’ Anson an’ Horace was as like him as two peas aout -o’ the same pod. An’ now this ’ere Brandon hez got th’ same traits o’ -no ’count shif’lessness.” - -“Very likely, very likely,” said the other, with sternness. “I’ve seen -the youth, I think, out gunning quite frequently--a most objectionable -practice.” - -“Ye’re right, square,” old Arad exclaimed, with eagerness. “Jest er -firin’ erway good powder an’ shot ’t cost money. Thet boy hez airnt -money erhelpin’ of the neighbors lots o’ times, ter waste on powder an’ -shot. He’s a dretful bad boy.” - -“From what you say, neighbor,” said the judge, with confidence, “I -should say that the proper place for the young rascal was the State -reform school----” - -“Oh, no, no, square,” exclaimed Arad, in sudden terror at the thought -of losing Don’s services in this way. “’Tain’t as bad as that. I kin -manage him, once give me legal ’thority. - -“Ye see, his pa left him ’ithout a cent, an’ I thought it didn’t make -a bit er diff’rance ’bout his havin’ a guardeen--’twould er been some -expense, ye know, ter hev th’ papers made aout; but since he’s got this -’ere wild goose notion o’ leavin’ me, I begin ter see that I sh’d hev -some holt on him fur--hem!--fur his own good, as it were.” - -“Quite right,” declared the judge confidently. “And so the boy--this -Brandon--proposes to go away at once, does he?” - -“So he has th’ audacity ter tell me,” responded old Arad. “He declared -he was goin’ termorrer mornin’. Ye know, square, I’m too broke up ’ith -the rheumatiz ter tackle him as he’d orter be tackled. A good hidin’ -would be th’ best thing fur him, in _my_ ’pinion.” - -“And in my opinion, too,” quoth the judge. “Now, of course this matter -will have to be done when the court meets next week, Mr. Tarr; but I’ll -come up and see the youth tonight, and I think that between us we can -make him see that this is the place for him to stay, and that there -is to be no running away from it,” and the judge shut his thin lips -together very grimly. - -“That’s it, square; thank ’ee,” said the old man, shambling out of the -house. “Dretful weather we been havin’, ain’t it?” - -Then he climbed into his wagon and drove back toward home, chuckling as -he went. - -“I reckon I’ve put a spoke in _his_ wheel,” he muttered, referring to -his nephew. - -As he pursued his homeward way, however, thoughts of the sailor with -whom he had so recently conversed, and of that conversation itself, -filled his mind. - -“I don’t persume thet ther’s anythin’ in it,” he muttered, thoughtfully -stroking the wisp of beard on his pointed chin. “Horace Tarr never had -no luck no-how, an’ I don’t see how he’d come ter know anythin’ erbout -this ’ere treasure. P’r’aps that sailor was jest a yarnin’ ter me.” - -Still, the old man could not drive the thought out of his mind. - -“Fabulously rich!” he repeated. “That’s what he heard Horace say. This -’ere mate of the Silver Swan was a chum er Horace’s, like ’nough, an’ I -s’pose if ther’ _is_ anythin’ in it, he’ll jes’ try ter git it himself. -An’ then--er--Brandon’ll never see a cent of it. - -“It really is my duty ter look aout fur th’ boy’s int’rest,” continued -the old hypocrite. “’F I’m goin’ ter be his guardeen, I’d orter know -what’s goin’ on; an’ this _may_ mean money fur--fur Brandon.” - -He wiped his wrinkled brow with a soiled handkerchief, the reins lying -idly on his knee the while. Somehow, despite the chilliness of the day, -the perspiration stood in great drops upon his forehead. - -“S’posin’,” he thought, “ther’ should be a letter at Sam Himes’ fur him -now, f’om that Wetherbee feller? ’Twouldn’t no way do fur a boy ter git -letters that his guardeen didn’t know nothin’ erbout, an’ ther’ ain’t -no doubt thet, if Brandon got it, he wouldn’t show it ter me. I--I -b’lieve I’ll drive ’round thet way an’ see.” - -He touched up the mare again and, upon reaching the forks of the road, -turned to the north once more and drove along the ridge until he -reached a little gambrel roofed cottage on the westerly side of the -highway. - -This was the post office where Sam Himes held forth, and to which the -lumbering old stage brought one mail each day. - -Here he dismounted from the wagon again, and went into the house, being -greeted at the door by the customary “Haow air ye?” of the postmaster. - -“I was jes’ thinkin’ er sendin’ daown ter your haouse, Arad,” declared -the postmaster, who was no respecter of persons, and called everybody -by his first name, being familiar with them from the nature of his -calling. “Here’s a letter fur yeou an’ one fur th’ boy--Don.” - -He thrust two missives into the old man’s hand, and Arad stumbled out -to his wagon again, his fingers shaking with excitement. Glancing -at the two envelopes he recognized one at once, and clutched it -avariciously. It was from a brokerage firm in New York, and contained -his monthly dividend for certain investments which he had made. - -The other letter, however, he did not look at until he had turned his -horse about and started her jogging along toward home again. Then he -drew forth the envelope and studied it carefully. - -It was addressed in a big, scrawling hand to: “Master Brandon Tarr, -Chopmist, Rhode Island,” yet, despite the plainness of the address, old -Arad, after a hasty and half fearful glance around, broke the seal and -drew forth the inclosed page. - -He looked first at the signature, and finding it to be “Caleb -Wetherbee,” he began to peruse the epistle, looking up from time to -time to glance along the road, that nobody might catch him in the act -of reading the letter intended only for his nephew’s eye. - -Uncle Arad’s sight was not so keen for written words as it once had -been, but he managed to stumble through the document, which read as -follows: - - NEW YORK MARINE HOSPITAL, - April the 2d, 1892. - - MASTER BRANDON TARR, - - SIR:--As I am laid up in dry dock, as you might say, and can’t get up - to see you right off as I promised your poor father, I am taking the - first chance these swabs of doctors have given me, to write this. - - Me and another man was all that was saved off the raft, as you - probably know now, for your father was hurt so bad that there wasn’t - any chance for him. He died ten days after we left the brig. - - I want you should pack up your togs, leave that farm where no son of - Captain Horace Tarr ought to dig all his life, and come down here to - New York to see me. I shall be out of this hospital before long, and - then we’ve got some work to do, like I promised your father before he - died. - - Captain Tarr put some papers in my hands which is of great value, - providing they can be used at once. It seems your uncle Anson died - several months ago in Kimberley, South Africa, and while he was at - Cape Town loading up the brig, a fellow come aboard and told your - father about it, and brung these papers. - - Among the papers (though the fellow didn’t know it, so I understood - from the few words poor Captain Tarr let drop) was a package of - diamonds which he hid aboard the old brig, and was afraid to take - with him on the raft for fear of the sailors that was with us. These - papers I’ve got he said would tell where the diamonds was hid. I - ain’t opened them yet, so I don’t know. - - Now you may think this here is no use because the Silver Swan is - wrecked; but I don’t believe she has gone to pieces yet; nor your - father didn’t think she would right off. We would have done better - by sticking to her, any way, I reckon. She was driv upright onto the - reef, and I’ll bet she’s sticking there yet. - - If you come down here to once, and I can get onto my old timber leg - again, we’ll charter a boat and go down there and see about it. If - it is as your father said--and I believe it--there’s enough of them - diamonds to make you another Vanderbilt or Jay Gould. - - Just you leave the land shark of an uncle that you’re staying with, - and trust yourself to - Your true friend, - CALEB WETHERBEE, - Mate of the Silver Swan. - - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -SOMETHING ABOUT LEAVING THE FARM - - -CERTAINLY Uncle Arad Tarr had never been so filled with astonishment in -his life as he was upon reading the letter of the mate of the Silver -Swan to the captain’s son. - -Diamonds enough to make Brandon a second Vanderbilt! The thought almost -made Arad’s old heart stand still. - -“Who’d er-thought it--who’d ever er-thought it?” he muttered weakly, -folding the letter once more, and thrusting it into the pocket of his -patched coat. - -Then he picked up the reins and drove on, shaking his head slowly. - -“Diamonds enough ter make him rich!” he murmured, with an avaricious -contortion of his face. “Jest ter think o’ Anson Tarr ever gittin’ -more’n his bread and butter. It don’t seem ter me he c’d ha’ got ’em -honest.” - -He was very ready now, considering the guilty thoughts there were in -his own heart, to declare the fortune gained by his nephew Anson to be -dishonestly obtained. - -“It jest stands ter reason,” he went on, “that this ’ere Caleb -Wetherbee isn’t er--er trustworthy person to hev charge o’ Brandon--or -them di’monds either. I mus’ hev them papers made out jes’ as soon as -th’ square kin do it, an’ then I kin find that ’ere wreck--er hev it -found--m’self.” - -His mind at once reverted to Jim Leroyd, the sailor with whom he had -entered into a compact to “divide the spoils,” and he shook his head -again doubtfully. - -“He ain’t jes’ th’ man I’d er chosen ter do th’ work fur me,” muttered -the old sinner; “but then, he’s the old sailor I know, an’ it’s got ter -take a sailor, I s’pose, ter go ter them furrin parts. - -“He knows suthin’ erbout it already, too, an’ it wouldn’t do ter let -him git mad an’ go an’ tell this ’ere Wetherbee; then mebbe I couldn’t -git th’ papers from him. But th’ fust thing is ter hev thet ’p’intment -as guardeen fixed up.” - -Brandon was in the yard when he arrived, and good naturedly put up the -horse for him. - -“I’ve seen Mrs. Hemingway, uncle,” he said cheerfully, “and she’ll -be up here tomorrow morning. I shall take the stage to town in the -morning, and go to New York on the evening train, I guess.” - -“Ye will, eh?” returned Uncle Arad, showing his teeth. - -“Yes. Now you mustn’t get uppish, uncle. You didn’t suppose I would -stay here very long any way, did you?” - -“I s’pect ye’ll stay here a spell,” replied the old man, with a cunning -leer. “I ain’t fed an’ su’ported ye in lux’ry fur nigh four year fur -nothin’. Ye’ll stay here as my ward fur yer minor’ty, now I tell ye.” - -But Brandon was laughing over the thought of Uncle Arad’s “luxury,” -and did not hear the last of his speech. - -He did the most of the chores about the house and barn, as was usual, -and helped prepare the extremely frugal meal which Uncle Arad’s larder -afforded. - -“By George!” he thought, as he set about this latter task, “if I was in -the forecastle of some old ‘hooker’ I shouldn’t have worse fare than -this. I declare I’ll go off tomorrow before breakfast. This will be my -last meal at Uncle Arad’s table for one spell at least.” - -But he said nothing further about going away, knowing that it would -only anger the old man. Before the dishes were cleared away after -the meal, there was the sound of wheels at the gate, and in a moment -somebody knocked sharply. - -Old Arad himself arose and hobbled to the door, admitting “Square” -Holt into the miserable den of a kitchen. If it had been the President -himself, the old man would not have opened the “best room.” - -“Go aout an’ take the square’s boss ’roun’ ter the shed,” harshly -commanded Uncle Arad, and Brandon did as he was bidden, vaguely -suspecting that something was brewing. - -When he came into the kitchen again after doing the errand, the parrot -beaked judge was ready for him. - -“Young man,” began the judge severely, “your uncle, Mr. Tarr, who has -done so much for you for the past four years, tells me that you have -made a sorry return for all his kindness and bounty.” - -“In what?” demanded Brandon rather sharply, for he considered this -interference on the justice’s part as wholly uncalled for. - -“Is _that_ the way you speak to your elders, young man?” cried the -judge, aghast. “Have you no respect for gray hairs?” - -“I do not see why I should respect _you_, Mr. Holt,” replied Don, -with some temper. “You’ve never given me cause to and I consider that -your questions and remarks are entirely unwarranted. I propose to go -away from my uncle’s house (to whom, by the way, my father paid three -dollars per week board for me up to last fall, and for whom I have done -the work of a regularly hired hand during most of the time I have been -here) I propose to go away, I say, and nothing _you_ or uncle can say -will stop me!” - -“Hoighty toighty, young man!” cried the judge; “do you realize to whom -you are speaking?” - -“Yes, I do,” responded Brandon hotly. “To one who is known, far and -wide, as the meanest man in Scituate!” - -The judge’s ample nasal organ flushed to the color of a well grown -beet; but before he could reply old Arad put in _his_ oar: - -“What d’ye mean, ye little upstart?” (Fancy his calling Brandon -_little_, who already stood a good three inches taller than himself!) -“What d’ye mean, sayin’ that I was ever paid fur yer keep? Ye’ve been -nuthin’ but an expense an’ trouble ter me ever since ye come here.” - -“That’s an untruth, and you know it,” declared Don, who had quite lost -his temper by this time, and did not behave himself in just the manner -I should have preferred my hero to behave; but Brandon Tarr was a very -human boy, and, I have found, heroes are much like other folks and not -by any means perfect. - -“Young man, mark my words!” sputtered “Square” Holt, “you will yet come -to some bad end.” - -“I’ll git all this aout o’ ye, afore I’m done with ye, Brandon Tarr,” -declared Uncle Arad, “if I hev ter hire somebody ter lick ye.” - -“You wouldn’t do that--you’re too stingy to hire anybody to ‘lick’ me,” -responded Don tartly. “Now I don’t propose to listen to any more of -this foolishness. I’m going away, and I’m going away tomorrow morning. -I’ve eaten my last meal at this house, Uncle Arad!” - -“Is that the way to speak to your guardian?” said the judge, with -horror in his tone. “Mr. Tarr, you are too lenient with this young -scoundrel. He should be sent to the State reform school as I suggested.” - -“But then I wouldn’t get no work aout o’ him,” the farmer hastened to -say. “I--I’ve got ter git the money back I’ve spent on him, ye know.” - -Brandon laughed scornfully. - -“I should like to know by what right you call him my guardian, Mr. -Holt?” he asked. - -“Wal, I’m goin’ ter be yer guardeen--right off,” Arad hastened to -inform him, before the “square” could reply. “The square’s goin’ ter -make the papers aout ter oncet.” - -“They’ll be funny looking documents, I reckon,” said Don, in disgust. -“I understand that Mr. Holt has done several pretty crooked things -since he’s been in office, but this is going a little too far.” - -“Young man!” cried the judge, trying to wither the audacious youth with -a glance. - -But Don didn’t “wither” at all. - -“If you know anything at all about law,” he said to the judge, with -sarcasm, “you know that a guardian can’t be appointed in an hour. -Legal notice must be given and reason shown _why_ a guardian should be -appointed. I’ve no property, and Uncle Arad only wants to control me so -as to have my work. And, besides all that, I am old enough to choose my -own guardian, and you can bet your last cent that I shouldn’t choose -Arad Tarr.” - -“It ain’t so! ’tain’t no sich thing, is it, square?” cried old Arad, -in alarm. “Ain’t I th’ proper person to be ’p’inted over my own nevvy? -Ther’ ain’t nobody else got anythin’ ter do with it.” - -“He can tell you what he likes,” responded Brandon quickly; “but I’ve -given you the facts. Now I’ve heard enough of this, and I’m going to -bed.” Then he added, turning to Holt: “When you go out to fleece a lamb -next time, Mr. Holt, be pretty sure that the lamb is just as innocent -as you think it.” - -He turned away without another word then and left the kitchen, mounting -to his bedroom in the second story of the old house, leaving the -baffled conspirators in a state of wrathful bewilderment. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -ANOTHER LETTER FROM NEW YORK - - -“MR. TARR,” declared the judge, when Brandon had, for the moment, so -successfully routed them and retired, “you are doing a very wrong thing -in shielding that young reprobate from the reform school. That’s where -he belongs. Send him there, sir, send him there!” - -“I never thought he’d ha’ shown disrespect fur the law,” gasped Uncle -Arad weakly. - -“Disrespect!” cried the judge, “I never was so insulted in all my life. -That boy will be hung yet, you mark my words!” - -“I never thought it of Brandon,” said the farmer, shaking his head. - -He seemed quite overcome to think that his nephew had dared defy the -law, or its representative. To Uncle Arad the law was a very sacred -thing; he always aimed to keep within its pale in his transactions. - -“You’ll never be able to do anything with that boy here,” declared -“Square” Holt. “A strait jacket is the only thing for him.” - -“But if he goes there what’ll be the use o’ my bein’ his guardeen?” -queried Arad. - -Then he hesitated an instant as a new phase of the situation came to -him. - -“If Brandon was under lock an’ key--jes’ where I c’d put my han’ on him -when I wanted him--I c’d go right erbout this ’ere treasure business, -an’ git it fur--fur _him_,” he thought, yet shivering in his soul at -the thought of the wrong he was planning to do his nephew. - -“I--I dunno but ye’re right, square,” he said quaveringly. “I--I don’ -wanter see th’ boy go right ter perdition, ’fore my very eyes, as ye -might say, an’ if ye think the reformin’ influences o’ the institution -is what he needs----” - -“The best thing in the world for him,” declared the judge, drawing on -his driving gloves. “The _only_ thing, I might say, that will keep him -out of jail--where he belongs, the young villain!” - -“But--but haow kin it be fixed up?” asked Arad, in some doubt. - -“You leave that to me,” said the judge pompously. “I’ll show that young -reprobate that he has defied the wrong man when he defies _me_. I’ll -give him all the law he wants--more, perhaps, than he bargained for.” - -“But s’pose he tries to run away in th’ mornin’, as he threatened?” - -“All you’ve got to do, Mr. Tarr,” said the judge, shaking one long -finger at the farmer, “is to keep a close watch on that young man. -Don’t give him a chance to run away. Lock him into his room tonight -and keep him there till we can--er, hem!--straighten this out. I think -it will be a very easy matter to place the case before the court in -such manner that the necessity for immediate action will be at once -admitted. - -“Why,” declared the judge, warming up to his subject, “I wonder, sir, -how you--an old man” (Uncle Arad winced at that), “and in feeble -health--have been able to remain here alone with that young scoundrel -all this winter. I wonder that he has not laid violent hands on you.” - -“Wal, he _has_ been some abusive, square, but I wouldn’t say nothin’ -erbout that,” said Uncle Arad hesitatingly. - -“Don’t compound villainy by shielding it,” responded the judge, with -righteous indignation. “This matter has already gone too far. When our -quiet town is to be aroused and made a scene of riot, such as has been -enacted--er--_here_ tonight, sir, it is time something was done. Such -young hoodlums as this Brandon Tarr should be shut up where they will -do no harm to either their friends or neighbors. - -“If I had _my_ way,” added the judge viciously, “I’d shut up every boy -in town in the reform school!” - -Then he marched out to his carriage, and Uncle Arad, after locking the -door, sat down to think the matter over. - -If he was successful in his nefarious plan of shutting Brandon up in -the reformatory institution of the State, the getting of the diamonds, -which Captain Tarr had hidden aboard the Silver Swan, would be all -plain sailing. - -Of course he would have to lose Brandon’s work on the farm; but he -had seen, by the boy’s open defiance of “Square” Holt, that he cared -nothing for the law or its minion--and Uncle Arad dared not allow his -nephew out of his sight for fear he would run away. - -To _his_ mind there was very little doubt that the attempt to shut -Brandon up would be successful. Judge Holt was a most powerful man -(politically) in the town, and he would leave no stone unturned to -punish the youth who had so fearlessly defied him. - -Judge Holt, although disliked by many of his townsmen who realized that -some of his methods and actions were illegal, still swayed the town on -election days, and carried things with a high hand the remainder of the -year. Old Arad chuckled to think how easily Brandon’s case would be -settled by the doughty “square.” - -Then, remembering the suggestion the judge had made just before his -departure, he rose hastily from his chair and quietly ascended to the -floor above. Here Brandon and himself slept in two small bedrooms on -opposite sides of the hall. - -The doors were directly opposite each other, and, although such things -as locks were unknown in the house on any except the outside doors, the -old man quickly lit upon a scheme that he thought remarkably clever. - -He obtained a piece of stout clothes line and fastened it back and -forth from handle to handle of the two bedroom doors, which, opening -into their respective rooms, were now arranged so that the occupants of -neither apartment could open the portals. - -Then, chuckling softly over his sharp trick, the old farmer crept -down the stairs once more to the kitchen, feeling moderately sure of -finding Brandon in his room in the morning. - -But one narrow window, looking out upon the barnyard, was in his -nephew’s apartment, and as the sash had long since been nailed in, and -the shutters closed on the outside, Uncle Arad felt secure on this -score. - -“I’ll starve him inter submission, ef I can’t do it no other way,” he -muttered angrily. - -Seating himself once more in his old armchair, he drew forth the two -letters obtained that day at the post office, adjusted his steel bowed -spectacles which, in a moment of extravagance, he had purchased of -a traveling peddler, and opened the epistle from his brokers which, -heretofore, he had not read. - -He slit the envelope carefully with the blade of his jack knife. More -than one man had torn or otherwise mutilated a check by opening an -envelope too carelessly. - -But instead of the printed form and generous draft which was the -usual monthly inclosure of the firm, all the envelope contained was -a typewritten letter, which the old farmer read with something like -horror: - - Office of - BENSELL, BENSELL & MARSDEN, - 513 Wall St., New York, - April 2, 1892. - - MR. ARAB TARR, - CHOPMIST, RHODE ISLAND. - - Dear Sir: - - We beg to announce that owing to several accidents, causing a large - loss of rolling stock of the road, the B. P. & Q. has dropped - several points on the market and has passed its monthly dividend. - - We would suggest that you hold on to your stock, however, as this is - a matter which will quickly adjust itself. - - Yours sincerely, - BENSELL, BENSELL & MARSDEN. - -The letter fluttered to the floor from Uncle Arad’s nerveless -fingers. To lose money was like losing his very life, and this was no -inconsiderable sum that had gone. He had invested a large amount in B. -P. & Q. stock, and up to the present time it had paid large interest. - -“Them brokers air thieves! I know they be,” cried the old man, breaking -forth into vituperations against the innocent firm of Bensell, Bensell -& Marsden. “Ye can’t trust ’em--not an inch! I don’t b’lieve none o’ -their lyin’ stories erbout the railroad’s passin’ its div’dend. I--I’ll -go ter New York m’self, I declare I will!” - -He got up and paced the floor wrathfully. - -“Jes’ as soon as I git this matter o’ Brandon’s settled, an’ git th’ -farm work started with Jim Hemin’way fur foreman, I’ll go. I ain’t -er-goin’ ter be cheated bare faced like this ’ere.” - -Then he thought a moment, and pulling Caleb Wetherbee’s letter from its -envelope again, read it once more carefully. - -“I--I might look inter this w’ile I was there too,” he muttered slowly. -“I reckon I kin fin’ thet feller I saw terday--Leroyd, his name was, -an’ his address was New England Hotel, Water Street. I shan’t furgit -thet right off.” - -He shook his head slowly, thrust both letters into his pocket, and then -shambled off to bed in the room off the kitchen as, having locked his -nephew in, he had also locked himself _out_ of his usual bed chamber. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -BRANDON’S ARRIVAL AT THE METROPOLIS - - -LONG habit had made Uncle Arad Tarr an extremely early riser, and it -had been his custom to arouse Brandon as early as half past three or -four during the summer months, and never later than five-thirty in -winter. On the morning after he had fastened the door of his nephew’s -room, however, the old man did not seek to disturb the boy, but rising -himself before five he went about the customary duties of the house and -barn. - -In this work he missed Brandon sadly; but having made up his mind that -the boy was bound to leave him any way, old Arad was determined that he -should go to the reform school, and therefore he would have to learn to -do without his valuable services. - -To his unsophisticated mind, it seemed a very simple matter indeed for -a powerful local politician like “Square” Holt to send his nephew to -the State reformatory institution, “and no questions asked.” - -But under our present system of humane laws, and with our enlightened -legal executives, an undeserved incarceration in prison or reform -school is seldom known--outside of story books. Judge Holt was a large -man in his own community (and in his own estimation) but he had never -been beyond that community far enough to learn how very small a man he -really was. - -After the arduous labor of feeding the stock and poultry, drawing water -and bringing in wood, old Arad hardly felt equal to either the task of -preparing breakfast, or eating the same; but he did at last sit down to -what he termed “a cold snack” about seven o’clock. - -“That ’ere boy sleeps like a pig,” he muttered, with a groan, twisting -about in his chair to get an easy position for his rheumatic limbs. “I -wonder he hain’t begun er-kickin’ on th’ door, er suthin’, yit.” - -At that moment there was a noise behind him, and turning about he -beheld the subject of his thoughts standing in the doorway leading to -the floor above. - -Uncle Arad gave a shout expressing surprise and anger, and sprang to -his feet. Brandon had been surveying him coolly, with a smile on his -face, and now he laughed outright. - -“Good morning, uncle,” he said. - -He was fully dressed in his best suit, hat, overcoat and all, and -carried a traveling bag in his hand. - -“How--how did ye git aout?” sputtered Uncle Arad, in wonder. - -“How did I get out?” - -“Yes--haow did ye git aouto’ yer room?” cried the old man. - -“I wasn’t in, therefore I didn’t have to get out,” responded Brandon -calmly. - -“Ye warn’t in?” repeated his bewildered relative. - -“That’s what I said. I wasn’t in. When you crawled up stairs last -night and took all that trouble with the clothes line, I wasn’t in my -room at all. I expected some such delicate attention as that on your -part, uncle, so I took the trouble to remove my things to the spare -room at the other end of the hall, and slept there.” - -The farmer fairly gnashed his teeth in rage. - -“Where be yeou goin’?” he demanded, planting himself between his nephew -and the door. - -“Why, uncle, I thought you knew that,” said Brandon, raising his -eyebrows in apparent surprise. “I told you last night that I was going -to New York. I haven’t changed my mind since then, though I’ve modified -my plans somewhat. It’s such a pleasant morning, I believe I’ll walk -down to Rockland, take the stage from there to Hope, and go to town on -the train.” - -“Yeou will, hey? Wal, I guess not!” - -Old Arad backed up against the door as though to guard that way of -escape. His lean form was trembling with excitement, and he was really -in a pitiable state for so old a man. - -“Think not, eh?” said Brandon coolly. - -He came into the kitchen and deposited his traveling bag on a chair, -and then stepped across the room and took his rifle down from the two -hooks upon which it rested. - -Old Arad uttered a shout of alarm and darted away from the door to the -opposite side of the table. - -“Goodness me! would you shoot me?” he gasped, fairly white to his lips. - -“Don’t be a fool, uncle,” responded Brandon with asperity, opening -the hall door again and bringing in a gun case which had been standing -in the corner of the other apartment. “The rifle isn’t loaded, and, -besides, what do you suppose I’d want to shoot you for?” - -“Oh, you young villain, you!” groaned old Arad, paying for his agile -movements of the moment before by several rheumatic twinges. - -“Thanks! Well, uncle, I guess I’ll be off. I don’t suppose you’ll shake -hands with a fellow?” and Brandon stopped, with his hand on the door -latch. - -“I’ll have ye a’rested afore ye git ter Rockland!” the old man shouted, -shaking his clenched fist at him. - -“You’d better not try it,” the boy declared, with flashing eyes. - -Arad followed him outside, sputtering. - -“Ye’ll live ter rue this day, ye young villain!” he cried. “I’ll show -ye no mercy.” - -“All right; it’s all the same to me,” Brandon returned, and whistling -cheerfully, he went out of the gate and started down the road with his -burden of traveling bag and gun case. - -It was a beautiful morning, despite the rain of the day before. -True, there were puddles of muddy water standing in the road and -patches of dirty snow in the fence corners and under the hedges. But -these drawbacks did not serve to cloud either the clear azure sky or -Brandon’s bright hopes. - -Looking back at the old farm house once, before turning the bend in the -road, he had a glimpse of old Arad driving furiously out of the yard. - -“He is going to see his familiar spirit, Holt,” muttered Don, with a -smile, “and lots of good may it do him. I’ll be in town before they -catch me, and Judge Ebenezer Holt isn’t anywhere near as big a man in -town as he is here. I’ll risk all the harm they can do me now.” - -He arrived at Rockland in time for the stage to Hope, and at the latter -village took the train for Providence. Neither his uncle nor Holt had -appeared, and he made up his mind that he was well rid of them. - -Once aboard the cars he settled himself back in his seat, and drew -forth the scrap of newspaper which had dropped from the old sailor’s -note case the day before. He read it through again carefully. - -“I’ve got nearly fifty dollars (wouldn’t uncle be crazy if he knew it?) -and although that isn’t a fortune, still it ought to keep me for some -time,” he thought. “But, the question is, after I pump all I can out of -that Wetherbee, what had I better do?” - -He mused a moment in silence, and then took up the connected train of -his reflections again. - -“Fifty dollars ought to last me quite a spell--and take me quite a way, -too. Of course, I can’t hire a boat in New York to go in search of the -Silver Swan with it; but I can watch the Hydrographic Office reports, -and find out in what general direction the brig’s headed. Then I’ll get -as near to her as possible and see--what I shall see! - -“I’d give a cent” (probably he would have given a good deal more) “if -this Wetherbee was a different sort of a man. It’s a mystery to me how -father ever trusted the fellow. I always supposed that father had a -keen insight into human nature; but a man will be deceived at times, I -suppose. - -“But I won’t let this treasure idea keep me from going to work, and -working hard, too. If I don’t get the money, why I don’t want to be -roaming about the world like Uncle Anson, with nothing to do in life -but hunt for wealth. I believe I’ll get a place on some vessel any way, -for there’s a good deal of the sailor in me as there was in father. We -get it from grandfather’s folks--the Brandons--I suppose.” - -He arrived at Providence before noon, and spent the time until evening -in looking about the business portion, of the city, and especially -about the wharves. Then late in the afternoon he took the cars for New -York, arriving in the metropolis at such an hour that to go to a hotel -near the station seemed necessary. - -Although a country boy by bringing up, Brandon was not easily disturbed -by the magnitude of life in the great city. In fact, he rather enjoyed -it, and after retiring to his room at the hotel, he went to sleep -without one apprehensive thought of what the morrow might bring forth. - -[Illustration: “GOODNESS ME! WOULD YOU SHOOT ME?”] - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -THE FIRM OF ADONIRAM PEPPER & CO. - - -LEAVING his bag and gun case at the hotel. Brandon Tarr started out by -nine o’clock on the following morning, his first aim being to find and -interview the sailor who had already visited Chopmist for the purpose -of seeing him. - -“Caleb Wetherbee, New England Hotel. Water Street,” was the address, -and after considerable inquiry he found the street in question. - -It was, however, the Battery end of it and no one seemed to know -anything about the New England Hotel. Still, Don was not dismayed and -pursued his way, keeping his eyes open and himself alert among the many -new sights and sounds of the metropolis. - -The locality grew worse as he pursued his way, but he was not to be -frightened off by gangs of street gamins, or crowds of half drunken -men. Still, in these days, Water Street isn’t as bad as it was once--at -least, not by daylight. - -As he wandered along he could see down the cross streets to the wharves -and water beyond, where all sorts and conditions of seagoing craft were -gathered from all parts of the world. He sniffed the sea breeze, too, -which, to him, killed all the odor of the filth about him. - -“That’s what I want to be--a sailor,” he muttered. - -Just then something caught his eye and he stopped motionless on the -sidewalk. - -On the opposite side of the street (the river side) as though crowded -off Front Street by its more pretentious neighbors, was the office of a -shipping firm. It was in a low brick building, dingy and dirty as were -the structures about it, and a much battered sign over the door read: - - ADONIRAM PEPPER & CO., - SHIPPING MERCHANTS. - -The name was what attracted Brandon’s attention first. He had heard his -father speak of it and of the man who was “Adoniram Pepper & Co.,” and -from his description he had a desire to see this eccentric personage. - -Perhaps, also, Mr. Pepper would know the locality of the New England -Hotel, and therefore Brandon crossed the street and entered the dingy -little front office. - -On a high stool by a high desk just beside the window, sat a man with -a wonderful development of leg, a terrific shock of the reddest hair -imaginable, and a shrewd, lean face, lit up by sharp, foxy eyes. -His face was smoothly shaven and the yellow skin was covered with -innumerable wrinkles like cracks in the cheeks of a wax doll; but -whether this individual was twenty-five, or fifty-five, Brandon was -unable to guess. - -The man (a clerk, presumably) looked up with a snarl at Brandon’s -appearance. - -“Well, what do _you_ want?” he demanded. - -“Is the firm in?” asked Don, almost laughing in the other’s face, for -the red haired clerk had a huge daub of ink on the bridge of his nose -and another on his shirt front. - -“_I’m_ the firm just now,” declared the man, glowering at him as though -he was a South Sea Islander with cannibalistic tendencies. - -“Oh, you are, eh?” returned Brandon. “Well, I want to see Mr. Pepper.” - -“You do, eh?” The clerk eyed him with still greater disfavor. “You do, -eh? Well you can’t see Mr. Pepper.” - -“Why not?” - -“Well, for one reason he isn’t here--he ain’t down yet--he’s gone -away--he’s _dead_!” - -He slammed down his pen and jumped off the high stool. - -“Git out o’ here you little rapscallion!” he roared, evidently -expecting Brandon to be frightened by his vehemence. “We don’t allow no -loafing ’round this office. Git, I say, or----” - -At that instant the street door behind the amused Brandon was opened, -and with one glance at the newcomer the clerk’s jaws shut together like -a trap, he turned about and bounded to his seat on the stool with great -ability, and seizing his pen went to work on his books with monstrous -energy. - -Brandon turned about also, surprised at these proceedings, and found -a short, pudgy looking little man standing in the doorway of the -office, gazing at the clerk with a broad smile on his red face; but -upon looking closer the boy discovered that, although the mouth was -smiling, the gentleman’s eyes were very stern indeed behind the gold -rimmed eye glasses. - -“What is the meaning of this unseemly conduct, Weeks?” he asked in a -tone of displeasure. - -“I--I was just showin’ this--this young friend of mine how--how a -feller up to the Bow’ry acted t’other night,” murmured the clerk, a -sort of ghastly red color mounting into his withered face beneath the -parchment-like skin. - -“The Bowery?” repeated the gentleman, severely, and Brandon decided -that this was no other than Mr. Adoniram Pepper himself. - -“Yes, sir; Bowery Theater, you know,” responded the clerk glibly, -with an imploring side glance at Brandon. “’Twas in the play, ‘The -Buccaneer’s Bride,’ you know.” - -“No, I _don’t_ know,” replied Mr. Pepper, in disgust. “So this is your -friend, is it?” and he turned his gaze upon Brandon genially. - -“Our friendship is of rather short duration,” said Don, smiling. - -“So I presume,” returned Mr. Pepper. “Did you wish to see me?” - -“Just a moment, sir.” - -“I’ll give you two moments if you like.” Then he turned again to -the clerk and shook one fat finger at him. “One of these days I’ll -discharge you, Weeks,” he said sternly. - -“I expect so,” groaned the clerk. “And then what’ll I do?” - -Mr. Pepper looked at him a moment silently. - -“Then you’ll go and lie somewhere else, I suppose. You _will_ lie, -Alfred Weeks, and I suppose I might as well keep you here and let you -lie to me, as to turn you loose upon your fellow men. Well, well! Now, -young man;” he turned with a sigh from the clerk and again looked at -Brandon. - -“I suppose you are Mr. Pepper?” began Brandon. - -“I--sup--pose--I--am,” replied the gentleman, with great care, -scrutinizing the face of the captain’s son with marked interest. - -“Let’s see, what is your name?” he said: “or, no, you needn’t tell me. -I know it already. Your name is Tarr, and you are Captain Horace Tarr’s -son!” - -“Yes, sir, I am,” Brandon replied in surprise. - -“I knew it, I knew it!” declared Mr. Pepper, shaking both the boy’s -hands so violently that the eye glasses, which had a hard enough time -generally in staying on the little man’s nose, tumbled off, and were -only caught and saved from destruction by great agility on Mr. Pepper’s -part. - -“My dear boy! I’d have known you if I’d met you in Timbuctoo!” he -declared. “Come into my office and tell me all about yourself. I’ve -been thinking about you ever since--er--your poor father’s death. I’ve -got something to tell you, too.” - -He led Brandon toward the inner door, marked “Private,” and opening it, -disclosed a comfortably furnished room with a fire in the grate, and a -general air of cheerfulness about it. - -“Come right in,” he repeated, and then shut the door behind his visitor. - -But no sooner was the door closed than the acrobatic clerk was off his -stool, and had his ear fitted to the keyhole with a celerity which -denoted much practice in the art of eavesdropping. