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Bert Foster—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover" /> - <style> /* <![CDATA[ */ - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} -hr.tiny {width: 10%; margin-left: 45%; margin-right: 45%;} -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } - - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} -h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} - -.tdrt {text-align: right; vertical-align: top;} -.tdrb {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;} -.tdhi {text-align: left; padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;} - -.pagenum { - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; - text-indent: 0; -} - - -.blockquot { - margin-left: 17.5%; - margin-right: 17.5%; -} - -.x-ebookmaker .blockquot { - margin-left: 7.5%; - margin-right: 7.5%; -} - -.indentleft {padding-left: 4em;} -.indentleft2 {padding-left: 8em;} -.indentleft3 {padding-left: 13em;} -.indentleft4 {padding-left: 2em;} -.indentright {padding-right: 1em;} -.indentright2 {padding-right: 7em;} -.indentright3 {padding-right: 3em;} -.indentright4 {padding-right: 5em;} -.indentright5 {padding-right: 10em;} - -.bbox {border: 2px solid; padding: 2em;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.hangingindent {text-indent: -1em; } - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -.ph1 {text-align: center; font-size: large; font-weight: bold;} -.ph2 {text-align: center; font-size: xx-large; font-weight: bold;} - -div.titlepage {text-align: center; page-break-before: always; page-break-after: always;} -div.titlepage p {text-align: center; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 2em;} - -.large {font-size: 125%;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold; text-align: center;} - -.x-ebookmaker .hide {display: none; visibility: hidden;} - -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; - page-break-inside: avoid; - max-width: 100%; -} - - - -.poetry-container {text-align: center;} -.poetry {display: inline-block; text-align: left;} -.poetry .verse {text-indent: -2.5em; padding-left: 3em;} -.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} -.poetry .first {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} - -@media print { .poetry {display: block;} } -.x-ebookmaker .poetry {display: block;} - - -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - margin-left: 17.5%; - margin-right: 17.5%; - padding: 1em; - margin-bottom: 1em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - - /* ]]> */ </style> -</head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The quest of the Silver Swan, by W. Bert Foster</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. 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. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The quest of the Silver Swan</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>A land and sea tale for boys</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: W. Bert Foster</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: May 26, 2022 [eBook #68182]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>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)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUEST OF THE SILVER SWAN ***</div> - -<div class="figcenter hide"><img src="images/coversmall.jpg" width="450" alt="" /></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_frontispiece.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">“WELL, SHIPMATE, OUT GUNNING?”</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> -<h1>THE QUEST OF THE<br /> -SILVER SWAN</h1> - -<p><span class="large">A Land and Sea Tale for Boys</span></p> - -<p>BY<br /> -<span class="large">W. BERT FOSTER</span></p> - -<p>Author of “In Alaskan Waters,” “With Washington at<br /> -Valley Forge,” “The Lost Galleon,” “The Treasure<br /> -of Southlake Farm,” etc.</p> - -<p><i>ILLUSTRATED</i></p> - -<p>NEW YORK<br /> -<span class="large">CHATTERTON-PECK COMPANY</span><br /> -PUBLISHERS</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="bbox"> -<div class="hangingindent"> -<p class="ph1">GOOD BOOKS FOR BOYS</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - - - -<p>The Young Builders of Swiftdale. By Allen Chapman.<br /> -Cloth. Price, 60 cents.</p> - -<p>Andy the Acrobat. By Peter T. Harkness. Cloth.<br /> -Illustrated. Price, 60 cents.</p> - -<p>Canoe Boys and Camp Fires. By William Murray<br /> -Graydon. Cloth. Price, $1.00.</p> - -<p>From Office Boy to Reporter. By Howard R. Garis.<br /> -Cloth. Illustrated. Price, $1.00.</p> - -<p>With Axe and Flintlock. By George Waldo Browne.<br /> -Cloth. Illustrated. Price, $1.00.</p> - -<p>The Crimson Banner. By William D. Moffat. Cloth.<br /> -Price, $1.00.</p> - -<p>The Quest of the Silver Swan. By W. Bert Foster.<br /> -Cloth. Price, 75 cents.</p> - -<p> </p> - - -<p class="center">Copyright, by Frank A. Munsey Co., 1894 and 1895, as a serial.</p> -</div></div></div></div></div> - -<p class="center">Copyright, 1907, by Chatterton-Peck Company.</p> - -<hr class="tiny" /> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Quest of the Silver Swan.</span></p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table> - -<tr><td class="tdrt"><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td class="tdrb" colspan="2"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">I.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">The Raft at Sea</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_9"> 9</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">II.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Introducing Brandon Tarr and Uncle Arad</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_21"> 21</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">III.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">An Account of the Wreck of The Silver Swan</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_34"> 34</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">IV.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Brandon Comes to a Decision</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_40"> 40</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">V.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Uncle Arad Has Recourse to Legal Force</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_45"> 45</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">VI.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Relating a Meeting Between Uncle Arad and the Sailor</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_51"> 51</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">VII.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Introducing “Square” Holt and His Opinions</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_59"> 59</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">VIII.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Something About Leaving the Farm</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_66"> 66</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">IX.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Another Letter From New York</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_72"> 72</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">X.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Brandon’s Arrival at the Metropolis</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_79"> 79</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XI.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">The Firm of Adoniram Pepper</span> & <span class="smcap">Co.</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_85"> 85</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XII.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">In Which Brandon Ventures into Rather Disreputable Society</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_90"> 90</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XIII.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">The Old Sailor with the Wooden Leg</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_98"> 98</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XIV.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">The Old Sailor’s Excitement</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_103"> 103</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XV.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Caleb Receives a Startling Communication</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_110"> 110</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XVI.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Telling How Brandon Bearded the Lion in His Lair</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_116"> 116</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XVII.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">How the Omnipresent Weeks Proves his Right to the Term</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_123"> 123</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XVIII.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Brandon Listens to a Short Family History</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_130"> 130</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XIX.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Telling a Great Deal About Derelicts in General</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_137"> 137</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XX.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">The Contents of Several Interesting Documents</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_144"> 144</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXI.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">In Which Mr. Pepper Makes a Proposition to Caleb and Don</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_151"> 151</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXII.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Into Bad Company</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_156"> 156</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXIII.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Mr. Alfred Weeks at a Certain Conference</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_163"> 163</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXIV.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">How a Nefarious Compact was Formed</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_171"> 171</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXV.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Uncle Arad Makes an Announcement</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_176"> 176</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXVI.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Caleb Wetherbee Obstructs the Course of the Law</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_183"> 183</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXVII.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Wherein Brandon Tarr Conceals Himself</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_188"> 188</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXVIII.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">The Departure of the Whaleback, Number Three</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_197"> 197</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXIX.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">The Stowaway Aboard the Success</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_208"> 208</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXX.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Showing What Miss Milly Does for Brandon</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_217"> 217</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXXI.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Wherein Number Three Approaches the Supposed Vicinity of the Silver Swan</span>     </td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_224"> 224</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXXII.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Relating How the Silver Swan was Heard From</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_229"> 229</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXXIII.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">In Which Comrades in Courage Launch Themselves Upon the Deep</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_234"> 234</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXXIV.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">The Incidents of a Night of Peril</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_240"> 240</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXXV.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Showing how Caleb Appeared on the Scene Just Too Late</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_250"> 250</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXXVI.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">The Castaways on the Brig Success</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_257"> 257</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXXVII.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Left in Doubt</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_264"> 264</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXXVIII.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">How the Enemy Appeared</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_270"> 270</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XXXIX.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">Showing How Mr. Weeks Made his Last Move</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_278"> 278</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdrt">XL.</td><td class="tdhi"> <span class="smcap">In Which the Enemy is Defeated and the Quest of the Silver Swan is Ended</span></td><td class="tdrb"><a href="#Page_286"> 286</a></td></tr> -</table> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span> - -<p class="ph2">THE QUEST OF<br /> -THE SILVER SWAN</p> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER I<br /> - - -<small>THE RAFT AT SEA</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> sun, whose upper edge had just appeared -above the horizon, cast its first red beams aslant a -deserted wilderness of heaving billows.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span> -It labored heavily upon the surface of the sea, and -seemed to possess a great attraction for the sharks.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>His companion was a hearty looking old sea dog, -well past the half century mark, but who had evidently<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span> -stood the privations they had undergone far -better than the first named.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>that</i>,” he added, when the agony had passed.</p> - -<p>“Brace up, cap’n,” said the mate cheerfully. -“You’ll pull through yet.”</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span> -than you, old trusty, by ten years. And -my life’s been a failure, too,” he continued, more to -himself than to his companion.</p> - -<p>“Tut! tut! don’t talk like that ’ere. Ye’ll have ter -pull through for the sake o’ that boy o’ yourn, you know.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“I <i>did</i> own the Silver Swan, and I <i>have</i> 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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Aye, <i>should</i> be,” muttered Captain Tarr bitterly; -“but the brig is on that reef and there’s not a cent of -insurance on her.”</p> - -<p>“What! no insurance?” gasped Wetherbee.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span>“<i>If</i> they do,” exclaimed the mate in wonder.</p> - -<p>“Yes, <i>if</i> 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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Probable or not, Caleb, I <i>feel</i> that it is true. You -know, they say a dying man can see some things -plainer than other folks.”</p> - -<p>Caleb was silenced by this, for he could not honestly -aver that he did not believe his old commander -to be near his end.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span>“If I’d got home with the Silver Swan, Caleb, I -should have been rich for life, and <i>you</i>, old trusty, -should have had the brig just as she stood, for the -cost of makin’ out the papers.”</p> - -<p>“What?” exclaimed Caleb.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“What—what d’ye mean if ye <i>ain’t</i> crazy?” cried -Caleb, in bewilderment.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Anson!” interjected Caleb. “Why, I supposed -<i>he</i> was dead.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span>“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!”</p> - -<p>“Diamonds!” repeated Caleb.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“What did you do with the diamonds?” the mate -asked, when the dying man had again become calm.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Take—take the papers from my pocket, Cale,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span> -then passed into a dreamless sleep from which there -could be no awakening in this world.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Aye, aye, sir!” responded the sailor gruffly, cautiously -raising his head from behind his fortification.</p> - -<p>“Captain Tarr is dead, Jim, and I have divided <i>his</i> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Wot was it the old man give ye, Caleb?” he -asked familiarly.</p> - -<p>The mate scowled fiercely at him, and did not reply.</p> - -<p>“Oh, ye needn’t act so onery,” went on Leroyd. -“<i>I</i> knowed there was somethin’—money I bet—that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span> -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!”</p> - -<p>“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, <i>you</i> won’t be, let me tell you, -for ef I feel myself a-goin’ to Davy Jones, <i>you’ll go -along with me</i>!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“There!” he muttered grimly. “If I <i>do</i> 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, <i>nobody</i> shall.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER II<br /> - - -<small>INTRODUCING BRANDON TARR AND UNCLE ARAD</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Leading</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>It was well nigh as dismal inside the house as out.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Just now his brows were knit in a slight frown, -and there was a flash of anger in his clear eyes.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span>“Well, I don’t see as it’s <i>my</i> fault, Uncle Arad,” -responded the boy by the window. “<i>I</i> don’t make the -weather.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Whether the old man was a close enough observer -to see this or not, he nevertheless kept on in the same -strain.</p> - -<p>“One thing there is erbout it,” he remarked; “Anson -knew <i>he</i> 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!”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know as it affected <i>you</i> any,” rejoined the -boy, bitterly.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“I reckon I’ve paid for my keep for more’n <i>one</i> -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.”</p> - -<p>“He did, did he?” exclaimed Uncle Arad, in anger. -“Well, he——”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you say my father lied!” cried the boy, his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span> -eyes flashing and his fists clenched threateningly. “If -you do, you’ll wish you hadn’t.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>Brandon relapsed into sullen silence, and the old -man went on:</p> - -<p>“Mebbe Horace <i>thought</i> 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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Anson was of a roving, restless disposition, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <i>motif</i> 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.</p> - -<p>Like many other men, he trusted too much in appearances -and was wofully deceived, and every penny<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span> -of his earnings for a number of voyages in the brig -was swept away.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I’m going out to see if I can pick off that flock -of crows I saw around this morning,” he said hastily.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span> -“If you <i>do</i> get a chance to plant anything this spring, -they’ll pull it up as fast as you cover the seed.”</p> - -<p>“We kin put up scarecrows,” said Arad, with a -scowl, his dissertation on the “shiftlessness” of Don’s -father thus rudely broken off. “<i>I</i> can’t afford you -powder an’ shot ter throw away at them birds.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>too</i> meanly before. He’ll make it up -now, I reckon, if I stay, and I just <i>won’t</i>!”</p> - -<p>He had been steadily approaching the woods and -at this juncture there was a rush of wings and a sudden -“caw! caw!”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Brandon walked on and picked up the fallen bird.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>Then, with the bird in his hand, he continued his -previous course, and penetrated beneath the dripping -branches of the trees.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Entering this path, he strolled leisurely on, his -mind intent upon the situation in which his father’s -death had placed him.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>After traversing the path for some distance, Don<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>He started suddenly upon seeing the boy, and gazed -at him intently as he approached.</p> - -<p>“Well, shipmate, out gunning?” he demanded, in -a tone which was intended to be pleasant.</p> - -<p>“A little,” responded Brandon, kicking the body -of the dead crow into the bushes. “We’re always -gunning for those fellows up this way.”</p> - -<p>“Crows, eh?” said the man, stopping beside the -boy, who had rested himself on the rock again.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span> -“They’re great chaps for pullin’ corn—faster’n you -farmers can plant it, eh?”</p> - -<p>Brandon nodded curtly, and wondered why the -tramp (as he supposed him) did not go along.</p> - -<p>“Look here, mate,” went on the man, after a moment, -“I’m lookin’ for somebody as lives about here, -by the name of Tarr——”</p> - -<p>“Why, you’re on the Tarr place now,” replied -Brandon, with sudden interest. “That’s <i>my</i> name, -too.”</p> - -<p>“No, it isn’t now!” exclaimed the stranger, in surprise.</p> - -<p>A quick flash of eagerness came over his face as he -spoke.</p> - -<p>“You’re not Brandon Tarr?” he added.</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir,” replied Don, in surprise.</p> - -<p>“Not Captain Horace Tarr’s son! God bless ye, -my boy. Give us your hand!”