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+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76585 ***
+
+
+[Illustration: WHEN WADE SAW HE COULD NOT ESCAPE, HE LEAPED UPON THE
+RAIL, AND THEN JUMPED OVERBOARD.--Page 220.]
+
+
+
+
+  JUST HIS LUCK
+
+  BY
+  OLIVER OPTIC
+
+  BOSTON
+  LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.
+
+
+
+
+  COPYRIGHT, 1877, BY
+  LEE AND SHEPARD
+
+  COPYRIGHT, 1905, BY
+  ALICE ADAMS RUSSELL
+
+  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
+
+  JUST HIS LUCK
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+                                    PAGE
+               CHAPTER I.
+  PEACHES AND A HORSEWHIP              7
+
+               CHAPTER II.
+  SUPPERLESS TO BED                   15
+
+              CHAPTER III.
+  WHAT HAPPENED IN THE NIGHT          23
+
+               CHAPTER IV.
+  LODGINGS AFLOAT                     31
+
+               CHAPTER V.
+  HOW IT WAS DONE                     39
+
+               CHAPTER VI.
+  DOWN THE RIVER                      47
+
+              CHAPTER VII.
+  A STRIKE FOR INDEPENDENCE           55
+
+              CHAPTER VIII.
+  THE BATTLE IN THE BOAT              63
+
+               CHAPTER IX.
+  CAUGHT IN THE ACT                   71
+
+               CHAPTER X.
+  A STRAIGHTFORWARD STATEMENT         79
+
+               CHAPTER XI.
+  A HUNGRY SKIPPER                    87
+
+              CHAPTER XII.
+  WADE BROOKS MAKES A TRADE           95
+
+              CHAPTER XIII.
+  TWO WRONGS DON’T MAKE A RIGHT      103
+
+              CHAPTER XIV.
+  WADE BROOKS’S FRIEND               110
+
+               CHAPTER XV.
+  A NEW YORK SAINT                   118
+
+              CHAPTER XVI.
+  AN UNEXPECTED MEETING              126
+
+              CHAPTER XVII.
+  AT THE LODGING-HOUSE               133
+
+             CHAPTER XVIII.
+  A NIGHT ADVENTURE                  141
+
+              CHAPTER XIX.
+  AN EARLY BREAKFAST FOR TWO         149
+
+              CHAPTER XX.
+  A LATE DINNER                      157
+
+             CHAPTER XXI.
+  THE GHOST OF THE STATE-ROOM        165
+
+             CHAPTER XXII.
+  CAPT. BENDIG’S PROMISE             173
+
+            CHAPTER XXIII.
+  IMMENSE RICHES                     181
+
+             CHAPTER XXIV.
+  UNWELCOME PASSENGERS               189
+
+             CHAPTER XXV.
+  BOUND TO A SICKLY CLIMATE          197
+
+             CHAPTER XXVI.
+  ANOTHER UNEXPECTED MEETING         205
+
+            CHAPTER XXVII.
+  ESCAPED OVERBOARD                  213
+
+           CHAPTER XXVIII.
+  THE LORDS OF THE SEA               221
+
+             CHAPTER XXIX.
+  CAPT. BENDIG’S BLUNDER             229
+
+             CHAPTER XXX.
+  THE SEARCH AND THE ARREST          237
+
+             CHAPTER XXXI.
+  A FULL CONFESSION                  245
+
+             CHAPTER XXXII.
+  EVEN-HANDED JUSTICE                253
+
+            CHAPTER XXXIII.
+  THE WAY OF THE TRANSGRESSOR        261
+
+            CHAPTER XXXIV.
+  THE EMPLOYMENT OFFICE              269
+
+             CHAPTER XXXV.
+  THE BENEVOLENT BROKER              277
+
+            CHAPTER XXXVI.
+  THE NEW CASHIER                    285
+
+           CHAPTER XXXVII.
+  JUST HIS LUCK AGAIN!               293
+
+           CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+  HOLDING THE FORTRESS               301
+
+            CHAPTER XXXIX.
+  HOW IT WAS IN THE MORNING          309
+
+             CHAPTER XL.
+  GATHERING UP THE SWINDLERS         318
+
+            CHAPTER XLI.
+  THE TURNING OF THE TIDE            327
+
+
+
+
+JUST HIS LUCK.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+PEACHES AND A HORSEWHIP.
+
+
+“There are some peaches worth eating,” said Lon Trustleton to his two
+companions, as they passed an orchard of this delicious fruit on the
+river road, as it was called.
+
+“Them’s tip-top,” added Matthew Swikes: “I go for havin’ some on ’em.”
+
+“So I say,” replied Lon; and he leaped over the fence, followed by
+Matt. “Come along, Wade.”
+
+“No: I’m not going to steal anybody’s peaches,” answered Wade Brooks.
+
+“Oh, come along!” called Lon, the son of the rich Captain Trustleton,
+who lived on the hill near the village of Midhampton.
+
+“No: I won’t have any thing to do with the scrape. Besides, I have to
+go on an errand to the village,” said Wade.
+
+“See here, Wade Brooks, if you don’t come over here, I’ll break your
+skull,” continued Lon Trustleton, shaking his head to emphasize his
+words.
+
+“What for? for not stealing peaches?” added Wade, with a smile at the
+absurdity of the idea.
+
+“You want to set up for a goody; and when any thing is said about
+hooking peaches, you blow on Matt and me, that’s the way of it; and if
+you don’t come over here I’ll go over there--that’s all.”
+
+Matt Swikes was already shaking a tree filled with peaches, which
+were even more tempting to Wade than to his companions; for he was a
+friendless boy, whom no one fed with nice peaches. As the fruit was
+fully ripe, a great quantity came down when Matt shook the tree. He
+and Lon filled their pockets, and returned to the road as quickly as
+possible; for the consequences of stealing peaches were not always
+pleasant, though stolen fruit may be the sweetest.
+
+The first thing that Lon did when he was in the road was to bat Wade
+Brooks over the head, as he had promised to do.
+
+“What are you about, Lon?” demanded Wade Brooks, as he dodged the blow.
+
+“I told you I’d do it, and I will,” replied Lon, following up his
+victim, who tried to escape from him; but in the end he received
+several heavy blows.
+
+“What’s that for, I should like to know?” said the victim, when his
+persecutor seemed to be fully satisfied with the punishment he had
+inflicted.
+
+“I told you what it was for, while I was in the orchard. Now, if you
+ever say a word about this thing, I’ll give you a broken head that will
+last you longer than this one will. I don’t want any fellow canting
+where I am.”
+
+“I didn’t meddle with you,” replied Wade, who thought it a very hard
+case to be pounded for not stealing peaches. “If you want to steal
+peaches, that is your affair, and not mine.”
+
+“If you say any thing more about stealing, I’ll give you another dose
+now. Can’t a fellow help himself to a few peaches without it’s being
+called stealing?” demanded Lon, with a look of injured innocence.
+
+Wade Brooks did not think it was worth while to discuss the matter any
+more in just that manner, and he was silent. He walked behind his two
+companions, and wished they had been half a mile or more from him. He
+was a nobody, and Lon was the son of a rich man, even Matt Swikes,
+though only the son of a poor farmer, was a good deal better off than
+he was, though they both lived under the same roof.
+
+As the party approached the house of Mr. Garlick, who owned the
+peach-orchard they had entered, they found its occupant in the road,
+with a horsewhip in his hand. By his side stood his two hired men; and
+on the grass near him lay a large dog which had a very bad reputation
+and very sharp teeth.
+
+“I think we had better be moving in some other direction,” suggested
+Matt Swikes, when he saw the array of force before them.
+
+He halted as he spoke, and Lon did the same. Wade, who was innocent,
+continued on his way till he came up with Mr. Garlick, who, without any
+ceremony, gave him several hard cuts on the legs, and each one of the
+blows seemed to the victim to take the skin off.
+
+“I’ll teach you to steal my peaches,” said the exasperated farmer.
+
+“I did not touch your peaches: I did not get into the field,” pleaded
+Wade, who thought it was even harder to be whipped for stealing the
+peaches than it had been to be pounded for not stealing them.
+
+The farmer hit him several times more before Wade got out of the way;
+or, rather, till the attention of the persecutor was called to the
+other two. Lon and Matt were disposed to make their escape by jumping
+over the fence, and retreating in another direction.
+
+“Stop, there! if you try to run away, I’ll send my dog after you!”
+shouted Mr. Garlick.
+
+The dog was more dangerous than the man: indeed, he was so fierce that
+he was kept chained in the daytime, or Lon would not have dared to
+enter the orchard. The brute had no discretion in the use of his teeth,
+and had never read the law of the State relating to assaults. The
+farmer would be careful in the use of the whip; and Lon did not believe
+Garlick would dare to strike the son of Captain Trustleton. He put a
+bold face on the matter, and continued his walk towards his father’s
+house, which was on the same road.
+
+But Lon under-rated the pluck of the farmer; for, as soon as the boy
+was within his reach, he hit him the hardest cut he could administer
+with the whip; and, not satisfied with this, he gave him half a dozen
+more. The two hired men had placed themselves behind the boys in the
+road, so that they could not retreat; and the farmer thrashed them to
+his heart’s content.
+
+“Let me alone!” yelled Lon, and the whip cut his soul as much as the
+skin of his legs.
+
+“I’ll teach you to steal my peaches, you young villains!” roared the
+farmer.
+
+[Illustration: “I’LL TEACH YOU TO STEAL MY PEACHES, YOU YOUNG
+VILLAINS!”--Page 11.]
+
+“My father will give it to you for this!” cried Lon, smarting under the
+pain.
+
+Then Mr. Garlick rested Lon by giving it to Matt.
+
+“Let me alone,” groaned Matt, writhing under the torture. “I did not
+touch your peaches. It was the fellow that has gone ahead.”
+
+That was the sort of a fellow Matt Swikes was; and a little more of the
+whip would do him no harm.
+
+“I tell you it was the fellow that has gone ahead,” repeated Lon, when
+Garlick spelled Matt by turning his attention to the rich man’s son.
+“It was Wade Brooks that stole the peaches.”
+
+“I saw two of them in the orchard; but I don’t know which they were,”
+said one of the hired men.
+
+“They have got peaches in their pockets now,” said the other hired man.
+
+“Take hold of them, and empty their pockets,” said Mr. Garlick angrily.
+
+The hired men were stout fellows, and they rather enjoyed the job. They
+took the peaches from the pockets of the culprits, and laid them on the
+grass as carefully as though they had been little babies; for the fruit
+was of the choicest kind on the farm of the owner.
+
+“That proves that you did steal peaches; and my man saw you take them,”
+said Mr. Garlick, out of breath with excitement. “Here, Jacob, run
+after that other fellow, and see if he has got any in his pockets.”
+
+The man obeyed the order. Wade Brooks had not gone far; for he had
+halted at a safe distance from the scene to witness, if not to enjoy,
+the castigation of his tyrants. He was near enough to hear what was
+said, for the farmer spoke as though all the listeners were as deaf as
+posts.
+
+“Come, youngster, give up your peaches,” said Jacob, when he came to
+the place where Wade had halted.
+
+“I haven’t any peaches: I haven’t touched a peach this year,” pleaded
+Wade. “You will not find any about me; and I did not go into the
+orchard, and Lon Trustleton licked me because I wouldn’t.”
+
+“I must see for myself,” answered Jacob; and he did see for himself
+that the boy spoke the truth.
+
+“No peaches here; but you had better come up here, and tell the old man
+about it yourself. You do not look like one of the boys I saw in the
+peach-orchard.”
+
+“I was not one of them: I wouldn’t steal peaches,” pleaded Wade; and
+he felt as though his legs would not have smarted any more if he
+had stolen them; and being honest was very poor consolation at this
+time. As he approached the place where farmer Garlick was meeting
+out justice, he saw the judge give Lon and Matt another dose of the
+horsewhip; and he came to the conclusion that he had got off easy,
+compared with his more guilty companions.
+
+Jacob reported that he had found no peaches in the pockets of Wade
+Brooks, and that he thought he was not one of the boys he had seen in
+the peach-orchard.
+
+“He is the only one of us that did go into the orchard,” said Lon,
+uttering another abominable lie.
+
+The words were hardly out of his mouth when the farmer gave him half a
+dozen cuts with the whip. Lon was so mad, that he swore like a young
+pirate: his father used profane language, and why shouldn’t he?
+
+“Don’t tell me any more lies, you villain!” roared farmer Garlick.
+“Don’t tell me that this boy stole all the peaches, when I find he has
+none in his pockets, and yours are full of them.”
+
+“He asked us to keep them for him,” answered Matt, wishing to back
+up his friend; but the farmer gave him another dose for the lie he
+invented.
+
+“My boy, I am sorry I struck you with the whip; for I believe you did
+not go into the orchard,” said the farmer, turning to Wade.--“Give him
+three of the handsomest peaches of the lot.”
+
+“Lon Trustleton licked him because he would not go into the orchard,”
+said Jacob, as he gave Wade the fruit.
+
+“And he’ll do it again as soon as he gets a chance,” said Wade.
+
+“That’s so,” added Lon; and the remark cost him half a dozen cuts on
+the legs.
+
+“Now, Wade Brooks, you go along, and I will keep these fellows here
+till you are out of sight,” said the farmer.
+
+Wade went his way; and, when he was out of sight, Garlick told the
+thieves he had done with them till they stole some more of his fruit.
+It was no use for him to go to law to save his property, and he should
+look out for it himself.
+
+“You have not heard the last of this,” growled Lon, shaking his head in
+his wrath. “I will get even with you in some way. This will cost you
+more than all the peaches you will raise this year.”
+
+“It has given me some satisfaction, at any rate, whatever it may cost
+me. I want you to understand that a rich man’s son can’t rob me of my
+property without something being done.”
+
+The culprits departed as fast as their smarting legs would permit.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+SUPPERLESS TO BED.
+
+
+Wade Brooks had no long history to be related. He was an orphan, but
+not a foundling or any thing of that sort; and there is no chance of
+his turning out to be the son of an English baronet or of an American
+nabob. He was just what he seemed to be. His father had died a
+miserable sot, six months before the peach-orchard was invaded, and was
+buried at the expense of the town. Only a year before that event, his
+mother had passed away, the victim of a hard lot. But she had not lived
+in vain; for she was a good woman, and had left many good principles in
+the mind of her son and only child. No stone marked her resting-place
+in the churchyard, but her memory was preserved in the heart of her boy.
+
+Midhampton consisted of a considerable village, with a large farming
+territory. Not a few wealthy men who had made fortunes in the city had
+homes within its limits, for it was not more than sixty miles from
+New York City. On the river road were the residences of several such;
+though, after the highway passed the hill, it was bordered by no more
+handsome houses. The next dwelling was that of Philip Garlick, a
+decided man, who believed that his own property belonged to him. The
+next house was that of Obed Swikes, the father of Matthew Swikes. Matt
+was a bad boy; but he came honestly by the evil in his nature, for his
+father was the meanest man, by all odds, in the town of Midhampton.
+
+Just beyond Swikes’s house, which was an old, black, and rickety
+mansion, was the brook, by the side of which ran a lane down to the
+river. At its mouth the little river widened out into quite a bay, at
+the head of which were the ruins of the cabin in which Wade’s father
+had lived and died. It had been set on fire by some bad boys, it was
+thought, and had burned to the ground. It was owned by Obed Swikes,
+who had not been able to find another tenant for the shanty in this
+out-of-the-way place.
+
+Wade’s father had been a loafer: he had spent all his time wandering
+about the country on foot or in his boat, gunning and fishing for
+his living. In this way he made a scanty living, for, when he sold
+the product of his trips, he spent most of the money for liquor; and
+Wade often had to pick up his own food after his mother died. The old
+sail-boat which the sportsman used was still at the creek, as the place
+was called. Anybody used it who wished to do so. It had been a good
+boat in its day, and had a cuddy forward where the fisherman had often
+slept in his wanderings.
+
+After the death of Wade’s father, Obed Swikes had taken the boy into
+his own family. The orphan was twelve years old; and Swikes kept him
+at work so that he more than paid his keeping, for the keeping was
+about as mean as ever a boy knew. Wade lodged in the garret; and, as
+the house was badly out of repair, he was hardly sheltered from the
+weather. In the winter he often slept in a snow-bank; and, as his
+clothing was very meagre, he suffered a great deal from the cold.
+
+After Wade parted with his companions, he went to the village to do
+his errand. He hurried home, so as to make up the time he had lost in
+the peach scrape. He took care to eat the three peaches before he went
+into the village, for he knew that Lon and Matt would take them away
+from him if they found them in his possession. They were going to the
+village, and he might expect to meet them there.
+
+“Where on airth have you been all this time, Wade Brooks?” demanded
+Mrs. Swikes, as he entered the house on his return. “You’ve been gone
+over an hour.”
+
+“I couldn’t get back any sooner,” pleaded Wade; and, as the distance
+to the village was two miles, he had made the four miles in very good
+time, considering the time of which the bad boys had robbed him.
+
+“Yes, you could! you’ve been stopping on the way,” continued the old
+woman. “I’ve a great mind to give you a hiding for your laziness. We
+have to board and clothe you, and you don’t airn your salt. You belong
+in the poorhouse; and, if you don’t do better, we shall have to send
+you there.”
+
+But this was only a specimen of the abuse to which the boy was
+subjected every day of his life; and, with poor food and little
+clothing, he was almost disgusted with his efforts to get along in the
+world. If Obed Swikes’s tongue was not as cutting as that of his wife,
+he made it up by putting heavy burdens on the boy. He called him from
+his bed at daylight in the morning, and kept him at work till into the
+night on the farm and about the barn.
+
+When he had done his errand, he was set to work without any delay, at
+digging early potatoes in the garden, which Swikes was to take to the
+village to sell in the morning. He worked till dark, and then he was
+called to supper. He went into the house hungry as every growing boy
+is, and seated himself at the table. The family, consisting of five
+persons, had taken the meal an hour before; but Wade was required to
+work as long as he could see.
+
+Wade’s supper was a bowl of milk and a plate of brown bread,--very good
+if there had only been enough of it, and if it had not been his diet
+every night in the week. The boy did not complain of his food, for he
+had often seen the time when he could not get even this.
+
+“Have you seen any thing of Matthew?” asked Mrs. Swikes, as Wade seated
+himself at table.
+
+“Yes, marm: I saw him and Lon Trustleton as I was going over to the
+village,” replied the weary boy; but he was careful not to say any
+thing more. He knew it would cost him a pounding if he told the whole
+truth.
+
+“He hain’t been home to his supper yet,” added Mrs. Swikes. “Do you
+know where he is, Wade?”
+
+“No, marm. He didn’t tell me where he was going,” answered Wade.
+
+But at this moment Matt came into the kitchen to speak for himself. He
+was limping, and seemed to be very sore, as well he might be after such
+a castigation as he had received.
+
+“Where have you been, Matthew?” asked his mother, as the stealer of
+peaches dragged himself into the room. “What ails you? What makes you
+limp and squirm so?”
+
+Matthew was the only boy of the family: the other children were all
+girls; and, for this reason, his parents thought more of him than
+of all the others, and did their best to spoil him, and succeeded
+remarkably well. Mrs. Swikes was anxious when she saw that something
+ailed her son; and her tones were quite tender, compared with those she
+had used to Wade.
+
+“Garlick has been licking me with a horsewhip,” moaned Matt, bursting
+into tears, and breaking down completely in the presence of his mother.
+
+“Lickin’ you! What on airth did he do that for?” demanded the indignant
+mother.
+
+“He said I stole his peaches,” sobbed Matt; “but I didn’t. It was Wade
+Brooks that stole ’em, and laid it to Lon and me.”
+
+Without waiting to investigate this statement, Mrs. Swikes, who was a
+great raw-boned woman,--her husband had married her because he thought
+she would be able to do a good deal of work,--seized poor Wade, and
+dragged him from his chair at the table, upsetting his bowl of milk,
+and pitched him on the floor. The boy was an infant in her grasp, and
+he did not offer any resistance. The Amazon gazed at her prostrate
+victim, while her eyes glowed with hate and rage; then, resorting to a
+masculine accomplishment, she savagely kicked him in the ribs.
+
+“I didn’t steal any peaches,” pleaded Wade, as humbly as the case
+seemed to require: “I didn’t touch one of them.”
+
+“Yes, he did, mother. He told Garlick we did it; and Garlick give him
+three peaches for telling,” howled Matt, still blubbering like a baby.
+
+“Mr. Garlick did give me three peaches, but it was because he licked me
+when I did not deserve it,” pleaded Wade. “You can ask Mr. Garlick, and
+he will tell you the same thing.”
+
+“Ketch me asking Garlick any thing about it!” exclaimed Mrs. Swikes
+furiously. “I’ll take it out of his hide for licking my boy.”
+
+Wade was entirely willing she should do this, if she did not take it
+out of his own hide, which she was more likely to do.
+
+“He licked Lon Trustleton too; and, if you ask him, he will tell you
+just what I say,” whined Matt.
+
+Mrs. Swikes seized a green-hide, which was her husband’s wagon-whip,
+and began to belabor poor Wade with it. It was a terrible instrument of
+torture when applied to a boy’s skin, covered only with a pair of thin
+overalls. The boy did not cry out with the pain, for he had found that
+it did no good, and, the more he screamed, the worse he got it; but he
+could not endure the blows, and he made a spring for the open door.
+Mrs. Swikes followed him, and attempted to catch him; but, goaded by
+the instinct of self-preservation, he succeeded in getting out of the
+way.
+
+“Stop, you rascal!” shouted the Amazon. “Do you mean to run away from
+me? I’ll give you a double dose for this.”
+
+“What’s the matter now?” demanded Mr. Swikes, coming in from the barn
+at this point in the difficulty.
+
+The angry woman told him what the matter was; and Wade rested while
+she was doing so. He did not think it was prudent to run away. He felt
+that Mrs. Swikes’s promise would be redeemed, and he wished to make the
+penalty as light as possible. The father was as indignant as the mother
+had been at the punishment bestowed upon the only male hope of that old
+black house; but he was sometimes more reasonable than his wife. In a
+low tone he told her she must not lick the boy with a green-hide: they
+might have her up before the court for cruelty, as had been the case
+with Ethan Small. He would punish the boy. Possibly he had a suspicion
+that Wade told the truth, and Matt the lies. But Wade had been whipped
+enough, even if the charge against him was true; and he escaped any
+further beating, though he was sent to bed without his supper.
+
+Matt ate his supper, which was a better meal than that provided for
+the boy of all work, and he went to bed with a full stomach. The young
+villain was not half so badly damaged as he pretended to be. His legs
+did smart in the first of it, but he got over this before he reached
+his father’s house.
+
+But Wade’s complaining stomach did not allow him to sleep. He lay till
+he thought the family were all asleep; and then he left his garret, and
+crept down the stairs, which landed in the back room. All the family
+slept on the first floor, and Wade paused at the foot of the stairs
+to ascertain if any one was stirring. It was very dark in the back
+room, but he heard sounds as of some one creeping across the room. He
+retreated up two steps, and then saw the back-door opened. By the light
+it let in, he saw Matt go out, and close the door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+WHAT HAPPENED IN THE NIGHT.
+
+
+For a moment, Wade forgot that he was hungry. Matt was up to something.
+He moved as though he was not very lame. Wade opened the door, and
+looked to see which way the young rascal went. He saw him take the
+river road towards the village. Then Wade made his way to the pantry,
+where he found plenty of brown bread, but no butter or any thing else
+that was eatable; for Mrs. Swikes did not leave white bread (when there
+was any in the house) and pies where they could tempt the boy of all
+work. She thought he might be wicked enough to help himself.
+
+When he had secured all he wanted, he put out the match he had lighted,
+and was about to bear his plunder to the garret where he could appease
+his hunger without danger, when he heard the door of Mr. Swikes’s
+chamber opened. It was next to the kitchen. Poor Wade felt that he
+was in a scrape. Taking a few pieces of black bread was a high crime
+for him to commit in that house. The pantry was large, and he crawled
+behind the door.
+
+“I’m sure I heard some one in the kitchen,” said Mrs. Swikes; and she
+was one of those who often insist upon finding a man in the house.
+
+“I guess you was dreaming,” replied Mr. Swikes.
+
+“No, I wasn’t: I heard the floor squeak as it does when any one treads
+on it,” persisted the woman. “You’ve got two hundred dollars of money
+hid in that closet, and it’s worth coming here arter.”
+
+“But nobody knows I’ve got it.”
+
+“Strike a light, and see if it is safe,” continued Mrs. Swikes in the
+chamber.
+
+The farmer did light a candle; and, through a crack of the pantry door,
+Wade saw him put his hand in the lower left-hand corner of the closet
+over the fireplace.
+
+“It’s all right,” said Mr. Swikes, when he had completed his
+examination: “I don’t believe there is anybody in the house that don’t
+belong here.”
+
+With this he went to bed; but Wade heard them talking together for some
+time, and he dared not leave his hiding-place. He thought they would
+never go to sleep, after he had waited some time. The door leading to
+the cellar-stairs opened from this pantry, or “buttery” as Mrs. Swikes
+called it, and Wade saw that he might escape from his hiding-place in
+that way; but he was afraid to open the door while the old man and his
+wife were awake.
+
+At last they ceased to talk, and Wade decided to make the attempt to
+reach his chamber in the garret. He crept like a mouse to the buttery
+door; but before he could come out he saw a form between himself and
+a window, creeping into the kitchen from the back room. He could also
+see that the back-door was left open. The figure was of about his own
+height, and he did not suspect that it was a ghost or any other bird of
+the night. He concluded at once that it was Matt Swikes returning from
+some mischief-making tour. He knew that Matt did such things, and he
+believed that he had burned the shanty by the creek.
+
+Wade retreated to his former position behind the door of the pantry,
+thinking that Matt only intended to pass through the kitchen to his own
+room on the other side of the house. But the bad boy had other business
+in the kitchen. The door of the farmer’s bedroom was closed, and Wade
+had heard him lock it when he shut it. Matt struck a match, which threw
+a little light on the subject. Wade watched him with intense interest,
+and saw him place a chair before the mantle-piece, and then get up
+into it. It was clear enough to the observer by this time, that the
+objective point of the bad boy was the closet in which the money was
+concealed.
+
+Wade was filled with something like horror, as he saw Matt open the
+door of the closet; and he hoped the little villain’s father would
+wake, and discover what he was about. He knew that Matt was a bad boy,
+but he had not supposed he was wicked enough to steal his father’s
+money. He was on the point of interposing to prevent Matt from doing
+so bad a thing, but a noise in the farmer’s chamber prevented him
+from doing so. Besides, if he did so, Matt would lay it to him. But it
+was evident that the lady of the house had been disturbed again, for
+her voice could be heard in the bedroom. Matt took something from the
+closet, put it in his pocket, and then stepped down from the chair. He
+had put out his match, and Wade could see no more.
+
+Matt was not a very cunning rogue, for he did not cover his tracks by
+removing the chair in which he had stood. As soon as he had obtained
+his booty, he retreated from the room by the back-door. He could hardly
+have got out of the house before his father came from his chamber with
+a candle in his hand. Wade was by this time alarmed for his own safety.
+He might be found, and the crime of stealing the two hundred dollars
+laid to him. They certainly would do so if he was found out of his room
+at this time of night.
+
+Farmer Swikes looked at the chair before the mantle-piece, and he knew
+that he did not leave it there. He stopped to think about the matter
+for a moment. That chair could not have been there when he put his hand
+in the closet before: if it had been, he would have fallen over it.
+
+“I am sure I heard somebody in the kitchen,” said Mrs. Swikes, in the
+bedroom.
+
+“This chair wasn’t here when I came out before,” replied Mr. Swikes:
+“somebody has been here since I was.”
+
+“Is the money safe?” asked the woman; and to her this was the great
+question.
+
+The farmer put the chair out of the way, and thrust his hand into
+the closet. He felt all about for the old wallet that contained the
+treasure. His heart came up into his throat when he missed it. He tried
+to think just where he had placed it; but the little cupboard was not
+more than six inches deep, and it could not have strayed very far. It
+was not there; it was certainly gone. Somebody had stood in that chair,
+and reached into the closet for the money.
+
+“It is gone!” exclaimed farmer Swikes, as soon as he had satisfied
+himself of the fact.
+
+“Gone!” repeated Mrs. Swikes. “Who on airth could have taken it?”
+
+When she had partially dressed herself, she came out into the kitchen;
+and Wade saw on their faces an expression of utter despair. The boy of
+all work was satisfied that it would not be prudent for him to step
+out, and tell them their son was the thief. It would not be safe for
+him to do so, after the experience he had had that day.
+
+“It would been safer to put the money in the bank,” groaned farmer
+Swikes.
+
+“But who did it? It must be some one that knows about the house took
+it,” added Mrs. Swikes.
+
+“I found that chair under the mantletry-piece,” said the farmer, as he
+pointed to the chair he had found directly under the closet.
+
+“Then it must be somebody that couldn’t reach up to the closet without
+gittin’ into a chair,” added the logical Mrs. Swikes. “It was some
+boy; and I shouldn’t wonder if it was Wade Brooks. He’s bad enough to
+do sich a thing. Run right up to the garret, Obed, and see if he is
+there; and, if he is, sarch his pockets, and look all about the bed,”
+continued the woman, as she lighted another candle for her husband’s
+use on this mission.
+
+“Oh, dear!” groaned Wade, not audibly, but in spirit. “They’ll find I’m
+not there, and it will be all up with me.”
+
+The farmer went up stairs, and his wife stepped into her chamber for
+something as soon as he was gone. Wade took advantage of this momentary
+uncovering of the position to open the cellar door; but he did not
+trouble himself to close it, for fear that the noise might betray him.
+He dared not go down the stairs; for, like every thing about the house,
+they were old and rickety, and they would certainly creak when they
+were expected not to do so. He was still in a position to hear what was
+said in the kitchen.
+
+“He isn’t there!” groaned Swikes, returning to the kitchen. “He’s gone,
+and he may be half way to New York or some other place.”
+
+“I knew he done it!” exclaimed the female Swikes.
+
+“He done it because you licked him so in the evening,” groaned Swikes.
+“He’s gone and done it now.”
+
+“But we shall ketch him yet, and get the money back,” replied Mrs.
+Swikes, who did not like to be considered as the cause of the loss.
+
+“You’ll never see nothin’ more of that money,” added Swikes, with a
+heavy sigh. “You might been a little easier with him, and let him had
+some supper.”
+
+“He didn’t do it because he was licked, but because he is a bad boy,”
+retorted Mrs. Swikes. “I told you I was afraid he was corruptin’ our
+boy.”
+
+“He did it because he was licked with a green-hide; and boys won’t
+allus stand every thing,” replied Swikes petulantly.
+
+“Well, Obed, what are you a-doin’ on? while you stand here scoldin’ me,
+that boy is gittin’ away.”
+
+“What can I do?”
+
+“Harness your horse, and drive down to the village; you may ketch him,
+or hear sunthin’ on him.”
+
+“What’s all that noise out doors?” said Swikes, as he went to the
+window, and threw it wide open. “The bells is ringin’; and I hear folks
+in the road yellin’.”
+
+“There is a fire, as sure as you live!” exclaimed Mrs. Swikes, going to
+the window. “I can see the light on’t on the corn-house.”
+
+Swikes opened the door, and went out to the front of the house.
+
+“It’s Garlick’s barn, as sure as you was born!” cried Mrs. Swikes.
+“Somebody set that barn afire: it didn’t ketch without some help.”
+
+They passed out of Wade’s hearing. He knew they must go to the front
+of the house to see the barn which the woman said was on fire. They
+would not be likely to come in for a few minutes; and Wade came out of
+the cellar-way, and ran up to his room as fast as he could go, though
+he was careful not to make any unnecessary noise. In a moment he had
+gathered up all the clothes he had, consisting of a very indifferent
+suit he wore in the winter, and made haste to leave the house by the
+back door. He had not made up his mind what to do; but he made haste to
+leave that house.
+
+When he got out doors, he was afraid to leave the shadow of the house,
+for the fire made it as light as day all around him. He got behind the
+corn-house, where he could see the blazing barn: it was burning with
+tremendous fury, and in a few minutes there would be nothing left of
+it. Wade Brooks could form some idea of the person or persons who set
+that fire: he thought he could see a little way into Matt Swikes’s
+plans.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+LODGINGS AFLOAT.
+
+
+Wade Brooks felt like an innocent boy; and, being innocent, he was
+not willing to accept the penalty of guilt. He was to be a sort of
+sacrifice for the sins of Matt Swikes. Behind the corn-house he had
+time to think what he should do. He felt that he needed a friend. He
+wanted simple justice, which he could not get in the Swikes mansion.
+Then it came to him that Mr. Garlick, after he had whipped him for what
+he did not do, was sorry for his harshness, and had atoned for it by
+giving him three of the handsomest peaches he had ever seen.
+
+Mr. Philip Garlick was a just man, if he had taken the law into his own
+hand. Wade was almost sure that Matt had something to do with burning
+that barn. He had left the house in the night after his father and
+mother had gone to bed. He had come back again, stolen the wallet from
+the closet, and then left again. The fire broke out a short time after
+he went out the second time. Perhaps Lon Trustleton was concerned with
+him in the wicked deed. If so, they had burned the barn in revenge for
+the whipping they had received from Mr. Garlick.
+
+Wade Brooks was willing to tell Mr. Garlick what he knew about the
+movements of Matt Swikes. He was certainly under no obligations to
+the Swikeses, and he knew that it was not right to cover up a crime.
+He would see Mr. Garlick in the morning, and tell him all he knew
+about the business. It was not likely that Matt would be anywhere near
+Midhampton in the morning, for it was plain to Wade that he had stolen
+the money from the closet to pay his expenses on a runaway trip.
+
+In fifteen minutes the fire had consumed all the matter in the barn
+that would burn, and the light had subsided. Wade deemed it safe for
+him to retreat now, and he moved off in the rear of the house. A short
+walk brought him to the brook, which reminded him of the old sail-boat
+his father had owned. The cuddy would be a good place for him to pass
+the rest of the night, for there was some meadow hay in it for a bed.
+This was the best arrangement he could think of for the night, and he
+hastened to carry out the plan. When he reached the river road, which
+he was obliged to cross to get to the creek, he saw several vehicles
+approaching. He concluded that they were filled with persons who had
+been to the fire, and he concealed himself under some bushes till they
+had passed.
+
+“The fire was set, you may depend upon it,” said a man in a wagon, as
+he passed the place where Wade was concealed.
+
+“I heard that Garlick suspects it was done by Capt. Trustleton’s son
+and Swikes’s boy,” said another man in the wagon.
+
+“I heard that; and also that Garlick had horsewhipped these boys for
+stealing his peaches,” added the first speaker.
+
+The wagon passed on, and Wade heard no more that was said. The truth
+was coming out sooner than he expected. Though it was nothing but a
+suspicion, it had a correct foundation. He wondered what Swikes and his
+wife would say the next day when they heard the news. So far as Wade
+knew, Matt’s father and mother had not discovered his absence from the
+house. If his mother went to his chamber to tell him about the fire,
+and found he was not there, she would naturally suppose he had seen it,
+and gone to it.
+
+Wade crossed the road as soon as the vehicles had all passed, and made
+his way to the sail-boat in the creek. He hauled her in, and went on
+board of her. For a boat so old, and which had been so much abused
+since the death of her owner, she was very dry and tight. The night
+was rather chilly, and Wade felt cold in his thin overalls. He dressed
+himself in the clothes he had brought from his chamber. Rolling up the
+garments he had taken off, he used the bundle for a pillow, and lay
+down on the bed of hay. It was not the first time he had slept in the
+boat; and, on the whole, he thought it was a better place than the
+garret he occupied.
+
+He closed the door of the cuddy so as to keep out the night air, and
+fastened it on the inside, for the hook his father had put on the door
+for this purpose was still available. Wade had worked very hard all
+the day, to say nothing of the excitement he had passed through; and
+he was tired and sleepy. He had eaten the brown bread taken from the
+pantry while he was behind the corn-house; for he did not forget at any
+time before that he was hungry, or not for more than a few minutes at a
+time. He was therefore in good condition to go to sleep, and he did go
+to sleep as soon as he was comfortable in his bed of hay.
+
+It was not more than ten o’clock in the evening when the fire broke
+out, and it was not after eleven when Wade went to sleep. He slept
+very soundly, as a weary boy should. If any one had pounded on the
+half-deck above his head, it would hardly have waked him. After the
+fire had burned out all the remnants of Mr. Garlick’s barn, the people
+of Midhampton went to their homes; and not even a detail of firemen was
+left to watch the smouldering embers. No doubt the people of the town
+slept better after they returned to their beds.
+
+While the fire was still burning, Capt. Trustleton walked over to
+the house of Obed Swikes. It was not till the worst of the fire was
+subsided, that he appeared; and Wade had gone to the creek.
+
+“I suppose you have heard the bad news,” said the captain to the
+Swikeses, whom he found still in front of the old black house,
+watching the dying-out of the fire.
+
+“No! what bad news?” demanded Swikes, with a start.
+
+“Haven’t you heard any thing about it?” continued the retired
+shipmaster, in evident surprise.
+
+“Heard about what? I don’t know what you are talking about,” replied
+Swikes.
+
+“I supposed you must have heard it, for it is in everybody’s mouth, and
+it has come to me a dozen times since I came out of the house to see
+where the fire was,” added Capt. Trustleton, still giving no hint of
+the nature of the bad news.
+
+“What’s in everybody’s mouth? I haven’t been any further from the house
+than this; and I hain’t heerd a word about any thing,” said the puzzled
+farmer.
+
+“What on airth is it, Capt. Trustleton?” asked Mrs. Swikes, whose
+curiosity had been roused to the highest pitch.
+
+“It will come hard on you as it did on me when I first heard it,” added
+the captain, who did not seem to be very willing to tell the hard news,
+or at least to be the first to break it to the Swikeses. “It is said
+that your boy and mine are concerned in setting that barn on fire.”
+
+“Good gracious!” exclaimed farmer Swikes.
+
+“It’s a wicked lie!” protested Mrs. Swikes.
+
+“I hope it is, marm; but I confess it looks rather bad for the boys,”
+replied Capt. Trustleton.
+
+“I know it ain’t so!” repeated the woman. “My boy would no more do
+such a thing than he would cut his father’s throat. Now I think on’t,
+Matthew hasn’t been out of the house to-night. He was so tired that the
+noise didn’t wake him, and he has slept through the whole on’t.”
+
+“Are you sure of it, Mrs. Swikes?” asked the captain with deep
+interest; for, if Matt was abed, it might be that his own boy was also
+innocent.
+
+“Of course I’m sure on’t,” replied the mother of the hopeful son. “I
+haven’t seen nothin’ on him; and I know I should if he had been about.”
+
+The heart of the captain sank within him as the hope died out of his
+heart.
+
+“I think you had better look into his chamber, and see whether he is
+there,” suggested Capt. Trustleton.
+
+“I’ll do it this minute; and you’ll find that Matthew hasn’t been out
+of the house,” said Mrs. Swikes confidently.
+
+She led the way into the house by the front door, followed by her
+husband and the captain. Matt’s chamber opened out of the front entry;
+and his mother, after getting the candle in the kitchen, passed into
+the boy’s room. The solution was full of interest to the parents of
+both of the bad boys, and the two fathers followed the confident mother
+into the apartment of Matt.
+
+The bed was empty. Capt. Trustleton had expected this result of the
+investigation. He was afraid the charge against the boys was true.
+
+“I was never so astonished in all my life!” exclaimed Mrs. Swikes. “I
+was sure Matthew was in his bed. He is a very good boy, and I never
+knew him to do any thing wrong.”
+
+If she spoke the truth, she was almost the only one in town who had
+never known Matt Swikes to do any thing wrong. But then, Matt was a
+spoiled child.
+
+“I have had a talk with Garlick; and he says he horsewhipped my boy
+and yours for stealing his finest peaches,” said Capt. Trustleton. “He
+thinks they set his barn on fire to be revenged on him.”
+
+“But Matthew said it was Wade Brooks that stole the peaches,”
+interposed Mrs. Swikes, “and then laid it to your boy and mine.”
+
+“Garlick told me about that. It seems that Alonzo and Matthew laid it
+to Wade; but the peaches were found on your son and mine.”