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -IN WHICH BRANDON VENTURES INTO RATHER DISREPUTABLE SOCIETY - - -“MY dear boy, sit down!” exclaimed Mr. Pepper, motioning Brandon to a -chair. “Sit down and let me look at you.” - -He himself took a chair at a desk by the window and studied the boy -intently for several moments. Meanwhile Brandon was making a mental -examination of the shipping merchant as well. - -Adoniram Pepper was a little, rotund man with a good deal of color -in his face and very little hair on his head. His mouth was always -smiling, but at times, as Brandon had already seen, the gray eves could -be very stern indeed behind the gold rimmed glasses, which latter had -such hard work remaining upon Mr. Pepper’s squat nose. - -“Yes, sir, you are the perfect picture of your father,” declared the -shipping merchant at last. “I thought when I read of his death that we -should never see his like again; but you have the promise of all his -outward characteristics, at least. I hope you’ve his inner ones, too.” - -“I hope so,” replied Brandon, pleased indeed at such praise of his -father. - -“He was a good man,” continued Mr. Pepper ruminatively. “By the way, -what’s your name?” - -“Brandon, sir.” - -“Oh yes, I remember now. Your father talked to me of you. He wanted you -to follow the sea, too, and I suppose that is what you’ve come down -here to New York for, eh?” - -“Yes, I hope to go to sea,” responded Brandon slowly. - -Had he not remembered his experience with Caleb Wetherbee, without -doubt Brandon would have opened his heart to the eccentric merchant and -told him all; but bearing in mind the (to him) evident treachery of the -mate of the Silver Swan, he was not ready to take into his confidence -every friend of his father who happened to turn up. - -“I thought so, I thought so!” exclaimed Mr. Pepper, rubbing his fat -hands softly together. “The sea, by all means, my boy. That’s where -I’ve obtained my living--and something beside--for many years, though -in a little different way from your father. Captain Tarr commanded one -of my vessels before he purchased the Silver Swan.” - -“Yes, so he has told me,” responded Brandon. - -“It was a sad thing--his loss at sea,” said Mr. Pepper. - -He still smiled, but there was moisture on his eye glasses, and he -removed and wiped them gently on a silk handkerchief. - -“And he left you hardly a penny’s worth?” he continued interrogatively. - -“I have only about fifty dollars,” Brandon replied briefly. - -“Only fifty dollars,” repeated the shipping merchant softly. “Not -much--more than I had, though, when I went out to seek my fortune; but -I had friends--powerful friends--and so have you, Brandon.” - -“Not many of them, I fancy,” Don returned, smiling. - -“Not many, perhaps: but _some_,” the other declared with confidence, -“and one of them is Adoniram Pepper.” - -“Thank you, Mr. Pepper,” said Don. “I hope I shall be worthy of your -kindness.” - -“No doubt of that--no doubt of that,” rejoined the merchant, beaming -upon him benignantly. “But to _talk_ isn’t enough for Adoniram Pepper; -I want to _do_ something for you, my boy.” - -“I--I don’t know just what you can do for me, sir,” said Brandon -doubtfully. - -“Don’t know? Why, you want to go to sea, don’t you?” - -“Yes, sir; I think I do.” - -“Then I _can_ help you,” declared the merchant. “I’ve several -vessels--three are in port at the present time--and it will be strange -indeed if I can’t find a berth on one of them for you.” - -“But I’m no sailor yet; I’ve got to learn,” objected Don. - -“So I suppose; but I’ll risk your learning fast enough. Now, where -would you like to go, and what position shall I give you?” and Mr. -Pepper settled himself deeper into his chair, and looked as though he -was prepared to offer Don any position he craved, from cook’s assistant -to captain. - -Brandon felt just a little bewildered by all this, and probably showed -his bewilderment on his face. - -“I’ll tell you what I have now,” went on Mr. Pepper. “There’s the brig -Calypso, loading for Port Said--she sails tomorrow; and the clipper -ship Frances Pepper (my sister’s name, you know) unloading from Rio, -and bound back there and to Argentine ports in a fortnight; and then -there’s the whaleback, Number Three.” - -“The whaleback?” queried Brandon in perplexity. - -“Yes, sir, whaleback; a whaleback steamer, you know. Didn’t you ever -see one?” - -Brandon shook his head. - -“Well, you’ll have a chance to,” declared Mr. Pepper. “These whalebacks -are something new. Lots o’ folks don’t believe in ’em; but I do. I -bought the third one the company ever built, and it lies at one of my -wharves now, being fitted up.” - -“But where will _that_ go?” Brandon inquired with interest. - -Mr. Pepper rubbed his bald pate reflectively. - -“Well,” he said, “that I don’t know yet. I haven’t decided. I’ve got a -scheme, but whether ’twill work or not, I can’t say. I must find a man -to command her first. I don’t suppose _you’d_ feel like doing that, -would you?” and the ship owner laughed jollily. - -“I’m afraid not; perhaps, though, there’d be some other place on her I -could fill with satisfaction to you.” - -“Perhaps so. If I put her in the passenger trade, how would you like -to be purser--assistant purser, of course, till you learn the duties?” - -“I think I should like it,” replied Brandon, with some hesitation, -however; “provided, of course, that I could take it at all.” - -“Eh? Not take it? Why not?” demanded Mr. Pepper. - -“Well, first I want to see my father’s old mate--one of the men saved -from the raft, you know--about--well, about a matter concerning the -wreck. Perhaps, then, if you can give me a berth, I’ll be able to -accept it.” - -“Going over to the hospital to see him, eh? I know Caleb Wetherbee.” - -“No, he’s out of the hospital now. He gave me his address--New England -Hotel, on this very street--and hunting for the place is what brought -me here.” - -“Bless my soul!” cried the ship owner; “Caleb out of hospital? Why, I -didn’t expect he’d be ’round for some time yet. The papers said he was -pretty nearly done for when he got to New York. It went harder with him -than it did with the other sailor--a good deal harder.” - -Brandon looked at him curiously. If Caleb Wetherbee was a particular -friend of Mr. Pepper, the captain’s son began to feel some doubt as to -the latter’s sincerity. - -“Perhaps you can tell me where the New England Hotel is?” he asked. - -“Yes, it’s right along here on this side of the street; several blocks -away, perhaps. But,” he added, “you don’t tell me that Caleb is -_there_? Why, he must be ’way down on his luck. I must see about this.” - -Mr. Pepper wrinkled his brow nervously and Brandon rose. - -“Where are you going?” - -“Up to see this man--this mate of the Silver Swan.” - -“Oh yes. Well, you tell him I’m coming up to see him myself, today. -It’s a mystery to me why he should go to _that_ place. I don’t -understand it. How was he looking when you saw him--for I take it you -_have_ seen him?” - -“How do you mean--sick or well?” - -“Yes.” - -“Oh, he appeared in pretty fair health, I should say,” replied Brandon, -beginning to think that there was something queer about it all. - -“Well, I’ll see him myself,” declared the merchant, rising and giving -the boy his hand. “I tell you what we’ll do, Brandon. If you don’t get -back here by noon, I’ll step up and get you, and we’ll go to lunch -together; then afterward we’ll take a look at the whaleback, if you -like.” - -Brandon thanked him and opened the door into the outer office, almost -falling over Mr. Alfred Weeks, who had his head suspiciously near the -keyhole. - -“Lo--looking for my ruler that I dropped,” declared the red haired -clerk, as his employer’s eyes rested sternly upon him. - -But as he passed out, Brandon noticed that the ruler was on the high -desk holding open the leaves of a much tattered paper novel. - -“Funny sort of fellow for a respectable ship owner to employ,” Brandon -decided, as he made his way along the crowded thoroughfare. “In fact, I -guess I’ll withhold my opinion of all three of these people till I know -’em better--Wetherbee, Pepper, and his clerk.” - -By closely scanning the signs on the buildings as he passed, the -captain’s son finally discovered the place he sought. He came within an -ace of not doing so, however, for the words “New England Hotel” were -simply painted on a small strip of tin on one side of the doorway, the -rest of the sign space being devoted to the words: John Brady, Wines, -Liquors, and Cigars. - -Brandon hesitated a moment before entering the place. It was plainly -a saloon of the worst type, the “hotel” part evidently being but a -“blind” by means of which the bar could be kept open all night. - -Two or three disreputable men--sailors or longshoremen by -appearance--were hanging about the door, but Brandon Tarr had a good -deal of confidence in his ability to take care of himself, and finally -ascended the steps. - -A sickening odor of stale tobacco smoke and bad liquor assailed his -nostrils as he stepped within the room, and he was almost tempted to -back out and give up his intention of seeing Wetherbee. But the man -behind the bar--a villainous looking fellow with a closely cropped head -and red face--had seen him and came briskly forward. - -“Well, young felley, what kin I do fur ye?” he asked, in what was -intended as a pleasant tone. - -Deciding that he was in for it, the captain’s son walked forward to the -bar and replied: - -“Nothing to drink, thank you. I’m looking for a man who’s stopping -here--Caleb Wetherbee.” - -The bartender eyed him curiously and repeated: - -“Caleb Wetherbee, eh? Well, I’ll see ’f he’s here.” - -He stepped back to a door leading into an inner room and, opening it a -crack, called to somebody inside. There was a whispered conversation -between the men, and the bull necked individual came back to the bar. - -“All right, m’ duck; he’s in dere,” he said, with a grin, and a motion -of his thumb toward the inner door. “Yer don’t have ter send in no -kyard.” - -Taking this as a permission to enter, Brandon walked across the long -saloon, littered with tables and chairs, and its door covered with -sawdust, and opened the door. - -The apartment beyond was as badly furnished as the outer room, there -being only a square deal table and several wooden bottomed chairs. In -one of these chairs before the table, with his head bowed upon his -arms, was the sailor whom Brandon had seen two days before in the woods -on his uncle’s farm back in Chopmist, the only occupant of the place. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -THE OLD SAILOR WITH THE WOODEN LEG - - -IT was only in the country--in the woods and sheltered fence -corners--that the patches of snow still remained on this sixth day of -April. In New York the sun shone warmly upon the sidewalks, washed -clean by the shower of the night before, and the tiny patches of grass -in the parks and squares were quite green again. - -About the middle of the forenoon a man stumped along a street leading -to what remains of the Battery park--a man dressed in a half uniform of -navy blue, and with a face (where the beard did not hide the cuticle) -as brown as a berry. - -At first glance one would have pronounced this person to be a sailor, -and have been correct in the surmise, too. - -The man’s frame was of huge mold, with massive development of chest and -limbs, and a head like a lion’s. But his bronzed cheeks were somewhat -hollow, and his step halting, this latter not altogether owing to -the fact that his right leg had been amputated at the knee and the -deficiency supplied by an old fashioned wooden leg. - -Still, despite his evident infirmity, the old seaman looked cheerfully -out upon the world on this bright April morning, and pegged along the -sidewalk and into the park with smiling good nature. - -Not a beggar had accosted him during his walk down town without having -a nickel tossed to him, and it was with vast contentment that the -wooden legged sailor at length seated himself upon a bench, from which -vantage point he could overlook the bay and its multitudinous shipping. - -“Ah!” he exclaimed, sniffing the air which blew in from the sea, like a -hungry dog. “This is _life_, this is! Thank heaven I’ve got away from -them swabs of doctors at last. Another week at that ere hospital would -ha’ been the death o’ me. Still, I reckon they meant well ’nough.” - -He sat there for some time in cheerful silence, and drank in the -exhilarating air, his pea cloth jacket thrown open to the breeze, -baring the broad expanse of flannel shirt beneath. - -“A few days o’ this’ll put me right on my feet,” he said, with delight, -“better’n all the tonics the old sawbones ever invented. Lord! if I’d -had this breeze a-blowin’ inter my winder up there to the hospital, I’d -been out a fortnight ago. - -“The old man ain’t dead yet. It was a pretty hard tug, I admit; but -here I be!” - -He slapped his leg with such vigor that a flock of sparrows flew up -with sudden affright from the path; but this energetic gesture was -taken in another sense by the group of urchins which had gathered -near by to talk and fight (much after the manner of their feathered -prototypes, by the way) over the morning’s sale of papers. - -At the old man’s motion half a dozen of these sharp eyed little rascals -broke away from the group, and ran shrieking toward him, wildly waving -their few remaining wares in his face. - -“’Ere you are, sir! _Tribune_, _Sun_, _World_!” - -“_Tribune_,” said the old sailor, laughing heartily as though he saw -something extremely ludicrous in their mistake. - -“My last ’un, sir. Thankee!” - -The successful Arab pocketed his money and went back to his friends, -while the sailor slowly unfolded the sheet and took up the thread of -his reflections again. - -“Once I get my sea legs on,” he thought, fumbling in his pocket for -a pair of huge, steel bowed spectacles, which he carefully wiped and -placed astride his nose “once I get my sea legs on, I’ll take a trip up -ter Rhode Island and see the cap’n’s boy, unless he turns up in answer -to my letter. - -“Poor lad! he’s doubtless heart broken by Cap’n Horace’s death, and -won’t feel much like goin’ into this ’ere treasure huntin’ business; -but for his own good I’ll have ter rouse him up. It would be what the -cap’n would wish, I know.” - -He let the paper lie idly on his knee a moment, and a mist rose in his -eyes. - -“Never mind if the old brig _has_ gone to pieces before we get there,” -he muttered. “I’ve got a little shot in the locker yet, an’ the boy -shan’t come ter want. I’ll do my duty by him as though he was my own -son, that I will!” - -He picked up the paper again, and turned naturally to the shipping -news, which he ran over carelessly, smiling the while. Finally his eye -was attracted by something near the bottom of the column. - -“Eh, what’s this?” he exclaimed. “What’s this about the Silver Swan?” - -With great excitement he read the following news item, following each -line of the text with his stumpy forefinger: - - Captain Millington, of the English steamer Manitoba, which arrived - here yesterday from Brazil, reports that he passed a very dangerous - wreck in latitude 22:03, longitude 70:32. It was the hull of a brig, - apparently in good condition, but with her masts snapped off close to - the decks, and all her rigging carried away. The name on her stern - was Silver Swan, Boston. - - This is the same derelict reported by the steamer Montevideo at - Savannah several weeks ago. According to Captain Millington, the - wreck of the brig is a great menace to all vessels plying between - this and South American ports, as its course seems to be right across - the great highway followed by most of the steamship lines. - - It will be remembered that the Silver Swan was wrecked over two - months ago on Reef Eight, southwest of Cuba, grounding, according to - the report of the survivors of her crew, upright on the rock. The - captain of the Montevideo sighted her not far from the reef, from - which she was doubtless loosened by the westerly gale of February - 13th; but since that time she has floated some distance to the north - and east, and if she follows the same tactics as many of her sister - derelicts, she may zigzag across the course of the South American - steamers for months. - - The cruisers Kearsarge and Vesuvius are both lying in port at - present, and it will be respectfully suggested to the Navy Department - that one or both of those vessels be sent to destroy this and several - others of the most dangerous derelicts now floating off our coast. - -“Shiver my timbers, sir!” - -With this forcible and exceedingly salty ejaculation, the old sailor -with the wooden leg dropped the newspaper to the walk, and his -spectacles along with it, and springing up, trampled upon them both. - -But in his great excitement he noticed neither the torn paper nor the -ruined glasses. He stumped up and down the walk for several moments -before he became calm enough to think coherently. - -In fact, the blue-coated policeman on the corner had begun to eye him -suspiciously. - -“The Silver Swan afloat--a derelict!” he muttered. “This ’ere is a -sitiwation I didn’t look for. An’ then, them blasted cruisers are -liable to go down there and blow her into kingdom come any minute. The -Silver Swan on Reef Eight was bad enough, but the Silver Swan afloat, -at the mercy of the gales as well as other vessels, is worse! - -“Now, what in creation’ll I do about it? I haven’t heard from the boy -yet, and there’s little enough time as it is. Why, she might sink ’most -any time with all them di’monds the cap’n told about aboard her! - -“I’ll take a steamer to get down there ahead of them confounded -iron pots” (by this disrespectful term did he designate Uncle Sam’s -cruisers), “but who under the canopy’s got a steamer to charter? - -“By the great horn spoon, I have it!” he exclaimed, after a moment’s -thought. “Adoniram Pepper is just the fellow.” - -With this declaration he jammed his hat on his head, and stumped off as -rapidly as one good leg and one wooden one could carry him, toward the -shipping merchant’s office on Water Street. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -THE OLD SAILOR’S EXCITEMENT - - -AS the old sailor hurried along the street toward the ship owner’s -office he became calmer, and, being a person who had all his life been -taking greater or less chances in his business of seagoing, he began to -look at the situation more composedly. - -The Silver Swan was without doubt in far greater danger of destruction -now than she had been while hard and fast on the reef, but no amount -of worrying would better the matter, and therefore one might accept -the fact coolly. Then, besides, she had floated unmolested for over -six weeks already, and there was a big chance for her doing so for six -weeks or more to come. - -“Blast these navy vessels any way, I say!” the old man muttered, -stumping along now at a moderate gait. “They probably won’t be able to -find her. And if nothing collides with her, I reckon she’ll keep afloat -for one while, for I can swear myself that the old brig warn’t injured -none below the water line--she went on that reef jest as easy! - -“She’s got the same chance o’ staying above board--the Silver Swan -has--as any other craft that’s become a derelict. Look at the schooner -W. L. White, abandoned by her crew during the great storm of ’88. She -floated about the North Atlantic for the better part of a year, before -she went ashore at last on the Hebrides. - -“An’ then there was the Weyer G. Sargent, mahogany laden, floated -fifty-five hundred mile, or more, ’cording to the pilot chart, -a-swingin’ ’round the Atlantic from New Foundland to the Azores for -two years. An’ there may be many another good ship that’s got a bigger -record ’n that at this very day, down in the Sargasso sea. Oh, it might -be worse.” - -Nevertheless, despite this cheerful view, the old sailor’s forehead was -knotted into a scowl as he opened the door of the ship owner’s dingy -office and entered. The red haired clerk was alone at the desk and the -door of the private office was shut. - -“Well, you jail bird, are you here yet?” demanded the visitor -impolitely, eying the clerk with exceeding disfavor. - -“Oh, is that you, Mr. Featherbee----” - -“Wetherbee, you scoundrel!” roared the sailor, in a voice like a bull. - -“Oh, yes! I should say Wetherbee--er--that’s what I meant,” the clerk -hastened to say. - -It was remarkable to notice the difference between the greeting -accorded to Caleb Wetherbee and that given young Brandon Tarr shortly -before. - -“So you haven’t managed to get at Pepperpod’s till and clear out, yet, -eh?” demanded Caleb jocularly. - -Mr. Weeks scowled and grinned at the same time, a feat that very few -men can perform; but he made no verbal reply to the question. - -“Where is he?” queried the sailor, nodding toward the inner office. “In -his den?” - -“He’s busy--engaged,” Mr. Weeks hastened to say. - -“I believe you’re lying to me, Weeks,” returned the sailor, after eying -the fellow a moment. “You’d rather lie than eat. Where’s Pepperpod?” - -“He--he really _is_ engaged, sir,” declared Weeks, who stood in mortal -fear of the brawny sailor. “That is, he told me to say so to anybody -that called----” - -“I don’t doubt it--that’s what’s taught you to lie,” cried Caleb, in -disgust. “Well, I’m going to see him if he’s engaged fifty times. Cut -along now and tell him I’m here.” - -Mr. Weeks slowly descended from his stool, evidently unwilling to -comply with the request. - -“Get a move on you,” the sailor commanded. “If you don’t I’ll roast you -over a slow fire. I’m just out of the hospital and I’ve got an appetite -like an ostrich--or I’d never think of eating _you_.” - -Mr. Weeks unwillingly went to the inner door and rapped on the panel. -Then he turned the knob and went in, remaining a few moments, and on -making his appearance again, held the portal open for Caleb. - -The sailor entered without a word and the clerk closed the door behind -him; then, as on the former occasion, he applied his ear to the keyhole -with a diligence worthy of a better cause. - -Mr. Pepper was sitting before his desk, which was piled high with -papers and letters. The day’s mail had just been sent up from the -wareroom office by Mr. Marks, the ship owner’s trusted manager, or -“steward,” as Adoniram was in the habit of calling him. - -Beginning business life more than fifty years before in this very -office, Mr. Pepper could not bring himself, as his trade increased, -to leave his old quarters, and having found his manager to be a most -trustworthy man, he had shifted the burden of the more arduous duties -upon his younger shoulders, and himself reposed contentedly amid the -dust, the gloom, and the cobwebs of the Water Street office. - -Thus it was that few people ever saw “Adoniram Pepper & Co.” to know -him; but to his old friends, those of his boyhood and young manhood, -Adoniram was always the same. - -Naturally his acquaintance was mostly among seafaring people, and it -was no uncommon sight to see old hulks of sea captains and ship owners, -long past their usefulness, steering a course for the Water Street -office on pleasant days, where they were sure to receive a pleasant -word from the little old gentleman, if he was in, and not uncommonly -a bit of silver to spend for luxuries which “sailors’ homes” do not -supply. - -The old gentleman sprang up at once at Caleb’s appearance, the -unfortunate eye glasses jumping off the chubby little nose as though -they were endowed with life. Mr. Pepper gave both his hands to the huge -sailor, who indeed looked gigantic beside the little man, and begged -him to sit down. - -“Well, Pepperpod, how are ye?” cried the sailor, in a hearty roar that -shook the light pieces of furniture in the room, just as his bulk shook -the chair he had seated himself in. - -“First rate, old Timbertoes!” declared the old gentleman, laughing -merrily. “So you’re out of the hospital, at last?” - -“I be, Adoniram, I be!” cried Caleb with satisfaction. “Never was so -glad o’ anythin’ in my life. Them sawbones would have killed me if -they’d kep’ me there much longer.” - -“Well, well, Caleb, you was a mighty sick man--a mighty sick man.” - -“I reckon I was,” responded the sailor reflectively. - -“The doctor wouldn’t let me come in to see you,” said the merchant, -smiling jovially; “so I had to content myself with sending up things.” - -“Yes, you did,” said Caleb, turning on him sternly. “I _did_ think, -Adoniram, that you wouldn’t waste your money on such truck as -that--a-sendin’ me white grapes, an’ jellies, an’ bunches o’ posies.” - -He snorted in veriest scorn. - -“Well, er--er--you see, Caleb, I told Frances about you and she took -over the things herself,” said Adoniram hesitatingly. - -“Hem!” - -The old sea dog flushed up like a girl and mopped his suddenly heated -face with a great bandanna, finally saying gruffly: - -“You tell your sister, Miss Frances, that I am mightily obleeged for -’em, Adoniram. They--er--jest went to the right spot, you tell her; -jest what I needed to tone me up!” - -“You’d better come up and tell her yourself, Caleb,” said the merchant, -with a sly smile. - -“Well--er--mebbe I will. Thankee, Adoniram.” - -He was silent a moment, and then, suddenly bethinking himself of the -errand which had brought him there, he turned upon the little merchant -with a slap of his knee which sounded throughout the office like a gun -shot. - -“But this ’ere ain’t what brought me here--not by a long chalk. Ye know -the Silver Swan, Adoniram? Cap’n Horace Tarr’s brig ’t I was with when -she grounded on Reef Eight, two months and more ago?” - -Mr. Pepper nodded. - -“Well, sir, she’s afloat.” - -“Afloat!” - -“That’s what I said; afloat! A-f-l-o-t-e,” responded the sailor, -spelling the word very carefully, if a trifle erratically. - -“How--how can that be?” - -“Well, ye see she went aground jest like she was goin’ inter stocks for -repairs, and if we’d stuck by her, it’s my opinion Cap’n Tarr’d ha’ -been alive now.” He stopped and blew his nose hastily. “Well, what is, -can’t be bettered, so we’ll say no more o’ that. - -“But what I’m gettin’ at is this: she went aground all standin’, an’ -the storm wot come up right arterwards, blew her off ag’in. She’s been -floating, according to this morning’s paper, ever since.” - -“Well, well!” exclaimed Adoniram. “It’s too bad her hull can’t be -secured for the boy. If it’s still sound----” - -“Sound as a dollar!” - -“Where is it floating?” - -“’Cordin’ to the report of a cap’n wot sighted her, she’s somewheres -about latitude 22, longitude 70.” - -“A pretty valuable derelict, eh, Caleb?” said the merchant, -reflectively. - -“Valible? Well, I should say!” The old sailor looked at his friend -curiously a moment, and then leaned forward and rested his huge hand on -Adoniram’s knee. “Besides a valible cargo wot we took on at the Cape -and Rio, _there’s enough diamonds hid aboard that brig to make the boy -a second Vanderbilt_!” - -“Mercy me!” exclaimed the merchant, and this time the eye glasses -leaped off their insecure resting place and fell with a crash to the -floor, the splintered crystal flying in all directions. - -“Now you’ve done it, Adoniram!” ejaculated Caleb in disgust. “What -under the canopy a man like you--with no nose to speak of--wants to try -to wear such tackle as them for, is beyond me.” - -“Well--er--Frances thinks they look better on me than other kinds of -glasses,” remarked the merchant meekly. - -“Well--hem!--I s’pose they _do_ look some better on ye,” declared Caleb -loyally, and then a slight noise from the other side of the door caused -him to jump up and spring hastily to it. - -When he flung the door open, however, the red haired clerk was astride -his high stool with a look of perfect innocence on his face; but Caleb -was not reassured. He shook his huge fist at the fellow, and then shut -the door again, turning the key in the lock and hanging his hat upon -the door knob for further precaution. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -CALEB RECEIVES A STARTLING COMMUNICATION - - -“SOME of these days,” said Caleb, with decision, when he had taken -these precautions, “I shall wring that scoundrel’s neck, Adoniram. I -wonder at your keeping him here.” - -“Well, you see, nobody else would have him,” responded the merchant, as -though that fact was reason enough for _his_ keeping the objectionable -Mr. Weeks. - -“Ya-as--one o’ your blasted philanthropic notions,” declared Caleb, -with a snort denoting disgust. “Well, he’ll rob and murder you some day -and then you’ll wish you’d heard to me. If ‘jail bird’ ain’t written on -_his_ face, then I never saw it on no man’s.” - -“But, Caleb, what do you mean by the astounding remark you just made -about the Silver Swan?” asked the merchant, drawing the sailor’s mind -away from the subject of Mr. Alfred Weeks and his frailties. - -“I’ll tell you about it,” said Caleb, in a lower tone, seating himself -by the desk again. “What I said is straight, Pepper. There is hidden -inside that hulk of the Silver Swan, a lot o’ di’monds--how many, I -don’t know--but enough, according to Cap’n Horace’s own words to make a -man fabulously rich. They belong to his boy, Brandon, and _we_ must get -’em for him. - -“I never knew a word about the stones till we was on the raft. Cap’n -Horace was pretty fur gone--any one with half an eye could see -_that_--and when we’d been out several days an’ hadn’t sighted no ship, -he wrote a long letter to Brandon an’ give it to me with a package of -other papers. - -“I’ve got them papers right here at this identical minute; but I ain’t -opened ’em, ’cause it ain’t my place to do so. They tells all about the -di’monds an’ how they come into Cap’n Horace’s han’s. - -“It seems that just afore we left the Cape a man come aboard the Silver -Swan and brought a package of wot _he_ thought was papers, to Cap’n -Horace, from his brother Anson.” - -“Why, Anson was dead long ago, I thought,” interrupted Mr. Pepper. - -“So did everybody else think so; but he wasn’t. He was dead, though, -when this feller seed Cap’n Horace, for he’d give the package into the -man’s hands when he was dying, for _him_ to send to Cap’n Tarr. But we -put into the Cape afore the man got ’round to sendin’ ’em to the States. - -“_He_ never knew what a valible thing he was a carryin’ ’round; but -when the cap’n come to open the package he found a lot o’ di’monds done -up in a separate wrapper. These he hid somewhere about the brig--he -tells about it in this letter to Brandon, I b’lieve. - -“I wanted to know why he didn’t take ’em on the raft when we left the -brig, but it seems he misdoubted himself about a rascally sailor we had -with us--one Jim Leroyd. - -“This ’ere Leroyd had been snoopin’ around the cabin when the cap’n was -given the diamonds, and he thought the feller suspected something. So, -not knowing how it might go with any of us, he left the gems on the -brig, preferring to risk losin’ ’em altogether, rather than to cause -strife an’ p’r’aps bloodshed on that raft. - -“An’ I reckon ’twas lucky he did so, fur we had trouble enough with -that swab Leroyd.” - -“Why, wasn’t he the man who was saved with you?” asked the merchant. - -“That’s who.” - -“Tell me, Caleb,” said Mr. Pepper earnestly, “why was it he stood the -experience so much better than you? Why, he was discharged from the -hospital in a week, so I understand, while you show traces of the -suffering you underwent even now.” - -Caleb closed his lips grimly and looked at the little man in silence -for several moments. Then he leaned further forward and clutched his -arm with one great brown hand. - -“He had food that I didn’t have,” he whispered hoarsely. - -“What!” cried Adoniram, shrinking back, his eyes abulge. - -Caleb nodded slowly. - -“There were four of us on that raft. Paulo Montez--he went first. We -divided the food and water, an’ that villain Leroyd ate his all up. -Then we had ter drive him behind his chest at the other end of the -raft, an’ keep him there at the point of our pistols. - -“Then the cap’n went, an’--an’--_I had to throw him to the sharks to -keep him out o’ the clutches o’ that cannibal Leroyd!_” - -“Great heavens!” exclaimed the ship owner, shrinking back into his -chair, his face the picture of horrified amazement. - -“Yes, sir,” whispered Caleb; “he dragged poor Paulo’s body back o’ that -chest--an’--well, ’taint no use talkin’! I ain’t said a word about it -before to any living creature. It’s only my word ag’in his, at best. -But I swear, Adoniram, I’d kill the hound with as little compunction as -I would a rat. - -“He’s been sneaking ’round the hospital, inquiring about me, too,” -continued the sailor. “He’s got his eye on these papers, for he see -Cap’n Horace give ’em to me. I reckon he don’t know what they’re about, -but he suspects there’s money in it. He was ’round to the hospital only -last night, so the doctor told me. - -“And now, Adoniram, wot I want o’ you is to help me find this derelict -before some o’ Uncle Sam’s blasted iron pots go out after her. We must -get the boy down from that uncle’s place in Rhode Island----” - -“Why, didn’t you see him this morning?” asked Mr. Pepper, in surprise. - -“See who?” - -“Why, the boy--Captain Tarr’s son, Brandon?” - -“What?” roared the sailor. “Then he’s here in New York, is he?” - -“Why--of--course,” responded the merchant, in bewilderment. “I thought -you’d seen him again. He started out to call on you not two hours ago. -He said you’d given him your address--at the New England Hotel, just -below here. - -“And what I want to say, Caleb is that I don’t consider it a great -proof of friendship on _your_ part, for you to go to such a place as -that, even if you were low in finances. I’d only be too glad to have -you come to my house and stay the rest of your natural life--and so -would Frances.” - -“Me!--at the New England Hotel!--why the man’s crazy!” declared Caleb. - -“Ain’t you stopping there?” gasped the merchant. - -“Am I? Well. I guess not! I ain’t but just got out o’ the hospital this -blessed morning.” - -“Why, he said he’d seen you once, and you’d told him to call at the New -England Hotel.” - -“Who?” roared Caleb. - -“Brandon Tarr.” - -“Why, man alive, I never saw the lad in all my life!” - -“Then,” declared Adoniram with energy, “there’s foul play about it. -When I came down this morning I found the captain’s son waiting to see -me. He’d just come down from Rhode Island, I believe, and he’d got your -address--said he’d already seen you once, mind you--and was going up to -this place to see you again. - -“I thought ’twas funny you should put up at such a house, Caleb; but I -didn’t know but perhaps you were ‘on your uppers’” (Caleb snorted at -this), “and had gone there for cheapness. I told Brandon I’d come up -after him this noon and take him to lunch.” - -But Caleb was on his feet now, and pacing the floor like a caged lion. - -“I see it all--I see it all!” he declared. “It’s some o’ that swab -Leroyd’s work. Why, man alive, do you know what the New England Hotel -is? It’s one o’ the wickedest places in New York. I know the den well, -and the feller as runs it, too. Why, the boy’s in danger every moment -he stays there!” - -He seized his hat and jammed it on his head again. - -“Ef anything’s happened to that boy, I’ll break every bone in that -scoundrel’s body!” he exclaimed, seizing the door and throwing it wide -open without the formality of unlocking it. - -The splintered wood and broken lock flew in all directions as he dashed -through the doorway and flung himself into the street, while Mr. Pepper -remained weakly in his chair, too utterly bewildered to move, and the -festive Mr. Weeks dodged behind the high desk with alacrity, as the -sailor went through the outer office like a whirlwind. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -TELLING HOW BRANDON BEARDED THE LION IN HIS LAIR - - -AS Brandon Tarr entered the apartment behind the bar room of the New -England Hotel, the man at the table raised his head and surveyed him -surlily. Evidently he had been drinking, and the liquor had changed -his mood greatly from that of the affable sailor who had accosted the -captain’s son in the Chopmist woods. - -“Well, how came _you_ here?” inquired the sailor, in no very friendly -tone, gazing at Brandon, with bloodshot eyes. - -“I came down on the train.” - -“Ain’t you lost?” - -“Guess not,” responded the boy. - -The man shifted his position uneasily, keeping his eyes fixed upon his -visitor. - -“Can’t say as I expected to see you--just yet, any way.” - -“No?” returned Brandon coolly. - -“Say! wot the blazes do you want, any way?” demanded the sailor -fiercely, after an instant’s silence. “It won’t pay you to be sassy -here, my lad, now I can assure ye.” - -“Think so? Seems to me you’re not as glad to see me as I reckoned you -would be. It didn’t exactly pay you to come ’way up to Rhode Island to -pump me, did it?” - -The fellow hissed out an oath between his teeth and clinched his fist -angrily. - -“You’re too fresh, you are!” he declared. - -“Maybe.” - -“So I went up there to pump you, eh?” - -“I reckon.” - -“And what did _you_ come down here for?” - -“To pump you,” responded the captain’s son, laughing. - -The sailor stared at him in utter amazement for a moment. - -“Of all the swabs----” he began, but Brandon interrupted him. - -“See here, Wetherbee, I’ve come here for a purpose. My father intrusted -you with some papers for me (though why he ever did so _I_ don’t see--I -mistrusted your ugly face the first time I ever saw it), and now you -are trying to play me false.” - -“You know too much!” roared the sailor, rising and thumping the table -with his clenched fist. - -“Yes, I _do_ know too much for your good--or for the success of your -plot,” Brandon replied, with cool sarcasm. “See this?” - -He took the bit of newspaper from his pocket and tossed it upon the -table before the man. - -“What is it?” demanded the sailor, clutching at the clipping. - -“The newspaper item stating that the Silver Swan is a derelict, instead -of being sunken, as you declared to me. Had I not found it in the -woods after you left, I might have still believed your lying yarn, -Wetherbee.” - -The sailor crumpled the bit of paper in his fist and shook the clenched -member in the boy’s face. - -“Young man,” he said with emphasis, “ye think ye’re smart; but do ye -know that ye’re likely ter git inter trouble ’fore ye get out o’ this -place? I don’t ’low no boy ter sass me.” - -“I’m sorry for that,” said Brandon, thinking the fellow’s threat but -mere bombastic eloquence; “for I reckon you’ll have to stand it.” - -His very fearlessness caused the man to hesitate ere he used -violence, for it _might_ be that the boy had friends within call. The -sailor therefore bit his thick lip in fury, and poured a shower of -vituperations upon his visitor’s head. - -“Let me tell you something else, also,” continued Brandon. “I propose -to have those papers that father gave you.” - -“Oh, you do?” half screamed the man, stamping up and down the room in -ungovernable rage. - -“Yes, sir; and no amount of swearing will scare me. Those papers are -mine and if you won’t give them up peaceably, the law will make you.” - -Suddenly the man stopped storming and became more tranquil. - -“So you’re goin’ ter law erbout it, be ye?” - -“No, I don’t think I’ll have to; I think you’ll see plain enough that -it will be best for you to give them up. By your own confession you -don’t know where the treasure is hid; _but I do_. Somehow I’m going -to find the wreck of the brig and get--whatever it was father hid. But -first, I want those papers that I may know _what_ the--the treasure -consists of.” - -“Oh, ye do? Well, how be ye goin’ ter prove that I’ve got the -docyments?” - -“Very easily indeed,” Brandon responded frankly. “I’m going to look up -the sailor who was with you on the raft. If father gave you the papers -_he_ doubtless knows it, and I don’t believe that there are _two_ men -as dishonest as you, Wetherbee.” - -“So you know where the old man has hid the stuff, hey? An’ yer goin’ -ter see th’--th’ other sailor an’ git his evidence, be ye?” - -The man’s ugly face turned a deep reddish hue and he reached out -his hands and clutched the empty chair as though he were strangling -somebody. The gesture was so terribly realistic and the man’s face so -diabolical, that Brandon involuntarily shrank back. - -“You little fool!” hissed the other slowly. “You’ve put yourself right -inter my han’s an’ let me tell ye I’m a bad man ter monkey with. I’ve -let ye hev it all your own way so fur, but now ’twill be _my_ turn, an’ -don’t you forgit it! Ye know where thet treasure is hidden aboard the -brig, hey? Then, by the great jib boom, ye’ll tell me or _ye’ll never -git out o’ here alive_!” - -As he uttered the threat he sprang upon the boy so suddenly that -Brandon was totally unprepared for the assault. His victim was no match -for his great strength, and was borne to the floor at once. - -The villain’s hand upon his throat deprived the boy of all power of -utterance, and he felt himself being slowly choked into insensibility. - -Suddenly the door between the apartment and the bar room was flung wide -open as though a small hurricane had descended upon the establishment -of the New England Hotel. Don’s villainous assailant--big and burly -though he was--was seized in a grip of iron, pulled from his victim, -and thrown bodily to the other side of the room. - -“You scoundrel!” roared Caleb (for it was he) in a voice that made the -chandelier tremble. “Would you kill the lad?” - -But Brandon, now that the pressure was removed from his throat, was -on his feet in a moment, staring curiously at the big, wooden legged -sailor. - -“Just saved you from adding murder to your other sins, did I?” -continued the mate of the Silver Swan. “Did he hurt you, lad?” - -“Guess I’m all right,” responded Brandon, feeling of his throat as his -assailant arose to his feet, scowling ferociously at the newcomer. - -“I’ll live to see you hung yet, Jim Leroyd!” Caleb declared, shaking -his huge fist at the sailor. - -“Great Scott!” exclaimed Brandon; “is _that_ his name? Why, he told me -he was Caleb Wetherbee!” - -“He did, eh? Blast his impudence! Let me tell you, lad, if Cale -Wetherbee looked like that scoundrel, he’d go drown himself for very -shame. _I’m_ Caleb Wetherbee, myself, and _you_, I reckon, are Brandon -Tarr.” - -Brandon was fairly stupefied by this announcement. - -“But what about the--the papers father put into his hands for me?” he -asked, breathlessly. - -“Your father give _him_ papers, lad? Well, I reckon not! He’s lied to -ye.” - -“Then he hasn’t them?” - -“Not he. I’ve got ’em myself, safe and sound.” - -“You have them?” repeated Brandon. - -“That I have,” replied the mate confidently, “and what’s more, I’ve got -’em right here!” - -At this juncture the door behind them opened and the red faced -barkeeper came into the room. - -“Look er-here, wot’s de meanin’ of all dis, hey?” he demanded, eying -Caleb with disfavor. - -“Oh, it’s you, is it?” said the wooden legged sailor, in disgust. “I -know _you_, Jack Brady. Get out here, you walking beer keg! I’m having -a private seance with this gentleman,” intimating the cowed Leroyd. - -A quick look of intelligence passed between Leroyd and the bartender. - -“Ye’re tryin’ ter kick up a shindy in dis place, dat’s wot ye’re at!” -declared the latter, rolling up his sleeves, belligerently. - -“Yes, and I’ll kick up a bigger row before I’m through,” Caleb replied -threateningly. “Now you run out and play, sonny, while I talk to my -friend, Mr. Leroyd, here.” - -This so angered the pugilistic looking man that he made a dash at the -big sailor; but the consequences were exceedingly unpleasant. - -Caleb’s hammer-like fist swung round with the force of a pile driver, -and an ox would have fallen before that blow. As Mr. Brady himself -would have put it, he was “knocked out in one round.” - -But the treacherous Leroyd, taking advantage of his friend’s attack on -the mate, sprang upon Caleb from the other side. This flank movement -was totally unexpected, and, weakened by his long confinement in the -hospital, the mate of the Silver Swan could not hold his own with his -former shipmate. - -Both went to the floor with a crash, and as they fell Leroyd tore open -his antagonist’s coat and seized a flat leather case from the mate’s -inside pocket. Dealing one heavy blow on the other’s upturned face, the -scoundrel sprang up and disappeared like a shot through the door at the -opposite end of the apartment. - -“Stop him!” roared Caleb, and Brandon, who had stood utterly bewildered -and helpless throughout the scene, sprang forward to the door. - -“The papers! He’s stolen the papers!” he gasped, seizing the knob and -trying to pull open the door. - -But the key had been turned in the lock and the stout door baffled all -his attempts upon it. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -HOW THE OMNIPRESENT WEEKS PROVES HIS RIGHT TO THE TERM - - -HAMPERED as he was by his wooden leg, it was several moments before -the old sailor could get upon his feet, and the festive Mr. Brady, -maddened and almost blinded by the blow he had received in the first of -the fracas, would have pitched into him had not Brandon threatened the -fellow with one of the heavy chairs with which the room was furnished. - -“I’ll make dis the sorriest day er your life, ye bloomin’ big brute!” -declared Mr. Brady, holding one hand to his bruised face, and shaking -the other fist at the sailor. “I’ll have ye jugged--that’s wot I’ll -do----” - -And just then he stopped, for in the doorway leading to the bar room -stood Adoniram Pepper, flushed and breathless, and behind him the burly -forms of two blue-coated policemen. - -“Thank goodness, the boy is safe!” gasped the little merchant. “Are -_you_ hurt, Caleb?” - -“Some shaken up, but that’s all, shipmate,” declared the mate of the -Silver Swan. “I got here just in time to keep that brute Leroyd from -choking the lad to death.” - -“Mercy! and where is he now?” - -“Skipped, I reckon,” responded Caleb briefly, brushing the sawdust off -his clothing. - -“But he’s stolen the papers,” said Brandon. - -“Not the papers your father gave Caleb?” cried the little man. “He must -be captured at once!” - -“Yes, he robbed me,” said Caleb slowly; “but whether he got anything o’ -much value or not is another question. Let’s get out o’ here, ’Doniram, -and take account o’ cargo.” - -Just here the policemen crowded into the room. - -“Has your man got away, sir?” one of them asked Mr. Pepper. - -“I’m afraid he has, officer--unless you want this fellow arrested, -Caleb?” indicating the saloon keeper. - -At this Brady began to storm and rave disgracefully. - -“Come, quit that, Brady!” commanded officer Mullen. “You’re deep in -this, I’ve no doubt. You want to walk a chalk line now, or I’ll have -your license taken away. D’ye understand?” - -Mr. Brady subsided at this threat, and the party filed out. - -“It’s all right now, officer,” said Adoniram, slipping something into -Mr. Mullen’s hand. “We won’t trouble you further. If anything more -comes of it, I’ll step around and see the captain myself.” - -The two policemen nodded and Mr. Pepper led his friends back to his -office. - -On the way Brandon explained his previous connection with the villain -Leroyd, and recounted what had occurred at the New England Hotel before -Caleb’s timely appearance. - -“Well, I reckon you were just what Leroyd told you--a little too -fresh,” was the comment of the mate of the Silver Swan. “’Twas only by -luck that ye warn’t garroted by that scoundrel. There’s been more than -one man gone into that dive that never come out arterwards, now I tell -ye.” - -“You are wrong, Caleb,” declared Mr. Pepper confidently “It was not -luck--’twas Providence.” - -“Mebbe you’re right, old man,” returned the mate. “Now, lad, come in -here and tell us all about yourself before we do anything further. We -want to get a thorough understanding o’ the case.” - -They had arrived at the shipping merchant’s office, but it was locked -and Mr. Pepper had to use his own private pass key. - -“Weeks has gone out,” the old gentleman explained, ushering them in. -“It’s his dinner hour.” - -“I’m glad the swab’s out of the way,” growled the sailor. “I don’t see -what you keep that prying, sneaking rascal about here for any way. -He’ll do you some damage some time, ’Doniram.” - -“I--I should dislike to discharge him,” said the old gentleman gently. -“He--he is an unfortunate fellow----” - -“Unfortunate!” snorted the mate in disgust. - -“Yes, unfortunate, Caleb. Even his face is against him. Who would want -such a looking fellow around an office? And office work is all he knows -how to do. Marks wouldn’t keep him down to the other office, so I _had_ -to take him up here.” - -“Had to!” - -Caleb stared at his old friend in pitying surprise. - -“’Doniram,” he said, “you--make--me--weary!” - -Then he shook his head sadly and dropped heavily into a chair he had -formerly occupied near the merchant’s desk. - -“Come,” he said, turning to Brandon, holding out his hand -affectionately, “come and sit down here beside me, my lad. We want to -know each other better--you and I--and I’ve got a good deal to say to -ye. - -“Your father’s last words to me was ‘Remember, Cale!’ an’ they referred -to the fac’ that he’d left me in charge o’ you--an’ of your property. -An’ I’m rememberin’, though that hospital business delayed me a good -bit.” - -“But, Caleb,” said the merchant nervously, “what will you do about -those--those diamonds,” and he looked at Brandon smilingly, “now that -that scamp has stolen the captain’s papers?” - -“Diamonds?” echoed Brandon. - -“Aye, diamonds--lashin’s of ’em!” the sailor declared earnestly. “If -yer father was ter be believed--an’ _you_ know whether or not to -believe him as well as _I_--there’s di’monds hid aboard that brig, -enough to make you a rich man, my lad.” - -“But the papers?” repeated Mr. Pepper. - -“Blast the papers!” exclaimed the sailor, slapping his thigh -impatiently. “They don’t amount to a row of pins.” - -“But they’ll tell that Leroyd all about the treasure and just where to -find it,” said Brandon. - -“And you won’t know _where_ to look for it aboard the Silver Swan,” Mr. -Pepper chimed in. - -“I won’t hey?” responded Caleb with a snort of disgust. “Sure of that, -be ye?” - -“I think I know where father would place the gems for safe keeping,” -said Brandon, slowly. - -“Yes, an’ I reckon _I_ know, too,” the mate declared. “There’s a -sliding panel in the cabin--eh, lad?” - -Brandon nodded acquiescence. - -“Yes, that’s it,” went on the sailor; “it come to me just now when I -was a-thinkin’ of the matter. We useter keep our private papers in that -’ere hole in the bulkhead. It’s the third panel on the port side front -the companionway.” - -“Sh!” exclaimed the merchant, “suppose somebody should overhear you.” - -“Oh, that sneak Weeks isn’t here,” replied Caleb carelessly. “You don’t -have anybody else working for you here who would snoop like him, do -you, ’Doniram?” - -The merchant shook his head with a mild smile. - -“Well, then,” said the mate of the Silver Swan, “we can get down to -business. We understand each other, eh, lad? Ye’ll put yourself under -our care, an’ ’Doniram an’ I’ll see you through this thing.” - -“I’m only too glad to have your help,” cried Don warmly. “Alone I can -do nothing; but with you to help me, Mr. Wetherbee----” - -“Drop that!” thundered Caleb. “Don’t you ‘mister’ me, blast yer -impudence! I’m Cale Wetherbee to _you_, as I was to yer father.” - -Then he added more mildly: - -“You can count on me, Don. And you can count on Pepperpod, here, every -time, eh?” and he nodded to the ship owner. - -“That you can, Don,” rejoined Mr. Pepper. “And already I have a vessel -I can place at your disposal. It is the whaleback steamer I spoke of -this morning. You shall have her and go in quest of the Silver Swan.” - -“A whaleback, hey?” repeated Caleb quickly, with a doubtful shake of -his head. “I don’t know much about them new fangled things.” - -“Well, you shall before long,” Mr. Pepper declared. “With her you can -beat any of these cruisers to the brig, and get the diamonds before -they blow her sky high. - -“Now, let us go out to lunch; it is long past my regular hour,” he -continued. “I will close the office for the day and you must both go -home with me. Wait, I’ll telephone to Marks.” - -“Let me git my clo’es brushed before we go up town, ’Doniram,” -exclaimed Caleb, in sudden haste. “I’ve got sawdust all over me.” - -“All right,” the merchant responded, giving the call for the wareroom -office (it was a private line); “you’ll find a whisk broom in that -wardrobe there. Don can brush you.” - -The sailor arose and walked over to the wardrobe. - -“Dem the thing! how it sticks,” he remarked impatiently, tugging at the -handle. - -Then he exerted his great strength and the door flew open with -surprising suddenness, and with it, to the startled amazement of the -entire party, came the red haired clerk, Alfred Weeks, clinging vainly -to the inner knob. - -The momentum of his exit fairly threw him across the small room, where -he dropped into a chair which happened to stand handy, gazing, the -picture of fright, at the infuriated sailor. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -BRANDON LISTENS TO A SHORT FAMILY HISTORY - - -“WEEKS! Weeks! I wouldn’t have thought it of you,” exclaimed Adoniram -Pepper sorrowfully, turning away from the ’phone to gaze sternly at the -rascally clerk. - -“Wouldn’t have thought it of him?” roared Caleb. “’Doniram, you’re -a fool! It’s just exactly what you might have expected of him. Oh, -you--you swab, you!” he added, shaking his fist at the trembling -culprit. “I wish I had you aboard ship. If I wouldn’t haze you!” - -Then he sprang at the fellow, and seizing him ere he could escape, -tossed him face downward over his knee, and, while he held him with one -hand, delivered a most energetic spanking with the other huge palm, to -his squirming prisoner’s manifest discomfort. - -“Oh! oh! oh!” roared Weeks, almost black in the face. “Oh, he’s -a-murderin’ me I Let me go! Oh! oh!” - -“Stop your bawling, Alfred,” Mr. Pepper commanded, as the breathless -sailor released the scamp and placed him upright with no gentle force. - -Brandon, who had been well nigh convulsed with laughter at the mode of -punishment the clerk had received, had not thought it possible for the -jolly Adoniram to ever appear so stern as he did now. - -“Weeks,” continued the merchant, the customary smile totally eradicated -from his features, “Weeks, I have done my best for you for ten years. -I’ve helped you the best I know how. I have shielded you from those who -would have given you over to justice more than once, for your petty -crimes. Now, sir, I am through with you! - -“This offense is unpardonable. You may go down to the other office and -draw your salary to the end of the month, and never let me see you -again until you have become a respectable member of society, and shown -by your actions, not by words, that you are such. Go at once, sir!” - -Weeks hesitated an instant as though he contemplated making an appeal -to his old employer for mercy; but the look on Mr. Pepper’s face -forbade that. The old merchant was an embodiment of justice now; mercy -for the rascally clerk had flown. - -Picking up his hat, he limped silently to the door, but ere he -disappeared he turned and looked at Brandon, who, in spite of himself, -was unable to keep his face straight. He glared at the laughing youth -an instant, and then the real nature of the fellow flashed out from -beneath the veneer of apparently harmless impudence and cunning. - -His dark, old looking face flushed deeply red, his narrow eyes flashed -with sudden rage, and he shook his clenched fist at Brandon Tarr with -insane fury. - -“I’ll even things up with _you_, you young whelp!” he hissed, and in -another moment limped out of the place. - -“A nice fellow you’ve harbored, there, ’Doniram, just as I told you,” -Caleb declared. “He’ll knife you some dark night, if you’re not -careful.” - -But Adoniram only shook his head sadly and returned to the telephone. -After talking to his manager several minutes, he picked up his hat and -gloves and led the way out of the office, locking it behind him. - -“Adoniram Pepper & Co. will take a holiday today,” he said, his old -jovial smile returning. “First let us go to lunch.” - -They were all too hungry by this time to go far before attending to the -wants of the inner man; but notwithstanding that they were so far down -town, Adoniram was able to introduce them to a very comfortable looking -little chop house. He also, despite their protestations, settled the -checks himself, and then telephoned to Brandon’s hotel and to the -Marine Hospital for the luggage of both his guests to be sent to his up -town residence. - -“We’ll go up leisurely and give the baggage a chance to get there -before us,” said the merchant, as they left the restaurant; “then -Frances will know that company is coming.” - -So they saw a bit of New York for Brandon’s benefit, arriving at the -large, though plain looking house in which the merchant resided, just -before six o’clock. - -Brandon noticed, as they neared their destination, that the old sailor -seemed ill at ease, and that the conversation was being mostly carried -on by Mr. Pepper and himself. He did not understand this until they -were in the house, and the old merchant had gone to summon his sister -to meet his guests. - -Caleb seemed terribly nervous. He sat on the edge of the substantial, -upholstered chair and twisted his hat between his huge hands, his face -and neck of flaming hue, while his eyes were downcast, and he started -at every sound. - -Finally, as the merchant did not return at once, Caleb drew forth his -bandanna and blew his nose furiously. - -“This ’ere is terrible, isn’t it, lad?” he muttered hoarsely, to -Brandon, who had been eying him in great surprise. - -“What is, Caleb?” - -“This ’ere meeting ladies, ye know,” responded the mate of the Silver -Swan in a mild roar, laboring under the delusion that he was speaking -very low indeed. - -“There isn’t but one, Caleb,” replied Don encouragingly. - -“I--I know it,” said Caleb, with a groan; “but she’s--she’s th’ -spankin’est craft ever yer see! Sails allus new and fresh, riggin’ all -taut--I tell ye, lad, it allus rattles me for fear I ain’t all trim.” - -“You look first rate, Caleb,” Brandon assured him, stifling a desire to -laugh as the old seaman evidently considered the occasion so serious. -“I wouldn’t worry.” - -“That’s easy enough for _you_ to say,” returned Caleb, with another -shake of his head. “You wouldn’t be Cap’n Horace’s son if ye didn’t -find it all plain sailin’ in a city droorin’ room, same’s on th’ -ship’s deck; but with me it’s different. Oh, Lordy! she’s hove in -sight.” - -There was a rustle of silken skirts, and Brandon looked up to see Miss -Frances Pepper entering the room. - -She was short and plump like her brother, though of considerable less -weight, and she smiled like him. But otherwise Miss Pepper was rather -prim and exact in her appearance, manner, and dress. As the sailor had -said “her rigging was all taut,” and she looked as though she had just -stepped out of a bandbox. - -“My old friend. Mr. Whitherbee!” she exclaimed, holding out her hand to -Caleb with unfeigned warmth. - -“Wetherbee--Caleb Wetherbee, ma’am,” responded Caleb, in a monotone -growl, seizing the tips of the lady’s fingers as though they were as -fragile as glass, and he feared to crush them in his calloused palm. - -“Oh, yes--Mr. Wetherbee,” she replied brightly, gazing frankly into the -old seaman’s face, which naturally added materially to poor Caleb’s -confusion. “I was very sorry to hear about your illness, and am glad -you have at length been released from the hospital ward.” - -Then she turned to Brandon who had also risen. She went up to him, and -seizing both his hands imprinted a motherly kiss upon his forehead. - -The youth saw that her soft brown eyes, which could not possibly look -stern as could her brother’s gray ones, were filled with tears. - -“God bless you, my boy!” she said, in a low tone. “I knew your father, -Captain Tarr, and a very nice man he was. You are like him. - -“And now, brother,” added Miss Frances briskly, “if you will take Mr. -Wetherbee to his room to prepare for dinner, I will show Brandon to -_his_ apartment. Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes.” - -Mr. Pepper, who had entered behind his sister, bore Caleb off as she -had commanded, to a room on the lower floor, while Brandon was led up -stairs by Miss Frances. The house was nicely though plainly furnished, -evidences of comfort rather than of great wealth being apparent. - -Everywhere, on mantel and table, and in the niches of the hall, were -innumerable curiosities in the line of shells and coral brought from -all parts of the world. - -Miss Frances ushered Brandon into a very prettily furnished chamber on -the second floor--almost too daintily furnished for a boy’s room, in -fact. Innumerable bits of fancy work and the like, without doubt the -work of feminine fingers, adorned the place: yet all was fashioned in a -style of at least twenty years back. - -Above the bed, in a heavily gilded frame, was a large portrait of a -young woman--not exactly a beautiful woman, but one with a very sweet -and lovable face--which smiled down upon the visitor and attracted his -attention at once. - -Miss Frances noticed his glance, and lingered a moment at the door. - -“It was our little sister Milly,” she said softly. “This was her room -years ago. She was more than twenty years younger than Adoniram and I.” - -“Then she died?” queried Don softly, still gazing up at the smiling -face. - -“No, she married against father’s wishes. Father was a very stern, -proud man; not at all like Adoniram, who, I am afraid, is not stern -enough for his good,” and she smiled a little; but there was moisture -in her eyes as she gazed up at the portrait. - -“She was a lovely girl--at least _we_ thought so--and she was father’s -favorite, too. But she married a poor sea captain by the name of Frank, -in direct opposition to father’s command, and so he cast her off. - -“He forbade Adoniram or me having anything to do with her, or to help -her in any way, and she herself put it out of our power to do so, by -going to the other side of the world with her husband. Several years -later we heard of her death, and were told that there was a child; but -although Adoniram has done all he could he has never been able to find -this Captain Frank.” - -The old lady wiped her eyes before continuing. - -“After father died we had this room fixed just as she used to have it, -and had that picture hung there. - -“Now, Brandon, I won’t bother you longer. There is your satchel, which -the expressman brought an hour ago. If you want anything, please ring.” - -Then she departed, and left the captain’s son to make ready for dinner. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -TELLING A GREAT DEAL ABOUT DERELICTS IN GENERAL - - -ALTHOUGH there seemed to be everything for comfort about the Pepper -mansion, the habits of the household were most simple. Miss Frances was -evidently a woman of very domestic tastes, and had a vital interest -in all her household arrangements. Yet there appeared to be plenty of -servants about. - -When dinner was over, the merchant had a short conference with his -manager, Mr. Marks, who always came to report on matters at the close -of the day; after which he took his two guests into the library, and -the all absorbing topic of the search for the Silver Swan was broached -by Caleb, who had now regained some of his wonted confidence. - -“This ’ere delay is a bad thing,” the old sailor declared, when Miss -Frances had left them to talk the matter over. “If I hadn’t been -laid up all these weeks in the hospital, I sh’d ha’ follered up the -brig long before, and had the di’monds. Now we’ve got two--yes, -three--circumstances against us. - -“First and foremost is the fact that the Swan has already been afloat -’most two months, an’ that’s longer than the majority of derelicts -last. Then these confounded cruisers may get after her any minute, -which will be remarkably bad for our plans. And thirdly, as the -parsons say, there’s that rascal Leroyd. He’s not the man I think him -if he doesn’t make a break for the wreck at once.” - -“And he’s got the papers, too,” interjected Mr. Pepper. - -Caleb smiled at this, but said nothing in reply, continuing his remarks: - -“Now, I’ve seen a good many derelicts in my time--a good many--but if -the Silver Swan is in the shape I think her, she’s liable (setting -aside accident) to float for months. And she’s got lots of company, -too.” - -“I should think these derelicts would be dreadfully dangerous,” -suggested Brandon, with all the curiosity of a boy about anything -pertaining to sea and sea going. - -“They are,” declared Caleb; “more dangerous, it’s likely, than anybody -dreams of. Many a good ship--steamers and sailing vessels both--has -doubtless gone to Davy Jones’ Locker because of them. Take one o’ these -’ere European steamships making time across the ocean; she strikes a -derelict--a coal laden one, mebbe; they’re the most dangerous--and we -never hear of her again. - -“I’ll never forget something that happened when I was mate of the -American bark Neptune, several years ago. The Neptune were a mighty -speedy craft, an’ Cap’n Tollman was a terror for crowding on all sail. - -“We was scuddin’ along one dark night before a stiff easterly gale, -an’ I had the deck. It was just before eight bells--half past three -o’clock, mebbe--when all to onct the man on lookout gave a yell that -fairly riz my hair on end. - -“‘A wreck! dead ahead!’ he yelled. ‘Down with your helm! hard down!’ - -“I jumped to the wheel myself an’ helped the helmsman swing ’er over. -Right up before us loomed the dim, black form of a vessel--her stern -under water, an’ her bowsprit straight up. I tell ye, for about two -minutes I was dead sure ’twas all day with the old Neptune, and us -along with her. - -“However she did it I dunno, but she answered her helm quicker ’n she -did afore or since. She jest shaved the wreck, some of the cordage -fastened to the upright bowsprit catching in our spars an’ being torn -away, an’ we slipped by without any damage. But I don’t want to have a -closer shave than _that_.” - -“That was a close call, Cale,” said Mr. Pepper reflectively. “I’ve a -man in my employ--Richards his name is; he sails this trip as captain -of the Calypso--who came originally from New Brunswick. A regular -‘blue-nose’ he is, and a good sailor. - -“Well, he was one of the crew of the ‘Joggins raft’ as it was called, -that left the Bay of Fundy for New York several years ago.” - -“And a mighty foolish thing that was, too,” interrupted Caleb, shaking -his head. “It’s a merciful Providence that that thing didn’t occasion -half a dozen wrecks; but it didn’t, as far as anybody knows.” - -“Richards tells a pretty thrilling story of his experience,” the -merchant continued, seeing that Brandon was interested in the tale. -“Lumber and coal laden derelicts are considered the most dangerous, -eh, Caleb? And this Joggins raft was probably the most perilous object -that was ever set afloat. - -“The raft was composed of 27,000 great tree trunks, bound together -with chains, and it weighed something like eleven thousand tons. The -hawsers by which it was towed, parted in a hurricane, and the raft went -to pieces south of Nantasket. For a good many months the logs were -reported as scattered over a great portion of the North Atlantic. As -Caleb says, however, they did no damage, but the hydrographic charts -during the time were plentifully decorated with them.” - -“What are these hydrographic charts?” asked Brandon, with interest. -“That clipping Leroyd lost and which I found, mentioned the matter of -the Swan’s being reported to the Hydrographic Office at Washington. -What did it mean?” - -“Well,” responded Mr. Pepper, while Caleb, at the little merchant’s -request, filled and smoked his evening pipe, “when these abandoned -wrecks are sighted by incoming steamers, they are reported at once to -the Hydrographic Office at the capitol, the latitude and longitude, -name of the vessel if known, and her position in the water, being given. - -“As fast as messages of this kind are received at the office they are -posted on a big blackboard on which is inscribed an outline map of the -North Atlantic. The position of each derelict is indicated by a pin -stuck into the board, and thrust at the same time through a square -scrap of paper. - -“On this bit of paper is inscribed in red ink the name of the deserted -craft, if it is known, together with a minute picture showing the -attitude of the vessel, whether bottom up, sunken at the stern, or -what not. - -“These little pictures are reproduced on the next pilot chart (which is -a monthly publication), and changes are made in the chart as frequently -as the derelicts are reported.” - -“Seems to me, ’Doniram,” remarked Caleb, puffing away with vast content -at the pipe--“seems to me you know a good deal about this derelict -business.” - -The little man seemed strangely confused at this, and his jolly face -blushed a deep red as he shifted his position restlessly. - -“Well,” he said slowly. “I _have_ been looking it up lately. I--I had -an idea--a scheme, you know--that caused me to study the matter some. -Seems odd, too, doesn’t it, with the matter of the Silver Swan coming -right on top of it?” - -But here Brandon, whose thoughts had been wandering a little, -interrupted any further questioning on the sailor’s part. - -“I’m dreadfully sorry that that rascally Leroyd got away with the -letter father wrote me,” he said reflectively. - -Caleb looked at him with a smile, and removed his pipe from between his -lips. - -“Did I say he _had_ got away with it?” he said. - -“Eh?” interjected Adoniram, quickly. - -“What do you mean?” queried Brandon. - -“See here,” said Caleb, enjoying their surprise, “You’ve been running -this pretty much by yourselves. _I_ haven’t said that the swab got away -with the papers, have I?” - -“For pity’s sake, what _did_ he steal then?” demanded Brandon, -springing to his feet. - -“Well,” returned the mate of the Silver Swan, “by my reckoning he got -an old pocketbook with some worthless bills of lading in it and about -ten dollars in money--an’ much good may it do him.” - -“Why--why--” sputtered Mr. Pepper, staring at the smiling sailor in -amazement. - -“Now, don’t be in a hurry,” urged Caleb. “I _didn’t_ say the papers -were stolen, so don’t ye accuse me o’ that. Ye both jumped at that -conclusion and I let you think so, for as I’d made a fool of myself -once by lettin’ folks know I had ’em, I reckoned I wouldn’t do it again. - -“But now,” he added, “if ye think this is the time and place to see -them papers, I can perduce ’em ter oncet.” - -“Where are they? Let’s see ’em,” urged Brandon, in excitement. - -“All right, my lad. If you says the word, why here goes.” - -The old sailor laid his pipe down, and coolly began to unstrap his -wooden leg. The implement was an old fashioned affair, consisting of -a smoothly turned stick at the lower end hardly larger than a broom -handle, but swelling as it rose, to the semblance of a leg. - -In a moment he had it off and to the surprise of his two friends this -swelled portion of the imitation limb was hollow. From this cavity he -drew forth first a bulky wallet and then a package of papers wrapped in -oiled paper. - -“There ye be,” he declared, with satisfaction. “If _I’d_ known about -them di’monds afore we left the brig, I sh’d have had the cap’n let me -hide ’em in this ’ere timber leg. Then we’d have been saved a mighty -sight o’ bother.” - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -THE CONTENTS OF SEVERAL INTERESTING DOCUMENTS - - -“WELL, of all things!” ejaculated Mr. Pepper, as the old sailor -produced the papers from their queer repository, while Brandon burst -out laughing. - -“There’s some reasons for being grateful for even a wooden leg,” -remarked Caleb grimly. “I hid those papers there when I was aboard the -raft, and if I’d passed in my checks I reckon papers an’ all would have -gone to the sharks, for Leroyd would never have thought to look there -for ’em.” - -Then he strapped the artificial limb in place again, and gravely handed -the package to Brandon. The boy had lost all desire to laugh now, for -he was in possession of the last written words of his father, and for a -moment his hands trembled and his eyes filled with tears. - -“Open it, my lad,” said the sailor. “I haven’t touched the wrapper -since Cap’n Horace gave it to me.” - -Brandon untied the string which bound the package, and removed the -oiled paper. There were several folded documents within and one was -marked: - - “To my son, Brandon, - Horace Tarr.” - -Don quickly opened the paper, recognizing the chirography of the dead -captain at once, although much of the writing was blurred and illy -formed, showing how great a tax the effort had been for the injured and -dying man. It read as follows: - - ON BOARD THE RAFT, - TUESDAY NOON. - - MY BELOVED SON: - - We have now been on this raft two days, and I feel that my end is - drawing near, although my companions will doubtless escape. But I - have received a terrible blow on the head, and my sufferings at times - are frightful; therefore I know I am not long for this world. - - Oh, that I might see you again, my son! That I might be spared to - reach you, and to put into your hand the power to make you the - wealthy man I should have been had I lived. But no; it could not be. - Fortune has at last come to the Tarrs, but I shall not share it; your - uncle Anson was not benefited by it, and death will overtake me soon, - too. But you, my son, I pray may regain the fortune which I have - hidden aboard the brig. - - We committed a grave error in leaving the wreck; I know that now. - The hull of the Silver Swan was uninjured, and she may outlast many - gales. I shall put these papers into Caleb Wetherbee’s hands ere I - am called, and he, I know, will help you to regain the fortune which - first belonged to Anson. Be guided by him, and trust him fully. - - The letter from your uncle will explain all about the diamonds, and - how he came in possession of them. I dared not take the gems with - me from the brig, for Leroyd knew about them, or suspected their - presence, and he would have killed us all for them, I fear. - - But they are hidden in the steel lined closet--the one I showed you - in the cabin. Caleb knows where it is. Go to the reef at once and - get the jewels, before some one else gets there. There are diamonds - enough to make you fabulously rich, if Anson appraised them rightly. - - I am so weak that I cannot write longer. - - These will probably be my last words on earth to you, my son. Live - uprightly; fear God; and hold sacred your mother’s memory. God bless - you, my boy! Farewell! - Your loving father, - HORACE TARR. - -Tears fairly blinded Don’s eyes as he finished reading the missive. He -passed it to Mr. Pepper, who, in turn, passed it to Caleb. - -“He was a good man,” declared Adoniram softly, while the old sailor -blew his nose loudly, and wiped the suspicious moisture from his eyes. - -“That he were!” responded the latter. “Cap’n Horace were all that he -tells