</p> - -<p>The man seized the hand held out to him half -doubtfully, and shook it warmly, at the same time -seating himself beside the boy.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Knew him! Why, my boy, I was his best -friend!” declared the sailor. “Didn’t you ever hear -him speak of Cale Wetherbee?”</p> - -<p>“Caleb Wetherbee!” cried Don, with some pleasure.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“Indeed I <i>have</i> 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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Why, jest before he—he died, he give me them -papers to send to ye, ye know.”</p> - -<p>As he said this the man flashed a quick, keen look -at Brandon, but it was lost upon him.</p> - -<p>“What papers?” he asked with some interest.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“I haven’t received anything through the mail since -the news came of the loss of the brig,” declared Don, -rising also.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span>“Not a thing,” replied Brandon convincingly. -“Were they of any value?”</p> - -<p>“Valible? I should say they was!” cried the sailor. -“Werry valible, indeed. Why, boy, they’d er made -our—I sh’d say <i>your</i>—fortune, an’ no mistake!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER III<br /> - - -<small>AN ACCOUNT OF THE WRECK OF THE SILVER SWAN</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">To</span> 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?”</p> - -<p>“Well, that I don’t rightly know,” replied the -sailor slowly.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>He drew forth a short, black pipe, and was soon -puffing away upon it, while comfortably seated beside -Don upon the rock.</p> - -<p>“’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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span> -ev’ry inch o’ him—an’ asks if this were -Cap’n Horace Tarr.</p> - -<p>“‘It is,’ says the cap’n.</p> - -<p>“‘Cap’n Horace Tarr, of Rhode Island, U. S. A.?’ -says he.</p> - -<p>“‘That’s me,’ says the cap’n ag’in.</p> - -<p>“‘Well, Cap’n Tarr,’ says the stranger chap, a-lookin’ -kinder squint eyed at me, ‘did you ever have -a brother Anson?’</p> - -<p>“Th’ cap’n noticed his lookin’ at me an’ says, afore -he answered the question:</p> - -<p>“‘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.’</p> - -<p>“‘Yes, he is dead,’ said the stranger. ‘He died -up country, at a place they calls Kimberley, ’bout two -months ago.’</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“‘No, he died two months ago,’ says the man, ‘an’ -I was with him. He died o’ pneumony—was took -werry sudden.’</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“O’ course, the cap’n didn’t tell me wot the docyments -was, but I reckoned by his actions, an’ some<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>The sailor paused in his narrative and drew hard -upon his pipe for a moment.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Brandon slowly shook his head.</p> - -<p>“No,” he said; “I can’t for the life of me think -what they could refer to.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span>“No—no buried treasure, nor nothing of the -kind?” suggested the man hesitatingly.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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 <i>my</i> 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.”</p> - -<p>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:</p> - -<p class="center">CALEB WETHERBEE,<br /> -<span class="indentleft"><span class="smcap">New England Hotel,</span><br /> -<span class="indentleft2">Water Street,</span><br /> -<span class="indentleft3">New York</span>.</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <i>might</i> contain. Perhaps there<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span> -was some great fortune which his Uncle Anson had -known about, and had died before he could reap the -benefit of his knowledge.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p><span class="smcap">Savannah, March 3.</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>Her position, when sighted by the Montevideo, has been -reported to the Hydrographic Office, and will appear on the -next monthly chart.</p> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER IV<br /> - - -<small>BRANDON COMES TO A DECISION</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> 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.</p> - -<p>“Why, he lied—point blank—to me!” he exclaimed, -“and with this very clipping in his pocket, -too.”</p> - -<p>He half started along the path as though to pursue -the sailor, and then thought better of it.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Evidently there had been papers either given into -the hands of the mate of the Silver Swan, or obtained<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>He shook his head thoughtfully.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span> -aboard the brig by the friend of Uncle Anson who -told father of his death.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?</p> - -<p>“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, <i>and if the money -was hidden on board it would be there now</i>!”</p> - -<p>At this sudden thought Brandon sprang up in excitement -and paced up and down the path.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“And if the money—if it <i>is</i> money—is hidden -aboard the brig, the one who finds the derelict first -will have it,” was the thought which came to him.</p> - -<p>“But why should the mate come to <i>me</i> about it?” -Brandon asked himself. “Why need he let <i>me</i> 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?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span>He cudgled his brains for several minutes to think -<i>where</i> 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?</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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?</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Wetherbee knows that the brig is afloat—this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span> -clipping proves that—and he hoped to get the information -he wanted from me and then go in search -of the Silver Swan. <i>Why can I not go in search of -it myself?</i>”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>He looked at the soiled card the sailor had given -him.</p> - -<p>“‘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 -<i>much</i> 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.”</p> - -<p>He stood still a moment, gazing steadily at the -ground.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER V<br /> - - -<small>UNCLE ARAD HAS RECOURSE TO LEGAL FORCE</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">In</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Several more or less severe accidents have been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>These thoughts flitted through the mind of the boy -as he slowly crossed the wet fields toward the farm -house.</p> - -<p>“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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span> -He will have to have her any way within a few days, -so it won’t much matter.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>They had eaten dinner—a most miserable meal—and -Don was washing the dishes before he spoke.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Uncle Arad fairly wilted into his seat, and stared -at Don in utter surprise.</p> - -<p>“Go to New York?” he gasped.</p> - -<p>“That’s what I said.”</p> - -<p>“Go to New York—jest when yer gittin’ of some -account ter me?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>Uncle Arad snorted angrily, and his eyes began to -flash fire.</p> - -<p>“Paid your board!” he exclaimed. “I dunno -what put <i>that</i> inter your head.”</p> - -<p>“Father put it there, that’s who,” declared Don -hotly.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span>“<i>I</i> never give him no receipts for board money,” -cried the old man. “You can’t show a one!”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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—<i>three -dollars</i>, mind ye—fur a hull week’s extry -work!”</p> - -<p>He fairly stamped about the room in his fury.</p> - -<p>“It don’t matter, eh, when I’ll have ter hire a man -ter take your place? Be you crazy, Brandon Tarr?”</p> - -<p>“Guess not,” responded Don, wiping the last dish -and hanging up the towel to dry. “You must think -<i>me</i> crazy, however. Do you s’pose I’d stayed here -this season without wages?”</p> - -<p>“Wages!” again shrieked the old man, to whom the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span> -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.”</p> - -<p>Don smiled at this.</p> - -<p>“I’m a pretty sturdy beggar, as they used to call -’em in the old days,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Wal, any way, I’m your guardeen, an’ I’ll see if -you’re goin’ jest when you like.”</p> - -<p>Don laughed outright now.</p> - -<p>“My guardian!” he responded. “I’d like to know -<i>why</i> I should have any guardian. I’ve no property, -goodness knows. And as you said about the board -receipts, <i>where are your papers giving you any legal -control over me?</i>”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“That boy is a-gettin’ too upstartish!” he declared, -climbing into the wagon and chirruping to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span> -horse. “He’s jest like Anson an’ Horace. There -was no livin’ with <i>them</i>, an’ now <i>he’s</i> got this fool -notion inter his head erbout goin’ away!</p> - -<p>“But I’ll git <i>that</i> aout o’ him,” he added, with emphasis. -“If I hain’t got no legal right ter his services, -I <i>will</i> 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.”</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VI<br /> - - -<small>RELATING A MEETING BETWEEN UNCLE ARAD AND THE -SAILOR</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Hullo, shipmate!” was the man’s greeting, raising -his hand for the farmer to stop. “Goin’ toward -the city?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span>“Wal, I be a piece,” replied Arad grudgingly.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Ye’re goin’ in ballast, I see,” said the stranger. -“Can’t ye stow me away there?”</p> - -<p>“Hey?” responded the farmer, who did not understand -the other’s figure of speech.</p> - -<p>“I say ye’re goin’ in ballast,” repeated the man; -“yer wagon’s empty, ye know. Give me a ride, -will ye?”</p> - -<p>“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’.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“’Bout three mile furder.”</p> - -<p>“What’ll ye take me that fur, for?”</p> - -<p>“Wall, I dunno,” began Arad.</p> - -<p>“Come, I’ll give ye a quarter,” said the stranger, -fishing a handful of silver from the depths of his -pocket.</p> - -<p>The old man’s eyes flashed.</p> - -<p>“Jump aboard,” he said briefly, and the black -bearded man sprang to the seat with great agility.</p> - -<p>“Ye’re some limber,” said the old farmer, in admiration, -pocketing the quarter and starting up his -horse again.</p> - -<p>“<i>You’d</i> be if ye’d shinned up as many riggin’s as -I hev.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span>“Ye’re a sailor, then?”</p> - -<p>“I be. No landlubber erbout me, is ther’? I -reckon ye don’t see many sailors in these parts?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Great Peter!” exclaimed the sailor, with some -astonishment. “Ye don’t mean Cap’n Horace Tarr?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>The sailor looked at the weazened old figure curiously.</p> - -<p>“He didn’t favor you none,” he said.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>my</i> notion. Did ye -know him?” added the old man curiously.</p> - -<p>“In course I did. I sailed with him—er—lots. -Why, I was with him this ’ere las’ v’y’ge o’ his.”</p> - -<p>“Ye don’t mean it!”</p> - -<p>“I guess I do.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Dead’s a door nail,” the sailor declared. “Can’t -be no mistake erbout <i>that</i>. We had ter pitch him -overboard—er—another feller and me; ’cause ’twas<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span> -so all fired hot, ye know. Him and Paulo Montez -both went ter the sharks.”</p> - -<p>The old man shuddered.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>The sailor looked at the old man sharply out of the -corners of his eyes, and after a minute spoke again.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he said slowly, in confirmation of Uncle -Arad’s remark. “I was with the cap’n at the last.”</p> - -<p>“What ye doin’ ’way up here?” inquired the -farmer, with sudden interest.</p> - -<p>“Well, I come up ter see Cap’n Tarr’s boy.”</p> - -<p>“Hey?” ejaculated the farmer. “Come ter see -Brandon?”</p> - -<p>“That’s it,” said the sailor, nodding.</p> - -<p>“But ye didn’t see him?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I did; over yonder in the woods.”</p> - -<p>“Why, he didn’t say nothin’ erbout it ter me,” -gasped the old man.</p> - -<p>“Mebbe ye ain’t seen him since,” suggested the -sailor.</p> - -<p>“When was yer er-talkin’ with him?”</p> - -<p>“Long erbout two hours back, ’r so.”</p> - -<p>“’Fore dinner?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“What was it ye lost?” asked Uncle Arad, with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“Nothin’ but a piece of paper.”</p> - -<p>“Find it?”</p> - -<p>“Not me. Must ha’ blowed away. Howsomever, -that ain’t ter the p’int. It’s funny yer nevvy never -tol’ erbout meetin’ me.”</p> - -<p>Old Arad was silent for a minute.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Goin’ to leave ye, is he?” asked the sailor quickly.</p> - -<p>“He <i>thinks</i> 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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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. <i>Then</i>, I -reckon he won’t talk no more erbout runnin’ off ter -New York.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Prop’ty! I guess ther’ won’t be none ter fall to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span> -him,” sniffed Uncle Arad. “<i>I</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.”</p> - -<p>“I dunno erbout that,” said the sailor shrewdly.</p> - -<p>“What don’t ye know erbout?” demanded Arad -suspiciously. “The Silver Swan wasn’t insured, were -she?”</p> - -<p>“I reckon not.”</p> - -<p>“Then what d’ye mean?”</p> - -<p>Arad’s piercing eyes were fixed searchingly on his -companion’s face, but the sailor was not easily disturbed.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Now, nat’rally, if ther’ was any money in it fur -this Brandon, <i>you’d</i> orter know erbout it, hadn’t ye? -You bein’ th’ boy’s guardeen, you’d orter handle that -money; un’ if <i>I</i> could help you ter the gettin’ o’ that -money, <i>I’d</i> orter hev a part of it, eh?”</p> - -<p>Old Arad stared at him with wide open eyes, and -the hand which held the reins trembled visibly.</p> - -<p>“Now, s’posin’ the mate sends them papers to -Brandon through the mail, ’r writes a letter erbout -’em—<i>you’d</i> 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>I</i> c’d help ye get ’em, ’cause I know all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span> -erbout sich things, bein’ a sea farin’ man fur thirty -year.”</p> - -<p>Uncle Arad moistened his trembling lips before he -could speak.</p> - -<p>“But this is only s’posin’,” he said quaveringly.</p> - -<p>“But, <i>s’pose ’twas so!</i> 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?”</p> - -<p>“Fabulously rich!” repeated Arad.</p> - -<p>“That’s it; fabulously rich, is wot he said. An’ if -it’s so, <i>you</i> orter to get the letters from the post office, -an’ open every one of ’em, hadn’t ye?”</p> - -<p>Uncle Arad nodded quickly.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>The sailor poked the old man familiarly in the ribs -and slapped his own knee.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“I—I couldn’t go; my health ain’t good ’nough,” -declared the farmer. “Then—then—mebbe there -ain’t nothin’ in it.”</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span> -f’om New York. An’ when one comes from -Caleb Wetherbee, p’r’aps ye’ll want ter talk with me -furder.”</p> - -<p>“Where—where kin I find ye?” Arad asked, in -a shaking voice.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>He turned away and rolled along the road toward -the distant city, while Uncle Arad climbed down from -the wagon.</p> - -<p>“Fabulously rich!” he muttered to himself, as he -fastened the horse to the hitching post with trembling -hands.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VII<br /> - - -<small>INTRODUCING “SQUARE” HOLT AND HIS OPINIONS</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">“Square” Holt</span>, 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“That boy, square, comes o’ the shif’lessest kind o’ -stock, ye know, ef his gran’father <i>was</i> my own -brother,” he said, in conclusion. “You ’member -Ezra?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span>“Oh yes, I remember Ezra,” said the judge, grimly.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Very likely, very likely,” said the other, with sternness. -“I’ve seen the youth, I think, out gunning quite -frequently—a most objectionable practice.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Quite right,” declared the judge confidently. -“And so the boy—this Brandon—proposes to go -away at once, does he?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span>“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 <i>my</i> ’pinion.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“That’s it, square; thank ’ee,” said the old man, -shambling out of the house. “Dretful weather we -been havin’, ain’t it?”</p> - -<p>Then he climbed into his wagon and drove back -toward home, chuckling as he went.</p> - -<p>“I reckon I’ve put a spoke in <i>his</i> wheel,” he muttered, -referring to his nephew.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Still, the old man could not drive the thought out of -his mind.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span>“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’ <i>is</i> anythin’ in it, he’ll jes’ try ter git it himself. -An’ then—er—Brandon’ll never see a cent of it.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>may</i> mean money fur—fur Brandon.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>This was the post office where Sam Himes held -forth, and to which the lumbering old stage brought -one mail each day.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">New York Marine Hospital</span>,<br /> -<span class="indentright">April the 2d, 1892.</span></p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Master Brandon Tarr</span>,</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>:—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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span> -enough of them diamonds to make you another Vanderbilt -or Jay Gould.</p> - -<p>Just you leave the land shark of an uncle that you’re staying -with, and trust yourself to</p> - -<p class="right"><span class="indentright2">Your true friend,</span><br /> -<span class="indentright"><span class="smcap">Caleb Wetherbee</span>,</span><br /> -Mate of the Silver Swan.</p> -</div> - - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VIII<br /> - - -<small>SOMETHING ABOUT LEAVING THE FARM</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Certainly</span> 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.</p> - -<p>Diamonds enough to make Brandon a second Vanderbilt! -The thought almost made Arad’s old heart -stand still.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>Then he picked up the reins and drove on, shaking -his head slowly.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Brandon was in the yard when he arrived, and -good naturedly put up the horse for him.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Ye will, eh?” returned Uncle Arad, showing his -teeth.</p> - -<p>“Yes. Now you mustn’t get uppish, uncle. You -didn’t suppose I would stay here very long any way, -did you?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>But Brandon was laughing over the thought of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span> -Uncle Arad’s “luxury,” and did not hear the last of -his speech.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>When he came into the kitchen again after doing -the errand, the parrot beaked judge was ready for him.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“In what?” demanded Brandon rather sharply, for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span> -he considered this interference on the justice’s part -as wholly uncalled for.</p> - -<p>“Is <i>that</i> the way you speak to your elders, young -man?” cried the judge, aghast. “Have you no respect -for gray hairs?”</p> - -<p>“I do not see why I should respect <i>you</i>, 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 <i>you</i> or uncle can say will stop me!”</p> - -<p>“Hoighty toighty, young man!” cried the judge; -“do you realize to whom you are speaking?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I do,” responded Brandon hotly. “To one -who is known, far and wide, as the meanest man in -Scituate!”</p> - -<p>The judge’s ample nasal organ flushed to the color -of a well grown beet; but before he could reply old -Arad put in <i>his</i> oar:</p> - -<p>“What d’ye mean, ye little upstart?” (Fancy his -calling Brandon <i>little</i>, 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.”</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“Young man, mark my words!” sputtered -“Square” Holt, “you will yet come to some bad -end.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Brandon laughed scornfully.</p> - -<p>“I should like to know by what right you call him -my guardian, Mr. Holt?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“They’ll be funny looking documents, I reckon,” -said Don, in disgust. “I understand that Mr. Holt<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span> -has done several pretty crooked things since he’s been -in office, but this is going a little too far.”</p> - -<p>“Young man!” cried the judge, trying to wither -the audacious youth with a glance.</p> - -<p>But Don didn’t “wither” at all.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>why</i> 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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER IX<br /> - - -<small>ANOTHER LETTER FROM NEW YORK</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Mr. Tarr</span>,” 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!”</p> - -<p>“I never thought he’d ha’ shown disrespect fur the -law,” gasped Uncle Arad weakly.</p> - -<p>“Disrespect!” cried the judge, “I never was so -insulted in all my life. That boy will be hung yet, -you mark my words!”</p> - -<p>“I never thought it of Brandon,” said the farmer, -shaking his head.