+
+“I declare. I don’t believe my boy would steal peaches, or any thing
+else,” persisted the mother of the hopeful son. “But we know that Wade
+Brooks will steal, for husband had two hundred dollars in the house,
+and he stole it this very night,” continued Matt’s mother.
+
+“Wade stole it! Are you sure of that?” asked the captain.
+
+“The money is gone, and so is Wade.”
+
+“And so is Matthew,” added Capt. Trustleton.
+
+“You don’t mean to say that you think my son stole the money?”
+demanded the mother of Matt indignantly.
+
+“I think it more likely than that Wade Brooks stole it,” replied the
+captain. “This is a bad scrape for the boys, and it may cost them some
+years in the penitentiary. I do not know that money will save them. If
+it will, it will cost us about a thousand dollars apiece.”
+
+Farmer Swikes groaned in anguish at the prospect.
+
+“I am afraid the stealing of the money only shows that the boys are
+guilty, and intend to clear out to avoid the penalty of the crime. The
+money was stolen to pay the expenses of the journey. Perhaps I shall
+find that my boy has robbed me of some money. We had better look these
+things fairly in the face, and provide for the worst. I will see you
+again in the morning.”
+
+Capt. Trustleton departed for his elegant house; and he would have
+given the whole of it to have his son out of this scrape. The Swikeses
+had enough to keep them awake that night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+HOW IT WAS DONE.
+
+
+Mrs. Swikes hardly closed her eyes on the night of the fire; and half
+a dozen times before morning she went to Matt’s room to see whether he
+had returned or not. He was not seen again that night.
+
+When Capt. Trustleton reached his magnificent house, he went to the
+chamber of Alonzo to see if he was there. The room was without its
+occupant, though it was eleven o’clock. The bed was not tumbled, and
+the son had not been into it. The captain was a widower; so that there
+was no mother in this beautiful home to worry over the departure of a
+son, and to grieve over his error.
+
+But where were Lon and Matt? The son of the rich man had threatened
+Mr. Garlick, and declared that he would “get even with him.” It now
+appeared that he had done so. Possibly Garlick believed by this time
+that it did not pay to protect his own property in just the way he had
+done it, though his barn and the stock it contained were fully insured.
+He had an idea that those boys would spend a long term in prison. He
+was not sure that the boys had set the fire, and perhaps he could not
+prove it; but he was very well satisfied in his own mind, and so were
+his two hired men.
+
+Lon and Matt had agreed to meet near the house of the latter at nine
+o’clock in the evening. The Swikeses went to bed in summer as soon as
+it was dark, not only to save candles, but to be in condition to get
+up as soon as it was light in the morning. Matt had been punctual to
+the time; but Lon was half an hour late, for his father was in such a
+position that he could not get out of the house any sooner. They were
+ready to do the wicked job to which their smarting limbs still prompted
+them. But Lon was wise enough to look up the means of retreat before
+the battle was fought.
+
+If they were seen in the vicinity of the burning barn, it would be
+evidence against them. The first blaze of light might betray them to
+Garlick and his hired men. Perhaps Lon was not a worse boy than his
+companion; but he had more genius for mischief, and more calculation in
+getting out of a scrape.
+
+“It won’t do for us to be seen anywhere near the barn when the blaze
+begins,” said he, after they had talked it over in the cornfield near
+the doomed building.
+
+“But we can’t do any thing without being near it,” reasoned Matt.
+
+“We must get out of the way before the people come to the fire; and it
+won’t do for us to show ourselves on the river road.”
+
+“How shall we get home, then?”
+
+“I’ll tell you the best way to do it,” said Lon, who fathered all the
+bright thoughts. “I will go home, and make sure that my father sees
+me before I go to bed; and you will do the same with your folks. You
+live close by the barn; and you can get out of bed, come over here, and
+touch off the fire, and then get back to your room, without being seen.”
+
+“And where will you be all the time I am doing this?” asked Matt; and
+the idea did not strike him as a very bright one.
+
+“I shall be in my bed, sound asleep, so far as my father may know;
+and I shall not go out of the house, or know any thing about the
+fire, till to-morrow morning. Then I shall be very much surprised at
+breakfast-time when my father tells me that Garlick’s barn has been
+burned in the night. I shall ask him what time it was, and all about
+it.”
+
+“That’s all very nice for you,” replied Matt coldly, and without giving
+his friend much credit for his inventive genius.
+
+“Don’t you think that’s a good plan?” asked Lon, with no little
+enthusiasm.
+
+“First-rate for you, but not worth a straw for me,” answered Matt. “You
+are going to do nothing at all, and I am to do it all: you are going to
+bed, and I am to do the job.”
+
+“But you live close by the barn, while I live half a mile from it. You
+can make the blaze without any risk; and if I am caught it will make it
+just as bad as for you.”
+
+“I’m not going to do the thing all alone, and run all the risk. If that
+is the way you mean to manage it, we will give it up, and go home and
+go to bed.”
+
+“I only mentioned that as one way.”
+
+“It’s no way at all.”
+
+“Very well, then I will stay with you. But what are we to do when the
+blaze breaks out?” asked Lon.
+
+“We must get out of the way, I suppose,” added Matt vacantly.
+
+“We must keep clear of the river road. I think we shall have to stay
+out all night; and then we shall be sure to be suspected.”
+
+It was a hard problem to adjust, and Lon beat his brains till he hit on
+something that pleased him.
+
+“If we only had some money, I should be in for going to New York. We
+could have a good time for two or three weeks; and by that time your
+father and mine could fix up the matter of burning the barn, if they
+lay it to us.”
+
+“They will lay it to us if we clear out,” added Matt.
+
+“But they can’t prove any thing: and I rather want Garlick to think we
+did the job,” added Lon, rubbing his sore legs; “but I don’t want him
+to be able to prove it.”
+
+“I don’t believe he will be able to prove any thing, for the barn is a
+long way from his house: and I know his hired men do not live with him,
+but over in the village.”
+
+“If we only had some money, I could fix it all in two seconds,”
+continued Lon. “If my father had any about the house, I would help
+myself.”
+
+“Perhaps I can raise some,” suggested Matt, as he thought of the wallet
+concealed in the closet over the mantle-piece.
+
+“If you can, we shall be all right.”
+
+“You hold on here for three minutes, and I will see what I can do,”
+said Matt.
+
+“How long will you be?” asked Lon.
+
+“Not more than five or ten minutes.”
+
+Matt returned to his father’s house; and the events before related
+occurred while Wade Brooks was looking through the crack of the pantry
+door. Matt obtained possession of the wallet, and went back to the
+cornfield.
+
+“Did you get it?” asked Lon.
+
+“I did.”
+
+“How much?”
+
+“About two hundred dollars,” replied Matt; and we will do him the
+justice to say that he trembled all over, he was so agitated by the
+crime he had committed.
+
+“Two hundred dollars!” exclaimed Lon. “That is a big haul.”
+
+“If it’s too much, I will carry part of it back; for my father will
+howl terribly when he finds it is all gone,” replied Matt.
+
+“The more the better,” added Lon lightly. “Now we are in condition to
+do business. My father says no one should ever attempt to do business
+without capital; and I shall heed his opinion.”
+
+Matt did not seem to feel that he was doing more than his share of the
+business; but then he had the honor of being a friend of the rich man’s
+son, and that was something.
+
+“Well, now tell us what you are going to do,” said he with deep
+interest; so deep that for a time he forgot the crime he had already
+committed, in his desire to add another to it.
+
+“There is no trouble about it now. We can manage it now as easy as you
+can fall off a wood-pile. Money makes the mare go; and we can reward
+old Phil Garlick for his kindness to us, without making anybody weep
+but himself,” rattled Lon; in whose mind there was a vision of a “good
+time” in New York, with plenty of theatre, fun, and frolic.
+
+“Well, why don’t you tell how it is to be done?” said Matt impatiently.
+
+“I will tell you all about it,” answered Lon, who had no intention of
+bothering his companion, and had only delayed the explanation of his
+plans because his thoughts were running faster than his words. “In the
+first place, the barn is between the road and the river. As soon as we
+have got the things ready for the blaze, we will touch them off, and
+then make for the river; then we shall meet nobody to molest or make us
+afraid.”
+
+“That’s good,” added Matt approvingly.
+
+“Of course it is; and there is no such thing as fail about this plan.
+We will keep out of sight in the bushes by the river, till everybody in
+town has gone to sleep.”
+
+“Do you mean to stay in that hole till morning?” asked Matt, who did
+not like the idea.
+
+“Not at all; only till the folks are gone. You see, it wouldn’t do to
+move about while the people are looking at the fire, for we should be
+seen.”
+
+“But won’t the engines come to the river for water?” suggested Matt.
+
+“No: the pond at the foot of the hill isn’t half as far from the barn
+as the river, and they will take water from that. Nobody will come near
+us, you may depend upon that.”
+
+“Where shall we go after the folks in town have all gone to bed?” asked
+Matt.
+
+“About midnight we will follow the river up to the creek, and go on
+board of the old sail-boat. There is a nice little breeze blowing now,
+and it would carry us down to the Sound in two or three hours.”
+
+“Bully for you, Lon!” exclaimed Matt, who was delighted with this plan.
+
+He had often thought of making a trip to the Sound in this boat; for,
+like most boys, he was fond of adventure. In accordance with this plan,
+the young villains made their way to the barn. Lon had prepared the
+combustibles. He had a slow-match, which was to burn down when they had
+placed half a mile or more between themselves and the barn; then it was
+to light a bunch of block matches, and this would communicate the fire
+to a heap of combustibles under the floor of the barn. Unfortunately,
+every thing worked as had been intended, and the boys were in their
+hiding-place some time before the fire broke out. Of course no one
+would see them in the road, or anywhere near the fire.
+
+Each kept up the courage of the other; and, if either had been alone,
+he would not have had the pluck to do the evil deed. If they had
+been alone they might have repented of the crime, and considered the
+consequences; but they talked of the trip to New York, and stifled
+their consciences with the glories of the excursion to the great city.
+It was late in August; and the weather was pleasant, though rather
+cool at night. It would be fine sailing on the Sound. At midnight they
+walked to the creek, and got into the old boat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+DOWN THE RIVER.
+
+
+“Now we are all right,” said Lon, as he stepped into the boat.
+
+“I don’t think any one has seen us,” added Matt, following his
+companion.
+
+“No one could have seen us.”
+
+“Shall we start now?”
+
+“Yes: we may as well be moving. It must be twelve o’clock by this
+time,” added Lon, as he looked at his watch; but it was so dark he
+could not see a figure on the dial.
+
+“Do you expect to get to New York in this boat, Lon?” asked Matt, as he
+seated himself in the stand-room.
+
+“Of course I do: what’s to prevent? It don’t leak, and there is water
+all the way to New York.”
+
+“But you don’t know how to manage a boat any more than I do,” said
+Matt, to whom this seemed to be a difficulty.
+
+“It is easy enough to manage her; and, if I don’t know how, I can soon
+learn,” replied the master spirit of the enterprise. “I have seen how
+the thing is done, and I’m pretty sure that I can do it.”
+
+“But your father would never let you have a boat, or even sail in this
+one.”
+
+“Though he has been to sea for thirty years of his life, he is afraid
+of a sail-boat. He says he can handle a ship, but not one of these
+little things.”
+
+“If we are going, why don’t we go?” asked Matt.
+
+“Because you don’t hoist the sail.”
+
+“I don’t know any thing about the sail, and I don’t believe I can hoist
+it. If Wade Brooks was here, he could do it; and he knows how to sail
+the boat, for he learned of his father. I heard some one say that he is
+a good boatman.”
+
+“But Wade Brooks isn’t here; and I am glad he is not,” replied Lon.
+“He is a goody; and I’ll half kill him, if I ever see him again, for
+telling old Phil Garlick that we licked him for not stealing peaches.”
+
+Matt went to the sail, and began to fumble it over in the darkness;
+but he could make nothing of it. On the whole, he was a rather stupid
+fellow, and he was not likely to learn any thing in the dark. He could
+not undo the sail; and he gave up the task in a moment in despair. Then
+Lon tried his hand, and succeeded in removing the stops. After trying
+all the ropes about the mast (for the boat was a sloop), he found the
+halyards. By observing what part of the sail moved when he pulled at
+these lines, he found which was the peak, and which was the throat
+halyard. Giving one to Matt, he heaved on the other; and at last they
+managed to get the sail up, though not in very good shape.
+
+“Now you take an oar, Matt, and shove her out from the shore, while I
+mind the helm,” said Lon, as he assumed the duties of skipper.
+
+There was no wind in the creek; and Matt worked the boat out into the
+river with the oar. As soon as she had passed a wooded point, the sail
+took the breeze, and the boat heeled over so as to scare Matt half out
+of his wits; for he had hardly ever been out in a sail-boat.
+
+“Mind what you are about, Lon!” exclaimed Matt. “You will upset her,
+and then where shall we be?”
+
+“In the water,” coolly replied Lon.
+
+“But I don’t want to be in the water.”
+
+“Nor I either; and I don’t think there is any more danger of it than
+there is of the sky falling. The boat is doing very well.”
+
+The wind was north-west, and the course of the river was about south at
+the place where the adventurers embarked; and it was not very difficult
+to make the boat go after she felt the breeze. Lon had a tolerable
+idea of the handling of the tiller; for he had tried his hand at it in
+a stolen sail in this old boat. As long as it was plain sailing, he
+was likely to do very well. He experimented with the sail and the helm
+till he got the hang of them. When a bend of the river made the course
+south-west, he soon learned to haul in the sheet. The wind was so light
+that the boat did not make more than two miles an hour, and, as long
+as the skipper kept the old craft in the middle of the river, there
+was nothing to prevent her from going, and it was not very perilous
+navigation.
+
+“I can handle her first-rate now,” said Lon, when the boat had been
+moving about half an hour. “Long before we get to the Sound, I shall
+know all about this business.”
+
+“It will be another thing when we get out of the river, and we have to
+go out to sea,” croaked Matt.
+
+“What odds does it make whether we are in the river, or on the sound?
+Both of them are water; and the boat will go as long as she has any
+wind.”
+
+“Suppose the wind comes from the wrong way: what are you going to do
+then?” inquired Matt.
+
+“I know how to do it then. You keep her zigzagging towards the point
+where you want to go.”
+
+“I have heard my father tell about some kind of a bad place which the
+steamboats have to go through when they go to New York: how will you
+get through that?” And Matt thought he had given Lon a poser this time.
+
+“That’s Hell Gate; and I don’t intend to go through that, for it’s near
+New York; and we can go from there in some other way.”
+
+Lon was entirely satisfied that he could take the boat as far as the
+dangerous place. Matt was getting tired of sailing in the night,
+when he could only see where the river was; and the air was cold and
+disagreeable. He had on his thin clothes, and was not fitted out for a
+sea-voyage in the night. Besides, he was sleepy; for he had not closed
+his eyes that night. He gaped till he was in danger of throwing his jaw
+out of joint.
+
+“What ails you, Matt?” asked Lon.
+
+“I have got about enough of this thing,” replied Matt, with another
+fearful gape. “I am tired and sleepy, and I am almost froze.”
+
+“You can go to sleep if you wish to do so,” replied Lon, who was
+dressed in thick clothes, and was quite comfortable in spite of the
+chill of the air.
+
+“I can’t go to sleep while I am shivering with the cold,” replied Matt;
+and his whole frame shook as he spoke.
+
+“Get into the cuddy, then, if you are cold. There was some hay in it
+the last time I was in the boat. You can bury yourself in it, and get
+warm,” said Lon, afraid that the discomfort of his companion might
+wreck the expedition.
+
+“I don’t want to be in that cuddy when the boat is going,” whined Matt,
+his teeth chattering all the time. “Suppose she should hit on a rock,
+and sink: what would become of me?”
+
+“You would be likely to get wet.”
+
+“I should be likely to get drowned.”
+
+“Why don’t you stir yourself? you can get warm if you will thrash your
+arms, or exercise yourself in some way. Get into the cuddy: there is no
+danger of rocks. If we should hit one, it wouldn’t do any harm. We are
+not going fast enough to break any thing.”
+
+Matt was so cold that he was tempted to try the cuddy. He went to the
+door, and found that it was fastened. He tried to push it in, and to
+pull it out; but it resisted all his efforts. The iron hook on the
+inside held it as firm as though the door had been an immovable body.
+
+“Break it in, if you can’t open it,” said Lon.
+
+“I can’t break it in: I have tried.”
+
+“Take one of the oars, and jam it through the board.”
+
+“I don’t want to spoil the door,” replied Matt. “If it comes on to rain
+we shall want it.”
+
+“But, if you can’t get into the cuddy, what good will it do us if it
+does rain?” demanded Lon impatiently; for he did not like Matt’s way of
+dealing with difficulties. “Smash it in.”
+
+“I can’t do it.”
+
+“Try it and see,” persisted Lon.
+
+“I tell you I can’t,” snarled Matt.
+
+“You are nothing but a baby, Matt Swikes,” added Lon, his patience all
+gone. “Here, hold this tiller, and I will open that door, or make a
+hole through the bottom of the boat.”
+
+“I don’t know how to steer her,” pleaded Matt.
+
+“I don’t want you to steer: she will steer herself, if you will hold
+this stick just as it is now.”
+
+Matt took the tiller; and Lon seized the oar, with which he struck a
+heavy blow, driving the handle through the door. A second and a third
+time he applied this battering-ram to the impediment; and the cuddy
+was open to the admission of the runaways.
+
+“Now you can go in, and stow yourself away in the hay, Matt,” said Lon
+triumphantly.
+
+“You have smashed the door into splinters, so there is nothing to keep
+the cold out,” growled Matt, as he gave up the tiller to Lon.
+
+“You can get in out of the wind, and it will be warmer there than it is
+here,” added the skipper. “There is plenty of hay there, and you can
+make yourself comfortable.”
+
+“I will try it,” said Matt, as he moved forward for this purpose.
+
+We left Wade Brooks in this very cuddy; but, in spite of this
+rude onslaught on his abode, he did not make himself known to the
+incendiaries. Yet he was still in the cuddy, and understood the
+situation perfectly. He had slept soundly up to the time when Lon
+battered down the door. He woke in mortal terror. He saw the dim light
+through the hole which had been made by the oar. He was afraid the oar
+might hit him; and he retreated as far as he could into the bow of the
+boat, and stowed himself away between the mast and the stem, or as much
+of himself as the space would permit, taking his spare clothes with
+him. Lon made so much noise that he did not hear Wade move from his
+position.
+
+Wade had plenty of hay in the bow; and, by the time Matt was ready to
+take possession of the cuddy, he was comfortably settled in his new
+quarters. As soon as he heard the voices of the persons in the boat,
+he knew who they were; but he was not anxious to make himself known,
+for he was afraid Lon would take to pounding him. There was room enough
+in the cuddy for both of them, and without either knowing the other was
+there, unless an accident betrayed his presence.
+
+Wade Brooks could not help thinking what would happen in the morning
+when his fellow-voyagers found that he was in the boat. Lon was a
+bully: he was such at school and on the playground. He had treated Wade
+like a tyrant. Wade began to think whether he could not do as a plucky
+little fellow did at school the winter before,--stand his ground, and
+in the end whip the bully. He was in the boat with him, and there was
+no chance to escape. He would try it; and he went to sleep thinking how
+to do it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A STRIKE FOR INDEPENDENCE.
+
+
+Lon heard no more of his companion in crime, and he concluded that he
+had gone to sleep; as, in fact, he had almost as soon as he lay down.
+When the boat had been moving about an hour, she came into a flatter
+country, and the sail had more wind. The “Mud-turtle,” as some of the
+boys who used the boat had christened her, was not a bad sailer, in
+spite of her name; and, with the freshening wind, she began to move
+at a very lively rate through the water. It was a little startling at
+first to the green skipper, who thought she must be making ten knots
+an hour, when she was doing only four. But he soon became accustomed
+to her heeling over, and to the flaws that sometimes struck her with
+considerable force.
+
+But Lon had been up all night; and, when the excitement of managing the
+boat had died out, he began to yawn, and to be so sleepy that he could
+hardly keep his eyes open; and in the end it became impossible for him
+to do so. He wondered that the boat did not come to the Sound; for he
+believed he had sailed more than twelve miles, which was said to be
+the distance. The time came, before any thing could be seen of the
+Sound, when he could stand it no longer. He dropped asleep at the helm;
+and more than once the boat broached to for the want of attention to
+the helm. The boat had an anchor and plenty of cable, though the wonder
+was that some one had not stolen it for a hay-rope.
+
+Lon roused himself, and came to the conclusion that he would anchor the
+boat, and then go to sleep in the cuddy. He ran the “Mud-turtle” up to
+the side of the river, and lowered the sail. Then he let go the anchor.
+He tied up the sail, and fastened the cable, as he had seen a boatman
+do it, and then went into the cuddy. He felt about till he found a
+place not occupied by Matt, which was big enough for him to stretch
+himself out, and lay down. His feet were but a few inches from those of
+Wade; but he had no suspicion that the cuddy contained three persons.
+In a moment he was asleep, for the case was more desperate with him
+than it had been with Matt. All on board were asleep.
+
+They all slept like tops till daylight in the morning, when Wade
+Brooks was the first to wake, as he had been the first to go to sleep:
+besides, this was his usual time to wake, and to get up. He missed the
+usual savage call of the farmer or his wife, and on this particular
+occasion he was not informed that he was a “lazy fellow.” When he woke
+there was light enough in the cuddy for him to see that his companions
+were both sleeping very soundly. One of them was on each side of the
+door; but there was space enough between them for him to get out of the
+cuddy. With the greatest care Wade passed out of the place into the
+standing-room.
+
+If Wade had any doubts before as to who had set the barn on fire, he
+had none now. The bad boys had run away by the light of the fire they
+had kindled: they had run away. It was for this trip that Matt had
+stolen the money from his father; and no doubt he had it in his pocket
+at that moment. Wade sat down near the door of the cuddy, where he
+could see both of the sleeping conspirators against the peace of the
+town of Midhampton. He felt that Lon would pitch into him as soon as he
+woke; and he had made up his mind that he would not stand his abuse any
+longer. He was no longer in Midhampton--at least, he supposed he was
+not, but he could not tell where he was,--and Swikes could no longer
+pound him for what he did. He had made up his mind to fight, instead of
+allowing Lon and Matt to kick and beat him about as they had been in
+the habit of doing.
+
+When he had reached this conclusion, he felt better. In the bottom of
+the boat he found a piece of a birch fish-pole, about half an inch in
+diameter, which he trimmed into shape for a club. He made it about two
+feet and a half long, and, for the want of something better to do,
+he whittled away at it for an hour or more: but he was thinking all
+the time how he should meet his tyrant; for such he had always been
+to him, and Matt was no better. If there were to be any more “broken
+heads,” they should be more equally distributed than formerly.
+
+Wade wondered where the bad boys were going in the boat; but he could
+only suppose they intended to get out of the way after the mischief
+they had done, and had no suspicion that they had embarked for a long
+voyage, as he would have called that to New York. Then he began to
+think what a hard life he had led on the farm of Obed Swikes. Why
+should he be starved and frozen, and compelled to work so many hours in
+the day? Why should he stay with Swikes when he was so hardly used? Why
+should he be constantly lashed by the peppered tongue of Mrs. Swikes?
+She told him, every day he lived, that he did not earn his salt, and
+she should have to send him to the poorhouse, where he belonged. If he
+was of so little use to the Swikeses, why should he stay with them any
+longer? He would not. He decided not to return to Midhampton.
+
+Wade began to think that he was becoming very independent. But it was
+better to pick his living out of the swill-barrels of a great city
+than it was to eat the bread that was daily begrudged to him, though
+he earned four times as much as he received. He knew this by the wages
+Swikes paid when he had to hire a man in haying-time. He could get
+something to do on a farm, that would enable him to earn his living;
+but, whether he could or not, he would no longer submit to be abused
+as he had been. He had often heard what a terrible thing it was for a
+boy to run away: but the Swikeses had no claim upon him; they were no
+relation to him, and they complained that he was a burden to them. He
+would relieve them of the burden. He had no master by rights; and he
+would be his own master in the future.
+
+While he was thinking of all these things, he saw Matt moving as though
+he intended to wake. He watched him, and made sure that his stick was
+where he could use it. But the Swikes did not get up, though it was
+clear enough that he was awake; and Wade kept his eye upon him. He sat
+where the fugitive could not see him. Matt lay on his back, and seemed
+to be reviewing the events of the night before. He put his hand into
+his pocket, and drew out the wallet he had stolen from the closet over
+the mantle-piece. He took from it the money it contained; and, laying
+the wallet on the hay by his side, he proceeded to count the bills, of
+which there was a large roll, and they must have been small ones.
+
+Matt spent a full hour in this pleasing occupation, for those who love
+money like to count it. But he seemed to be doing something more than
+merely counting it; for he laid off the bills in two piles, and then
+counted each of them several times, as though he could not make them
+come out right. Finally he put the two packages of bills into separate
+compartments of the wallet.
+
+Wade wondered what he was thinking about, for he lay there musing with
+the wallet in his hand. Possibly he was thinking how his father would
+miss and mourn over that money. Wade saw him look several times at
+his sleeping companion; and the two rolls of bills indicated that he
+intended to divide the ill-gotten treasure with Lon. Perhaps he had his
+doubts whether it was best for him to do so. He knew what a bully Lon
+was.
+
+Finally Wade saw him pull up the hay from the bottom of the cuddy, and
+from his side of the bulkhead he perceived that a narrow board had been
+taken from the floor. Looking into the space below, he saw Matt deposit
+the wallet under the floor, reaching up so as to place it where the
+water in the bottom of the boat could not reach it. He did not restore
+the board he had removed, but covered the aperture with hay. Having
+done this, he lay down on his bed once more. Wade heard him gape, and
+concluded that he intended to take another nap, as Lon did not wake. In
+a few minutes he heard him snore as he had done in the night.
+
+Just out of curiosity, Wade thrust his hand into the space below the
+flooring, and felt in the direction Matt had put his hand. He found
+the wallet. He drew it out. He took one of the rolls of bills out of
+the compartment, and counted the money. One hundred dollars: this was
+half of the sum farmer Swikes had mentioned. He counted the other roll:
+it was the other half. Two hundred dollars was the sum the farmer had
+lost. Here it was: it was in the hands of the boy of all work, whom
+the Swikeses had overworked and abused. If Wade could have returned the
+money to his tyrants without going to Midhampton, he would have done
+it. Though he was accused of stealing it, he was disposed to do the
+right thing.
+
+Worldly-wise people would have said that he was a fool; and the Devil
+tempted him with visions of the comforts this large sum would purchase
+for the friendless boy; but he was determined to keep it, and have
+it restored to its rightful owner as soon as he could, even if he
+had to go back to Midhampton to do it. This was the sort of boy Wade
+Brooks was. He had the reputation of being a “goody,” and the bad boys
+ridiculed him for it; but it was deserved, whether it was applied in
+honor or in scorn.
+
+Wade was tempted to get up the anchor, and run the boat to the shore,
+so that he could get away from his wicked companions. Very likely he
+would have done so, and walked back to Midhampton, if he had not feared
+that the noise he would have to make on the forward deck, over the
+heads of the sleepers, would wake them. While he was considering this
+plan, Lon Trustleton waked; and, unlike his companion, he did not lie
+thinking, but jumped up at once, and went into the standing-room.
+
+He was startled, and stopped, standing as though he had suddenly
+been changed into a statue, when he saw Wade Brooks seated in the
+standing-room. He seemed to think it was a ghost, for he could not see
+how it was possible for Wade to be in the boat with him when he had not
+seen him before.
+
+“Wade Brooks!” exclaimed Lon, when he had found his tongue.
+
+“That’s my name,” replied Wade, grasping his stick closely in his hand.
+
+“How came you here, Wade?” demanded Lon.
+
+“I guess you can tell better than I can.”
+
+“None of your lip; but answer my question,” said Lon, who had by this
+time recovered his self-possession.
+
+“I’m willing to answer the question, though it is not a very civil
+one,” replied Wade. “I went into the boat to sleep; and, when I woke,
+you were beating in the door of the cuddy: that’s all I know about it.”
+
+“I promised to give you a broken head if I ever saw you again, for what
+you said to Garlick;” and Lon made a dig at him.
+
+That stick flashed in the air, and Lon fell.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE BATTLE IN THE BOAT.
+
+
+Lon Trustleton may be excused for being astonished at the very
+remarkable conduct of Wade Brooks, who had never before lifted a finger
+against his persecutors. All of a sudden he had struck a blow which
+upset his foe as though he had been a baby. But Lon was not badly
+damaged, though he saw a numerous body of stars. He picked himself up;
+and, as he had plenty of pluck, he rushed upon the object of his wrath,
+intending to take the stick from him, and use it over his head.
+
+But Wade was not asleep; and he was prepared for his assailant. Before
+Lon could get hold of him or the stick, another blow fell on his head,
+and he staggered back towards the cuddy. The second blow wilted him;
+and, though he was very angry, he found it necessary to be prudent.
+He stood by the door of the cuddy, with his fists doubled up, and his
+chest heaving with the fury of his rage, regarding his enemy with
+mingled astonishment and indignation. The noise of the encounter had
+waked Matt; and he crawled out of the cuddy to ascertain the cause of
+the tempest.
+
+If Lon had been surprised to see Wade Brooks in the boat, Matt was
+still more so. He could not realize how it was possible for him to be
+there, for he had seen him go up to his garret to bed the night before.
+Both Lon and himself had slept in the cuddy, and certainly the boy of
+all work had not been in the standing-room when he retired. A little
+reflection led him to the conclusion that Wade could not have been in
+the boat during the night. He thought he could explain it: a party had
+set out to pursue them, and Wade had followed the boat down the river
+on the shore, and had come on board of her in the morning. The water
+was very shallow where the boat was anchored, and he could have waded
+off to her.
+
+“Wade Brooks here!” exclaimed he, when he found a tongue.
+
+“Yes; and he has hit me twice over the head with that stick,” replied
+Lon, still eying the enemy with a savage gaze.
+
+“How came he here? when did he come into the boat?” asked Matt, though
+he had settled all these questions in his own mind before he said a
+word.
+
+“He says he went to sleep in the boat last night, and we sailed off
+with him,” replied Lon. “Is there any kind of a club in the cuddy,
+Matt? We are in for a fight; and I will break that fellow’s head, as I
+told you I would.”
+
+“We are going to divide up the broken heads more than they used to be,”
+said Wade coolly; for he had made up his mind for this thing, and he
+was ready for whatever might come.
+
+Matt looked for a stick; but the stock of fish-pole in the boat had
+given out when Wade was supplied. Nothing could be found but the pieces
+of the door Lon had stove in the night before. These were all small,
+and no club was at hand. But Lon picked up the splinters, and began to
+hurl them at his foe. He cast them with all his might; and, if any of
+them had hit Wade in the head, they would have hurt him.
+
+“That will do of that,” said Wade, gathering up his stick again. “Don’t
+you fling another one of them at me!”
+
+“Yes, I will! I’ll break your head before I’ve done with you!” replied
+Lon; and he picked up what was left of the door, intending to overwhelm
+his antagonist in one crushing blow.
+
+But Wade did not wait for him to get the door in position: he rushed
+upon him, and began to belabor him over the shoulders with the stick.
+Lon howled with rage and pain, and vainly struggled to get hold of the
+stick or his assailant. But Wade was too much for him. As for Matt, he
+made for the cuddy as soon as Wade began to press his companion. After
+a brief contest, Lon went down under the force of the blows that were
+rained upon him.
+
+“When you want any more, all you got to do is to say so,” said the
+conqueror. “I didn’t begin this fight; but I’m going to see the end of
+it.”
+
+“You don’t fight fair,” gasped Lon, using the common argument of the
+defeated bully.
+
+“I fight any way I can. I don’t believe in fighting at all, and I never
+did any such thing before in my life,” replied Wade, still holding his
+weapon ready for use. “You’ve always hit me just when you had a mind
+to, and I have always stood it; but I’m not going to stand it any more.
+When you hit me, I’m going to hit back again, whatever comes of it. I
+won’t hurt anybody that lets me alone.”
+
+“Why didn’t you stand by me, Matt Swikes?” demanded Lon, as Matt
+crawled out of the cuddy again; which he did not do till Wade had
+assumed a more peaceable aspect.
+
+“I wasn’t going to be hit over the head with that stick,” replied Matt,
+seating himself by the door of the cuddy.
+
+“You’re a coward, Matt Swikes, as you always were; and I have half
+a mind to hit you over the head,” added Lon, disgusted with his
+companion, and entirely unable to account for his defeat in a battle
+with a fellow whom he had always regarded as an insignificant foe.
+
+“It’s no use to call names: they won’t hurt anybody,” growled Matt, who
+could not see why his crony should turn against him. “You’ve licked
+Wade Brooks times enough to know how to do it; and I don’t think it is
+fair for two of us to set on one fellow.”
+
+“Not fair, you ninny!” exclaimed Lon, slapping the face of his
+companion in crime.
+
+“What are you hitting me for? I haven’t touched you. You needn’t lick
+me because you can’t lick Wade,” whined Matt. “I’ve got about enough of
+this thing.”
+
+“I’ll bet they are looking for you at home about this time,” interposed
+Wade; “and the best thing you can do is to go back before you’ve made
+the matter any worse.”
+
+“I’ve half a mind to do it,” replied Matt, who was so much injured in
+his feeling by the blow of Lon, that he could not help crying. “I’m not
+going off to New York with Lon, to be kicked and slapped as if I wasn’t
+nobody.”
+
+“Shut up, Matt!” said Lon sharply. “What do you mean by telling him
+what we are going to do?”
+
+“I’m not going to do any thing, if I’m to be treated in this way.”
+
+“Keep still,” continued Lon in a gentler tone. “I was mad, and I didn’t
+mean any thing. Don’t mind it, Matt, and I won’t do it again.”
+
+It was a great deal for Lon to say any thing in the shape of an
+apology; and the insulted Matt was appeased at once. He wanted to go
+to New York; and he did not like the idea of going home to take the
+consequences of setting the barn on fire. Lon seated himself opposite
+his companion in crime, as though he had concluded that it was best to
+suspend hostilities, at least for the present.
+
+“I didn’t sleep much last night, and I was out of temper when I got
+up,” said Lon, who was willing to make peace, even with Wade Brooks,
+rather than give up the expedition, as he was afraid that Matt might be
+persuaded to do; and he had all the money, so it was not possible to go
+without him.
+
+“I don’t see what made you turn on me,” replied Matt, wiping the tears
+from his eyes.
+
+“I didn’t mean to do it. The sight of Wade Brooks here in the boat with
+us made me mad. But perhaps it is all for the best. Wade knows how to
+sail a boat better than I do; and he will do that for us.”
+
+“No, I won’t,” replied Wade squarely.
+
+“How came you in the boat, Wade?” asked Matt, as it occurred to him
+that this matter had not yet been cleared up.
+
+“I came on board of her to sleep after the fire,” replied Wade, who was
+willing to tell all he knew about almost any subject.
+
+“What did you want to sleep in the boat for? Why couldn’t you sleep in
+your own bed in the house?”
+
+“There was a good reason for it.”
+
+Wade considered a moment; and then he concluded to tell the whole story.
+
+“What was the reason?” asked Matt.
+
+“I’ll tell you all I know about it; and I know more than you think I
+do,” replied Wade, looking Matt sharp in the eye. “You lied to your
+mother when you told her I stole the peaches; and she sent me to bed
+without any supper. I was so confounded hungry that I could not go to
+sleep; and I got up, and went down to the buttery to get something to
+eat. I was in there when you got up in that chair, and took the money
+out of that closet over the mantle-piece.”
+
+“What money?” asked Matt, turning pale, and trembling with terror.
+
+“I guess you know what money as well as I do. The money that was in the
+closet. You stole it, and then cleared out.”
+
+“Do you mean to say that I stole any money, Wade Brooks?” demanded
+Matt, making a lame attempt to bluster, which was a failure.
+
+“That’s just what I mean to say, and I do say it. It’s no use to deny
+it.”
+
+“Let him go on,” added Lon, in a low tone.
+
+“I deny that I took any money from any closet,” said Matt; “but go on
+with your story.”
+
+“I guess I could prove that you did it, right here, if I had a mind
+to,” added Wade.
+
+He was tempted to do so, and to take the money from his pocket as
+evidence of what he asserted; but just then it came into his mind,
+that, if Matt knew he had it, he would say he stole it; and, if he went
+back to Midhampton, the possession of the two hundred dollars might be
+evidence that he did steal it. If he told Mrs. Swikes that her son took
+the wallet, she would not believe him. Wade concluded not to say just
+yet that he had the plunder.
+
+“I don’t see what all this has to do with sleeping in the boat.”
+
+“That’s what I was going to tell you when you broke in on me. After you
+took the money, your father came out of the room. Your mother said she
+heard somebody in the house, and told your father to see if the money
+in the closet was all right. He felt in the closet, and found that it
+was gone. In that house they always lay every thing to me, and your
+mother said I must have taken it.”
+
+“If any money was taken, I guess you did,” interposed Matt; and, if he
+was caught, he could lay it to him with a full knowledge of the case.
+
+“You know better, Matt Swikes; but no matter now. Your father went up
+to the garret, and found I was not there. Then they were sure I took
+the money. I’d been licked once that day for what I didn’t do, and I
+couldn’t stand it again. Just then the fire broke out, and your father
+and mother went out of the house; and I hooked it out, and after a
+while went down to the boat to sleep. I meant to call on Mr. Garlick
+this morning, and tell him what I knew about matters and things in
+general. That’s why I slept in the boat.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+CAUGHT IN THE ACT.
+
+
+Matt looked at Lon, and Lon looked at Matt. There was a general looking
+at each other in the boat.
+
+“Now I’ve told you why I slept in the boat, maybe you will tell me,
+Matt, how you happened to be sailing in the ‘Mud-turtle’ so late in the
+night,” said Wade Brooks.
+
+“We only came down here to have a sail. We are going down to the
+Sound,” replied Matt, looking at his companion.
+
+“You said you were bound to New York,” added Wade with a significant
+wink.
+
+“I said that in fun,” laughed Matt. “Of course we shouldn’t think of
+such a thing as going to New York in this old boat.”
+
+“I shouldn’t think you’d go to New York in this boat,” added Wade.
+
+“We haven’t got any thing to eat, and no money to buy any thing with:
+so we couldn’t go if we wanted to,” continued Matt, with a sly wink at
+Lon.
+
+The remark that they had no money was truer than either of them
+supposed; but, for the present, Wade kept his own counsel.
+
+“What were you going to talk with Garlick about, Wade?” asked Lon, who
+did not exactly like the looks of this statement.
+
+“Matters and things in general,” replied Wade. “In the first place, I
+was accused of stealing that money; and, as Mr. Garlick seems to be a
+fair man, I wanted to talk with him about that. He was fair about the
+peaches; and, when he found he was wrong, he owned right up like a man.
+I wanted to ask him what he thought I had better do about it. I knew
+Matt took the money, for I saw him do it. Then I wanted to tell him
+that Matt was out of the house just before the fire; for I thought he
+might want to know about that.”
+
+“What do you mean by that, Wade?” demanded Matt, beginning to shake in
+his shoes again.
+
+“When the fire broke out in that barn, I knew as well as I do now who
+touched it off,” added Wade, in a very matter-of-fact manner, rather
+than as one who was making grave charges.
+
+“Who was it, Wade?” asked Matt, so agitated that he could hardly speak.
+
+“You and Lon, of course; and I guess about all the folks in town know
+it by this time. When I was going down to the boat I heard two men in a
+wagon talking about it.”
+
+“That Lon and I set Garlick’s barn on fire!” exclaimed Matt. “It’s the
+biggest lie that ever was told!”
+
+“I guess not,” added Wade. “Your folks will be willing to believe it
+when they find you are gone; and they know it by this time.”
+
+“Are we to be accused of setting that barn on fire because we came down
+here to take a sail?” demanded Matt with all the indignation he could
+assume.
+
+“I guess so,” said Wade, with a smile at the thin talk of Matt.
+
+“Let it drop,” added Lon, who did not believe it was of any use to deny
+the charge, if it was all over town.
+
+“But, if you are going to New York, it is time to be moving,” said Wade
+with a chuckle. “Where are we now?”