you to be, Don.” - -“Please God, I’ll be worthy of his memory,” said Brandon quietly. “If -we are fortunate enough to obtain any of this treasure he speaks of. I -hope I shall use it wisely, and as he would wish.” - -“Don’t you fear--we’ll get it, lad,” Caleb assured him earnestly. “I -feel it in my bones we will.” - -“What else was there in the package?” asked the merchant curiously. - -“There were two other papers,” Brandon replied. “One is my father’s -will.” - -He picked that up from his lap and opened it. - -“Why,” he exclaimed, “you are named as executor, Mr. Pepper.” - -He passed the legal document to Adoniram who adjusted the eye glasses -(of which a new pair had been purchased), and examined it with manifest -surprise. - -“This is a legal will, as sure as I am alive!” he exclaimed. “It was -drawn up at Rio by an American lawyer--a Mr. Bromley. Properly signed -and witnessed.” - -“Well, you’ll look out for it, won’t you?” said Caleb, who was eager to -hear the other paper--the letter from Anson Tarr to his brother--read. - -“Of course. But let me tell you its contents,” replied the merchant. -“It is short and to the point, Caleb. _You_ are given the Silver Swan, -in fee simple, and everything else goes to Brandon, here.” - -He read the paragraph which secured all the property of which Captain -Tarr had been possessed, excepting the brig, to Brandon, including -“certain uncut diamonds, roughly estimated at two hundred thousand -dollars.” - -“Two hundred thousand!” repeated Brandon, in bewilderment. - -“Quite a pile, my boy,” said Caleb. “That is, if we get ’em.” - -“And you and I, Caleb,” concluded Mr. Pepper, “are joint guardians of -Don.” - -“All right, all right,” cried the impatient sailor. “But let’s hear the -other letter, my lad. Read it out.” - -Thus urged, Brandon unfolded the third paper, and read its contents -aloud: - - “KIMBERLEY, SOUTH AFRICA, - “November the 27th, 1891. - - “BROTHER HORACE: - - “Probably you have long since believed me dead, and I have given - you good reason for that belief, for, if I am not mistaken, it was - eight years ago, after my miserable failure at the Australian gold - diggings, that I last wrote to you. - - “I intended then that you should never hear from me again. I was a - failure--a complete failure, I believed--and I determined to tempt - fortune no further. With this intention I went to an island in the - Pacific, and buried myself there, with only natives and one other - white man for company, for six years. - - “Then the old roving spirit awoke in me again, and I longed to try my - luck once more where other men were gaining wealth. The news of the - rich finds here in the diamond fields reached even our lonely isle, - and finally I could not resist the temptation longer, and came here, - leaving my companion to dwell alone among the natives. I have been - here now the better part of a year and, at last, have been successful! - - “Two months ago I struck a pocket in the hills, and out of a trench - less than two rods in length, I have dug what I believe to be at - least forty thousand pounds’ worth of diamonds of exceptional purity. - But the diggings have now petered out. - - “I kept the find a secret, and got all there was myself, excepting a - small number which my black digger ran away with, and now I am afraid - I shall not live to enjoy my riches. - - “Perhaps it is as well. You know that riches have ever taken wings - with us, and I should probably lose all in some other venture. I - hope that you, Horace, will do better with them than I, for to you, - brother, and to your boy, if he has lived, I bequeath the gems. - - “I have been very ill now several days and the physician tells me - that I am in a very bad way. Exposure to all sorts of weather in - every kind of climate, is telling on me. Therefore I do write this - to you, my brother, and take precaution to have the letter and the - package of uncut stones sent to you. - - “Nobody here knows of my find. It is safest to trust nobody in such - a place as this. I propose to give the letter and the gems, all in a - sealed packet, to a friend, who is the most trustworthy man I know, - and have him give them to you. He will believe the package to contain - nothing but papers, and therefore you will stand a good chance of - getting the diamonds safely. - - “Good by for this world, Horace. May the luck of the Tarrs be changed - with this find of mine. - - “Your brother, - “ANSON TARR.” - -“Well,” exclaimed Caleb, with a sigh, as Brandon folded the document, -“we’ve got the rights of it at last. Two hundred thousand dollars wuth -o’ di’monds--for that’s what forty thousand pounds mean, I take it, eh, -’Doniram?” - -“About that,” said the merchant. “You will be a very rich man, Don.” - -“Let’s not count our chickens too soon,” said the youth, trying to -stifle his excitement. “It seems too bewilderingly good to be true.” - -“That’s a good idea about not countin’ our chickens,” said Caleb. “But -we’ll have a whack at ’em just as soon as possible, my lad.” - -“And you’ll let me furnish the vessel,” the merchant added. - -“Let’s see,” said the old sailor. “You was saying something about -havin’ one all ready. ’Doniram, wasn’t you?” - -“One that can be ready in a week’s time, any way; and the craft you -want, too--a whaleback.” - -“I dunno,” said Caleb slowly. “I don’t fancy them new fangled things. -What under the sun did you ever get a whaleback steamer for?” - -Mr. Pepper looked at his old friend curiously, and his little eyes -twinkled. - -“Well,” he said reflectively, “oddly enough, I purchased Number Three -from the American Barge Company for the very purpose for which you wish -to use it.” - -“What?” shouted Caleb. - -“Not to go in search of the Silver Swan?” cried Brandon, in wonder. - -“No, not exactly that; but to go in quest of derelicts in general.” - -“Another of your crazy ideas, ’Doniram!” Caleb declared finally. - -“Perhaps; but I notice that most of my ‘crazy ideas’ turn out pretty -successfully, old Timbertoes,” said the little merchant jovially. “If -you’ll give me a chance, though, I’ll explain how I came to think of -_this_ ‘crazy idea.’” - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -IN WHICH MR. PEPPER MAKES A PROPOSITION TO CALEB AND DON - - -“YOU see,” the ship owner began, as soon as he was assured of the -attention of his audience, “I have had my eye on these whaleback -steamers from the start. Three years ago, you know, nobody but Captain -Alexander MacDougall, the inventor, knew anything about them. - -“We are altogether too conservative here in the East,” continued -Adoniram warmly. “It takes the Westerners to get hold of new things, -and practically test them. These whalebacks are a Western idea and were -first used and tested on the Great Lakes. - -“You don’t seem to realize, Caleb, that the boat was never built which -could sail as easily as those whalebacks. In the heaviest gales they -only roll slightly, as a log would at sea. The waves can beat against -the curved steel sides of the craft as much as they like, or wash clean -over her; but the boat is not affected by them in the least.” - -“It’s the most wonderful thing I ever heard of,” Brandon declared. - -“They _are_ wonderful boats, as you will declare, yourself, when you -see Number Three, tomorrow,” Adoniram returned. “My whaleback is 265 -feet long, 38 feet beam, and 24 feet deep. She is warranted to carry -3,000 tons of grain on a sixteen and one half foot draft. You see, for -her size, she carries an enormous cargo, for between the collision -bulkhead forward, and the bulkhead in front of the engine room aft, the -whole inside of the craft is open for lading. - -“But my scheme--the reason I bought this vessel, in fact--is this,” -went on Mr. Pepper. - -He hesitated a moment, and looked just a little doubtfully at Caleb. - -“I presume this _is_ what you will call a ‘crazy idea,’ Caleb,” he -said. “Several months ago my attention was drawn to the fact that great -numbers of these derelicts now afloat in the Atlantic, north of the -equator, are richly laden merchant vessels on whose cargoes and hulls a -large salvage might be demanded by any vessel towing them into port. - -“Now and then, you know, it happens that somebody _does_ recover -a derelict with a valuable cargo. In these times, when the crews -of American ships, and even many of the officers, are ignorant and -untrustworthy fellows, lacking altogether the honor arm perseverance -which were characteristics of sailors forty years ago (I don’t say that -_all_ are so, but many) under these circumstances, I say, many a vessel -which might be worked safely into port, is abandoned in mid ocean by -the frightened crew. - -“With a vessel like Number Three one could recover and tow into port -many of these hulks, and net a large salvage from the owners. Vessels -which would not be worth saving themselves, might still contain -articles which it would pay to transfer to the hold of the whaleback, -before they were sunk; for it was my intention to have Number Three -destroy all the wrecks which are not worth saving. - -“I have even sounded the Washington officials in the matter of aiding -me in the work of destroying these derelicts; but I find that the -Hydrographic Office is trying to get an appropriation from Congress to -build a vessel of about 800 tons burden, especially for the work of -blowing up these wrecks. Until that matter is decided, of course I can -get no bonus on what I do. - -“Nevertheless,” Mr. Pepper continued, “I believe that there is money -enough in it to amply reward me for my outlay. Why, look at that New -England whaler which found the British ship Resolute fast in the ice of -Melville Bay in the summer of ’55. - -“She was one of three vessels sent out by the British government to -find Sir John Franklin. She was ‘nipped’ by the ice in the winter -of ’51 and was abandoned. The whaler brought her to New London, and -Congress bought her for $200,000 salvage and sent her to England. Of -course, I shouldn’t expect to get many such prizes as that,” and the -little man laughed, “but I do expect to make a handsome profit on the -venture.” - -“Take, for instance, the case of the Silver Swan. I’ll make you a -proposition, Brandon, and you see if it isn’t a fair one. Caleb shall -judge himself. I’ll send the whaleback out after the brig at my own -expense. If we are successful and find the derelict and tow her to -port, I will take the cargo (I know it to be a valuable one) for my -pains--of course, not including the diamonds, which are your own -personal property, my boy. The brig herself is Caleb’s, any way, -according to the terms of your father’s will. Now what do you say?” - -“I say it’s a good offer!” exclaimed Caleb, slapping his thigh -heartily. “You’re a man and a gentleman, Adoniram. And far from -thinking this scheme of yours crazy, I think well of it--mighty well.” - -“That’s because it ‘hits you where you live,’ as the saying is,” -returned Mr. Pepper, smiling slily. - -“Oh, I don’t know anything about whalebacks,” began Caleb. - -“But you will,” the merchant declared, interrupting him. “I haven’t got -through with my proposition yet.” - -“Fire ahead, old man,” said Caleb puffing steadily on his pipe. - -“Well, then, first I want you for the captain of the steamer, Caleb.” - -“Yes, so I supposed,” remarked the mate of the Silver Swan -imperturbably. “What else?” - -“I want Brandon for second mate.” - -“Me?” exclaimed Don. “Why, I never was aboard a steamship in my life.” - -“Oh, that doesn’t make any difference, Don,” returned Caleb -sarcastically. “It would be just like him (if he wanted to) to send the -vessel out with every blessed one of the crew landlubbers. It don’t -make a particle o’ difference.” - -“Now, Caleb,” said the merchant deprecatingly. - -“No, Adoniram, we can’t do it. The boy knows nothing at all about a -steamship, and I know but little more.” - -“You’ve been mate on a steamer, Caleb.” - -“On a dredger, you mean,” returned the old sailor, in disgust. - -“There’s no reason why you can’t do it--both of you,” the ship owner -declared. “If I’m satisfied, _you_ ought to be. I’ve already engaged -Lawrence Coffin for mate.” - -“Coffin!” ejaculated Caleb, his face lighting up, as he forgot to -pull on his pipe in his interest. “Got _him_, eh? Well, that puts a -different complexion on the matter. I could sail the Great Eastern with -Lawrence Coffin for mate.” - -“I thought so,” said Mr. Pepper, laughing gleefully. “Then I’ve got -a man by the name of Bolin for third. He’s a good man, and knows his -business, too.” - -“That would make Don’s duties pretty light,” said Caleb reflectively. - -“Of course. I shall put in rather a larger crew than a whaleback -usually carries--fourteen at least,” Mr. Pepper added; “to handle the -cargoes I shall expect the steamer to recover.” - -“Well, well,” said Caleb, rising; “let’s sleep on it. It’s never best -to decide on anything too quickly.” - -“If you’ll take up with my offer,” concluded the merchant, rising, too, -“the craft can be made ready, and you can get away this day week.” - -“Let’s think it over,” repeated the old sailor, bound not to be hurried -into the business; but Don went to bed so excited by the prospect that -it was hours before he was able to sleep. - -“Did a fellow _ever_ have a better chance for fun and adventure?” was -his last thought as he finally sank into a fitful slumber. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -INTO BAD COMPANY - - -IF I were to follow up my own inclinations I should much prefer to stay -in the company of Brandon Tarr and of his two good friends, the honest, -hearty old seaman, Caleb Wetherbee, and the jovial, philanthropic ship -owner, Adoniram Pepper. And I feel sure that the reader, too, would -much prefer to remain with them. - -But, for the sake of better understanding that which is to follow, I -shall be obliged for a short time to request the company of the reader -in entirely different scenes, and among rather disreputable characters. - -Mr. Alfred Weeks, who had been in receipt of so many favors in times -past from the firm of Adoniram Pepper & Co., is the first person who -will receive our attention. - -Weeks was “an effect of a cause.” He was of the slums, his ancestry -came from the slums; he was simply, by accident of education -(compulsory education, by the way) once removed from the usual “gutter -snipe” of the city streets. - -Who his parents were, he could not, for the life of him, have told. -I do not mean to suggest for an instant that Weeks was not to be -pitied; but that he was deserving of pity I deny. He had been saved -from the debasing influences of the reform school in his youth by -a philanthropic gentleman (who might have been the twin of Adoniram -Pepper), and sent to a Western State where he was clothed, fed, and -educated by a kind hearted farmer, whom he repaid by theft and by -finally running away. - -Then he went from one thing to another, and from place to place, -and you may be sure that neither his morals nor his habits improved -during the progression. Finally at twenty-five, he drifted back to the -metropolis, and quickly found his old level again--the slums. Here he -likewise discovered many of the acquaintances of his youth, for he had -been a boy of twelve when he had been sent West. - -Among these old friends he was known as “Sneaky” (a very appropriate -appellation, as we have seen), “Alfred Weeks” being the name given him -by his Western benefactor. The fellow was a most accomplished hypocrite -and it was by the exercise of this attribute that he had obtained -the situation as Adoniram Pepper’s clerk, and kept it for ten years, -despite many of his evil deeds coming to the knowledge of the shipping -merchant. - -Not one of the three persons who had been in the office that afternoon -when his presence in the wardrobe was discovered, realized how -thoroughly bad at heart Weeks was, or how dangerous an enemy they had -made. Even Caleb Wetherbee did not fully recognize it. - -But they _had_ made an enemy, and within twenty-four hours that enemy -was at work to undermine and thwart their plans. - -Weeks had overheard enough of the story of the Silver Swan and her -valuable cargo to make it an easy matter for him to decide on a line -of action which might lead to his own benefit, as well as to the -compassing of his much desired revenge. - -He solaced his wounded feelings the evening after his dismissal -from the ship owner’s office by a trip to his favorite resort--the -Bowery Theater--where he again drank in the highly colored sentences -and romantic tableaux of that great drama “The Buccaneer’s Bride.” -Unfortunately, however, he was forced to remain standing during the -play for obvious reasons; the seats of the theater were not cushioned. - -The next forenoon he adorned himself in the height of Bowery style, and -strolled down past the scene of his former labors and on toward that -rendezvous known as the New England Hotel. He had his plans already -mapped out, and the first thing to do was to join forces with Jim -Leroyd, whom he knew very well by reputation, at least, as did a great -many others among the denizens of lower New York. - -But as he strolled along Water Street he discovered something which -slightly changed his plans. Perhaps, to be exact, I should say that he -discovered _somebody_. - -On the opposite side of the thoroughfare was a weazen faced old man, -with bowed shoulders, and not altogether steady feet. He was dressed in -rusty black clothes of a pattern far remote from the present day. - -Evidently he was quite confused by his surroundings and by the crowd -which jostled him on the walk. - -“What a chance for a ‘bunco man,’” exclaimed the festive Alfred, under -his breath. “That’s country, sure enough. I wonder how it ever got -here all alone,” and the philanthropic ex-clerk crossed the street at -once and fell into the old man’s wake. - -Despite his countrified manner, however, there was an air of shrewd, -suspicious intelligence about the man of the rusty habiliments. -Fortunately for the success of his further plans, Weeks did not seek to -accost him at once. - -Had he done so he would have aroused the countryman’s suspicions. The -latter had come warned and forearmed against strangers who sought his -acquaintance. - -As they went along, the old man ahead and Weeks in the rear, the latter -discovered that the countryman was seeking for something. He went along -slowly, with his eyes fixed on the signs on either side, studying each -new one as it came in view with apparent interest. - -Finally he stopped on the corner of a cross street and looked about him -at the rushing, hurried life in perplexity. Now was Mr. Week’s chance. - -He strolled slowly along toward the old fellow, the only person without -an apparent object, in that whole multitude. - -As the ex-clerk expected, the countryman accosted him. - -“Say, mister,” he said, in his harsh, cracked voice, which rose plainly -above the noise of the street, “kin you tell me the whereabouts of the -New England Hotel?” - -“Whew!” thought Mr. Weeks. “Pretty shady locality for a respectable -farmer. Wonder what the old fellow wants _there_?” - -Then aloud he said: - -“I’m going along there myself, sir; it is several blocks yet.” - -“Wal, ’t seems ter me,” snarled the other, taking his place by the side -of Weeks, “thet this ’ere street hain’t got no end, nor no numbers ter -speak of. I looked in one o’ them things over at the hotel--a d’rectory -I b’lieve the clerk called it--but I don’t see as it helped me any.” - -“It’s pretty hard for a stranger to find his way about New York, that’s -a fact.” - -The old fellow flashed a sudden look at his companion, which was not -lost on the sly Weeks. The farmer had “read up” on “bunco men” and -their ways, and expected that the polite stranger would suggest showing -him about the city a little. - -But Weeks didn’t; he wasn’t that kind. - -Finding that the fellow seemed totally uninterested as to whether he -found his way about the metropolis or not, the countryman gained a -little confidence in his new acquaintance. - -“New York streets hain’t much like Providence streets,” he said. “Ye -_kin_ find yer way ’round them; but I defy any one ter know whether -they’re goin’ straight here, or not.” - -Mr. Weeks smiled and nodded, but let the other do most of the talking. -He went on the principle that if you give a fool rope enough he’ll -hang himself; and although the old fellow thought himself exceedingly -shrewd, and took pains to dodge the real object of his visit to New -York, in seeking to be pleasant to his new acquaintance he “gave the -whole thing dead away,” as the astute Alfred mentally expressed it. - -“Ye see,” said the old man. “I’m down here a-lookin for my nevvy, -Brandon, who’s run away from me. Nothing else would ha’ got me down -here right in the beginnin’ of the spring work.” - -Weeks started slightly, but otherwise showed no signs of special -interest; but as the old fellow ran on about the terrible state he -expected his affairs would be in because of his absence, Mr. Alfred -Weeks did some pretty tall thinking. - -“Brandon is no common name,” so the ex-clerk communed with himself. “I -bet there hasn’t been _two_ Brandons come to New York within the past -few days--both from Rhode Island, too. - -“This is the old uncle I heard the young chap mention. He’s down here -after the boy, eh? But I’m betting there’s something else behind it. -Now, let’s see; what does he want at the New England Hotel? - -“Leroyd, so young Tarr said, had been up to Rhode Island to see him.” -Weeks thought, continuing his train of reasoning. “Passed himself off -to _him_, at least, as old Wetherbee. Oh, Jim’s a keen one, he is! -Now Leroyd’s at the hotel--at least, he _has_ been. What is this old -scarecrow going there for? - -“There’s a great big rat in the toe of this stocking,” Mr. Weeks -assured himself. “This uncle is an old scamp, that’s _my_ opinion.” -(Mr. Weeks knew a scamp when he saw one--excepting when he looked in -the glass.) “I’d wager a good deal that he and Jim understand each -other pretty well. - -“Probably Jim has let the old fellow into the fact that there’s -treasure aboard that brig, hoping to get him to back him in an attempt -to find it. By the cast in the old man’s eye, I reckon he’s always on -the lookout for the almighty dollar. Now, he and Jim are going to try -and hitch horses together, I bet. And am I in this? I betcher! with -both feet!” - -With this elegant expression, Mr. Weeks drew up before the uninviting -resort known as the New England Hotel. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -MR. ALFRED WEEKS AT A CERTAIN CONFERENCE - - -“HERE we are, mister,” said the ex-clerk; “see, there’s the sign--New -England Hotel. Did you expect to find your runaway nephew here?” - -“No-o,” replied old Arad Tarr, eying the place with a good deal of -disfavor. - -“See here,” said Weeks slowly, “I’ve been trying to remember -whereabouts I’ve heard that name ‘Brandon’ before. It’s not a common -name, you know.” - -“No, ’taint common. D’ye thing ye’ve seen Brandon since he’s been here -in New York? He’s only been here two days, I reckon,” said old Arad -eagerly. - -“Perhaps.” - -“Where was he?” queried the old man. “I’m his lawful guardeen, an’ I’m -a-goin’ ter hev him back, now I tell ye!” - -“Let’s see; his name is Brandon Tarr, isn’t it?” - -“That’s it; that’s it,” Arad declared. - -“And he came from Chopmist, Rhode Island?” - -“Sartin. You must have seen him, mister.” - -“I guess I have,” said Weeks reflectively. “He was the son of a Captain -Horace Tarr, lost at sea on the Silver Swan not long ago, eh?” - -“The very feller!” cried Arad, with manifest delight. - -“Then I guess I can help you find him,” declared Weeks cheerfully. -“Let’s go inside and I’ll tell you how I happened to run across him. -It’s not a very nice looking place, this isn’t; but they know me here -and it won’t be safe for them to treat any of my friends crooked.” - -The old man, who had forgotten all about bunco men and their ilk in -his anxiety to recover his nephew, followed him into the bar room. The -place was but poorly patronized at this hour of the day, and with a -nod to Brady, who, his face adorned with a most beautiful black eye, -was behind the bar, Weeks led the way to an empty table in the further -corner. - -“What’ll you an’ your friend hev ter drink?” inquired Mr. Brady, with -an atrocious grin. - -“Oh, a bottle of sarsaparilla,” responded Weeks carelessly, and when -the bull necked barkeeper had brought it, the ex-clerk paid for the -refreshment himself. - -Old Arad had looked rather scared at the appearance of the bottle. His -mind at once reverted to the stories he had read in the local paper -at home (which paper he had borrowed from a neighbor, by the way) of -countrymen being decoyed into dens in New York and treated to drugged -liquor. - -But as Weeks allowed the bottle to stand on the table between them -untouched throughout their conference, the old man felt easier in his -mind. - -“Ye say ye’ve seen Brandon?” inquired Arad, when Jack Brady had -returned to his position behind the bar, and there was nobody within -earshot. - -“Yes. I’ll tell you how it was. You see, Mr. Tarr--that’s your name, -isn’t it?--I have a position in a shipping merchant’s office as clerk. -The office is--er--closed today, so I am out. This office is that of -Adoniram Pepper & Co. Ever hear of them?” - -Old Arad shook his head negatively. - -“Pepper was a great friend of this Brandon’s father, so I understand.” - -“Mebbe,” snarled the farmer. “Cap’n Tarr’s friends warn’t _my_ friends.” - -“No? Well, your nephew steered straight for Pepper’s office, and I -believe that he’s staying at the old man’s house now--he and a man by -the name of Caleb Wetherbee.” - -“Caleb Wetherbee? Gracious Peter!” ejaculated the old man. “Hez he -found _him_ so soon.” - -Mr. Weeks nodded briefly. - -“This Wetherbee was mate of the Silver Swan.” - -“That’s the man,” muttered Arad hopelessly. - -“I take it you didn’t want your nephew and this Wetherbee to meet?” -suggested Weeks shrewdly. - -“No--o----well, I dunno. I--I’m erfraid ’twon’t be so easy to git -Brandon back ter the farm ef he’s found this mate.” - -“Perhaps we can fix it up,” said Weeks cheerfully. - -“D’ye think so?” - -“Let’s see; are you his legal guardian?” - -“Yes, I be,” declared Arad savagely; “on’y the papers ain’t made aout.” - -“I don’t really see, then, how you can bring it about until you are -appointed,” said Mr. Weeks slowly. - -“I jest kin!” asserted Arad, with confidence. “I gotter warrant here -for him.” - -“Whew!” The astute Weeks looked at the old sinner admiringly. “Well, -well! you _are_ a smart one. What’s the charge?” - -“Robbing me,” responded the old man. “The day he run away he took ’most -fifty dollars outer a--a beury droor. Dretful bad boy is that Brandon.” - -“Yes, I should think so. Well, with that warrant I should think you had -him pretty straight.” - -“D’ye think I kin find him all right?” asked Arad anxiously. - -“If you can’t, I can,” responded Weeks. “I know where to put my hand on -him.” - -At that moment a door at the rear of the room (within a few feet of the -table at which they were seated, in fact) opened, and a man entered. -Weeks recognized him at once as Jim Leroyd; he had seen him before, -although he could claim no speaking acquaintance with him. - -Old Arad also saw and recognized the newcomer, and as the sailor passed -along the room, he caught sight of the old farmer. - -“Why, dash my top lights!” he exclaimed, in surprise. “Ef here ain’t -Mr. Tarr!” - -He stepped back to the table and grasped the old man’s hand most -cordially, at the same time casting a suspicious glance at Weeks. He -knew the ex-clerk by reputation, as Weeks knew _him_. - -“Don’t ye be up ter any funny biz with this gentleman, Sneaky,” he -said, with a scowl. “He’s my friend.” - -“Don’t you fret,” responded Weeks. “He and I were talking about his -nephew, Brandon Tarr, who was up to see you yesterday----” - -Mr. Leroyd uttered a volley of choice profanity at this, and Arad was -greatly surprised. - -“Came ter see yeou?” he gasped. “Er--erbout that matter we was -a-talkin’ of, Mr. Leroyd? Ye know I--I’m his legal guardeen----” - -“Don’t ye be scared, Mr. Tarr,” said Weeks, who understood the -circumstances pretty well, “I can vouch for Jim, here, not playing you -false.” - -“What do you know about it, anyway?” growled Jim uglily. - -“Now, sit down and keep cool, Leroyd,” urged Weeks. “I know _all_ about -it. I know about your little scheme to gobble the--the _treasure_ -aboard the Silver Swan----” - -“Sh!” exclaimed Leroyd fiercely. “You know too much, young feller.” - -“No, I know just enough, and I’ll prove it to you.” - -“I s’pose ye think ye kin force yer way inter this, but ye’re mistaken. -This is the private affair o’ Mr. Tarr an’ me, an’ I warn ye ter keep -yer nose out.” - -He arose as he spoke, his fierce eyes fixed threateningly upon Weeks’ -impassive face. - -“You come with me, Mr. Tarr, where we can talk the matter over -privately. We don’t want nothin’ o’ that swab.” - -The red headed ex-clerk fairly laughed aloud at this. - -“See here, Leroyd,” he said, still coolly: “you made a break for those -papers yesterday, I believe. What did you get?” - -“Hey?” roared the sailor. - -“I said that you made a break for those papers of Cale Wetherbee’s -yesterday,” repeated Weeks, slowly and distinctly. “Now, what did you -get?” - -“Not a blamed thing,” responded the sailor frankly, after an instant’s -hesitation. - -“That’s what I thought. I thought Cale Wetherbee took it altogether too -coolly if you _had_ made a haul worth anything. Now, I could tell you -something, if I thought ’twould be worth my while.” - -“What is it?” - -“Do you know what the treasure hidden aboard the brig consists of?” - -“No,” replied Leroyd shortly, while old Arad gazed from one to the -other in bewilderment. - -“Well, I do,” declared Weeks. - -“Ye do?” - -“Sure. I heard that Wetherbee and the boy and old man Pepper talking it -over.” - -“Who’s Pepper?” growled Leroyd. - -“He’s the feller who is going to back ’em in this hunt for the brig. -He’s going to furnish the vessel and all.” - -“Curses on the luck!” growled the sailor again. - -Here old Arad interposed. The old man’s hands were trembling violently, -and his face was pale with excitement. - -“We--we must stop ’em--they ain’t got no right ter do it,” he -sputtered. “Horace Tarr was my nevvy, an’ I’m the guardeen o’ that -boy. There hain’t nobody else got no right to go arter them di’monds.” - -“Diamonds!” exclaimed Leroyd. “Is _that_ the treasure?” - -“Ye--es,” replied Arad hesitatingly, looking at Weeks. “I--I found a -letter from this Wetherbee, the mate of the Silver Swan, an’ it says -so. Horace’s brother Anson got ’em in South Afriky.” - -“Good for you, old feller,” said Leroyd admiringly. “Ye did take my -advice, didn’t ye?” - -Old Arad rubbed his hands together as though washing them with -imaginary soap, and grinned. - -“Yes, diamonds is the treasure,” Weeks rejoined calmly. “Now, you’ll -start right off to find the brig with Mr. Tarr here to back you with -money, eh, Leroyd?” - -“Never ye mind _what_ I’ll do,” returned Jim, uglily. “I tell ye this -hain’t none o’ your funeral, so you keep out of it, Sneaky.” - -“Are you sure?” asked Weeks, with a tantalizing smile. - -“Yes, I’m sure!” roared the enraged sailor. - -“Well, don’t holler so loud,” the red haired one admonished him. “But I -think you’re mistaken.” - -Leroyd glared at him like an angry bull dog but said nothing. - -“Now I s’pose,” continued Weeks, cocking his eye at the smoke begrimmed -ceiling of the bar room, “that you expect to get a vessel an’ go in -pursuit of the Silver Swan; and that when you’ve got her you’ll tow her -in port, an’ you’ll have the salvage--that’ll be a pretty good sum.” - -“And the di’monds,” interjected Arad, with an avaricious chuckle. - -“Oh, will you?” said Weeks with cool sarcasm. “That remains to be seen. -You’ll have the brig fast enough: but how’ll you get the stones?” - -“Why, ef we git the brig won’t the diamonds be aboard her?” queried -Arad. - -“Yes, they will; but _where will they be_, aboard her? Can you tell me -that?” - -Arad’s jaw fell and he stared blankly at the shrewd Weeks. Even Leroyd -was visibly moved by this statement. - -“You don’t know where the diamonds are hidden,” continued Weeks, -pursuing his advantage. “You might tear that whole brig to pieces an’ -not find ’em, _but I know just where they are and I can put my hand -right on ’em_!” - -“You kin?” gasped old Arad. - -“Is that straight, Sneaky?” demanded Leroyd, with interest. - -Weeks nodded calmly. - -“I believe you’re lying,” the sailor declared. - -“Well you can think so if you want to,” said the ex-clerk, rising, “and -I’ll go now and find somebody to go in with me on this scheme, and I’ll -run my chances of getting to the brig first. You can have the old hulk -and welcome after I’ve been aboard her five minutes, Leroyd. - -“But, if you’ll let me in on the ground floor of this,” he continued, -“and give me one third of all there is in it, why all right. If you -don’t, probably you’ll get nothing, while me and the other fellow’ll -get it _all_,” and Mr. Weeks smiled benignantly upon his audience. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -HOW A NEFARIOUS COMPACT WAS FORMED - - -“BUT yeou can’t do that!” cried old Arad Tarr, the first to break -the silence after Mr. Weeks had delivered what might be termed his -“ultimatum.” “There hasn’t anybody got airy right ter go arter them -di’monds, but them I send.” - -“That is where you make an error, Mr. Tarr,” responded Weeks -cheerfully. “This is what is called ‘treasure trove;’ the fellow who -gets there first has the best right to it.” - -“It ben’t so, is it?” whined the old man, appealing to Leroyd. - -“Yes, I s’pose it is,” admitted the sailor, with a growl. “He’s got us -foul, old man.” - -“Now, don’t talk that way, Leroyd,” exclaimed Weeks briskly. “We three -must strike hands and share evenly in this thing. You need me, any way, -though I can get along without either of you; for you know it wouldn’t -take me long to find a man to back me with a couple of hundred dollars -against the chance of winning thousands.” - -“Well, you’re right,” said the sailor, seeing that it would be for his -advantage to make terms with “Sneaky Al,” as the red haired Weeks was -familiarly called. - -“Two hundred dollars is an awful lot of money ter risk,” muttered old -Arad, knowing that he was the one who would be expected to furnish the -“sinews of war.” - -“’Tain’t much compared with mebbe three hundred thousand dollars. I -heered Cap’n Tarr say, myself, that there was enough o’ them di’monds, -ter make a man fabulously rich,” responded Leroyd quickly. “That’d be a -clean hundred thousand for each of us.” - -“But ef I furnish the money I’d oughter hev more o’ th’ returns,” -declared the farmer, who was quite as sharp as either of his companions. - -“Come, we won’t quarrel over that,” the sailor declared, rising again. -“But we want to talk this matter over where it’s more quiet like. I’ve -got a room here. Let’s go up to it, where we shan’t be disturbed.” - -“Now you’re talking sense,” Weeks declared, rising gingerly from the -chair in which he had again seated himself. - -At that instant Mr. Brady, who had been kept busy at the bar by -transient customers for the past half hour, called Leroyd over to him. - -“Now, look a-here, Jim,” he said, in a hoarse aside, “wot be you -an’ Sneaky Al up to? Dere ain’t goin’ ter be no game played on dat -countryman here, see? Ye got me inter ’nough trouble yest’day. Ef I -hadn’t a pull in dis ward, dey’d er--nabbed me, sure.” - -“Don’t you fret, Jack,” responded Leroyd reassuringly. “We ain’t inter -any bunco business. The old man knows what he’s about, ef he _does_ -look like a hay-seed. Ef he don’t do _us_, it’ll be lucky.” - -“Well, what’s de game?” Brady demanded. - -“Never you mind, old man. We’re just going up stairs for a private -confab, an’ ef things turn out right, I kin promise a cool hundred for -keeping your mouth shut. Savey?” - -Brady nodded. - -“I’m mum,” he said, with satisfaction. “On’y I don’t want dem cops down -on me ag’in, so mind yer eye.” - -Armed with a bottle and glasses, Leroyd led the way into a small room -a good deal nearer the roof of the building, in which the New England -Hotel was located. His two companions, however, left the sailor to -dispose of the refreshments alone; the old farmer because he had never -used liquor in any shape at home, and Weeks because he proposed to keep -his brain perfectly clear that he might be sure to retain the “whip -hand” of the other conspirators. - -It is not my purpose to report verbatim the plans of the three -villains. Let it suffice to say that after much discussion, and by -virtue of coaxings, threatenings, promises, and what not, the sailor -and Weeks (who saw at once that it would be for their mutual advantage -to play into each other’s hands) obtained old Arad Tarr’s consent to -furnish them with the sum of over two hundred dollars (and more if it -was found to be actually needed) with which to charter the vessel. - -You may be sure that the two rascals never worked harder (with their -tongues) for two hundred dollars in their lives, for the amount looked -as large to old Arad as ten thousand would to almost any other man. - -The plot of the conspirators likewise included the discovery of -Brandon’s whereabouts and his arrest on the charge of robbery, as set -forth in the warrant with which Arad supplied himself before he left -Rhode Island. This part of the scheme Weeks proposed to attend to. - -Then, with a great deal of flourish and legal formula, the astute Mr. -Weeks drew up a most wonderful document (he was well versed in legal -phrases), which bound each of the three, Arad Tarr, James Leroyd, and -Alfred Weeks, to a co-partnership, the object of which was to seek and -obtain the floating hulk of the Silver Swan, and the treasure thereon, -the profit of the venture to be divided equally between them, excepting -the sum of one thousand dollars which was to go to Arad Tarr under -_any_ circumstances. And, of course, the document wasn’t worth the -paper on which it was written. - -But the old man didn’t know this. He was a great worshiper of the -law, and he trusted in the legality of the paper to hold his partners -to their promises. He lost sight, however, of the fact that the two -men were going together on the quest for the Silver Swan, and that -he--well, _he_ was to stay at home, and _wait_. Waiting isn’t very hard -work, to be sure; but it is terribly wearing. - -These several things having been accomplished, and it being long past -noon, the conspirators went their different ways--old Arad to interview -the brokerage firm of Bensell, Bensell & Marsden, which, he was sure, -was cheating him out of his dividends: Weeks to hunt up a scaly friend -of his to serve the warrant upon unsuspicious Brandon; and Leroyd to -look about for a vessel which could be converted to their purpose in -the shortest possible time. - -And now, let us return to Brandon and his two good friends, Caleb -Wetherbee and Adoniram Pepper, and find out how much progress _they_ -have made in the quest of the Silver Swan. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -UNCLE ARAD MAKES AN ANNOUNCEMENT - - -IF Caleb Wetherbee passed as sleepless a night as did his young friend, -Brandon, he showed no signs of it when he appeared the next morning. -They were a very jolly party indeed at the breakfast table, for the old -sailor had recovered, to some extent at least, his equanimity when in -the presence of Miss Frances. - -“Now, Caleb, have you decided to accept my offer of last evening?” -Adoniram inquired, as they arose after the meal. - -“Let’s see the steamer,” returned the sailor, noncommittally; so the -merchant and his two guests went down to the docks at once. - -To a person who has never seen a whaleback steamer, the first view of -one is certainly a most surprising sight. He is at once reminded of -Jules Verne’s great story of the Nautilus, the wonderful steel ship -which could sail equally well below and upon the surface of the ocean. - -Number Three was more than two hundred feet in length, and was shaped -like a huge cigar, the blunt end, oddly enough, being the bow. This -blunt “nose” is what suggested the term “pig,” as applied to the -whalebacks when first they appeared on the Great Lakes. - -At the forward end of the steamer a turret arose from the curved deck, -furnished with one of the American Ship Windlass Co.’s steam windlasses -(with the capstan above), and with hand steering gear, the shaft and -hub of the wheel being of brass to avoid affecting the compass. - -The cabin aft, which was fifteen feet above the deck, and therefore -presented a most astonishing appearance, was supported by two turrets, -and several strong ventilating pipes, the latter connecting with the -engine room, fire hold, and cargo hold. - -A low rail ran from bow to stern of the steamer, on either side, -inclosing the turrets within its shelter, thus making it possible for -the crew to go from the aft to the forward turrets. - -The deck, however, was so curved that the feat would not be easy to -perform in rough weather, if the whaleback _did_ roll as do other -vessels. - -“Ye call that a steamer, do ye?” demanded Caleb, in disgust, when he -first caught sight of Number Three; but after he had gone aboard, and -seen and understood the advantages the whaleback possessed over the -other seagoing craft, he no longer scoffed. - -Adoniram first led them to the officers’ quarters. These were finished -in oak, and furnished almost as sumptuously as the cabin of a fancy -yacht. The suite contained a dining room of comfortable size, and a -chart room and offices on the port side of the cabin. - -Below deck were the quarters of the crew, forward and aft, and they -were as comfortable as those on a palatial ocean steamship. - -“It’s a wonderful boat,” Brandon declared, as they examined the engine. - -“It is that,” the ship owner assented. “I paid a pretty penny for her, -but she’s worth it--every cent. She’ll outride any gale that ever blew, -as long as you keep her in deep water. ’Twould be hard to sink her. - -“In the matter of ballast,” he continued, “there are arrangements for -carrying eight hundred ton of water--water is used altogether for -ballast in these whalebacks. Then the engines are of the newest build, -too, you see. - -“The steam is generated from these two steel boilers, each eleven and -a half feet in diameter by the same in length, possessing a working -pressure of one hundred and twenty-five pounds. If the engine goes back -on you, you will have to get out the oars and row ashore, for there is -no chance for raising a sail,” and the jolly ship owner laughed good -naturedly. - -“Well, I’ve been to sea on a good many craft--most anything that would -float, in fact, from a torpedo boat to a Chinese junk--but this takes -the bun,” Caleb declared as they stepped upon the dock again. - -“Then I take it you’ll try your hand at this?” Adoniram asked slily. - -“Oh, yes, I s’ppose so, Pepperpod--and the boy, too. By the way, does -Lawrence Coffin know anything about this craft?” - -“He went to West Superior (where she was built) and came down in her,” -declared the merchant. - -“It’s all right, then. He’ll know what to do if we get to sea and the -blamed thing should roll over.” - -But despite the fact that he scoffed at the vessel, Caleb set to work -with his customary energy to make ready for the voyage. - -The ship owner gave him _carte blanche_ to provision the whaleback and -secure the crew. The engineers and firemen were already engaged and the -work of making ready for sea went on rapidly. - -Caleb being a worker himself, expected a good deal of everybody about -him and Brandon found himself with plenty to do during the next two -days. He ran errands, and bought provisions under the old sailor’s -directions, and saw to the storing away of the articles purchased. - -On the morning of the third day, however, came an interruption, and one -which promised to be most serious. - -In these times of hurried preparation Caleb and his young second -mate made the Water Street office of Adoniram Pepper & Co. their -headquarters. They were in and out of the place a score of times a day -to the satisfaction of Adoniram, but, if the truth were told, to the -great annoyance of the solemn faced young man whom Mr. Marks had sent -up from the other office to take the place of the departed Weeks. - -About ten o’clock on this forenoon Brandon ran in to see if he could -find Caleb, as that individual was not at the dock where lay the -whaleback, and where the boy had expected to meet him. - -“Where do you suppose he has gone?” Don asked of Mr. Pepper, who, good -soul, seemed to have no other business on hand but the getting ready of -the steamer. - -“I don’t know, I’m sure. You’d better sit down, my boy, and wait for -him,” advised Adoniram kindly. “He’s sure to turn up here, first or -last.” - -So Brandon sat down, striving to stifle his impatience. He had not -waited ten minutes, however, when the door of the outer office was -opened, and somebody entered. - -“Here he is now,” exclaimed the youth, thinking he heard Caleb’s voice. - -He threw open the door between the two offices, gave one glance into -the apartment beyond, and staggered to the nearest chair in utter -amazement. - -“Great Peter! it’s Uncle Arad!” he gasped, in answer to Adoniram’s -questioning exclamation, and the next instant Uncle Arad himself -appeared at the open portal of the private office. - -“Thar ye air, ye young reskil!” exclaimed the old man, shaking his bony -forefinger at the youth. - -Behind him was another man--a clean shaven, foxy looking fellow, who, -when old Arad had pointed the boy out, stepped quickly into the room. - -“Well, well!” exclaimed Brandon, recovering in part from his surprise. -“Who’d have thought of seeing _you_ here, Uncle Arad!” - -“Not yeou, I warrant!” cackled the old man shrilly. “I s’pose ye -thought ye c’d git off scott free with yer ill gotten gains, didn’t ye?” - -“What?” - -Brandon’s face flamed up redly, and he sprang to his feet in rage. - -“What do you mean?” he demanded. - -“Don’t ye let him escape, officer!” the farmer exclaimed, shrinking -back. “He’s quick’s a cat.” - -But here Adoniram took a hand in the proceedings. - -“I should like to know, sir, what you mean by this?” he said, his gray -eyes flashing behind the tip tilted eye glasses. “Brandon is under _my_ -care, sir, and I will not allow such remarks to be addressed to him.” - -No one would have believed that it was the jolly Adoniram, to see his -face now. The habitual smile had disappeared entirely. - -“I dunno who yeou be,” Arad replied defiantly; “but I kin tell ye who I -be, purty quick. I’m Arad Tarr; this young reskil here is my nevvy; an’ -I’m his nateral an’ lawful guardeen.” - -“Ah!” said Mr. Pepper, with quiet sarcasm. “So you are his guardian, -are you? How long since?” - -“How long since?” repeated the old man, in a rage. “I’ll show ye! I’ve -_allus_ been his guardeen--leastways, since his pa died.” - -“Which occurred a little over two months ago,” said Adoniram briefly. -“Now, Mr. Tarr, for I suppose that is your name, where are your papers -making you this lad’s guardian? Who appointed you?” - -“I’m his nateral guardeen now,” old Arad declared slowly; “but I’m -goin’ to be ’p’inted by the court.” - -“What court?” - -“The Court o’ Probate, o’ Scituate, R. I.,” responded the farmer -pompously. - -“Well, I think not,” said Adoniram, who was probably never more angry -in his life than at that moment. “You have made a slight mistake, Mr. -Tarr.” - -“Hey?” returned the farmer, growing red in the face, and looking -daggers at the little merchant. - -“I say you have made a slight mistake. You will _not_ be appointed -guardian of Brandon, by any court in the land. Did it ever occur to you -that Captain Horace Tarr might have made a will?” - -“A will?” gasped the old man. - -“Yes, sir, a will.” - -“But he didn’t hev nothin’ ter will, ’ceptin----” - -“Well, excepting what?” Mr. Pepper demanded, as the other hesitated. - -“Nothin’.” - -“Well, he _did_ have something to will, and he appointed me joint -guardian, with another gentleman, and _you_, Mr. Tarr, are _not_ the -party named to assist me. We have already made application in the New -York courts to have the appointment allowed and the will has been -presented for probate.” - -“I--I don’t believe it!” shouted Arad. - -“You’re not obliged to. But that doesn’t affect the facts of the case, -just the same.” - -For a moment the farmer was quite nonplussed: but then he looked at the -man he had brought with him again, and his faith revived. - -“Ye can’t escape me this way, ye young varmint!” he exclaimed, turning -upon Brandon as though he were some way at fault for the wrecking of -his plans. “Mebbe I hain’t your guardeen, but I’ve power ’nough right -here ter lug ye back ter Scituate an’ put yer through fur stealin’ that -money.” - -“What money?” demanded Brandon, white with rage. “To what do you refer?” - -“That fifty dollars ye stole f’om me--that’s what I mean,” old Arad -declared. “Th’ money ye stoled f’om my beury droor. I gotter warrant -right here fur ye, ’n’ this officer ter serve it!” - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI - -CALEB WETHERBEE OBSTRUCTS THE COURSE OF THE LAW - - -BRANDON was fairly paralyzed by Uncle Arad’s announcement. He had -realized that the old man was sorely disappointed at his inability to -keep him on the farm. He had not, however, believed he would follow him -clear to New York, and hatch up such a scheme as this to get him again -in his power. - -“You old scoundrel!” he exclaimed, too enraged for the moment to -remember that he was speaking to a man whose age, if not his character, -should command his respect. - -“Hush, Don,” commanded Adoniram Pepper admonishingly. “It will not -better matters to vituperate. Mr. Tarr,” he added, turning to the -farmer, “do you realize what a serious charge you have made against -your nephew?” - -“I reckon I do,” Arad declared with vigor. “I got it all down here on -er warrant--Squire Holt made it aout hisself. I’m er-goin’ ter hev that -boy arrested for burglarizing me. Now you go erhead, Mr. Officer, an’ -arrest him.” - -“Wait a moment,” and Adoniram stepped quickly in front of Don before -the foxy looking man could lay his hand upon the boy’s shoulder. - -“Let me see that warrant?” he said. - -The officer passed the paper over with a flourish, and Adoniram -examined it closely. - -“Why,” he exclaimed, shortly, “this is returnable to the Rhode Island -courts.” - -“Of course it is,” snarled old Arad. - -“But do you propose taking the boy back to Rhode Island?” - -“Yes, I do.” - -“But can’t this be settled here, officer?” asked Adoniram nervously, -knowing that any such delay as this would ruin their plans for an early -start after the Silver Swan. - -“No, sir; the robbery was committed in Rhode Island--it must be tried -there,” replied the officer, with a crafty smile. - -Adoniram handed the warrant back in utter bewilderment; but at that -juncture the door opened again, and Caleb Wetherbee himself stumped in. - -“Hey! what’s this?” the old seaman demanded, seeing instantly that -something was up. - -Old Arad tried to shrink out of sight behind the officer’s back as he -viewed Caleb’s fear inspiring proportions. - -“This is my _dear_ Uncle Arad, Caleb,” Brandon hastened to say, “and he -has come all the way from Rhode Island to arrest me and take me back.” - -“For what?” cried Caleb, aghast. - -“For robbing him; so he says. Isn’t he kind?” - -Brandon was fairly furious, but he trusted in the old seaman to get him -out of his relative’s clutches. - -“Robbing him!” - -Caleb’s face grew red with rage. - -“What d’ye mean, ye old scamp?” - -“He _hez_ robbed me,” Arad shrieked. - -“See here,” Caleb said coolly, “this looks to me like petty -persecution, don’t it to you, ’Doniram? I reckon the courts would see -it that way, too.” - -“The courts’ll send that reskil ter the State reform school--that’s -what they’ll do,” Arad declared. - -“So it’s locking him up you’re after, eh?” returned Caleb. “Now, -Brandon, don’t you worry about this. We kin have it fixed up in no -time.” - -“But the boy’s got to be taken to Rhode Island,” exclaimed Adoniram. -“It will be a matter of weeks.” - -“Weeks?” roared Caleb. “Why, the steamer sails Tuesday. He can’t go.” - -“I guess, mister, that you won’t have much to do with it,” remarked the -man with the warrant officiously. “This warrant is returnable to the -Rhode Island courts, and to Rhode Island he must go. If the boy had -wanted to go on a voyage he shouldn’t have stolen the money.” - -Caleb actually roared at this and shook his huge fist in the fellow’s -face. Adoniram hastened to keep the peace. - -“How do we know you are an officer?” he demanded sternly. “This is a -most atrocious action on Mr. Tarr’s part, and for all we know you may -be party to it.” - -The officer smiled slily, and throwing back his coat showed his badge. - -“I’m a dep’ty sheriff an’ don’t you fear,” he said. “The boy must come -along.” - -But as he reached out to clutch Don, the big sailor seized the youth -and whirled him in behind him, placing himself between the officer and -his prisoner. - -“Don’t be too fast,” he said. - -“Do you dare resist arrest?” the officer demanded angrily. - -“Nobody’s resisted you, yet.” - -His huge bulk, however, barred all approach to Don, who was now between -all the others and the outer door. - -“If you arrest this boy you’ll seriously inconvenience our plans, an’ -we’ll make you sweat for it, now I tell ye.” - -“I don’t care; I’m er--goin’ ter hev him took up!” shrieked old Arad, -to whom all this delay was agonizing. - -“You shut that trap of yours!” roared Caleb, turning upon the old man -in a fury. “Don’t ye dare open it ag’in w’ile ye’re here, or there’ll -be an assault case in court, too.” - -Old Arad dodged back out of range of the sailor’s brawny fist with -great celerity. - -“Do----don’t ye let him tetch me, officer,” he implored, jerking his -bandanna from the pocket of his shiny old black coat, and wiping his -face nervously. - -With the handkerchief came forth a letter which fell at Mr. Pepper’s -feet; but for the moment nobody but the merchant himself saw it. - -Brandon, who was directly behind the seaman, leaned forward and -whispered something in Caleb’s ear. The old seaman’s face lit up in an -instant, and he changed his position so that his burly form completely -blocked the doorway leading into the outer office. - -“So you won’t settle this thing out o’ court, eh?” he demanded. - -The officer shook his head. - -“It’s gone too far,” he said. - -“It has, hey?” Caleb exclaimed in wrath. “Well, so’ve _you_ gone too -far.” Then he exclaimed, turning to Don: “Leg it, lad! We’ll outwit the -landlubber yet.” - -“Hi! stop him! stop him!” shrieked Uncle Arad, for at the instant Caleb -had spoken, Don had darted back to the street door and thrown it open. - -“Good by, Uncle Arad!” the captain’s son cried mockingly. “I’ll see you -when I’ve returned from the West Indies.” - -He was out in a moment, and the door slammed behind him. - -The deputy sheriff sprang forward to follow, but Caleb managed to get -his wooden leg in the way, and the officer measured his length on the -office floor, while Uncle Arad, fairly wild with rage, danced up and -down, and shrieked for the police. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII - -WHEREIN BRANDON TARR CONCEALS HIMSELF - - -THE doughty deputy sheriff was on his feet in an instant, and with a -wrathy glance at Caleb, dashed out of the office after the fleeing -Brandon. If he did not make the arrest he would fail to get his money, -and he did not propose to lose that. - -But Uncle Arad could not get to the door without passing Caleb and he -hardly dared do that. Just then the big seaman looked in no mood to be -tampered with. The farmer, however, _did_ sputter out something about -having the law on everybody in general. - -“Bring on all the law you want to, you old scarecrow,” responded Caleb, -vigorously mopping his face. “I reckon we kin take care of it. What ye -got there, Adoniram?” - -Mr. Pepper had picked up the letter which had fallen from old Arad’s -pocket, and was looking at the superscription in a puzzled manner. - -Arad caught sight of the epistle as quickly as did Caleb. - -“That’s mine! give it here!” he cried, making a snatch at the paper. - -But Adoniram held it out of his reach. - -“I don’t see how you make that out, Mr. Tarr,” he said quietly. “This -letter is not addressed to you. It is in _your_ handwriting, Caleb, -and is addressed to ‘Master Brandon Tarr, Chopmist, Rhode Island.’” - -“Oh, you swab!” exclaimed the old tar, with a withering glance of -contempt at old Arad, as he seized the letter. “This ’ere’s what I -wrote the boy w’en I was in the hospital--w’ich same he never got. Now, -how came _you_ by it? You old land shark!” - -Arad was undeniably frightened. Although he might explain the fact of -his opening Don’s letter as eminently proper, to himself, he well knew -that he could not make these friends of his nephew see it in the same -light. - -“I--I--it came arter Brandon went away,” he gasped in excuse. - -“It did, hey?” exclaimed Caleb suspiciously. - -Mr. Pepper took the envelope again and examined the postmark critically. - -“Hum--um,” he said slowly, “postmarked in New York on the third; -received on the afternoon of the fourth at the Chopmist post office. -I’m afraid, my dear sir, that that yarn won’t wash.” - -Uncle Arad was speechless, and looked from one to the other of the -stern faced men in doubt. - -“He--he was my nevvy; didn’t I hev a right ter see what he had written -ter him?” - -“You can bet ye didn’t,” Caleb declared with confidence, and with a -slight wink at Adoniram. “Let me tell ye, Mr. Tarr, that openin’ other -folks’ correspondence is actionable, as the lawyers say. I reckon that -you’ve laid yourself li’ble to gettin’ arrested yourself, old man.” - -“Ye--ye can’t do it,” sputtered Arad. - -“If that monkey of a sheriff finds Brandon (w’ich same I reckon he -won’t), we’ll see if we can’t give _you_ a taste of the same medicine.” - -The old man was undeniably frightened and edged towards the door. - -“I guess I better go,” he remarked hesitatingly. “I dunno as that -officer’ll be able ter ketch thet reskil.” - -“No, I don’t b’lieve he will myself,” Caleb declared. “And if you want -to keep your own skin whole, you’d best see that he doesn’t touch the -lad.” - -Old Arad slunk out without another word, and the two friends allowed -him to depart in contemptuous silence. - -When he had disappeared Adoniram turned to the sailor at once. - -“Where has Don gone, Caleb?” he asked anxiously. - -“You’ve got me. He told me he was goin’ to skip, and for us to go ahead -with the preparations for getting off next week, just the same. He’d -lay low till the old scamp had given it up, and then slip aboard the -steamer. Oh, the boy’s all right.” - -“He is, if that sheriff doesn’t find him,” said the merchant doubtfully. - -“I’ll risk that,” responded Caleb, who had vast confidence in Brandon’s -ability to take care of himself. - -But Adoniram shook his head. - -“New York is a bad place for a boy to be alone in. Where will he go?” - -“Down to the pier, I reckon, and hide aboard the steamer. I’ll agree to -put him away there so that no measly faced sheriff like _that_ fellow -can find him.” - -“It’s a bad business,” declared Mr. Pepper, shaking his head slowly. -“If he hadn’t run off there might have been some way of fixing it up so -that he wouldn’t have had to go back to Rhode Island, and thus delay -the sailing of the steamer. We might have scared the uncle out of -prosecuting him. He was badly frightened as it was.” - -Caleb gazed at his friend for several moments with a quizzical smile -upon his face. - -“Do you know, Adoniram,” he said at length, “I b’lieve you’re too -innocent for this wicked world.” - -“How do you mean?” asked the merchant, flushing a little, yet smiling. - -“Well, you don’t seem to see anything fishy in all this.” - -“Fishy?” - -“Yes, fishy,” returned Caleb, sitting down and speaking confidentially. -“Several things make me believe that you (and me, too) haven’t been -half awake in this business.” - -“I certainly do not understand you,” declared Adoniram. - -“Well, give me a chance to explain, will you?” said the sailor -impatiently. “You seem to think that this old land shark of an uncle of -the boy’s is just trying to get him back on the farm, and has hatched -up this robbery business for that purpose? I don’t suppose you think -Don stole any money from him, do you?” he added. - -“Not for an instant!” the merchant replied emphatically. - -“That’s what I thought. Well, as I say, you suppose he wants Brandon -back on the farm--wants his work, in fact?” - -“Ye--es.” - -“Well, did it ever strike you, ’Doniram,” Caleb pursued, with a smile -of superiority on his face--“did it ever strike you that if he was -successful in proving Brandon guilty, the boy would be locked up and -then _nobody_ would get his valuable services--nobody except the State?” - -“Why, that’s so.” - -“Of course it’s so.” - -“Then, what is his object in persecuting the poor lad? Is he doing it -just out of spite?” - -“Now, see here; does that look reasonable? Do you think for a moment -that an old codger like him--stingy as they make ’em--d’ye think he’d -go ter the expense o’ comin ’way down here to New York out of revenge -simply? Well, I guess not!” - -“Then, what is he up to?” demanded Adoniram, in bewilderment. - -“Well, of that _I’m_ not sure, of course; but,” said Caleb, with -vehemence, “I’m willing to risk my hull advance that he’s onter this -di’mond business. - -“Why, Pepper, how could he help being? Didn’t he get that letter of -mine, an’ didn’t I give the hull thing away in it, like the blamed -idiot I was? Man alive, a sharper like that feller would sell his -immortal soul for a silver dollar. What _wouldn’t_ he for a big stake -like this?” - -“But--” began Adoniram. - -“Hold on a minute and let me finish,” urged Caleb. “That scoundrel -Leroyd was up to Chopmist, mind ye. Who knows but what he an’ old Arad -Tarr have hitched hosses and gone inter this together? I haven’t told -either you or Brandon, for I didn’t want to worry you, but I learned -yesterday that Jim is tryin’ ter charter a craft of some kind--you an’ -I know what for. - -“He’s got no money; what rascal of a sailor ever has? He must have -backing, then. And who is more likely to be the backer than the old -sharper who’s just gone out of here! I tell ye, ’Doniram, _they’re -after them di’monds_, and it behooves us ter git up an’ dust if we want -ter beat ’em.” - -The ship owner shook his head unconvinced. - -“You may be right, of course, Caleb; I don’t say it is an -impossibility. But it strikes me that your conclusions are rather far -fetched. They are not reasonable.” - -“Well, we’ll see,” responded the old seaman, pursing up his lips. “I -shall miss Brandon’s help--a handier lad I never see--but he will have -to lay low till after the whaleback sails.” - -He went back to the work of getting the steamer ready for departure, -expecting every hour that Brandon would appear. But the captain’s son -did not show up that day, nor the next. - -Monday came and Number Three was all ready for sailing. Her crew of -twenty men, beside the officers, were aboard. - -The first and third mates were likewise present, the former, Mr. -Coffin, being a tall, shrewd looking, pleasant faced man, who eternally -chewed on the end of a cigar (except when eating or sleeping) although -he was never seen to light one; and Mr. Bolin, the third, a keen, -alert little man who looked hardly older than Brandon himself. - -But Brandon did not come. The new captain of the whaleback, and the -owner himself, were greatly worried by the boy’s continued absence. - -They had already set on foot inquiry for the youth’s whereabouts, but -nothing had come of it. - -They did discover that Uncle Arad had gone back to Rhode Island, and -gone back alone. The “scaly” ward politician who held the onerous -position of deputy sheriff, and who had sought to arrest the boy, had -not been successful, Brandon’s friends knew, for the man haunted the -pier at which the whaleback lay, day and night. - -“If he don’t come tonight, Adoniram,” Caleb declared, “we shall sail -in the morning, just the same--and that by the first streak of light, -too. _You_ will be here, and I can trust you to look out for the lad. -_I_ must be away after those di’monds. Don’ll turn up all right, I know -right well; and we mustn’t let them swabs get ahead of us, and reach -the brig first.” - -He had taken the precaution ere this to have his own and Brandon’s -effects brought down to the boat. He was ready, in fact, to cast off -and steam away from the dock at a moment’s notice. - -As the evening approached Caleb ordered the fires built under the -boilers, and everything to be made ready for instant departure. -Adoniram Pepper came down after dinner and remained in the whaleback’s -cabin, hoping to see Brandon once again before the steamer sailed. - -Caleb was too anxious to keep still at all, but tramped back and -forth, occasionally making trips to the wheelman’s turret in which he -had stationed Mr. Coffin and one of the sailors, so as to have no delay -in starting, no matter what should happen. - -“By Jove, this beats blockade running at Savannah in the sixties,” -muttered the first mate, after one of his commander’s anxious trips to -the forward turret to see that all was right. “This youngster they’re -taking all this trouble for must be a most remarkable boy.” - -“There’s two fellows watching the steamer from the wharf,” Caleb -declared, entering the cabin again. - -Just then there was a sound outside, and a heavy knock sounded at the -cabin door. Caleb pulled it open in an instant. - -Without stood three burly police officers. - -“Well, well!” exclaimed Mr. Pepper, in wonder. - -“What do _you_ want?” Caleb demanded, inclined to be a little combative. - -“Beg pardon, sir,” said the spokesman of the two, nodding respectfully -to Mr. Pepper, “but we’ve been sent to search the steamer for a boy -against whom this man holds a warrant,” and the officer motioned to a -third individual who stood without. It was the deputy sheriff. - -“Very well,” said Mr. Pepper quietly. - -“Search and be hanged,” growled Caleb, glowering at the man with the -warrant. “If you can find him you’ll have better luck than we.” - -He refused to assist them in any way, however, and Mr. Bolin politely -showed the party over the whole steamer. But of course, they found not -a sign of Brandon. - -After nearly an hour’s search the officers gave it up and departed, -Caleb hurling after them several sarcastic remarks about their -supposed intellectual accomplishments--or rather, their lack of such -accomplishments. - -The deputy sheriff, whose name was Snaggs, by the way, would not give -it up, however, but still remained on the wharf. - -Mr. Coffin, who had begun to take a lively interest in the proceedings, -was pacing the inclined deck of the whaleback on the side furtherest -from the pier, a few minutes past midnight (everybody on board was -still awake at even this late hour) when his ear caught the sound of a -gentle splash in the black waters just below him. - -He stopped instantly and leaned over the rail. - -“Hist!” whispered a voice out of the darkness. “Toss me a rope. I want -to come aboard.” - -Mr. Coffin was not a man to show his emotions, and therefore, without a -word, he dropped the end of a bit of cable into the water, just where -he could see the faint outlines of the owner of the voice. - -Hidden by the wheelhouse from the view of anybody who might be on the -wharf, he assisted the person aboard, and in a minute the mysterious -visitor stood upon the iron plates at Mr. Coffin’s side. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII - -THE DEPARTURE OF THE WHALEBACK, NUMBER THREE - - -NO emergency was ever too great for Lawrence Coffin. The appearance of -the stranger whom he had lifted over the rail to the steamer’s deck may -have surprised him; but he gave no visible sign. - -The instant the fellow was on his feet, Mr. Coffin slid open the door -of the wheelhouse and pushed the newcomer in. - -“Jackson,” he said sharply, to the man inside, “go for Captain -Wetherbee.” - -Then he turned to the dripping figure that stood just within the door -of the turret. - -The stranger was a youth of fifteen or sixteen, with a sharp, -intelligent face, and his saturated clothing was little more than rags. - -“Hullo!” said the mate, “_you’re_ not Brandon Tarr, I take it.” - -“You kin bet on that, mister,” responded the youth grinning. “An’ you, -I reckon, ain’t Cale Wetherbee. He’s got a wooden leg.” - -“I’ve sent for Mr. Wetherbee,” replied Mr. Coffin. “What do you want?” - -“I’ll tell th’ boss, wot I was told ter see,” declared the fellow -shrewdly. - -The youth was evidently of that great class of individuals known as -“street gamins” who, in New York City, are numbered by the thousand. - -He was thin and muscular, quick in his movements, and his eyes were -shifty and uneasy, not from any lack of frankness or honesty, perhaps, -but because his mode of life forced him to be ever on the watch for -what might “happen next.” - -Mr. Coffin had hardly made this mental inventory of the fellow, when -Caleb, accompanied by Mr. Pepper, came forward. The strange youth -evidently recognized the captain of the whaleback at once as the -individual he wished to see. - -“You’re Captain Wetherbee,” he said quickly fumbling in the inside of -his coarse flannel shirt (the shirt and trousers were all he had on) “I -got somethin’ fur you from Brandon Tarr.” - -“Where is he?” cried Mr. Pepper, in great excitement. - -“He’s gone to sea, boss,” responded the boy calmly. - -“Hey!” roared Caleb, and then the messenger brought forth that which he -was fumbling for--a little waterproof matchbox. - -“Gone to sea?” repeated Adoniram, in bewilderment. - -“Dat’s it,” said the boy. “He went day ’fore yest’day mornin’ in de -Success.” - -But Caleb had opened the matchbox and drawn forth the folded paper it -contained. - -“It’s a letter--the young rascal! Why didn’t he come himself?” - -“Didn’t I tell ye he’d gone ter sea?” demanded the youth in disgust. - -“Listen to this,” exclaimed Caleb, paying not the least attention to -the messenger’s words, and he read the closely written page aloud: - - “DEAR CALEB--Swivel is going to make a break with this letter for me, - although the Success sails, we understand, in an hour or two. He can - tell you how I came aboard here, so I won’t stop to do that. - - “What I want to say is, that Leroyd is aboard and that the brig will - touch at Savannah for Mr. Pepper’s old clerk, Mr. Weeks, who is in - the plot to find the Silver Swan, too. I shall leave her at Savannah - if it is a possibility. - - “If you get into Savannah while she is there, however, and I don’t - appear, try to find some way of getting me out. I’m afraid of - Leroyd--or, that is, I should be if he knew I was here. - - “I’ve got enough to eat and drink to last me a long time and am - comfortable. I can make another raid on the pantry, too, if I run - short. - - “Look out for Swivel; he’s a good fellow. He can tell you all that I - would like to, if space and time did not forbid. - - “Yours sincerely, - “BRANDON TARR. - - “P. S. We’ll beat these scamps and get the Silver Swan yet.” - -“Well, well!” commented Mr. Pepper, in amazement. “What will that boy -do next?” - -“The young rascal!” Caleb exclaimed in vexation. “What does he mean by -cutting up such didoes as this? Aboard the very vessel the scoundrels -have chartered, hey?” - -“But how did he get there?” cried Adoniram wonderingly. - -“This young man ought to be able to tell that,” suggested Mr. Coffin, -referring to the dripping youth. - -Caleb looked from the open letter to the boy. - -“So you’re Swivel, eh?” he demanded. - -The lad grinned and nodded. - -“Well, suppose you explain this mystery.” - -But here Adoniram interposed. - -“Let us take him to the cabin, and give him something dry to put on. -He’ll catch his death of cold here.” - -“’Nough said. Come on,” said Caleb leading the way. - -Fifteen minutes later the youth who rejoiced in the name of Swivel was -inside of warm and dry garments, several sizes too large for him, and -was telling his story to a most appreciative audience. - -I will not give it in detail, and in Swivel’s bad grammar; a less -rambling account will suffice. - -When Brandon Tarr had made his rapid retreat from the office of -Adoniram Pepper and Co. he had run across the street, dodged around the -first corner, and then walked hastily up town. He determined to keep -away from the office for the remainder of the day, hoping to tire out -both Uncle Arad and the deputy sheriff. - -Finally he took a car and rode over to Brooklyn, and it was there that -he fell in with Swivel, who was a veritable street gamin--a “wharf-rat” -even--though a good hearted and not an altogether bad principled one. - -It being a time in the day when there were no papers to sell, Swivel -(wherever the boy got the name he didn’t know, and it would have been -hard to trace its origin) was blacking boots, and while he shined -Brandon’s the two boys scraped up an acquaintance. - -Fearing that Uncle Arad or the officer, or perhaps both, would be on -the watch about the shipping merchant’s office, or the steamer dock, -Brandon decided that Swivel would be a good one to have along with him -to send ahead as “scout,” and for a small sum the gamin agreed. - -Brandon was a country boy, and was unfamiliar with city ways or -city conveniences. It never crossed his mind to use the telephone -communicating with his friends, and Swivel knew very little about -telephones, any way. - -So they waited until toward evening and then came back to New York. - -Water Street and its vicinity, and the docks, were as familiar to -Swivel as were the lanes and woods of Chopmist to Brandon. By devious -ways the gamin led the captain’s son to the ship owner’s office, but it -was quite dark by that time and the place was closed. - -So they went to the pier at which the whaleback lay, and here Swivel -showed that he was of great use to Brandon, for had it not been for -him, his employer would have run straight into a trap. The deputy -sheriff, Snaggs, was watching the steamer, and no less a person than -Mr. Alfred Weeks himself, was talking with him. - -By careful maneuvering the two boys got into a position from which they -could hear some of the conversation of the two rascals; but the way to -the steamer was right under Snaggs’ eye, and Brandon dared not attempt -it. - -By intently listening, the captain’s son heard several important items -of news, and, greatly to his astonishment, discovered that Uncle Arad, -Leroyd, and Mr. Weeks himself were playing right into each other’s -hands, and that their object was to keep Brandon from getting back to -his friends, and thus delay the sailing of the whaleback so that the -craft on which the plotters expected to sail might get away first. - -Snaggs was to keep a sharp lookout from the shoreward side of the -whaleback and there was already a man in a boat patroling the riverside -that Brandon might not return from that direction, and a third person -was “shadowing” Adoniram Pepper’s residence. The ship owner’s office -would be watched during the day. - -As soon as Brandon made his appearance he was to be seized at once on -the strength of the Rhode Island warrant and sent back to Chopmist. -This, the conspirators hoped, would keep Caleb Wetherbee from sailing -for several weeks, and by that time Leroyd and the ex-clerk expected -to overhaul the Silver Swan--that is, this is what Weeks and Leroyd -themselves were planning to do; but the former took care to say nothing -about the Silver Swan to the deputy sheriff. - -Finding that there was no chance to get aboard the whaleback just then, -and having heard Weeks say that he was going to meet Leroyd and that -they two were to go that night and see the vessel and her commander, -Brandon decided to follow them, and find out the name of the craft and -where she lay, believing that the information would be of value to -himself and to his friends. - -Piloted by Swivel, Brandon followed “Sneaky Al” to the New England -Hotel and while the ex-clerk went inside for Leroyd the two boys waited -without, and then took up the trail again when the two conspirators -appeared. - -The sailor and Weeks went over to Brooklyn and after two hours’ dodging -and running and hiding, they tracked the rascals to the brig Success, -lying at a Brooklyn wharf. - -Brandon decided that it would never do to be so near and not hear the -plans the villains made with the captain of