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“You’ll never be able to do anything with that boy -here,” declared “Square” Holt. “A strait jacket is -the only thing for him.”</p> - -<p>“But if he goes there what’ll be the use o’ my bein’ -his guardeen?” queried Arad.</p> - -<p>Then he hesitated an instant as a new phase of the -situation came to him.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span>“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 <i>him</i>,” he thought, yet shivering in his soul -at the thought of the wrong he was planning to do his -nephew.</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>“The best thing in the world for him,” declared the -judge, drawing on his driving gloves. “The <i>only</i> -thing, I might say, that will keep him out of jail—where -he belongs, the young villain!”</p> - -<p>“But—but haow kin it be fixed up?” asked Arad, -in some doubt.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>me</i>. I’ll give him all the -law he wants—more, perhaps, than he bargained -for.”</p> - -<p>“But s’pose he tries to run away in th’ mornin’, as -he threatened?”</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span> -necessity for immediate action will be at once admitted.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Wal, he <i>has</i> been some abusive, square, but I -wouldn’t say nothin’ erbout that,” said Uncle Arad -hesitatingly.</p> - -<p>“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—<i>here</i> 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.</p> - -<p>“If I had <i>my</i> way,” added the judge viciously, -“I’d shut up every boy in town in the reform school!”</p> - -<p>Then he marched out to his carriage, and Uncle -Arad, after locking the door, sat down to think the -matter over.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span> -the law or its minion—and Uncle Arad dared not allow -his nephew out of his sight for fear he would run -away.</p> - -<p>To <i>his</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Then, chuckling softly over his sharp trick, the old -farmer crept down the stairs once more to the kitchen,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span> -feeling moderately sure of finding Brandon in his -room in the morning.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I’ll starve him inter submission, ef I can’t do it -no other way,” he muttered angrily.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="right"><span class="indentright5">Office of</span><br /> -<span class="indentright3"><span class="smcap">Bensell, Bensell</span> & <span class="smcap">Marsden</span>,</span><br /> -<span class="indentright">513 Wall St., New York,</span><br /> -April 2, 1892.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Arab Tarr,<br /> -<span class="indentleft4">Chopmist, Rhode Island.</span></span></p> - -<p>Dear Sir:</p> - -<p>We beg to announce that owing to several accidents, causing -a large loss of rolling stock of the road, the B. P. & Q.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span> -has dropped several points on the market and has passed its -monthly dividend.</p> - -<p>We would suggest that you hold on to your stock, however, -as this is a matter which will quickly adjust itself.</p> - -<p class="right"><span class="indentright5">Yours sincerely,</span><br /> -<span class="smcap">Bensell, Bensell</span> & <span class="smcap">Marsden</span>.</p> -</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>He got up and paced the floor wrathfully.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Then he thought a moment, and pulling Caleb -Wetherbee’s letter from its envelope again, read it -once more carefully.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span>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 <i>out</i> of his usual bed chamber.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER X<br /> - - -<small>BRANDON’S ARRIVAL AT THE METROPOLIS</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Long</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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)<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span> -but he had never been beyond that community -far enough to learn how very small a man he -really was.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Good morning, uncle,” he said.</p> - -<p>He was fully dressed in his best suit, hat, overcoat -and all, and carried a traveling bag in his hand.</p> - -<p>“How—how did ye git aout?” sputtered Uncle -Arad, in wonder.</p> - -<p>“How did I get out?”</p> - -<p>“Yes—haow did ye git aouto’ yer room?” cried -the old man.</p> - -<p>“I wasn’t in, therefore I didn’t have to get out,” responded -Brandon calmly.</p> - -<p>“Ye warn’t in?” repeated his bewildered relative.</p> - -<p>“That’s what I said. I wasn’t in. When you<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span> -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.”</p> - -<p>The farmer fairly gnashed his teeth in rage.</p> - -<p>“Where be yeou goin’?” he demanded, planting -himself between his nephew and the door.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Yeou will, hey? Wal, I guess not!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Think not, eh?” said Brandon coolly.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Old Arad uttered a shout of alarm and darted away -from the door to the opposite side of the table.</p> - -<p>“Goodness me! would you shoot me?” he gasped, -fairly white to his lips.</p> - -<p>“Don’t be a fool, uncle,” responded Brandon with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span> -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?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you young villain, you!” groaned old Arad, -paying for his agile movements of the moment before -by several rheumatic twinges.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“I’ll have ye a’rested afore ye git ter Rockland!” -the old man shouted, shaking his clenched fist at him.</p> - -<p>“You’d better not try it,” the boy declared, with -flashing eyes.</p> - -<p>Arad followed him outside, sputtering.</p> - -<p>“Ye’ll live ter rue this day, ye young villain!” he -cried. “I’ll show ye no mercy.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“He is going to see his familiar spirit, Holt,” muttered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>He mused a moment in silence, and then took up the -connected train of his reflections again.</p> - -<p>“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!</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span> -father had a keen insight into human nature; but a -man will be deceived at times, I suppose.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_084.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">“GOODNESS ME! WOULD YOU SHOOT ME?”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span> -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XI<br /> - - -<small>THE FIRM OF ADONIRAM PEPPER & CO.</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Leaving</span> 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.</p> - -<p>“Caleb Wetherbee, New England Hotel. Water -Street,” was the address, and after considerable inquiry -he found the street in question.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“That’s what I want to be—a sailor,” he muttered.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span>Just then something caught his eye and he stopped -motionless on the sidewalk.</p> - -<p>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:</p> - -<p class="center">ADONIRAM PEPPER & CO.,<br /> -SHIPPING MERCHANTS.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The man (a clerk, presumably) looked up with a -snarl at Brandon’s appearance.</p> - -<p>“Well, what do <i>you</i> want?” he demanded.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span>“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.</p> - -<p>“<i>I’m</i> the firm just now,” declared the man, glowering -at him as though he was a South Sea Islander -with cannibalistic tendencies.</p> - -<p>“Oh, you are, eh?” returned Brandon. “Well, I -want to see Mr. Pepper.”</p> - -<p>“You do, eh?” The clerk eyed him with still -greater disfavor. “You do, eh? Well you can’t see -Mr. Pepper.”</p> - -<p>“Why not?”</p> - -<p>“Well, for one reason he isn’t here—he ain’t down -yet—he’s gone away—he’s <i>dead</i>!”</p> - -<p>He slammed down his pen and jumped off the high -stool.</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span> -mouth was smiling, the gentleman’s eyes were very -stern indeed behind the gold rimmed eye glasses.</p> - -<p>“What is the meaning of this unseemly conduct, -Weeks?” he asked in a tone of displeasure.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“The Bowery?” repeated the gentleman, severely, -and Brandon decided that this was no other than Mr. -Adoniram Pepper himself.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“No, I <i>don’t</i> know,” replied Mr. Pepper, in disgust. -“So this is your friend, is it?” and he turned -his gaze upon Brandon genially.</p> - -<p>“Our friendship is of rather short duration,” said -Don, smiling.</p> - -<p>“So I presume,” returned Mr. Pepper. “Did you -wish to see me?”</p> - -<p>“Just a moment, sir.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“I expect so,” groaned the clerk. “And then -what’ll I do?”</p> - -<p>Mr. Pepper looked at him a moment silently.</p> - -<p>“Then you’ll go and lie somewhere else, I suppose. -You <i>will</i> lie, Alfred Weeks, and I suppose I might as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“I suppose you are Mr. Pepper?” began Brandon.</p> - -<p>“I—sup—pose—I—am,” replied the gentleman, -with great care, scrutinizing the face of the captain’s -son with marked interest.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir, I am,” Brandon replied in surprise.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Come right in,” he repeated, and then shut the -door behind his visitor.</p> - -<p>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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XII<br /> - - -<small>IN WHICH BRANDON VENTURES INTO RATHER DISREPUTABLE -SOCIETY</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">My</span> dear boy, sit down!” exclaimed Mr. Pepper, -motioning Brandon to a chair. “Sit down and let -me look at you.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“I hope so,” replied Brandon, pleased indeed at -such praise of his father.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span>“He was a good man,” continued Mr. Pepper ruminatively. -“By the way, what’s your name?”</p> - -<p>“Brandon, sir.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I hope to go to sea,” responded Brandon -slowly.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, so he has told me,” responded Brandon.</p> - -<p>“It was a sad thing—his loss at sea,” said Mr. -Pepper.</p> - -<p>He still smiled, but there was moisture on his eye -glasses, and he removed and wiped them gently on a -silk handkerchief.</p> - -<p>“And he left you hardly a penny’s worth?” he -continued interrogatively.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span>“I have only about fifty dollars,” Brandon replied -briefly.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Not many of them, I fancy,” Don returned, smiling.</p> - -<p>“Not many, perhaps: but <i>some</i>,” the other declared -with confidence, “and one of them is Adoniram Pepper.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you, Mr. Pepper,” said Don. “I hope I -shall be worthy of your kindness.”</p> - -<p>“No doubt of that—no doubt of that,” rejoined -the merchant, beaming upon him benignantly. “But -to <i>talk</i> isn’t enough for Adoniram Pepper; I want to -<i>do</i> something for you, my boy.”</p> - -<p>“I—I don’t know just what you can do for me, -sir,” said Brandon doubtfully.</p> - -<p>“Don’t know? Why, you want to go to sea, don’t -you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir; I think I do.”</p> - -<p>“Then I <i>can</i> 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.”</p> - -<p>“But I’m no sailor yet; I’ve got to learn,” objected -Don.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span> -he was prepared to offer Don any position he craved, -from cook’s assistant to captain.</p> - -<p>Brandon felt just a little bewildered by all this, and -probably showed his bewilderment on his face.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“The whaleback?” queried Brandon in perplexity.</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir, whaleback; a whaleback steamer, you -know. Didn’t you ever see one?”</p> - -<p>Brandon shook his head.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“But where will <i>that</i> go?” Brandon inquired with -interest.</p> - -<p>Mr. Pepper rubbed his bald pate reflectively.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>you’d</i> feel like doing that, would -you?” and the ship owner laughed jollily.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid not; perhaps, though, there’d be some -other place on her I could fill with satisfaction to -you.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps so. If I put her in the passenger trade,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span> -how would you like to be purser—assistant purser, of -course, till you learn the duties?”</p> - -<p>“I think I should like it,” replied Brandon, with -some hesitation, however; “provided, of course, that -I could take it at all.”</p> - -<p>“Eh? Not take it? Why not?” demanded Mr. -Pepper.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Going over to the hospital to see him, eh? I know -Caleb Wetherbee.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps you can tell me where the New England -Hotel is?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>there</i>? Why, he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span> -must be ’way down on his luck. I must see about -this.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Pepper wrinkled his brow nervously and Brandon -rose.</p> - -<p>“Where are you going?”</p> - -<p>“Up to see this man—this mate of the Silver -Swan.”</p> - -<p>“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 <i>that</i> place. I don’t understand it. How -was he looking when you saw him—for I take it you -<i>have</i> seen him?”</p> - -<p>“How do you mean—sick or well?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, he appeared in pretty fair health, I should -say,” replied Brandon, beginning to think that there -was something queer about it all.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Lo—looking for my ruler that I dropped,” declared -the red haired clerk, as his employer’s eyes -rested sternly upon him.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Well, young felley, what kin I do fur ye?” he -asked, in what was intended as a pleasant tone.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span>Deciding that he was in for it, the captain’s son -walked forward to the bar and replied:</p> - -<p>“Nothing to drink, thank you. I’m looking for a -man who’s stopping here—Caleb Wetherbee.”</p> - -<p>The bartender eyed him curiously and repeated:</p> - -<p>“Caleb Wetherbee, eh? Well, I’ll see ’f he’s here.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XIII<br /> - - -<small>THE OLD SAILOR WITH THE WOODEN LEG</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">It</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>At first glance one would have pronounced this person -to be a sailor, and have been correct in the surmise, -too.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Still, despite his evident infirmity, the old seaman -looked cheerfully out upon the world on this bright<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span> -April morning, and pegged along the sidewalk and -into the park with smiling good nature.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Ah!” he exclaimed, sniffing the air which blew -in from the sea, like a hungry dog. “This is <i>life</i>, -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“The old man ain’t dead yet. It was a pretty hard -tug, I admit; but here I be!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span>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.</p> - -<p>“’Ere you are, sir! <i>Tribune</i>, <i>Sun</i>, <i>World</i>!”</p> - -<p>“<i>Tribune</i>,” said the old sailor, laughing heartily as -though he saw something extremely ludicrous in their -mistake.</p> - -<p>“My last ’un, sir. Thankee!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>He let the paper lie idly on his knee a moment, and -a mist rose in his eyes.</p> - -<p>“Never mind if the old brig <i>has</i> 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!”</p> - -<p>He picked up the paper again, and turned naturally<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“Eh, what’s this?” he exclaimed. “What’s this -about the Silver Swan?”</p> - -<p>With great excitement he read the following news -item, following each line of the text with his stumpy -forefinger:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> -</div> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span>“Shiver my timbers, sir!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>In fact, the blue-coated policeman on the corner had -begun to eye him suspiciously.</p> - -<p>“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!</p> - -<p>“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!</p> - -<p>“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?</p> - -<p>“By the great horn spoon, I have it!” he exclaimed, -after a moment’s thought. “Adoniram Pepper -is just the fellow.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XIV<br /> - - -<small>THE OLD SAILOR’S EXCITEMENT</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">As</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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!</p> - -<p>“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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Well, you jail bird, are you here yet?” demanded -the visitor impolitely, eying the clerk with exceeding -disfavor.</p> - -<p>“Oh, is that you, Mr. Featherbee——”</p> - -<p>“Wetherbee, you scoundrel!” roared the sailor, in -a voice like a bull.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes! I should say Wetherbee—er—that’s -what I meant,” the clerk hastened to say.</p> - -<p>It was remarkable to notice the difference between -the greeting accorded to Caleb Wetherbee and that -given young Brandon Tarr shortly before.</p> - -<p>“So you haven’t managed to get at Pepperpod’s -till and clear out, yet, eh?” demanded Caleb jocularly.</p> - -<p>Mr. Weeks scowled and grinned at the same time,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span> -a feat that very few men can perform; but he made -no verbal reply to the question.</p> - -<p>“Where is he?” queried the sailor, nodding toward -the inner office. “In his den?”</p> - -<p>“He’s busy—engaged,” Mr. Weeks hastened to -say.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“He—he really <i>is</i> 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——”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Weeks slowly descended from his stool, evidently -unwilling to comply with the request.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>you</i>.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Mr. Pepper was sitting before his desk, which was -piled high with papers and letters. The day’s mail<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Well, Pepperpod, how are ye?” cried the sailor,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“First rate, old Timbertoes!” declared the old gentleman, -laughing merrily. “So you’re out of the hospital, -at last?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Well, well, Caleb, you was a mighty sick man—a -mighty sick man.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon I was,” responded the sailor reflectively.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, you did,” said Caleb, turning on him sternly. -“I <i>did</i> 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.”</p> - -<p>He snorted in veriest scorn.</p> - -<p>“Well, er—er—you see, Caleb, I told Frances -about you and she took over the things herself,” said -Adoniram hesitatingly.</p> - -<p>“Hem!”</p> - -<p>The old sea dog flushed up like a girl and mopped -his suddenly heated face with a great bandanna, finally -saying gruffly:</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span>“You’d better come up and tell her yourself, Caleb,” -said the merchant, with a sly smile.</p> - -<p>“Well—er—mebbe I will. Thankee, Adoniram.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>Mr. Pepper nodded.</p> - -<p>“Well, sir, she’s afloat.”</p> - -<p>“Afloat!”</p> - -<p>“That’s what I said; afloat! A-f-l-o-t-e,” responded -the sailor, spelling the word very carefully, -if a trifle erratically.</p> - -<p>“How—how can that be?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Well, well!” exclaimed Adoniram. “It’s too bad -her hull can’t be secured for the boy. If it’s still -sound——”</p> - -<p>“Sound as a dollar!”</p> - -<p>“Where is it floating?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span>“’Cordin’ to the report of a cap’n wot sighted her, -she’s somewheres about latitude 22, longitude 70.”</p> - -<p>“A pretty valuable derelict, eh, Caleb?” said the -merchant, reflectively.</p> - -<p>“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, <i>there’s enough diamonds hid -aboard that brig to make the boy a second Vanderbilt</i>!”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Well—er—Frances thinks they look better on -me than other kinds of glasses,” remarked the merchant -meekly.</p> - -<p>“Well—hem!—I s’pose they <i>do</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XV<br /> - - -<small>CALEB RECEIVES A STARTLING COMMUNICATION</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Some</span> 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.”</p> - -<p>“Well, you see, nobody else would have him,” responded -the merchant, as though that fact was reason -enough for <i>his</i> keeping the objectionable Mr. Weeks.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>his</i> face, then I never saw it on no man’s.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>we</i> must get ’em -for him.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span>“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 <i>that</i>—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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“It seems that just afore we left the Cape a man -come aboard the Silver Swan and brought a package -of wot <i>he</i> thought was papers, to Cap’n Horace, from -his brother Anson.”</p> - -<p>“Why, Anson was dead long ago, I thought,” interrupted -Mr. Pepper.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>him</i> to send to Cap’n Tarr. -But we put into the Cape afore the man got ’round -to sendin’ ’em to the States.</p> - -<p>“<i>He</i> 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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span>“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.