+
+“We can’t be a great way from the mouth of the river,” replied Lon,
+beginning to hoist the mainsail.
+
+Wade took hold, and helped him, and did not retain possession of the
+stick, for Lon seemed to be entirely peaceful.
+
+Wade got up the anchor, and then hoisted the jib, which Lon had not
+used the night before. The breeze was quite fresh, and the old boat
+bounded off on her course at a lively rate. Lon was not timid; but,
+when the “Mud-turtle” heeled down till the water began to run in over
+the wash-board, it was too trying for his nerves.
+
+“Won’t you steer her, Wade?” he asked. “I am not much used to a boat.”
+
+“I see you are not,” laughed Wade, as he took the tiller. “You should
+have let off the sheet, or headed her more up into the wind. But where
+are we going?”
+
+“Down to the Sound,” replied Lon.
+
+“But we are not going to New York without any breakfast, are we?”
+inquired Wade, who had eaten a very unsatisfactory supper the night
+before, and felt the need of food.
+
+“We must have something to eat,” added Matt.
+
+“We will stop and buy something when we see a store on shore,” replied
+Lon. “You seem to know every thing, Wade Brooks: do you suppose the
+folks in Midhampton are looking for us?”
+
+“Of course they are. Your father begun last night, I guess.”
+
+“Do you think they will miss the boat?”
+
+“Maybe they will; but nobody goes to the creek very often. It will be
+just as it happens.”
+
+“Somebody may have come down here by the railroad to look for us,”
+suggested Matt.
+
+“Very likely,” added Wade, who was not a good comforter on this
+occasion.
+
+Lon and Matt talked the matter over between themselves; and, while they
+were doing so, Wade discovered a village ahead. He said nothing, but
+run the boat for it. In a short time Lon saw it. A train of cars was
+approaching it from the north.
+
+“We have concluded not to stop at this place to get any thing to eat,”
+said Lon.
+
+“Have you?” added Wade. “Well, I’ve concluded to stop here.”
+
+“Do you think it is safe to do so?” asked Lon anxiously.
+
+“It’s safe enough for me: I don’t know how it is with you. If Matt
+didn’t steal that money, and if you didn’t set Mr. Garlick’s barn on
+fire, it is as safe for you as Midhampton,” replied Wade, with a laugh,
+for it amused him to see the guilty ones squirm.
+
+Lon did not want to talk any more with Wade about the matter. He
+persisted in knowing all about the fire and the money, and would not
+keep still. He had taken the bit in his teeth, and intended to sail the
+boat where he pleased.
+
+“Let’s go into the cuddy, and keep out of sight,” said Matt.
+
+Wade smiled again, for he saw that Matt wanted to get his money from
+under the floor more than he wanted to keep out of sight. When the
+boat came around a bend, the skipper saw a bridge across the river,
+just below the village; and he knew that the railroad which crossed it
+went to New York. He was not sure that the bad boys did not intend to
+abandon the boat, and take the train for the great city. He wished to
+go there himself, for he thought he could get work there. But he was
+confident, that, whatever Lon intended to do, they would not take any
+train to New York, for they would soon find that they had no money to
+pay the fare.
+
+He heard them fumbling about the cuddy, and he knew that Matt could not
+find the treasure. But, if the boat was to stop at the town, it was
+time to prepare for the landing; and, if she was not to stop, it was
+time to look out for the bridge, for the mast seemed to be too tall to
+pass under it. If no one on board had any money, it was no use to land
+to obtain something to eat. Wade regarded the money in his pocket as
+held in trust, and he determined to be hungry for some time before he
+spent any of it for provisions.
+
+Wade run the boat close to the bridge, and found that the mast would
+go under it; but he was not quite willing to leave the village till
+the question of food had been settled. He was confident the runaways
+intended to go to New York in the boat, and he believed they had made
+some arrangements to feed themselves on the way. Putting the boat
+about, he headed her up the river again.
+
+Lon and Matt were so busy in the cuddy, that they gave no heed to the
+boat, and continued their search for the lost treasure. Of course they
+did not find it; and, when they gave up in despair, they had an earnest
+conversation, but Wade could not hear a word of it. They did not mean
+he should hear it, for it related to him. The conference continued for
+a long time; and, finding that it was not likely soon to be ended, Wade
+lowered the jib, and made a landing in the upper part of the village.
+
+As soon as the boat was secured to the shore, Lon came out of the
+cuddy, followed by Matt. Both of them looked as though something had
+happened.
+
+“Well, what are you going to do here, Wade?” asked Lon in a sullen tone.
+
+“If you fellows are going to New York in this boat, this is the place
+for you to take in provisions for the cruise,” said Wade good-naturedly.
+
+“We are not going to New York in this boat,” replied Lon sourly; and
+the loss of the treasure had changed the whole face of nature to him.
+
+“Well, here we are; and, whatever you are going to do, now is the time
+to begin it,” added Wade, who stood in the standing-room, putting the
+stops on the mainsail.
+
+“I think so myself,” replied Lon, suddenly springing upon the skipper,
+and throwing his arms around his neck, trying to get him on the floor.
+
+But Wade had found his pluck before; and, as he was a stouter fellow,
+Lon soon realized that he was more than an armful for him. But a sharp
+struggle ensued, for Lon was fighting for freedom and safety. The money
+was gone, and without that they could not go to New York or anywhere
+else. They could not even pay for the food for a breakfast. They were
+confident that Wade had taken the money from its hiding-place, for the
+simple reason that no one else could have taken it. The wallet could
+not have taken itself out of the way; and Lon found that it could not
+have dropped into any hole, for there was no hole there. Besides, Wade
+had suddenly taken the bit into his teeth, and become as independent
+as a basket of chips. He had the money, and this was what made him so
+unmanageable.
+
+Matt attempted to assist his companion, but a smart kick from Wade
+caused him to retire from the contest. After a sharp struggle, Wade
+came down in the bottom of the boat, with Lon under him; and the strife
+was ended. All of them were so occupied in the battle, that they did
+not notice the approach of two men, who had come from the village on
+the railroad, and reached the boat about the time that Lon went under.
+Matt was the first to see them.
+
+“Hold on, Wade,” said he in trembling tones: “here is your father, Lon,
+and mine too!”
+
+But Wade Brooks could not see them, for he was busy in attending to his
+prisoner.
+
+“What are you about, you villain?” called Capt Trustleton in a sharp
+tone. “Let him alone.”
+
+Wade let him up at the sound of this voice. As usual, he was caught
+in a doubtful position when he was entirely innocent: it was just his
+luck.
+
+[Illustration: THE BATTLE IN THE BOAT.--Page 78.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+A STRAIGHTFORWARD STATEMENT.
+
+
+When Capt. Trustleton reached his elegant abode, after his call at the
+house of Obed Swikes, he found, as he had supposed, that Alonzo was not
+in his room. Then he examined his desk in the library, where he had
+a small sum of money; but it had not been disturbed. The captain was
+a man of action; and he lost no time in beginning the search for his
+wayward boy. He called his two hired men, and procured the services
+of half a dozen others; but he did not call for any officers, for he
+wanted to settle the case himself.
+
+He was confident that the two boys had not come to the village after
+setting the fire; for they would have met the people on their way to
+it. He came to the conclusion that they had taken to the woods for the
+night, and that they would depart by the first train in the morning;
+for the loss of Swikes’s money indicated they were well supplied with
+funds. He set the men to searching the country between the river and
+the road; and, about one o’clock, they came to the creek. One of the
+men occasionally used the boat, and he missed it. Looking down the
+river, he saw the sail of the “Mud-turtle,” which had not been under
+way more than half an hour. The man did not see the captain till two
+hours after he made this discovery; for he was following the river
+road in his buggy for several miles, thinking it was possible that the
+runaways might have walked to the next town. When he learned that the
+boat was gone, he gave up the search for that night; but early in the
+morning he was at the house of Obed Swikes, and they had taken the
+first train for the south, which had arrived just as the boat came to
+Rivermouth, the village where the railroad crossed the river.
+
+The pursuers had not deemed it wise to show themselves, lest the boys
+should attempt to escape. They watched the boat, intending to follow
+it as soon as they could learn where it was going. When Wade put her
+about, and stood up the river, they had followed on the railroad.
+As soon as it was made fast to the shore, they were ready to take
+possession of the boat and its crew. Capt. Trustleton was not a little
+alarmed when he saw the fierce battle that was in progress in the
+standing-room. Neither he nor Swikes had expected to find Wade Brooks
+with the fugitives, for they were not on good terms the day before; and
+certainly their relations did not appear to be any more friendly than
+then.
+
+“What are you choking my boy for, you villain?” demanded Capt.
+Trustleton, springing into the boat, catching Wade Brooks by the
+collar, and shaking him up very thoroughly.
+
+Wade thought he could handle the son, but he did not care to contend
+with the father. When the captain had shaken him to his heart’s
+content, he pitched him over into one corner of the standing-room.
+Wade picked himself up, and, stepping upon the forward deck, placed a
+respectful distance between himself and the angry father.
+
+“What on airth are you a-doin’ here, Wade Brooks?” added
+Swikes,--“fightin’ too?”
+
+“Do you want to kill my boy?” demanded Capt. Trustleton.
+
+“He begun it; and that was the second time he pitched into me to-day,”
+pleaded Wade. “I won’t stand it to have him hammer me whenever he takes
+a notion to do so.”
+
+“He pounded me almost to death with a club this morning,” whined Lon,
+when he had picked himself up.
+
+“What did you pitch into him for?” asked his father, who seemed to have
+some faith in Wade’s report.
+
+“He’s always interfering with me,” answered Lon, who was not disposed
+to give the true reason for his attack.
+
+“He interfered with your stealing peaches yesterday, didn’t he?”
+demanded the father sternly.
+
+Lon hung his head; for he saw that his father knew all about the events
+of the day before.
+
+“Now, Wade Brooks, what did you do with the money you stole from the
+closet over the mantletry-piece?” said Swikes, coming to the question
+that was nearest to his heart.
+
+“I didn’t steal it,” replied Wade; and he began to wish the wallet was
+not in his pocket under the present circumstances: it was just his luck.
+
+“Who did steal it, then? You was gone from the garret before the fire
+broke out; and I knowed you had it when I found you was gone.”
+
+“Matt took it, and I saw him do it,” replied Wade; but he had no hope
+of making the farmer believe what he said.
+
+“I took it!” exclaimed Matt, with a violent show of indignation. “It’s
+an awful lie!”
+
+“I can’t believe you would take all that money from your own father,”
+added Swikes. “It don’t look reasonable to me.”
+
+“I didn’t do it, father: I wouldn’t do such a thing!” protested Matt,
+taking the cue his father gave him. “I didn’t know that you had lost
+any money. If anybody took it, Wade Brooks must have done it.”
+
+“There, Capt. Trustleton! I told you so!” exclaimed Swikes
+triumphantly. “I told you my boy wouldn’t do such a thing. He did not
+even know that the money was gone.”
+
+“Perhaps he didn’t know it; but boys who can set a barn on fire out of
+spite are not generally too good to tell lies; and, for the present, I
+am not inclined to believe what either of them may say,” replied Capt.
+Trustleton coldly.
+
+“Set a barn on fire, father!” exclaimed Lon, apparently as much
+astonished as Matt had been. “Who did such a thing, sir?”
+
+“Mr. Garlick says you and Matthew Swikes did.”
+
+“Why, father! I hope you didn’t believe such a thing!” protested Lon.
+
+“I am sorry to say that I did believe it; and I have not changed my
+mind much since. What are you doing down here in this boat?”
+
+“We only came down to take a sail,” replied Lon.
+
+“That’s all, sir,” added Matt.
+
+“You selected a strange time to take a sail,” said the captain, looking
+his son sharp in the eye, so that Lon hung his head. “Where were you
+going to?”
+
+“Only down to the Sound.”
+
+“And did you invite Wade Brooks to go with you?”
+
+“No, sir: he invited himself. We didn’t know he was in the boat till
+this morning.”
+
+“After he stole the money, he went down to the boat to sleep in the
+cuddy,” interposed Matt, who was anxious to convict Wade. “He was
+asleep in there when we started; and he was as ugly as sin this
+morning.”
+
+“That’s just the way it was done,” added Swikes.
+
+“I should like to hear the Brooks boy on that subject,” said Capt.
+Trustleton.
+
+“It don’t make no difference what the Brooks boy says. He don’t tell
+the truth; and he’s too cunning to tell you that he took the money,”
+protested Swikes.
+
+“How came you in the boat?” inquired the captain, turning to Wade.
+
+“I’m going to tell the whole truth if I’m killed for it,” replied Wade,
+as he stepped down into the standing-room, and seated himself opposite
+Capt. Trustleton.
+
+“Mind you do! and don’t tell me Matthew took the money,” said Swikes.
+
+“I shall tell you he did, for that’s the truth,” replied Wade.
+
+Beginning back at the flogging the female Swikes had given him, he
+related all that occurred up to the arrival of the two fathers of the
+runaways. When he came to speak of the money which Matt was counting in
+the cuddy, Swikes was all attention; for he was thinking whether or not
+he should ever see it again.
+
+“You saw Matthew put the wallet under the floor, did you?” asked
+Swikes, greatly excited, as he glanced at the cuddy, hoping soon to be
+told that it was still there.
+
+“Yes, sir: that’s what I said,” continued Wade.
+
+“It’s all a lie, father!” exclaimed Matt.
+
+“Don’t you say any thing till Brooks has finished,” said Capt.
+Trustleton sternly. “Go on, Brooks.”
+
+“Matt didn’t know I was in the boat. He was back to me, and I sat on
+this seat where I am now,” Wade proceeded. “When he had divided the
+money into two piles, he put them in different pockets of the wallet.
+Pretty soon he pulled away the hay under where he had been sitting, and
+took up one of the narrow boards. You see where that one is gone,” and
+Wade pointed to the opening in the floor. “I looked in the hole on this
+side, and I saw him put the wallet in there. When he had done it, he
+lay down, and went to sleep.”
+
+“But where is the wallet now? Is it in that hole?” demanded Swikes
+impatiently, as he rose from his seat to look for the missing treasure.
+
+“No, sir: it is not there now, for I took it out while both of them
+were asleep; and here it is,” replied Wade, taking the wallet from his
+pocket, and giving it to the owner.
+
+“I knew he had it!” incautiously exclaimed Lon.
+
+“Oh! you did?” said Capt. Trustleton. “How did you know he had it?”
+
+“I meant that I knew he stole it,” replied Lon, seeing he had been
+guilty of a slip of the tongue.
+
+“No, sir: that was not what he meant,” added Wade. “I will tell you
+what he meant before I get through. When we got to this place, Lon told
+me they had concluded not to stop here to get any thing to eat; but I
+said I had concluded to stop. Then they went into the cuddy, and staid
+there half an hour or longer. I saw them pulling away the hay, and I
+knew they were looking for the money. As I was bound to stop here, I
+made up my mind that they went for the money, meaning to take a train
+to New York, and get rid of me. Then they came out of the cabin, and
+Lon pitched into me: Matt tried to help him. We were at it when you
+came, but I had got the best of it.”
+
+“Matt didn’t help me as he agreed to do,” said Lon, putting his foot
+into it again; for he seemed to believe it was necessary to explain to
+his father why he had lost the battle.
+
+“Then Matthew agreed to help you?” added the captain. “What did he
+agree to help you do, my son?”
+
+“To help me lick Wade Brooks before we left the boat.”
+
+“They were not so anxious to lick me as they were to get that wallet,”
+said Wade. “Lon came at me behind, and tried to pull me down. If he
+wanted to lick me, he would have taken that stick, and used it as I
+did.”
+
+“I don’t believe a word of that story!” exclaimed Swikes.
+
+“If that story is not true, Brooks has more talent for lying than your
+boy or mine,” answered Capt. Trustleton. “It is a straightforward
+statement.”
+
+Wade Brooks began to have some hope that he might not be utterly
+condemned.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A HUNGRY SKIPPER.
+
+
+Capt. Trustleton went over the case; but he was unable to convince
+Obed Swikes that his boy took the money. He was simply determined not
+to accept the explanation. It was a good deal more convenient for him
+to believe that Wade Brooks had done the deed. The wallet was in his
+possession, and he must have taken it.
+
+“Open the wallet, Mr. Swikes, and let us see if the money is all
+there,” suggested Capt. Trustleton. “You have the wallet; but there may
+be no money in it.”
+
+Swikes was appalled at the very suggestion. He took the wallet from his
+pocket, and opened it. His eyes lighted up with joy when he saw the two
+rolls of bills.
+
+“How much was there in the wallet?” asked the captain.
+
+“Just two hundred dollars,” replied Swikes, as he took the two rolls
+of bills from the wallet. “If you will count one of these, I will the
+other.”
+
+The captain took the one handed to him, and proceeded to count it.
+
+“Just one hundred dollars,” he replied, when he had finished it.
+
+“And there is just one hundred in this one,” added Swikes.
+
+“Now, Matthew, why did you divide the money into two parts?” demanded
+the captain sharply, as he turned upon Matt.
+
+“I was going to give half-- I didn’t divide it! I didn’t have the
+money. I didn’t know the money was stolen!” protested Matt, recovering
+his self-possession a little too late.
+
+“You were going to give half to Alonzo, was what you began to say,”
+added Capt. Trustleton. “Now, Mr. Swikes, I regard this as a plain
+case. You find the money divided into two parts, just as Brooks said.
+Your boy was surprised into saying he was going to give half, before
+he changed his tone. If Brooks stole the money, he had no motive for
+dividing it in this way. Let us look at it on another tack. Whether
+your boy and mine set fire to Garlick’s barn, I don’t know: if they
+did, that was a good reason why they should clear out as they did. We
+find these boys here ten miles from home. They say they were going down
+to the Sound, two miles farther. We find in the boat nothing to eat.
+My boy has no money. Neither of them is fool enough to start on such
+a trip without food or money. It is more likely to me that your boy
+took the money from the closet, to enable them to pay the expenses of
+the trip to New York, than that Brooks took it and my boy is just as
+guilty as yours. I don’t want to believe this, but it is forced home to
+my mind.”
+
+“You are hard on my boy, Capt. Trustleton,” said Swikes, shaking his
+head.
+
+“No harder than I am on my own son. I think that both of them have been
+bad boys, and it is better for us to look the matter square in the face
+than it is to blind our own eyes to the facts. But it is almost time
+for that train home; and we can settle the matter just as well there as
+here. But what shall be done with this boat?”
+
+“I suppose Wade Brooks can take it back,” replied Swikes.
+
+It was settled that Wade should sail the boat back to Midhampton, while
+the two fathers and sons returned by the train.
+
+“And, when he does get back, I mean to have him taken up and sent to
+the House of Correction for stealing that money,” said Swikes bitterly.
+
+“I think if you get the case into court, you will be more likely to
+send your own son there. I have no doubt Matthew is the thief,” replied
+the captain. “Why do you keep your money in an open closet, and then
+tell a boy like Wade Brooks where it is?”
+
+“I didn’t tell where it was,” added Swikes.
+
+“How did he know, then?”
+
+“I didn’t know; I had no idea there was any money in the closet. If you
+please, Mr. Swikes, I should like some breakfast before I sail the boat
+home,” said Wade very respectfully.
+
+“You won’t git nothin’ till you git home,” replied the stingy farmer.
+“Do you suppose I’m going to spend money to feed you down here?”
+
+Swikes thought a thing so absurd ought not to be expected of him; and
+he did not give it a second thought.
+
+“I didn’t have any supper last night, as I told you; and I only found
+some crusts of brown bread when I got up in the night, and I’m almost
+starved,” pleaded poor Wade, whose stomach was protesting violently
+against the injustice done to it.
+
+“I can’t help it. You hadn’t any business to come down here.”
+
+“I didn’t come of my own accord; and if I hadn’t come, you never would
+have got your money again,” added Wade. “I can’t sail the boat back
+without something to eat.”
+
+“Then you may walk back, for I won’t pay your fare on the cars,” said
+Swikes, who was by all odds the meanest man in Midhampton.
+
+“I think it is a hard case, my lad,” interposed Capt. Trustleton; “and
+here is a dollar to buy your breakfast.”
+
+“I thank you, sir! I am very much obliged to you, and I hope that some
+time I may be able to do something for you,” said Wade warmly.
+
+“He don’t need all that money, Capt. Trustleton, and you will spoil the
+boy,” growled Swikes, who was disgusted with this prodigality.
+
+The captain and his son walked towards the station, followed by Matt;
+but Swikes lingered behind for some reason.
+
+“Here, Wade Brooks, give me that dollar,” said the skinflint. “I ain’t
+a-going to have no sich waste of money. Here is five cents to buy some
+crackers for you; and that’s enough till you git home.”
+
+“Capt. Trustleton gave the money to me, and I am going to keep it,”
+replied Wade stoutly; and he meant what he said.
+
+“No, you ain’t a-going to keep it nuther! You’ll fool it all away; and
+it will pay my fare down and back on the cars. So give it to me this
+minute.”
+
+“I won’t do it, Obed Swikes,” said Wade. “That dollar won’t pay no fare
+of yours to-day.”
+
+“If you don’t give it to me this minute, I’ll shake it out of your
+hide!”
+
+“Shake away! You don’t get that dollar out of me as long as I can hold
+on to it.”
+
+Wade retreated to the stern of the boat, which was out in the deep
+water; and Swikes followed him.
+
+When the boy had gone as far as he could, Swikes attempted to collar
+him; but Wade dodged, and his persecutor, who was walking on the seat,
+canted the boat so that he lost his balance, and rolled into the river.
+But the water was not more than four feet deep; and, when he recovered
+his footing, he walked up the steep incline to the shore. Matt saw this
+accident to his father, and all the party hastened back.
+
+“What’s the matter, Mr. Swikes?” asked the captain.
+
+“That boy pushed me into the water,” replied the miser, blowing the
+water out of his mouth, and shaking himself like a water-dog.
+
+Capt. Trustleton looked at Wade when this charge was made against him;
+but the boy offered no defence.
+
+“What’s the trouble here, Brooks?” asked the captain.
+
+“Didn’t I tell you that boy pushed me into the water? You needn’t ask
+him any thing about it. He’ll lie to you if you do,” snarled Swikes.
+
+“I don’t think Brooks does all the lying that is done around here,”
+added Capt. Trustleton. “I want to hear what Brooks has to say about
+it.”
+
+“I didn’t push him overboard, or touch him,” replied the persecuted boy.
+
+“Well, he tipped the boat so as to throw me out,” added Swikes.
+
+“Mr. Swikes tried to make me give him the dollar you let me have; and,
+when I told him I wouldn’t give it up, he said he’d shake it out of me.
+I told him to shake away, and he tried to grab me. I ran aft, and got
+out of his way; and when the boat canted a little it tipped him over.”
+
+“Served him right,” said the captain. “Don’t you give him the dollar.
+The money was for you, and not for him.”
+
+“You take that boy’s part against me, Capt. Trustleton, and ’tain’t
+right to do so.”
+
+“Yes, it is right, when you treat him worse than a pig. I wonder now
+that he didn’t keep your money when he got it into his fist. He could
+have run the boat ashore as soon as he got the wallet, and taken the
+next train for New York. It is very strange to me that he didn’t do it,
+if you use him in this way.”
+
+Certainly the captain was plain-spoken, and Obed Swikes did not like
+his speech; but he was too wet and cold to argue the question, and he
+walked towards the station. Wade soon found himself alone in the boat.
+He had a dollar in his pocket, which was more money than he had ever
+possessed before: it seemed like a vast sum to him. But he was very
+hungry, and he soon followed the party to the village. It was but a
+small place, consisting of not more than a dozen houses. He found that
+there was no tavern, store, or eating-house, in the place: all these
+were at the village two miles distant.
+
+“Isn’t there any place where I can get something to eat?” asked Wade of
+the woman who had given him the information.
+
+“None nearer than the West Village,” she replied.
+
+“I have had nothing but a few crusts to eat since yesterday; and I have
+to sail a boat up to Midhampton, and I can’t do it without something to
+eat,” added Wade, in a mournful tone.
+
+“I will give you something to eat,” said the woman kindly. “I am
+willing to feed the hungry, but I am afraid of tramps.”
+
+“I’m not a tramp yet, marm: I don’t know what I may be. I am willing to
+pay for what I eat, for I have some money.”
+
+The woman took no notice of this remark, but led the way into the
+kitchen of her house, which was as neat as wax, and very different in
+this respect from that of Mrs. Swikes. She put a great slice of ham
+into a pan, and put it on the fire; and in a moment it was hissing and
+sizzling, and sending forth a savory odor which tickled the senses of
+the hungry boy. When it was nearly done she put some cold potatoes into
+the pan, and fried them with the ham. She had already set the table;
+and, when the ham was cooked, she asked him to take his seat. She had
+coffee, and bread and butter, besides the other viands; and Wade could
+not remember when he had had such a nice breakfast. He astonished the
+lady by the magnitude of his appetite. He praised the food without
+stint; and the hostess was complimented by the quantity he ate.
+
+When the meal was finished, the good lady would not take a cent of his
+dollar; and he thanked her with all his might.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+WADE BROOKS MAKES A TRADE.
+
+
+Wade Brooks felt like a new boy. The breakfast was a meal to be
+remembered; for there was nothing like it in the past, and the future
+at the house of Obed Swikes was equally blank in prospect. His meals
+there were hardly better than the pigs had, and were often short at
+that.
+
+“I hate to go back to the home of Obed Swikes,” said he to himself,
+as he walked from the house of the kind lady to the river. “I have to
+work like a dog, and sometimes I can’t get enough to eat; and he and
+the old woman say I don’t earn my salt. Both of them are growling at me
+all the time, and I have no peace of my life. They haven’t any claims
+on me; and they say I belong in the poorhouse. I don’t believe I should
+be any worse off if I were in the poorhouse. I shouldn’t have to work
+any harder, and I couldn’t be fed any worse. But then, I don’t like the
+name of it.”
+
+By the time he reached the river, he had about made up his mind not
+to return to the house of Obed Swikes. It was a big thought; and,
+seating himself in the standing-room, he gave himself up to it. The
+runaways were going to New York, and he had expected to go with them.
+He believed he could find work there, and earn his own living.
+
+But how could he get to New York? He had the old boat, and it was not
+more than sixty miles distant. It might take him two days to get there;
+but the boat would certainly take him to his destination if he kept her
+going. The dollar Capt. Trustleton had given him would supply all the
+provision he needed, and even leave him something to spend after he
+reached the great city. The question was settled in the boy’s mind.
+
+Some folks in Midhampton would miss the old boat; but Wade felt that he
+had the best right to her, for she had belonged to his father. Hoisting
+the mainsail, he stood down the river; and, when he had passed the
+bridge, he set the jib. He expected to find a town before he reached
+the Sound, where he could buy the food for the cruise; but no such
+place appeared. Wade Brooks had heard of the Sound, but he had no clear
+idea what it was. He had been to school in the winter since he was old
+enough to do so, and had studied geography. He had seen the Sound on
+the map, and thought it was like a very wide river. He knew that he
+must go west to reach New York, and he had no doubt that he should find
+it.
+
+The wind was fresh and fair, and in less than half an hour the
+“Mud-turtle” reached the mouth of the river. The Sound looked like the
+trackless ocean to Wade, for at this point he could not see across
+it. He did not like the idea of going out on such a broad sea; for he
+had never sailed anywhere except on the river, and had never been out
+of Midhampton before. But he could keep near the shore, and if a storm
+came up he could put in at some of the towns he had seen on the map.
+
+After he got out of the river, he found a point of land extended over a
+mile to the south, and had a light-house at the end of it. He doubled
+this cape, and found that a great bay stretched inland. It was seven
+or eight miles across the mouth of this bay, and he did not like to
+venture out so far. Besides, several vessels and a small steamboat were
+bound up the bay, which indicated that there was a large town at the
+head of it.
+
+The water was alive with craft of all sorts farther out in the Sound;
+and, if the old sail-boat did break down, there were vessels enough
+near to save him. After he had run a couple of miles more, he could see
+the town at the head of the bay. He could just discern a light-house
+at the point where the bay began to be very narrow; and he headed for
+this, as all the other craft were doing. But the wind was dead ahead,
+and he had to beat all the way; but it was not more than three miles
+from him.
+
+“What town is that?” asked Wade of a man in a boat loaded with oysters,
+which he was rowing towards the town, as the “Turtle” passed near him.
+
+“That’s the city of Bridgeport,” replied the oyster man. “Don’t you
+know where you are?”
+
+“No, sir, I don’t: I never was here before,” answered Wade, with candor
+and simplicity. “I want to go to some place where I can get some
+crackers and things to eat.”
+
+“Where did you come from?”
+
+“From Midhampton, up the river.”
+
+“Where are you bound?”
+
+“To New York.”
+
+“If you are bound up to town, and will take my boat in tow, I will
+pilot you up. It’s a crooked channel up to the city, and you will have
+a head wind part of the way,” added the oysterman.
+
+Wade agreed to this arrangement, and ran the “Turtle” alongside the
+oyster-boat. The man passed his painter to the stern of the sail-boat,
+and then took his place at the helm.
+
+“Whose boat is this?” asked the new skipper, as he looked the
+“Mud-turtle” over with a critical eye.
+
+“She belongs to me,” replied Wade.
+
+“You are rather young to own a boat,” added the oysterman.
+
+“If she don’t belong to me, I don’t know who owns her.”
+
+“Where did you get her?”
+
+Wade had no secrets, and he related the history of the boat. The man
+wanted to know something more about the young boatman’s history, and
+he kept looking the boat over all the time as he asked question after
+question. Wade told his story without any reserve, except that he did
+not mention the fire.
+
+“I don’t see as that man has any claims upon you,” said the pilot. “If
+he did not use you well, I don’t blame you for leaving him.”
+
+“Obed Swikes said I belonged in the poorhouse; and he and his wife kept
+saying they should send me there,” added Wade.
+
+“What are you going to do in New York?” asked Loud; for that was his
+name.
+
+“I expect to find work when I get there.”
+
+“What are you going to do with this boat?”
+
+“I don’t know: I hadn’t thought of that,” replied Wade blankly. And he
+did not think the boat was of much consequence any way.
+
+“I think this boat will do me more good than she will you,” said Loud,
+feeling his way to the subject that had been uppermost in his mind from
+the beginning.
+
+“It don’t seem to me that I should want to row that load of oysters as
+far as you have to go,” replied Wade, though he did not yet see what
+the oysterman was driving at.
+
+“You can’t do any thing with the boat in New York,” added Loud, looking
+into the locker astern of the tiller. “She isn’t much of a boat; but
+you couldn’t even sell her there, if you wanted to.”
+
+This was a new idea to the young boatman. It had never occurred to him
+before, that there was any value in the old “Mud-turtle,” which had
+been used in Midhampton by everybody who wanted her, without hire or
+even thanks. He saw that the man wanted to buy her for use in bringing
+in his oysters. She was just the thing for that. She was old; but she
+was still sound, and scarcely leaked at all. He was a New-England boy,
+and he had an instinct for trade; and he made up his mind that Loud
+should not get her for nothing.
+
+“I should say that New York was a better place than this to sell a
+boat,” said Wade, when the man began to run down the boat, and to make
+it appear that she was useless to her owner.
+
+“I don’t think so. They have so many nice boats there, that an old
+thing like this don’t stand much chance.”
+
+“If she were only painted up, she would be as nice as any of them,”
+replied Wade, who remembered how handsome he thought she was when his
+father had put her in first-rate order two or three years before he
+died.
+
+“It would cost a good deal of money to fix her up; and I don’t know as
+she is worth it. She will do to bring up oysters from the beds in; and,
+if you will sell her for any fair price, I should like to buy her,”
+continued Loud, looking her over more carefully than before.
+
+“I didn’t think of selling her; but I will let her go, if you will give
+me what she’s worth,” said Wade, deeming it wise not to appear too
+anxious to drive a trade.
+
+“Well, what will you take for her?” asked Loud, in an indifferent way.
+
+This was a hard question for Wade to answer; but he recalled a time
+when his father talked of selling the boat, and he had heard the
+conversation on the subject. Mr. Brooks had asked seventy-five dollars
+for the boat; but then she had just been painted and repaired.
+
+“I will take fifty dollars for her,” replied Wade, after some
+hesitation; and this, he thought, would be a good figure at which to
+begin the trade.
+
+“Oh, get out!” exclaimed Loud, with great contempt in his manner. “She
+is not worth half that.”
+
+Wade did not think she was, but he did not say so: that was not the way
+to trade.
+
+“I know my father would not sell her for less than seventy-five; but I
+didn’t want to be hard, and I made her cheap to you.”
+
+“I should think you did,” said Loud with a laugh,--“fifty dollars for
+this old tub! I can buy a bigger and better boat here in Bridgeport for
+half the money.”
+
+“Well, if you can, there isn’t any law to keep you from doing so,”
+added Wade good-naturedly.
+
+“This boat will answer my purpose very well; and I thought, as she will
+be of no use to you, she might be bought cheap.”
+
+“And so she can be: what will you give for her?”
+
+“I made up my mind, if you would let her go for ten dollars, I should
+take her; but I didn’t mean to give much more than that for her.”
+
+“Oh, get out! ten dollars for this boat!” exclaimed Wade: “there is old
+iron enough to bring more than that.”
+
+For an hour they haggled about the price. Wade saw that the oysterman
+wanted the boat, in spite of the indifference he tried to assume. Loud
+said there was some risk in buying a boat of a boy; but the trade was
+finally closed at twenty dollars. When they landed at the city, Loud
+went for the money, and paid Wade the cash, requiring him to sign a
+receipt for it.
+
+Wade was glad to have the boat off his hands; and he would have sold
+her for ten dollars rather than keep her, if he could have got no more.
+Just now, with twenty dollars in his pocket, he was a wealthy young
+man; and he felt better off than the rich showman in the place where he
+was. But the boat was gone; and the question now was, how he should get
+to New York.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+TWO WRONGS DON’T MAKE A RIGHT.
+
+
+While Wade Brooks is resting his mind after the great trade he has
+made, let us follow his late companions back to Midhampton. Lon
+Trustleton had the feeling that all his fun had been nipped in the bud
+by Wade, when he took the money, which was to pay the expenses of the
+expedition to New York, from the place where Matt Swikes had put it.
+It is true, he blamed Matt for putting the wallet there, and thought
+he was a fool for doing so. He ought to have given it to him if he was
+afraid to keep it.
+
+Then Matt had counted the money into parts, evidently to divide with
+him. He wondered why he had not given him his share, instead of
+sticking it in the bottom of the boat. Lon had no suspicion that Matt
+doubted his fairness in the matter, and that he might take all the
+funds from him; but this was the reason why Matt had put the money in
+what he considered a safe place.
+
+The captured runaways had no chance to talk together till the train
+arrived at Midhampton, about nine o’clock. Capt. Trustleton was in
+favor, as before, of looking the facts squarely in the face. If his
+son set the barn on fire, he wanted to know it; and though he did not
+want the boy sent to prison, or any thing of the kind, he was disposed
+to punish him severely for the crime, as well as to pay Mr. Garlick the
+loss he had sustained.
+
+Obed Swikes was glad to get his money back. He was not willing to
+believe that Matt had any thing to do with burning the barn; but Capt.
+Trustleton insisted upon taking the boys to the house of Mr. Garlick,
+and having the matter investigated. Swikes reluctantly consented to the
+plan, and they went directly from the station to the farmer’s house.
+The boys were left in one room, while their fathers talked the subject
+over in another.
+
+“Here we are, Matt,” said Lon, who did not appear to be at all sorry
+for his evil deeds: “our fun has been spoiled by Wade Brooks.”
+
+“I know it, and now we may be sent to the House of Correction for
+burning the barn,” replied Matt.
+
+“No danger of that,” added Lon. “Your father will not let you be sent
+to any such place; and I know mine won’t. They say money will do almost
+any thing.”
+
+“My father will not be willing to pay much money on my account.”
+
+“Yes, he will: he will pay all that is wanted to keep you out of the
+House of Correction,” added Lon. “I am only sorry because we lost the
+good time we should have had in New York while the money lasted; and,
+when we came home, our folks would be so glad to see us, that they
+wouldn’t have said a word.”
+
+“I don’t know about that; but every thing would have worked first-rate
+if it hadn’t been for Wade Brooks, confound him!”
+
+“Don’t you think we can get hold of that money again, Matt?” asked Lon
+in a whisper.
+
+“I don’t know: very likely I can. My father thinks Wade took it.”
+
+“Wade will be back in the boat some time to-day; and he may steal it a
+second time, you know,” added Lon, with a wink. “We must have that time
+in New York, anyhow.”
+
+“I’m willing, if we only get out of this scrape.”
+
+“We shall get out of this all right; but don’t you make any blunders
+this time, as you did before,” said the cautious Lon. “Don’t answer
+any questions till you have thought about it. Stick to it that we had
+nothing to do with the fire. Your father does not know that you were
+out of the house before the fire; and I’m sure mine didn’t. Say we did
+not come out till the fire woke us, and went to the boat after it was
+all over. They will not believe Wade’s story, if we only stick to our
+text, and you don’t put your foot into it again.”
+
+While these scamps were preparing for the worst, the trio in the other
+room were discussing the guilt of the boys. Capt. Trustleton called for
+the evidence that his boy had been concerned in setting the fire. Mr.
+Garlick had no evidence, except that he had horsewhipped the two boys,
+and Lon had threatened to get even with him. No one had seen the boys
+in the vicinity of the barn, either before or after the fire.
+
+“Do you intend to proceed against the boys on this testimony?” asked
+the captain rather sternly.
+
+“I have not said I should proceed against them.”
+
+“The boys both denied that they had any thing to do with the fire.”
+
+“Of course they would deny it,” replied the farmer.
+
+“You may question them; and, if there is any thing to implicate them, I
+shall be willing to do what is right. Before we call them in, there’s
+another question which needs a little discussion,” continued Capt.
+Trustleton.
+
+“What’s that?” asked Mr. Garlick curiously.
+
+“You whipped these boys most unmercifully,” replied the captain.
+
+“They had no business to burn my barn, if I did,” said the farmer.
+
+“That’s very true; but two wrongs do not make a right. If you had
+not flogged them, you would not have suspected them of burning your
+building; and if they did the deed,--which I don’t admit,--they did it
+because you whipped them.”
+
+“You hadn’t no business to lick my boy,” added Swikes.
+
+“Now, if there is to be any law about the fire, there must be some more
+about this flogging,” continued Capt. Trustleton.
+
+“Do you mean to prosecute me for that, after I have had my property
+burned by these boys?” demanded Mr. Garlick.
+
+“If my boy is prosecuted for burning the barn, I certainly shall
+prosecute you for flogging my son.”
+
+“And I shall do it for licking my boy,” added Obed Swikes, who began to
+see his way out of the scrape in the light of the captain’s threat.
+
+“That looks a little as though you meant to scare me out of it,” added
+Garlick.
+
+“Not at all; and I don’t mean any thing of the kind,” replied the
+captain. “If these boys set the fire, they did it under strong
+provocation. You had no more right to flog them than I have to flog
+you. You took the law into your own hands, and so did the boys; and
+you have got the worst of it, Mr. Garlick. I would rather have my barn
+burned than my son flogged as you flogged him. I do not believe in
+flogging: I saw enough of it on board ship when I was a young man.”
+
+“You seem to think it was right for your son to burn the barn because I
+whipped him for stealing my peaches,” said the farmer.
+
+“I do not say that; but I have no doubt my son Alonzo, who was never
+flogged in his life before so far as I know, thought the burning of the
+barn could no more than atone for the flogging you gave him.”
+
+“I did not say I meant to prosecute the boys,” replied Garlick, who
+doubtless found by this time that there were two sides to the question.
+
+“What I say is not to be considered as a threat. If my boy is taken
+before the courts on the charge of firing your barn, I wish the people
+to know why he did it, if he did it at all,” answered Capt. Trustleton.
+“Now we will examine the boys, one at a time.”
+
+Lon was called into the room first, and questioned by his father and
+the farmer. He adhered to his story so well that he puzzled his father,
+who was prepared to see him convicted. Matt told the same story, as
+they had agreed beforehand; though a shrewd lawyer would perhaps have
+caused them to make more slips than they did.