the Success, so he rashly -crept aboard and listened to the conversation at the cabin skylight. -And this was when he got into trouble. - -He heard the two plotters agree with the captain of the vessel (who was -not in the scheme at all) to pay two hundred dollars for six week’s use -of the brig, providing the Success put to sea at once. - -She already had a very fair cargo for Savannah, and the agreement was -that she should put in at that port for the time necessary for the -cargo to be landed. - -Thus, of course, the captain, who was the owner as well, was going to -make a very good thing out of it, indeed. He asked no questions as to -what use the brig was to be put to; and he agreed to allow Leroyd to -accompany him to Savannah, where Weeks would meet them. - -Brandon made a shrewd guess that the ex-clerk was to remain in New York -until he was certain of _his_ capture and incarceration; then he would -reach Savannah by steamer. - -It was quite evident that the two rascals had managed to “boil” more -money out of old Arad Tarr than they had first expected, and could -afford to be more lavish with their funds. - -But, as I said, the boys, by venturing aboard the Success, got into -trouble. Somebody came aft while they were listening to the conference -below, and to escape discovery, they dodged down the after hatch. - -The crew of the Success were already aboard, and the two men who -constituted the “anchor watch” remained near the open hatchway (the -other hatches were battened down), and the two boys were unable to -leave the hold. - -Morning came, and found them still there. The cargo was nearly all in, -and the crew went to work to finish the lading by daylight. Brandon and -Swivel retreated into the bows of the vessel, and managed to remain -hidden all day. - -They did not dare leave the hold, although they suffered extremely from -lack of food and water, for Leroyd had come aboard to superintend the -work, and would have seen them. - -At evening the hatches were battened down, and the unintentional -stowaways were left in darkness. But Swivel, who a shrewd and sharp -eyed lad, had noticed a small door in the cabin bulkhead by which the -cook doubtless entered the hold for provisions from time to time. - -With their pocket knives they forced the fastenings of this door and -Swivel made a raid into the pantry, which was left unguarded, and -returned laden with provisions enough to last them a week if need be. -He secured a big “beaker” of water, too. - -Brandon also discovered the ship’s provisions stored near the bows, and -was sure that he could stand a siege. - -Leroyd, they ascertained, hardly ever left the cabin or deck of the -Success, and Brandon dared not venture out. At last, after talking the -whole matter over, Swivel agreed to take the risk of giving himself up -as a stowaway, and thus get put ashore before the brig started. - -Then he was to make his way to the whaleback and explain Brandon’s -situation to Caleb. - -The captain’s son wrote his letter and placed it in the matchbox, which -Swivel in turn had hidden in the breast of his shirt. Then the gamin -pounded on the hatch until the crew heard him and let him out. - -Naturally the captain of the Success was angry enough, for the brig -was already to sail, and they were getting the lines cast off, so he -summoned a night watchman from the dock, who took the unlucky Swivel in -charge and handed him over to a policeman. - -This was a phase of the situation which neither of the boys had -considered. But there was no way out of it, and the gamin spent the day -in the police station, for it was Sunday. - -He was brought before the magistrate the next morning, but of course -there was nobody to appear against him, so he was discharged with a -reprimand. The police captain, however, kept him busy about the station -until late in the afternoon, before he would let him go. - -“He kep’ me jugglin’ wid er mop er wipin’ up de floor,” as the gamin -expressed it to his hearers. - -As soon as he was free he had hurried to the New York side; but upon -reaching the vicinity of the whaleback he discovered that the “patrol -line” was drawn even closer than before. - -Snaggs and two of his friends were on duty, for as the time approached -for the sailing, they decided that if Brandon came back he would do so -very soon. - -Swivel had seen the raid the policemen made under the deputy’s -instigation, and after the bluecoats were safely out of the way, he had -slipped into the water and made for the steamer. - -“An’ here I is,” he said, in conclusion. “Dey didn’t ketch me, nor dat -Brandon Tarr, nuther. We’s too fly for ’em.” - -“Of all the scrapes I ever heard of, this is the worst,” Adoniram -exclaimed in comment. - -But Caleb, now that his fears for Don’s safety were somewhat allayed, -seemed rather to enjoy the situation. - -“Oh, that boy’s smart,” he declared, with a chuckle. “I’ll risk him -even if he is in that vessel’s hold. Leroyd won’t get the best of -_him_. Probably, too, the captain of the Success is not a bad sort of a -fellow, an’ he won’t see the boy maltreated. - -“I feel better, ’Doniram, and with your permission we’ll get under way -at once.” - -“But what shall we do with this lad?” asked the little merchant, -nodding and smiling at Swivel. “He’s deserving of much praise for his -honesty and faithfulness.” - -“Oh, take me along, will yer?” exclaimed the gamin, with eagerness. -“I’ll work _hard_ ef ye will! I jest wanter see dis thing out, I do! I -like dat Brandon Tarr, an’ I wanter see him git the di’monts wot he -said was on dat wreck yer arter. Say, lemme go, will yer?” - -Caleb looked at the ship owner in perplexity. - -“Oh, take him, Caleb,” said Adoniram quickly. “It may be the making of -the lad to get him off the city streets. He deserves it.” - -“So be it then,” said Caleb, rising. “Now, Mr. Coffin and Mr. Bolin--to -work! You’ll have to go ashore at once, Adoniram. I shall have Number -Three out of her berth in half an hour.” - -Steam was got up, the crew flew about their several duties under -the energetic commands of the officers, and within a short time the -whaleback, to the manifest disappointment of Mr. Snaggs, who watched -proceedings from the shadow of the wharf, cast off her lines and -steamed down the bay into the darkness of the night. - -Thus did she begin the voyage whose object was the finding of the wreck -of the Silver Swan. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX - -THE STOWAWAY ABOARD THE SUCCESS - - -AS we know, Brandon Tarr had no intention of remaining long away from -his friends when he slipped out of Adoniram Pepper’s office to escape -arrest on the fraudulent charge of robbery, concocted by Uncle Arad. - -The events which followed, however, made it necessary for him to remain -away, and, finally, to go to sea as a stowaway in the hold of the -Success, the vessel chartered by the conspirators to make search for -the Silver Swan. - -After the friendly street gamin, Swivel, left him in the hold, in -the early hours of Sunday morning, Brandon of course had no means of -knowing what had become of him--whether he had accomplished his purpose -of getting away from the brig before she sailed, or whether, because -she was short handed, the captain of the Success had retained him. - -After Swivel was let up on deck, and the hatch closed, however, Brandon -heard nothing further, except the heavy tramping of the sailors, -the creaking of the ropes, and the hoarse roars of command from the -officers. - -The work of getting the Success away from the dock went rapidly on. - -Quite fortunately for the stowaway, the hold of the Success was little -more than two thirds filled with Savannah goods. In the bows, beside a -great many bags and boxes and barrels of provisions for the use of the -crew, there were likewise spare sails, cordage, etc. - -It would be a very easy matter indeed for him to hide among the stuff -if any one came into the hold. - -The scent of bilge water was not at all strong, for the Success was a -comparatively new vessel and had evidently been recently pumped out. - -Brandon judged her to be about the size of the Silver Swan, much the -same sort of craft in fact, and, like his father’s vessel, the Success -was a “tramp.” - -It was night--or at least a gloomy twilight--at all times in the hold; -but Brandon thought that it was surely daylight by the time the brig -was under way. - -She was taken down the river by a fussy little steam tug and then, -meeting the swells of the Atlantic, and a brisk gale springing up, she -shook out her sails and dropped the tug astern. - -Brandon was fearful that he might be sick, for he had never really been -to sea and the brig pitched not a little in the waves of the ocean. - -To reduce the possibility of this misfortune to a minimum, he ate but -sparingly the first day or two out, and by that time all “squeamish” -feelings passed away. - -It was dreadfully dull in the dark hold, however. Of food and water he -had a sufficiency, although the latter was warm and brackish; but there -was absolutely nothing for him to do to pass away the time. There was -not even the spice of danger about his situation, for nobody came into -the hold. - -He dared not explore much at first, for he was afraid that he might be -heard from the cabin or forecastle. - -During a slight blow which came up the fourth day, however, while the -spars and cordage were creaking so that all other sounds were drowned, -he felt perfectly safe in moving about. If he could not hear what went -on outside, nobody outside would be likely to hear him. - -On this day, however, he received several tumbles, for the ship -occasionally pitched so suddenly that he was carried completely off his -feet. Nothing worse happened to him, though, than the barking of his -elbows and knees. - -Gaining confidence in his ability to get around without being -discovered, he changed his position more frequently after this. The -weather remained fair for some time following this small blow, and -Brandon hung about the cabin bulkhead, striving to hear more of -Leroyd’s plans, if possible. - -It was plain that the captain of the brig knew nothing of the real -plans of the conspirators. They had told him what they pleased, and he -was to ask no questions. - -It was not long, however, before the stowaway discovered something -which was quite a surprise to him. There was a woman on board the brig; -he heard the rustle of her garments, and occasionally the tones of a -female voice. - -At first he thought her to be the captain’s wife, but because of the -youthfulness of her tones and some words which the captain addressed to -her, he changed this opinion, and decided that she was his daughter. - -Brandon was quite interested in her, for a girl on a sailing vessel -was certainly a novelty. He was sure she must be a “jolly one,” as he -expressed it, to sail with her father on a merchantman. Not many girls -would have the pluck to do that. - -As the days passed by, and the Success fled on before the favoring -gales, drawing nearer and nearer to Savannah, Brandon became -correspondingly worried over the obstructions to a safe escape from the -brig, which were presented to his mind. - -Once the brig reached port and the hatches were opened, it would be -“all day” with him. Nothing but a miracle would save him from falling -into the hands of Jim Leroyd, and he didn’t like to think of that. - -He had good reason to believe that the rascally sailor would not -hesitate to injure him in any way possible. - -Naturally his mind reverted to the trap in the cabin bulkhead by which -Swivel had gained access to the cook’s galley, as a possible means of -escape before the hatches were removed. If the brig reached Savannah -late in the day, doubtless the hatches would remain battened down till -the next morning. In that case the trap might be his salvation. - -Several times during the voyage the steward, sometimes with a seaman -with him, entered the hold by this door, for something among the -stores. At such times Brandon “laid low” and his presence was not -discovered. - -What little food he had purloined from the stores was not noticed -either. - -Therefore, as the brig drew nearer to her destination Brandon set about -studying the topography of the cabin--its entrances and exits--and how -he could best pass through it and reach the deck without attracting the -attention of anybody on board. - -All this scouting had to be done at night, of course, and many were his -narrow escapes while engaged in this most perilous undertaking. - -“Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” was the motto of the Tarrs, father -and son. In Captain Tarr’s case, and in that of his brother Anson, it -had been, as a usual thing, a good deal of _venture_ and little _gain_. - -The same motive, however, was predominant in Brandon’s nature, and he -took many risks in thus scouting about the brig’s cabin that almost any -other boy would not have taken. - -One night he had cautiously set the narrow door leading into the -steward’s pantry ajar, and sat just under it in the darkness of the -hold, trying to discover if all but the officers, excepting the one in -command of the watch, had turned in. - -There was a light in the outer cabin, but he could not see into the -room from where he sat, and he dared not enter the pantry until he -was sure that the cabin was unoccupied. Occasionally a sound of low -conversation would reach his ears from the deck, but otherwise all was -still. - -[Illustration: “I’M A STOWAWAY. I’VE BEEN IN THE HOLD SINCE WE LEFT NEW -YORK.”] - -“I believe I’ll risk it,” he declared, after remaining in a -listening attitude for nearly half an hour. “I need water badly--my -throat is well nigh parched--and if I could learn whether the lamp was -usually left turned up like that, whether the cabin was empty or _not_, -I might know better how to act when I do try to escape.” - -Finally he crawled through the opening and crept softly to the cabin -door. The apartment was empty--or it appeared to be--although there -was a chair drawn up to the table, and some books lay there as though -having been in recent use. - -“Guess I’d better not stay,” thought the stowaway nervously. “But I -must have a drink.” - -He turned back into the cook’s galley, and took a deep draught from a -bucket he found there. Just as he was about to leave the place he was -electrified by hearing a voice say, - -“What are _you_ doing here?” - -Brandon wheeled about like a flash. There framed by the cabin doorway -was a young girl--the girl whose voice he had heard more than once -since his incarceration in the hold of the Success--the captain’s -daughter! - -“Who are you? What do you want!” she repeated, eying him fearlessly, -though with a puzzled expression of countenance. “I never remember -having seen _you_ before.” - -Brandon was suddenly conscious that his long captivity in the vessel’s -hold had not improved his personal appearance, and with his feeling of -fright at being discovered, there was also considerable vexation at -being seen in such a plight by a lady. - -The girl was bright looking and intelligent, with a face which -attracted the boy greatly; in fact, he was almost tempted to believe -that he had seen her somewhere, so familiar did she appear. - -Dressed in a simple blue flannel yachting suit, trimmed with white -braid, which set off her plump figure to great advantage, she was a -pleasing picture. - -“Why don’t you answer me?” she demanded in vexation, as Brandon -continued silent. - -“Sh! don’t give me away,” begged the boy, taking a step nearer. “I’m a -stowaway, I’ve been in the hold ever since we left New York.” - -“Another stowaway!” she exclaimed, but in a lower tone. “Why father -found one just before we left port.” - -“I know it,” returned Brandon. “He was with me. What did they do with -him?” - -“Father gave him into the hands of the police,” replied the girl -gravely. “He’s very hard on stowaways. Why did you get into the hold?” - -“Because I _had_ to; yes, I did--actually had to,” declared Brandon, in -a whisper. “I can’t tell you the whole story now; but I will some time. -I haven’t done anything wrong--excepting taking a few provisions from -the ship’s stores. Those I will pay you for now,” and he took his purse -from the pocket of his stained and ragged coat. - -“No, no!” cried the girl, drawing back, “I do not want your money.” - -“Then I shall leave it, as I first intended, on the cabin table when we -get to Savannah.” - -“But the men will find you when we get in, even if I _don’t_ tell -father.” - -“I hope not,” Brandon replied, so earnestly that the captain’s daughter -looked at him curiously. - -“Is there anybody aboard whom you fear?” she asked shrewdly. - -“Yes, there is. It is that evil looking man--the one who has chartered -the brig--Jim Leroyd.” - -“He!” she exclaimed, in surprise. Then after a little silence she added: - -“He _is_ an evil looking man; I’ve told father so more than once, -but he says that a man is not always as bad as he looks. Father has -seen so many people and so much of the world, that I seldom question -his judgment; but I have been impressed from the first that there -was something wrong about him--and about that Mr. Weeks, who is in -partnership with him, and whom we expect to meet at Savannah. - -“It is a strange thing--this searching for a derelict brig--any way. I -tell father that there is something wrong back of it.” - -“There _is_,” Brandon declared. “I don’t dare tell you about it now. -You won’t let anybody know I’m here, will you?” - -“No--o, I’ll promise that. It wasn’t right to stow yourself away aboard -the brig, but you look honest--although you _are_ awfully dirty and -ragged,” said this most plain spoken young lady. - -“I know it; I look terribly,” whispered Don, creeping through the door -into the hold again. Then he turned about and asked, “What is your -name, please?” - -“Milly Frank.” - -“Thank you; and mine is Brandon Tarr. Some time I can explain all this -to you, and you will see that I did the only thing I could in stowing -myself away here.” - -“But how do you expect to get out?” - -“I hope we’ll get to port in the night. If we do, then I’ll try to slip -out through the cabin.” - -“Somebody will catch you.” - -“I hope not.” - -“We-ell, I _hope_, not, too,” said Miss Milly frankly. “I don’t suppose -it is just right, but I’ll try to help you. If I see a chance for you -to get away I’ll come to this door and knock--see, like this.” - -She knocked twice in succession, but lightly, so that nobody might hear -her but the stowaway. - -“Thank you--thank you!” murmured the boy, and then he shut the trap -quickly, for a heavy step sounded from the cabin without. - -Somebody had come down from the deck--probably the officer of the -watch. - - - - -CHAPTER XXX - -SHOWING WHAT MISS MILLY DOES FOR BRANDON - - -BRANDON crept away from the trap in the bulkhead, fearing that at -any moment the person who had entered the outer cabin during his -conversation with the captain’s daughter, might strive to capture him. -He was afraid that the person had heard his movements in descending -into the cargo hold again; but if the newcomer _did_ hear anything, -Milly evidently convinced him that there was nothing unusual going on, -for Brandon was not disturbed. - -Then ensued for the stowaway a period of anxious waiting. The very fact -that some hope of successful escape had been held out to him, made the -waiting all the harder to bear. - -Each hour was bringing the Success nearer to Savannah, and Brandon -remained near the bulkhead all the time, so as to miss no communication -from his fair assistant. - -Miss Milly seemed to really enjoy her secret knowledge of the -stowaway’s presence, and before the Success reached port she several -times called him to the bulkhead, ostensibly for the purpose of finding -out if he was all right, and was not going hungry. She supplied him -with water, too, these last two or three days, and he no longer had to -leave the hold on midnight foraging expeditions. - -“We shall be in this evening--perhaps before dark--so father told me -last night,” she whispered to him one morning, and Brandon’s heart -leaped for joy at the information. - -Slowly, indeed, did that day pass. - -The Success was beating up toward Savannah against a light head wind, -which gave promise of becoming an off shore gale before it was through -with. Fortunately, the brig escaped it, taking a tug about the middle -of the afternoon, and pulling into her dock about dark. - -“Thank Heaven!” was Brandon’s mental ejaculation, when this information -was whispered through the crack in the bulkhead door to him, and he was -indeed devoutly grateful. - -His life in the hold from the time of departure from New York, had been -a continual fever of impatience and doubt, and now that the real danger -of attempting to escape was at hand, he was rejoiced. In a short time -he would know whether he was to be free, or in Jim Leroyd’s power. - -Milly had informed him that Captain Frank was exceedingly hard on all -stowaways (as sea captains usually are, in fact), and he had no doubt -but that he would be placed in a very uncomfortable, if not dangerous, -position if the doughty captain should discover him. - -Leroyd, of course, would step forward at once and declare that he -(Brandon) was wanted in New York for robbery, and that fact could be -proved by telegraphing, should the Savannah officers desire to do so. -Then, if the whaleback steamer was not in, he should be absolutely -friendless, and at the mercy of the vindictive sailor. - -He lay close up against the door of the bulkhead all through the early -evening. Some of the crew, he judged by what he heard, were allowed -to go ashore for a few hours, and a part of the officers went with -them--which officers, however, he could not tell. - -There was both a first and second mate on the Success. - -Brandon had no means of telling the time, but it must have been well -along towards ten o’clock--perhaps later--when he heard the two gentle -raps for which he had been so anxiously listening. - -“Are you there, Brandon?” whispered the captain’s daughter, and as -Don pulled the door slightly ajar, she seized his hand, and aided him -through the opening. - -“Is the coast clear?” he asked anxiously. - -“Sh! Yes, father and Mr. Marsh have gone up town with some of the men, -and Mr. Barry has finally gone to bed.” (Mr. Barry was the second -officer.) “I was afraid that he’d never stop talking to me. I had to -fairly _freeze_ him out,” and the merry girl laughed softly. - -“But Leroyd?” pursued Brandon. - -“He’s gone, too.” - -“To bed?” - -“No; up the street. I hope you can get off the brig before any of them -get back. Now hurry.” - -“You’re a good girl, Miss Milly. I hope I shall be able to repay you -some time.” - -“Hush! go along now,” she said, smiling, but pushing him toward the -companionway. “What’s that for?” for Brandon had thrust a little wad of -bank notes into her hand. - -“It is to pay for the stores I broke into below. Take it, and put it -where your father will see it. Good by.” - -He started up the ladder, but came back again to ask, - -“Is there a steamer in the bay? Did you get in time enough to see?” - -“Lots of them.” - -“No, I should have said a whaleback steamer?” - -“What are those--oh, I know what you mean. A great long, steel boat, -with cabins way up above the hull, and no deck to speak of.” - -“That’s it,” said Brandon eagerly. - -“Yes, there _is_ one here. I saw it and meant to ask father what it -was. I thought it was a dredger of some kind,” and Milly laughed again -gleefully. “Is that a steamer?” - -“Yes. My friends are aboard her.” - -“Then you will find them,” she returned delightedly. “That funny boat -lies not far from our dock. Now go, or somebody will catch you.” - -Brandon crept noiselessly up the steps at this command, and peered out -across the deck. A sailor sat on the rail some rods away, but his back -was towards him; nobody else was in sight. - -“Now’s my chance,” muttered Don, and springing quickly up the -remaining steps, he darted as noiselessly as a shadow across the deck, -and leaped upon the pier. An instant later he was on the street, and -slinking along in the shadow of the buildings, hurried away from the -vicinity. - -He did not know in which direction the “funny boat” Milly had seen, -lay, but went blindly along, his only care for the moment being to -escape from the neighborhood of the Success and from his enemy, Jim -Leroyd. - -The street he followed kept close to the wharves--skirted the -waterfront in fact--and he passed many sailors; but he kept in the -shadow as much as possible and nobody remarked about his apparel or the -grime on his face and hands. - -Suddenly, as he approached a great pier, where several large vessels -were lying, he caught sight of a familiar figure coming down the street -toward him. There was no mistaking that rolling, peculiar gait, nor -the sound of the sharp “tap, tap” of the steel shod leg on the wooden -pavement. - -It was Caleb Wetherbee! - -“Oh, Cale!” Brandon almost shouted, and running forward fairly threw -himself into the sailor’s arms. - -“By the jumping Jehosophat!” cried the startled Caleb, and then, -recognizing the boy, despite his rags and dirt, he uttered a loud -“hurrah!” which left no doubt in Brandon’s mind as to the sailor’s -satisfaction at seeing him once more. - -But in a moment, he pushed the boy away from him and holding him by -both shoulders, peered down upon him curiously. - -“Well, well!” he exclaimed. “Where in the name o’ Davy Jones have you -been? Ye look as though you’d been stowed away in the hold o’ a coal -barge for a month.” - -“Well, I _have_ been stowed away in a brig’s hold--she got in only this -evening. I’ve just got away from her. Did you get my note by Swivel?” - -“I did, my lad.” - -“And Swivel himself?” - -“He’s aboard the steamer.” - -“I’m glad of that,” declared Brandon. “I hoped you’d be kind to him. He -did me a lot of favors, and I shan’t be able to repay him for some time -to come. Now, have you heard anything further from the Silver Swan?” - -“I have, my lad, this very afternoon. She was sighted two weeks ago by -a steamship from Rio to New York. Adoniram telegraphed me. But there’s -something else that ain’t so pleasin’.” - -“What’s that, Caleb?” - -“The Kearsarge has been ordered to destroy several of these derelicts, -the Silver Swan included, on her way down the coast to Havana. She -sails tomorrow, I hear.” - -“Then we haven’t any time to lose,” Brandon exclaimed. “Let’s go aboard -at once, Cale. The first thing I want is a wash--I’m as dirty as a -pig--and then I’ll tell you the whole story.” - -“We’ll do so right now,” declared the big captain. “Come on. My boat’s -down here. Number Three lays off some way.” - -He hurried Brandon down to the dock, and they were quickly seated in -the steamer’s small boat, and the men pulled out to the long, low, odd -looking craft, which, since her arrival in the bay three days before, -had attracted an enormous amount of attention. - -“She sails like a swan, Don,” declared Caleb, who, from openly scoffing -at the whaleback, had begun fairly to worship her. “I never see -anything beat it. She can outsail any cruiser in the navy, I believe, -an’ if we don’t reach the Silver Swan in her first, it’s because -somethin’ busts!” with which forcible declaration he helped the boy -over the low rail to the iron deck of the steamer. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXI - -WHEREIN NUMBER THREE APPROACHES THE SUPPOSED VICINITY OF THE SILVER SWAN - - -“WE’LL be off at once,” Caleb Wetherbee declared, as soon as he had -stepped upon the deck of the whaleback. “Go up to the cabin, Don, and -tell the steward to fix you out with a bath and some clean clothes. You -know which stateroom yours is.” - -Gladly did Brandon avail himself of this opportunity, and while Caleb -was personally seeing to the matter of getting under way, he indulged -in the luxury of a bath and a full change of clothing. - -Before he was presentable again, Number Three had steam up (the fires -had only been banked), and was moving slowly away from Savannah. - -“Quick connections on this trip, eh, lad?” Caleb said, rubbing his -hands gleefully, as he entered the cabin and found Brandon “clothed and -in his right mind” again, as the youth himself expressed it. “Three -hours ago you were in the hold of the brig, wasn’t you? Now, let’s hear -your yarn.” - -Brandon complied with his request, giving fullest details of his -incarceration in the hold of the Success. - -“That ’ere is a mighty plucky girl,” was Caleb’s admiring comment when -the tale was finished. “What d’ye say her name was?” - -“Milly Frank; the cap’n is her father, and he owns the brig himself.” - -“Frank--Frank,” repeated Caleb slowly. “That has a familiar sound.” - -“It has to me, too,” said Brandon slowly. “I’ve been trying to think, -ever since I met the girl, where I had heard her name and seen her -face, too, for both seem familiar.” - -“I have it!” suddenly exclaimed Caleb, smiting his thigh. - -“Well?” - -“Frank was the name of the chap as Adoniram’s sister married--the -little one, ye know.” - -“You’re right. And her name was Milly, too,” Brandon rejoined eagerly. -“Bet you this was a daughter of hers. I thought her face looked -familiar, and now I think of it, it was because she looked so much like -the face of Milly Pepper--her picture hung in the room they gave me at -Mr. Pepper’s.” - -“’Twould tickle ’Doniram ’most to death to know he had a niece,” Caleb -said. - -“And Miss Frances, too. As soon as we find the Silver Swan we must look -up the Success.... And that reminds me, Caleb. You say you’ve heard of -the wreck again?” - -The captain of the whaleback drew a telegram from his pocket and passed -it over to his young second officer. - -“That’s from ’Doniram. As I said, I got it this afternoon.” - -This was the message: - - Rio steamship Creole Prince arrived this a. m., reports Silver Swan - as being sighted March 23rd, latitude 27:18, longitude 68:30. - -“Still moving northeast, isn’t she?” Brandon said, handing back the -yellow slip. - -“In course.” - -“And what was that you told me about the Kearsarge?” - -“Here’s the evening paper,” responded Caleb, handing over a folded -sheet. “There’s the item,” and he pointed with his stumpy forefinger to -a marked passage which read as follows: - - The Department has ordered the Kearsarge to leave the Chesapeake - tomorrow on her trip to the West Indies. Her commander has received - special orders to destroy several of the most dangerous derelicts - which are at present infesting the coast below Hatteras, and - especially off the Bermudas. The hull of the Hattie Marvin, floating - bottom upwards north of Bermuda, and that of the Silver Swan, south - of the same islands, both of which have been frequently reported of - late and are exceedingly dangerous, will have the early attention of - the midshipmen, who consider the excitement of blowing up derelicts a - boon indeed. - -“We have a good start of her,” Brandon declared with satisfaction. “It -will be because we’re not smart if we can’t find the Silver Swan first.” - -“Right, lad. An’ we _will_ find her, too,” said Caleb hopefully. - -“And about Swivel,” went on Don, changing the subject; “where is he?” - -“He’s below with the men. Smart lad, he is, an’ I reckon we’ll make -quite a man of him yet.” - -“I must do something for him--if I get those diamonds,” Brandon added. -“Now, Captain Wetherbee, with your permission I’ll turn in and get some -sleep, for I haven’t slept decently for a week, I was so worried.” - -At sunrise the whaleback had left the mouth of the Savannah river, and -the shores were low down on the horizon behind them. At sunset, when -Brandon finally arose from a long slumber, the steamer was alone on a -vast extent of heaving, restless sea. The land had entirely disappeared. - -Brandon took up his duties of second officer with enthusiasm. He had -everything to learn--or about everything--but the work was right along -the line of his strongest taste. He loved it, and therefore went about -it earnestly, and learned rapidly. - -Messrs. Coffin and Bolin assisted him in every way possible, for they -were greatly attracted to the boy. Of course, Caleb was ever his -faithful mentor and teacher, and Brandon soon fell into the ways and -duties of the ship, and accredited himself very well, indeed. - -The swift steamer kept on her southeasterly course for several days -without incident of importance. No derelicts were sighted, and but few -vessels. - -Brandon was told, however, that coming down from New York the whaleback -had sighted two wrecks, but the captain dared not delay to investigate -them until the principal object of the voyage was accomplished. Caleb -determined to let all other derelicts but the Silver Swan severely -alone. - -The whaleback passed the Bermudas low down on the sea line, and being -well supplied with fuel kept on toward that portion of the ocean where -the hull of the Silver Swan was supposed to be making her objectless -voyage. - -A sharp lookout was kept day and night, but it was not until after the -Bermudas had faded from sight that anything other than passing sailing -vessels and steamers were sighted. At night the whaleback ran very -slowly, indeed, so that naught might escape her, but during the day she -traveled at a high rate of speed. - -Just before sunrise one morning Brandon was aroused by a commotion on -deck. He leaped from his berth at once, and having been to sea long -enough now to know how to dress quickly, was outside in less than a -minute. Then he made out what the lookout on the top of the forward -turret was shouting: - -“Wreck--dead ahead, sir!” - - - - -CHAPTER XXXII - -RELATING HOW THE SILVER SWAN WAS HEARD FROM - - -AS the sun rose and lit up the sea more fully Brandon could plainly -view the wreck which the steamer was now rapidly approaching. - -It was not, he believed at first glance, the Silver Swan. It was the -hull of a vessel, sunk a good deal at the stern; but one mast was -standing, and a great tangle of cordage and torn sails was still -attached to it. - -“That’s never the Silver Swan, lad,” Caleb declared. “She was swept as -clean as a whistle. This was a square rigged vessel, however.” - -The steamer ran in very close to the wreck, and Brandon made out the -words, “Porpoise, New Haven,” under the bows. - -The derelict gave every appearance of being what Mr. Coffin called “an -old stager,” and labored in the seas most heavily. - -“That’s a mighty dangerous wreck,” Caleb declared reflectively, as -the whaleback steamed slowly by. “It wouldn’t take long to sink her, -although ’twould cost something. What d’ye say, Mr. Coffin--will you go -aboard her, and if she isn’t worth towing in, drop enough dynamite into -her hold to blow her up? You know how to run that battery Mr. Pepper -had put aboard.” - -“Aye, aye, sir,” the first officer replied, and bustled away to order a -boat launched at once. - -By special request Brandon was allowed to accompany the expedition. The -old hulk was found to be in ballast, and Mr. Coffin therefore placed a -quantity of the powerful explosive in her hold, attached the wire, and -they pulled back toward the steamer. - -When the small boat was out of danger the officer touched the button -and an instant later the still morning air was shattered by a terrific -roar. - -The wreck seemed almost to rise from the sea, a great volume of fire -and smoke issued from her amidships, and she broke in two, the water -rushing in and filling the interior with a sound like the echo of the -explosion. - -Slowly the derelict settled, her stern going first, until the very -tip of the tottering mast disappeared below the surface. Only a few -splintered deck timbers, which would soon follow the ship to the -bottom, remained to show where the hulk had disappeared. - -“Good job, that,” Caleb declared, when the boat had returned to the -steamer, “though it cost us three hours’ time. That hulk had been -floating for nearly a year, according to the pilot charts.” - -The second day after the blowing up of the derelict Porpoise, a -steamship was sighted by the whaleback. It was the City of Havana, of -the James E. Ward line, and, by running in close, Caleb was able to -hold converse with the ship’s captain. - -To the satisfaction of the captain of Number Three, the City of -Havana’s commander could, and did, give him some information about the -derelict brig of which they were in search. - -The steamship had sighted the Silver Swan in latitude 28, longitude -69:13, and reported the vessel in a remarkable state of preservation. -The spring storms had not appeared to damage her much. - -This news was hailed joyfully by Caleb and Brandon, and the course of -the whaleback was changed a little more to the east. - -The weather, however, which had been all that they could wish thus -far since leaving Savannah, began to get nasty. The sea became short -and choppy, though without apparently affecting the sailing of the -whaleback, and the sky looked bad. - -Finally, after a day or two of this, a dead calm occurred, and Caleb -shook his head sagely. - -“We’re goin’ to ketch it,” he declared, “an’ we’ll have a chance to -find out how the steamer rides in a gale, whether we want to or not.” - -And he was right. While the whaleback steamed slowly ahead, a heavy -swell came on, although there was not a breath of air stirring. The sea -heaved and rolled, seemingly in throes of agony. - -At first the cause was entirely submarine. At length, however, there -was a groaning, moaning sound, which gradually increased in volume, -until, with a sudden roar, the hurricane swooped down upon them. The -waves were tossed toward the wind driven, leaden clouds with awful -fury, breaking like surf over the whaleback; but the steamer withstood -the fearful shocks as easily as she had the choppy waves which -preceded the gale. - -She kept but little headway, however, and as the black night shut -down about the craft, Brandon realized fully the terrible risks and -hazardous chances taken by “those who go down to the sea in ships.” - -For two days the gale continued, but with less fury than signaled its -first appearance. Number Three might have put back into Bermuda, but -she acted so well that Caleb decided to stay outside and thus lose no -possible opportunity of sighting the Silver Swan. - -Brandon had never contemplated what a storm at sea meant before and he -was thankful indeed that he was not upon a sailing vessel. - -During the first of the gale they had sighted several vessels, with -close reefed sails, scudding before the wind, but all were riding the -sea well. - -Late in the afternoon of the second day, however, the lookout, who was -lashed to the top of the wheelhouse, reported a wreck ahead. - -At first Caleb and Brandon, who were both armed with glasses, could not -make it out clearly enough to decide what it was. - -Finally the old seaman declared with conviction. - -“It’s the hull of a vessel an’ her masts have been carried away sure.” - -“Do you think it is the brig, Caleb?” the young second mate asked -eagerly. - -“Ye got me there. It _may_ be, and then ag’in it may not. We’ll run -down an’ see.” - -The storm was by no means abating and Caleb dared not run very close to -the wreck. - -As they approached it, however, the former mate of the Silver Swan -became convinced that it was not the wreck they sought. He was familiar -with every line of Captain Horace Tarr’s vessel and this, he declared, -was not it. - -Suddenly Swivel’s sharp eyes caught sight of something which the others -had not seen. - -“There’s something tied to that stump of a mast, sir,” he exclaimed, -pointing toward the forward part of the wreck. “It’s a flag o’ some -kind.” - -“It’s a signal!” Mr. Coffin declared. “There’s some poor soul on the -wreck. See--there he is.” - -At the instant he spoke they all descried a moving figure on the -derelict--some one, who, clinging with one hand to the cordage which -still hung to the mast, with the other waved a signal frantically at -the approaching steamer. - -“Great Heavens!” exclaimed Mr. Coffin, strongly moved by the scene. -“What shall we do? No mortal man can help him in this gale.” - -“We must do something,” Caleb replied. - -“A boat couldn’t live in this sea, sir,” said the first officer -despairingly. - -“We must try to throw him a line.” - -But upon trial it was found that it would be exceedingly hazardous to -run down near enough to the wreck for that. The hull was rolling so -frightfully that it might turn completely over at any moment and carry -the steamer to the bottom with it should they run in too near. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIII - -IN WHICH COMRADES IN COURAGE LAUNCH THEMSELVES UPON THE DEEP - - -BRANDON’S glass had been turned upon the figure on the wreck for the -few moments during which the others had been discussing the possibility -of saving the poor creature. Now he exclaimed hurriedly. - -“That’s not a man--it’s a woman! Don’t you see her skirts blowing in -the gale? She is alone on the wreck.” - -Caleb seized his own glass again, and Mr. Bolin dived into the cabin -for his. - -“You’re right, lad,” the captain declared. “Either all the men have -been swept overboard, or the white livered rascals have taken to the -boats and abandoned her.” - -But Brandon was making other discoveries. As the steamer cut through -the huge waves, approaching nearer and nearer to the wreck, something -about the outlines of the female figure seemed familiar to him. - -He knew the face which was turned pleadingly toward the steamer--the -powerful glass revealed every feature clearly. - -It was Milly Frank! - -At the instant of Brandon’s discovery, the steamer gave a sudden roll, -and he was thrown partially from his balance and his glass wavered an -instant from the girl’s face. - -In that instant the stern of the fated vessel came within range of his -vision and he plainly saw the word “Success” painted in tarnished gold -lettering upon it. - -“Caleb! Caleb!” he cried, forgetting for the moment to apply the proper -term of respect to the captain which, according to the quarter deck -etiquette, he should have done, “that’s the Success, and the _girl_ is -the captain’s daughter!” - -“Oh, it can’t be, lad!” cried the old man, unwilling to believe such a -fact possible. - -“It is the Success--I see her name,” Mr. Bolin declared. - -“Poor little girl! poor little girl!” exclaimed the honest old sailor -brokenly. “We can’t stand here and see her perish.” - -“I shan’t,” Brandon affirmed, passing his own glass to Mr. Coffin. - -“What can you do, lad?” queried Caleb. “The gale’s not abating a mite.” - -“All that we can do I see, sir, is to stand by till the sea goes down, -and then, God willing, take her off,” said Mr. Coffin. - -“Why, that old hulk may sink at any moment!” cried Brandon. “I won’t -stay idle and see that girl drown after all she has done for me.” - -“An’ it’s Adoniram’s niece--no doubt of it,” murmured Caleb. - -“That is another reason why we should try to save her. I haven’t -forgotten all that Mr. Pepper has done for me,” declared Brandon -decidedly. - -“But, lad, lad, what can we do?” gasped the captain. “It’s not a living -possibility to send a boat to that brig, and I dare not risk the lives -of all these men in my care by running in near enough for a cable to be -thrown.” - -“And the girl probably couldn’t fasten it, if we did,” added Mr. Bolin. - -“Then we must do something else. Run by her, Caleb, and I’ll carry a -rope to the brig.” - -“You’re crazy!” cried Mr. Coffin. - -“Maybe I am,” Brandon returned, his face white and set; “but I shall do -it.” - -Swivel, who was clinging to a guard rope within hearing, struck in with -him. - -“Lemme do it, Brandon--I mean Mr. Tarr. I kin swim like a fish.” - -“Nobody shall go but myself,” the boy declared, with emphasis. “I won’t -suggest a perilous undertaking and not be the one to carry it out.” - -“Cap’n Tarr right over again,” Caleb muttered. - -Then he turned suddenly upon his young second officer. - -“Kick off your shoes, lad, and try it. If it’s the Lord’s will that you -accomplish it, well and good; if you can’t, we’ll haul you back. Quick, -now! I’ll order Mike to go ahead full speed.” - -Before the words were scarcely out of the captain’s mouth, Brandon had -kicked off his light shoes. - -Swivel, who could not be taught strict quarter deck manners, followed -the young officer’s example. - -“What are you about, you young limb o’ Satan?” demanded Mr. Coffin, -catching hint at this. - -“Ef he goes, I’m goin’ an’ you ain’t goin’ ter stop me, Mr. Coffin,” -announced the gamin. “I’m in dis!” - -“Behave yourself,” Brandon commanded, quickly knotting a light, strong -cable about his waist, while Mr. Bolin fastened a life preserver -beneath his arms. “One is enough.” - -“Den I’m de one!” the boy declared vehemently, and dodging Mr. Coffin’s -outstretched arm, he seized a second coil of rope, one end of which was -fastened to a ring in the deck, and ran to the stern of the steamer. - -“Come back here!” roared the first mate angrily. “I’ll rope’s end you, -you little scamp!” - -“You’ll have ter do it when I get back from dat wreck!” returned the -boy, with an impish grin, and the steamer having now forged ahead of -the laboring brig, and Brandon being all ready, the fearless Swivel -also dropped over the rail, and clinging with one hand a moment, let go -simultaneously with his friend and patron. - -Brandon tried to send him back, but it was too late then. The first -wave seized them in its embrace and they were carried far out from the -steamer’s stern. - -The cork belt kept the young second mate above the waves, but even with -this assistance, he found himself much less able to cope with the heavy -seas than was his companion. - -Swivel dived through the rollers like a gull, keeping faithfully by -his friend’s side; and had it not been for the street gamin, Brandon -afterward declared that he should never have reached the wreck alive. - -He had no idea how furious the waves were until he was among them, -battling for his life, and trying to reach the distant brig. - -It was a terrific struggle, lasting perhaps not five minutes, but a few -more seconds would have completely exhausted him. - -A great wave suddenly swept them directly under the brig’s bows. Swivel -seized Brandon’s hand with one of his own and with the other grabbed a -rope trailing over the rail of the wreck. - -Fortunately the other end of the rope was securely fastened, and with -an almost superhuman effort Swivel raised Brandon until the second mate -of the whaleback could grasp the rail. - -In another moment Brandon was aboard the brig, and had pulled Swivel -over the rail after him. - -“Wot--did--I--tell--ye?” gasped the gamin, whose spirit no amount -of danger could quench. “Two heads _is_ better’n one, ef one _is_ a -cabbage head. Where’s de girl?” - -But Milly was already creeping forward to their position on her hands -and knees. - -“How can you take me back?” she asked at once, her voice sounding as -firmly above the gale as though danger was the farthest of anything -from her thoughts. - -Then she recognized Brandon. - -“You?” she exclaimed, in surprise. “I never thought of you being on -that steamer.” - -“I didn’t forget what you did for me,” Brandon said in reply. “I’d have -risked a good deal more than this for you.” - -“You couldn’t risk any more,” she declared firmly; “for you’ve risked -your life.” - -Meanwhile Swivel was signaling to those on the steamer to attach a -heavier cable to the one tied about his waist. This was done in a short -time, and then all three of the endangered ones laid hold and pulled -the cable in, hand over hand. - -It was hard work. The heavy rope was wet and unmanageable, and the -strain on their young muscles was terrible. - -Milly worked as unceasingly as did the two boys, but the cable came -across the tossing waves but slowly. - -“Where are the crew--where is your father?” asked Brandon. - -The girl’s face worked pitifully at this question. - -“Father is dead,” she sobbed, “and the crew took to the boats while I -was below. That was early this morning.” - -“And you’ve been here alone ever since!” said Brandon pityingly. - -At that instant there was a slight exclamation from Swivel, and the -small cable by which they were endeavoring to gain the larger one, came -in over the rail with fearful suddenness. - -All three were sent sprawling on the deck. - -“What is it?” gasped Milly. - -“The rope’s parted,” cried Brandon in horror. - -“Never mind; don’t you give up, missy,” Swivel exclaimed. “We’ve got -anoder rope yet. Where’s de end o’ dat rope you had tied ’round you, -Brandon?” he demanded. - -Brandon only groaned. - -“Where is it?” shrieked the other lad, fairly shaking him in his -impatience. - -“I cast it loose,” was the disheartening reply. “It is gone!” - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIV - -THE INCIDENTS OF A NIGHT OF PERIL - - -NIGHT was shutting down over the face of the storm tossed ocean--night -of the blackest and wildest description. Already the outlines of the -steamer ahead were scarcely visible from the bows of the water logged -brig. - -By a series of misfortunes (Brandon Tarr bitterly accused himself of -causing the crowning mischance of them all) the three unfortunates on -the Success were entirely cut off from escape. - -“Oh,” cried Milly, in bitterness of spirit second only to Brandon’s -own, “you have lost your lives for me--both of you. I am not worthy of -it!” - -“Don’t ye lose heart, missy,” Swivel declared, with a courage he was -far from feeling. “Th’ ship hain’t sunk.” - -“No one but God Himself knows how long it will keep afloat, though,” -Brandon returned despairingly. - -“And the gale is increasing again, too,” added Milly softly. - -“This is the last end of it, that’s wot I think,” declared Swivel -cheerfully. “It’ll blow itself out now purty soon.” - -Brandon could not look at the situation thus hopefully, but he -determined to say nothing further to make the girl despair. - -Swivel’s tone shamed him into thinking of her rather than of himself. - -The men on board the steamer, had ere this discovered what had -happened, but they could do nothing to assist the three on the brig. - -It was absolutely necessary to keep some headway--considerable, in -fact--on the whaleback, to prevent her from swinging around into the -trough of the waves. Every moment they were getting farther and farther -away from the doomed derelict. - -Caleb roared something to them through the trumpet, but the distance -and the howling of the gale prevented them from making out what he -said. The wind and spray beat upon them alternately as they crouched -together in the high bows, and every other sound but that of the -elements was drowned. - -“Come back in the shelter of the mast,” Brandon shouted at last. “We -can do nothing further here. Our position is so exposed that we may be -washed off before we know it.” - -Each of the boys grasped an arm of the captain’s daughter and with no -little trouble they managed to reach the great tangle of rigging and -shreds of canvas which hung about the one remaining mast. - -The topmast had long since been carried away, but the main spar still -defied the storm, writhing and twisting like a thing of life in the -fierce grasp of the gale. - -Here, crouching under its lee, the shipwrecked boys and girl clung to -the stiffened ropes with hands little less stiffened by the cold and -water. - -As an extra precaution they bound themselves together, and then -fastened the same rope to the mast, knowing that a wave might board the -lumbering brig at any moment and sweep everything on it that was not -fastened, into the sea. - -Occasionally, as the wreck climbed heavily to the summit of an enormous -roller, they could catch a glimpse of the steamer’s lights; but as the -hours dragged slowly on, these became less and less distinct. - -Without doubt the whaleback was drawing slowly away from the wreck, and -the worst of it was, those on the steamer probably did not suspect it. - -The castaways had no means of showing their whereabouts by lights, and -the steamer was too far away, and had been since the darkness shut -down, for those aboard her to see the outlines of the brig. Therefore -Caleb Wetherbee and his officers had no means of knowing that the -steamer was traveling nearly two miles to the brig’s one. - -Suddenly there was a flash of light from the steamer’s deck, and a -rocket went hurtling upwards into the leaden sky, to fall in showers -of sparks into the sea. It was a message of hope to the unfortunates -on the brig--it was meant as such, at least--but they had no way of -replying to it. - -“Aren’t there any rockets aboard?” asked Brandon of the captain’s -daughter. - -“There may be, but I do not know where,” the girl replied; “and the -cabin is half filled with water, too.” - -“Never mind if it is; I believe I’ll try to find them. There must be -something of the kind aboard.” - -“Ye’d better stay here,” Swivel warned him anxiously. “I don’t like ter -see ye git out o’ sight.” - -“Don’t you think I can take care of myself?” Brandon demanded. - -“Not alone,” was the prompt reply. “I reckon ’at none of us can’t take -very good keer of ourselves in this gale. We’d best not git too fur -apart.” - -“Well, I’m going to try to get into the cabin,” Brandon added. “Nothing -ventured, nothing gained.” - -He unfastened the rope from about his waist, and in spite of the -objections of his two companions, crept aft toward the cabin -companionway. - -The feat was not of the easiest, as he quickly found; but once having -determined to do it, he would not give up. - -The door of the cabin was jammed fast, but after some little -maneuvering he was able to force an entrance and descended into the -apartment, which was knee deep with water washed in from the heavy seas -which had broken over the brig during the day. - -There was no means of lighting a lantern, however, and after rummaging -about in the darkness for half an hour, he had to return to the deck -without having accomplished anything. - -As he stepped outside again, he found the brig pitching worse than -ever. The gale was full of “flaws” now--a sure sign that it was blowing -itself out--but occasionally it would rise to greater fury than it had -shown in all the two previous days. - -Just as he reached the deck one of these sudden squalls occurred, and -a huge green roller swept in over the stern of the brig, and advanced -with lightning speed along the deck, sweeping wreckage and all else -before it. - -Brandon had just closed the door, and by clinging to the handle, was -able to keep himself from being washed overboard; but he was almost -drowned during the few moments while the wave filled the companionway. - -As it passed, there was a sudden crack forward, and even above the -shriek of the gale, he heard Swivel’s cry of alarm. - -With a rush and roar like the fall of a mighty forest tree, the mast, -splitting at the deck, toppled over across the rail. - -Brandon uttered a despairing shout, for it seemed impossible for the -wreck ever to right herself, the weight of the fallen spar dragged her -over so far. - -But providentially the mast had split clear off at the deck, and after -staggering a moment from the blow, the brig shook off her incumbrance, -and came to an even keel again. - -But following the falling of the mast came a shriek from Milly Frank -which pierced his very soul. - -“Brandon! Brandon! Help!” - -With that cry ringing in his ears, the boy dashed forward along the -slippery deck and reached the spot where he had left his companions. - -“Quick! this way!” called the girl’s clear voice, and darting to the -rail he was just able to grasp the captain’s daughter and drag her back -from the cruel sea. - -“Now him!” commanded the girl, and pulling in the line which was still -attached to her waist, Brandon drew the form of Swivel out of the waves. - -“Oh, he is dead!” cried Milly in agony. “He saved me, Brandon. When the -mast fell he cut the rope and took me in his arms and ran, but one of -the ropes tripped him up and we were washed to the rail by that great -wave.” - -“I hope he isn’t dead--oh, I hope not!” Brandon returned, kneeling down -beside the motionless boy, and chafing his forehead tenderly. - -Milly took one of the poor street gamin’s hands in her own and chafed -it likewise. - -Probably never before during his miserable, eventful existence had -Swivel known such gentleness. His life had been hard indeed, and it -looked as though its lamp had gone out now in the performance of a -noble and courageous deed. - -There on the storm swept deck Milly and Brandon knelt for nearly an -hour before the unconscious boy showed the least sign of life. - -Then the eyelids fluttered a little and he drew in his breath with a -slight sigh. - -“He’s coming to!” Brandon exclaimed. - -But although poor Swivel opened his eyes once or twice, it was a long -time before he seemed to realize where he was or what had happened. - -At last he whispered brokenly. - -“Don’t--don’t--fret yerself--missy--I’m--I’m goin’ ter be all right.” - -“Are you in pain, Swivel?” queried Brandon, having almost to shout to -make himself heard. - -Milly was crying softly. The strain of the last twenty hours was -beginning to tell on even her bravery and fortitude. - -“Dret--dretful!” gasped the injured boy weakly. - -Brandon had to place his ear almost to his lips to distinguish his -words. - -“Right--here,” and he laid his hand feebly on his chest. - -“That’s where he struck across the rail,” declared Milly, when Brandon -had repeated these words to her. “Oh, the poor fellow has been hurt -internally. _Do_ you think the morning will ever come, Brandon?” - -“I’m afraid it will come very soon for him, poor boy,” replied Don -meaningly, and there were tears in his own eyes. - -Swivel had closed his eyes and a strange, grayish pallor was spreading -over his drawn features. - -His hearing seemed wonderfully acute, however. He heard the word -“morning” at least, and his eyes flew open again and he struggled to -raise himself on his elbow. - -“_Is_ it morning now?” he asked feebly. - -“No, no,” replied Brandon soothingly. “Not yet, Swivel. Don’t exert -yourself. Lie down again.” - -The injured youth strove to speak once more, but suddenly fell back -upon the rude pillow Don had made of his coat, and a stream of blood -flowed from his lips. - -Milly uttered a startled gasp, but Brandon hastily wiped the poor -fellow’s lips, and after a moment the hemorrhage ceased. - -But they looked at each other meaningly. They had lost all hope now of -the shock not proving fatal. - -While they had watched Swivel, the gale, as though at last satisfied -with its cruel work, had gradually lessened. The wind ceased almost -wholly within the next hour, although the waves did not entirely go -down. - -Swivel lay motionless during all this time, occasionally opening his -eyes to gaze up into the faces of his two friends, whom he could see -quite clearly, but otherwise showing no sign of life. - -Finally he attempted to speak again. - -“It’s--it’s hard--on me--ain’t it?” he gasped, in Brandon’s ear. -“I--I--don’ wanter die.” - -His friend did not know what to say in reply to this, but Milly seized -his hand and tried to comfort him. - -“Don’t be afraid. Swivel,” she said, trying to make her own faith serve -for the dying fellow too. “It will be better over there.” - -“Mebbee--mebbee they won’t let me come.” - -“Yes, you may, if you ask, Swivel. Don’t you love God?” - -“I hain’t--hain’t never--heered--much erbout Him,” returned the lad. “I -heered the chap at the mission--school talk erbout--erbout Him some. -I--I never paid much ’tention.” - -His voice was stronger now, but in a moment the blood gushed from his -lips again. - -“Don’t talk--oh, don’t talk, Swivel?” cried Brandon beseechingly. - -“’Twon’t matter--not much,” the boy returned, after a few minutes. - -He felt blindly for Brandon’s hand and seized it tightly. Milly, still -kneeling on the opposite side, held the other. - -“Can’t ye say a prayer, like--like that feller in the mission did--er -one o’ them hymns?” he muttered. - -The boy and girl crouching above him looked into each other’s faces a -moment in silence. - -Brandon Tarr might have faced a thousand dangers without shrinking, but -he could not do this. It remained for Milly to comply with the poor -boy’s request. - -After the terrific howling of the gale, the night seemed strangely -still now. The hurrying, leaden clouds were fast breaking up, and here -and there a ray of moonlight pierced their folds and lit up the froth -flecked summits of the tossing billows. - -One narrow band of light fell across her pale face as she raised it -toward the frowning heavens and began to sing: - - “Jesus, Saviour, pilot me, - Over life’s tempestuous sea; - Unknown waves before me roll, - Hiding rock and treach’rous shoal: - Chart and compass come from the Thee: - Jesus, Saviour, pilot me. - - “When at last I near the shore, - And the fearful breakers roar - Twixt me and the peaceful rest, - Then, while leaning on Thy breast, - May I hear Thee say to me, - ‘Fear not, I will pilot thee’!” - -Faintly at first, but mounting higher and clearer, rose the sweet -girlish voice, and not only the poor street gamin, but Brandon himself -listened entranced. - -When the beautiful hymn was finished, Brandon felt that it was a prayer -not only for him whose spirit might at any moment depart, but for Milly -and himself, who should remain behind at the mercy of the storm tossed -sea. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXV - -SHOWING HOW CALEB APPEARED ON THE SCENE JUST TOO LATE - - -THE anxiety of Caleb Wetherbee for Brandon’s safety was really pitiful -to behold. When the cable parted which attached the wrecked brig to -the steamer, the captain at once realized that his ward and his two -companions were in a very serious predicament. - -There was absolutely nothing that those aboard the whaleback could do -in that howling gale to assist in the rescue of the castaways. - -Occasionally Caleb had a rocket fired to show the unfortunate trio -that he was remaining near them; but, as we know, that was very sorry -comfort to Brandon and his two companions. It simply served to convince -them how rapidly Number Three was leaving them astern. - -On one point Caleb’s calculations were very much amiss. He was running -the whaleback as slowly as practicable, keeping just enough headway on -to keep her from broaching to; but he failed to realize that even at -that speed he was sailing two miles or more to the brig’s one. - -Of course, when once the night had shut down it was impossible for -anybody aboard the steamer to see the outlines of the wreck, and -therefore this fact escaped their attention. The water logged Success -moved at a snail’s pace, and all night long the steamer drew away from -her, so that, after the storm had cleared away and the sun rose, not a -sign of the brig appeared. - -“Has she sunk?” queried Caleb in distress, as, in company with his two -remaining officers, he swept the horizon with his glass. - -“Rather, we have left her behind,” declared Mr. Coffin, making a shrewd -guess as to the real facts in the case. “The brig must have sailed -slower than we supposed.” - -“Then we must turn about at once and run back,” Caleb declared, and the -necessary orders were given. - -The day following the cessation of the gale was most beautiful, but -Caleb cared nothing for that. He neither ate nor slept, but remained on -deck nearly all the time, scanning the wide stretch of sea visible from -the top of the after cabin. - -The day passed and night came on, however, without a sign of the wreck -appearing. - -During this time the steamer had been running in a direction generally -south; while the gale was on she had run northeast. The whole day being -spent in fruitless search in this direction, however, Caleb commanded -the steamer to be put about again at evening. - -All that second night she ran slowly to the eastward, thus allowing -for the supposed drift of the Success, but they saw no signs of the -derelict, although the night was clear and the moon bright. - -The day following they spoke several partially dismantled vessels -whose crews were beating into the Bermudas for repairs. None of these, -however, had sighted the wreck of the Success. - -“They’ve gone to the bottom,” groaned poor Caleb that afternoon, as he -sat on the edge of the berth in his stateroom. - -He could not sleep, but had taken Mr. Coffin’s advice and tried to. - -“All gone--Brandon, whose dead father I promised I’d look out for him, -an’ that other poor lad, an’ the little girl. God help me! how can I go -back and tell Adoniram about this? - -“An’ then, we’ve not found the Silver Swan yet--nor air we likely to -after this gale. She’s gone to the bottom, too, mayhap, and Brandon’s -fortune along with her. Well----” - -Just here he was interrupted in his soliloquy by the hurried entrance -of Mr. Bolin. - -“Will you please come on deck, sir?” said the third officer, evidently -somewhat excited. “We have sighted what appears to be a steamer and a -dismantled vessel with her. Mr. Coffin wishes you to come up and see if -you can make her out.” - -But Caleb was out of the cabin before Mr. Bolin had finished speaking, -glass in hand. - -“Where is she?” he demanded. - -“Right ahead, captain,” replied Mr. Coffin. “There! you can see the -black smoke rising from the steamship’s funnels now. The wreck, if it -is a wreck, is between her and us.” - -Caleb got the range of the two vessels almost immediately, and it did -not take a very long look to assure him that his mate was right. - -“That’s a wreck, sure enough,” he declared, paying but very little -attention to the steamship. “Order the engineer to go ahead at full -speed.” - -Fifteen minutes later they were near enough to see the wreck quite -plainly. The steam vessel seemed to be lying quietly upon the sea now, -and as they looked a boat was lowered and pulled toward the dismantled -hulk. - -They were still several miles away, however, and could not see whether -the wreck was boarded by those in the small boat or not. - -“It strikes me,” began Mr. Coffin after a prolonged gazing through his -glass at the wreck, “that that doesn’t have the same appearance as that -vessel the boys are on. What do you think, Mr. Wetherbee?” - -Caleb had doubts in that direction himself. - -“I tell ye what it is,” he said: “the Success had a mast for’ard. This -one hain’t.” - -“It’s my opinion that’s the hull of a brig, just the same,” Mr. Coffin -declared. - -Suddenly Caleb uttered an exclamation. - -“That’s no steamship,” he declared. “See her colors and open ports. -Why, it’s a man o’ war!” - -“Right you are,” returned the mate. - -“It’s the Kearsarge,” added Mr. Bolin. “She was to come down this way, -you know. Going to the West Indies.” - -“One of her duties was to blow up derelicts--the Silver Swan among -them. Suppose this hull is the Swan!” cried Mr. Coffin. - -Caleb had fairly grown white in spite of his tan. - -“Great Peter!” he ejaculated. “Look-er-there!” - -The small boat had left the side of the wreck, and was now some -distance away from her. - -The whaleback was near enough to see that the officer commanding the -cutter had ordered the men to cease rowing and was standing up in the -bow of the boat. - -“They’re going to blow her up!” shouted Caleb. “Crowd on every ounce of -steam she’ll hold. We must stop it! Suppose that it is the Silver Swan!” - -He fairly groaned aloud, and in his excitement allowed the costly glass -to fall upon the deck, which treatment did not materially benefit it. - -Mr. Bolin darted away to the engine room, and in another moment the -funnels of the whaleback began to pour forth the blackest kind of -smoke, and the water beneath her stern was churned to foam by the rapid -beats of the propeller. - -They were all of a mile away from the wreck yet, and every instant -was precious. Caleb stumped up and down the deck, fairly wild with -apprehension, his eyes fixed on the cruiser’s cutter, in the bow of -which the officer seemed to be adjusting something. - -If the whaleback had been armed Caleb would have fired a shot to -attract the attention of the cruiser’s people, but there wasn’t a -weapon larger than Brandon’s rifle on the steamer. - -Mr. Coffin looked at his commander anxiously. He did not fully -understand why the captain wished to reach the Silver Swan and save it, -if _this was_ the Silver Swan; but he did not believe that they could -accomplish it. And he was right. - -The whaleback was still half a mile away from the scene of operations -when suddenly the officer in the cutter sat down, and the instant -following there was a loud explosion. - -A column of smoke and flame shot into the air, and when the smoke cloud -rose, only a few harmless splinters on the surface of the sea remained -to show the former position of the wreck! - -And then, when it was too late, the officer in the small boat -discovered the approach of the whaleback. - -Number Three was still driving ahead at full speed, and when her steam -was shut off she had such headway that she nearly passed the cruiser’s -cutter. - -Caleb, his voice trembling with apprehension, leaned over the rail and -shouted his question to the officer who had just “touched off” the -charge that had blown the derelict into atoms. - -“What craft is that you blew up?” he asked. - -“That was a derelict,” responded the officer, who was an ensign, in -surprise. - -“What was her name, d’ye know?” - -“She was sunken so low at the stern that we couldn’t read her name.” - -“But can’t you guess?” cried Caleb, in great exasperation. - -“Oh, there’s not much doubt in our minds as to who she was. She was one -we were ordered to destroy. The name on her bow was badly battered, but -we could make out part of it.” - -“Well, for heavens’ sake, what was it?” burst forth the wooden legged -captain wildly. “Don’t beat ’round the bush any longer.” - -The ensign began to grow as red as a peony. The old man’s manner of -questioning ruffled his dignity sorely. - -“To the best of my belief it was the brig Silver Swan, of Boston, U. S. -A.,” he declared stiffly. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVI - -THE CASTAWAYS ON THE BRIG SUCCESS - - -TO Milly and Brandon on board the water logged brig, it seemed as -though the long night would never end. They crouched together over the -body of poor Swivel, until his clasp relaxed from their hands and he -sank into a deep sleep. - -Brandon did not believe that the injured boy would ever awake from that -unconsciousness; nevertheless, he made his way below to the cabin again -and brought up an armful of blankets to add to his comfort. - -He wrapped one about Milly, and she made him share it with her, when -Swivel was more comfortable. - -Thus sitting close together on the cold, wet deck, they conversed in -whispers till dawn; Milly, at Don’s earnest solicitation, relating all -that had occurred since the night he had escaped from the Success at -Savannah. - -It was rather a disconnected story, for the poor girl often broke into -weeping at the memory of her father’s violent death. She had sincerely -loved him, although he was a stern, rather morose man. - -It seemed that Leroyd had learned that the plans of himself and his -friends to delay the departure of the whaleback from New York had -failed, and that the steamer had touched at Savannah and departed the -very night the Success got in. - -Finding that Sneaky Al had already arrived by steamship from New York, -he promised Captain Frank an extra hundred dollars if he would land -only a portion of his goods and set sail for the Bermudas again. - -The brig’s commander could not resist this temptation, and therefore -the Success lay at Savannah but a day and two nights. Then, with -Messrs. Weeks and Leroyd aboard, she had sailed directly for that part -of the ocean in which the whaleback had run across her during the gale. - -Brandon also elicited the information that the brig had not been -successful in her search--had not seen a derelict, in fact, since -leaving Savannah--and that Leroyd was in a fiendish temper before the -gale came up. - -When that began, he and his friend, Weeks, turned to with the brig’s -crew and did all they could to keep her afloat. Captain Frank, however, -was crushed under a falling spar and instantly killed when the gale -first started in, and the first officer was washed overboard. - -When the brig became unmanageable and the crew rushed for the boats, -nobody thought, or at least nobody stopped, for the bereaved girl in -the cabin. She discovered that the crew had gone and left her only by -coming on deck after the water had begun to fill the cabin. - -Brandon and the captain’s daughter had ample time, before the sun -appeared, to get very well acquainted with each other. - -Don told her all about himself, about the object of the voyage of the -whaleback, and of the plot concocted by his uncle Arad and Messrs. -Leroyd and Weeks to find the Silver Swan and obtain the treasure aboard -her themselves. - -As soon as it _did_ grow light, Brandon made his way below again and -after a great deal of trouble lit an oil lamp and heated a little water -over its blaze. He was then able to make some warm drink for Swivel and -Milly, denying himself until she had swallowed some, and between them -they had forced a little of the mixture between the injured boy’s lips. - -After this Swivel brightened up a bit, and, as he did not try to talk, -the hemorrhage did not return. But he was very weak. - -Milly and Brandon ate a little solid food too, but their companion was -unable to do that. - -Now that it was light enough for them to see over the expanse of -waters, they found as they had feared, that the whaleback had left them -behind during the night. - -Not a sign of her presence nor of the presence of any vessel which -might come to their assistance, appeared. - -The condition of the Success worried them a great deal--or worried Don -and Milly at least--for she was gradually sinking at the stern, and the -water was gaining more rapidly than they liked in the cabin. Whereas it -had only been to Brandon’s knees when he had first gone below, it was -now up to his waist. - -During one of these trips of his to the flooded interior of the brig, -he heard Milly’s voice excitedly calling to him to come on deck. - -“What is it?” he asked, hastily making his appearance. - -“Look! look, Brandon!” cried the girl. - -She was standing up in the stern and looking over the starboard side. - -Brandon hurried toward her and followed the direction of her hand with -his eyes. - -Far across the tossing sea a dark object rose and fell upon the -surface. It was not far above the level of the water, and therefore, -though hardly three miles away, had until now remained unseen by the -voyagers of the Success. - -“Is it a wreck like this?” she inquired eagerly. - -“It must be,” said Brandon, after a careful examination. - -“Bring poor papa’s long glass up from his stateroom,” cried Milly. “You -can see it then more plainly.” - -The boy hurried to obey this suggestion and quickly brought the -instrument from the dead captain’s cabin. - -By the aid of the glass the shipwrecked boy and girl could quite -plainly view the second wreck, for wreck it was. There was no room for -doubt of that. - -“It’s the hull of a vessel like this,” Brandon declared, “though it’s -not sunken at the stern, and it rides the waves easier. - -“There isn’t a sign of a spar upon it--it’s swept as clean as this,” he -continued. “There must have been many vessels treated that way in the -storm. Derelicts will be plentiful enough.” - -He stopped with a startled exclamation, and stared at his companion in -perplexity. - -“What is it, Brandon?” Milly asked, noting his change of manner. - -“I was thinking,” he said slowly, “that if the Silver Swan--my father’s -old brig, you know--kept afloat through this last hurricane, she would -likely be in just such shape as yonder hulk.” - -“Oh, it couldn’t be possible, could it?” gasped the girl. “That would -be too wonderful a coincidence.” - -“Not as wonderful as you might think,” Brandon returned decisively, -gaining confidence in the idea now that some one opposed him. “We are -in the very part of the ocean--or at least, I have reason to think we -are--in which the Silver Swan was last reported. I tell you, Milly, it -may be she!” - -“If you could only get to her and see,” cried the young girl anxiously. - -“I--I will get to her!” declared Brandon, and then he handed the glass -to her and went back to sit by poor Swivel and think it over. - -Milly, however, remained to watch the distant wreck through the -instrument. - -By all appearances it was much more buoyant than the Success. Whereas -the latter staggered up the long swells and labored through the trough -of the sea, the strange derelict rode the waves like a duck, and, -propelled by some current, moved a good deal faster, though in the same -general direction as themselves. - -Brandon, meanwhile, sitting beside the injured boy, who was now -sleeping deeply, was turning over in his mind the project he had -suggested. - -He knew, even better than Milly, that the Success was sinking deeper -and deeper every hour, and that before evening the water might begin to -wash in over the stern. - -The ocean was rapidly becoming smooth. Together they would be able to -launch a small raft--a hatch covering, perhaps--place Swivel thereon, -and by using oars, or perhaps a small sail, might reach the distant -derelict quite easily. - -Whether it was the Silver Swan he had sighted, or not, it certainly -rode the swells better and seemed to be far more seaworthy than the -Success. - -Finally, when Milly came up from the stern, he broached his plan to her. - -“I don’t want to force you into this, Milly,” he said. “You shall have -the deciding vote. Perhaps I am influenced by the hope that yonder -vessel is the Silver Swan, and maybe this is a dreadfully foolish plan -for us to try. I think, though, that it is the best and wisest thing we -can do.” - -“What can we use for a raft?” the girl asked slowly. - -“One of the hatch covers. I have found a tool chest below--I can get at -it yet--and there are spars and pieces of canvas for a sail in the same -place. I saw them only this morning.” - -“Can we launch a raft?” asked the practical Milly. - -“I believe we can. It is growing calmer all the time, now, and the rail -is so low at the stern that we can push a well balanced raft into the -sea and load it afterward.” - -“And Swivel?” - -“I’m afraid,” said Brandon, looking down at the injured boy sadly, -“that whatever we do cannot affect Swivel. We can make him as -comfortable on the raft as elsewhere.” - -“Then let us do it,” agreed Milly energetically. “I have been watching -the other wreck and it seems to sail much better than the Success. The -old brig may go down now at any time.” - -And so they set to work at once at the task of building a raft. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVII - -LEFT IN DOUBT - - -THE task they had set themselves was no child’s play, and this Brandon -and Milly soon discovered. But they were working for their lives, for -according to their reckoning, the Success would not remain above the -surface many hours. - -The captain’s daughter showed herself not only capable of handling -tools, but she was strong, too. For years she had sailed up and down -the seas with her father--nearly all her life, in fact--for her mother, -Brandon had discovered by questioning, had died when she was quite -young. - -This information assured him that there could be no reasonable doubt of -Milly Frank’s identity. But for the present he said nothing to the girl -about her relatives in New York. - -Milly’s life, therefore, had made her hardy and strong, although her -education was limited in many lines. - -But she had a good basis of hard, common sense to build upon, and with -a few terms at a well conducted school, she would make as well informed -a girl as one could find. - -With some trouble they managed to wrench away the fastenings of the -forward hatch, and with a heavy bit which Brandon found in the -captain’s chest ’tween decks, he was able to bore a hole of sufficient -size to receive the butt of the small spar. - -He brought two oars on deck also, and a square of sailcloth which was -bunglingly fashioned into a sail. - -Brandon proposed to leave nothing undone which would make the success -of their undertaking more sure. Something _might_ happen to keep them -from reaching the other wreck, so he brought up several cans of sea -biscuit and some canned meats from the cabin stores, and placed them in -readiness for loading the raft after it was launched. - -Then with the aid of heavy rollers and a short bar they got the raft -under way, and once it was started down the inclined deck they had no -trouble whatever in keeping it going. The only bother was to keep it -from moving too fast. - -Brandon found it impracticable to launch the raft from the stern, and -therefore cut away a piece of the rail on the starboard side wide -enough to admit of the passage of the lumbering hatch. - -They took the precaution to fasten a cable to the raft, that it might -not get away from them in its plunge overboard, and then, by an almost -superhuman effort, rolled the platform into the sea. - -It went in with a terrific splash, the sea water wetting both the -castaways a good deal, for they had to stand at the rail to steady the -raft’s plunge into the ocean. - -“Hurrah!” Brandon shouted. “It floats, and we shall be able to get -away.” - -He hastened to pull the hatch up under the brig’s rail; and, with -Milly’s aid, stepped the short mast. Then he placed the boxes and -provisions aboard and lashed them firmly, after which a bed was made -for Swivel on the raft. - -Once more he descended into the half submerged galley and made some -more warm drink for the injured boy, and this time Swivel was able to -eat a little cracker with it. - -They told him what they were about to do, and he seemed to take more -interest in the plan than he had in anything since the night before. - -“Can--can you carry me, Don?” he asked faintly. - -“I can if I don’t hurt you,” the other replied. “Now don’t try to talk, -Swivel; but, if I hurt you badly, touch me so I’ll know.” - -With this he lifted the slight form of the lad in his strong arms, and -carried him quickly, though easily, across the sloping deck and stepped -aboard the raft, which floated almost even with the brig’s rail. - -The sea had gone down very much now, and it was therefore a simple -matter to embark upon the hatch. - -Swivel was made comfortable among the blankets, his two friends hoisted -the rule sail, the painter was cast off, and the castaways moved slowly -away from the hulk of the Success. - -By this time it was quite late in the afternoon. Still there were -several hours of daylight left them, for in this latitude the sun does -not set very early, even in the spring. - -The time which had elapsed since they had first sighted the second -wreck had given this latter an opportunity to sail by the Success, for -she moved much faster than the water logged brig. The raft, however, -wafted along by the brisk breeze, began to overhaul the stranger at -once. By the aid of an oar, in lieu of a rudder, Brandon was able, with -little difficulty to keep headed toward their objective point. - -Milly, who had brought her father’s glass along, as well as the log -book of the Success, and all papers of any value belonging to her -father, occupied her time in trimming the sail, under Brandon’s -directions, and in gazing through the glass at the strange vessel. - -Soon the outlines of the latter became quite clearly visible. - -“It was a brig like papa’s,” declared the girl, scrutinizing the hull -which, although denuded of every inch of spar and rigging, still rode -the long swells as though perfectly seaworthy. - -“Can you see the stern, Milly?” Brandon asked, in excitement. - -“Yes.” - -“Is there a name on it? The Swan had her name on the stern?” - -“There is something on the stern, but it’s too far off yet for me to be -sure,” she replied. - -“The raft is behaving beautifully,” Brandon declared, “and we shall be -near enough presently for you to be sure of what you _do_ see.” - -Milly put down the glass and knelt by Swivel a moment, to place his -head more comfortably. Then she went back to the instrument again. - -Fifteen minutes passed before she uttered a word, while Brandon watched -her face with eager interest. Finally she passed him the glass and -seized the steering oar herself, although she said never a word. - -With hands that trembled slightly Brandon placed the instrument to his -eye and ranged it upon the stern of the derelict. Long and earnestly -did he examine the lettering upon it, and then closed the glass with a -snap. - -“The Silver Swan--thank God!” he said. - -“Oh, I’m so glad, for your sake, Don!” exclaimed Milly, tears of -happiness shining in her eyes. “You’ll get your father’s diamonds and -be rich.” - -“Riches on a wreck won’t do us much good,” returned Don grimly. “I’d -rather be a pauper ashore.” - -“Ah, but somebody will come very quickly now to take us off,” she said -confidently. - -“Perhaps. But, did you ever think, that perhaps somebody has been -before us?” - -“How do you mean?” - -“Why, I mean that perhaps somebody has boarded the brig already and -secured the diamonds.” - -“Who?” asked the girl doubtfully. “Who knows about it excepting your -Mr. Wetherbee and that Leroyd and his friend Weeks?” - -“Nobody that I know of.” - -“And nobody else knew where the jewels were hidden?” - -“Probably not.” - -“Then do you suppose the steamer has been here first?” - -[Illustration: LONG AND EARNESTLY DID HE EXAMINE THE LETTERING UPON IT -THEN CLOSED THE GLASS WITH A SNAP] - -“Oh, no; Caleb would have towed the old Swan to a place of safety if he -had found her--especially if she is as seaworthy as she appears to -be from this distance.” - -“Then what _do_ you mean?” demanded Milly in exasperation. - -“What about Leroyd and Weeks?” asked Brandon slowly. - -“Well, what about them?” - -“Do you suppose they are drowned?” - -“They may be.” - -“And then again they may not be. If they were picked up by some vessel -they might have still continued their search for the derelict; might -have found her by accident, in fact.” - -“Oh, Don,” cried the girl, “you are supposing altogether too much. -Don’t conjure up such disheartening ideas as that. Let us hope that we -are the first, who know about the treasure, to find the Silver Swan.” - -“Well, it doesn’t seem hardly possible that I should get the diamonds -without any more trouble,” Brandon said, with a sigh. “I’m afraid -there’s something wrong about it.” - -“Don’t talk that way, but be thankful that you haven’t had more -trouble--though, I should say you’d had almost enough,” returned Milly, -laughing a little. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVIII - -HOW THE ENEMY APPEARED - - -SLOWLY the rude craft drew near the hull of the Silver Swan. The brig -floated as well as though she had never struck upon Reef Eight, nor -been buffeted by the gales of this southern sea for well nigh three -months. - -The recent storm had done little damage to her deck either, although -the rails were smashed in one or two places. Her wheel had been lashed -firmly, and strangely enough it still remained so, and now, in this -quiet sea, the brig held as even a keel as though she was well manned. - -Within two hours of the time the castaways had been assured that the -wreck they were nearing _was_ the Silver Swan, the raft came up under -her lee rail, and Brandon caught the bight of a cable over a pin on the -quarter. Then he leaped aboard himself and made the rope secure. - -The rail of the Silver Swan was so much higher above the surface of -the sea than that of the sinking Success had been that Brandon and -Milly had to fashion a “sling” of the sail, in which to get Swivel -aboard. The injured youth bore the pain this must have caused him -uncomplainingly and was soon made comfortable on the deck of this, -their new refuge. - -They did not let the raft float away, although they hoped that they -should not need it again, and Brandon even took the precaution of -fastening it with a second cable before they started to explore the -brig. - -The Silver Swan had been almost uninjured by her long journey with no -pilot but the fickle winds and currents of the ocean. The masts had, of -course, all gone in the first gale, and her crew had cut away every bit -of the wreckage before leaving her to her fate on the reef. - -The hatches had been battened down and the doors of the forecastle and -cabin likewise closed, so that the occasional seas which had washed -over her had done little toward injuring the interior. - -Leaving Milly to look out for Swivel, Brandon forced open the cabin -door (it had swelled badly during the long siege of stormy weather -which the brig had withstood) and went below. Naturally everything was -in confusion--tables, chairs, and what not overturned; but nothing -about the cabin seemed injured. - -The cook’s quarters showed a bad state of affairs, however, for there -wasn’t a whole dish (except the tin ones) in the place, and the stove -lay on its back kicking its four feet in the air as though in its last -expiring agonies. - -Brandon righted this useful utensil first, and mended the broken pipe -as best he could. Then, when he had a fire started in the thing, he -went on to examine the smaller cabins or staterooms. - -He knew his father’s well enough and looked in. But he could not bear -to enter that just now, and so fixed upon one, which should have -belonged to the second mate, for the use of poor Swivel. - -He went back to Milly and the injured boy then, and removed the latter -to the brig’s cabin. - -Milly, who was a capable girl in more ways than one, went to work -at once to get up a substantial meal from the stores which they had -brought from the Success, with the addition of some eatables belonging -to the provisions of the Swan. - -It was rapidly growing dark, and to prevent the liability of a -collision, Brandon hunted out some of the ship’s lanterns and hung two -in the bows, and another at the masthead, devoutly hoping that the -lights, placed in these peculiar positions, would attract the attention -of some passing vessel. - -Then the lamp in the cabin was filled and lighted, and for the first -time in forty-eight hours or more, they sat down to a comfortable meal. - -At least, Milly and Brandon sat down; Swivel remained in his berth, -with the door of the stateroom open, and watched them with a wan smile -on his pale face. - -“Now, Brandon, why don’t you see if the diamonds are here?” asked the -young girl, as they finished their supper. “I thought you would be -eager to look as soon as you got aboard.” - -Don glanced across the table at her curiously. - -“Do you know,” he said hesitatingly. “I’m half afraid to. It would be a -terrible disappointment if they should not be there--and perhaps they -are not.” - -“Come, come! don’t be foolish,” said practical Milly. “Take a look -in the secret closet--wherever it is--or I shall be tempted to do it -myself.” - -Brandon, thus urged, rose and approached the companionway. - -“Third panel, on port side,” he repeated. “That was Caleb’s direction, -if I remember rightly. Now let’s see.” - -He pressed on the designated panel, first one way and then another. It -seemed a trifle loose, but otherwise refused to move. - -“Maybe I’ve made a mistake,” he muttered, when suddenly, on his -pressing downward on the edge of the wood, a section of the panel -dropped out leaving a shallow, metal lined cavity displayed to view. - -“Bring the lamp, Milly,” he cried eagerly. - -The girl obeyed and held the light so that it might illuminate the -interior of the secret closet. There was something in the compartment! - -Brandon hastily thrust in his hand and drew forth a flat, heavy -package, sealed in oiled silk and bound with a cord. Hurrying to the -cabin table with his prize he tore off the cord, broke the seals, and -unwound the outer wrappings. - -Milly, quite as excited as himself, held the lamp closer, watching his -movements anxiously. - -Beneath the outer covering was a flat pouch of chamois skin, the flap -sealed at one end. This seal the youth broke without hesitation, and -in another instant had poured a glittering shower of gems upon the -polished surface of the cabin table. - -“Diamonds! diamonds! thousands of dollars’ worth!” cried Milly -delightedly, running her fingers through the little heap of glittering -stones and letting them fall in a flashing shower from her hands. - -The gems were uncut--at least by the hand of man--but even in their -crude state they sparkled wonderfully. - -For several moments they feasted their eyes on the brilliant spectacle, -and then Milly filled both hands with the precious gems and ran to show -Swivel. - -“Whew!” whispered that youth, his eyes growing round with wonder. “Wot -a lot of shiners!” - -“Don’t let him talk, Milly,” commanded Brandon, beginning to see that -it would never do for them to excite the sick boy by the sight of the -gems. “When he is better he can see them all.” - -The young girl came back with the jewels, smiling happily at her -friend. She seemed quite as joyful because of his good fortune as -though the gems were her own. - -Brandon took the precautions to close the door between the cabin and -Swivel’s stateroom soon after this, that the boy might go to sleep, and -then he and Milly sat down at the table and counted the diamonds. - -There were no very large gems among the lot, but they were of fair size -and of the purest white. - -It was late that night before the two castaways retired. Brandon -prepared what had once been Caleb Wetherbee’s quarters for Milly, but -he himself slept in the cabin, rolled up in a blanket on the floor, -that he might be near Swivel. - -They were so exhausted from their privations of the past day and a half -that they slept until far into the next forenoon. Swivel was actually -better, and had no more sinking spells, so that Milly and Brandon -began to hope for his recovery. - -Just after they rose Brandon saw a sailing vessel far down on the -horizon; but it passed by without noticing the brig. And once during -the day the smoke of a steam vessel blotted the lines where the sky and -sea met, far to the eastward. - -These momentary glimpses of other craft gave them some hope, for it -showed them that they were not entirely out of the track of shipping. - -That night Brandon hung the lanterns out again, and according to -arrangement with Milly, remained on deck to watch. She was to watch -days, and he at night, and he fulfilled his lonely vigil faithfully. - -But not a vessel appeared to gladden his lonely eyes. - -Milly rose early on that third day and prepared breakfast, after eating -which Brandon went to bed. The sky remained beautifully clear, and -they had nothing to fear from the elements, for the glass forecasted a -continued spell of fine weather. - -Milly took up her position with the long spy glass on the deck, and -swept the horizon for some sign of rescue. Occasionally she went down -to look in on Swivel, and about noon to prepare the dinner. - -When the meal was nearly ready the young girl ran up the companionway -stairs again for a final look before she summoned Brandon from his -stateroom. As she put the glass to her eye and gazed toward the west a -cry of surprise and joy burst from her lips. - -Approaching the derelict brig, with a great expanse of canvas spread to -the fresh breeze, was a small schooner, the water dashing white and -frothy from her bows! - -“Saved! saved!” gasped the girl. “Oh, thank God!” - -While she had been below the vessel had come in sight, and was now less -than half a mile from the wreck. - -What seemed strange, however, was that the schooner was laying a course -directly for the brig as though it was her intention to board her. - -“Brandon! Brandon!” she cried, running back to the cabin and rapping on -the door. - -“Aye, aye!” he shouted, and was out of his berth in a moment. - -“What is it?” he asked, appearing in the cabin. - -“There is a schooner coming right for us!” cried Milly, laughing and -crying for joy. “I’ve just discovered it. It’s about here.” - -She was about to dart out upon deck again, but Brandon grasped her arm. - -“Wait, Milly,” he said cautiously. “Have they seen you yet?” - -“No; but I want them to.” - -“Not yet. We don’t know what they may be. Let me look at them,” said -the boy rapidly. - -He seized the glass, and mounting to the top of the stairs, peered out -from the shelter of the companionway at the strange schooner. - -She lay to about a quarter of a mile away from the derelict, and a boat -was already half way between the vessel and the wreck. Brandon examined -the men in it intently. - -Only a moment did he scrutinize them, and then he dropped the glass -with a cry of alarm. He had recognized Jim Leroyd and the fellow Weeks -among the crew of the small boat! - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIX - -SHOWING HOW MR. WEEKS MADE HIS LAST MOVE - - -“WHAT is it, Brandon?” gasped Milly, seeing the look upon her -companion’s face. - -“Look! look!” whispered the youth, thrusting the glass into her hands. - -Milly gazed in terrified silence at the approaching boat. - -She, as well as Don, at once recognized the villainous Leroyd and his -friend, Sneaky Al, and her heart sank with fear. - -“What shall we do?” she inquired at last, turning to Brandon. - -The latter turned back into the cabin without a word, opened the secret -closet and grasping the package of diamonds thrust it into the breast -of his shirt. - -“I’ll hide in the hold,” he said, appearing to grasp the situation at -once. “I do not believe they’ll find me. Tell Swivel, and he’ll know -what to tell and what not to tell, if they try to pump him. - -“They needn’t know that I’m here at all, or that you know anything -about me. They’ll not dare to hurt you, Milly. But I shall be on hand -in case they try it.” - -“But what can you do against so many?” she returned, with a hysteric -laugh. - -“Something--you’ll see. They shan’t hurt you while I’m alive,” he -declared earnestly. - -“But suppose they take us off with them--Swivel and I?” - -“Go, of course,” returned Brandon promptly. “Leave me to shift for -myself. When you get ashore communicate with Adoniram Pepper & Co. of -New York, and tell them how I’m fixed. Good by, Milly!” - -He wrung her hand warmly and disappeared in the direction of the booby -hatch ’tween decks. At the same moment there were voices outside and -the noise of the schooner’s small boat scraping against the side of the -brig. - -Milly, with hands clasped tightly across her breast, as though in the -endeavor to still the heavy beating of her heart, remained standing -beside the cabin table as the men boarded the brig and entered the -cabin. - -The first to come below was the ill featured Leroyd himself, and close -behind him was Alfred Weeks and two other men from the crew of the -schooner. - -“Dash my top lights!” cried the sailor, as he caught sight of the young -girl standing there so silently. - -He retreated precipitately upon his friend Weeks, who was almost as -greatly astonished as himself. - -“How under the sun came you here, Miss Frank?” demanded Sneaky Al, -stepping forward. - -But Leroyd grabbed his arm and strove to drag him back. - -“Stop, man! ’tis not a human!” he gasped, his usually red face fairly -pallid. “It’s the spirit of the poor girl. I knowed how ’twould be -we’en we left her aboard the Success.” - -Weeks shook off his grasp in contempt. - -“I’m only too willing to meet such a charming ghost as this,” he said, -with a smirk, smiling at the young girl. “Don’t be a fool, Jim. It is -Miss Frank herself, though how she came here is the greatest of all -mysteries.” - -“’Tis the work o’ Davy Jones hisself,” muttered the sailor. - -The other two men, both low browed, sullen appearing fellows looked on -without comment. - -“How did you get here?” repeated Weeks. - -“We came from the Success just before she was about to sink,” Milly -declared. “Did you come to save us?” - -“_Us?_” cried Weeks, in utter amazement. “For goodness’ sake, who’s -with you?” - -“After poor papa was killed,” there was a little choke in Milly’s voice -here, “a vessel overhauled the Success and a boy tried to save me. He -brought a rope to the wreck, but it parted before we could haul in a -heavier cable, and the gale swept the other vessel away during the -night.” - -“Brave chap!” muttered Weeks. “Where is he now?” - -“There,” she said, pointing to the open door of the stateroom in which -Swivel was lying. “He is hurt.” - -“But that doesn’t explain how ye got here, miss,” said the sailor -suspiciously. - -“I hadn’t got to that, Mr. Leroyd. Had you been men, you would not -have left me to drown as you did, and then there would have been no -necessity for my remaining for three days on these two vessels.” - -“You misjudge us, I assure you,” Weeks hastened to say, as Leroyd -shrank back at the girl’s scornful words. “Both Leroyd and I were in -one boat and the second mate was in the other boat. He declared you to -be safe, and I thought, and so did Mr. Leroyd, that you were with him. - -“It was not until we were picked up by the schooner Natchez, of -Bermuda, and carried to those islands, that we discovered your -deplorable loss.” - -But Milly did not believe this plausible story. She had too vivid a -remembrance of Leroyd and the cowardly Weeks during the gale, to be -impressed by this tale. - -“This brig passed the Success on the second day after you left me, and -we made a raft and came to it, because it was so much more seaworthy -than papa’s vessel,” said Milly coldly. - -“You say this boy is hurt, eh?” said Weeks, stepping around to the -stateroom door and peering in at Swivel, who was sleeping heavily -despite the sound of voices. “Gee! he does look bad, doesn’t he?” - -“Well, wot in thunder shall we do?” growled Leroyd at length. “We’ve -got no time to spend in fooling, Al. No knowing what that--that other -craft is.” - -“Miss Milly,” Weeks assured her, without paying any attention to the -words of his companion, “we shall have the pleasure of taking you -and your brave young friend ashore with us--after we settle a little -business here.” - -“Well, I’m glad ter hear you gittin’ down ter business,” declared -Leroyd, with satisfaction. “Come, now, skin out of here, you fellers,” -he added, addressing the two men at the companionway. “We’ll come up or -call for you when we want ye.” - -The men departed and the sailor turned again to his partner. - -“Hurry!” he exclaimed eagerly. “Where’s the place you said they were -hid? It’s somewhere in the cabin here, isn’t it?” - -“Yes.” - -“Then send the gal on deck, too, and let’s rummage.” - -“We won’t be rude enough to do that,” said Weeks, with another smirk at -Milly. “We will just request the young lady not to speak of what she -sees us do.” - -“I don’t care. Anything, so long’s we get ’em and get out o’ here. -Suppose--” - -“Never mind supposing any longer. Let me see, now,” and Weeks walked -slowly to the upper end of the cabin and counted off three panels from -the companionway on the port side. - -Quickly his long finger touched the surface of the panel, pressing here -and there and rattling the loose board, and finally the panel dropped -down, disclosing the secret cupboard--empty! - -Leroyd darted forward. - -“What is it? Is it there?” he cried. - -“The infernal luck! it’s empty!” shouted Weeks, and with a volley of -maledictions he staggered back and dropped into the nearest chair. - -Leroyd was fairly purple. - -“Have you tricked me!” he yelled, seizing his partner by the shoulders -and shaking him. - -“No, you fool! why should I trick you? That is where Caleb Wetherbee -said the diamonds were hid.” - -“Sh!” growled the sailor. “D’ye want that gal ter know everything? She -knows too much now.” - -“She doesn’t know anything about this; why should she?” - -“Then, what’s become of them?” - -“I can tell you that,” returned Weeks. “Cale Wetherbee’s been here.” - -“And left the Silver Swan a derelict--almost as good as new--an’ him -with a steamer?” roared Leroyd. “Man, you’re dreaming!” - -“Then--what--has happened!” asked Alfred Weeks slowly. - -“The gal--the gal here,” declared Leroyd, turning fiercely upon Milly. -“She’s found ’em, I tell ye!” - -He advanced upon the shrinking girl so threateningly, that Milly -screamed, and rushed to the companionway. Leroyd pursued her, and Weeks -followed the angry sailor. - -Up to the deck darted the girl, and almost into the arms of one of the -men whom Leroyd had driven out of the brig’s cabin. The fellow looked -excited and he shouted to the angry sailor as soon as he saw him: - -“De steamer come--up queek. Mr. Leroyd! Dey put off-a boat already.” - -Milly, who had dodged past the speaker, turned her eyes to the -east--the opposite direction from which the schooner had appeared--and -beheld a steamship, her two funnels vomiting thick smoke, just rounded -to, less than two cable lengths away. - -It was the whaleback steamer, Number Three! - -Already a boat had put off from the whaleback and it was now being -swiftly propelled toward the Silver Swan. - -The two men whom Leroyd and Weeks had brought with them from the -schooner, had been smoking in the lee of the deck-house and had not -discovered the steamer’s approach until she was almost upon the -derelict. - -“Curses on it!” Weeks exclaimed as he took in the situation and -recognized the steamer, whose smoke they had beheld in the distance, -before boarding the brig. - -But Leroyd kept on after the fleeing Milly. He believed that she knew -something about the missing gems, or had them in her possession, and he -was determined to get them. - -Milly ran to the bows of the brig, with Leroyd close behind her. - -“Let that gal alone!” roared a voice from the approaching boat. “Give -way, boys! I won’t leave a whole bone in that scoundrel’s body, once I -get my paws on him.” - -In an instant the small boat was under the brig’s rail, and Caleb -Wetherbee himself was upon her deck with an agility quite surprising. -Mr. Coffin and two of the boat’s crew were right behind him. - -A moment later the panting girl, having eluded the clumsier sailor, was -behind the shelter of Caleb’s towering form and those of his companions. - -Weeks stopped Leroyd in his mad rush for the girl, and whispered a few -swift sentences in his ear. Then he stepped forward. - -“By what right do you board this brig, Mr. Wetherbee?” he asked. “This -is a derelict. We have seized her and propose to tow her to port for -salvage. I command you to leave her.” - -“How long since you boarded her for that purpose?” Mr. Coffin demanded, -for Caleb was fairly purple with rage and surprise. - -“Since half an hour ago,” replied Weeks calmly. - -“If that is the case, I think I have a prior claim,” suddenly -interrupted a voice. “I came aboard two days ago and I claim the Silver -Swan as mine by right of discovery!” - -The astounded company turned toward the cabin entrance and beheld -Brandon Tarr just appearing from below. - - - - -CHAPTER XL - -IN WHICH THE ENEMY IS DEFEATED AND THE QUEST OF THE SILVER SWAN IS ENDED - - -“BRANDON!” shouted Caleb; “it’s the boy himself!” - -But Leroyd uttered a howl of rage and sprang toward the youth, his face -aflame and his huge fist raised to strike. Caleb, however, despite his -wooden leg, was too quick for him. - -He flew to Don’s rescue, and ere Leroyd could reach his intended -victim, the old mariner felled the villain to the deck with one swing -of his powerful arm. - -Weeks, who had also dashed forward to aid in Brandon’s overthrow, was -seized by the doughty captain of the whaleback and tossed completely -over the brig’s rail. - -“Git out o’ here, the hull kit an’ bilin’ of ye!” Caleb roared, -starting for the two men belonging to the schooner. - -They obeyed with surprising alacrity, and the old man picked up the -dazed Leroyd and tossed him into the boat after them. Weeks, dripping -and sputtering, was hauled aboard by his companions, and the small boat -was rowed back to the schooner, while Brandon, unable to restrain his -emotion, threw up his hat and shouted, “Hurrah!” with all his might. - -It occupied the three castaways--Milly, Brandon, and Swivel--and -Mr. Coffin and Caleb, fully two hours to straighten out matters -satisfactorily. They had so much to tell and so much to explain for one -another’s benefit, that the whaleback had run in and the crew passed -a hawser from her stern to the bow of the brig, under Mr. Bolin’s -directions, ere the conference was ended. - -Words cannot well express the astonishment that those on the whaleback -felt at finding the castaways aboard the Silver Swan--or at finding the -brig itself. For the past twelve hours they had all believed that the -derelict was a victim of Uncle Sam’s feverish impatience to destroy all -obstructions to commerce in his ocean. - -Upon figuring the whole matter up, it was pretty evident that it was -the Success which the naval ensign had exploded, for she had been sunk -at the stern sufficiently to cover her name, and had been so battered -by the waves that the lettering on the bow was also probably unreadable. - -After believing, as they did, that the Swan was sunk and all her -treasures with her, the whaleback had sailed about in circles, seeking -the wreck of the Success, on which they believed Brandon and his two -companions to be. - -It was only by providential fortune that the brig had finally been -sighted, and the whaleback had steamed up just in time to wrest the -Silver Swan from Messrs. Leroyd and Weeks. - -Swivel was taken aboard the steamer and carefully examined by Lawrence -Coffin, who was no mean surgeon, and he pronounced the youth as -seriously, if not dangerously, injured. He had burst a blood vessel and -had sustained other internal injuries, and would probably be unfit for -work of any kind for a long time. - -“Best place for him is the Marine Hospital,” declared Mr. Coffin to -Brandon and Caleb that night in the steamer’s cabin. - -“Hospital nothin’!” exclaimed Caleb, with conviction. “The hospital -is all right for them as hain’t go no homes--like as I hadn’t, nor no -friends--a good deal as I _was_--nor nothing; but _that_ boy ain’t -goin’ to lack a shelter as long as _I’m_ alive.” - -“Best not take him on a sea voyage just yet, Mr. Wetherbee,” responded -Mr. Coffin seriously. - -“I don’t intend to. He’s goin’ ter live with me, though.” - -“But won’t you sail the Silver Swan?” asked the first officer. “She’s -as good as new and she’s yours, too, I understand.” - -“No, sir, I’m not. When the Silver Swan is in shape again, I shall put -Mr. Bolin in command of her. I’ve already spoken to him about it.” - -“Whew!” whistled Mr. Coffin. “And the whaleback?” - -“You’ll command her; that was the agreement I made with Adoniram before -we left New York.” - -“Thank you, Mr. Wetherbee,” exclaimed the first officer gratefully. -“But may I ask what you propose to do?” - -“I shall retire from the sea--that is, from commandin’ a ship, any -way.” - -“So you’re goin’ to keep bachelor’s hall, and going to take this Swivel -to it?” and Mr. Coffin shook his head gravely. “He really needs a -woman’s nursing.” - -Caleb grew very red in the face, and blew his nose furiously. - -“He--he’ll get it, Mr. Coffin,” he said hesitatingly. - -Both Brandon and the first officer looked at the old tar in blank -amazement. - -“I said he’d get it,” repeated Caleb solemnly, though with a rather -shamefaced look. “He’ll get it, sir, an’ from the trimmest little woman -ye ever see.” - -“It’s Miss Frances!” burst forth Brandon at length. - -“It is her, my lad. An’ hain’t I right erbout her bein’ a mighty trim -one?” - -“She is, indeed! She’s splendid!” cried Brandon enthusiastically, -seizing his friend’s mighty palm. - -Mr. Coffin also offered his congratulations, but went away afterward -with rather a dazed look on his face. - -He was pretty well acquainted with the old seaman, and he wondered, as -did Brandon, how under the sun Caleb had ever plucked up the courage to -ask Adoniram Pepper’s sister for her hand. - -“Yes, lad,” said the old man gravely; “I’ve been floating about from -sea to sea and from land to land for the better part of fifty years, -an’ now I’m goin’ ter lay back an’ take it easy for the rest of my -days.” - -And as Brandon wrung his hand again he felt that the old seaman fully -deserved it all. - - * * * * * - -In good time the whaleback, with her tow, the derelict brig, arrived in -New York, where the Silver Swan was at once sent to the shipyard for -repairs, and is now doing her owner good service as a merchantman. - -Adoniram Pepper & Co.’s scheme of recovering derelicts in general and -towing them in for their salvage, has never amounted to anything yet, -for directly following the trip of Number Three (rechristened the Milly -Frank, by the way), the owner received a good offer for putting the -whaleback in the European trade, and she is still carrying grain to -England, with Mr. Coffin as commander. - -Milly Frank’s joy at finding her relatives, of whose existence her -father had never told her, was only equaled by the joy of Adoniram -and Frances Pepper themselves in recovering their “little sister” -again--for as such Milly appears to them. - -Miss Frances is of course Miss Frances no longer; but with her husband, -she still occupies her brother’s house in New York, and Milly dwells -with them. - -Brandon, who is at present in the naval school, resides there also -during vacation, and calls the company of assorted humanity there -gathered “the happy family.” - -Swivel is in the West--that land of bracing and salubrious climate--for -after he recovered from the accident he sustained on the wreck, the -doctors told him that he could never live and be strong in the East -again. So, with the assistance of Caleb, Adoniram, and Brandon, who -quarreled not a little as to who should do the most for him, he was -sent West, and a glorious start in business life was given him in that -rapidly growing country. - -Brandon himself, though made independently rich by the sale of the -diamonds found by Anson Tarr, loves the sea too well to give it up -altogether, and, as I said, is in the naval academy at Annapolis. When -he is through school and gets his appointment, he and Milly may--but I -won’t anticipate. - -As for the disappointed Uncle Arad, he never pressed the matter of -Brandon’s arrest after the failure of the plot (hatched up by himself -and Messrs. Leroyd and Weeks) to convert his nephew’s property to his -own use. He still remains on the farm at Chopmist, and by report is as -crabbed and stingy as ever; but Brandon has had no desire to return to -the farm since his Quest of the Silver Swan was ended. - - -THE END - - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: - - - Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - - Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. - - Archaic or variant spelling has been retained. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUEST OF THE SILVER -SWAN *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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