</p> - -<p>“An’ I reckon ’twas lucky he did so, fur we had -trouble enough with that swab Leroyd.”</p> - -<p>“Why, wasn’t he the man who was saved with -you?” asked the merchant.</p> - -<p>“That’s who.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“He had food that I didn’t have,” he whispered -hoarsely.</p> - -<p>“What!” cried Adoniram, shrinking back, his eyes -abulge.</p> - -<p>Caleb nodded slowly.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Then the cap’n went, an’—an’—<i>I had to throw<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span> -him to the sharks to keep him out o’ the clutches o’ -that cannibal Leroyd!</i>”</p> - -<p>“Great heavens!” exclaimed the ship owner, shrinking -back into his chair, his face the picture of horrified -amazement.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>“Why, didn’t you see him this morning?” asked -Mr. Pepper, in surprise.</p> - -<p>“See who?”</p> - -<p>“Why, the boy—Captain Tarr’s son, Brandon?”</p> - -<p>“What?” roared the sailor. “Then he’s here in -New York, is he?”</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span> -said you’d given him your address—at the New England -Hotel, just below here.</p> - -<p>“And what I want to say, Caleb is that I don’t -consider it a great proof of friendship on <i>your</i> 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.”</p> - -<p>“Me!—at the New England Hotel!—why the -man’s crazy!” declared Caleb.</p> - -<p>“Ain’t you stopping there?” gasped the merchant.</p> - -<p>“Am I? Well. I guess not! I ain’t but just got -out o’ the hospital this blessed morning.”</p> - -<p>“Why, he said he’d seen you once, and you’d told -him to call at the New England Hotel.”</p> - -<p>“Who?” roared Caleb.</p> - -<p>“Brandon Tarr.”</p> - -<p>“Why, man alive, I never saw the lad in all my -life!”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span>But Caleb was on his feet now, and pacing the floor -like a caged lion.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>He seized his hat and jammed it on his head again.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XVI<br /> - - -<small>TELLING HOW BRANDON BEARDED THE LION IN HIS -LAIR</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">As</span> 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.</p> - -<p>“Well, how came <i>you</i> here?” inquired the sailor, -in no very friendly tone, gazing at Brandon, with -bloodshot eyes.</p> - -<p>“I came down on the train.”</p> - -<p>“Ain’t you lost?”</p> - -<p>“Guess not,” responded the boy.</p> - -<p>The man shifted his position uneasily, keeping his -eyes fixed upon his visitor.</p> - -<p>“Can’t say as I expected to see you—just yet, -any way.”</p> - -<p>“No?” returned Brandon coolly.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Think so? Seems to me you’re not as glad to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span> -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?”</p> - -<p>The fellow hissed out an oath between his teeth -and clinched his fist angrily.</p> - -<p>“You’re too fresh, you are!” he declared.</p> - -<p>“Maybe.”</p> - -<p>“So I went up there to pump you, eh?”</p> - -<p>“I reckon.”</p> - -<p>“And what did <i>you</i> come down here for?”</p> - -<p>“To pump you,” responded the captain’s son, laughing.</p> - -<p>The sailor stared at him in utter amazement for a -moment.</p> - -<p>“Of all the swabs——” he began, but Brandon -interrupted him.</p> - -<p>“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>I</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.”</p> - -<p>“You know too much!” roared the sailor, rising -and thumping the table with his clenched fist.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I <i>do</i> know too much for your good—or for -the success of your plot,” Brandon replied, with cool -sarcasm. “See this?”</p> - -<p>He took the bit of newspaper from his pocket and -tossed it upon the table before the man.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” demanded the sailor, clutching at the -clipping.</p> - -<p>“The newspaper item stating that the Silver Swan -is a derelict, instead of being sunken, as you declared<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span> -to me. Had I not found it in the woods after you -left, I might have still believed your lying yarn, Wetherbee.”</p> - -<p>The sailor crumpled the bit of paper in his fist and -shook the clenched member in the boy’s face.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>His very fearlessness caused the man to hesitate -ere he used violence, for it <i>might</i> 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.</p> - -<p>“Let me tell you something else, also,” continued -Brandon. “I propose to have those papers that -father gave you.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you do?” half screamed the man, stamping -up and down the room in ungovernable rage.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Suddenly the man stopped storming and became -more tranquil.</p> - -<p>“So you’re goin’ ter law erbout it, be ye?”</p> - -<p>“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; <i>but I do</i>. Somehow I’m going<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span> -to find the wreck of the brig and get—whatever it -was father hid. But first, I want those papers that I -may know <i>what</i> the—the treasure consists of.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, ye do? Well, how be ye goin’ ter prove that -I’ve got the docyments?”</p> - -<p>“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 <i>he</i> doubtless -knows it, and I don’t believe that there are <i>two</i> men -as dishonest as you, Wetherbee.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>my</i> -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 <i>ye’ll never git out -o’ here alive</i>!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The villain’s hand upon his throat deprived the boy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span> -of all power of utterance, and he felt himself being -slowly choked into insensibility.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“You scoundrel!” roared Caleb (for it was he) -in a voice that made the chandelier tremble. “Would -you kill the lad?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Just saved you from adding murder to your other -sins, did I?” continued the mate of the Silver Swan. -“Did he hurt you, lad?”</p> - -<p>“Guess I’m all right,” responded Brandon, feeling -of his throat as his assailant arose to his feet, scowling -ferociously at the newcomer.</p> - -<p>“I’ll live to see you hung yet, Jim Leroyd!” Caleb -declared, shaking his huge fist at the sailor.</p> - -<p>“Great Scott!” exclaimed Brandon; “is <i>that</i> his -name? Why, he told me he was Caleb Wetherbee!”</p> - -<p>“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>I’m</i> Caleb -Wetherbee, myself, and <i>you</i>, I reckon, are Brandon -Tarr.”</p> - -<p>Brandon was fairly stupefied by this announcement.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span>“But what about the—the papers father put into -his hands for me?” he asked, breathlessly.</p> - -<p>“Your father give <i>him</i> papers, lad? Well, I reckon -not! He’s lied to ye.”</p> - -<p>“Then he hasn’t them?”</p> - -<p>“Not he. I’ve got ’em myself, safe and sound.”</p> - -<p>“You have them?” repeated Brandon.</p> - -<p>“That I have,” replied the mate confidently, “and -what’s more, I’ve got ’em right here!”</p> - -<p>At this juncture the door behind them opened and -the red faced barkeeper came into the room.</p> - -<p>“Look er-here, wot’s de meanin’ of all dis, hey?” -he demanded, eying Caleb with disfavor.</p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s you, is it?” said the wooden legged sailor, -in disgust. “I know <i>you</i>, Jack Brady. Get out -here, you walking beer keg! I’m having a private -seance with this gentleman,” intimating the cowed -Leroyd.</p> - -<p>A quick look of intelligence passed between Leroyd -and the bartender.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>This so angered the pugilistic looking man that he -made a dash at the big sailor; but the consequences -were exceedingly unpleasant.</p> - -<p>Caleb’s hammer-like fist swung round with the force -of a pile driver, and an ox would have fallen before<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span> -that blow. As Mr. Brady himself would have put -it, he was “knocked out in one round.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Stop him!” roared Caleb, and Brandon, who had -stood utterly bewildered and helpless throughout the -scene, sprang forward to the door.</p> - -<p>“The papers! He’s stolen the papers!” he gasped, -seizing the knob and trying to pull open the door.</p> - -<p>But the key had been turned in the lock and the -stout door baffled all his attempts upon it.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XVII<br /> - - -<small>HOW THE OMNIPRESENT WEEKS PROVES HIS RIGHT TO -THE TERM</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Hampered</span> 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.</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Thank goodness, the boy is safe!” gasped the -little merchant. “Are <i>you</i> hurt, Caleb?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Mercy! and where is he now?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span>“Skipped, I reckon,” responded Caleb briefly, -brushing the sawdust off his clothing.</p> - -<p>“But he’s stolen the papers,” said Brandon.</p> - -<p>“Not the papers your father gave Caleb?” cried -the little man. “He must be captured at once!”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Just here the policemen crowded into the room.</p> - -<p>“Has your man got away, sir?” one of them asked -Mr. Pepper.</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid he has, officer—unless you want this -fellow arrested, Caleb?” indicating the saloon keeper.</p> - -<p>At this Brady began to storm and rave disgracefully.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>Mr. Brady subsided at this threat, and the party -filed out.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>The two policemen nodded and Mr. Pepper led his -friends back to his office.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Well, I reckon you were just what Leroyd told<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span> -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.”</p> - -<p>“You are wrong, Caleb,” declared Mr. Pepper confidently -“It was not luck—’twas Providence.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>They had arrived at the shipping merchant’s office, -but it was locked and Mr. Pepper had to use his own -private pass key.</p> - -<p>“Weeks has gone out,” the old gentleman explained, -ushering them in. “It’s his dinner hour.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“I—I should dislike to discharge him,” said the -old gentleman gently. “He—he is an unfortunate -fellow——”</p> - -<p>“Unfortunate!” snorted the mate in disgust.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>had</i> to take him up here.”</p> - -<p>“Had to!”</p> - -<p>Caleb stared at his old friend in pitying surprise.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span>“’Doniram,” he said, “you—make—me—weary!”</p> - -<p>Then he shook his head sadly and dropped heavily -into a chair he had formerly occupied near the merchant’s -desk.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Diamonds?” echoed Brandon.</p> - -<p>“Aye, diamonds—lashin’s of ’em!” the sailor declared -earnestly. “If yer father was ter be believed—an’ -<i>you</i> know whether or not to believe him as well -as <i>I</i>—there’s di’monds hid aboard that brig, enough -to make you a rich man, my lad.”</p> - -<p>“But the papers?” repeated Mr. Pepper.</p> - -<p>“Blast the papers!” exclaimed the sailor, slapping -his thigh impatiently. “They don’t amount to a row -of pins.”</p> - -<p>“But they’ll tell that Leroyd all about the treasure -and just where to find it,” said Brandon.</p> - -<p>“And you won’t know <i>where</i> to look for it aboard -the Silver Swan,” Mr. Pepper chimed in.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span>“I won’t hey?” responded Caleb with a snort of -disgust. “Sure of that, be ye?”</p> - -<p>“I think I know where father would place the gems -for safe keeping,” said Brandon, slowly.</p> - -<p>“Yes, an’ I reckon <i>I</i> know, too,” the mate declared. -“There’s a sliding panel in the cabin—eh, -lad?”</p> - -<p>Brandon nodded acquiescence.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Sh!” exclaimed the merchant, “suppose somebody -should overhear you.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>The merchant shook his head with a mild smile.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>“Drop that!” thundered Caleb. “Don’t you ‘mister’ -me, blast yer impudence! I’m Cale Wetherbee -to <i>you</i>, as I was to yer father.”</p> - -<p>Then he added more mildly:</p> - -<p>“You can count on me, Don. And you can count<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span> -on Pepperpod, here, every time, eh?” and he nodded -to the ship owner.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“A whaleback, hey?” repeated Caleb quickly, with -a doubtful shake of his head. “I don’t know much -about them new fangled things.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>The sailor arose and walked over to the wardrobe.</p> - -<p>“Dem the thing! how it sticks,” he remarked impatiently, -tugging at the handle.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span> -red haired clerk, Alfred Weeks, clinging vainly to the -inner knob.</p> - -<p>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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XVIII<br /> - - -<small>BRANDON LISTENS TO A SHORT FAMILY HISTORY</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Weeks!</span> 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.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Oh! oh! oh!” roared Weeks, almost black in the -face. “Oh, he’s a-murderin’ me I Let me go! Oh! -oh!”</p> - -<p>“Stop your bawling, Alfred,” Mr. Pepper commanded, -as the breathless sailor released the scamp -and placed him upright with no gentle force.</p> - -<p>Brandon, who had been well nigh convulsed with -laughter at the mode of punishment the clerk had received,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span> -had not thought it possible for the jolly Adoniram -to ever appear so stern as he did now.</p> - -<p>“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!</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I’ll even things up with <i>you</i>, you young whelp!”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span> -he hissed, and in another moment limped out of the -place.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Adoniram Pepper & Co. will take a holiday today,” -he said, his old jovial smile returning. “First -let us go to lunch.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span> -were in the house, and the old merchant had gone to -summon his sister to meet his guests.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Finally, as the merchant did not return at once, -Caleb drew forth his bandanna and blew his nose furiously.</p> - -<p>“This ’ere is terrible, isn’t it, lad?” he muttered -hoarsely, to Brandon, who had been eying him in great -surprise.</p> - -<p>“What is, Caleb?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“There isn’t but one, Caleb,” replied Don encouragingly.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“That’s easy enough for <i>you</i> 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’<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span> -ship’s deck; but with me it’s different. Oh, Lordy! -she’s hove in sight.”</p> - -<p>There was a rustle of silken skirts, and Brandon -looked up to see Miss Frances Pepper entering the -room.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“My old friend. Mr. Whitherbee!” she exclaimed, -holding out her hand to Caleb with unfeigned warmth.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“God bless you, my boy!” she said, in a low tone.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span> -“I knew your father, Captain Tarr, and a very nice -man he was. You are like him.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>his</i> apartment. -Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Miss Frances noticed his glance, and lingered a -moment at the door.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span>“Then she died?” queried Don softly, still gazing -up at the smiling face.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“She was a lovely girl—at least <i>we</i> 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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>The old lady wiped her eyes before continuing.</p> - -<p>“After father died we had this room fixed just as -she used to have it, and had that picture hung there.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Then she departed, and left the captain’s son to -make ready for dinner.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XIX<br /> - - -<small>TELLING A GREAT DEAL ABOUT DERELICTS IN GENERAL</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Although</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span> -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.”</p> - -<p>“And he’s got the papers, too,” interjected Mr. Pepper.</p> - -<p>Caleb smiled at this, but said nothing in reply, continuing -his remarks:</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span> -all to onct the man on lookout gave a yell that -fairly riz my hair on end.</p> - -<p>“‘A wreck! dead ahead!’ he yelled. ‘Down with -your helm! hard down!’</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>that</i>.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span> -Caleb? And this Joggins raft was probably the most -perilous object that was ever set afloat.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span> -vessel, whether bottom up, sunken at the stern, or -what not.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>The little man seemed strangely confused at this, -and his jolly face blushed a deep red as he shifted his -position restlessly.</p> - -<p>“Well,” he said slowly. “I <i>have</i> 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?”</p> - -<p>But here Brandon, whose thoughts had been wandering -a little, interrupted any further questioning on -the sailor’s part.</p> - -<p>“I’m dreadfully sorry that that rascally Leroyd got -away with the letter father wrote me,” he said reflectively.</p> - -<p>Caleb looked at him with a smile, and removed his -pipe from between his lips.</p> - -<p>“Did I say he <i>had</i> got away with it?” he said.</p> - -<p>“Eh?” interjected Adoniram, quickly.</p> - -<p>“What do you mean?” queried Brandon.</p> - -<p>“See here,” said Caleb, enjoying their surprise, -“You’ve been running this pretty much by yourselves. -<i>I</i> haven’t said that the swab got away with the papers, -have I?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span>“For pity’s sake, what <i>did</i> he steal then?” demanded -Brandon, springing to his feet.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Why—why—” sputtered Mr. Pepper, staring at -the smiling sailor in amazement.</p> - -<p>“Now, don’t be in a hurry,” urged Caleb. “I -<i>didn’t</i> 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.</p> - -<p>“But now,” he added, “if ye think this is the time -and place to see them papers, I can perduce ’em ter -oncet.”</p> - -<p>“Where are they? Let’s see ’em,” urged Brandon, -in excitement.</p> - -<p>“All right, my lad. If you says the word, why -here goes.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“There ye be,” he declared, with satisfaction. “If<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span> -<i>I’d</i> 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.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XX<br /> - - -<small>THE CONTENTS OF SEVERAL INTERESTING DOCUMENTS</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Well</span>, of all things!” ejaculated Mr. Pepper, as -the old sailor produced the papers from their queer -repository, while Brandon burst out laughing.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Open it, my lad,” said the sailor. “I haven’t -touched the wrapper since Cap’n Horace gave it to -me.”</p> - -<p>Brandon untied the string which bound the package, -and removed the oiled paper. There were several -folded documents within and one was marked:</p> - -<p class="center">“To my son, Brandon,<br /> -<span class="indentleft2">Horace Tarr.”</span></p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span>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:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="right"><span class="indentright"><span class="smcap">On Board the Raft,</span></span><br /> -<span class="smcap">Tuesday Noon.</span></p> - -<p><span class="smcap">My Beloved Son</span>:</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>I am so weak that I cannot write longer.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span>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!</p> - -<p class="right"><span class="indentright4">Your loving father,</span><br /> -<span class="smcap">Horace Tarr</span>.</p> -</div> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“He was a good man,” declared Adoniram softly, -while the old sailor blew his nose loudly, and wiped -the suspicious moisture from his eyes.</p> - -<p>“That he were!” responded the latter. “Cap’n -Horace were all that he tells you to be, Don.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you fear—we’ll get it, lad,” Caleb assured -him earnestly. “I feel it in my bones we will.”</p> - -<p>“What else was there in the package?” asked the -merchant curiously.</p> - -<p>“There were two other papers,” Brandon replied. -“One is my father’s will.”</p> - -<p>He picked that up from his lap and opened it.</p> - -<p>“Why,” he exclaimed, “you are named as executor, -Mr. Pepper.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span>“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.</p> - -<p>“Of course. But let me tell you its contents,” replied -the merchant. “It is short and to the point, -Caleb. <i>You</i> are given the Silver Swan, in fee simple, -and everything else goes to Brandon, here.”</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>“Two hundred thousand!” repeated Brandon, in -bewilderment.</p> - -<p>“Quite a pile, my boy,” said Caleb. “That is, if -we get ’em.”</p> - -<p>“And you and I, Caleb,” concluded Mr. Pepper, -“are joint guardians of Don.”</p> - -<p>“All right, all right,” cried the impatient sailor. -“But let’s hear the other letter, my lad. Read it out.”</p> - -<p>Thus urged, Brandon unfolded the third paper, and -read its contents aloud:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="right"><span class="indentright">“<span class="smcap">Kimberley, South Africa</span>,</span><br /> -“November the 27th, 1891.