+
+“You see there is no evidence, Mr. Garlick, though the whipping can all
+be proved,” said Capt. Trustleton.
+
+“It is a hard case that my property should be burned up by a couple of
+boys,” complained Garlick.
+
+“And it is a hard case that two boys should be flogged as those were;
+and I think it is harder than your case,” added the captain. “If each
+party is to take the law into his own hands, he is also to do as much
+mischief as he thinks will cover the wrong he has suffered.”
+
+“I suppose I shall get my insurance; but it will not cover the loss
+into five or six hundred dollars,” suggested Garlick, with this hint at
+a compromise.
+
+The captain would not take the hint, and said nothing at all about
+paying any money to have the matter hushed up; for it was all over town
+now.
+
+The conference closed with nothing done. The captain went to see his
+lawyer, and Swikes went home. Mrs. Swikes was delighted to see her son;
+and she would not believe that Matt had done any thing wrong. She was
+sure that Wade Brooks had taken the money.
+
+“You must take good care of it, now you’ve got it back,” said the
+female Swikes.
+
+“I’m goin’ to put it just where it was before; and when Wade comes back
+to-day, he will never think of looking in the same place for it,” said
+Obed Swikes, chuckling at his own cunning, as he put the wallet back
+into the closet.
+
+Matt wanted his breakfast, and so did his father. While Mrs. Swikes
+went down cellar to get something, her husband had to see to the horse
+in the barn; and Matt was alone in the kitchen for a few minutes.
+Placing a chair in front of the fireplace, he reached up, obtained the
+wallet, and put it in his pocket. He was not to be cheated out of his
+fun by Wade Brooks. He was careful to put the chair in its place this
+time; and when his mother came back he was just where she left him.
+
+When breakfast was ready, farmer Swikes was called. He was in a very
+happy frame of mind. His money had been restored; and when Wade
+returned he would get that dollar out of him, and it would pay the
+fares.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+WADE BROOKS’S FRIEND.
+
+
+Wade Brooks walked along the piers by the water, feeling like a young
+man with twenty dollars in his pocket. Presently he came to a steamer
+that was larger than any he had seen before; for he had never looked
+upon any thing larger than the tug-boat that sometimes came up the
+river. She was quite a curiosity to him, and he stopped to examine her.
+Then he saw a sign which indicated that the boat was bound to New York.
+This would exactly meet his views, for he was going to that great city.
+He would go in her if the fare was not so great as to ruin him.
+
+On inquiry, he found that he could obtain a deck passage for a dollar;
+and this would be cheaper than to walk, for he would have to pay for
+his food on the way. But the boat did not start till late at night,
+and would reach her destination early in the morning. He had time,
+therefore, to explore the place, which he did very thoroughly. As he
+had never seen even a small city before, he was deeply interested in
+this one.
+
+An noon he came across a restaurant where “meals at all hours” were
+served, and he went in. The bill of fare was rather perplexing; for,
+though he had twenty-one dollars in his pocket, he was not inclined to
+spend it any faster than it was necessary to do so. “Baked Beans, 10
+cents,” seemed to fit his case best; and he made his dinner of this
+substantial diet. He wandered about all the rest of the day, and went
+on board of the steamer about dark. He was tired after the day’s work,
+and the mate told him he might make his bed upon some bales of wool. He
+went to sleep; and his slumbers were so sound that he did not even know
+when the boat started. He did not wake till the steamer was fast to the
+wharf in New York. The sun was shining brightly when he turned out, and
+he had no suspicion that the boat had stirred from the place where she
+was the night before.
+
+“What time are we going to start?” asked Wade, when he saw the
+good-natured mate about his work.
+
+“Start? where do you want to go now?” replied the mate, who saw how it
+was with the passenger.
+
+“To New York. I thought you told me the boat would leave last night,”
+added Wade.
+
+“Well, she won’t leave again till to-night,” said the man, with a
+laugh. “You must have slept very sound, my lad, for the boat did start
+last night: we have been in New York more than an hour.”
+
+“Is that so?” exclaimed Wade, looking out at the forward part of the
+boat.
+
+“That’s so, my boy; and you must look out sharper than that in New
+York, or the swindlers will skin you alive.”
+
+“I guess I can take care of myself,” said Wade confidently. “I’m much
+obliged to you for looking out for me as you have, Mr. Mate.”
+
+“Take care of yourself, my boy: there are a great many bad places in a
+big city like this.”
+
+Wade Brooks went on shore. He was bewildered by the sights that
+met his gaze; and all he could do was to stare at the wonders that
+surrounded him. He walked till he thought it was about time for
+breakfast, and then he returned to a restaurant he had noticed near the
+steamboat-landing. The prices he saw posted at the door of the place
+suited him, and he went in. Fish-balls were only ten cents, with bread
+and butter: though he found the quantity was hardly up to his standard.
+He was not used to high living, and the quality was not so important to
+him. It was a good deal better than he had ever had at Obed Swikes’s.
+
+Opposite to him at the table sat a very seedy-looking man. He wore
+black clothes, and had worn them about out. He looked at Wade several
+times: he even seemed to be taking his measure. Like Wade, he was
+eating fish-balls; but he did not seem to enjoy the meal as did the boy
+from the country.
+
+“You are a stranger in the city,” said the man, after he had looked
+Wade over to his satisfaction.
+
+“Yes, sir: I got here this morning in the steamboat from Bridgeport,”
+replied Wade, who did not think it at all strange that the gentleman
+should speak to him.
+
+[Illustration: WADE AND THE “MISSIONARY.”--Page 113.]
+
+“Do you live in Bridgeport?” continued the seedy individual, as though
+he intended to push his inquiries to some extent.
+
+“No, sir: I never was there till yesterday; and I have always lived in
+the country, and worked on the farm,” replied Wade, perfectly willing
+to tell all about himself.
+
+“I see: farmer’s boy; nice healthy occupation,” added the stranger.
+“Have you got tired of farming?”
+
+“No, sir: but I got tired of the way I had to live. The folks where I
+worked were meaner than swill-pie; and, when I couldn’t stand it any
+longer, I came away.”
+
+“What’s your name, my boy?” asked the man.
+
+“Wade Brooks.”
+
+“My name is Caleb Klucker; and I am one of the missionaries who go
+about this great city to look after the sick and the stranger,” replied
+the man very solemnly. “You may think my clothing is not very good for
+one engaged in such a responsible employment; but I cannot afford to
+spend any money on myself, when the sick and needy are so many. I wear
+these poor clothes, that more of the hungry may be fed.”
+
+“Look after the sick and the stranger,” repeated Wade, who did not
+clearly understand Mr. Klucker’s business. “Do you find any?”
+
+“Plenty of them. This very morning I found a poor woman who was sick in
+consumption; and I gave her all the money I had, except ten cents to
+pay for this miserable meal.”
+
+“That was doing the handsome thing,” added Wade, who concluded he had
+come across one of the saints he had read about, but had never seen.
+“Do you find any strangers?”
+
+“Hundreds who come to the great city with no friends to assist or
+advise them,” answered Mr. Klucker with enthusiasm; and Wade thought
+his whole soul was in his work. “I have found you, for one.”
+
+“But I don’t want any help: I think I can take care of myself.”
+
+“So all these simple-minded country boys think,” added the missionary,
+shaking his head. “The temptations of the great city will beset you
+behind and before.”
+
+“Well, sir, I think I can take care of myself in the face of all of
+them.”
+
+“Perhaps you can: you look like a bright, smart boy, who knows more
+about the world than most of those who come to the city.”
+
+Wade thought Mr. Caleb Klucker was a knowing man, and knew what was
+what.
+
+“What are you going to do in this city, Wade?” asked the missionary.
+
+“I am going to find a place to go to work. If I can get something to
+do, I can take care of myself till the cows come home.”
+
+“Will you let me look at your testimonials?” said Mr. Klucker, in an
+off-hand way.
+
+“My what?”
+
+“Your testimonials.”
+
+“I don’t know what you mean. I haven’t got any thing of that sort about
+me, as I know of.”
+
+“I mean your recommendations,--a paper from your minister, or some
+other good man, saying that you are a good boy,” Mr. Klucker explained.
+
+“I haven’t got any. I left, as I told you, in something of a hurry. I
+came to Bridgeport in a sail-boat which was my father’s; and I hadn’t
+any time to go to the minister for the paper.”
+
+“You will find it very hard to find a place to work without a
+recommendation,” added the missionary, shaking his head very
+sorrowfully, as though his heart was touched at the friendless
+condition of the youth. “But what did you do with the boat in which you
+came to Bridgeport?”
+
+“I came across a man that wanted to buy her, and I thought she wasn’t
+of much use to me, so I sold her,” replied Wade frankly.
+
+“I suppose you had to sell her for less than half her value,” said
+Klucker, who seemed to be much interested in the boat, as well as in
+her late owner.
+
+“She was an old boat, and wasn’t worth much; but I got twenty dollars
+for her; and I thought that was doing pretty well with her.”
+
+“Very well indeed, under the circumstances. I see that you are a
+wide-awake young man, and know what you are about,” said Mr. Klucker,
+with a patronizing smile. “But I am sorry you have no testimonials, for
+you will need them in order to get a place.”
+
+“I can soon show anybody that wants to hire a hand what I can do,”
+replied Wade confidently.
+
+“But people will not take strange boys into their houses and shops
+without testimonials: they are afraid such boys will steal. But I feel
+an interest in you, and it is part of my business to look up just such
+cases as yours,” added the benevolent Mr. Klucker.
+
+“I am going to the rooms of our association; and, if you will go with
+me, I will see what can be done for you. I am afraid you will be robbed
+of your money, and then you will be a beggar about the streets till you
+find work.”
+
+“I guess I can take care of my money,” replied Wade.
+
+“Twenty dollars is a large sum of money for a boy to have; and there
+are a great many wicked people in this great city, who live by
+plundering the stranger within its gates. For aught you know, you may
+have lost your money now.”
+
+It was a startling suggestion; and Wade thrust his hand deep down into
+his pocket, to see if the money was safe. He drew out an old wallet
+which had once belonged to his father, and showed it to his friend.
+
+“It is all right, you see,” said Wade with a smile.
+
+“I see the wallet is, but there may be no money in it,” added Mr.
+Klucker.
+
+“Nobody could get the money out of the wallet while it was in my
+pocket,” added Wade.
+
+“Such things are often done; and you had better see that the money is
+safe.”
+
+Wade exhibited the bills with a look of triumph.
+
+“It isn’t safe for a boy to carry so much money around with him,”
+continued the missionary. “There are plenty of sharpers who can get
+it away from you so adroitly that you will not know when it is taken.
+Don’t you think you had better let me take charge of it for you?”
+
+“I think I can manage it for myself,” replied Wade, as he restored the
+wallet to his pocket.
+
+“I think you had better put it in our savings bank: you can have a
+book, and draw it out as you want it.”
+
+Wade knew about savings banks; and he liked the idea. Mr. Klucker
+conducted his young friend to such a bank, though it did not seem to
+be at “the rooms of our association.” A long string of depositors was
+at the window where the money was passed in; and they had to wait some
+time,--so long that Mr. Klucker’s patience was exhausted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+A NEW YORK SAINT.
+
+
+“Really, I can’t wait so long,” said the kind friend of Wade Brooks.
+“But I know the people in the bank; and, if you will give me the money,
+they will do the business at once.”
+
+This looked like a reasonable plan, and Wade felt quite willing to
+adopt it.
+
+“I haven’t twenty dollars left to put into the bank,” said he, taking
+the wallet from his pocket. “I must keep some to pay for what I want to
+eat.”
+
+“You can draw out what you want at any time, and you had better put in
+nearly all you have,” suggested Mr. Klucker.
+
+“I have twenty dollars, all but twenty cents; and I guess I’ll put in
+eighteen,” replied Wade.
+
+“Very well: it will be safe here, and you can get it when you want it,”
+said the missionary, in the most encouraging tones.
+
+Wade gave him the money; and he moved off to the other end of the
+banking-room, as though he were going behind the partition that
+separated the bank-officers from the public. Wade looked in at the
+window to see him, if he could; but he did not appear. The missionary
+seemed to be a long time doing the business, and getting his book; and
+Wade waited half an hour with what patience he had. All the people
+who had been in the line when he came into the room had done their
+business, and had gone, though their places were filled by others.
+
+Wade waited another half-hour; and then the attention of the cashier
+was directed to him as one who had waited a long time. Strange as it
+may seem, the country boy did not suspect any thing wrong; for one who
+had given all his money but ten cents to a poor sick woman, and who
+was employed by “our association” to look out for the sick and the
+stranger, could not steal his money.
+
+“What are you waiting for, young man?” called the cashier, from the
+window.
+
+“I am waiting for my book,” replied Wade.
+
+“What book was that?”
+
+“Mr. Klucker took my money in there about an hour ago.”
+
+“Who?” asked the cashier, beginning to take an interest in the matter.
+
+“Mr. Caleb Klucker. He said he knew you in there, and he would get a
+book for me without waiting so long,” answered Wade, who thought it a
+little odd that they did not know the name.
+
+“I don’t know any such person; and I am the only one that takes
+deposits,” replied the cashier. “How much money did you give him to
+take in here?”
+
+“Eighteen dollars, sir.”
+
+“Did any one come in here from the front?” asked the cashier, turning
+to the clerks in the office.
+
+No one had come in from the front, or from anywhere else. One of the
+assistants had seen a seedy-looking man pass out at the rear door,
+which was little used.
+
+“I am sorry for you, young man; but it is plain enough that you have
+been robbed of your money by a swindler,” said the cashier, shaking his
+head. “You will never see your eighteen dollars again.”
+
+“But Mr. Klucker was a missionary; and he went about looking up the
+sick and the stranger,” protested Wade, confounded by the explanation
+of his long waiting.
+
+“Especially for the stranger,” added the cashier, with a significant
+smile. “You should have handed your money in at this window, and then
+it would have been all right.”
+
+“I thought this man was a New York saint,” added Wade, with about all
+the pluck taken out of him.
+
+“No: he was a New York sinner.”
+
+“But he was going to get me a place to work, and I never thought that
+he could be a thief.”
+
+“That is just what he was,” said the cashier, resuming his work.
+
+“But where shall I find Mr. Klucker?” asked Wade, not yet reconciled to
+the loss of his eighteen dollars.
+
+“You will not find him: he will diligently keep out of your way during
+the rest of your stay in New York. You can go to the police; but I
+think it will do no good,” answered the cashier, with more indifference
+in his manner than a boy who has lost eighteen dollars likes to see.
+
+Wade Brooks hung round the bank till noon, in the hope that Mr. Klucker
+had been slandered by the cashier, and that he would return to restore
+his money. But the missionary was not one of that sort of men: when
+he got any money into his hands, no matter by what means, he made a
+business of holding on to it. He did not show himself again. Wade left
+the bank with a heavy heart. Was that the kind of saints they had in
+New York?
+
+The unhappy boy from the country walked down the street, looking at
+every man he met, in the hope that he might see the swindler; but he
+did not. He continued his walk till he reached the cheap restaurant
+where he had eaten his breakfast. He went in, and asked the man at the
+counter if he could tell him who the man was that he had met at the
+table.
+
+“His name is Jeremy Diddler,” replied the man, with a coarse laugh.
+
+“Can you tell me where he lives?” added Wade, glad to learn the name of
+the New York saint.
+
+“He lives on green countrymen most of the time,” laughed the man.
+
+“But I mean, where is his house?”
+
+“His house! he don’t have any house except when he is boarded at the
+county hotel.”
+
+“Where is that?” asked Wade blankly.
+
+“It is on an island in East River; but he is not boarding there just
+now,” said the man, winking at a waiter who was listening to the
+conversation.
+
+“Can you tell me where I shall be likely to find him?” asked the
+unhappy Wade.
+
+“I cannot; but you can inquire for him at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, and
+they will tell you whether he is there or not,” said the keeper of the
+restaurant, winking again at the waiter.
+
+Wade wanted to know where the Fifth Avenue Hotel was, and was told so
+that he could find it.
+
+“I say, sonny, have you been boarding that dead beat?” inquired the
+keeper.
+
+“Boarding what?”
+
+“The fellow you have been asking about.”
+
+“I have not been boarding anybody: I don’t keep a boarding-house. I let
+him take eighteen dollars of mine to put in the savings bank, and get
+me a book; and I haven’t seen him since. And now I want to find him.”
+
+“When you do find him, I want you to let me know, for it will be a
+thing worth knowing,” laughed the keeper.
+
+“You needn’t laugh at me,” said Wade, a little hurt, for it seemed
+like laughing at a funeral to him, after he had lost all the boat had
+brought except two dollars.
+
+“Served you right, sonny; and, if the lesson you have learned costs you
+only eighteen dollars, you bought it cheap,” added the keeper. “Some of
+the countrymen who come here lose hundreds of dollars in just the way
+you lost your money: so you got off cheap.”
+
+“It wasn’t my fault, for I thought he was a missionary,” Wade explained.
+
+“So he is,--a missionary to enlighten countrymen who will trust their
+money in the hands of such dead beats,” chuckled the keeper. “You can
+inquire at the Fifth Avenue Hotel for him.”
+
+The man turned to attend to a customer; and Wade retreated into the
+street, for being laughed at was almost as bad as being robbed of his
+money. Near the restaurant he met a policeman. Klucker had told him
+what the man in the uniform was, and had explained to him a great many
+other things, in answer to his questions, on the way to the bank.
+He told his story to the policeman; but he treated the matter very
+lightly, and candidly told him he would never see his money again. But
+he went back to the restaurant with him, and went through the form of
+asking a great many questions; but nothing came of his investigation.
+
+Wade tramped up to the bank again. He went in, and asked if Mr.
+Klucker, or Mr. Diddler as the keeper of the restaurant had called him,
+had been at the place since he left. He had not been there; and the
+cashier smiled when he told him so. The poor boy could not see why
+everybody, even the policeman, was disposed to laugh at him. He felt
+bad enough, without having folks make fun of him. It was no laughing
+matter. The man in the restaurant had told him to take a horse-car at
+the Astor House, which would carry him to the Fifth Avenue Hotel. He
+easily found the horse-cars; but he did not feel able to invest five
+cents in a ride, and he decided to walk, using the cars as his guide.
+
+It was a long tramp, and he stopped so many times on the way to look
+up the cars that were marked “Fifth Avenue,” that he did not reach his
+destination till the middle of the afternoon. In spite of his gloomy
+state of mind, he could not help stopping to admire the squares and the
+wonderful buildings, and to gaze upon the vast throng of people that
+filled the streets. He was amazed at the hotel, which he had supposed
+was something like the tavern in Midhampton. It was a palace, compared
+with any thing he had ever seen before. As he had never hesitated to
+enter the tavern when he wished to do so, he did not fear to go into
+the hotel.
+
+He was bewildered by the grandeur and magnitude of the establishment.
+He paused at the office, and looked at the spruce clerks behind the
+counter. He wondered if it would be safe to speak to one of them;
+but he saw others do so, and he determined to make the attempt. The
+diamonds in their shirt-bosoms were very large; but they could not more
+than eat him.
+
+“Is there a man by the name of Mr. Caleb Klucker stopping here?” he
+ventured to ask.
+
+“Caleb Klucker,” repeated one of the clerks, turning to the other, and
+laughing.
+
+“That is what he said his name was; but another man told me it was
+Jeremy Diddler,” added Wade, fearing that he might have given the wrong
+name.
+
+“Jeremy Diddler! Oh, yes, he is always here!” exclaimed the clerk.
+
+But what was the man laughing at? Wade had said nothing funny, that he
+was aware of; and these clerks did not know that he had been gouged out
+of eighteen dollars.
+
+“Do you wish to see Mr. Diddler?” asked the clerk politely.
+
+“I do want to see him,” replied Wade decidedly.
+
+The clerk snapped a bell on the marble counter.
+
+“Show this young man to No. 942,” he added to the servant who answered
+it.
+
+Wade followed him, as told to do.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+AN UNEXPECTED MEETING.
+
+
+Wade followed the servant up the stairs; and this fellow seemed to be
+laughing too. What had got into them all? He had done nothing to make
+them laugh. The people in the hotel seemed to know Jeremy Diddler, but
+not Caleb Klucker. If the fellow was a rogue, as Wade believed he was
+by this time, very likely he had two names.
+
+Wade followed his conductor to the very top of the house; and it seemed
+to him he had never been so near heaven before. Then the man led him by
+devious winding ways, through long passages and halls, till he thought
+he had walked half a mile.
+
+“How much farther are you going?” asked Wade, unable to forget the
+laugh of the clerks and the servant, which seemed to have something to
+do with the distance he had travelled.
+
+“It isn’t more nor a mile furder,” replied the Irish waiter.
+
+“A mile!” exclaimed Wade, lost in wonder again at the immense size of
+the hotel. “It will take us all the rest of the day to get to the room.”
+
+“Faith, it will, and half of the night.”
+
+“How many stories high is this hotel?”
+
+“Only thirteen.”
+
+“Thirteen!”
+
+“Yes; and the last place I lived, the house was twenty-one.”
+
+The fellow chuckled so that Wade was afraid he was lying. He did not
+believe any hotel could be twenty-one stories high.
+
+“Rather high houses,” said he coolly, “but not so high as they might
+be. The tavern in Midhampton, where I come from, is thirty-two stories
+high.”
+
+“Spake the truth, man!”
+
+“I guess my story is as true as yours.”
+
+“Wait here a minute,” said the man, halting at a narrow passage-way;
+and Wade thought it looked very like one he had passed twice before in
+his tour in the upper regions of the hotel. “I will go to the room, and
+see if the gintleman is within.”
+
+Wade did wait a minute, then five minutes; and then half an hour. The
+laughing seemed to be explained. The clerks had been making game of
+him. They had sent him on a wild-goose chase. He did not believe that
+Mr. Diddler was in the hotel, though the clerk said he was always
+there. He walked through the long passage-way, looking at the numbers
+on the doors: there were none as high as 942. Indeed, he could find
+none half as big. He kept walking till he came to what he thought was a
+closet, with a gas-light burning in it. A man was standing at the door.
+
+“Are you going down?” asked the man, as Wade looked into the thing.
+
+“That’s what I want to do,” replied the wanderer, who was wondering
+whether he could find his way down.
+
+“Jump in, then,” added the attendant.
+
+Wade began to suspect that this was some new trick, and he looked
+very cautiously into the closet. Then he concluded that it was not a
+closet at all. It had seats all around it like the depot omnibus in
+Midhampton, and was carpeted and cushioned like a fine parlor. At a
+venture, he concluded to go in, and he seated himself on the velvet
+divan. The man closed the door, and pulled a wire rope which ran
+through the thing. Then Wade thought the bottom was dropping out of
+the concern, but he soon found the whole affair was descending; and in
+a minute or two the attendant pulled the wire again, and it stopped.
+When the door opened, he found he was near the office where the clerks
+had fooled him. He was astonished to see how quick he had come down;
+and this was his first experience in an elevator, for he had never even
+heard of such a thing.
+
+“Did you find him?” asked the clerk, when he showed himself in the
+office.
+
+“I didn’t find him,” replied Wade indignantly; “and you knew very well
+I should not find him.”
+
+“I think he was out,” added the clerk, looking very serious now. “Did
+you go to No. 542?”
+
+“No, sir: we went to No. 942, where you sent us.”
+
+“No,--542. I think the bell-boy did not understand me. Try again; and I
+think you will find him this time. You can go up in the elevator.”
+
+Though Wade was satisfied that the clerk wanted to fool him again, he
+thought he would take another ride in that machine. Another bell-boy
+was called, and directed to show the young man to 542.
+
+“And, young man, you must open the door, and go right in. Don’t stop to
+knock; for Mr. Diddler owes money to various people, and sometimes he
+will not answer when he is summoned. Go in without ceremony.”
+
+Again the boy from the country ascended to the upper regions of the
+hotel: and, without going far, his conductor led him to the room on
+the door of which was the number which the clerk had named last. The
+bell-boy did not wait, but left him to carry out the instructions he
+had received in the office. Wade was in no hurry to open the door.
+Perhaps Mr. Klucker, who was not much of a saint after all, might be
+ugly: he might show fight. But Wade meant to stick to him till he
+had got his money back. Placing his hand on the knob of the door, he
+hesitated a moment, and wished he had a club, or something to defend
+himself with if the missionary showed fight.
+
+After he had braced his nerves up to the sticking-point, he turned the
+knob, and shoved the door wide open, so that Mr. Klucker could not shut
+it before he had time to enter. It was not fastened, as it might have
+been, and yielded to the first force he applied.
+
+If ever Wade Brooks was astonished, it was when he opened that door,
+and saw who were in the room. He was prepared to find the New York
+saint, and no one else. But in that room, considering the size of it,
+saints were scarce, and sinners plenty. At the table in the middle of
+the chamber sat two boys, counting a pile of money, or rather the two
+piles of money into which they had divided the one. The two boys were
+Lon Trustleton and Matt Swikes.
+
+The reader is not half so much astonished as Wade Brooks was when
+he saw his late fellow-voyagers in the “Mud-turtle,” settled in a
+room in the Fifth Avenue Hotel; for he knows that the young rascals
+had not given up their “good time” in the great city, and that Matt
+had obtained possession again of the wallet and its contents. After
+breakfast, Matt had looked up his companion in crime; and, when
+they had laid their plans, they walked to the next station north
+of Midhampton, which was not the way to go to New York direct, and
+took a train. As something had been said by Wade about going to New
+York, they were afraid of being followed if they went the other way.
+By a roundabout route, they reached New York, and had just arrived.
+Lon wanted to take charge of the money this time; but the best Matt
+would do was to divide, and they had made two piles of the money that
+remained after paying their expenses so far.
+
+Lon had often heard his father speak of the Fifth Avenue Hotel; and as
+he saw a stage at the station, with the name upon it, he decided to go
+there, though he had no idea what sort of a house it was. The clerk
+in the office did not seem to think every thing was regular about the
+boys, as they had no baggage; but Lon was well dressed, and they were
+willing to pay in advance. He was disposed to make fun of them; and
+it was a practical joke on his part, to send the country boy to the
+chamber of the new arrivals.
+
+“Wade Brooks!” exclaimed Lon, as the boy of all work sprang into the
+room. “How under the canopy came you here?”
+
+“I did not expect to find you here,” replied Wade, when he had
+recovered from his surprise enough to speak.
+
+“Then you were not looking for us?”
+
+“No, I was not: I was looking for another man,” replied Wade.
+
+“Who?”
+
+“His name is Jeremy Diddler,” answered Wade, with his usual candor and
+simplicity.
+
+“Jeremy Diddler!” exclaimed Lon, who knew the individual by reputation.
+“Are you a fool, Wade Brooks?”
+
+“I don’t think I am. The man’s other name is Caleb Klucker.”
+
+“They are making fun of you, Wade,” said Lon. “What have you been doing
+since I left you yesterday morning?”
+
+Wade told the story just as it was,--that he had sold the boat for
+twenty dollars, and the money had been taken from him by a fellow whose
+name was Jeremy Diddler. Lon laughed outright.
+
+“Jeremy Diddler is a name given to any one that swindles folks out of
+their money, you ninny!” said the more experienced Lon. “I didn’t think
+you was such a fool.”
+
+“Is that it?” added Wade, laughing at his own foolishness, and seeing
+now what the clerks had been laughing at. “I’m glad to know it; and I
+see that is your name, Lon.”
+
+“None of your sauce, Wade Brooks,” said Lon, beginning to look savage.
+
+“I’m not afraid of you now; and I had just as lief fight as not. I see
+you and Matt have swindled Obed Swikes out of his two hundred dollars
+again; and I think you and he both will fit the meaning you give to the
+name. There’s the old wallet on the table; and they can’t say I took it
+this time.”
+
+Lon looked at Matt, and Matt looked at Lon. They did not seem to like
+the situation, for Wade had caught them in the act of counting the
+money. It was no use to deny it this time; and he had only to tell the
+clerk, in order to get them into trouble.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+AT THE LODGING-HOUSE.
+
+
+“Well, Wade Brooks, what are you going to do about it?” demanded Lon,
+when he had considered the situation.
+
+“I don’t know what I shall do about it,” replied Wade; and he spoke the
+truth. “You come here to have a time, as I knew you meant to do before.”
+
+“If you ever tell anybody what you have found out, I’ll flog you within
+an inch of your life!” said Lon savagely.
+
+“I’ll risk it; and, if you want to begin now, I’m ready. It isn’t
+likely I shall ever see anybody to speak to about it; but, if you’re
+going to lick me, I’ll go out of my way to tell,” said Wade stoutly;
+and he was confident, after their experience in the boat, he could
+thrash Lon every time.
+
+“Don’t make a row with him, Lon,” said the more prudent Matt. “Let’s
+make trade with him.”
+
+“What do you mean by a trade?” demanded Lon.
+
+“He can tell all he knows, if he has a mind to; and then where shall we
+be?” replied Matt.
+
+Lon did not like the idea any better than Matt; and he allowed him to
+tell what he meant.
+
+“You have lost the money you got for the boat, have you, Wade?” asked
+Matt.
+
+“I lost eighteen dollars of it, and I have only a dollar and eighty
+cents left; and I shall soon eat that up,” replied Wade gloomily.
+
+“I will give you ten dollars, and Lon shall give you the same, if you
+will agree not to say a word to any one about us, not even to Lon’s
+father or mine, if you should happen to see either or both of them,”
+said Matt, in soft tones. “That will be twenty dollars, more than you
+had before.”
+
+“Do you mean to give me the money you stole from your father?” asked
+Wade.
+
+“We haven’t any other money,” replied Matt. “We didn’t steal it: who
+said any thing about stealing?”
+
+“You can’t deny that you stole that money from your father; and I don’t
+see what he was thinking about, that he didn’t put it in a place where
+you couldn’t get it.”
+
+“Don’t say any thing more about stealing, Wade. That’s not the way to
+call it. But say whether you will take up with my offer.”
+
+“I won’t take up with it: I won’t have any thing to do with any money
+you stole. I’m not a thief; and I’ve heard your father say that the
+receiver is as bad as the thief,” replied Wade decidedly.
+
+“I knew it would be so,” added Lon, disgusted with the idea of
+compromising with a fellow like Wade Brooks.
+
+“I don’t want to talk about such a thing;” and the temptation was so
+great, that Wade was afraid to think of it. “I guess I’ll be going now.”
+
+Wade backed out at the open door, and neither of the runaways attempted
+to detain him, though Lon repeated his threat. Matt was alarmed; but
+Lon thought that the fear of a thrashing which he had promised the boy
+of all work would prevent him from saying any thing to the people in
+the hotel, though he would be likely to tell the whole truth when they
+all went home.
+
+Wade walked to the elevator, thinking what he should do. He did not
+like Lon’s threat; and knew that his father was even then worrying
+about his son. When the car came along on its way down, he got into
+it, and a moment later he was at the office. He had made up his mind
+to leave the hotel without saying any thing more to any one, for he
+had been laughed at enough for one day. But the joking clerk was not
+inclined to let him escape, at least without a little more quizzing.
+
+“Did you find your friend, young man?” asked the joker, with a smile
+and a wink at his fellow-clerk.
+
+“Yes, sir; I found him: in fact, I found two of the name I gave you,”
+replied Wade readily.
+
+“I’m glad you did: I thought Mr. Diddler must be in that room if he was
+anywhere in the house.”
+
+“He’s there; and I think his father, whose name is not Diddler, would
+like to hear from him.”
+
+“Did you find that you knew the boys in that room?” asked the clerk,
+who had had many doubts in regard to taking them into the house.
+
+“I knew them both the moment I set eyes on them.”
+
+“Who are they?”
+
+“One of them is Matt Swikes, and the other is Lon Trustleton. Both of
+them came from Midhampton. Lon threatened to lick me if I said any
+thing about them, and I want him to try it on.”
+
+“Trustleton! Then he must be the son of Capt. Trustleton of
+Midhampton,” added the clerk.
+
+“That’s what he is, every time,” replied Wade, who felt that he had no
+right to keep still when these boys were running away with money they
+had stolen: besides, he wanted to know about the licking Lon was to
+give him.
+
+“And who are you, young man?” asked the clerk.
+
+“My name is Wade Brooks; and I used to live in Midhampton.”
+
+“Does your father live there?”
+
+“I have no father or mother, or any relations that I know of.”
+
+“But whom did you run away from?”
+
+“Nobody has any claim on me; and I am my own master,” replied Wade
+decidedly. “Can I get any work about this house? I want something to
+do.”
+
+“Nothing here. Have you told me the truth about the other two boys?”
+
+“Of course I have; and you’ll find it so, if you look into the matter.
+But I’m going now,” continued Wade, moving towards the entrance.
+
+The clerk did not offer to detain him, and Wade reached the street. It
+was no use to do any thing more about the eighteen dollars: he gave
+it up, and tried to be as resigned as possible to the heavy loss. It
+was just his luck. He began to feel the necessity of something to
+eat again, for he had not tasted food since he breakfasted with Mr.
+Klucker. But he walked to the place where he had taken his morning
+meal, for he thought his money would not last long if he patronized the
+restaurants in the Fifth Avenue.
+
+The keeper asked him some questions about his search for the
+missionary; but it was only to make fun of him, and he gave short
+answers to him. He spent ten cents upon a plate of baked beans; for
+this was one of the cheap dishes, and he could not indulge in chops
+and beefsteaks. He wondered where he should pass the night. He had not
+been in a bed for two nights, and he was beginning to feel very tired.
+He asked the keeper of the restaurant where he could find a cheap
+lodging, and was directed to a place where he could get the luxury of
+a bed for twenty-five cents. He went to it; and, though it was cheap,
+it was better than he had had in the garret of Obed Swikes. There were
+six beds in the room; and, as it was only half-past seven, he had the
+choice of them.
+
+“My money is almost gone in one day; but it is just my luck,” said
+he to himself as he got into the bed. “It will cost me fifty or sixty
+cents a day to live, the best way I can fix it; and it will only
+last me a couple of days more. What shall I do then, if I don’t get
+something to do?”
+
+It was a hard question to answer; and, while he was thinking about it,
+he went to sleep. He did not wake till daylight in the morning. He saw
+that all the other beds were occupied; but he did not care to get up
+at that early hour, for he had not to go out to the barn and take care
+of the cattle. But he was fully rested, and he could not go to sleep
+again. He lay as long as he could; and then got up and dressed himself,
+being the first to leave the room.
+
+The place where he had lodged was a cheap hotel; and he looked at the
+bill of fare in the restaurant. He found the prices were about the
+same as at the place where he had taken his meals the day before; and
+he called for fish-balls,--the cheapest dish on the bill. He got more
+of them than at the other place, and he was well satisfied with the
+establishment. He even informed the proprietor, who was on duty behind
+the counter, that he should patronize his house while he staid in New
+York. He thought this announcement, with a compliment which he prefixed
+to it, would please the man, as doubtless it did, till a circumstance
+appeared which spoiled its effect.
+
+Wade’s bill was ten cents,--he had paid for his lodging the night
+before, as the rule of such places requires,--and he put his hand into
+his pocket to take out his wallet. He did take it out; but, to his
+intense astonishment, he found there was not a single cent in it: all
+the rest of his money was gone. It had evidently been stolen from him
+while he was asleep. He had hung his trousers over the head of the bed,
+and in the pocket of this garment was his earthly treasure. It was only
+one dollar and thirty-five cents, but it was all he had.
+
+“My money is all gone,” said Wade mournfully.
+
+“Gone! You mean that you haven’t got any,” said the landlord.
+
+“But I had a dollar and thirty-five cents when I went to bed in your
+house last night, and now I haven’t a single cent.”
+
+“That has been played on me so many times, that I know all about it. I
+should say a hundred such fellows have been robbed in my house within a
+year. I don’t believe you had any money,” said the landlord coldly.
+
+“How could I pay for my lodging if I had not?” asked Wade meekly.
+
+“You had no business to order breakfast, if you hadn’t the money to pay
+for it,” growled the man.
+
+“I thought I had money, or I should not.”
+
+“That won’t go down,” added the landlord.
+
+“It is the truth; but I will come and pay you just as soon as I get
+some money.”
+
+“I guess not,” added the proprietor of the hotel, reaching over the
+counter, and snatching Wade’s cap from his head. “When you pay the
+bill, you shall have your cap again. You can go now.”
+
+“I can’t go out without any cap,” protested Wade.
+
+“You try it, and see if you can’t. I’ll bet a dollar you can; and, if
+you don’t do it in half a minute, my right boot will help you on your
+way.”
+
+It was of no use to argue the case with such a man as that; and the
+poor boy left the little hotel sadder than he had ever been before in
+his life. He had no cap on his head; but no one seemed to notice the
+fact. He was near the steamboat-landings; and presently he saw a ragged
+boy get a job to carry a bag belonging to a traveller. He took the
+suggestion, and, going nearer to the pier, he appealed to every man and
+woman he met for a job to carry baggage, and at last he was so lucky as
+to get one. He left the bag at a hotel near Broadway; and the traveller
+gave him ten cents, with which he considered himself richly paid.
+
+With the money in his hand,--for he dared not trust it in his
+pocket,--he hastened back to the cheap hotel. The landlord gave him his
+cap when he handed him his money.
+
+“I thought you would find some money if I kept your cap,” said he. “I
+have half a mind to keep it to punish you for lying to me, and saying
+you had no money.”
+
+“I made the ten cents carrying a bag for a passenger,” pleaded Wade, as
+he left the place.
+
+He went back to the steamboat-landing to see if he could not get
+another job.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+A NIGHT ADVENTURE.
+
+
+“Just my luck!” exclaimed Wade, when he was in the street. “Not a
+single cent left! To think there should be any one in that little mean
+hotel to take a dollar and thirty-five cents from a poor boy like me!”
+
+But it was no use to complain. He had made ten cents that morning,
+and he might do a large business of this kind. But all the passengers
+from the steamers had gone to their hotels or elsewhere; and he walked
+along to one of the large ferries that bring travellers across from
+the railroads on the Jersey shore. He happened to hit quite a crowd
+of them, and he began to offer his services. He had spoken to half a
+dozen, though without success, when three stout fellows came up to him.
+
+“Out of this, country!” said one of them, with a threatening
+demonstration. “If you don’t get out of this, you will get a crack on
+the sconce.”
+
+He could not exactly see how the fellows knew he was from the country;
+but, as it was a fact, he was not disposed to raise any issue on the
+question. But he wanted to know by what right they ordered him away
+from this locality. He thought he had as good right there as they had.
+
+“What’s that for?” he asked; and he did not like the idea of fighting
+three of them as big as himself.
+
+“Sure we have the license to carry baggage from this place, and we
+won’t let the business be taken from us by no countryman,” replied the
+spokesman of the party.
+
+“You have a license! What’s that?” added Wade.
+
+“Don’t you know what a license is?” hooted the fellow. “Don’t the city
+give us the right to carry baggage from this ferry?”
+
+“I don’t know. Does it?”
+
+“Faith, if you’re not out of this in half a minute, we’ll show you how
+it is;” and the speaker shook his dirty fists in Wade’s face.
+
+“If you have a license, of course I won’t meddle with your business,”
+replied Wade prudently. “But that’s just my luck.”
+
+Wade walked up and down the street, looking for a job, but nothing
+could he find. He went into shops of every kind: he applied at the
+barges and oyster-boats, and went on board of the vessels. No one
+wanted a boy. Those whom he addressed would hardly give him a civil
+answer; and, if he said any thing after they had given him the usual
+short answer, he was driven away with oaths and abuse.
+
+At noon there was no dinner for him, for he had not a cent to pay for
+the meal; and he continued to wander about the city, asking for work,
+till the middle of the afternoon, when he was so tired that he could
+walk no farther. He was hungry too, but he knew no better where to get
+a supper than a dinner. He had been tramping up and down Broadway; and
+he came to Union Square, where he was very glad to sit an hour, and
+rest himself.
+
+When he was rested, he walked to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, for he wanted
+to know what had become of Lon and Matt. He explored the lower part
+of the house, but he saw nothing of his late fellow-voyagers on the
+river. They might be in their room; and, when he presented himself at
+the elevator, the attendant, who had seen him the day before, did not
+object to his taking passage in the car; and in a minute or two he was
+at the top of the house. He went to the room which Lon and Matt had
+occupied, and knocked; but no one seemed to be in the apartment. What
+had become of them?