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Brother Horace</span>:</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span> -with only natives and one other white man for company, for -six years.</p> - -<p>“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!</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Good by for this world, Horace. May the luck of the -Tarrs be changed with this find of mine.</p> - -<p class="right"><span class="indentright3">“Your brother,</span><br /> -“<span class="smcap">Anson Tarr</span>.”</p> -</div> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span>“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?”</p> - -<p>“About that,” said the merchant. “You will be a -very rich man, Don.”</p> - -<p>“Let’s not count our chickens too soon,” said the -youth, trying to stifle his excitement. “It seems too -bewilderingly good to be true.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“And you’ll let me furnish the vessel,” the merchant -added.</p> - -<p>“Let’s see,” said the old sailor. “You was saying -something about havin’ one all ready. ’Doniram, -wasn’t you?”</p> - -<p>“One that can be ready in a week’s time, any way; -and the craft you want, too—a whaleback.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>Mr. Pepper looked at his old friend curiously, and -his little eyes twinkled.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“What?” shouted Caleb.</p> - -<p>“Not to go in search of the Silver Swan?” cried -Brandon, in wonder.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span>“No, not exactly that; but to go in quest of derelicts -in general.”</p> - -<p>“Another of your crazy ideas, ’Doniram!” Caleb -declared finally.</p> - -<p>“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 -<i>this</i> ‘crazy idea.’”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXI<br /> - - -<small>IN WHICH MR. PEPPER MAKES A PROPOSITION TO CALEB -AND DON</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">You</span> 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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“It’s the most wonderful thing I ever heard of,” -Brandon declared.</p> - -<p>“They <i>are</i> wonderful boats, as you will declare, -yourself, when you see Number Three, tomorrow,” -Adoniram returned. “My whaleback is 265 feet long,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“But my scheme—the reason I bought this vessel, -in fact—is this,” went on Mr. Pepper.</p> - -<p>He hesitated a moment, and looked just a little -doubtfully at Caleb.</p> - -<p>“I presume this <i>is</i> 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.</p> - -<p>“Now and then, you know, it happens that somebody -<i>does</i> 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 <i>all</i> 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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span> -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?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“That’s because it ‘hits you where you live,’ as the -saying is,” returned Mr. Pepper, smiling slily.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t know anything about whalebacks,” -began Caleb.</p> - -<p>“But you will,” the merchant declared, interrupting -him. “I haven’t got through with my proposition yet.”</p> - -<p>“Fire ahead, old man,” said Caleb puffing steadily -on his pipe.</p> - -<p>“Well, then, first I want you for the captain of the -steamer, Caleb.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, so I supposed,” remarked the mate of the -Silver Swan imperturbably. “What else?”</p> - -<p>“I want Brandon for second mate.”</p> - -<p>“Me?” exclaimed Don. “Why, I never was -aboard a steamship in my life.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Now, Caleb,” said the merchant deprecatingly.</p> - -<p>“No, Adoniram, we can’t do it. The boy knows -nothing at all about a steamship, and I know but little -more.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span>“You’ve been mate on a steamer, Caleb.”</p> - -<p>“On a dredger, you mean,” returned the old sailor, -in disgust.</p> - -<p>“There’s no reason why you can’t do it—both of -you,” the ship owner declared. “If I’m satisfied, <i>you</i> -ought to be. I’ve already engaged Lawrence Coffin -for mate.”</p> - -<p>“Coffin!” ejaculated Caleb, his face lighting up, -as he forgot to pull on his pipe in his interest. “Got -<i>him</i>, eh? Well, that puts a different complexion on -the matter. I could sail the Great Eastern with Lawrence -Coffin for mate.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“That would make Don’s duties pretty light,” said -Caleb reflectively.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Well, well,” said Caleb, rising; “let’s sleep on it. -It’s never best to decide on anything too quickly.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Did a fellow <i>ever</i> have a better chance for fun -and adventure?” was his last thought as he finally -sank into a fitful slumber.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXII<br /> - - -<small>INTO BAD COMPANY</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">If</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>But they <i>had</i> made an enemy, and within twenty-four -hours that enemy was at work to undermine and -thwart their plans.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <i>somebody</i>.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Evidently he was quite confused by his surroundings -and by the crowd which jostled him on the walk.</p> - -<p>“What a chance for a ‘bunco man,’” exclaimed the -festive Alfred, under his breath. “That’s country,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>He strolled slowly along toward the old fellow, the -only person without an apparent object, in that whole -multitude.</p> - -<p>As the ex-clerk expected, the countryman accosted -him.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Whew!” thought Mr. Weeks. “Pretty shady locality<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span> -for a respectable farmer. Wonder what the old -fellow wants <i>there</i>?”</p> - -<p>Then aloud he said:</p> - -<p>“I’m going along there myself, sir; it is several -blocks yet.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“It’s pretty hard for a stranger to find his way about -New York, that’s a fact.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>But Weeks didn’t; he wasn’t that kind.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“New York streets hain’t much like Providence -streets,” he said. “Ye <i>kin</i> find yer way ’round them; -but I defy any one ter know whether they’re goin’ -straight here, or not.”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Brandon is no common name,” so the ex-clerk -communed with himself. “I bet there hasn’t been <i>two</i> -Brandons come to New York within the past few -days—both from Rhode Island, too.</p> - -<p>“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?</p> - -<p>“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 <i>him</i>, at -least, as old Wetherbee. Oh, Jim’s a keen one, he is! -Now Leroyd’s at the hotel—at least, he <i>has</i> been. -What is this old scarecrow going there for?</p> - -<p>“There’s a great big rat in the toe of this stocking,” -Mr. Weeks assured himself. “This uncle is an old -scamp, that’s <i>my</i> opinion.” (Mr. Weeks knew a -scamp when he saw one—excepting when he looked<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span> -in the glass.) “I’d wager a good deal that he and -Jim understand each other pretty well.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>With this elegant expression, Mr. Weeks drew up -before the uninviting resort known as the New England -Hotel.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXIII<br /> - - -<small>MR. ALFRED WEEKS AT A CERTAIN CONFERENCE</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Here</span> we are, mister,” said the ex-clerk; “see, -there’s the sign—New England Hotel. Did you expect -to find your runaway nephew here?”</p> - -<p>“No-o,” replied old Arad Tarr, eying the place with -a good deal of disfavor.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps.”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“Let’s see; his name is Brandon Tarr, isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“That’s it; that’s it,” Arad declared.</p> - -<p>“And he came from Chopmist, Rhode Island?”</p> - -<p>“Sartin. You must have seen him, mister.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span>“The very feller!” cried Arad, with manifest delight.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“What’ll you an’ your friend hev ter drink?” inquired -Mr. Brady, with an atrocious grin.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Ye say ye’ve seen Brandon?” inquired Arad,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span> -when Jack Brady had returned to his position behind -the bar, and there was nobody within earshot.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>Old Arad shook his head negatively.</p> - -<p>“Pepper was a great friend of this Brandon’s -father, so I understand.”</p> - -<p>“Mebbe,” snarled the farmer. “Cap’n Tarr’s -friends warn’t <i>my</i> friends.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Caleb Wetherbee? Gracious Peter!” ejaculated -the old man. “Hez he found <i>him</i> so soon.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Weeks nodded briefly.</p> - -<p>“This Wetherbee was mate of the Silver Swan.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the man,” muttered Arad hopelessly.</p> - -<p>“I take it you didn’t want your nephew and this -Wetherbee to meet?” suggested Weeks shrewdly.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps we can fix it up,” said Weeks cheerfully.</p> - -<p>“D’ye think so?”</p> - -<p>“Let’s see; are you his legal guardian?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I be,” declared Arad savagely; “on’y the -papers ain’t made aout.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span>“I don’t really see, then, how you can bring it about -until you are appointed,” said Mr. Weeks slowly.</p> - -<p>“I jest kin!” asserted Arad, with confidence. “I -gotter warrant here for him.”</p> - -<p>“Whew!” The astute Weeks looked at the old sinner -admiringly. “Well, well! you <i>are</i> a smart one. -What’s the charge?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I should think so. Well, with that warrant -I should think you had him pretty straight.”</p> - -<p>“D’ye think I kin find him all right?” asked Arad -anxiously.</p> - -<p>“If you can’t, I can,” responded Weeks. “I know -where to put my hand on him.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Old Arad also saw and recognized the newcomer, -and as the sailor passed along the room, he caught -sight of the old farmer.</p> - -<p>“Why, dash my top lights!” he exclaimed, in surprise. -“Ef here ain’t Mr. Tarr!”</p> - -<p>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 <i>him</i>.</p> - -<p>“Don’t ye be up ter any funny biz with this gentleman,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span> -Sneaky,” he said, with a scowl. “He’s my -friend.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you fret,” responded Weeks. “He and I -were talking about his nephew, Brandon Tarr, who -was up to see you yesterday——”</p> - -<p>Mr. Leroyd uttered a volley of choice profanity -at this, and Arad was greatly surprised.</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“What do you know about it, anyway?” growled -Jim uglily.</p> - -<p>“Now, sit down and keep cool, Leroyd,” urged -Weeks. “I know <i>all</i> about it. I know about your -little scheme to gobble the—the <i>treasure</i> aboard the -Silver Swan——”</p> - -<p>“Sh!” exclaimed Leroyd fiercely. “You know too -much, young feller.”</p> - -<p>“No, I know just enough, and I’ll prove it to you.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>He arose as he spoke, his fierce eyes fixed threateningly -upon Weeks’ impassive face.</p> - -<p>“You come with me, Mr. Tarr, where we can talk -the matter over privately. We don’t want nothin’ o’ -that swab.”</p> - -<p>The red headed ex-clerk fairly laughed aloud at -this.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span>“See here, Leroyd,” he said, still coolly: “you made -a break for those papers yesterday, I believe. What -did you get?”</p> - -<p>“Hey?” roared the sailor.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Not a blamed thing,” responded the sailor frankly, -after an instant’s hesitation.</p> - -<p>“That’s what I thought. I thought Cale Wetherbee -took it altogether too coolly if you <i>had</i> made a -haul worth anything. Now, I could tell you something, -if I thought ’twould be worth my while.”</p> - -<p>“What is it?”</p> - -<p>“Do you know what the treasure hidden aboard -the brig consists of?”</p> - -<p>“No,” replied Leroyd shortly, while old Arad gazed -from one to the other in bewilderment.</p> - -<p>“Well, I do,” declared Weeks.</p> - -<p>“Ye do?”</p> - -<p>“Sure. I heard that Wetherbee and the boy and -old man Pepper talking it over.”</p> - -<p>“Who’s Pepper?” growled Leroyd.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Curses on the luck!” growled the sailor again.</p> - -<p>Here old Arad interposed. The old man’s hands -were trembling violently, and his face was pale with -excitement.</p> - -<p>“We—we must stop ’em—they ain’t got no right -ter do it,” he sputtered. “Horace Tarr was my nevvy,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span> -an’ I’m the guardeen o’ that boy. There hain’t nobody -else got no right to go arter them di’monds.”</p> - -<p>“Diamonds!” exclaimed Leroyd. “Is <i>that</i> the -treasure?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Good for you, old feller,” said Leroyd admiringly. -“Ye did take my advice, didn’t ye?”</p> - -<p>Old Arad rubbed his hands together as though -washing them with imaginary soap, and grinned.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Never ye mind <i>what</i> I’ll do,” returned Jim, uglily. -“I tell ye this hain’t none o’ your funeral, so you keep -out of it, Sneaky.”</p> - -<p>“Are you sure?” asked Weeks, with a tantalizing -smile.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I’m sure!” roared the enraged sailor.</p> - -<p>“Well, don’t holler so loud,” the red haired one -admonished him. “But I think you’re mistaken.”</p> - -<p>Leroyd glared at him like an angry bull dog but -said nothing.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span>“And the di’monds,” interjected Arad, with an avaricious -chuckle.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Why, ef we git the brig won’t the diamonds be -aboard her?” queried Arad.</p> - -<p>“Yes, they will; but <i>where will they be</i>, aboard her? -Can you tell me that?”</p> - -<p>Arad’s jaw fell and he stared blankly at the shrewd -Weeks. Even Leroyd was visibly moved by this -statement.</p> - -<p>“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, -<i>but I know just where they are and I can put my -hand right on ’em</i>!”</p> - -<p>“You kin?” gasped old Arad.</p> - -<p>“Is that straight, Sneaky?” demanded Leroyd, with -interest.</p> - -<p>Weeks nodded calmly.</p> - -<p>“I believe you’re lying,” the sailor declared.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>all</i>,” -and Mr. Weeks smiled benignantly upon his audience.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXIV<br /> - - -<small>HOW A NEFARIOUS COMPACT WAS FORMED</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">But</span> 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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“It ben’t so, is it?” whined the old man, appealing -to Leroyd.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I s’pose it is,” admitted the sailor, with a -growl. “He’s got us foul, old man.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span>“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.”</p> - -<p>“’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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Now you’re talking sense,” Weeks declared, rising -gingerly from the chair in which he had again -seated himself.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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 <i>does</i> look like a hay-seed. -Ef he don’t do <i>us</i>, it’ll be lucky.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span>“Well, what’s de game?” Brady demanded.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>Brady nodded.</p> - -<p>“I’m mum,” he said, with satisfaction. “On’y I -don’t want dem cops down on me ag’in, so mind yer -eye.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span>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.</p> - -<p>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 <i>any</i> circumstances. And, -of course, the document wasn’t worth the paper on -which it was written.</p> - -<p>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, <i>he</i> was to stay at home, and <i>wait</i>. -Waiting isn’t very hard work, to be sure; but it is -terribly wearing.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span> -upon unsuspicious Brandon; and Leroyd to look about -for a vessel which could be converted to their purpose -in the shortest possible time.</p> - -<p>And now, let us return to Brandon and his two -good friends, Caleb Wetherbee and Adoniram Pepper, -and find out how much progress <i>they</i> have made in the -quest of the Silver Swan.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXV<br /> - - -<small>UNCLE ARAD MAKES AN ANNOUNCEMENT</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">If</span> 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.</p> - -<p>“Now, Caleb, have you decided to accept my offer -of last evening?” Adoniram inquired, as they arose -after the meal.</p> - -<p>“Let’s see the steamer,” returned the sailor, noncommittally; -so the merchant and his two guests went -down to the docks at once.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The deck, however, was so curved that the feat -would not be easy to perform in rough weather, if -the whaleback <i>did</i> roll as do other vessels.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Below deck were the quarters of the crew, forward -and aft, and they were as comfortable as those on a -palatial ocean steamship.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span>“It’s a wonderful boat,” Brandon declared, as they -examined the engine.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Then I take it you’ll try your hand at this?” -Adoniram asked slily.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, I s’ppose so, Pepperpod—and the boy, -too. By the way, does Lawrence Coffin know anything -about this craft?”</p> - -<p>“He went to West Superior (where she was built) -and came down in her,” declared the merchant.</p> - -<p>“It’s all right, then. He’ll know what to do if we -get to sea and the blamed thing should roll over.”</p> - -<p>But despite the fact that he scoffed at the vessel,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span> -Caleb set to work with his customary energy to make -ready for the voyage.</p> - -<p>The ship owner gave him <i>carte blanche</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>On the morning of the third day, however, came -an interruption, and one which promised to be most -serious.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know, I’m sure. You’d better sit down,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span> -my boy, and wait for him,” advised Adoniram kindly. -“He’s sure to turn up here, first or last.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Here he is now,” exclaimed the youth, thinking he -heard Caleb’s voice.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Thar ye air, ye young reskil!” exclaimed the old -man, shaking his bony forefinger at the youth.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Well, well!” exclaimed Brandon, recovering in -part from his surprise. “Who’d have thought of -seeing <i>you</i> here, Uncle Arad!”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“What?”</p> - -<p>Brandon’s face flamed up redly, and he sprang to -his feet in rage.</p> - -<p>“What do you mean?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>“Don’t ye let him escape, officer!” the farmer exclaimed, -shrinking back. “He’s quick’s a cat.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span>But here Adoniram took a hand in the proceedings.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>my</i> care, sir, and -I will not allow such remarks to be addressed to him.”</p> - -<p>No one would have believed that it was the jolly -Adoniram, to see his face now. The habitual smile -had disappeared entirely.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Ah!” said Mr. Pepper, with quiet sarcasm. “So -you are his guardian, are you? How long since?”</p> - -<p>“How long since?” repeated the old man, in a -rage. “I’ll show ye! I’ve <i>allus</i> been his guardeen—leastways, -since his pa died.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“I’m his nateral guardeen now,” old Arad declared -slowly; “but I’m goin’ to be ’p’inted by the court.”</p> - -<p>“What court?”</p> - -<p>“The Court o’ Probate, o’ Scituate, R. I.,” responded -the farmer pompously.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Hey?” returned the farmer, growing red in the -face, and looking daggers at the little merchant.</p> - -<p>“I say you have made a slight mistake. You will<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span> -<i>not</i> 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?”</p> - -<p>“A will?” gasped the old man.</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir, a will.”</p> - -<p>“But he didn’t hev nothin’ ter will, ’ceptin——”</p> - -<p>“Well, excepting what?” Mr. Pepper demanded, as -the other hesitated.</p> - -<p>“Nothin’.”</p> - -<p>“Well, he <i>did</i> have something to will, and he appointed -me joint guardian, with another gentleman, -and <i>you</i>, Mr. Tarr, are <i>not</i> 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.”</p> - -<p>“I—I don’t believe it!” shouted Arad.</p> - -<p>“You’re not obliged to. But that doesn’t affect -the facts of the case, just the same.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“What money?” demanded Brandon, white with -rage. “To what do you refer?”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXVI<br /> - - -<small>CALEB WETHERBEE OBSTRUCTS THE COURSE OF THE LAW</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Brandon</span> 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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span>“Let me see that warrant?” he said.</p> - -<p>The officer passed the paper over with a flourish, -and Adoniram examined it closely.</p> - -<p>“Why,” he exclaimed, shortly, “this is returnable -to the Rhode Island courts.”</p> - -<p>“Of course it is,” snarled old Arad.</p> - -<p>“But do you propose taking the boy back to Rhode -Island?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I do.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“No, sir; the robbery was committed in Rhode -Island—it must be tried there,” replied the officer, -with a crafty smile.</p> - -<p>Adoniram handed the warrant back in utter bewilderment; -but at that juncture the door opened -again, and Caleb Wetherbee himself stumped in.</p> - -<p>“Hey! what’s this?” the old seaman demanded, -seeing instantly that something was up.</p> - -<p>Old Arad tried to shrink out of sight behind the -officer’s back as he viewed Caleb’s fear inspiring proportions.</p> - -<p>“This is my <i>dear</i> Uncle Arad, Caleb,” Brandon -hastened to say, “and he has come all the way from -Rhode Island to arrest me and take me back.”</p> - -<p>“For what?” cried Caleb, aghast.</p> - -<p>“For robbing him; so he says. Isn’t he kind?”</p> - -<p>Brandon was fairly furious, but he trusted in the -old seaman to get him out of his relative’s clutches.</p> - -<p>“Robbing him!”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span>Caleb’s face grew red with rage.</p> - -<p>“What d’ye mean, ye old scamp?”</p> - -<p>“He <i>hez</i> robbed me,” Arad shrieked.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“The courts’ll send that reskil ter the State reform -school—that’s what they’ll do,” Arad declared.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“But the boy’s got to be taken to Rhode Island,” -exclaimed Adoniram. “It will be a matter of weeks.”</p> - -<p>“Weeks?” roared Caleb. “Why, the steamer sails -Tuesday. He can’t go.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Caleb actually roared at this and shook his huge fist -in the fellow’s face. Adoniram hastened to keep the -peace.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>The officer smiled slily, and throwing back his coat -showed his badge.</p> - -<p>“I’m a dep’ty sheriff an’ don’t you fear,” he said. -“The boy must come along.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span>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.</p> - -<p>“Don’t be too fast,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Do you dare resist arrest?” the officer demanded -angrily.</p> - -<p>“Nobody’s resisted you, yet.”</p> - -<p>His huge bulk, however, barred all approach to -Don, who was now between all the others and the -outer door.</p> - -<p>“If you arrest this boy you’ll seriously inconvenience -our plans, an’ we’ll make you sweat for it, now -I tell ye.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t care; I’m er—goin’ ter hev him took up!” -shrieked old Arad, to whom all this delay was agonizing.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Old Arad dodged back out of range of the sailor’s -brawny fist with great celerity.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span> -blocked the doorway leading into the outer -office.</p> - -<p>“So you won’t settle this thing out o’ court, eh?” -he demanded.</p> - -<p>The officer shook his head.</p> - -<p>“It’s gone too far,” he said.</p> - -<p>“It has, hey?” Caleb exclaimed in wrath. “Well, -so’ve <i>you</i> gone too far.” Then he exclaimed, turning -to Don: “Leg it, lad! We’ll outwit the landlubber -yet.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Good by, Uncle Arad!” the captain’s son cried -mockingly. “I’ll see you when I’ve returned from -the West Indies.”</p> - -<p>He was out in a moment, and the door slammed behind -him.</p> - -<p>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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXVII<br /> - - -<small>WHEREIN BRANDON TARR CONCEALS HIMSELF</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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, <i>did</i> sputter out something -about having the law on everybody in general.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Arad caught sight of the epistle as quickly as did -Caleb.</p> - -<p>“That’s mine! give it here!” he cried, making a -snatch at the paper.</p> - -<p>But Adoniram held it out of his reach.</p> - -<p>“I don’t see how you make that out, Mr. Tarr,” he -said quietly. “This letter is not addressed to you.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span> -It is in <i>your</i> handwriting, Caleb, and is addressed to -‘Master Brandon Tarr, Chopmist, Rhode Island.’”</p> - -<p>“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 <i>you</i> by it? You old land shark!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“I—I—it came arter Brandon went away,” he -gasped in excuse.</p> - -<p>“It did, hey?” exclaimed Caleb suspiciously.</p> - -<p>Mr. Pepper took the envelope again and examined -the postmark critically.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Uncle Arad was speechless, and looked from one -to the other of the stern faced men in doubt.</p> - -<p>“He—he was my nevvy; didn’t I hev a right ter -see what he had written ter him?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Ye—ye can’t do it,” sputtered Arad.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span>“If that monkey of a sheriff finds Brandon (w’ich -same I reckon he won’t), we’ll see if we can’t give -<i>you</i> a taste of the same medicine.”</p> - -<p>The old man was undeniably frightened and edged -towards the door.</p> - -<p>“I guess I better go,” he remarked hesitatingly. -“I dunno as that officer’ll be able ter ketch thet reskil.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Old Arad slunk out without another word, and the -two friends allowed him to depart in contemptuous -silence.</p> - -<p>When he had disappeared Adoniram turned to the -sailor at once.</p> - -<p>“Where has Don gone, Caleb?” he asked anxiously.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“He is, if that sheriff doesn’t find him,” said the -merchant doubtfully.</p> - -<p>“I’ll risk that,” responded Caleb, who had vast confidence -in Brandon’s ability to take care of himself.</p> - -<p>But Adoniram shook his head.</p> - -<p>“New York is a bad place for a boy to be alone in. -Where will he go?”</p> - -<p>“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 <i>that</i> fellow can find him.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span>“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.”</p> - -<p>Caleb gazed at his friend for several moments with -a quizzical smile upon his face.</p> - -<p>“Do you know, Adoniram,” he said at length, “I -b’lieve you’re too innocent for this wicked world.”</p> - -<p>“How do you mean?” asked the merchant, flushing -a little, yet smiling.</p> - -<p>“Well, you don’t seem to see anything fishy in all -this.”</p> - -<p>“Fishy?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“I certainly do not understand you,” declared -Adoniram.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Not for an instant!” the merchant replied emphatically.</p> - -<p>“That’s what I thought. Well, as I say, you suppose<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span> -he wants Brandon back on the farm—wants his -work, in fact?”</p> - -<p>“Ye—es.”</p> - -<p>“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 <i>nobody</i> would get his valuable services—nobody -except the State?”</p> - -<p>“Why, that’s so.”</p> - -<p>“Of course it’s so.”</p> - -<p>“Then, what is his object in persecuting the poor -lad? Is he doing it just out of spite?”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“Then, what is he up to?” demanded Adoniram, -in bewilderment.</p> - -<p>“Well, of that <i>I’m</i> 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.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>wouldn’t</i> he -for a big stake like this?”</p> - -<p>“But—” began Adoniram.</p> - -<p>“Hold on a minute and let me finish,” urged Caleb. -“That scoundrel Leroyd was up to Chopmist, mind ye.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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, <i>they’re -after them di’monds</i>, and it behooves us ter git up an’ -dust if we want ter beat ’em.”</p> - -<p>The ship owner shook his head unconvinced.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Monday came and Number Three was all ready for -sailing. Her crew of twenty men, beside the officers, -were aboard.</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span> -a keen, alert little man who looked hardly older than -Brandon himself.</p> - -<p>But Brandon did not come. The new captain of -the whaleback, and the owner himself, were greatly -worried by the boy’s continued absence.</p> - -<p>They had already set on foot inquiry for the youth’s -whereabouts, but nothing had come of it.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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. <i>You</i> will be -here, and I can trust you to look out for the lad. <i>I</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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Caleb was too anxious to keep still at all, but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“There’s two fellows watching the steamer from -the wharf,” Caleb declared, entering the cabin again.</p> - -<p>Just then there was a sound outside, and a heavy -knock sounded at the cabin door. Caleb pulled it -open in an instant.</p> - -<p>Without stood three burly police officers.</p> - -<p>“Well, well!” exclaimed Mr. Pepper, in wonder.</p> - -<p>“What do <i>you</i> want?” Caleb demanded, inclined to -be a little combative.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Very well,” said Mr. Pepper quietly.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span>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.</p> - -<p>The deputy sheriff, whose name was Snaggs, by the -way, would not give it up, however, but still remained -on the wharf.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>He stopped instantly and leaned over the rail.</p> - -<p>“Hist!” whispered a voice out of the darkness. -“Toss me a rope. I want to come aboard.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXVIII<br /> - - -<small>THE DEPARTURE OF THE WHALEBACK, NUMBER THREE</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">No</span> 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.</p> - -<p>The instant the fellow was on his feet, Mr. Coffin -slid open the door of the wheelhouse and pushed the -newcomer in.</p> - -<p>“Jackson,” he said sharply, to the man inside, “go -for Captain Wetherbee.”</p> - -<p>Then he turned to the dripping figure that stood -just within the door of the turret.</p> - -<p>The stranger was a youth of fifteen or sixteen, with -a sharp, intelligent face, and his saturated clothing -was little more than rags.</p> - -<p>“Hullo!” said the mate, “<i>you’re</i> not Brandon -Tarr, I take it.”</p> - -<p>“You kin bet on that, mister,” responded the youth -grinning. “An’ you, I reckon, ain’t Cale Wetherbee. -He’s got a wooden leg.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve sent for Mr. Wetherbee,” replied Mr. Coffin. -“What do you want?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell th’ boss, wot I was told ter see,” declared -the fellow shrewdly.</p> - -<p>The youth was evidently of that great class of individuals<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span> -known as “street gamins” who, in New York -City, are numbered by the thousand.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Where is he?” cried Mr. Pepper, in great excitement.</p> - -<p>“He’s gone to sea, boss,” responded the boy calmly.</p> - -<p>“Hey!” roared Caleb, and then the messenger -brought forth that which he was fumbling for—a -little waterproof matchbox.</p> - -<p>“Gone to sea?” repeated Adoniram, in bewilderment.</p> - -<p>“Dat’s it,” said the boy. “He went day ’fore -yest’day mornin’ in de Success.”</p> - -<p>But Caleb had opened the matchbox and drawn -forth the folded paper it contained.</p> - -<p>“It’s a letter—the young rascal! Why didn’t he -come himself?”</p> - -<p>“Didn’t I tell ye he’d gone ter sea?” demanded the -youth in disgust.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span>“Listen to this,” exclaimed Caleb, paying not the -least attention to the messenger’s words, and he read -the closely written page aloud:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Dear Caleb</span>—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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p class="right"><span class="indentright2">“Yours sincerely,</span><br /> -“<span class="smcap">Brandon Tarr</span>.</p> - -<p>“P. S. We’ll beat these scamps and get the Silver Swan -yet.”</p> -</div> - -<p>“Well, well!” commented Mr. Pepper, in amazement. -“What will that boy do next?”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“But how did he get there?” cried Adoniram wonderingly.</p> - -<p>“This young man ought to be able to tell that,” -suggested Mr. Coffin, referring to the dripping youth.</p> - -<p>Caleb looked from the open letter to the boy.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span>“So you’re Swivel, eh?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>The lad grinned and nodded.</p> - -<p>“Well, suppose you explain this mystery.”</p> - -<p>But here Adoniram interposed.</p> - -<p>“Let us take him to the cabin, and give him something -dry to put on. He’ll catch his death of cold -here.”</p> - -<p>“’Nough said. Come on,” said Caleb leading the -way.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>I will not give it in detail, and in Swivel’s bad grammar; -a less rambling account will suffice.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>So they waited until toward evening and then -came back to New York.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>By intently listening, the captain’s son heard several -important items of news, and, greatly to his astonishment,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span> -and then took up the trail again when the two conspirators -appeared.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Brandon made a shrewd guess that the ex-clerk was -to remain in New York until he was certain of <i>his</i> -capture and incarceration; then he would reach Savannah -by steamer.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Brandon also discovered the ship’s provisions stored -near the bows, and was sure that he could stand a -siege.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span>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.</p> - -<p>Then he was to make his way to the whaleback and -explain Brandon’s situation to Caleb.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“He kep’ me jugglin’ wid er mop er wipin’ up de -floor,” as the gamin expressed it to his hearers.</p> - -<p>As soon as he was free he had hurried to the New -York side; but upon reaching the vicinity of the whaleback<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span> -he discovered that the “patrol line” was drawn -even closer than before.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“An’ here I is,” he said, in conclusion. “Dey -didn’t ketch me, nor dat Brandon Tarr, nuther. We’s -too fly for ’em.”</p> - -<p>“Of all the scrapes I ever heard of, this is the -worst,” Adoniram exclaimed in comment.</p> - -<p>But Caleb, now that his fears for Don’s safety were -somewhat allayed, seemed rather to enjoy the situation.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>him</i>. Probably, too, the -captain of the Success is not a bad sort of a fellow, -an’ he won’t see the boy maltreated.</p> - -<p>“I feel better, ’Doniram, and with your permission -we’ll get under way at once.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, take me along, will yer?” exclaimed the -gamin, with eagerness. “I’ll work <i>hard</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span> -wot he said was on dat wreck yer arter. Say, lemme -go, will yer?”</p> - -<p>Caleb looked at the ship owner in perplexity.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Thus did she begin the voyage whose object was the -finding of the wreck of the Silver Swan.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXIX<br /> - - -<small>THE STOWAWAY ABOARD THE SUCCESS</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">As</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The work of getting the Success away from the -dock went rapidly on.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span>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.</p> - -<p>It would be a very easy matter indeed for him to -hide among the stuff if any one came into the hold.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span> -There was not even the spice of danger about his situation, -for nobody came into the hold.</p> - -<p>He dared not explore much at first, for he was -afraid that he might be heard from the cabin or forecastle.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>At first he thought her to be the captain’s wife, but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>He had good reason to believe that the rascally -sailor would not hesitate to injure him in any way -possible.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span> -times Brandon “laid low” and his presence was not -discovered.</p> - -<p>What little food he had purloined from the stores -was not noticed either.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>All this scouting had to be done at night, of course, -and many were his narrow escapes while engaged in -this most perilous undertaking.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>venture</i> and little <i>gain</i>.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_212.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">“I’M A STOWAWAY. I’VE BEEN IN THE HOLD SINCE<br /> WE LEFT -NEW YORK.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span>“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 -<i>not</i>, I might know better how to act when I do try to -escape.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Guess I’d better not stay,” thought the stowaway -nervously. “But I must have a drink.”</p> - -<p>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,</p> - -<p>“What are <i>you</i> doing here?”</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>“Who are you? What do you want!” she repeated, -eying him fearlessly, though with a puzzled -expression of countenance. “I never remember having -seen <i>you</i> before.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Why don’t you answer me?” she demanded in -vexation, as Brandon continued silent.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Another stowaway!” she exclaimed, but in a lower -tone. “Why father found one just before we left -port.”</p> - -<p>“I know it,” returned Brandon. “He was with -me. What did they do with him?”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Because I <i>had</i> 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.</p> - -<p>“No, no!” cried the girl, drawing back, “I do not -want your money.”</p> - -<p>“Then I shall leave it, as I first intended, on the -cabin table when we get to Savannah.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span>“But the men will find you when we get in, even -if I <i>don’t</i> tell father.”</p> - -<p>“I hope not,” Brandon replied, so earnestly that -the captain’s daughter looked at him curiously.</p> - -<p>“Is there anybody aboard whom you fear?” she -asked shrewdly.</p> - -<p>“Yes, there is. It is that evil looking man—the -one who has chartered the brig—Jim Leroyd.”</p> - -<p>“He!” she exclaimed, in surprise. Then after a -little silence she added:</p> - -<p>“He <i>is</i> 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.</p> - -<p>“It is a strange thing—this searching for a derelict -brig—any way. I tell father that there is something -wrong back of it.”</p> - -<p>“There <i>is</i>,” Brandon declared. “I don’t dare tell -you about it now. You won’t let anybody know I’m -here, will you?”</p> - -<p>“No—o, I’ll promise that. It wasn’t right to stow -yourself away aboard the brig, but you look honest—although -you <i>are</i> awfully dirty and ragged,” said this -most plain spoken young lady.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“Milly Frank.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[216]</span>“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.”</p> - -<p>“But how do you expect to get out?”</p> - -<p>“I hope we’ll get to port in the night. If we do, -then I’ll try to slip out through the cabin.”</p> - -<p>“Somebody will catch you.”</p> - -<p>“I hope not.”</p> - -<p>“We-ell, I <i>hope</i>, 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.”</p> - -<p>She knocked twice in succession, but lightly, so that -nobody might hear her but the stowaway.</p> - -<p>“Thank you—thank you!” murmured the boy, -and then he shut the trap quickly, for a heavy step -sounded from the cabin without.</p> - -<p>Somebody had come down from the deck—probably -the officer of the watch.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXX<br /> - - -<small>SHOWING WHAT MISS MILLY DOES FOR BRANDON</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Brandon</span> 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 <i>did</i> hear anything, Milly evidently convinced -him that there was nothing unusual going on, -for Brandon was not disturbed.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span> -days, and he no longer had to leave the hold on midnight -foraging expeditions.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>Slowly, indeed, did that day pass.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>There was both a first and second mate on the Success.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Is the coast clear?” he asked anxiously.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>freeze</i> him out,” and the merry girl -laughed softly.</p> - -<p>“But Leroyd?” pursued Brandon.</p> - -<p>“He’s gone, too.”</p> - -<p>“To bed?”</p> - -<p>“No; up the street. I hope you can get off the -brig before any of them get back. Now hurry.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span>“You’re a good girl, Miss Milly. I hope I shall -be able to repay you some time.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“It is to pay for the stores I broke into below. -Take it, and put it where your father will see it. -Good by.”</p> - -<p>He started up the ladder, but came back again to -ask,</p> - -<p>“Is there a steamer in the bay? Did you get in -time enough to see?”</p> - -<p>“Lots of them.”</p> - -<p>“No, I should have said a whaleback steamer?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“That’s it,” said Brandon eagerly.</p> - -<p>“Yes, there <i>is</i> 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?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. My friends are aboard her.”</p> - -<p>“Then you will find them,” she returned delightedly. -“That funny boat lies not far from our dock. -Now go, or somebody will catch you.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Now’s my chance,” muttered Don, and springing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[221]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>It was Caleb Wetherbee!</p> - -<p>“Oh, Cale!” Brandon almost shouted, and running -forward fairly threw himself into the sailor’s arms.