+
+He returned to the elevator, which had not yet descended, and took a
+seat in the car. He was rather sorry not to find the two runaways, for
+he was thinking seriously of returning to Midhampton. It was better to
+go back to Obed Swikes’s, and live as he had before, than to starve
+in the great city. As it was, he did not see how he could get back.
+He could not start on an empty stomach, and expect to walk sixty or
+seventy miles.
+
+“What has become of the two fellows that slept in No. 542?” asked Wade
+of the elevator-man.
+
+“The two that came yesterday? Faith, there has been great looking for
+those same boys,” replied the man. “This morning the father of one of
+them came to look for them, for the clerk telegraphed to him that his
+son was at the hotel; but they couldn’t find them. The bed wasn’t slept
+in last night; and they must have left in the evening.”
+
+Wade thought he understood it. After he had seen them, they were afraid
+to stay any longer, and had left soon after he had gone. He couldn’t
+make peace with them, and get something to eat. He walked about the
+lower part of the hotel, and among other places visited the bar-room.
+On the counter he saw some crackers and cheese. He concluded they were
+placed there to eat; and, as the man in charge was reading a book at
+the farther end of the counter, he helped himself to as much of the
+coveted provision as he dared to take. He sat down in a corner, and ate
+it.
+
+He was quite faint with his long fast; and the food, light as it was,
+restored him. A servant looked at him half a dozen times, and then
+told him loafers were not allowed about the house. Poor Wade had never
+considered himself a loafer; and he thought it was a terrible thing to
+be called by such a name. He rose from his comfortable seat, and left
+the great hotel. He felt that no one could turn him out of the streets,
+and he felt more at home there. But it was not pleasant to think of
+wandering about the city all night, as he had all day. He thought he
+might find some shed or other building where he could sleep on a hard
+floor, and that he should be more likely to find such accommodations
+near the wharf. He walked to the vicinity of the pier where he had
+landed the day before.
+
+It was nearly night; and he found that all the great buildings which
+he had seen open earlier in the day were now closed. But his former
+experience in the “Mud-turtle” caused him to look at the various craft
+in the river. Plenty of boats would be left open during the night, and
+he could leave early in the morning before the owners wished to use
+them. He walked along by the side of the water till he saw a handsome
+schooner of not more than forty tons, which looked as though she might
+give him a resting-place till morning. He waited till it was quite
+dark, and then went on board of her.
+
+He found that she was a very beautiful vessel; and he had no doubt she
+was a pleasure-yacht, such as Loud, the purchaser of his boat, had
+pointed out to him. The cabin-door was securely locked; and he went
+forward to see if there was any way in that part of the vessel to get
+under the deck, for the nights were chilly. There was a fore-hatch, but
+that was secured by a padlock. Under the foresail there was a skylight,
+the sashes on each side of which could be raised when desirable. He
+tried one of them, but it was fastened; the other was not, for some
+careless steward had neglected his duty.
+
+Wade Brooks meant to do his duty in all things, and not do any thing
+that he knew to be wrong; but the fact that everybody had used the
+“Mud-turtle” at will probably gave him the idea that there could be
+nothing out of the way in his sleeping on board of this yacht. He
+opened the skylight, and climbed down into the space below. When he had
+been in the place where he had brought up for a few moments, he could
+penetrate the darkness enough to discern the objects the apartment
+contained. He saw a stove; and this satisfied him that he was in the
+kitchen of the yacht; and Loud had told him that rich men lived in
+these boats for weeks and even months. He felt about him to get a
+better idea of the place, and happened to put his hand on a match-box
+near the stove. It was full of matches, and he lighted one of them in
+order to find a good place to sleep. He saw a door which he thought
+opened into the cabin; but it was locked.
+
+But he did not care to go into the cabin: he was content to take a
+less inviting part of the craft. On one side of the kitchen he found a
+door which was not fastened; and he opened it, lighting another match
+to see what the room contained. Though he did not know it, this was
+the state-room of the sailing-master. At the other end of it was a
+door opening into the cabin. In the state-room was a single berth with
+a good deal of space under it. The bed was all made up; but Wade did
+not think it was quite the thing for him to get into it, for it looked
+very nice and clean. The space under it was good enough for him; and,
+lighting a third match, he proceeded to examine it. It seemed to be
+filled up with old coats and other garments, which are always useful in
+a boat. They made a good bed, and Wade at once buried himself in them.
+
+It was hardly seven o’clock, but the wanderer was so tired that he
+dropped asleep almost as soon as he had stretched himself out. He was
+chilly, and he had worried himself into the deepest depths of the pile
+of old garments. Though the ripple of the waves as they beat against
+the side of the yacht could be heard, there was no other sound to
+disturb the sleeper.
+
+At three o’clock in the morning, though Wade knew not the time, he was
+awakened by the sound of voices, and by a great noise on the deck of
+the yacht. He was alarmed, for he would not have been caught in the
+vessel for a great deal. He would be accused of an attempt to steal,
+or something of that kind. It would be “just his luck” to be charged
+with some crime which he had never meditated. But to show himself was
+to confess that he was on board of the vessel; and all the rest would
+follow. He determined to keep still, and trust to his chances to escape
+at a favorable time.
+
+He lay still and listened; and the loudest noise was on the deck. He
+was sure they were getting the yacht under way; but he thought it was
+very odd for gentlemen who sailed for pleasure to go off in the middle
+of the night, as he judged it to be. In a few minutes more, the tipping
+of the vessel upon one side assured him that she was under way, as did
+the increased splashing of the water against the side of the yacht. As
+soon as the vessel was in motion the noise on deck ceased. Wade found
+that the door leading into the cabin had been opened, and he realized
+that several persons occupied that apartment. He heard the voices of at
+least two women, and they seemed to be crying when they spoke.
+
+Of course Wade was deeply interested in the proceedings, and he
+listened with all his might. In a little while he was conscious, from
+the talk he heard, that one of the party had been guilty of some crime,
+or had done something wrong. They spoke out loud; and the wanderer
+beneath the captain’s berth had no difficulty in understanding all that
+was said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+AN EARLY BREAKFAST FOR TWO.
+
+
+Suddenly the flow of conversation in the cabin ceased, and Wade Brooks
+heard a heavy step on the stairs that led down from the deck. The talk
+appeared to be interrupted by the coming of the owner of the heavy
+boots, as though he was not in the confidence of those in the cabin.
+
+“We are all right now, Mr. Wallgood,” said a man with a voice as heavy
+as the sound of the boots.
+
+“Wallgood,” thought the wanderer. “That is the name of a family in
+Midhampton; and a man of that name is the cashier of the Walnut
+National Bank.”
+
+“I wish it were all right, Capt. Bendig,” said one of the ladies, with
+a heavy sob.
+
+“Oh! it is all right, Mrs. Wallgood,” added Capt. Bendig, with as much
+gentleness as a rough man like him could assume. “I shall put you on
+board of Capt. Crogick’s ship to-day, or at least by to-morrow. I don’t
+know exactly where to find him: but he will be on the lookout for me,
+as well as I for him; and it will be only a few hours, more or less. I
+shall run along the south coast of Long Island till we make out the
+ship. I may overhaul him before we get to Fire Island, and I may not
+till we reach Montauk. But I must have something to eat; for I lost my
+supper in this business last night.”
+
+“Just my case,” said Wade to himself; and he wished he might be asked
+to share the captain’s early meal.
+
+“Here, Pollish, where are you?” called the captain.
+
+“Here, sir,” replied the person called for; and he appeared to come by
+the door which led from the pantry to the cabin, which was between the
+latter and the kitchen.
+
+“Where is Beafbon?” asked Capt. Bendig.
+
+“I guess he was on a spree last night, for he was pretty full when he
+came on board at twelve o’clock; and he turned in at once,” answered
+Pollish, who was the cabin-steward.
+
+“Call him, and tell him to get me a beefsteak as soon as he can, with
+a cup of hot coffee,” added Capt. Bendig. “Have it on the shelf in my
+state-room; and tell him if he is more than thirty minutes about it, I
+will discharge him as soon as we get back to New York.”
+
+This was decided enough to show the character of the man; and Wade did
+not much like the idea of dealing with him, as he felt that he must
+before the cruise was finished; and it appeared now that it might last
+two or three days. Wade had slept full eight hours when he woke, and he
+was wide awake now. In a few minutes he heard a rattling of the stove
+in the kitchen, which was separated from the state-room only by a thin
+bulkhead. Capt. Bendig returned to the deck as soon as he had ordered
+his breakfast. Wade could tell about every thing that was done on board
+by the sounds that came to him.
+
+“Does that man know about this miserable business?” asked Mrs.
+Wallgood, when he had heard the retreating steps of the captain.
+
+“I suppose he does, though I did not tell him,” replied a man whom Wade
+took to be the husband of the lady.
+
+“I know he does,” added the other female; and Wade had yet to learn who
+she was, though the information soon came to him. “He has managed the
+whole of this business: he has brought us all to New York, and will put
+us all on board of my husband’s vessel.”
+
+She was the wife of Capt. Crogick, then; and Wade knew that she was the
+sister of Mrs. Wallgood, the cashier’s wife. There was something about
+the Walnut National Bank that was wrong; and Capt. Trustleton was the
+president of the bank.
+
+“Are you not afraid that this man will betray you?” asked Mrs. Wallgood.
+
+“No, I am not: he is a strong friend of Capt. Crogick; and he told me
+I might trust the life of myself and my wife in his keeping,” answered
+Mr. Wallgood.
+
+“I almost wish he might betray you,” said Mrs. Wallgood, after a pause.
+
+“Why do you wish that, my dear?” asked the husband, in trembling tones.
+
+“Because I think the crime is a good deal worse than being found out,”
+replied the lady, with considerable spirit. “If I had known what all
+this was for, I would not have come with you.”
+
+“Would you desert me?” demanded the wretched man.
+
+“You have robbed the bank of a hundred thousand dollars; you have
+forfeited your bonds, and disgraced yourself and your wife. I feel that
+I no longer owe you any thing.”
+
+“Do not be so hard upon him, Julia,” pleaded Mrs. Crogick.
+
+“Your husband led him into the crime,” snapped the wife of the cashier.
+
+“Neither of them intended to do any wrong. When the captain was in
+trouble, your husband helped him. Do not blame him for this,” continued
+the shipmaster’s wife.
+
+“It was not the fault of either of us. Capt. Trustleton drove me to the
+wall, by shutting me out from the use of the money of the bank, when
+I was willing to pay as good interest as any other man,” argued the
+cashier.
+
+But Wade did not understand much of the talk,--only that Mr. Wallgood
+had taken one hundred thousand dollars from the Walnut National Bank
+in Midhampton, and he and his wife were running away to escape the
+consequences of his crime. The lady did not like the situation, and
+would not have come if she had understood the matter. Wade thought she
+was right, and did not think a woman was bound to stick to a husband
+after he had stolen one hundred thousand dollars; but then, Wade was
+not a judge of such matters, and his opinion was not worth much.
+
+“I can’t get over it!” exclaimed this lady, after silence had prevailed
+in the cabin for some little time. “I came to New York, as I supposed,
+on a pleasure-excursion, at a moment’s notice; and now it seems as
+though this time was chosen because Capt. Trustleton was absent,
+looking up his runaway boy. Then it took three hours to tell this
+miserable story, and to persuade me that I ought to leave my native
+land, perhaps forever, with my husband, who is a defaulter to his bank
+for a hundred thousand dollars!”
+
+Mrs. Wallgood groaned in bitterness of spirit when she had rehearsed
+her case; and certainly it was a heavy penalty to be driven from her
+home and friends by the crime of her husband.
+
+“If you wish to desert me in my misfortune, you can do so, Julia,”
+groaned the cashier. “You can return to New York in this yacht.”
+
+“Where is Capt. Crogick’s ship going to?” asked Mrs. Wallgood, as
+though this had something to do with the question.
+
+“She is bound to Leghorn; and we can be as happy in Italy as at home
+for a few years, till this trouble blows over,” said Mrs. Crogick.
+
+“And what are we to live on when we get there?” asked the indignant
+lady.
+
+“We have money enough to live comfortably in Italy,” replied the
+cashier.
+
+“Then you feathered the nest before you went away,” sneered the lady.
+“I thought this flight was because you could not pay your debts to the
+bank.”
+
+“Such was the case; but a few thousands more or less will make no
+difference to the bank, my dear.”
+
+But the conversation was interrupted by the appearance of the captain
+of the yacht, before whom the members of the party were not inclined
+to talk. While the conversation was in progress, Pollish had dropped a
+kind of table, which turned up against the bulkhead in the state-room,
+and had placed some dishes and a plate of soft bread, with some other
+articles, upon it. If Wade could not see the beefsteak when it was
+placed on the table, he could smell it; and the odor gave him an
+intense longing for a taste of it. He had eaten nothing but the bit of
+cracker and cheese in the bar-room of the hotel since his breakfast at
+an early hour the day before.
+
+Wade was in no condition to inhale the odors of a beefsteak without
+coveting a taste of it. He envied the burly captain when he sat down
+on a stool at the table. The gimballed lamp was burning in the room,
+and Wade had a chance to see the awful man with whom by and by, without
+much doubt, he had a battle to fight; but the skipper seemed to be in
+a hurry, and Wade thought he gobbled up his food like a pig, from the
+sounds which came to him from the great chops of the man. He was hardly
+more than five minutes at the table, and he rattled the dishes with so
+much vigor that Wade thought he would smash half of them.
+
+When he went out of the state-room, he closed the door leading into the
+cabin. Wade saw that the opposite one, leading into a kind of room from
+which opened the doors into the forecastle and the kitchen, was also
+closed. The circumstances tempted him. His empty stomach goaded him
+to action. He was so hungry that he did not stop long to consider the
+perils of the situation; but, disengaging himself from the pile of old
+garments which had concealed him from those who entered the state-room,
+he crawled out, and made a dive at the table. He was glad to see
+that the captain had been accredited with a bigger appetite than he
+possessed, for there was still at least a pound of steak on the plate.
+Wade grabbed the piece, for he could not stop to cut it, even if he had
+felt unequal to the task of eating the whole of it. With the steak in
+one hand, and two thick slices of bread in the other, he retreated to
+his lair; and, from the way he tore and devoured the beef and bread,
+his hiding-place was not very different from the den of any other wild
+beast.
+
+He had no more than finished the hearty meal which the food he had
+taken furnished, before the captain of the yacht put in his second
+appearance. Wade could see the big boots he wore, from his den. He
+stood in the middle of the small apartment; and as he did not do
+any thing, or even move, Wade concluded that he was thinking about
+something. He wondered if he missed the pound of beef and the slices of
+bread, and if these were the subject of his present reflections.
+
+“What time is it now, Capt. Bendig?” asked Mrs. Crogick.
+
+“About half-past four, marm: it is broad daylight now, and we shall
+have a fine day for your excursion.”
+
+“And where are we now?”
+
+“We have passed through the Narrows, and I have just headed her to
+the eastward. We have a strong breeze; and, if it holds, we can make
+Montauk Point by five o’clock this afternoon.”
+
+The lady seemed to be satisfied, and the captain called for the
+steward.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+A LATE DINNER.
+
+
+Wade was positively alarmed when he heard the captain call for the
+steward. Was it possible that the skipper had only half finished his
+breakfast, and had gone on deck for a few minutes, intending to return
+and complete the meal when he had looked out for the course of the
+yacht?
+
+“Pollish!” shouted the captain angrily, when his first call brought no
+response; and the second gave no better result.
+
+Capt. Bendig seemed to be angry, and he stalked out of the room. But
+Wade heard his voice a moment later, for he had discovered the steward
+asleep in the passage-way.
+
+“What do you pretend to be asleep for, you rascal you?” demanded the
+skipper of the yacht.
+
+“I was asleep, sir,” replied Pollish. “I have been up all night, and I
+was very tired.”
+
+“Up all night, were you? And why were you up all night?” inquired the
+captain sharply.
+
+“I had to look out for the vessel, you see. I did not know at what
+time you and the passengers were coming; and so I staid on deck all
+night,” replied Pollish with proper meekness. “I had the cabin lighted
+and every thing ready for you since seven o’clock last evening. I
+was sleepy; but I was afraid to lose myself for a moment. I know how
+particular you are, sir; and I did not leave the deck even for a
+minute; and it was so cold on deck I could not go to sleep there.”
+
+One thing was certain to Wade, if it was not to any one else on board
+of the yacht: that Pollish was an abominable liar. It was probable that
+he had been on a spree with Beafbon the cook. Wade was entirely willing
+to refrain from telling what he knew about the matter for the present;
+but he stored up what he had heard for use in the future. Certainly
+if this man had been faithful to his duty, and had not left the fore
+skylight unfastened, the wanderer could not have obtained admission to
+the interior of the vessel.
+
+“Don’t tell me you were asleep,” said the captain, after he had
+listened to the long speech of the steward. “What have you done with my
+beefsteak?”
+
+“With your beefsteak, sir?” and Wade was willing to believe that he was
+surprised at the implied charge.
+
+“That’s what I said! Why don’t you answer me, instead of repeating what
+I say? What have you done with my steak?”
+
+“I have not done any thing with it. I put it on the table, and that is
+the last I saw of it,” answered Pollish; and Wade believed he told the
+truth, whatever opinion Capt. Bendig had on the subject.
+
+“I know you put it on the table, and I ate part of it; then I had to go
+on deck to look after the course of the vessel. When I came back, the
+steak and half of the bread were gone. Tell the truth for once in your
+life, and own up that you ate it.”
+
+“But I didn’t eat it, sir,” protested the steward.
+
+“Then what has become of it?” demanded the captain sternly.
+
+“I don’t know, sir. I lay down in the passage while you were eating,
+and I didn’t wake again till you called me. I was very tired, sir,
+for Beafbon and me had to work very hard in the afternoon to get the
+provisions and stores in; and then not to get a wink of sleep, it was
+more than I could stand,” protested Pollish.
+
+“Have any of the hands been below?”
+
+“Not that I know of, sir: if they did, they had to step over me, for I
+lay by the door of your room.”
+
+“I believe you are lying. But no matter for that now: we will settle it
+when this cruise is up. Get me another steak.”
+
+Pollish was not disposed to argue the matter any further, but hastened
+to obey the order. The captain went on deck again, and he seemed to be
+very attentive to the management of the vessel. As soon as the second
+edition of his breakfast was ready, the captain came down. Wade wished
+he would take his meals in the cabin, for he did not like to have him
+in the room, though he had the best right there. The wanderer found
+it prudent to breathe with the utmost care, lest he should be heard;
+but the swash of the sea now made noise enough to overcome any feeble
+sounds. He could not help thinking what the consequences would be if
+he should happen to cough or sneeze; and he concluded that it would be
+more prudent for him to choke to death than to do either. He was very
+thankful that he had not a cold in the head or on the lungs.
+
+Since his stomach had been so thoroughly filled, Wade felt quite
+jolly. He did not like his narrow quarters under the berth, but he
+was tolerably happy even there. He could not help wondering how the
+matter would come out in the end. The captain might not again leave his
+breakfast for the accommodation of the passenger; and, in the course of
+a day or two, hunger might drive him from his hiding-place, even in the
+face of the wrath of the skipper. But it was no use to worry about that
+yet; and he did not, though he could not help thinking of the means of
+getting out of the scrape when he was discovered.
+
+Capt. Bendig finished his breakfast, and went on deck. Not till
+then did Wade dare to change his position; and he fixed himself as
+comfortably as he could. He had nothing to do but think; but his
+thoughts were not very profitable to himself or anybody else. While he
+was thinking he went to sleep. The motion of the yacht seemed to make
+him sleepy. When he woke, he wondered if he snored. He did not know:
+he had never slept with any one who could give him the information. He
+did not intend to go to sleep in the daytime; for the captain might
+come to his room, and hear him.
+
+At noon, as he judged it was, he recognized sundry savory odors which
+assured him the matter of dinner was not to be neglected. The skipper
+kept the door of the state-room closed, so that he could not tell what
+was going on in the cabin. At any rate, the captain did not dine in
+his state-room, and Wade had no chance to lay in another supply of
+food. The afternoon was a long one. Wade spent half of it in thinking
+how he should get his supper. But in the middle of the afternoon, this
+question seemed to be settled for him. He was hungry again, for ten or
+twelve hours had elapsed since he had his early breakfast with Capt.
+Bendig.
+
+“Pollish!” called the skipper.
+
+“Here, sir,” replied the steward, presenting himself at the door of the
+state-room from which the captain called him.
+
+“Get me a steak, with fried potatoes,” added the captain.
+
+“In the cabin, sir?”
+
+“No: you know I never take my meals in the cabin when there are
+passengers on board. In this room.”
+
+This was hopeful, at least, for Wade; for he thought there would be a
+chance for him to get a piece of bread, if nothing more. It was clear
+now that Capt. Bendig had not dined, or even lunched, unless the food
+had been carried to him on deck. He placed himself so that he could
+look out into the room, for he felt obliged to watch his opportunity.
+He saw the steward set the table; and in less than half an hour Pollish
+placed a beefsteak on the table, and then passed into the cabin to call
+the captain, who was on deck.
+
+As quick as lightning, Wade sprang out of his den; and, seeing two
+slices of sirloin on the table, he took one of them, with a couple of
+cuts of bread, and returned to his abode beneath the berth. Burying
+himself beneath the old garments, or rather piling them up like a
+breastwork in front of him, he proceeded to devour the beef and bread
+before the captain came down, or to do as much as possible towards it.
+
+“I think the ship is in sight, Mr. Wallgood,” said the captain, as
+he paused at the door on his way to his room. “There is a large ship
+ahead, which is not doing all she can with this lively breeze; and I
+think she is the ‘Housatonic.’”
+
+“Is that the name of the ship we are to cross the ocean in?” asked Mrs.
+Wallgood, who spoke as though she was better reconciled to the voyage
+than when Wade had heard from her last.
+
+“That is Capt. Crogick’s ship. I thought we should overhaul her before
+night with this breeze,” replied Capt. Bendig.
+
+He entered his room, and seated himself at the table. Wade promptly
+suspended the movements of his jaws. He did not stir; he did not
+breathe aloud. For some time Capt. Bendig plied his knife and fork with
+vigor, and the waif under his berth could hear the crisp fried potatoes
+snap in his teeth.
+
+“Pollish!” called he at last.
+
+“Here, sir,” replied the steward, who waited in the passage for further
+orders.
+
+“Where is the cook?”
+
+“At the galley, sir.”
+
+“Send him to me.”
+
+In a moment Beafbon appeared at the door of the state-room; and he
+looked so humble that he evidently expected a blowing-up for something.
+It was more likely that he supposed it related to his spree the night
+before, than to the real cause.
+
+“Beafbon, how often must I tell you the same thing before you can
+understand me?” said the captain, introducing his subject in a proper
+manner.
+
+“I don’t want to be told any thing more than once, captain,” replied
+the cook, relieved when he found that he was not sent for on account of
+the spree.
+
+“Good! but how many times have I told you that I wanted more than one
+slice of these small sirloins? I don’t eat but two meals a day, and I
+want enough.”
+
+Wade felt that his time had come.
+
+“But I cooked two for you; and, if you did not get two, it is because
+the steward did not bring both of them to you,” protested Beafbon
+earnestly. “I mean to obey all orders; and I know you want two of those
+small steaks as well as I know my own name.”
+
+“Pollish again! I think he stole my breakfast this morning too,” added
+Capt. Bendig. “What have you done with that other steak, Pollish? for
+you have not had time to eat it since I was called, and I have had my
+eye on you since I came below.”
+
+“I haven’t touched the steaks, sir,” pleaded poor Pollish; and Wade
+really felt bad to have him falsely charged with the theft; but then,
+what was a hungry boy to do?
+
+“Don’t lie, Pollish! you did the same thing this morning.”
+
+“No, sir, neither then nor now; and I am willing to take my oath there
+were two slices on the dish when I put it on the table,” replied the
+steward.
+
+“Get me another steak, Beafbon: we will settle these matters when we
+have more time than now.”
+
+The captain went on deck to wait for the rest of his dinner.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+THE GHOST OF THE STATE-ROOM.
+
+
+When the other steak was ready, Capt. Bendig came down to attend to it.
+By this time Wade had made away with his share of the late dinner; and
+he was sure, if the captain was as hungry as he had been, he enjoyed
+the meal. As the captain had all he wanted, he could not complain of
+Wade; and up to the present time he had not done so. The “Housatonic”
+was in sight, and this cruise would soon come to an end. Wade thought
+it was possible that he might get back to New York without being
+discovered; for the captain seemed to have no use for the old garments
+under the berth.
+
+The captain finished the second edition of his dinner, and then went
+into the cabin. The passengers seemed to stay there from the fear
+that some passing vessel might see them; at least, Wade wondered that
+they did not go on deck when the weather was so fine. Even in his
+hiding-place, he could realize the nervousness of the party.
+
+“I think we shall have to keep moving till after dark,” said Capt.
+Bendig, as he passed into the cabin.
+
+“Why so?” asked Mrs. Wallgood, who seemed to be more inclined to talk
+than the rest of the party.
+
+“It is hardly safe to put you on board of the ship in broad daylight,
+when there are so many vessels about,” replied the skipper of the yacht.
+
+“But no one will know who we are,” suggested the lady.
+
+“That is very true; but if a vessel should report in New York that
+a yacht had transferred several passengers to an outward-bound
+ship, somebody would want to know what it all meant; and there are
+pilot-boats about here which may know the ship. We can just as well
+wait till after dark; and we shall not have to wait long. Besides,
+there is a steamer off to the southward of us, that looks like the
+revenue-cutter; and these fellows are always poking their noses in
+where they are not wanted.”
+
+“I was rather anxious to get on board of the ship as soon as possible,”
+added Mr. Wallgood, with something like a shudder.
+
+“What is the matter with you?” asked his wife; and Wade thought her
+tones were not as kindly as they might have been.
+
+“I’m not very well. The excitement of this affair seems to take hold
+of me,” added the cashier, with another quiver. “I am cold; and my
+overcoat has been left behind.”
+
+“Why didn’t you bring it with you? You knew that we were going upon a
+sea-voyage, if I did not,” said the wife; and it was plain enough to
+Wade that she was not yet wholly reconciled to the future, even though
+it included a residence in Italy.
+
+“I didn’t think of it. I had enough on my mind, without considering my
+bodily comfort.”
+
+“If that’s all that ails you, I think we can get over that,” interposed
+the captain. “I can fit you out with an old coat that will keep you
+warm, though it will not be as handsome as you have been in the habit
+of wearing.”
+
+“If it only keeps me warm, that is all I want of it,” replied Mr.
+Wallgood, with an audible shiver.
+
+“We keep a lot of old clothes on board for just such cases as this. The
+owner sends all his own old duds to the yacht for this purpose; and I
+stow them away under the berth in my state-room. Some of them are very
+good coats,” said the captain, as he returned to his room.
+
+“Just my luck!” exclaimed Wade to himself; and the hope of getting back
+to New York without being discovered broke down all at once.
+
+But there was a chance for him even yet; for he had piled most of the
+old garments in front of him, forming a barricade; and the captain
+might find the coat he wanted without disturbing or discovering him.
+
+“Let me see: you are smaller than I am; and I know the size of every
+coat in the batch. I think I can fit you as well as an up-town tailor,”
+continued the captain, pausing at the door as if to take the measure of
+the cashier.
+
+“I don’t care for the fit, if it only keeps me warm,” said the quaking
+defaulter. “Capt. Crogick will let me have one as soon as I get on
+board of the ship.”
+
+Capt. Bendig came into the state-room, and began to pull out the coats
+which Wade had arranged to conceal himself. He was a good deal more
+particular in making his selection than Wade thought was necessary
+under the circumstances. He pulled out one, and examined it; and then
+another. He seemed to know exactly what he desired; and he was not to
+be satisfied till he found it, though his passenger was shivering all
+the time for the want of it. Wade considered this very stupid conduct
+on his part, and thought it cruel to let the poor man suffer so long.
+At last he had pulled out all the garments which had concealed the
+stowaway; and, if he had stooped down, he could not have helped seeing
+the intruder.
+
+“Just my luck!” said Wade, with something like a shudder. “He wants the
+coat I am lying on.”
+
+He had been measuring the captain all the morning; not for the size of
+his body, as the skipper did the defaulter, but for the quality of his
+temper; and he was sure he was a bully, from the way he treated Pollish
+and the cook. He had a good deal of sympathy with the steward, for he
+knew he had been misjudged, though he had told some abominable lies. He
+even felt, that, if he could keep out of the captain’s clutches till
+after dark, he might be able to come out of his hiding-place, and make
+friends with Pollish; for that worthy would not care to have him tell
+the captain that the yacht was deserted when he came on board of her at
+dark the evening before. The steward would have a motive for protecting
+him; and he was not human if he did not look out for himself.
+
+Wade pushed all the garments out to the front of the berth, except the
+one he was lying upon; and he would have done the same by that if he
+could have done it without making too much noise. But Capt. Bendig had
+not yet found the one he wanted. He stooped down, and reached into the
+space beneath the berth; and Wade felt his big hand upon him. It was
+with the greatest effort that he prevented himself from crying out.
+
+“What under the light of the moon is beneath this berth?” muttered the
+captain, as he evidently felt something that was not wholly in the
+woollen-goods line, but without knowing exactly what it was.
+
+Capt. Bendig began to get down on his knees so that he could see as
+well as feel what was under the berth. But it was beginning to be
+dark in the room, though it was only four in the afternoon; but the
+apartment never had much light. The searcher was not satisfied with his
+means of observation; and it is possible he suspected something that
+did not belong there was concealed beneath the berth.
+
+“Pollish!” he called.
+
+“Here, sir!” replied the steward, who always seemed to be at hand when
+he was not asleep.
+
+“Bring me a light, and don’t be more than a second about it,” said the
+captain, with a ripple of excitement in his tones.
+
+Pollish lighted the lamp that swung on gimbals in the state-room, and
+then took it from its place, handing it to the skipper.
+
+Wade felt that his hour had come, and it was useless to hope for any
+thing to turn up in his favor; it was “just his luck,” and he could
+only make the best of it. But he saw that nothing was to be made by
+being humble and submissive to a man like Capt. Bendig, who was a brute
+and a tyrant by nature, though he was doubtless a very good seaman, and
+was very attentive to his duty. Wade determined to keep a “stiff upper
+lip,” and he hoped he might interest the passengers in his fate.
+
+With the lamp in his hand, the captain began to stoop down again. He
+pulled away the garments he had drawn from their resting-place, so that
+he could see under the berth.
+
+“Is this the coat you want?” asked Wade, tossing the one he had been
+lying upon out into the room.
+
+[Illustration: “IS THIS THE COAT YOU WANT?” ASKED WADE.--Page 170.]
+
+He had not made up his mind to say just these words when he was
+discovered; but they came to him, and they answered his purpose as well
+as any thing else. Capt. Bendig was startled by the voice from this
+unexpected quarter; and he rose a good deal more hastily than he had
+stooped, for he was somewhat stiff in his joints. He even retreated
+towards the door of the cabin. Possibly he believed in ghosts; for
+he was an ignorant man, and had been at sea all his life. He may have
+thought it was some departed spirit he had abused in the flesh while
+he was the mate of a ship, returning to “spook” him for his cruelty.
+Certainly he was frightened; and Wade was satisfied that his presence
+had not been suspected, as he thought before, till he spoke. The
+captain may have expected to find a jug of whiskey which the cook or
+the steward had concealed there; but he evidently did not calculate
+upon finding a human being in his particular sanctum.
+
+“What’s under that berth, Pollish?” asked the captain; and his
+trepidation was apparent in his tones.
+
+“I don’t know, sir,” replied the steward promptly.
+
+“Did you hear a voice?” continued Capt. Bendig.
+
+“I did, sir, very distinctly,” answered Pollish, who seemed to be
+disturbed by the sound that had come from under the berth. “It must
+be the Devil. But the Devil wouldn’t hide himself under the captain’s
+berth on board of the ‘Moonlight.’ He has too many friends on board to
+put up with any such accommodations.”
+
+Pollish meant that the captain was one of them, but he was not so
+imprudent as to say so. If the steward had been disturbed by the voice,
+he was not alarmed.
+
+“Who is stowed away under that berth?” demanded Capt. Bendig, as soon
+as he realized that the captain of a vessel should not be frightened
+at any thing.
+
+“I don’t know, sir: I haven’t seen anybody about the yacht but those
+that belong in her,” replied Pollish, who possibly realized that the
+blame was to fall upon him for every thing that was wrong.
+
+“Have you or Beafbon hid one of your friends in there? If you have, you
+will wish you were boarding with the fellow you spoke about just now,”
+added Capt. Bendig.
+
+“I haven’t any friend to hide; and, if I had, what should I put him in
+there for, when I could find a better place in the fo’castle?”
+
+“Well, we will soon know who it is,” continued the skipper, approaching
+the berth again with the light.
+
+“Is this the coat you want?” repeated Wade, as he sprang out into the
+room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+CAPT. BENDIG’S PROMISE.
+
+
+Wade Brooks came out of the space under the berth, with the coat in
+his hand; and, as soon as he could get upon his feet, he held out the
+garment to the astonished skipper. He was determined not to be abused
+if he could help himself, and to put the best face possible upon the
+situation. He had not intended to steal, or to do any thing wrong, when
+he came on board of the “Moonlight,” which he had just learned was the
+name of the yacht. He had never considered a boat like a house, for
+his experience with the “Mud-turtle” had misled him. He was wrong, of
+course; but then he had many things to learn, though it is half the
+battle of life to mean well.
+
+It is true, also, that he had helped himself to the skipper’s
+beefsteaks; but he had a notion that what food a person wanted to eat
+was not like other property. Even Mrs. Swikes, mean as she was, would
+give almost anybody something to eat; and in Midhampton people never
+found any fault if the passerby helped himself to the apples in the
+orchard which had fallen from the trees, though it was a crime to
+knock them off.
+
+“Who are you?” demanded Capt. Bendig, as Wade held the coat up
+before him; and he retreated a few steps when the boy first made his
+appearance.
+
+“You needn’t be afraid of me: I won’t hurt you,” replied the stowaway,
+without answering the direct question.
+
+“What were you doing under my berth, you rascal?” continued the
+captain, rapidly recovering his self-possession.
+
+“I have been sleeping most of the time there,” replied Wade, smiling as
+though earth had no sorrows, and especially as though there were none
+in the “Moonlight.”
+
+“You have, have you?” said Capt. Bendig, beginning to comprehend the
+situation; and very probably he did not like it any better because he
+had exhibited some signs of alarm in the presence of the steward.
+
+“How long have you been there?” he asked angrily.
+
+“Something less than three weeks,” replied Wade, glancing at Pollish,
+and determining not to betray him if he could possibly avoid it.
+
+“Three weeks!” exclaimed the captain.
+
+“No, sir: I said less than three weeks. I don’t think I could tell
+exactly how long I have been in there.”
+
+“And it was you that took the beefsteaks?” added the captain, with a
+heavy frown.
+
+“Yes, sir. I was willing to divide the meat between us; and I don’t
+think I took more than a fair half.”
+
+“You impudent young puppy!” exclaimed the captain, taken all aback by
+the cool manner of the stowaway. “Was it your breakfast, or mine?”
+
+“Your part was yours, and my part was mine,” replied Wade.
+
+“That’s more impudence than I ever saw in one boy before. I suppose you
+think any thing on board of this vessel belongs to you, and you can
+help yourself.”
+
+“No, sir: I don’t say that,” protested Wade. “I am willing you should
+have every thing you want. I don’t wish to be mean.”
+
+“Oh, you don’t!”
+
+“No, sir: I am always willing to do the fair thing.”
+
+“So am I; and, before I have done with you, I shall give you the
+biggest thrashing you ever had in your life,” said the captain fiercely.
+
+“It will be a big licking, then,” added Wade. “I know what a licking
+is, as well as almost any fellow of my age.”
+
+“Who are you? What are you doing on board of this yacht? How did you
+get on board of her? Where are you going?” demanded Bendig, who had
+begun to wonder where the fellow came from.
+
+“That’s lots of questions; and I don’t believe I can answer them all.”
+
+“Who are you? and if you don’t answer me I will tie you up to the
+rigging, and give you a flogging!” stormed the captain.
+
+“Not the least need for the flogging. I am Wade Brooks.”
+
+“What are you doing on board of this vessel?”
+
+“Nothing except answering your questions. If you want to hire a hand to
+help sail this yacht, I think I could do my duty; and I will promise to
+stand by you whenever you want a friend.”
+
+“How did you get on board of the yacht?”
+
+“I just came on board of her, the same as any one would.”
+
+“I don’t believe that. If you had, some one would have seen you. You
+are a little loafer,--one of those scalawags that hang about the piers,
+looking out for a chance to steal and a place to sleep. I know you; and
+I have seen you before, and a lot more just like you. When I have more
+time to spare, I shall give you a flogging that will teach you never
+again to put your foot on board of the ‘Moonlight.’”
+
+“If you say you can’t accommodate me, that’s enough; and I never will
+go on board of your vessel again, and without troubling you to flog
+me,” replied Wade, who did not like the ugly looks of the captain.
+
+“I will make sure of you by giving you the licking,” added the skipper.
+
+“If you will do such a thing, of course I can’t help myself. I think
+you will make a mistake if you do any thing of that kind: indeed, I
+know you will,” said Wade positively.
+
+“I will give it to you as soon as I have time to attend to the matter,”
+added the captain in a savage tone. “When did you come on board?”
+
+“If I’m to have the flogging, I guess I won’t answer any more
+questions,” replied Wade.
+
+“You will answer them by and by,” continued Capt. Bendig, moving into
+the cabin.
+
+Wade did not like the idea of being flogged, any better than any other
+boy of his years would have liked it. It was not pleasant to think of;
+and he seated himself in the state-room, and tried not to think of it.
+The burden on his mind was, how to get rid of it; for he was determined
+not to submit if there was any way to escape it.
+
+The presence of the boy on board disturbed Mr. Wallgood very much.
+He remembered that he had seen the door leading into the captain’s
+state-room wide open while he and his wife had talked about the
+business of the excursion. If the stowaway had been concealed under
+that berth, he might have heard all that was said by his party.
+
+“He don’t understand it,” said the captain, in reply to the objections
+of the defaulter. “He is a wharf-rat, and he hasn’t brains enough to
+fit out a mouse, to say nothing of a rat.”
+
+“I don’t know about that,” added Mr. Wallgood. “He talks like a boy
+that knows what he is about.”
+
+“No: he’s stupid, and hasn’t the least idea what is going on, even
+if he heard the whole of the talk. You can speak to him, and satisfy
+yourself, if you wish; but I must go on deck, and look out for the
+ship.”
+
+Wade heard all this, and he did not like the idea of being considered
+stupid. He felt very sure that he was not stupid. Still he did not care
+to tell the cashier of the bank all he knew about the business. He had
+often seen Mr. Wallgood in Midhampton, but he was confident that the
+defaulter did not know him. Lon Trustleton had pointed the cashier out
+to Matt once, or he would not have known him. But, before the man of
+money could say any thing to him, Pollish had him on the rack.
+
+“How came you in this yacht?” demanded the steward, in a tone even more
+savage than the captain had used.
+
+To his inferiors, he was even more of a bully than the skipper of the
+yacht; but Wade had no fear of him.
+
+“You heard what I said to the captain; and I haven’t any thing
+different to say to you,” replied Wade, with as much independence as
+though he had belonged to the vessel, and had come on board of her in a
+perfectly regular manner.
+
+“None of your lip, or I’ll bat you over the head,” replied Pollish. “I
+won’t take any of your sauce, if the captain does.”
+
+“What will you do?”
+
+“I’ll bat you over the head! I’ll learn you to steal the beefsteaks,
+and then have it laid to me.”
+
+“All right: if you want to do any thing of that sort, go ahead; and I
+shall have something to say to Capt. Bendig, that he will like to hear.”
+
+“What do you mean by that?” demanded Pollish; and perhaps he did not
+feel that his record was as clean as it might be.
+
+“Bat me over the head; and after that you ask the captain what I meant
+by it.”
+
+“Can’t you tell me now what you mean?”
+
+“Yes, I can tell you now; and I don’t think you will want to bat me
+over the head. It was mean for you to tell the captain that the cook
+had been on a spree, when you had been off yourself,” replied Wade,
+with no little confidence in his ability to conquer a peace.