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>But in a moment, he pushed the boy away from -him and holding him by both shoulders, peered down -upon him curiously.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I <i>have</i> 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?”</p> - -<p>“I did, my lad.”</p> - -<p>“And Swivel himself?”</p> - -<p>“He’s aboard the steamer.”</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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’.”</p> - -<p>“What’s that, Caleb?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll do so right now,” declared the big captain. -“Come on. My boat’s down here. Number Three -lays off some way.”</p> - -<p>He hurried Brandon down to the dock, and they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[224]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXXI<br /> - - -<small>WHEREIN NUMBER THREE APPROACHES THE SUPPOSED -VICINITY OF THE SILVER SWAN</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">We’ll</span> 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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Before he was presentable again, Number Three -had steam up (the fires had only been banked), and -was moving slowly away from Savannah.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Brandon complied with his request, giving fullest -details of his incarceration in the hold of the Success.</p> - -<p>“That ’ere is a mighty plucky girl,” was Caleb’s admiring -comment when the tale was finished. “What -d’ye say her name was?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[225]</span>“Milly Frank; the cap’n is her father, and he owns -the brig himself.”</p> - -<p>“Frank—Frank,” repeated Caleb slowly. “That -has a familiar sound.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“I have it!” suddenly exclaimed Caleb, smiting his -thigh.</p> - -<p>“Well?”</p> - -<p>“Frank was the name of the chap as Adoniram’s -sister married—the little one, ye know.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“’Twould tickle ’Doniram ’most to death to know -he had a niece,” Caleb said.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>The captain of the whaleback drew a telegram from -his pocket and passed it over to his young second officer.</p> - -<p>“That’s from ’Doniram. As I said, I got it this -afternoon.”</p> - -<p>This was the message:</p> - - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[226]</span>Rio steamship Creole Prince arrived this a. m., reports Silver -Swan as being sighted March 23rd, latitude 27:18, longitude -68:30.</p> -</div> - -<p>“Still moving northeast, isn’t she?” Brandon said, -handing back the yellow slip.</p> - -<p>“In course.”</p> - -<p>“And what was that you told me about the Kearsarge?”</p> - -<p>“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:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>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.</p> -</div> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Right, lad. An’ we <i>will</i> find her, too,” said Caleb -hopefully.</p> - -<p>“And about Swivel,” went on Don, changing the -subject; “where is he?”</p> - -<p>“He’s below with the men. Smart lad, he is, an’ -I reckon we’ll make quite a man of him yet.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[227]</span>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The swift steamer kept on her southeasterly course -for several days without incident of importance. No -derelicts were sighted, and but few vessels.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The whaleback passed the Bermudas low down on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[228]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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:</p> - -<p>“Wreck—dead ahead, sir!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[229]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXXII<br /> - - -<small>RELATING HOW THE SILVER SWAN WAS HEARD FROM</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">As</span> the sun rose and lit up the sea more fully Brandon -could plainly view the wreck which the steamer -was now rapidly approaching.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“That’s never the Silver Swan, lad,” Caleb declared. -“She was swept as clean as a whistle. This -was a square rigged vessel, however.”</p> - -<p>The steamer ran in very close to the wreck, and -Brandon made out the words, “Porpoise, New -Haven,” under the bows.</p> - -<p>The derelict gave every appearance of being what -Mr. Coffin called “an old stager,” and labored in the -seas most heavily.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[230]</span> -know how to run that battery Mr. Pepper had put -aboard.”</p> - -<p>“Aye, aye, sir,” the first officer replied, and bustled -away to order a boat launched at once.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>To the satisfaction of the captain of Number Three,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[231]</span> -the City of Havana’s commander could, and did, give -him some information about the derelict brig of which -they were in search.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>This news was hailed joyfully by Caleb and Brandon, -and the course of the whaleback was changed a -little more to the east.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Finally, after a day or two of this, a dead calm occurred, -and Caleb shook his head sagely.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[232]</span> -shocks as easily as she had the choppy waves which -preceded the gale.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Brandon had never contemplated what a storm at -sea meant before and he was thankful indeed that he -was not upon a sailing vessel.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Late in the afternoon of the second day, however, -the lookout, who was lashed to the top of the wheelhouse, -reported a wreck ahead.</p> - -<p>At first Caleb and Brandon, who were both armed -with glasses, could not make it out clearly enough to -decide what it was.</p> - -<p>Finally the old seaman declared with conviction.</p> - -<p>“It’s the hull of a vessel an’ her masts have been -carried away sure.”</p> - -<p>“Do you think it is the brig, Caleb?” the young -second mate asked eagerly.</p> - -<p>“Ye got me there. It <i>may</i> be, and then ag’in it -may not. We’ll run down an’ see.”</p> - -<p>The storm was by no means abating and Caleb -dared not run very close to the wreck.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[233]</span>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.</p> - -<p>Suddenly Swivel’s sharp eyes caught sight of something -which the others had not seen.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a signal!” Mr. Coffin declared. “There’s -some poor soul on the wreck. See—there he is.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Great Heavens!” exclaimed Mr. Coffin, strongly -moved by the scene. “What shall we do? No mortal -man can help him in this gale.”</p> - -<p>“We must do something,” Caleb replied.</p> - -<p>“A boat couldn’t live in this sea, sir,” said the first -officer despairingly.</p> - -<p>“We must try to throw him a line.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[234]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXXIII<br /> - - -<small>IN WHICH COMRADES IN COURAGE LAUNCH THEMSELVES -UPON THE DEEP</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Brandon’s</span> 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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Caleb seized his own glass again, and Mr. Bolin -dived into the cabin for his.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>He knew the face which was turned pleadingly -toward the steamer—the powerful glass revealed -every feature clearly.</p> - -<p>It was Milly Frank!</p> - -<p>At the instant of Brandon’s discovery, the steamer -gave a sudden roll, and he was thrown partially from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[235]</span> -his balance and his glass wavered an instant from the -girl’s face.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>girl</i> -is the captain’s daughter!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it can’t be, lad!” cried the old man, unwilling -to believe such a fact possible.</p> - -<p>“It is the Success—I see her name,” Mr. Bolin -declared.</p> - -<p>“Poor little girl! poor little girl!” exclaimed the -honest old sailor brokenly. “We can’t stand here and -see her perish.”</p> - -<p>“I shan’t,” Brandon affirmed, passing his own glass -to Mr. Coffin.</p> - -<p>“What can you do, lad?” queried Caleb. “The -gale’s not abating a mite.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“An’ it’s Adoniram’s niece—no doubt of it,” murmured -Caleb.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[236]</span>“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.”</p> - -<p>“And the girl probably couldn’t fasten it, if we -did,” added Mr. Bolin.</p> - -<p>“Then we must do something else. Run by her, -Caleb, and I’ll carry a rope to the brig.”</p> - -<p>“You’re crazy!” cried Mr. Coffin.</p> - -<p>“Maybe I am,” Brandon returned, his face white -and set; “but I shall do it.”</p> - -<p>Swivel, who was clinging to a guard rope within -hearing, struck in with him.</p> - -<p>“Lemme do it, Brandon—I mean Mr. Tarr. I kin -swim like a fish.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Cap’n Tarr right over again,” Caleb muttered.</p> - -<p>Then he turned suddenly upon his young second -officer.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Before the words were scarcely out of the captain’s -mouth, Brandon had kicked off his light shoes.</p> - -<p>Swivel, who could not be taught strict quarter deck -manners, followed the young officer’s example.</p> - -<p>“What are you about, you young limb o’ Satan?” -demanded Mr. Coffin, catching hint at this.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[237]</span>“Ef he goes, I’m goin’ an’ you ain’t goin’ ter stop -me, Mr. Coffin,” announced the gamin. “I’m in dis!”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Come back here!” roared the first mate angrily. -“I’ll rope’s end you, you little scamp!”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>He had no idea how furious the waves were until<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[238]</span> -he was among them, battling for his life, and trying -to reach the distant brig.</p> - -<p>It was a terrific struggle, lasting perhaps not five -minutes, but a few more seconds would have completely -exhausted him.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>In another moment Brandon was aboard the brig, -and had pulled Swivel over the rail after him.</p> - -<p>“Wot—did—I—tell—ye?” gasped the gamin, -whose spirit no amount of danger could quench. -“Two heads <i>is</i> better’n one, ef one <i>is</i> a cabbage head. -Where’s de girl?”</p> - -<p>But Milly was already creeping forward to their -position on her hands and knees.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>Then she recognized Brandon.</p> - -<p>“You?” she exclaimed, in surprise. “I never -thought of you being on that steamer.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“You couldn’t risk any more,” she declared firmly; -“for you’ve risked your life.”</p> - -<p>Meanwhile Swivel was signaling to those on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[239]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>It was hard work. The heavy rope was wet and -unmanageable, and the strain on their young muscles -was terrible.</p> - -<p>Milly worked as unceasingly as did the two boys, -but the cable came across the tossing waves but slowly.</p> - -<p>“Where are the crew—where is your father?” -asked Brandon.</p> - -<p>The girl’s face worked pitifully at this question.</p> - -<p>“Father is dead,” she sobbed, “and the crew took -to the boats while I was below. That was early this -morning.”</p> - -<p>“And you’ve been here alone ever since!” said -Brandon pityingly.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>All three were sent sprawling on the deck.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” gasped Milly.</p> - -<p>“The rope’s parted,” cried Brandon in horror.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>Brandon only groaned.</p> - -<p>“Where is it?” shrieked the other lad, fairly shaking -him in his impatience.</p> - -<p>“I cast it loose,” was the disheartening reply. “It -is gone!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[240]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXXIV<br /> - - -<small>THE INCIDENTS OF A NIGHT OF PERIL</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Night</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“Don’t ye lose heart, missy,” Swivel declared, with -a courage he was far from feeling. “Th’ ship hain’t -sunk.”</p> - -<p>“No one but God Himself knows how long it will -keep afloat, though,” Brandon returned despairingly.</p> - -<p>“And the gale is increasing again, too,” added Milly -softly.</p> - -<p>“This is the last end of it, that’s wot I think,” declared -Swivel cheerfully. “It’ll blow itself out now -purty soon.”</p> - -<p>Brandon could not look at the situation thus hopefully,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[241]</span> -but he determined to say nothing further to make -the girl despair.</p> - -<p>Swivel’s tone shamed him into thinking of her -rather than of himself.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[242]</span>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Aren’t there any rockets aboard?” asked Brandon -of the captain’s daughter.</p> - -<p>“There may be, but I do not know where,” the girl -replied; “and the cabin is half filled with water, too.”</p> - -<p>“Never mind if it is; I believe I’ll try to find them. -There must be something of the kind aboard.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[243]</span>“Ye’d better stay here,” Swivel warned him anxiously. -“I don’t like ter see ye git out o’ sight.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you think I can take care of myself?” -Brandon demanded.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m going to try to get into the cabin,” -Brandon added. “Nothing ventured, nothing -gained.”</p> - -<p>He unfastened the rope from about his waist, and -in spite of the objections of his two companions, crept -aft toward the cabin companionway.</p> - -<p>The feat was not of the easiest, as he quickly found; -but once having determined to do it, he would not give -up.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Just as he reached the deck one of these sudden -squalls occurred, and a huge green roller swept in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[244]</span> -over the stern of the brig, and advanced with lightning -speed along the deck, sweeping wreckage and all else -before it.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>As it passed, there was a sudden crack forward, and -even above the shriek of the gale, he heard Swivel’s -cry of alarm.</p> - -<p>With a rush and roar like the fall of a mighty forest -tree, the mast, splitting at the deck, toppled over -across the rail.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>But following the falling of the mast came a shriek -from Milly Frank which pierced his very soul.</p> - -<p>“Brandon! Brandon! Help!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Now him!” commanded the girl, and pulling in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[245]</span> -the line which was still attached to her waist, Brandon -drew the form of Swivel out of the waves.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“I hope he isn’t dead—oh, I hope not!” Brandon -returned, kneeling down beside the motionless boy, -and chafing his forehead tenderly.</p> - -<p>Milly took one of the poor street gamin’s hands in -her own and chafed it likewise.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>There on the storm swept deck Milly and Brandon -knelt for nearly an hour before the unconscious boy -showed the least sign of life.</p> - -<p>Then the eyelids fluttered a little and he drew in his -breath with a slight sigh.</p> - -<p>“He’s coming to!” Brandon exclaimed.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>At last he whispered brokenly.</p> - -<p>“Don’t—don’t—fret yerself—missy—I’m—I’m -goin’ ter be all right.”</p> - -<p>“Are you in pain, Swivel?” queried Brandon, having -almost to shout to make himself heard.</p> - -<p>Milly was crying softly. The strain of the last<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[246]</span> -twenty hours was beginning to tell on even her bravery -and fortitude.</p> - -<p>“Dret—dretful!” gasped the injured boy weakly.</p> - -<p>Brandon had to place his ear almost to his lips to -distinguish his words.</p> - -<p>“Right—here,” and he laid his hand feebly on his -chest.</p> - -<p>“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. -<i>Do</i> you think the morning will ever come, Brandon?”</p> - -<p>“I’m afraid it will come very soon for him, poor -boy,” replied Don meaningly, and there were tears in -his own eyes.</p> - -<p>Swivel had closed his eyes and a strange, grayish -pallor was spreading over his drawn features.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“<i>Is</i> it morning now?” he asked feebly.</p> - -<p>“No, no,” replied Brandon soothingly. “Not yet, -Swivel. Don’t exert yourself. Lie down again.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Milly uttered a startled gasp, but Brandon hastily -wiped the poor fellow’s lips, and after a moment the -hemorrhage ceased.</p> - -<p>But they looked at each other meaningly. They -had lost all hope now of the shock not proving fatal.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[247]</span>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Finally he attempted to speak again.</p> - -<p>“It’s—it’s hard—on me—ain’t it?” he gasped, -in Brandon’s ear. “I—I—don’ wanter die.”</p> - -<p>His friend did not know what to say in reply to -this, but Milly seized his hand and tried to comfort -him.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Mebbee—mebbee they won’t let me come.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, you may, if you ask, Swivel. Don’t you love -God?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>His voice was stronger now, but in a moment the -blood gushed from his lips again.</p> - -<p>“Don’t talk—oh, don’t talk, Swivel?” cried Brandon -beseechingly.</p> - -<p>“’Twon’t matter—not much,” the boy returned, after -a few minutes.</p> - -<p>He felt blindly for Brandon’s hand and seized it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[248]</span> -tightly. Milly, still kneeling on the opposite side, held -the other.</p> - -<p>“Can’t ye say a prayer, like—like that feller in the -mission did—er one o’ them hymns?” he muttered.</p> - -<p>The boy and girl crouching above him looked into -each other’s faces a moment in silence.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>One narrow band of light fell across her pale face -as she raised it toward the frowning heavens and began -to sing:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="first">“Jesus, Saviour, pilot me,</div> -<div class="verse">Over life’s tempestuous sea;</div> -<div class="verse">Unknown waves before me roll,</div> -<div class="verse">Hiding rock and treach’rous shoal:</div> -<div class="verse">Chart and compass come from the Thee:</div> -<div class="verse">Jesus, Saviour, pilot me.</div> -</div> -<div class="stanza"> -<div class="first">“When at last I near the shore,</div> -<div class="verse">And the fearful breakers roar</div> -<div class="verse">Twixt me and the peaceful rest,</div> -<div class="verse">Then, while leaning on Thy breast,</div> -<div class="verse">May I hear Thee say to me,</div> -<div class="verse">‘Fear not, I will pilot thee’!”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Faintly at first, but mounting higher and clearer, -rose the sweet girlish voice, and not only the poor<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[249]</span> -street gamin, but Brandon himself listened entranced.</p> - -<p>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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[250]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXXV<br /> - - -<small>SHOWING HOW CALEB APPEARED ON THE SCENE JUST -TOO LATE</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> 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.</p> - -<p>There was absolutely nothing that those aboard the -whaleback could do in that howling gale to assist in -the rescue of the castaways.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[251]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“Has she sunk?” queried Caleb in distress, as, in -company with his two remaining officers, he swept -the horizon with his glass.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Then we must turn about at once and run back,” -Caleb declared, and the necessary orders were given.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The day passed and night came on, however, without -a sign of the wreck appearing.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The day following they spoke several partially dismantled<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[252]</span> -vessels whose crews were beating into the -Bermudas for repairs. None of these, however, had -sighted the wreck of the Success.</p> - -<p>“They’ve gone to the bottom,” groaned poor Caleb -that afternoon, as he sat on the edge of the berth in -his stateroom.</p> - -<p>He could not sleep, but had taken Mr. Coffin’s advice -and tried to.</p> - -<p>“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?</p> - -<p>“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——”</p> - -<p>Just here he was interrupted in his soliloquy by the -hurried entrance of Mr. Bolin.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>But Caleb was out of the cabin before Mr. Bolin -had finished speaking, glass in hand.</p> - -<p>“Where is she?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Caleb got the range of the two vessels almost immediately,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[253]</span> -and it did not take a very long look to assure -him that his mate was right.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>They were still several miles away, however, and -could not see whether the wreck was boarded by those -in the small boat or not.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>Caleb had doubts in that direction himself.</p> - -<p>“I tell ye what it is,” he said: “the Success had -a mast for’ard. This one hain’t.”</p> - -<p>“It’s my opinion that’s the hull of a brig, just the -same,” Mr. Coffin declared.</p> - -<p>Suddenly Caleb uttered an exclamation.</p> - -<p>“That’s no steamship,” he declared. “See her -colors and open ports. Why, it’s a man o’ war!”</p> - -<p>“Right you are,” returned the mate.</p> - -<p>“It’s the Kearsarge,” added Mr. Bolin. “She was -to come down this way, you know. Going to the West -Indies.”