+
+“I wasn’t on a spree,” added Pollish.
+
+“You told the captain you were on board all the time in the evening and
+all night, on the lookout for him; which was all a lie.”
+
+“How do you know it was?” demanded the steward, deeply interested by
+this time.
+
+“You were not on board at half-past seven, when I came on board: if you
+had been, you would have seen me, and would not have allowed me to make
+my bed in the captain’s state-room.”
+
+“How did you get inside of the yacht?” asked Pollish, in a subdued tone.
+
+“You left the skylight unfastened, and I got in that way. I did not
+mean to steal any thing. I was robbed of all the money I had, and
+wanted a place to sleep. I didn’t think it would do any harm to any
+one if I slept in this vessel.”
+
+In reply to the steward’s questions he told him as much as he pleased
+of his story.
+
+“I didn’t tell the captain how I got into the yacht, because I knew it
+would get you into a scrape,” he added. “All I want is to get out of
+the vessel.”
+
+“You have done me a good turn, my lad; and I won’t forget it. But I
+don’t know that I can do any thing to help you. The captain is one of
+those men you can’t reason with,” replied Pollish.
+
+“I don’t care about taking the licking he promised me. Can’t you hide
+me in some other place till the yacht gets back to New York?” asked
+Wade.
+
+“I don’t know: I will try,” replied Pollish.
+
+At this moment Mr. Wallgood called the stowaway, and he went out into
+the cabin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+IMMENSE RICHES.
+
+
+Wade had a full view of the cabin for the first time when the cashier
+called him into this apartment. It was very elegantly fitted up; and
+he wondered if the beautiful vessel belonged to Capt. Bendig. Pollish
+afterwards told him that she was the property of a wealthy gentleman,
+and that Capt. Bendig was only the sailing-master. The owner had gone
+into the country for a few weeks, and the skipper was making a dollar
+on his own account by the present excursion. He was to receive five
+hundred dollars for the use of the vessel and for his own services; and
+each of the men on board was to have one hundred dollars for his work
+and his secrecy, especially for the latter.
+
+“What is your name, my boy?” asked Mr. Wallgood, when Wade presented
+himself in the cabin.
+
+“Wade Brooks,” replied the stowaway; and he felt sure the cashier had
+never even heard the name.
+
+“I suppose you live in New York.”
+
+“I lived there yesterday.”
+
+“Where do you live to-day?”
+
+“I live here.”
+
+“But where is your home?”
+
+“I haven’t any home. My father and mother are both dead.”
+
+“What are you doing in this vessel?”
+
+Wade told him how he happened to be in the yacht. All he wanted was to
+get back to New York.
+
+“What are you going to do in New York?” asked Mr. Wallgood.
+
+“I want to get something to do, so that I can earn my own living.”
+
+“Have you any money to pay your board till you get work?”
+
+“Not a cent: I had some money, but it was stolen from me,” replied
+Wade, giving the details of his experience.
+
+“You would like some money, wouldn’t you?”
+
+“I should; but I don’t want it bad enough to steal it,” replied Wade;
+and perhaps he did not mean to cast any reflections on the past conduct
+of the cashier.
+
+“Perhaps you heard something that was said in the cabin early this
+morning?” continued the defaulter, beginning to approach the subject
+that worried him.
+
+“Perhaps I did,” replied Wade cautiously.
+
+“What did you hear?”
+
+“I didn’t hear much; and perhaps I was too stupid to understand it,”
+added Wade, with a chuckle. “But the captain of the vessel has promised
+me a licking, and I mean to hold my tongue.”
+
+The cashier plied him closely with questions; but Wade had made up his
+mind to answer none of them, and he did not.
+
+“I suppose you know the captain is going to put us on board of a ship?”
+persisted the defaulter.
+
+“I don’t know any thing about what he is going to do, except that he
+means to give me a licking,” replied the stowaway blankly.
+
+“I think he is stupid, as the captain said,” added Mrs. Crogick, in a
+low tone, though Wade heard what she said.
+
+“At least you know that we are a party who started in the night from
+New York; and you will see that we are all put on board of a ship.”
+
+“I know what you say about it.”
+
+“For reasons which I will not explain, for you would not understand
+them, we don’t wish to have it known that we have left New York as we
+did. Do you think you could keep the secret?” asked Mr. Wallgood; and
+by this time he was somewhat excited.
+
+“I know I could if I tried, and if I got fair play; but, after I have
+had a licking, I don’t feel like holding my tongue,” replied Wade,
+deeming it best to get an anchor out to windward.
+
+“I pay all the men on this vessel a hundred dollars to hold their
+tongues. I will pay you the same, if you will keep the secret.”
+
+“One hundred dollars!” exclaimed Wade, who had heard of such a sum
+of money, but he did not realize that he could ever possess such an
+amount.
+
+“That is just what I will give you, if you will never in your life say
+what has happened on board of this vessel,” added Mr. Wallgood.
+
+“Shall I have the money to keep?” asked the incredulous boy; and he
+had already begun to think of buying a farm in his native town, and
+astonishing the natives with his wealth.
+
+“You shall have the money all for your own; and I will make sure before
+I leave the vessel that the captain will not flog you,” continued the
+defaulter.
+
+“I will keep the secret to the end of time, if I am allowed to keep the
+money,” said Wade; and he would not have said it if he had thought that
+the sum he was to be paid had been stolen from the Walnut National Bank.
+
+The cashier handed him a roll of bills; and Wade proceeded at once to
+count them. It contained the amount mentioned, and he put it into his
+pocket. He had hardly done so before the captain came down into the
+cabin.
+
+“What are you doing in here, you young rascal?” demanded the skipper
+angrily. “You think you must have a place in the cabin, do you?”
+
+“I called him in, Capt. Bendig,” interposed Mr. Wallgood. “It is not
+his fault that he is here. I have made the same bargain with him that
+was made with each of the crew. I have paid him the money.”
+
+“You have not given that scalawag a hundred dollars, have you?”
+exclaimed the captain.
+
+“I have; and I feel safer now than I did before. I hope you will not
+attempt to flog him; for really I don’t think he meant to do any thing
+wrong.”
+
+“He had no business in the yacht; and he won’t tell me how he got on
+board of the vessel. He deserves a flogging to teach him better than to
+take up his quarters in a gentleman’s yacht.”
+
+Wade retreated to the state-room, feeling that the cashier could settle
+this question better when he was absent than when he was present. The
+door was open, and he could hear all that was said. In the end Capt.
+Bendig promised not to flog him, after a good deal of pleading on the
+part of the defaulter; and this was all Wade cared to hear, though he
+could not help listening to something more as long as he staid in the
+state-room.
+
+“That infernal revenue-cutter is coming up this way; and we shall have
+to wait till night before we put you on board of the ‘Housatonic,’”
+said the captain, as soon as the flogging-question was settled.
+
+“A few hours will make no difference. She can have no motive for
+overhauling the yacht,” replied the cashier.
+
+“None at all. The bank people could not have known that any thing was
+wrong about the establishment before nine or ten o’clock this morning;
+and the cutter was not in port last night,” added the captain.
+
+The party in the cabin seemed to think they were still safe; and they
+expressed no fears of the result of the expedition. While Wade sat in
+the captain’s state-room, Pollish came in to see him. He closed the
+cabin-door, and evidently had something to say.
+
+“See here, lad, I have a place for you; but it is all my situation is
+worth for the captain to find out that I put you into it,” said Pollish
+in a whisper.
+
+“I never will tell him, if he pulls my bones apart for it,” replied
+Wade. “You can trust me as long as you live. But I heard the captain
+tell the folks in the cabin that he wouldn’t flog me.”
+
+“Don’t you believe him,” said Pollish earnestly. “He will do any thing
+he likes, in spite of his promises. Keep out of sight till the yacht
+gets back to New York.”
+
+“I will take any place you say,” added Wade.
+
+“In the forecastle you will find a place under the lower berth, as far
+forward as you can go, on the starboard side.”
+
+“I am very much obliged to you, Mr. Pollish; and, when I can do any
+thing for you, I shall be very glad to do it,” replied Wade.
+
+“But the captain may find you there, though I don’t think he will,”
+added the steward.
+
+“If he finds me, I won’t say a word that will do you any harm. But
+I think I needn’t go into the place till these people in the cabin
+are gone; for the captain promised Mr. Wallgood that I should not be
+touched.”
+
+“There is the place, and you can go into it when you are ready. I think
+you had better go and look at it while all the hands are on deck. You
+must not let any of the sailors know you are in the place, for they
+may blow on you.”
+
+“I will not;” and Wade went into the forecastle to look at his future
+hiding-place.
+
+It was very close quarters for a boy of his size; and, like the space
+under the captain’s berth, it was filled with old clothes. Wade raked
+them out, and then prepared the den for his reception when it should be
+necessary to use it. He put most of the garments in another place; but
+he left enough to form a barricade in front of the aperture, that would
+conceal him from the captain and others who might be looking for him.
+
+We do not like to cast reflections upon the good judgment of Wade and
+the steward; but the hiding-place was not well chosen. As Capt. Bendig
+had found him under one berth, he would be very likely to look under
+all the berths in the yacht when he wanted to find the stowaway. But
+Wade did not believe he should have any occasion to use the place, for
+the captain had promised not to flog him; and he did not believe he
+could do any thing with him except to carry him back to New York. He
+would be very glad to go there; for the liberality of the cashier had
+made him rich, and he could live a year at least on the vast sum of
+money in his possession. He did not care whether school kept, or not.
+
+He was no longer afraid of the captain, as long as the cabin party
+remained on board; for he was confident that the cashier would protect
+him for his own safety, if for no other reason. He had wanted to go on
+deck, and now he went. He had a place of retreat in case of trouble,
+and all he had to do was to crawl into it. It was nearly sunset when he
+went up the cabin steps. He saw the ship at least two miles ahead, for
+she had been under all sail from the time she had made out the yacht;
+and it is probable that she had seen the revenue-cutter, or she would
+have shortened sail, and waited for the “Moonlight” to come up.
+
+At sunset the wind all died out, while the “Housatonic” was still two
+miles distant. The cutter was a mile from either vessel. Nothing could
+be done; and the ship and the yacht lay where they were all night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+UNWELCOME PASSENGERS.
+
+
+We left Lon Trustleton and Matt Swikes at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. They
+had counted out and divided their ill-gotten treasure. The sudden
+appearance of Wade Brooks had disturbed them very much. He had been a
+stumbling-block to them, and they were afraid of him. As soon as he had
+departed, after he had refused to take any of the stolen money, Lon
+tried to put a bold face on the matter; but it was no use.
+
+“He will tell the clerks in the office that we are here,” said Matt,
+when the door had closed behind the intruder.
+
+“The clerks already know we are here, and he won’t tell them any news,”
+replied Lon.
+
+“Wade will tell them who you are, and they know your father,” continued
+Matt. “I think we had better get out of this house as soon as we can.”
+
+“The people here certainly know my father,” added Lon, musing. “I don’t
+know but the clerk would telegraph to my father if Wade told him that I
+was here, and that I had left home without his knowledge.”
+
+“Then we are fools to stop here another minute,” protested Matt warmly.
+“I have no doubt that your father knows where you are by this time.”
+
+“We will go down and get some dinner before we leave; for we have paid
+five dollars, and haven’t had any thing yet. My father can’t get here
+before eleven o’clock; and we have time enough to keep out of his way.
+Let us have one good dinner, if nothing else, before we leave this big
+city.”
+
+“But we shall be caught if we fool with dinners,” Matt objected.
+
+“We shall be more likely to be caught if we stay in this room. We don’t
+have to go down to the office to get to the dining-room.”
+
+Matt was controlled, as usual, by his friend; and they went to the
+dining-room, where they dined upon the best the house afforded; and
+this was all they got for the five dollars they had advanced to pay
+their bills. They thought it was a dear dinner, but then it was a very
+nice one: at least Matt thought so, for he had never eaten a stylish
+dinner before; and Lon had to post him in regard to some things.
+
+When the dinner was finished, Lon led the way down stairs; and, giving
+the office a wide berth, they got out of the house without attracting
+the attention of any of the clerks. They walked briskly till they had
+placed a good distance between themselves and the hotel.
+
+“Where are we going now?” asked Lon.
+
+“I’m sure I don’t know. I don’t think we shall be safe in this city,
+if we intend to stay here,” replied Matt.
+
+“We are safe enough. This is a big city, and nobody could find us here.”
+
+“But we may blunder upon some one that knows us, the next minute. There
+are plenty of people from Midhampton in the city every day in the week.”
+
+“Well, where do you want to go?”
+
+“I don’t care where I go, if I only get where we are not in danger all
+the time.”
+
+“I’ll tell you what I should like first-rate,” added Lon, musing, as
+though he were not sure it was safe to tell what he would like.
+
+“What is it?” asked Matt, who was ready for any thing that would take
+them out of the city, where he did not feel safe a single minute.
+
+“I should like to go to sea.”
+
+“To sea!” exclaimed Matt; and this was certainly a bigger idea than he
+had ever harbored in connection with the runaway enterprise.
+
+“That’s the idea.”
+
+“Do you mean as sailors?”
+
+“Of course not: I mean as passengers. We have the money to pay for the
+voyage. Then, if we are gone two or three months, the folks at home
+will be all the more glad to see us; and we shall get off easy.”
+
+“Where do you think of going?”
+
+“I don’t know. I heard that the ship ‘Housatonic’ was going to sea
+very soon. You know Capt. Crogick, Matt?”
+
+“I only know that such a man lives in Midhampton when he is at home,”
+replied Matt, who was rather pleased with the idea of sailing in a ship
+on the ocean.
+
+“I saw him at his house this week; and he told me he should sail in
+a few days. You know he is the brother-in-law of the cashier of my
+father’s bank.”
+
+“Where is he going to?” asked Matt, his interest increasing as Lon
+proceeded.
+
+“He told me, but I have forgotten where it was: it was to some place in
+Europe.”
+
+“Will he take us on board?”
+
+“I am afraid not; but we must provide for that in some way.”
+
+“I don’t see how you can provide for it, if he is not willing to take
+us.”
+
+“We needn’t let him see us till we have been out a day or two. We can
+do as Wade Brooks did with us. He got into the boat, and went to sleep
+there; and when he woke the boat was miles from Midhampton.”
+
+“Where is his ship? I should like to see it.”
+
+“I don’t know where she is; but we can easily find her. She is called
+the ‘Housatonic.’”
+
+“Let us find her,” said Matt. “Then if we like the looks of her, and we
+find a good chance, we will get on board of her.”
+
+They went down to the East River, and asked a great many men where
+the ship “Housatonic” was; and they soon found her. She was a large
+and noble-looking vessel. A steam-tug was waiting to tow her down the
+harbor, but she was not quite ready to go.
+
+“What do you say, Matt? Shall we go on board of her?” asked Lon.
+
+“I am ready to do so,” replied Matt.
+
+“We can hide in her, and no one will see us until we are willing to
+be seen. But we must have something to eat during the time we hide on
+board of her,” said Lon. “The captain knows me; and he will give us a
+berth in his cabin, and we shall be all right. He said he should not be
+gone more than three months.”
+
+Matt agreed to every thing that Lon suggested. They went up to a shop
+near the pier, and bought as much to eat as would last them a couple of
+days, consisting mostly of cakes and crackers. Matt took the bundle;
+and without much difficulty, for the officers were busy getting the
+ship ready for sea, and took no notice of them, they got on board. They
+found the house on deck where the sailors were lodged; and they slipped
+into it, and stowed themselves away. They found room enough to coil up
+their bodies under the berths where the sailors slept.
+
+In the course of an hour, the ship was hauled out of the dock, and
+proceeded down the harbor, towed by the tug. About dark, the steamer
+cast her off; and she continued her course along the south shore of
+Long Island. The runaways were not very comfortable in their narrow
+quarters; and, as soon as the ship left the pier, some of the sailors
+came into the forecastle, and began to stow away their luggage. About
+the only place for it was under the bunks; and they jammed in their
+bags without regard to the bones of the stowaways. But the latter
+braced themselves up, and stood it till a second lot of the crew,
+released from duty, came into the house to stow away their effects.
+But by this time the tug had left the ship, and she was proceeding
+under sail. When the men came to crowd in another lot of bags under the
+bunks, Matt could not stand the pressure; and he yelled out like a good
+fellow.
+
+“What’s all this?” cried a half-drunken sailor, as he pulled out all
+the bags; and then, seizing Matt by the leg, hauled him out.
+
+“Let me alone!” screamed Matt, half frightened out of his wits; for he
+was afraid the seaman would knock his brains out.
+
+“What are you doing in there, my little biscuit-nibbler?” demanded the
+old salt, as he tossed him rather roughly upon the deck.
+
+“I’m not doing any thing,” cried Matt.
+
+“You want to go to sea without paying your passage, do you? Well, my
+hearty, we always drown such youngsters; and overboard you shall go,”
+said the sailor. But it was plain enough to his companions that he was
+only trying to frighten the boy; and he was succeeding very well in his
+attempt.
+
+In a few moments more, Lon was dragged out in the same way; but he
+did not yell as Matt had done. He was more disposed to show fight;
+and he put the toe of his shoe into the shin of the man who held him.
+The seaman dropped him like a hot potato, and Lon rushed out of the
+house to the deck. Matt followed his example as soon as he could. They
+went forward, and then stowed themselves away under the topgallant
+forecastle. Matt had held on to his bundle of provision. The watch
+on deck did not see them, and they soon found a safe place. They ate
+their supper, and after a while went to sleep on the hard planks of the
+deck; for both of them were very tired after the fatigues of the day
+and the preceding night. The last lot of sailors who had come into the
+house were the mate’s watch; and, as they had to be on duty from twelve
+at night, and were all more or less tipsy, they turned in without
+troubling themselves any further about the boys.
+
+It was too cold for boys who had been used to a good bed in the house
+to sleep out in the open air, without even an overcoat to cover them.
+Before it was time for the mid-watch to come on deck, both of them were
+awake and shivering with the cold, though it was an August night. Matt
+declared that he could not stand it any longer, and he was going out on
+deck, even if they had to be sent on shore for it. Lon was glad enough
+to do the same thing, though he was not willing to be the first to
+propose it. The sailors of the captain’s watch saw them as soon as they
+appeared; and they were reported to the second mate, who had charge of
+the captain’s watch.
+
+“I know the captain, and it will be all right,” said Lon, as soon as
+they had told their story to the second mate.
+
+“He was out on deck a few moments ago, and I am sure he hasn’t turned
+in yet. You will find him in the cabin. By the way, are you some of the
+passengers that are expected to come on board off here somewhere?”
+
+“I didn’t know we were expected,” replied Lon.
+
+The second mate showed them into the cabin. Of course Capt. Crogick was
+intensely astonished, and not at all delighted, to see them. The son
+of Capt. Trustleton must not see Mr. Wallgood when he came on board.
+But he gave them a state-room, and left the matter for the morning to
+decide.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+BOUND TO A SICKLY CLIMATE.
+
+
+Capt. Crogick was a good deal more vexed at the appearance of these
+unwelcome passengers than he cared to express. He had treated them
+well; but he wished they were at the bottom of the sea, or anywhere
+except on board of the “Housatonic,” which was to receive the cashier
+of the Walnut National Bank the next day. He wondered if the boys were
+not sent as spies, to ascertain what was going on on board of the ship;
+but, when he figured up his dates, he was satisfied that they were
+genuine runaways, as well as the cashier.
+
+It seemed very strange that these boys should come on board of
+his ship just at this time when he was managing the escape of his
+brother-in-law. He at once made up his mind to send the young fugitives
+back to New York in the “Moonlight.” But Capt. Bendig might convey his
+passengers to the ship before he knew the situation; and, if Lon saw
+Mr. Wallgood, the whole scheme would be exposed, especially his own
+agency in the affair, which was sure to make trouble with his owners.
+
+Lon and Matt were permitted to sleep in peace for that night, and in
+the morning they were invited to the captain’s table to breakfast. It
+had been arranged beforehand, that Lon should do the talking; but the
+cabin-steward was present most of the time, and nothing was said during
+the meal about the presence of the two boys on board. As soon as the
+table was cleared away, and they were alone in the cabin, Capt. Crogick
+opened the subject.
+
+“Where do you think of going to, Alonzo?” he asked.
+
+“Matt and I wanted to take a little voyage,” replied Lon, with a
+cheerful smile, as though he was engaged in a perfectly legitimate
+business. “We don’t care much where we go to.”
+
+“Would you like to go to the coast of Africa, where men die off like
+sheep with malarial fever?” asked the captain, with a stern expression.
+
+“No: we don’t care about going to any such place as that,” answered
+Lon, his jaw dropping at the question, which seemed to indicate
+that the “Housatonic” was bound to such a region as the shipmaster
+described. “We don’t want to go to any such place as that. Is your ship
+going to the coast of Africa?”
+
+“We shall certainly go to the coast of Africa,” replied the captain;
+but he meant that part of the coast of Africa which borders the Strait
+of Gibraltar. “But your way of going to sea is not quite regular. As it
+stands now, you are stowaways.”
+
+“But we will pay our passage,” added Lon.
+
+“Then you have plenty of money?”
+
+“We have some money.”
+
+“Of course your father knows what you are about, Alonzo?” continued the
+captain.
+
+“I can’t say he does.”
+
+“Then you are runaways, are you?”
+
+“I suppose that is what you would call us,” said Lon, trying to laugh,
+though the captain was very sober and dignified; but it was only
+because he was troubled about his expected passengers, who might meet
+the president’s son in spite of his efforts to prevent such a meeting.
+
+“Your father would never forgive me if I took you on a voyage without
+his knowledge and consent.”
+
+“He will never know it. We will not tell him what ship we went in; will
+we, Matt?”
+
+“To be sure we will not,” answered the Swikes, who was ready to indorse
+all that his companion said.
+
+“I think he would find it out, even if I were mean enough to do such
+a thing as to leave him to worry for months about you. No, my lads: I
+don’t like the idea of taking you to the coast of Africa, where you
+would be almost certain to have the fever, and almost as certain to die
+with it.”
+
+“I don’t want to go to any such place,” protested Matt. “I would rather
+go to prison than to die with such a disease. Can’t you send us back,
+captain?”
+
+“I may be able to do so: I will see. I may come across some in-bound
+vessel that will take you back to New York, if you pay your fare,”
+replied the master of the “Housatonic,” pleased with the turn affairs
+had taken.
+
+“I’m sure I don’t want to go to any place where there is sickness,”
+added Lon. “But we will pay our fare back if you will put us into
+another vessel.”
+
+“Have you money enough to pay your way back to Midhampton? because, if
+you have not, I will lend you some.”
+
+“I think we have enough, though I don’t know how much it will be,”
+added Lon.
+
+“But you were going to pay your passage to the coast of Africa and
+back; and of course you have enough to carry you to New York,” said
+the captain, who wished to know something about the finances of the
+runaways.
+
+“I did not suppose the fare to the place where you are going would be
+more than forty or fifty dollars,” replied Lon.
+
+“Exactly so: then you must have at least a hundred dollars apiece; and
+that will more than take you back to New York.”
+
+“We haven’t quite a hundred apiece,” added Lon, giving all the
+information Capt. Crogick wished to obtain.
+
+“You are quite flush for a couple of boys,” said the shipmaster with a
+smile. “As your father didn’t know you were coming, Alonzo, I suppose
+he did not give you this money.”
+
+Lon bit his lip; and now for the first time he understood what the
+captain was driving at. He wanted to know where he got his money.
+
+“My father didn’t give it to me; and I did not steal it. It was some
+money I have been saving up for years, for I always had plenty of money
+to spend,” replied Lon.
+
+“It takes a good while for a boy to save up a hundred dollars.”
+
+“I say I have been saving it for years, and for just this thing. You
+told me you ran away from home when you were a boy, and went to sea;
+and now you are the captain of a ship. Who knows but that I may be the
+captain of a ship?”
+
+“I know you will not. I didn’t run away from a good home such as you
+have; and I did not crawl in at the cabin window, as you are trying
+to do. I suppose this other boy saved up his money in the same way,”
+continued the captain, turning to Matt.
+
+“Yes, sir, every cent of it,” protested Matt, who was willing to swear
+to any thing that Lon said.
+
+“I don’t know that I ever saw this boy before,” added Capt. Crogick,
+fixing his gaze upon Matt; “but, when you tell me he is the son of Obed
+Swikes, I know his father never gave him much money to spend.”
+
+“But I made most of it myself,” added Matt, who realized the full force
+of the master’s argument; for it was easier to squeeze milk out of a
+paving-stone than to get any money out of his father to spend for fun
+and frolic. “I used to pick berries, and sell them. I used to do jobs
+for folks about town.”
+
+“The story is rather thin for both of you. I don’t believe it,” added
+Capt. Crogick bluntly.
+
+“It’s as true as preaching,” said Matt.
+
+“As true as some preaching, I have no doubt.”
+
+“Do you think I would lie about it?” demanded Lon, beginning to mount
+the high horse he sometimes rode.
+
+“I rather think you would lie about it when you got into a tight place,
+as you are now.”
+
+“We have told the truth; and it don’t make any difference to me whether
+you believe me or not,” replied Lon, when he found it was no use to
+attempt to bluff the captain of the “Housatonic.”
+
+“Be that as it may, I shall not meddle with the matter: I have no time
+to attend to it, even if I were disposed to do so. When I get a chance,
+I shall send you back to New York; and you can settle it with your
+fathers,” added the captain, as he rose from his stool, and went out
+upon deck.
+
+“He smokes the whole thing,” said Lon, as soon as they were alone.
+
+“I know he does; but what was the use of telling him how much money we
+had?” demanded Matt, who was sure his companion had been guilty of very
+bad generalship.
+
+“I didn’t mean to do it; but it will make no difference now, for he is
+going off on a long voyage, and he may die of the fever he talks about.”
+
+“Our fun is spoiled for this time,” added Matt, who seemed to deplore
+this as much as being found out.
+
+“No, it isn’t. We shall return to New York in a day or two. We shall
+have a first-rate sail in this ship; and, when we get back, we can take
+a steamer for some place where no one will know us, and have a good
+time there. We are not licked out yet. Come, let’s go on deck, and see
+the fun.”
+
+They left the cabin; and for a time they enjoyed the movements of the
+big vessel, which was rolling along under easy sail, for the captain
+was on the lookout for the yacht which was to bring off his passengers.
+But they soon wearied of this monotonous life, and wished for something
+more active. It was as dull as any thing could be; and they made up
+their minds that they could not have stood it for a voyage of four or
+five weeks. They saw a great many vessels far to the south of them,
+bound to the westward; and they wondered that Capt. Crogick did not run
+down to one of them, and send them back, as he said he should do. They
+were all ready to return before it was noon; and in the afternoon they
+were anxious to do so.
+
+Towards night, they saw the “Moonlight” astern of the ship, and noticed
+that the captain frequently examined her with his glass. Then they made
+out the revenue-cutter, and they saw the captain looking at her a great
+deal. Lon thought the shipmaster was very anxious about something;
+for he would hardly speak a civil word to him, when he asked him a
+question. At sunset, when the calm came on, the captain was more gruff
+than ever; and he seemed to be very nervous. After dark the cutter
+ran alongside of her; and her captain wanted to know what the ship was
+doing so near the island. Her papers were examined; but they were found
+to be all right. The officer apologized for boarding the “Housatonic;”
+and the cutter left her.
+
+Early in the evening Lon and Matt turned in, for the want of something
+better to do. The ship did not move, and every thing was as still as
+death. The boys slept very well, better than the captain,--so well that
+at daylight they could sleep no more, though they remained in their
+berths.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+ANOTHER UNEXPECTED MEETING.
+
+
+Wade Brooks had his supper, by the grace of Pollish, in the kitchen, so
+that he was not obliged to appropriate a part of the captain’s meal, as
+he had of his breakfast and dinner. At an early hour in the evening, he
+turned into a spare bunk in the forecastle; for it was not necessary
+for him to seek his hiding-place. He slept well, and he did not wake as
+early as the runaways on board of the “Housatonic.” Wade could sleep
+twelve hours a night when he had nothing better to do; and he did it on
+this occasion.
+
+Capt. Bendig had not slept as well. He had been on deck half the night,
+looking out for an opportunity to communicate with the “Housatonic.”
+He had not been in his berth more than an hour at a time; and this was
+calculated to make him cross on the following day, for no one feels
+good after he has been up half the night. He was on deck at daylight,
+when a little breeze came up from the eastward, which was not fair for
+the yacht or the ship. But the “Moonlight” was under way as soon as the
+breeze swelled her sails. She barely moved, and it would take her some
+time to beat up to the “Housatonic.”
+
+The revenue-cutter was about two miles farther to the westward than she
+had been the night before. She seemed to be on a mission of some kind,
+and to be determined to remain near this particular locality. If there
+had been a good wind, the yacht would have followed the “Housatonic” to
+some part of the sea where the cutter could not notice her movements.
+But the ship could do nothing in that light head wind, though she had
+braced her yards so as to lay a course to the south-east. She had no
+perceptible motion as she was seen from the deck of the yacht.
+
+When the “Moonlight” had been under way half an hour, a boat put off
+from the “Housatonic,” and pulled rapidly towards the yacht. In a short
+time it came alongside, and Capt. Crogick sprang upon her deck. As
+he did so, he cast an anxious glance astern in the direction of the
+cutter, but he appeared to think she was too far off to see what he was
+about; for doubtless he did not care to have her officers know that he
+had boarded the “Moonlight.”
+
+“Things don’t work well,” said he, when he had satisfied himself in
+regard to the revenue-steamer.
+
+“That’s a fact. What do you suppose that cutter is doing out here?”
+asked Capt. Bendig.
+
+“I don’t know. She boarded me last night; but I am sure she don’t know
+what we are about. Did she hail you?”
+
+“No. She has not been much nearer to the yacht than she is now. It
+is very likely she is on the lookout for some smuggler or filibuster.
+Those fellows don’t often explain their business.”
+
+“That’s not all, either,” continued Capt. Crogick. “About six bells
+last night, the second mate dug out a couple of stowaways; and who do
+you think they are?”
+
+“I don’t think I could guess,” replied Capt. Bendig.
+
+“One of them was the son of the president of the bank of which your
+passenger is the cashier,” added Capt. Crogick.
+
+“Whew!” whistled the captain of the “Moonlight.” “That’s bad.”
+
+“Of course it is; and we must not let these stowaways see the cashier
+or any of the family.”
+
+“That’s so. Last night was a good one for stowaways, for I had one; but
+he is nothing but a wharf-rat, I think, that came on board to sleep.”
+
+“I shall send these two boys back to New York in your yacht; and I have
+come on board of you to warn you. When I send them to the ‘Moonlight,’
+you must keep your passengers in the cabin, and then lock these
+stowaways up in a state-room, or some other place, where it is not
+possible for them to know what is going on.”
+
+“All right,” replied Capt. Bendig. “We can manage it very well.”
+
+“There’s no trouble at all about it, if we only understand each other;
+but it would have been bad if you had sent Wallgood and his wife on
+board of the ship when these two young cubs were on deck; and it would
+have been just as bad if I had sent the boys to you. We have the matter
+well in hand now, and there is nothing more to fear,” continued the
+master of the “Housatonic.” “As soon as I return to the ship, I shall
+send these boys to you: so see that every thing is fixed for them. As
+soon as you have locked them into a room, send the cashier, his wife
+and mine, back in the same boat.”
+
+“All right. It shall be done; and I will see that nothing goes wrong.”
+
+Capt. Crogick returned to his boat, and the men pulled back to the ship.
+
+When he reached the “Housatonic,” he found the stowaways had not yet
+turned out, and he sent the steward to call them. They were not sorry
+to find a chance to return to New York, and they soon completed their
+toilets. They were handed into the boat, and were soon on board of the
+“Moonlight.” The cabin of the yacht was closed and locked when they
+came on deck.
+
+Capt. Bendig’s state-room was chosen for their prison, and they were
+conducted to it as soon as they came on board. They were taken down by
+the fore-hatch, for the door leading from the room into the cabin had
+been fastened before. The captain, without any explanations, shoved
+them into the room, and locked the door upon them; and there was no
+opening by which they could see out of the den, for it was only dimly
+lighted by blocks of glass in the deck.
+
+“What does all this mean?” demanded Lon, as the door was locked upon
+them.
+
+“We are locked in,” replied Matt.
+
+“I know it; but what is it for?”
+
+“Perhaps the captain thinks we may get back to the ship.”
+
+“I understand it,” added Lon, with a sudden flash of intelligence. “The
+captain of the ‘Housatonic’ believes we stole the money; and he is
+going to send us back to Midhampton by this vessel.”
+
+“Then the game is all up, and all our fun is spoiled again,” replied
+Matt, disgusted with the situation.
+
+“Here is a good bed; and we may as well turn in, and make the best of
+it. By and by, if they don’t let us out, we will smash that door down,
+and raise Cain generally,” added Lon, as he stretched himself on the
+bed in the berth.
+
+When he had locked his prisoners into the room, Capt. Bendig hurried
+his passengers out of the cabin into the boat that was waiting for
+them. All their baggage was put into the boat with them, and in a few
+moments more they were on their way to the “Housatonic;” confident that
+they were out of danger now, for the cutter was still two miles distant.
+
+As soon as they were gone, and he had fulfilled his contract with the
+master of the “Housatonic,” he gave orders for the yacht to be put
+about, and headed to the westward. He hardly gave a second thought to
+the prisoners in his state-room. He had no instruction in regard to
+them, except to land them in New York. The breeze freshened a little,
+and the “Moonlight” began to move through the water at a livelier pace.
+
+By this time Wade Brooks had slept all he could; and he left his bunk
+in the forecastle. When he learned from Pollish that the captain was at
+his breakfast in the cabin, he ventured to go on deck. In the distance
+he saw the “Housatonic,” standing to the south-west; and Pollish told
+him the passengers had gone on board of her.
+
+“The captain is at his breakfast; but as soon as he is done he will
+want to see you, my lad,” said the steward. “You had better get
+something to eat while you have a chance to do so; for you may not get
+another to-day.”
+
+Wade was not a fellow to neglect an opportunity of this kind: he went
+down to the galley, where Pollish gave him all he could eat. While he
+was at his breakfast, he heard a pounding on the door of the captain’s
+state-room. Lon and Matt had stood the monotony of the state-room as
+long as they could, and the former had put his plan into execution. He
+was going to break down the door if no one let them out.
+
+“Pollish!” shouted the captain.
+
+“Here, sir,” replied the steward, hastening to the cabin by the door
+through the pantry, which was between the cabin and the kitchen.
+
+“What is that noise?” asked Capt. Bendig, when the steward appeared.
+
+“The two boys in your state-room, sir,” replied Pollish. “They want to
+get out, I suppose.”
+
+“Let them out, and then give them some breakfast,” added the captain.
+
+He was very considerate of the ship’s stowaways,--more so than of his
+own; but one of the former was the son of a rich man, and that made all
+the difference in the world. As the skipper of the “Moonlight” was on
+the make, it is not unlikely that he thought he might turn the presence
+of the boys on board his vessel to account. He judged that the father
+of one of them would be glad to give something handsome to get him
+back to his home. It might even pay to take them up the river in the
+yacht to their residence; or he could go on shore at Staten Island, and
+telegraph to the boy’s father, and then present his bill. But, if the
+captain made any such calculations as these, they were upset by his own
+folly and breach of faith.
+
+Pollish obeyed his order, and released Lon and Matt by the door at
+which they had been admitted to their temporary prison.
+
+“Why were we locked up in that room?” demanded Lon, as he confronted
+the steward at the open door.
+
+“I don’t know. You must ask the captain: he did it himself, and he
+don’t tell his crew what he does things for,” replied Pollish.
+
+“We want some breakfast,” growled Lon.
+
+“You shall have some at once. Come into the kitchen,” said Pollish.
+
+Lon and Matt followed him. Wade was seated at a table, picking the meat
+from the bone of a mutton-chop. Lon looked at him as though he had been
+a ghost; and Wade looked at the two runaways with a similar expression
+of surprise.
+
+“By hokey! how came you here, Matt?” demanded Wade, almost overwhelmed
+by the sight of him.
+
+“How came you here?” repeated Matt.
+
+“I believe you are an evil spirit, Wade Brooks,” added Lon: “you follow
+us wherever we go.”
+
+Pollish deemed it best to inform the captain that the boys knew each
+other.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+ESCAPED OVERBOARD.
+
+
+“How in creation came you on board of this vessel, Wade Brooks?”
+repeated Matt, when he had found a tongue.
+
+“How in creation came you on board of this vessel, Matt Swikes?”
+demanded Wade. “I thought you meant to stop at that big hotel a while.
+Did you spend all your money, and then have to go to sea?”
+
+“No; we didn’t spend all our money; but we thought we would take a
+little cruise at sea,” replied Matt. “But when we heard the ship was
+going to the coast of Africa, where they have the fever very bad, we
+gave it up; and now we are going back to New York. Have you gone to
+work on this vessel?”
+
+“No, I have not: I wish I could,” replied Wade.
+
+“The captain says the two young gentlemen are to have their breakfast
+in the cabin,” interposed Pollish at this moment. “Won’t you come with
+me?”
+
+Lon thought it was quite proper that they should be invited to the
+cabin; and he was ready to follow the steward without wasting a moment
+upon such a fellow as Wade Brooks. Pollish led them through the
+captain’s room into the cabin, where Capt. Bendig received them very
+politely. He gave them places at the table, and told the steward to
+bring the best there was on board for their meal.
+
+“The steward tells me you know that boy we have on board,” said the
+captain, when the two guests were seated at the table.
+
+“Yes, sir: we knew him in Midhampton, where we came from; but we don’t
+know any good of him. He ran away from the folks he lived with, and was
+charged with stealing two hundred dollars from them. Isn’t that so,
+Matt?” replied Lon, who was certainly a swift witness.
+
+“That’s just the idea I formed of him,” added Capt. Bendig. “But I took
+him for a wharf-rat. He stowed himself away on board of the yacht, and
+tried to steal a passage; and he did steal my breakfast and part of my
+dinner.”
+
+“I think they would like to see him in Midhampton,” said Lon.
+
+Pollish was attending to the table, and heard all that was said by the
+captain and the two runaways. As soon as he had given the boys their
+breakfast, he told Wade what he had heard,--that they said he was a
+runaway, and that he was charged with stealing two hundred dollars.
+
+“The coat fits them, and it don’t fit me,” replied Wade indignantly.
+“It was Matt Swikes that stole the money, and both of them ran away
+from home. I have no home to run away from.”
+
+“But the captain is down upon you, and he likes to believe what those
+two fellows say. He always believes what suits him best; and, as
+soon as you have finished your breakfast, I think you had better put
+yourself out of sight,” said Pollish. “And don’t let any of the hands
+see you do it.”
+
+“I will take care,” replied Ward.
+
+He had about finished the meal, when he received this advice from the
+steward. He went to the forecastle; and, having assured himself that
+no one was in it, he stowed himself away under the berth, in the place
+which the steward had indicated for him. He arranged the old clothes
+so as to conceal him from any one who came into the forecastle; but he
+had not much faith in his fortress if a thorough search should be made
+for him. He lay down, and began to think of the events of the day. The
+runaways seemed to be in high favor with the captain: they had his ear.
+They had already told bad stories about him, which were all lies; but
+he did not care for this if he could only get out of the yacht. He had
+an immense sum of money in his pocket; and this time he would take care
+not to let any one steal it from him.
+
+As soon as Capt. Bendig had finished his breakfast, he told Pollish
+to call Wade Brooks: he wanted to see him. The steward did call him,
+but he did not answer. He went into every part of the yacht; but Wade
+did not appear. He reported to the captain that he could not find the
+boy. Lon and Matt were with the captain on deck by this time; and they
+seemed to be greatly interested in the search.
+
+“Pollish, I believe you are in league with that boy,” said the captain.
+“Now I want him, he can’t be found.”
+
+“The last time I saw him he was in the kitchen, eating his breakfast,”
+replied Pollish. “Then, when I went to look for him, he was not there.”
+
+“He hasn’t left the vessel; and, if you don’t find him very soon, I
+shall see what I can do about it,” added the skipper of the “Moonlight.”
+
+Pollish visited every part of the yacht again; but, of course, with no
+better success than before. By this time the breeze had freshened into
+a steady wind, and the “Moonlight” was going along at the rate of four
+or five knots an hour. He hoped the yacht would reach New York before
+the boy was found; for he was afraid he might tell under pressure how
+he got into the vessel, and this would cause him to be discharged.
+Pollish reported to the captain that he could not find the stowaway.
+
+Capt. Bendig called his mate and several of the hands, and directed
+them to search the forecastle while he looked through the cabin. The
+mate searched the bunks, and the space under them; and, when he came
+to the forward one on the starboard side, of course he pulled out the
+fugitive.
+
+By this time the captain had satisfied himself that the boy was not in
+the cabin; and he was in his state-room when he was informed by the
+mate that Wade had been found.
+
+“I knew the young scamp could not be far off,” said the captain, and he
+followed the mate into the forecastle. “So you have come out of your
+hole.”
+
+“No, sir; I did not: I was pulled out,” replied Wade.
+
+“You may go on deck,” added the skipper to the mate and the men.
+
+In a moment more Wade was alone with the captain in the forecastle. He
+looked ugly; and the poor boy concluded that the time had come for his
+flogging. He did not like the idea of being flogged; and he did not
+mean to submit if he could possibly escape.
+
+“I have you now where I want you,” said Capt. Bendig.
+
+“Then I suppose you want me in here,” added Wade, for the want of
+something better to say.
+
+“Yes, I want you in here. I promised the gentleman who was fool enough
+to give you some money, that I would not flog you for stealing my
+breakfast and dinner. I am a man of my word, and I’m not going to flog
+you for that; but I’m going to flog you for hiding away when I wanted
+you,” said Capt. Bendig, making a spring at the boy.
+
+Wade dodged, and attempted to get by the skipper and reach the door of
+the forecastle, so that he could escape to the deck. But the tyrant, as
+he had proved himself to be, caught him by the leg, and held him fast.
+
+“Now I have you in hand, there is one other thing I have to settle
+with you,” said Capt. Bendig, transferring his hold from the leg to the
+collar of his prisoner.
+
+Wade struggled with all his might to get away; but the skipper held
+him as in a vise. When the victim struggled, the captain tightened his
+grasp, and shook his prisoner, till Wade was glad to hold still.
+
+“You have a hundred dollars that belongs to me,” said the captain, when
+Wade had been still for a moment.
+
+“It don’t belong to you,” protested Wade; and the fear of losing the
+treasure was vastly more terrible than the fear of getting the flogging.
+
+“Do you think I am going to see a little scalawag like you steal into
+this vessel, and get a hundred dollars for it?” demanded the skipper
+savagely. “That would be giving you a reward for your rascality.”
+
+“The gentleman gave me the money because he wanted me to keep still,”
+sobbed Wade, exhausted by his violent exertions.
+
+“I don’t care what he gave it to you for: that job was mine; and all
+the pay for it comes to me.”
+
+“I told him I would keep still if I was allowed to keep the money; and
+I won’t without,” said Wade spunkily.
+
+“I haven’t any time to talk about it: I have said what I mean; and now
+will you give me the money, or shall I take it from you?” demanded the
+skipper savagely.
+
+“I won’t give it to you; and it is stealing for you to take it from
+me,” protested Wade with all the strength of his lungs.
+
+The captain did not wait for any thing more: he threw his prisoner on
+the floor, and, after a short search through his pockets, found the old
+wallet in which Wade had put the money. He took it from him; and, while
+his victim was getting up from the floor, he put it in his pocket. At
+this moment the mate came to the door. As he opened it, Wade made a
+dive through it.
+
+“Stop him!” shouted the captain.
+
+But it was too late: Wade had gained the deck.
+
+“What did you open that door for?” said the skipper angrily.
+
+“I wanted to report to you that that revenue-steamer is bearing down
+upon us, and, for aught I know, means to board us,” replied the mate.
+
+“Why didn’t you report it before?”
+
+“I came down here; but you seemed to be busy, and I did not like to
+disturb you,” answered the mate with a smile.
+
+“Is she headed for the yacht?” inquired the captain; and he appeared to
+be anxious on the subject.
+
+“She seems to be doing so.”
+
+“Do you suppose her people saw the ‘Housatonic’s’ boat carry off those
+passengers?”
+
+“If they used their glasses, they couldn’t well help seeing it,”
+replied the mate, who did not seem to be at all troubled about the
+matter. “What odds does it make if they did? I suppose the transaction
+was all right wasn’t it?”
+
+“Of course it was. But where is that boy?”
+
+“He went on deck.”
+
+Capt. Bendig, afraid that Wade would tell the other two stowaways what
+he had seen, hastened on deck to secure him again. He saw the cutter
+was headed directly towards the “Moonlight.” Wade stood in the waist,
+with both eyes open. The skipper was intent on catching him again,
+intending to lock him into his state-room until the cutter had passed,
+and then give him the promised flogging. Wade retreated towards the
+stern, and then around the mast to the forecastle.
+
+“Stop, you little villain!” said he. “You will get an extra flogging
+for this.”
+
+When Wade saw he could not escape, he leaped upon the rail, and then
+jumped overboard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+THE LORDS OF THE SEA.
+
+
+Wade Brooks did not take to the water from mere impulse, and because he
+saw no other way to escape from the captain of the “Moonlight.” In the
+morning, when the cutter seemed to attract some attention on board of
+the yacht, he had asked something about her; for he had no more idea of
+a revenue-cutter than a baby has. Pollish told him that she was a kind
+of missionary vessel, which not only caught the rogues that attempted
+to cheat the government, but she assisted vessels in distress, and
+looked out for all violations of the laws on the water. If the crew of
+a ship mutinied, she was ready to step in, and make the men do their
+duty; in a word, she was to serve the government and individuals as
+best she could.
+
+From this description of her, Wade concluded that he ought to find
+friends on board of her. He knew that the “Housatonic” was bearing
+away a man who had cheated a bank--a national bank--out of a hundred
+thousand dollars. He had been robbed of his hundred dollars, and he did
+not feel obliged to keep his secret any longer. Though Mr. Wallgood
+had treated him very well, still he was a robber of the bank; and, if
+his secret was betrayed, he must blame Capt. Bendig for it. He had only
+agreed to keep the secret if he was allowed to retain the money, which
+Capt. Bendig had not permitted him to do.
+
+But the skipper had not intended to give him a flogging while the
+cutter was so near the yacht, lest the cries of the victim should be
+heard on board of her. His only purpose had been to catch Wade, and
+lock him up in the forecastle or some other place on board, so that
+he could not have a talk with the son of the bank-president. If Lon
+Trustleton ascertained that the “Moonlight” had been used to convey the
+defaulter on board of a ship, the fact might come to the knowledge of
+his owner; and he knew what would follow. His place was his bread and
+butter, as much as that of the cook or steward; and it was not easy to
+obtain such positions as he held.
+
+If Capt. Bendig had supposed that Wade Brooks had pluck enough to jump
+overboard, he would have handled him more carefully. The stowaway soon
+proved himself to be a good swimmer; for he struck out from the yacht,
+which sailed away and left him astern of her. But, as soon as the
+captain realized the situation, he ordered the yacht to be hove to.
+
+“Hard down the helm!” he shouted to the man at the wheel.
+
+But he had hardly given the order before he saw, that, if it was
+obeyed, the “Moonlight” would run into the cutter, which was now
+just abreast of her. The steamer had “slowed down” some time before.
+She immediately stopped her screw, and then backed till she came to a
+full stop. Half a dozen of her uniformed seamen were already in one
+of her quarter-boats, ready to drop it into the water; but this was
+unnecessary, for Wade had swam towards the cutter, and as soon as she
+stopped he was alongside of her. He saw the accommodation ladder at her
+quarter, and he made for that. A stout quarter-master was at the foot
+of the ladder with a rope in his hand; and with his assistance Wade
+soon climbed to the deck of the cutter.
+
+The officer of the deck asked him no questions, but directed one of the
+stewards to take him below, and fit him out with dry clothes, and then
+bring him on deck again. By this time the “Moonlight” had come about,
+and was lying to a short distance from the cutter. The men in the
+quarter-boat were ordered to lower away; and an officer was sent in it
+to the yacht, which was evidently suspected of doing something out of
+the way. Capt. Bendig received the officer in the most courteous manner.
+
+“Will you explain your object in communicating with that ship?” said
+the officer, opening the subject of his visit.
+
+“Certainly: her captain is an old friend of mine; and, as we were both
+becalmed, he paid me a friendly visit,” replied Capt. Bendig.
+
+“Did you come out here for the purpose of receiving this friendly
+visit?” continued the officer.
+
+“No, sir: I brought off the captain’s wife, if you must know the whole
+of it,” said the captain of the “Moonlight.” “She lived in the country,
+and did not reach New York in season to come out in the ship. Though
+I don’t know any thing about it, I think it is more likely than not
+that the owners of the ship objected to his taking her on the voyage
+as a passenger, and he did not care to have her come on board before
+she left the pier. Of course you will regard what I say as told you in
+confidence; for I don’t wish to get my friend the captain into trouble
+with his owners.”
+
+“What sort of cargo did you receive from her?” asked the officer.
+
+“No cargo at all: the ship is just out of New York,” replied the
+captain of the yacht. “Do you think she has smuggled any thing out of
+the country?”
+
+“No; but I have known a vessel to keep her contraband goods on
+board till she was ready to sail on another voyage, and then ship
+them into some gentleman’s private yacht. I want to seize one such
+pleasure-craft,” added the officer.
+
+“Well, sir, you can make a beginning with the ‘Moonlight,’” laughed
+Capt. Bendig, delighted to find that the revenue-officer did not
+suspect the true nature of his business with the “Housatonic.” “I think
+her owner can fight his own battle as well as any of them.”
+
+“I don’t say that any thing of this kind has been done; but the
+captain of the cutter directs me to ascertain your errand with that
+ship,” added the lieutenant.
+
+“Well, sir, I have told you my errand; and I don’t know that I have
+done any thing to violate the laws of the United States,” added Capt.
+Bendig, beginning to bluster a little.
+
+“I don’t know that you have: I came to ascertain. It becomes my duty to
+search your vessel,” continued the officer.
+
+“You can do that as much as you please; and I can tell you in the
+beginning that you will find no smuggled goods on board,” said Capt.
+Bendig, with more pertness than the occasion required.
+
+The officer called certain men from his boat, and a thorough search was
+made of the “Moonlight.” Her skipper made a great show of opening every
+locker, closet, and trunk, where it was possible to conceal a piece of
+silk or a box of cigars. Of course nothing was found, and the captain
+crowed accordingly.
+
+“I hope you are satisfied,” said the skipper, when the search was
+completed.
+
+“Entirely satisfied,” replied the courteous officer. “I am very sorry
+to have troubled you.”
+
+“It is not much trouble to me; but I will take care to inform my owner
+that his yacht has been searched for contraband goods,” said Capt.
+Bendig, who could not resist the opportunity to bully when occasion
+offered.
+
+“Of course you are at liberty to do that, as I am to inform the owners
+of the ‘Housatonic’ that you conveyed the captain’s wife on board of
+her; and possibly your owner would like to know the fact,” replied the
+revenue-officer, who was very much disgusted with the tone and manner
+of the captain.
+
+“You have me there,” said Capt. Bendig, with a coarse grin; “and I
+think we had better both hold our tongues.”
+
+“Just as you please: I don’t often go out of my way to meddle with
+private affairs: I have only done my duty in this case, and you can
+tell whom you please about it.”
+
+The officer was really sorry that he found nothing on board of the
+yacht, for he was human enough to desire to see such an ill-natured
+fellow as the captain of the “Moonlight” get into a scrape.
+
+“I want you to send that boy you picked up in the water back again to
+the vessel from which he escaped,” said the skipper, as the officer was
+about to return to his boat.
+
+“Does he belong to the yacht?” asked the officer.
+
+“No: he’s nothing but a wharf-rat: he broke into this vessel night
+before last, and I owe him a licking for it,” grinned the captain, as
+though it would be a pleasant thing for him to bestow the castigation.
+
+The officer’s sympathies were with the boy; and he was willing to do
+any thing in his power to save any human being from falling into the
+clutches of such a brute as he saw the master of the “Moonlight” to be.
+
+“How happened he to fall overboard?” asked the revenue-officer.
+
+“He didn’t fall overboard: he jumped over.”
+
+“Well, what made him jump overboard?”
+
+“To get rid of the licking he deserved, I suppose. He is a young scamp
+that ran away from the place in the country where he lived; and I
+intend to have him sent back,” replied Capt. Bendig.
+
+“I will report the matter to the captain, and he will do what he thinks
+proper,” added the officer.
+
+“See here, I don’t want no fooling over this case. I want the boy
+sent back at once. You are not the lords of the sea, if you are in a
+revenue-cutter. You haven’t any claim on that boy, and I want him sent
+back,” blustered Capt. Bendig.
+
+“Do you know to whom you are talking?” said the officer. “We do not
+take any orders from any but the government.”
+
+“I want the boy; that’s all I’ve got to say about it; and, if you
+don’t send him, you’ll have a bone to pick with my owner, who has some
+influence in Washington. Some things can be done as well as others.”
+
+“I will report what you say to the captain of the cutter; and it is
+probable that he will not be bullied into sending the boy back,”
+replied the officer indignantly. “If you want the boy, you had better
+send for him; for I am quite confident the captain will not trouble
+himself to send him back, after your insulting message.”
+
+“You young squirts of officers think you are the lords of the sea; and
+you talk to men like me as if we were of no consequence,” growled Capt.
+Bendig.
+
+“I treated you like a gentleman till you proved that you were not one.”
+
+The revenue-officer went over the side into his boat; but, just as he
+was ordering his crew to shove off, he discovered another boat pulling
+from the cutter. In a few moments it was alongside of the “Moonlight.”
+
+“Mr. Wilkins, by order of the captain of the cutter, you will take
+possession of this yacht, and hold her till further orders,” said the
+officer of the boat, touching his cap to his superior.
+
+Mr. Wilkins was glad to receive the order.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+CAPT. BENDIG’S BLUNDER.
+
+
+Mr. Wilkins immediately returned to the deck of the “Moonlight,”
+attended this time by eight seamen, part of whom had come from the
+cutter in the second boat.
+
+“Well, sir, what do you want now?” demanded Capt. Bendig, as Mr.
+Wilkins stepped upon the deck.
+
+“I am ordered to take possession of this vessel, and to hold her till
+further orders,” replied the naval officer.
+
+“What’s that for?” asked the astonished skipper, taken all aback by the
+announcement.
+
+“I don’t know. I obey orders, and ask no questions about things that do
+not concern me.--Stand by to lower the foresail!” added Wilkins to his
+men, as soon as they were on the deck of the “Moonlight.”
+
+“I call this high-handed!” exclaimed the captain; but he was not quite
+so crank as he had been.
+
+“You can call it what you please,” replied the lieutenant of the
+cutter, as his men gathered at the foresail halyards. “Lower away!”
+
+“Can’t you tell me what this is for?” demanded Capt. Bendig, as he
+realized that the command of the yacht had passed out of his hands.
+
+“I cannot. I don’t know, and I don’t care,” answered Wilkins curtly.
+
+“I don’t understand it,” added Capt. Bendig.
+
+“Neither do I; but, if anybody understands it, you ought to. I should
+judge the order comes on account of some information that boy has
+given; but I don’t know any thing about it,” added Wilkins; and he
+seemed to enjoy the chagrin of the captain. “No information has been
+conveyed to the commander of the cutter by any other person.”
+
+“Would the captain of the cutter hear what a little scalawag like that
+boy has to say?” demanded the skipper of the “Moonlight,” disgusted
+with this view of the question.
+
+“The commander of the cutter knows what he is about; and, if the boy
+tells the truth, he will hear him as readily as any other person,”
+replied Wilkins.
+
+The lieutenant of the cutter then ordered his men to anchor the yacht.
+When it was done, he took the most comfortable seat he could find, and
+gave himself up to the reading of a newspaper. He was perfectly at
+home; for the yacht, for the time being, was under his command. He did
+not care to talk any more with the captain, or with anybody else.
+
+Capt. Bendig was utterly cast down. He began to realize that he had
+made a blunder in treating the “wharf-rat” in the manner he had. When
+he saw the cutter coming, he had gone among the men, and given each
+of them fifty dollars of the money he had received for them. He was of
+the opinion that this was enough for them, and he proposed to keep the
+other fifty himself; for he had made the bargain with the principals,
+and the men did not know that one hundred had been paid for each one of
+them.
+
+But, in order to understand the action of the commander of the cutter,
+we must return to Wade Brooks, who by this time was clothed in a suit
+of dry clothes. The steward, who had him in charge, took good care
+of him, and conducted him to the quarter-deck as soon as he was in
+condition to see the captain.
+
+Wade was not a little abashed when he found himself in the presence of
+the commander, who was dressed in uniform, and looked like a greater
+man than even the captain of the militia company in his native town,
+who had always filled him with awe and reverence. He looked at him, and
+was glad to find that he did not look a bit like Capt. Bendig. He did
+not put on any airs, and actually bestowed a smile upon him.
+
+“Well, young man, have you been taking a cold bath this chilly day?”
+said he, smiling again.
+
+“The bath was better than the licking,” replied Wade, shrugging his
+shoulders. “I hope you don’t think of sending me back to Capt. Bendig,
+who is the hardest man I ever met in my life.”
+
+“That will depend upon circumstances. Do you belong on board of that
+yacht?” asked the captain.
+
+“No, sir: I do not belong to her. If I did, I would drown myself,”
+replied Wade, with energy.
+
+“How happened you to fall overboard?”
+
+“I didn’t fall over: I jumped over.”
+
+“What did you do that for?”
+
+“Because the captain was going to lick me for nothing; and I would not
+stand it.”
+
+“What is your name?”
+
+“Wade Brooks, sir. What is yours?”
+
+The captain and an officer near him laughed outright at the simplicity
+of the boy; and it was evident that he came from the country.
+
+“You may call me Capt. Singleton; and that is my name,” said the
+captain, when he had recovered his gravity. “Now, Wade Brooks, what was
+the captain of the yacht going to flog you for?”
+
+“For nothing at all. He promised Mr. Wallgood that he would not flog
+me for taking his breakfast and part of his dinner. He would not whip
+me for this; but he said he should give it to me for hiding in the
+forecastle when he wanted to whip me.”
+
+Capt. Singleton seated himself on a stool, and continued to question
+Wade till he had drawn from him his whole history since he came from
+Midhampton, and up to the time he went on board of the “Moonlight.”
+
+“Do you know what the yacht is doing out here?” asked the captain.
+
+“Yes, sir, I do.”
+
+“Well, what is she doing out here?”
+
+“The cashier of the Walnut National Bank in Midhampton has run away
+with one hundred thousand dollars; and the yacht came out here to put
+him on board of that ship,” replied Wade, pointing to the “Housatonic,”
+which was not more than three or four miles distant; for she had
+tacked, and was standing up to the north-east.
+
+“Do you mean that he stole the money?” inquired Capt. Singleton, deeply
+interested in the matter.
+
+“Yes, sir, that’s what I mean. His name is Mr. Wallgood, and he is the
+brother-in-law of the captain of the ship. He went on board with his
+wife, and the wife of the captain of the ship; and the two women are
+sisters.”
+
+“Are you sure you are telling me the truth?” asked the commander of the
+cutter.
+
+“Dead sure of it, sir; and, if you go to the ship, you will find Mr.
+Wallgood on board of her, with his wife and Mrs. Crogick, who is her
+sister.”
+
+“You said that before,” said the captain.
+
+“The cashier gave the men on the yacht a hundred dollars apiece to
+keep still about it; and I don’t know what he gave the captain of the
+‘Moonlight,’” continued Wade, not a little excited. “He gave me a
+hundred dollars too; but Capt. Bendig took it away from me.”
+
+“And that’s the reason you are telling about the matter, I suppose,”
+added Capt. Singleton.
+
+“I told Mr. Wallgood I would keep still if I was allowed to keep the
+money; and, as the captain did not allow me to keep it, I am willing
+to tell all I know about the case,” answered Wade.
+
+“I see; and the captain of the yacht made a mistake when he took the
+money away from you,” laughed the commander.
+
+“I didn’t mean to meddle with any thing that did not concern me,” said
+Wade.
+
+“Didn’t you say you would not take any of the money the two boys had?”
+
+“Yes, sir: I wouldn’t have any thing to do with the money Matt Swikes
+stole from his father.”
+
+“But you were willing to take some of the money the cashier stole. How
+is this?” asked Capt. Singleton.
+
+“I didn’t think any thing about it. Do you suppose the hundred dollars
+was a part of the money he stole from the bank?” asked Wade, with a
+look of anxiety on his face; for this was the first time he had thought
+about the subject.
+
+“I should suppose so, though I know nothing about it.”
+
+“I had an idea that the hundred thousand dollars he took from the bank
+was all fixed up some other way. I heard him tell his wife about it;
+but I couldn’t understand it. Somehow he was to get the money when he
+got to Italy. At any rate, I didn’t think the money he gave me had any
+thing to do with what he stole: if I had, I wouldn’t have taken it.”
+
+“And you say the two boys are on board of that yacht?”
+
+“Yes, sir; and one of them is the son of Capt. Trustleton, the
+president of the bank,” replied Wade.
+
+“His son, is he? What did he say when he saw the cashier of his
+father’s bank on board of the yacht?”
+
+“He did not see him. Capt. Bendig locked the two boys into his
+state-room till the cashier and his wife had gone on board of the
+‘Housatonic.’”
+
+Capt. Singleton sent the officer to direct Mr. Wilkins to take
+possession of the yacht. He wanted her captain to be where he could
+find him. He questioned Wade for half an hour longer, and then he sent
+a boat to bring Lon Trustleton on board.
+
+“He will tell you hard stories about me; but they are not true,” said
+Wade, when the boat had gone.
+
+“I will hear what he has to say. Did you tell the president’s son that
+the cashier had gone on board of the ship?” asked Capt. Singleton.
+
+“No, sir: I had no chance, for the captain kept them out of my way. He
+took them into the cabin.”
+
+When Lon Trustleton came on board of the cutter, he looked very much
+scared. Mr. Wilkins had put him into the boat in spite of the protest
+of Capt. Bendig.
+
+“If that fellow has been saying any thing bad about me, it is all a
+lie,” said Lon, almost as soon as he touched the deck, and saw the
+captain and Wade talking together.
+
+“Never mind that just now, my lad,” interposed the commander. “You will
+answer my questions; and be sure you speak the truth. Do you know a
+man by the name of Wallgood?”
+
+“Yes, sir, I do: he is the cashier of the Walnut National Bank, and my
+father is president of it,” replied Lon, his face brightening up; for
+the question did not seem to affect him in any bad way.
+
+“Where is Mr. Wallgood now?” inquired Capt. Singleton, in a very
+indifferent way.
+
+“In Midhampton, I suppose.”
+
+“Have you seen him to-day?”
+
+“No, sir: of course I haven’t. I have been on the water all day,”
+replied Lon, puzzled at the questions put to him.
+
+“Should you know him if you saw him?”
+
+“Certainly I should: I used to see him about every day.”
+
+“That’s all now.--Go ahead,” added the captain to an officer; and the
+cutter was headed for the “Housatonic.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+THE SEARCH AND THE ARREST.
+
+
+In a few moments the cutter was going through the water at her highest
+rate of speed. No doubt Capt. Bendig understood what she was about when
+he saw her headed towards the “Housatonic.” Very likely he would have
+made an end of Wade Brooks, if he could have laid his hands upon him
+at that moment; but Wade was safe for the present. Lon Trustleton was
+vexed and perplexed to know the meaning of the strange questions the
+commander of the cutter had put to him; and he had no idea where the
+steamer was going, though Wade comprehended the matter fully.
+
+“Where are we going now, Wade Brooks?” asked Lon, after he had tried in
+vain to solve the mystery of the situation.
+
+“You must ask the captain, if you want to know any thing about it,”
+replied Wade coldly.
+
+“You needn’t be so stiff about it.”
+
+“I don’t run this vessel; and the captain of her hasn’t told me what he
+is going to do,” added Wade.
+
+“I didn’t suppose he had; but the captain of the yacht says you have
+been telling him something,” continued Lon.
+
+“I have told him a great many things; and he has told me some.”
+
+“I dare say he thinks a good deal of you, Wade Brooks,” said Lon, with
+a sneer.
+
+“I think he is one of the sort that will give a fellow fair play. He
+isn’t such a fellow as the captain of that yacht. You made friends with
+him; and I don’t believe he was willing to have you leave his vessel,”
+said Wade.
+
+“What makes you think so?” asked Lon, whose curiosity was excited.
+
+“I think he will take you back to your father, and then charge him a
+good price for doing it.”
+
+Capt. Bendig had protested against his being taken to the cutter; but
+he did not know the reason. Lon was satisfied that Wade knew what was
+going on, and why he had been sent for. He asked him a great many
+questions, all of which he refused to answer. If the captain wanted
+him to know what he was about, he could tell him: Wade would not. But
+the steamer was going at a rapid rate through the water; and, as the
+“Housatonic” was not making more than four knots an hour, the two
+vessels were soon within speaking distance.
+
+“Heave to!” shouted the captain of the cutter as he ran his vessel
+under the stern of the “Housatonic.”
+
+“What do you want now?” demanded Capt. Crogick.
+
+The commander of the cutter repeated his order, and the master of the
+ship did not deem it prudent to disregard it. A boat was lowered from
+the cutter; and an officer was sent in it to the ship.
+
+“What is it now?” asked Capt. Crogick, as the lieutenant came upon the
+deck of the “Housatonic.” “You overhauled this ship last night.”
+
+“I know we did; but this time we want to inquire into another matter,”
+replied the officer, whose name was Graves. “Have you any passengers on
+board?”
+
+Capt. Crogick was taken all aback at this question. He had sent his
+lady passengers into their state-rooms, and had directed the cashier to
+conceal himself elsewhere, so that they should not be seen; and he had
+not looked for any trouble in this direction.
+
+“You visited my ship before, and looked her all over; and you did not
+find any passengers,” replied he.
+
+“You do not answer my question,” replied Mr. Graves. “Have you any
+passengers on board?”
+
+“Did you find any passengers on board when you searched the ship?”
+asked the captain.
+
+“I did not; but I was not looking for passengers then. It seems to be
+an easy matter to answer my question, if you are disposed to do so,”
+added the revenue-officer.
+
+“What’s the use of answering it?” said Capt. Crogick, utterly disgusted
+with the situation. “You will search my ship just the same.”
+
+“As you refuse to answer me, I need waste no more time in talking about
+my duty.”
+
+“Is it against the law of the United States to carry passengers?”
+demanded the captain.
+
+“It depends upon who the passengers are.”
+
+Mr. Graves called several of his men from the boat, and then went into
+the cabin. No passengers were in sight; and he began to try the doors
+of the state-rooms. He found that most of them were empty; but two were
+locked.
+
+“My wife is in that one; and, if you wish to disturb her, I have no
+power to prevent you from doing so,” said Capt. Crogick, in the tones
+of injured innocence.
+
+“I will not disturb her; but I don’t remember to have seen your wife
+when I was on board before,” replied the officer; “and you will recall
+the fact that I looked into all the state-rooms.”
+
+“That you didn’t see her, don’t prove that she was not on board,” added
+Capt. Crogick doggedly.
+
+“It don’t prove it; but I should be willing to bet a hat she was not
+on board when I visited your ship last time,” said the officer, with a
+laugh. “But I am not looking for your wife; and I shall not molest her
+in any way. The next room is locked; and my orders are to bring any
+passengers except your wife on board of the cutter. I must know who is
+in that room.”
+
+“Well, sir, my wife’s sister is in that room,” added the captain.
+
+“And who else?”
+
+“No one else,” answered the captain, as he knocked on the door.
+
+It was opened by Mrs. Wallgood. She stepped out into the cabin, looking
+as disdainfully at the officer as though she had been a tragedy queen.
+
+“I beg your pardon, madam,” said Mr. Graves. “I am sorry to disturb
+you, but the captain of the cutter desires your presence on board of
+the vessel.”
+
+“If the captain of the cutter wishes to see me, he must come where I
+am,” replied Mrs. Wallgood, as proudly as though she had been in her
+own house.
+
+“I beg to remind you that he is an officer of the United States,” added
+Mr. Graves.
+
+“I don’t care what he is. If I am to go on board of the cutter, I shall
+be taken there by force,” said the lady, with a queenly toss of the
+head.
+
+“Very well, madam; for the present, I will let the matter rest,” added
+Mr. Graves, touching his cap to the lady, and retiring from the cabin,
+though not till he had examined the interior of the state-room.
+
+“You will bear witness that I do not oppose you in the discharge of
+your duty,” said Capt. Crogick, following him to the deck.
+
+“Of course you do not: I find no fault with you,” replied Mr. Graves,
+who saw that the captain supposed he had given up the search.
+
+The officer called all his men to the deck, and commenced a search for
+the husband of the lady. He returned to the cabin with four of them,
+and the place was carefully examined. The officer was familiar with
+the business, and had been through the “Housatonic” once before. He
+started his men into the between-decks.
+
+“I was not aware that officers of the United States were in the habit
+of molesting lady passengers,” said Mrs. Wallgood, with a withering
+sneer.
+
+“They often do it, madam,” replied Mr. Graves. “I have met a lady with
+ten thousand dollars’ worth of smuggled goods on her person. When
+ladies engage in questionable transactions, they can hardly be excepted
+from interference by the officers of the customs.”
+
+“Do you charge me with smuggling?” demanded the lady.
+
+“Certainly not, madam: I charge you with nothing,” answered the
+officer, with a pleasant smile. “I only invited you to go on board of
+the cutter.”
+
+“But I will not go.”
+
+“Very well, madam: I shall simply inform the captain that you decline
+his invitation. I dare say that will be the end of the whole matter. I
+am sure he will not be so ungallant as to use any compulsion.”
+
+“Here he is!” shouted the old quarter-master, who was conducting the
+search between decks.
+
+A moment later the veteran appeared leading out the cashier. It seems
+that the defaulter had a slight cold in the head, and an unfortunate
+sneeze betrayed his presence to the cutter’s men.
+
+“I am glad to see you, sir,” said the officer. “I must trouble you to
+go on board of the cutter.”
+
+“I think you have made some mistake, for I have no business with the
+cutter,” replied Mr. Wallgood: but he was trembling with emotion; and,
+in fact, he was altogether too nervous a man to rob a bank, and then
+manage his own escape.
+
+“Are you a passenger in this ship, Mr. Wallgood?” asked the officer.
+
+“I am a passenger; but my name is not Wallgood,” answered the cashier.
+
+“Then I beg your pardon for calling you by a wrong name,” added Mr.
+Graves. “May I ask your name?”
+
+“My name is John Simpson.”
+
+“Excuse me, Mr. Simpson, for the mistake I made. But I shall be obliged
+to ask you to visit the cutter, and my boat is waiting for you,”
+continued the officer, in the blandest tones.
+
+“But I am not Mr. Wallgood, and you have mistaken the person you want,”
+persisted the cashier.
+
+“Not at all: my orders are to bring on board the cutter all the
+passengers except the captain’s wife,” replied Mr. Graves. “This lady
+declines to go, and I shall merely report her refusal to the captain.”
+
+“But what is your business with me?” asked the defaulter.
+
+“I have no business whatever with you. I only obey the orders of my
+captain; and I know nothing whatever in regard to the matter,” replied
+Mr. Graves. “You will oblige me by going into the boat which is at the
+accommodation ladder.”
+
+The cashier objected, but the officer was inflexible. Mr. Simpson had
+no business on board of the cutter: he was ill, and it was an exposure
+for him to leave the ship.
+
+“Why don’t you tell him up and down that you won’t go, as I did?”
+demanded Mrs. Wallgood.
+
+“Well, I won’t go, then!” exclaimed the cashier.
+
+“That is candid and straightforward,” replied the officer. “Here,
+Peterson, put this gentleman into the boat,” he added, turning to the
+quarter-master.
+
+Peterson seized him by the collar, and marched him out of the cabin.
+Mrs. Wallgood appealed to the captain to resist; but he was too prudent
+to meddle with a United States officer. In spite of the lady he was
+compelled to get into the boat, which pulled for the cutter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+A FULL CONFESSION.
+
+
+“Boat ahoy!” shouted Capt. Crogick, as the men began to pull for the
+cutter.
+
+“On board the ship!” replied Mr. Graves.
+
+“The lady has consented to go to the cutter,” added the captain.
+
+“She is too late now: if I find the captain of the cutter desires her
+presence, I will return for her; but I have the impression that she
+will not be needed.”
+
+“But she does not wish to be separated from her husband,” persisted
+Capt. Crogick.
+
+“Bear my regrets to her; but, as she chose to remain, I prefer to
+indulge her for the present; and the captain of the cutter shall decide
+whether he desires her presence,” answered the officer, as the boat
+passed out of hearing distance.
+
+“I was not aware that the lady was Mrs. Simpson,” said Mr. Graves to
+his prisoner.
+
+“This is an outrage; and I think I have friends enough at Washington to
+see justice done to me,” said the cashier, who found it necessary to
+say something to keep his courage up, and to preserve appearances.
+
+“I certainly hope you will have justice done to you; but I am afraid it
+is the very thing you do not want,” answered the officer.
+
+“I thought you said you knew nothing whatever about the matter; and yet
+you treat me as though I were a fugitive from justice,” replied Mr.
+Simpson.
+
+“I do not know with what you are charged, or even that you are charged
+with any thing: I only know that you concealed yourself in the ship,
+and it cost half an hour to find you. I have generally noticed that
+people who have done nothing wrong do not hide from any one; and, on
+the other hand, I have observed that those who are guilty are the ones
+who hide. That is really all I know about it.”
+
+The defaulter said nothing more; but he did a deal of heavy thinking
+while the boat was going to the cutter. He could not imagine how his
+secret had come into the possession of the captain of the cutter. He
+had taken pains to cover all his tracks: he had bribed every man in the
+yacht, and he was confident that none of them had betrayed him. It was
+possible that the cutter had witnessed his removal to the ship; and
+he could explain his misfortune in no other way. But he had not many
+minutes to think, for the boat was soon alongside the cutter.
+
+Mr. Simpson was conducted to the deck of the steamer, where Capt.
+Singleton stood waiting for him. Neither Wade nor Lon was on deck, for
+the captain had required them to stay in the cabin till he had seen the
+defaulter.
+
+“How many passengers did you find in the ship, Mr. Graves?” asked the
+captain.
+
+“Only this gentleman and his wife, besides the captain’s wife. This is
+Mr. John Simpson. His wife declined to come, unless I brought her by
+force, which I did not care to do without further orders,” answered Mr.
+Graves. “After I had started to return, the lady changed her mind, and
+wished to come with her husband.”
+
+“I do not desire her presence. I directed you to bring all the
+passengers, so that I might be sure to get the right one,” added the
+captain, as he turned to his prisoner. “Take a seat, Mr. Simpson;” and
+he placed a camp-stool for him.
+
+“What is your business with me, captain?” demanded Mr. Simpson,
+mustering up all the courage he could assume.
+
+“I am somewhat curious to know who and what you are; and you will
+oblige me by satisfying my curiosity,” said the captain, in the
+gentlest of tones.
+
+“Your officer has given you my name. The captain of that ship is my
+brother-in-law; and I was going with him on a voyage for the benefit
+of my health. If there is any thing wrong about that, I should like to
+know what it is,” said Mr. Simpson.
+
+“Perfectly right and laudable: the sea often has a good effect upon
+invalids; but it seems to me that the way you went on board of the ship
+was not quite regular.”
+
+The cashier gave the explanation which had been agreed upon before.
+
+“Where do you reside when you are at home, Mr. Simpson?”
+
+“In Albany; and I am engaged in the grocery business. I am forty-one
+years old. I have a wife, but no children. I have been out of health
+for the last six months, and”--
+
+“Do you know any thing about banking?” interposed the captain.
+
+“As much as most business men who have dealings with banks.”
+
+“Well, Mr. Wallgood,--I beg your pardon: Mr. Simpson,--but I have an
+idea that you know more of banking than the ordinary man of business.”
+
+“Why do you call me Mr. Wallgood, when you know that my name is
+Simpson?” asked the cashier, who wanted to know with what he was
+charged; for it did not seem possible to him that the knowledge of his
+defalcation could have come out so far at sea.
+
+“I have in mind a gentleman of that name,--the cashier of the Walnut
+National Bank,--who has just left Midhampton with a hundred thousand
+dollars belonging to the bank. He was a man about your size. Do you
+know any thing about him, Mr. Simpson?”
+
+“I don’t know any thing about him,” replied the defaulter, with his
+heart in his throat.
+
+“You must excuse me, Mr. Simpson; but I have a suspicion that this
+cashier was brought off from New York in the yacht ‘Moonlight,’ and
+put on board of the ship ‘Housatonic.’ Have you seen any thing of him?”
+
+“There is no such person on board of the ship,” replied Mr. Simpson,
+struggling to appear unmoved under this trying ordeal.
+
+“Just now he is not in the ship; but wasn’t he in the cabin when you
+were?” asked the captain quietly, and as though he had not the least
+interest in the question.
+
+“No, sir. No such person is or has been on board of the ship,”
+protested the cashier.
+
+“You will excuse me if I press this matter far enough to satisfy myself
+that you are not the person for whom I am in search.”
+
+“Do you for a moment suppose that I am the one who robbed the bank?”
+demanded Mr. Simpson, with all the indignation he could throw into his
+tones.
+
+“You mistake this matter: I said distinctly that I wish to prove that
+you are not this person.”
+
+“That shows that I am under suspicion.”
+
+“It has that look, Mr. Simpson; but I am willing to take either way you
+like, and will prove that you are, or that you are not, the person, as
+you may elect.”
+
+“It is all the same thing,” groaned the defaulter.
+
+“Very well: then I will try to show that you are not the person. I have
+some witnesses to examine; and, as I intend to be as fair as I can,
+you may ask them any questions you please,” added the captain, as he
+beckoned to a steward, who was waiting near him.
+
+“Witnesses!” exclaimed the cashier, who did not believe that anybody
+who knew him could be on board of the cutter.
+
+“Call the first stowaway,” added the captain to the steward. “If I find
+that you are not Mr. Wallgood, you shall return to the ship; and I will
+tow her far enough to make up for the delay to which I have subjected
+her.”
+
+Wade Brooks came on deck clothed in the suit of clothes provided for
+him when he came on board. The cashier did not recognize him; for he
+had seen him only in the gloom of the cabin. He wondered what that boy
+could know about him.
+
+“Do you know this gentleman, Wade Brooks?” asked the captain, as soon
+as the boy came to him.
+
+“I do, sir. It is Mr. Wallgood, the cashier of the Walnut National
+Bank,” replied Wade.
+
+“How do you know it is, my lad?”
+
+“Because I often saw him in Midhampton; and I saw him night before last
+on board of the ‘Moonlight;’ and I heard him own that he had taken a
+hundred thousand dollars from the bank,” replied Wade.
+
+“I never saw the boy before in my life,” protested the cashier.
+
+“Yes, you have, sir; and you gave me a hundred dollars to keep still.
+And I told you I would keep still if I was allowed to keep the money;
+but Capt. Bendig took it from me,” added Wade.
+
+It was all plain enough to the cashier now. This boy had told the
+people of the cutter all about the doings on board of the yacht; and it
+appeared that he had listened to the conversation between himself and
+his wife. It was no use to hold out any longer.
+
+“Do you wish to ask this boy any questions, Mr. Simpson?” said Capt.
+Singleton.
+
+“No, none,” replied the cashier despondingly.
+
+“Bring the other,” added the captain to the steward; and a moment later
+came Lon Trustleton.
+
+“Why, how do you do, Mr. Wallgood?” exclaimed the president’s son. “I’m
+sure I didn’t think of seeing you here.”
+
+“What do you mean by calling that gentleman Mr. Wallgood?” asked the
+captain of the cutter. “His name is Simpson.”
+
+“This gentleman! He is the cashier of my father’s bank; and I think I
+ought to know his name, for I see him almost every day in the week,”
+replied Lon.
+
+“I will give it up, captain,” groaned the defaulter, covering his face
+with both his hands. “Do with me as you please.”