</p> - -<p>“One of her duties was to blow up derelicts—the -Silver Swan among them. Suppose this hull is the -Swan!” cried Mr. Coffin.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[254]</span>Caleb had fairly grown white in spite of his tan.</p> - -<p>“Great Peter!” he ejaculated. “Look-er-there!”</p> - -<p>The small boat had left the side of the wreck, and -was now some distance away from her.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>He fairly groaned aloud, and in his excitement allowed -the costly glass to fall upon the deck, which -treatment did not materially benefit it.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 <i>this was</i> the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[255]</span> -Silver Swan; but he did not believe that they could -accomplish it. And he was right.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>And then, when it was too late, the officer in the -small boat discovered the approach of the whaleback.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“What craft is that you blew up?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“That was a derelict,” responded the officer, who -was an ensign, in surprise.</p> - -<p>“What was her name, d’ye know?”</p> - -<p>“She was sunken so low at the stern that we -couldn’t read her name.”</p> - -<p>“But can’t you guess?” cried Caleb, in great exasperation.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Well, for heavens’ sake, what was it?” burst forth<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[256]</span> -the wooden legged captain wildly. “Don’t beat -’round the bush any longer.”</p> - -<p>The ensign began to grow as red as a peony. The -old man’s manner of questioning ruffled his dignity -sorely.</p> - -<p>“To the best of my belief it was the brig Silver -Swan, of Boston, U. S. A.,” he declared stiffly.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[257]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXXVI<br /> - - -<small>THE CASTAWAYS ON THE BRIG SUCCESS</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">To</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>He wrapped one about Milly, and she made him -share it with her, when Swivel was more comfortable.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[258]</span> -the steamer had touched at Savannah and departed -the very night the Success got in.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Brandon and the captain’s daughter had ample time,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[259]</span> -before the sun appeared, to get very well acquainted -with each other.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>As soon as it <i>did</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Milly and Brandon ate a little solid food too, but -their companion was unable to do that.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Not a sign of her presence nor of the presence of -any vessel which might come to their assistance, appeared.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[260]</span>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.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” he asked, hastily making his appearance.</p> - -<p>“Look! look, Brandon!” cried the girl.</p> - -<p>She was standing up in the stern and looking over -the starboard side.</p> - -<p>Brandon hurried toward her and followed the direction -of her hand with his eyes.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Is it a wreck like this?” she inquired eagerly.</p> - -<p>“It must be,” said Brandon, after a careful examination.</p> - -<p>“Bring poor papa’s long glass up from his stateroom,” -cried Milly. “You can see it then more -plainly.”</p> - -<p>The boy hurried to obey this suggestion and quickly -brought the instrument from the dead captain’s cabin.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“There isn’t a sign of a spar upon it—it’s swept -as clean as this,” he continued. “There must have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[261]</span> -been many vessels treated that way in the storm. -Derelicts will be plentiful enough.”</p> - -<p>He stopped with a startled exclamation, and stared -at his companion in perplexity.</p> - -<p>“What is it, Brandon?” Milly asked, noting his -change of manner.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it couldn’t be possible, could it?” gasped the -girl. “That would be too wonderful a coincidence.”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>“If you could only get to her and see,” cried the -young girl anxiously.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>Milly, however, remained to watch the distant wreck -through the instrument.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Brandon, meanwhile, sitting beside the injured boy,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[262]</span> -who was now sleeping deeply, was turning over in -his mind the project he had suggested.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Finally, when Milly came up from the stern, he -broached his plan to her.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“What can we use for a raft?” the girl asked -slowly.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Can we launch a raft?” asked the practical Milly.</p> - -<p>“I believe we can. It is growing calmer all the -time, now, and the rail is so low at the stern that we<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[263]</span> -can push a well balanced raft into the sea and load it -afterward.”</p> - -<p>“And Swivel?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>And so they set to work at once at the task of building -a raft.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[264]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXXVII<br /> - - -<small>LEFT IN DOUBT</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Milly’s life, therefore, had made her hardy and -strong, although her education was limited in many -lines.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>With some trouble they managed to wrench away -the fastenings of the forward hatch, and with a heavy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[265]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>He brought two oars on deck also, and a square of -sailcloth which was bunglingly fashioned into a sail.</p> - -<p>Brandon proposed to leave nothing undone which -would make the success of their undertaking more -sure. Something <i>might</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Hurrah!” Brandon shouted. “It floats, and we -shall be able to get away.”</p> - -<p>He hastened to pull the hatch up under the brig’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[266]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Can—can you carry me, Don?” he asked faintly.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The sea had gone down very much now, and it was -therefore a simple matter to embark upon the hatch.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[267]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Soon the outlines of the latter became quite clearly -visible.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Can you see the stern, Milly?” Brandon asked, -in excitement.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Is there a name on it? The Swan had her name -on the stern?”</p> - -<p>“There is something on the stern, but it’s too far -off yet for me to be sure,” she replied.</p> - -<p>“The raft is behaving beautifully,” Brandon declared, -“and we shall be near enough presently for -you to be sure of what you <i>do</i> see.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Fifteen minutes passed before she uttered a word, -while Brandon watched her face with eager interest.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[268]</span> -Finally she passed him the glass and seized the steering -oar herself, although she said never a word.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“The Silver Swan—thank God!” he said.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Riches on a wreck won’t do us much good,” returned -Don grimly. “I’d rather be a pauper ashore.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, but somebody will come very quickly now to -take us off,” she said confidently.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps. But, did you ever think, that perhaps -somebody has been before us?”</p> - -<p>“How do you mean?”</p> - -<p>“Why, I mean that perhaps somebody has boarded -the brig already and secured the diamonds.”</p> - -<p>“Who?” asked the girl doubtfully. “Who knows -about it excepting your Mr. Wetherbee and that Leroyd -and his friend Weeks?”</p> - -<p>“Nobody that I know of.”</p> - -<p>“And nobody else knew where the jewels were hidden?”</p> - -<p>“Probably not.”</p> - -<p>“Then do you suppose the steamer has been here -first?”</p> - - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_268.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">LONG AND EARNESTLY DID HE EXAMINE THE LETTERING<br /> UPON IT THEN CLOSED THE GLASS WITH -A SNAP</p> - -<p>“Oh, no; Caleb would have towed the old Swan to -a place of safety if he had found her—especially if<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[269]</span> -she is as seaworthy as she appears to be from this -distance.”</p> - -<p>“Then what <i>do</i> you mean?” demanded Milly in exasperation.</p> - -<p>“What about Leroyd and Weeks?” asked Brandon -slowly.</p> - -<p>“Well, what about them?”</p> - -<p>“Do you suppose they are drowned?”</p> - -<p>“They may be.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[270]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXXVIII<br /> - - -<small>HOW THE ENEMY APPEARED</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Slowly</span> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Within two hours of the time the castaways had -been assured that the wreck they were nearing <i>was</i> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[271]</span>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>He knew his father’s well enough and looked in. -But he could not bear to enter that just now, and so<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[272]</span> -fixed upon one, which should have belonged to the second -mate, for the use of poor Swivel.</p> - -<p>He went back to Milly and the injured boy then, -and removed the latter to the brig’s cabin.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>Don glanced across the table at her curiously.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Come, come! don’t be foolish,” said practical Milly.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[273]</span> -“Take a look in the secret closet—wherever it is—or -I shall be tempted to do it myself.”</p> - -<p>Brandon, thus urged, rose and approached the companionway.</p> - -<p>“Third panel, on port side,” he repeated. “That -was Caleb’s direction, if I remember rightly. Now -let’s see.”</p> - -<p>He pressed on the designated panel, first one way -and then another. It seemed a trifle loose, but otherwise -refused to move.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“Bring the lamp, Milly,” he cried eagerly.</p> - -<p>The girl obeyed and held the light so that it might -illuminate the interior of the secret closet. There -was something in the compartment!</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Milly, quite as excited as himself, held the lamp -closer, watching his movements anxiously.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Diamonds! diamonds! thousands of dollars’ -worth!” cried Milly delightedly, running her fingers<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[274]</span> -through the little heap of glittering stones and letting -them fall in a flashing shower from her hands.</p> - -<p>The gems were uncut—at least by the hand of man—but -even in their crude state they sparkled wonderfully.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Whew!” whispered that youth, his eyes growing -round with wonder. “Wot a lot of shiners!”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>There were no very large gems among the lot, but -they were of fair size and of the purest white.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[275]</span> -had no more sinking spells, so that Milly and Brandon -began to hope for his recovery.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>But not a vessel appeared to gladden his lonely eyes.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Approaching the derelict brig, with a great expanse -of canvas spread to the fresh breeze, was a small<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[276]</span> -schooner, the water dashing white and frothy from her -bows!</p> - -<p>“Saved! saved!” gasped the girl. “Oh, thank -God!”</p> - -<p>While she had been below the vessel had come in -sight, and was now less than half a mile from the -wreck.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Brandon! Brandon!” she cried, running back to -the cabin and rapping on the door.</p> - -<p>“Aye, aye!” he shouted, and was out of his berth -in a moment.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” he asked, appearing in the cabin.</p> - -<p>“There is a schooner coming right for us!” cried -Milly, laughing and crying for joy. “I’ve just discovered -it. It’s about here.”</p> - -<p>She was about to dart out upon deck again, but -Brandon grasped her arm.</p> - -<p>“Wait, Milly,” he said cautiously. “Have they -seen you yet?”</p> - -<p>“No; but I want them to.”</p> - -<p>“Not yet. We don’t know what they may be. Let -me look at them,” said the boy rapidly.</p> - -<p>He seized the glass, and mounting to the top of the -stairs, peered out from the shelter of the companionway -at the strange schooner.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[277]</span>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!</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[278]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXXIX<br /> - - -<small>SHOWING HOW MR. WEEKS MADE HIS LAST MOVE</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">What</span> is it, Brandon?” gasped Milly, seeing the -look upon her companion’s face.</p> - -<p>“Look! look!” whispered the youth, thrusting the -glass into her hands.</p> - -<p>Milly gazed in terrified silence at the approaching -boat.</p> - -<p>She, as well as Don, at once recognized the villainous -Leroyd and his friend, Sneaky Al, and her heart sank -with fear.</p> - -<p>“What shall we do?” she inquired at last, turning -to Brandon.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“But what can you do against so many?” she returned, -with a hysteric laugh.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[279]</span>“Something—you’ll see. They shan’t hurt you -while I’m alive,” he declared earnestly.</p> - -<p>“But suppose they take us off with them—Swivel -and I?”</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Dash my top lights!” cried the sailor, as he caught -sight of the young girl standing there so silently.</p> - -<p>He retreated precipitately upon his friend Weeks, -who was almost as greatly astonished as himself.</p> - -<p>“How under the sun came you here, Miss Frank?” -demanded Sneaky Al, stepping forward.</p> - -<p>But Leroyd grabbed his arm and strove to drag him -back.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[280]</span>Weeks shook off his grasp in contempt.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“’Tis the work o’ Davy Jones hisself,” muttered the -sailor.</p> - -<p>The other two men, both low browed, sullen appearing -fellows looked on without comment.</p> - -<p>“How did you get here?” repeated Weeks.</p> - -<p>“We came from the Success just before she was -about to sink,” Milly declared. “Did you come to -save us?”</p> - -<p>“<i>Us?</i>” cried Weeks, in utter amazement. “For -goodness’ sake, who’s with you?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Brave chap!” muttered Weeks. “Where is he -now?”</p> - -<p>“There,” she said, pointing to the open door of the -stateroom in which Swivel was lying. “He is hurt.”</p> - -<p>“But that doesn’t explain how ye got here, miss,” -said the sailor suspiciously.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[281]</span>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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?”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m glad ter hear you gittin’ down ter business,” -declared Leroyd, with satisfaction. “Come,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[282]</span> -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.”</p> - -<p>The men departed and the sailor turned again to his -partner.</p> - -<p>“Hurry!” he exclaimed eagerly. “Where’s the -place you said they were hid? It’s somewhere in the -cabin here, isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Then send the gal on deck, too, and let’s rummage.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t care. Anything, so long’s we get ’em and -get out o’ here. Suppose—”</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -<p>Leroyd darted forward.</p> - -<p>“What is it? Is it there?” he cried.</p> - -<p>“The infernal luck! it’s empty!” shouted Weeks, -and with a volley of maledictions he staggered back -and dropped into the nearest chair.</p> - -<p>Leroyd was fairly purple.</p> - -<p>“Have you tricked me!” he yelled, seizing his partner -by the shoulders and shaking him.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[283]</span>“No, you fool! why should I trick you? That is -where Caleb Wetherbee said the diamonds were hid.”</p> - -<p>“Sh!” growled the sailor. “D’ye want that gal ter -know everything? She knows too much now.”</p> - -<p>“She doesn’t know anything about this; why should -she?”</p> - -<p>“Then, what’s become of them?”</p> - -<p>“I can tell you that,” returned Weeks. “Cale -Wetherbee’s been here.”</p> - -<p>“And left the Silver Swan a derelict—almost as -good as new—an’ him with a steamer?” roared Leroyd. -“Man, you’re dreaming!”</p> - -<p>“Then—what—has happened!” asked Alfred -Weeks slowly.</p> - -<p>“The gal—the gal here,” declared Leroyd, turning -fiercely upon Milly. “She’s found ’em, I tell ye!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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:</p> - -<p>“De steamer come—up queek. Mr. Leroyd! Dey -put off-a boat already.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>It was the whaleback steamer, Number Three!</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[284]</span>Already a boat had put off from the whaleback and -it was now being swiftly propelled toward the Silver -Swan.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Milly ran to the bows of the brig, with Leroyd close -behind her.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Weeks stopped Leroyd in his mad rush for the -girl, and whispered a few swift sentences in his ear. -Then he stepped forward.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[285]</span>“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.”</p> - -<p>“How long since you boarded her for that purpose?” -Mr. Coffin demanded, for Caleb was fairly -purple with rage and surprise.</p> - -<p>“Since half an hour ago,” replied Weeks calmly.</p> - -<p>“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!”</p> - -<p>The astounded company turned toward the cabin entrance -and beheld Brandon Tarr just appearing from -below.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">[286]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XL<br /> - - -<small>IN WHICH THE ENEMY IS DEFEATED AND THE QUEST OF -THE SILVER SWAN IS ENDED</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Brandon!</span>” shouted Caleb; “it’s the boy himself!”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“Git out o’ here, the hull kit an’ bilin’ of ye!” Caleb -roared, starting for the two men belonging to the -schooner.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[287]</span>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Swivel was taken aboard the steamer and carefully -examined by Lawrence Coffin, who was no mean surgeon,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">[288]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“Best place for him is the Marine Hospital,” declared -Mr. Coffin to Brandon and Caleb that night in -the steamer’s cabin.</p> - -<p>“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 <i>was</i>—nor nothing; but <i>that</i> boy ain’t -goin’ to lack a shelter as long as <i>I’m</i> alive.”</p> - -<p>“Best not take him on a sea voyage just yet, Mr. -Wetherbee,” responded Mr. Coffin seriously.</p> - -<p>“I don’t intend to. He’s goin’ ter live with me, -though.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Whew!” whistled Mr. Coffin. “And the whaleback?”</p> - -<p>“You’ll command her; that was the agreement I -made with Adoniram before we left New York.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you, Mr. Wetherbee,” exclaimed the first -officer gratefully. “But may I ask what you propose -to do?”</p> - -<p>“I shall retire from the sea—that is, from commandin’ -a ship, any way.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">[289]</span>“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.”</p> - -<p>Caleb grew very red in the face, and blew his nose -furiously.</p> - -<p>“He—he’ll get it, Mr. Coffin,” he said hesitatingly.</p> - -<p>Both Brandon and the first officer looked at the old -tar in blank amazement.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“It’s Miss Frances!” burst forth Brandon at -length.</p> - -<p>“It is her, my lad. An’ hain’t I right erbout her -bein’ a mighty trim one?”</p> - -<p>“She is, indeed! She’s splendid!” cried Brandon -enthusiastically, seizing his friend’s mighty palm.</p> - -<p>Mr. Coffin also offered his congratulations, but went -away afterward with rather a dazed look on his face.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>And as Brandon wrung his hand again he felt that -the old seaman fully deserved it all.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>In good time the whaleback, with her tow, the derelict -brig, arrived in New York, where the Silver<span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">[290]</span> -Swan was at once sent to the shipyard for repairs, and -is now doing her owner good service as a merchantman.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">[291]</span>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<p class="center">THE END</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="transnote"> -<p class="ph1">TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:</p> - -<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.</p> - -<p>Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.</p> - -<p>Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.</p> -</div></div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUEST OF THE SILVER SWAN ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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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