+
+“Why, what’s the matter, Mr. Wallgood?” asked Lon, astonished at the
+conduct of the cashier. “If you are in trouble, my father will help you
+out of it.”
+
+“I don’t believe he will this time,” said the cashier, unable to
+control his emotion. “I have robbed the bank of one hundred thousand!
+I may as well speak it out; for there is no longer any hope for me. I
+wish I was at the bottom of the sea!”
+
+Suddenly he made a rush for the side of the vessel. But the captain saw
+what he intended to do; and two strong men seized him before he could
+leap overboard, and end his wretched life in the watery grave of a
+suicide.
+
+“If you are going to do any thing of that sort, I shall put you in
+irons,” said the captain, as the sailors led him back to his seat. “One
+thing more. What have you done with the money you took from the bank?”
+
+“It is on board of the ship,” replied the defaulter with a shudder.
+
+“Possibly, if you restore it, they may not prosecute you; for that is
+the fashion of the times.”
+
+Mr. Wallgood consented to do this; but, before a boat could be sent
+to the “Housatonic,” Capt. Crogick and the cashier’s wife came to the
+cutter. They were astounded to hear of the wretched man’s confession;
+for they had anticipated nothing so bad as this.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+EVEN-HANDED JUSTICE.
+
+
+The captain of the cutter sent an officer, in charge of Mr. Wallgood,
+to the ship, for the effects of the latter, including the money and
+credits he had. In half an hour they returned. Capt. Crogick went back
+to the “Housatonic,” and proceeded on his voyage, his wife remaining
+with him. Mrs. Wallgood laid aside her queenly air, and wept with her
+husband at the crushing blow which had overtaken them. Wade really
+pitied them, they felt so bad; but it showed him that the way of the
+transgressor was hard.
+
+“What are you going to do with me?” asked Lon Trustleton, after the
+cutter had started for the “Moonlight.”
+
+“I suppose I can’t do better than to send you back to your father; for
+I understand that you are a runaway, as well as the cashier of the
+bank,” replied the captain.
+
+“Wade Brooks told you that; and he is the greatest liar in the whole
+world,” replied Lon, casting an ugly look at the subject of his remark.
+“He has been lying about me all along.”
+
+“I find he has told me the truth in all things. I think your father
+will feel very grateful to him; for he has been the means of arresting
+the cashier, and of recovering the money,” added the captain. “He says
+the boy with you stole two hundred dollars from his father, divided it
+with you, and then you ran away together.”
+
+“He stole it himself,” said Lon at a venture.
+
+“I do not intend to try the case between you,” added the captain. “I am
+willing to leave it with your father to settle as he thinks best.”
+
+The cutter continued to go at full speed till she was within a short
+distance of the “Moonlight.” Every thing about the yacht was as it had
+been, for Mr. Wilkins was still in charge of her. As the water was
+perfectly smooth, the captain of the cutter decided to come alongside
+of the “Moonlight,” so that he could more conveniently finish the case.
+Fenders were put out, and the cutter was made fast to the yacht.
+
+As soon as the two vessels were secured together, Capt. Bendig came
+on board of the cutter. He had been unable to obtain any satisfaction
+of Mr. Wilkins; and he judged what had been done, by the movements of
+the steamer. He had seen her overhaul the ship, but the two vessels
+were too far off for him to observe what had taken place. The first
+person he saw when he went over the side of the cutter was the cashier,
+sitting with his wife on the quarter-deck. The sad face of the
+defaulter was enough to convince him that the worst had transpired.
+
+“How’s this?” he asked, walking up to the cashier.
+
+“It is all over: your treachery has ruined me,” replied Mr. Wallgood
+bitterly.
+
+“What do you mean by that?” demanded the skipper of the yacht.
+
+“You took the money I paid that boy, away from him; and he told the
+captain of this cutter the whole story.”
+
+“What, that wharf-rat?” exclaimed the captain. “I will take it out of
+his hide if he did.”
+
+“That will do no good. It is too late to do any thing now,” groaned the
+cashier. “The mischief is done.”
+
+“See here, you young whelp, did you tell the captain of this cutter who
+was on board of the ‘Moonlight’?” said Capt. Bendig, rushing fiercely
+at Wade, who was standing near the rail.
+
+“I did: I told him all I knew about the matter,” replied Wade frankly.
+
+“You did!” and the captain seized him by the collar, and was about to
+chastise him on the spot, when the captain of the cutter ordered his
+men to lay hands on the assailant.
+
+The sailors were not very gentle about it, and the skipper was tumbled
+all in a heap into the scuppers.
+
+“If you attempt any thing of that kind again, I will arrest you, and
+put you in irons,” said the captain of the cutter sternly. “You will
+find you have enough to do take care of yourself, without meddling
+with others.”
+
+“I shall get even with that young thief somehow, or my name is not
+Bendig,” added the skipper, as he picked himself up. “This world isn’t
+big enough for both of us till I have given him what he deserves.”
+
+“What fault have you to find with him?”
+
+“He broke into the yacht, and then got possession of business secrets,
+which he has used to my disadvantage; and I will take it out of his
+hide.”
+
+“If you do, I shall know where to look for you,” replied Capt.
+Singleton. “Perhaps this business is a little outside of the strict
+line of my duty; but the robbing of a national bank is a matter
+for United States officers to deal with, and I shall take the
+responsibility. As for you, Capt. Bendig, you are guilty of a grave
+offence. You have used the yacht of your owner in assisting a bank
+defaulter to escape with his plunder. I don’t think you can settle that
+with your owner alone.”
+
+“I think I can,” replied the skipper.
+
+“Mr. Wallgood, how much were you to pay this man for his services?”
+asked the captain of the cutter, turning to the cashier.
+
+“That was a private bargain, and it’s none of your business,”
+interposed Bendig.
+
+“I shall tell the whole truth now, wherever it hits; and I don’t think
+I am under any obligations to you for taking the money for your crew,
+and robbing this boy so that he was tempted to betray me,” added Mr.
+Wallgood.
+
+“Your best way is to tell the whole truth,” said the captain of the
+cutter. “This man took the money, knowing it to be stolen from a
+national bank; and I think it will appear that he is an accomplice
+after the fact.”
+
+“Me?” exclaimed Capt. Bendig, startled at this view of the case.
+
+“I am no lawyer; but that is what it ought to be.--How much did you pay
+him, Mr. Wallgood?”
+
+“I gave him five hundred dollars for himself, and one hundred dollars
+for each of the men on board of the yacht. I paid the boy the money
+myself; but Bendig took it from him, so that he has that also,” replied
+the cashier.
+
+“This money was a part of the plunder; and it must be paid to the bank
+again,” continued Capt. Singleton. “Did you give the money to the men,
+captain?”
+
+“I did,” replied the skipper of the “Moonlight;” and he appeared to be
+very much embarrassed.
+
+“Mr. Wilkins, call all hands on board of the yacht,” said the captain
+of the cutter to the officer in charge of the “Moonlight.”
+
+The crew of the yacht were mustered in the waist, and the
+revenue-officers proceeded to question them separately. Every one of
+them declared that he had received but fifty dollars, and not one of
+them knew any thing about the affairs of the cashier. They had been
+told that the owners of the ship might object if they knew that she
+took passengers.
+
+“How much money did you pay this man?” asked the captain of the cutter,
+returning to the deck of his vessel, where the cashier remained.
+
+Mr. Wallgood stated the amount as he had before.
+
+“Capt. Bendig, it seems that you have intended to cheat your own crew
+out of one-half of the sum they were to receive for their services,”
+continued the captain. “It is easy enough to believe this of you,
+after you have robbed this boy of all his share. I will give you about
+five minutes to restore to me all the money you have received from Mr.
+Wallgood.”
+
+“All of it?” asked the bewildered skipper.
+
+“Every cent of it.”
+
+“But I paid out some money for provisions and stores,” pleaded the
+captain of the “Moonlight.”
+
+“That shall be your loss; but the stolen money must be restored,
+without regard to whose pocket it comes out of.”
+
+“What if I do not do it?”
+
+“Then I will put you in irons, and hand you over to the first United
+States officer I can find in New York.”
+
+Capt. Bendig concluded to restore all he had; and the cook, steward,
+and crew did the same. They could not help themselves: it was stolen
+money; and the captain of the cutter took the responsibility. Doubtless
+he exceeded the limit of his duty, as he himself declared; but he had
+certainly done justice to all as far as it was in his power.
+
+“Now, Capt. Bendig, you are released; and you may return to your
+vessel,” said the captain of the cutter. “If you are not satisfied with
+what I have done, you know where to look for me.”
+
+“You are rough on me, captain.”
+
+“Not so rough as you are on yourself. If you had not attempted to grasp
+more than your fair share of the plunder, and robbed that boy, you
+might have got out of it with more money in your pocket. You may go
+now.”
+
+“You won’t mention this little matter to the owner of the ‘Moonlight,’
+will you, captain?” whined Capt. Bendig. “I am a poor man; and, if I
+lose my place as the sailing-master of the yacht, I don’t know what I
+shall do. I have a family to support; and I don’t want to be out of a
+job.”
+
+“I don’t know your owner; and I don’t make bargains of that sort with
+fellows like you.--Cast off the bow-line, Mr. Wilkins.”
+
+Capt. Bendig returned to the yacht; and his view of the case was so
+changed, that it is doubtful whether he even wished to “take it out of
+the hide” of Wade Brooks.
+
+“Where is the other boy?” asked the captain of the cutter; but no one
+had seen him.
+
+“Where is Matt?” asked Wade. “The captain wants him.”
+
+“He must be in the yacht: I have not seen him since I left her,”
+replied Lon.
+
+Mr. Wilkins was sent to look him up. It was found that he was locked
+into Capt. Bendig’s state-room. The skipper intended to make sure of
+him, if he could, so as to make some money by robbing him of what he
+had, and then making his father pay for restoring him. Matt was glad
+enough to get out of the “Moonlight;” for the captain had been rough on
+him during the absence of the cutter.
+
+As soon as he was on board, the revenue-steamer started for New York.
+Lon and Matt had a conference as soon as they could get by themselves.
+They talked about the future; and they were not quite ready to be sent
+back home with a good part of the money they had taken still unspent in
+their pockets. They had not had the “good time” they anticipated; but
+they could not see how they were to escape from the cutter.
+
+Some time in the night the cutter anchored off the Battery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+THE WAY OF THE TRANSGRESSOR.
+
+
+Wade Brooks was hardly satisfied with the situation. He was in great
+danger of being sent back to live with Obed Swikes. He had plenty
+to eat on the cutter, and he had fared pretty well on board of the
+“Moonlight.” He could not endure the idea of returning to his former
+comfortless home, where he had been both starved and abused. He dreaded
+the cold of winter even more than the hunger of the summer, though it
+was both cold and hunger in the winter. He had tried to get work in New
+York without success; and he had not a cent of money to buy him a piece
+of bread.
+
+It might be possible for him to escape from the cutter, or from those
+who attempted to take him back to Midhampton; but this was only jumping
+out of the frying-pan into the fire. The poor boy was sadly perplexed
+by the situation. It was cold and hunger if he went back to his former
+home, and it was starvation if he did not go there.
+
+Lon and Matt were troubled in about the same way, though the food
+problem did not disturb them. They had money to buy what they wanted to
+eat; but Wade had been rich twice, and had three times lost all his
+money, for it was “just his luck.” If Lon and Matt went back to their
+homes, they had to answer for burning the barn, and taking the money
+from the closet over the mantle-piece. If they staid in New York, the
+police would by this time be on the lookout for them. If they could get
+out of the cutter, and on board of a steamer bound to some place in the
+south, they might keep out of sight till their money was all gone; and
+then all they had to do was to go home and take the consequences.
+
+But the consequences did not trouble them much as Lon reasoned, their
+parents would be so glad to see them back, that they would let them off
+easy. This time they could not charge Wade Brooks with stealing the two
+hundred dollars; for he was not in the town when the deed was done.
+Even Obed Swikes would be compelled to believe his son was the thief.
+
+Mr. Wallgood occupied a state-room by himself in the cabin, the door
+of which was kept open all night, with a man to watch him, lest he
+should repeat the experiment of attempting to jump overboard. The three
+stowaways were berthed in the steerage. The strictest watch was kept in
+every part of the vessel, and there was no chance for them to get out
+of her.
+
+When the cutter came to anchor in the night, Mr. Wilkins, the first
+lieutenant, had been sent on shore by the captain; but no one was
+informed in regard to the nature of his mission. At daylight he
+returned, bringing with him the morning newspapers. He reported to the
+captain as soon as he came on board.
+
+“The papers of this morning have a full account of the disappearance
+of the cashier of the Walnut National Bank of Midhampton,” said Mr.
+Wilkins, when the captain asked him into his state-room, where he was
+still in bed. “The account says that Capt. Trustleton was in New York
+at the time the absence of the cashier was discovered; but he was
+telegraphed for, and immediately returned. It appears that the amount
+of the defalcation is one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”
+
+“But the cashier has but one hundred thousand,” added the captain.
+
+“I think the fifty thousand was the amount he had taken before he left,
+and which made his departure necessary.”
+
+“Very likely. The boy Brooks told me he heard the cashier say he had
+loaned money to the captain of the ‘Housatonic,’ which belonged to the
+bank. Did you ascertain where Capt. Trustleton was?” asked the captain.
+
+“Yes, sir: he is at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, where he arrived in the
+midnight train. The papers say he traced the cashier and his wife and
+another woman to the night-train for New York, and followed them the
+next night, just a day behind. The police were at work on the case
+all day yesterday. I wrote a note to Capt. Trustleton, informing him
+that his presence was desired on board of the cutter as early in the
+morning as possible; and I directed the night clerk to deliver it to
+him in person at six o’clock in the morning; and he will be here, I
+think, by seven.”
+
+“Is the father of the other boy with him?” inquired the captain.
+
+“I think not: the register of the hotel indicates that Capt. Trustleton
+is the only guest from Midhampton,” replied Mr. Wilkins.
+
+“I thank you, Mr. Wilkins, for the thorough manner in which you have
+done your work; and I recommend you to turn in.”
+
+The first lieutenant accepted this advice, and all was still about the
+cabin of the cutter again. At six o’clock Wade Brooks had slept all he
+could, and turned out. When he went on deck, the watch was washing down
+the decks; but he saw no chance to go on shore. Several boats were fast
+to the swinging boom; but the officer of the deck stood where he could
+see all that was going on.
+
+At seven he was asked to breakfast at the captain’s table. Lon and Matt
+were there also; but the defaulter had not yet left his room, at the
+door of which the sentinel still stood. Wade ate a very hearty meal;
+for he felt that this one might be the last he would get that day, for
+he intended to take French leave as soon as he found a chance to do
+so. Before the meal was finished, Mr. Wallgood came out of his room,
+looking very pale and haggard, as though he had not slept any during
+the night. Wade ended his breakfast, and went on deck.
+
+When he came out of the cabin, he saw a boat approaching the cutter;
+and, as it came nearer, he recognized Capt. Trustleton in the
+stern-sheets. He was amazed to see him so early in the morning; and he
+concluded that his business related to the cashier, though he could not
+see how he should know he was on board of the cutter. The president of
+the bank did not know that the defaulter was on board; but Mr. Wilkins
+had intimated to him, that the captain of the cutter wished to see him
+in relation to the robbery of the bank.
+
+Mr. Graves was in charge of the deck, and he had been instructed to
+admit Capt. Trustleton on board. As soon as he came on deck, the first
+person he identified was Wade Brooks.
+
+“How came you here, Wade Brooks?” asked the visitor, who was as much
+astonished to see the boy as the boy was to see him.
+
+“It would take some time for me to tell the story,” replied Wade; “and
+I guess the captain of the cutter wants to see you, sir.”
+
+“Have you seen any thing of Alonzo, my boy?” inquired the president
+anxiously.
+
+“Yes, sir: Lon and Matt Swikes are at breakfast in the cabin.”
+
+“Then it seems that you went with my son.”
+
+“No, sir: I did not. I haven’t had any thing to do with them. Lon and
+Matt hid in the ship ‘Housatonic,’ and were found on board. That was
+the ship Mr. Wallgood was in.”
+
+“Mr. Wallgood!” exclaimed Capt. Trustleton. “Have you seen him too?”
+
+“Yes, sir; and he is in the cabin, eating his breakfast,” replied Wade,
+who knew this would be good news to the president of the bank.
+
+“Is it possible?”
+
+“It’s so, sir. Mr. Wallgood was going to the coast of Africa in the
+‘Housatonic;’ but the cutter found him out, and brought him back, with
+all the money he had taken from the bank.”
+
+“Well, this is good news that I did not expect,” added Capt. Trustleton.
+
+“Here comes the captain of the cutter, and he will tell you all about
+it,” added Wade.
+
+The president of the bank introduced himself to Capt. Singleton. They
+sat down by themselves, and the latter told the whole story.
+
+“Now, sir, I want to say in conclusion, that you owe the discovery of
+the defaulter to the Brooks boy,” said the captain of the cutter; “and
+I have found that he told me the truth in all matters.”
+
+“I will make it all right with him,” said the president. “Wade tells me
+that my son and another runaway boy are on board.”
+
+“Yes, sir; and your son charges Wade Brooks with the stealing of two
+hundred dollars.”
+
+“I know that the charge is false,” replied Capt. Trustleton earnestly.
+“The Swikes boy stole the money from his father; and I have no doubt
+that my son divided it with him. The Brooks boy was not in Midhampton
+when the money was taken. Even the boy’s father believes he is guilty
+now.”
+
+Presently Lon and Matt came on deck; and of course they were surprised
+to see Capt. Trustleton there. The father treated his son very sternly,
+telling him that he had disgraced himself and his family. For the first
+time Lon felt sorry for what he had done.
+
+“How much of the stolen money have you left?” asked Capt. Trustleton.
+
+“Not much,” answered Lon evasively.
+
+“Don’t answer me in that way, Alonzo!” said his father severely. “Tell
+me the truth at once.”
+
+“I have over ninety dollars, and Matt has about the same,” replied Lon,
+alarmed at the unusual severity of his father.
+
+“Give it to me.” Lon obeyed, and gave his wallet to his stern parent.
+
+“Give me yours, Matthew,” added the captain, turning to Matt.
+
+Matt was afraid to refuse, and gave up the old wallet he had taken,
+with the money it contained. Lon and Matt both protested that they had
+no more; but Capt. Trustleton was not satisfied till he had searched
+them both.
+
+“Now, if you attempt to run away again, I will hand you over to the
+police, and let you stand your chance of serving out a term in the
+penitentiary,” added Capt. Trustleton.
+
+The cashier was completely overwhelmed when he met the president of
+the bank face to face. He trembled like an aspen, though the captain
+was more gentle with him than he had been with his son. But he was
+determined that the defaulter should pay the penalty of his crime.
+He was handed over to the proper officers, and in due time was sent
+to Midhampton to be tried for his offence; and was sent to the State
+Prison for a term of years, in spite of all the influence that could be
+brought to bear in his favor.
+
+Capt. Trustleton and the three boys landed, and went to the Fifth
+Avenue Hotel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+THE EMPLOYMENT OFFICE.
+
+
+“Wade Brooks, the captain of the cutter told me you had a hard time on
+board of the yacht, and that her captain took away from you the hundred
+dollars which Mr. Wallgood had given you,” said Capt. Trustleton, when
+they were by themselves at the hotel.
+
+“Capt. Bendig was pretty rough on me; but then that’s just my luck,”
+said Wade, laughing.
+
+“Since you left your home in Midhampton, I have inquired into your
+situation there; and I must say that I do not blame you for leaving
+your place,” continued the captain. “I don’t know whether you intend to
+return, or not; but here is a sum of money to make good your loss on
+board of the yacht.”
+
+Capt. Trustleton put a roll of bills into the hand of the boy, and
+then left him before he had time even to thank him for the gift. He
+was going to say that he did not intend to go back to the home of Obed
+Swikes; but he had no time to do so. There he stood in front of the
+empty chair in which the president of the bank had been seated, with
+the roll of bills in his hand. It was in the public reading-room,
+where plenty of people were gathered; and he did not observe that some
+of them were looking at him.
+
+“Well, this is _not_ just my luck,” said he to himself. “But I will bet
+there is not a man in New York smart enough to get this away from me.”
+
+Then he could not help asking himself why Capt. Trustleton had given
+him this money at this time. Why did he not wait till they got back to
+Midhampton? He would not let Matt and Lon go out of his sight for a
+single minute, though they had not a cent of money; but he had given
+him a pile of bills, and did not seem to care where he went. He did not
+quite understand it at first; but, after he had considered it for a
+while, he was confident that he got at the captain’s meaning.
+
+The captain had told him that he should not blame him if he did not
+go back to live with Obed Swikes. He did not expect him to go back;
+and for this reason he had given him the money at the present time.
+Certainly Capt. Trustleton had been very kind to him. He had given
+him a dollar once before. It was plain enough what the captain meant.
+Then perhaps he did not wish him to go back to Midhampton, for he knew
+something about the burning of Garlick’s barn.
+
+“That’s it! He wants me out of the way!” exclaimed Wade to himself.
+“With all these bills in my pocket, I shall not be hungry at present.
+He wants me to take myself out of the way, and I’ll do it.”
+
+Wade held the roll of bills given to him tightly clinched in his fist,
+and his hand in his pocket. The bitter experience of a few days before
+had made him wise and prudent. He was afraid even to count the money
+while so many people were about, though he was very anxious to know how
+much he had. He judged by the size of the roll, that it must contain
+as much as twenty dollars; but if there were only ten he should be
+satisfied, for that would feed and lodge him till he could find a place
+to work.
+
+He walked about the hotel for an hour longer, with the bills still in
+his hand. He did not see any thing more of Capt. Trustleton or the two
+boys. He wondered what had become of them. He concluded that they had
+gone to their room to talk over the events of the last two days. He
+wanted to renew his search for a place to work, but he did not like to
+go off without saying any thing to Capt. Trustleton. Finally he went to
+the office, and asked the clerk where the captain was.
+
+“He has taken the train for home: he went about an hour ago,” replied
+the clerk to his question.
+
+“All right,” replied Wade; and he was sure now that Capt. Trustleton
+did not want him to go back to Midhampton.
+
+The wanderer wanted to count his money before he left the hotel: if
+he did not, he would not be able to tell whether he lost any or not.
+Besides, the amount would help him in making his calculations for
+the future. He looked about the hotel for a place where he could do
+it without being seen. He looked into the reading-room, among other
+apartments; and, as it was about eleven o’clock in the forenoon, it was
+by this time quite deserted. Fixing himself in a corner, he took the
+bills from his pocket.
+
+It was a pleasing task; for this time it was not stolen money, and
+there was no one to take it away from him,--no one that he knew of. The
+first note he looked at was a ten-dollar bill; so was the second, and
+the third. The figures were so big, that he had to stop to rest his
+imagination. Thirty dollars so far! He began to think of buying out
+some of the rich men he had heard of in New York.
+
+Again another ten-dollar bill was turned up, and then another, and
+another: in fact, every bill of the pile was of this denomination, and
+there were ten of them. One hundred dollars! And then it came to his
+mind, that the captain had said that he should make good the loss he
+had sustained by the treachery of Capt. Bendig. Wade was almost beside
+himself at this extraordinary luck, as he called it; but after a while
+he cooled off. He was ten times as much elated this time as he was when
+he had the same sum before. The money seemed to be ever so much more
+real than before.
+
+With his hand on the money all the time, he walked about the room,
+thinking what he should do next. He wanted a place. He did not think,
+because he had money, that he could live without work: he wanted to
+earn his own living, and put the money into a savings bank where it
+would pay interest; and then he should have something to lean upon
+if he got out of occupation, or should be sick, so that he could not
+support himself.
+
+While he was thinking of the matter, he happened to glance at one of
+the newspapers that lay on the table. He saw the word “Wants.” He had
+seen the same thing in the Midhampton paper; and he knew that people
+advertised when they wanted help, as men and women did when they wanted
+places. He wondered that he had not thought of this before; for perhaps
+this paper contained a score of places which he might obtain.
+
+He took the newspaper, and sat down in the corner of the room to study
+the column of “Wants.” He found plenty of places that he thought he
+should like. “Wanted, a young man to drive an express-wagon: good
+recommendations required.” He could drive an express-wagon, for
+he had done it a great many times; but, unfortunately, he had no
+recommendations, good or bad. This was the difficulty which Caleb
+Klucker had pointed out to him. He looked at a great many other
+advertisements; but all of them required testimonials, as Caleb had
+called them.
+
+He was beginning to take a very hopeless view of the situation, when
+his attention was attracted to an advertisement in another column:
+“Wanted, a young man with one hundred dollars, to act as cashier in a
+restaurant. Good security and good interest given for the money.”
+
+Wade realized at that moment that he was “a young man with one hundred
+dollars.” He did not comprehend what the duties of a “cashier in a
+restaurant” were, though he concluded that the principal one must be
+to take the payment for meals. He had been to several such places in
+Bridgeport and in New York; and he had noticed that a man was employed
+to take the money. He had been to school enough to learn his arithmetic
+pretty well, and he thought he could make change as fast as any of the
+men he had seen doing it.
+
+Wade fixed in his mind the street and number where applicants for this
+desirable situation were required to call; and then he started to find
+the place. He inquired of a porter at the door where the street was. It
+was a long walk to the place, and he feared that the situation might be
+taken up before he could apply for it. It was nearly two hours before
+he reached his destination. It was a small office up one flight of
+stairs, in an old wooden building. It was called “an employment office.”
+
+At the side of the door were placards, stating that all sorts of
+persons were wanted. “One hundred waiters” were wanted. “Twenty-five
+male cooks” were wanted. “One hundred young men were wanted to drive
+express-wagons.” “Fifty men as porters were wanted.” “Seventy-five
+young men were wanted as clerks in stores.” “One hundred boys were
+wanted in all sorts of places.”
+
+Wade wondered he had not come upon any such place before. He had been
+wandering all over the city in search of a place; and here was one
+where hundreds of young men and boys were wanted. It was just the place
+for him; for, among all these situations, he was sure he could find one
+that would exactly suit him, especially as he was not very particular
+what kind of work he did. He was willing to be a waiter in a saloon,
+an errand-boy, or a clerk: he was even willing to buckle right down to
+hard work.
+
+With his hand on his money, he ascended the stairs, and found the
+sign, “Employment Office,” on a door which he opened and entered. The
+room he went into was a small office, the walls of which were covered
+with “wants” like those he had seen at the street-door. Behind a short
+counter was a dapper-looking man with a hook-nose, who smiled sweetly
+upon the anticipated customer. He was dressed in plaid clothes, and had
+a great diamond in his shirt-bosom which was big enough to qualify him
+to be a hotel-clerk.
+
+“Good-morning, sir: what can we do for you?” asked the man, who called
+himself an “employment broker,” and for short reduced the term to
+simple “broker.”
+
+“I want to get a place to go to work,” replied Wade, as intent on
+business as the broker.
+
+“One dollar, if you please,” added the man of places, holding out his
+hand to receive the fee.
+
+“What’s that for?” asked the young man from the country, rather taken
+aback by this early demand.
+
+“For one dollar we register your name; and, as soon as we find a place
+that will suit you, we put you into it without any further charge,”
+replied the broker.
+
+“I am willing to give you a dollar if you will get me the place,” added
+Wade, who did not think it was just the thing to take the pay before
+the work was done; but then, he was “one from the country.”
+
+“We don’t do business in that way. We can’t keep an office open for
+those that want places for nothing: we have been fooled too many times
+for that,” said the man, with a knowing wink. “What sort of a place do
+you want?”
+
+“Cashier in a restaurant,” replied Wade confidently. “The paper says, a
+young man with one hundred dollars.”
+
+“Have you the money?”
+
+“I have.”
+
+“That’s another thing,” replied the broker.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+THE BENEVOLENT BROKER.
+
+
+“Must I pay a dollar before I can find out what sort of a place this
+one is?” asked Wade, who concluded that he should not negotiate on this
+basis.
+
+“By no means! certainly not! We do business on correct principles,”
+said the employment broker, with the blandest of smiles. “When we raise
+any money for a party, we charge him a commission; and that pays our
+fee.”
+
+“What sort of a place is this cashier in a restaurant?” asked Wade, who
+wanted to know something more about it.
+
+“It is one of the most desirable situations in New York City,” answered
+the polite broker. “The young man who gets that situation is sure to be
+taken in.”
+
+“Taken in?” repeated Wade, who had his own meaning for this phrase.
+“What do you mean by that?”
+
+“Taken into the business; that is, if he proves to be honest and
+reliable. He has to know nothing but how to make change. It is a very
+nice place; and the proprietor of it is in a great hurry to obtain a
+young man who can fill the bill. He was in here not more than half an
+hour ago, and said he wanted some one to take right hold at dinner
+to-day.”
+
+“How much does the place pay?” asked Wade, greatly interested in this
+very desirable situation.
+
+“He did not say how much he was willing to pay; but I suppose about
+ten dollars a week; and the party would have his meals free at the
+restaurant.”
+
+Wade thought this was simply magnificent. Ten dollars a week for
+sitting at a counter and making change during meal-hours! That was
+more than they paid their clerks in the stores in Midhampton. How Obed
+Swikes’s eyes would stick out, if he should go down to his former home,
+and tell him that he was getting ten dollars a week besides his board
+in the great city of New York!
+
+“The cashier would not sleep at the place, I suppose,” added Wade.
+
+“That will be just as you and the proprietor can agree. I believe he
+has some rooms that he lets to his steady boarders.”
+
+“And the one that gets this place must lend the man that keeps the
+restaurant a hundred dollars?” said Wade, who did not quite understand
+this part of the proposed bargain.
+
+“Precisely so. You see, this cashier will handle hundreds of dollars
+every day of the proprietor’s money; and this small loan is merely to
+insure the honesty of the person employed. He does this instead of
+asking for testimonials; for, between you and me, no one knows who
+signs these papers, and I have heard that there are men who will give
+anybody a testimonial for a dollar or two,” laughed the knowing broker
+in situations.
+
+Wade saw the point, and thought it was a good idea; for he had no
+recommendations, and all the other advertisements required them.
+
+“I don’t find any fault with the loan,” said Wade, when he had looked
+into the subject.
+
+“I think you said you had the money,” added the man behind the counter.
+
+“I did say so.”
+
+“Actually?” queried the broker.
+
+“I shouldn’t say so if I didn’t have it,” answered Wade, with some
+indignation.
+
+“You will excuse me if I wish to assure myself on this point. You see,
+we are so often imposed upon, that we hardly know whom we can trust,”
+continued the broker. “It was only yesterday that I had a young man
+apply for this place; and, after giving the keeper of the restaurant a
+deal of trouble, it turned out that he had no money, and wanted to give
+his note for the hundred dollars; and that would have been no guaranty
+at all for his honesty.”
+
+“I mean to speak the truth all the time,” said Wade.
+
+“I have no doubt you do; but then, you are an entire stranger to me. I
+cannot send for the proprietor of the restaurant, and ask him to come
+up here under another uncertainty. If you will just satisfy me that
+you have the money, I will send for him at once. You see, it is not
+very often that a young man of your age has a hundred dollars in his
+pocket,” persisted the broker in his blandest tone.
+
+“I think I can easily satisfy you on that point,” said Wade, as he took
+from his pocket his wallet, exhibiting the roll of bills, and turning
+over each one so that the man behind the counter could count them as he
+did so.
+
+“That’s enough,” answered the broker, his eyes glowing with
+satisfaction. “I see that you are an honest and fair young man, and
+very different from most of those who come here. I have a great deal of
+sympathy for young men out of employment; but I am sorry to say that a
+great many of them are willing to cheat me out of my time and money.”
+
+“I am not such a fellow!” exclaimed Wade.
+
+“I know you are not. I see you speak the truth, and are ready to back
+up what you say,” added the benevolent broker. “Now, if you will sit
+down here for a few minutes, I will go down stairs, and find a boy to
+send after the keeper of the restaurant.”
+
+“I won’t give you all that trouble,” interposed Wade. “I will go to his
+restaurant, and see him there, if you will tell me where it is.”
+
+“That’s no way to do business,” said the broker, shaking his head
+with another knowing smile. “I am sorry to say that all these
+restaurant-keepers are not as honest as you are, Mr.-- What did you say
+your name was?”
+
+“I didn’t say; but my name is Wade Brooks,” replied the applicant.
+
+“Some of them are not as honest as they might be, Mr. Brooks,”
+continued the broker, who seemed to have his eyes open to dishonesty in
+every direction.
+
+“If he is not an honest man, I don’t know as I want to have any thing
+to do with him,” added Wade doubtfully.
+
+“Oh! he is a perfectly honest and upright man, as the world goes,”
+interposed the broker, seeing that he had rather overdone the business.
+“You see, if I get him the right sort of a cashier, he is to pay me a
+commission for my services. If you go to his place of business, and
+engage with him, he may say--though I don’t think he would--that I was
+not entitled to the commission, as the arrangements were not made in
+my office. A great many very honest men, even members of the church,
+take this view of the matter. But the advertisement you saw, and which
+brought you here, cost me three dollars; and my commission only amounts
+to five dollars.”
+
+Wade Brooks had brains enough to comprehend this logic; and he thought
+the broker was very fair about the matter. He did not see how anybody
+could hire an office, pay for advertisements, and do business, for
+nothing.
+
+“I will send for Mr. Flinker”--
+
+“Mr. who?” interrupted Wade.
+
+“Mr. Flinker. Didn’t you ever hear of Flinker’s restaurant?”
+
+“Never,” replied Wade.
+
+“I supposed everybody knew it,” added the broker, as though he pitied
+the young man for his ignorance. “It is just in the midst of his
+dinner-time, and I don’t know that he will be able to come up just at
+present.”
+
+“If you will tell me where it is, I will go there and get my dinner: I
+would like to see what sort of a place it is.”
+
+“That isn’t the right way to do business,” replied the broker, writing
+a note with a pencil in a very hurried manner. “I think this note will
+bring him at once; and I dare say he will want you to go to work right
+off.”
+
+Wade happened to think, if he broke one of the ten-dollar bills in his
+pocket, he would not have a hundred dollars to make the trade with; and
+he concluded to let the broker send for the keeper of the restaurant,
+who would at least give him his dinner, if he did not set him at work
+at once. There was something very pleasing in the idea of beginning his
+new duties at once. His hundred dollars would be put on interest also.
+The broker left the office, and went down stairs; but he was not absent
+more than five minutes.
+
+“I think he will be here in a few minutes,” said the man of places. “I
+believe he has his father in the restaurant for a few days; and if he
+has, he will be able to come right off.”
+
+It was not more than twenty minutes, before a man came into the
+office; and the broker introduced him as Mr. Flinker, speaking in the
+highest terms of Wade, as though he had known him all his life. He
+was sure the young man was honest and smart, and that he was just the
+person to be the cashier of a restaurant. Mr. Flinker was very glad
+to see him. He had had a great deal of trouble with the cashiers of
+his restaurant. They were dishonest, and robbed him of half of his
+profits. He would never employ another without some sort of guaranty
+of his honesty; and the “dead beats” who had so often imposed upon him
+were the very ones who never had a hundred dollars to deposit with the
+employer, to insure their good behavior.
+
+“I will pay you ten per cent for the money,” continued Mr. Flinker. “It
+is true, I do not need the money, and would rather not take it if I
+could manage the business in any other way.”
+
+“I am a poor boy, and this hundred dollars is all the money I have in
+the world,” said Wade, who was pleased with the fair talk of the keeper
+of the restaurant. “I can’t afford to lose it.”
+
+“Do you think I would rob you of it?” demanded Mr. Flinker, looking as
+magnificent as though he had been the president of the Walnut National
+Bank.
+
+“Oh, no, sir! I didn’t mean that,” protested Wade, afraid that he had
+offended the high-toned keeper of the restaurant.
+
+“If you did, I would have nothing more to say to you about this little
+matter; for I can’t afford to have my honor doubted.”
+
+“Excuse me, for I didn’t mean what I said,” added Wade.
+
+“I see you didn’t; and I pass over the remark,” said the indulgent Mr.
+Flinker.
+
+“But the advertisement said good security would be given for the
+money,” persisted Wade, who was not quite willing to drop the subject.
+
+“Very true; and the note of Francis Flinker is as good as gold; but you
+shall have an indorser.”
+
+Wade understood what this meant; and the keeper of the employment
+bureau offered to put his name on the back of the note.
+
+“You can satisfy yourself about the name of Mr. Flinker, by asking all
+the people near his place. He will pay the note any time when you want
+the money,” said the man behind the counter. “Then, if he don’t pay it,
+I will.”
+
+Wade reflected.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+THE NEW CASHIER.
+
+
+Obed Swikes sometimes had money to lend, and Wade had heard him talk
+with the neighbors about such matters; and he had listened to many
+conversations on such subjects at the stores and in other places. If a
+man was able to pay, his note was good. He could easily find out what
+people thought of Mr. Flinker near his place. If they all said he was
+good, he could safely trust him with his hundred dollars.
+
+“We might as well draw up the note, and sign it here; for the
+restaurant will be full,” suggested Mr. Flinker.
+
+The broker wrote it, and Mr. Flinker signed it. Then the man behind the
+counter indorsed it, and handed the paper to Wade. He read it, and saw
+that it was in the usual form. He had learned about notes at school,
+and had seen them in the books; and he was sure the note was all right.
+
+“You can inquire about me in the vicinity of the restaurant; and, if
+you find it is all right, I will give you the note, and take the money.
+Now we will go to my place of business,” said Mr. Flinker, when the
+arrangements were all made.
+
+Wade was all ready; and he walked beside the proprietor of Flinker’s
+restaurant to that establishment. He was conducted through a great many
+streets, and turned so many corners, that he did not believe he could
+ever find the employment office again, if he wished to do so. But he
+felt that he had no further business with that bureau. He was almost
+sure of his place, and even expected to be taking the money for the
+customers’ dinners in the course of another half-hour.
+
+At length they came to the establishment. It was rather a large place.
+Over the door was a sign with large letters, “Flinker’s Restaurant.”
+Bills of fare were stuck up all over the front of the store, and a
+great many people were going in and out. It looked like a place that
+was doing a very lively business.
+
+“This is my establishment,” said Mr. Flinker, when they came to the
+door.
+
+“It looks like a big place,” said Wade, delighted to think he was to be
+the cashier of such an establishment.
+
+“It’s not very big,” said the proprietor modestly. “I intend to enlarge
+it in the fall, for I own the building.”
+
+He owned the building! Then what was the use of asking anybody whether
+his note was good or not? But Wade determined to make sure on this
+point; for he had lost money, and he was not going to run the slightest
+risk this time.
+
+“We will go in, and I will give you some dinner then you can go about
+the neighborhood, and ask about my credit among the shop-keepers.”
+
+“I am all ready for my dinner,” added Wade.
+
+Mr. Flinker led the way into the restaurant, and took a seat at a
+vacant table. He invited Wade to be seated with him, and then tossed
+the bill of fare to him.
+
+“Order what you like best,” said he, in an indifferent sort of a way.
+
+Wade called for roast chicken and several other articles, though he was
+not as hungry as he had sometimes been.
+
+“Call for every thing you wish,” added Mr. Flinker, in an off-hand way;
+and it was evident that he was a liberal man towards his help.
+
+The proprietor called a waiter, and gave him the order for the dinners
+in a haughty tone; and the man in a white apron was certainly very
+polite to him. He seemed to be perfectly at home; for, while they were
+waiting for the dinner, he got up and walked about the room, speaking
+to various persons, though the cashier that was to be could not hear
+any thing he said. Then he left the restaurant by a door in the rear,
+which Wade thought might lead to the kitchen. Certainly Mr. Flinker
+acted as though he was the master of the place, if the “one from the
+country” had for an instant suspected that he was not.
+
+Wade looked at the counter, at which quite a number of people were
+seated on high stools, eating oysters variously cooked. At one end
+stood an old man who was taking the money for the meals. He seemed to
+be very smart for an old man; and Wade concluded that he was the father
+of the proprietor.
+
+The waiter brought the two dinners ordered; and in another minute Mr.
+Flinker joined him at the table. Neither of them said much till the
+eatables were disposed of; for Wade was too much interested in his
+present occupation to care much for any thing else; but he saw what was
+going on all the time. He thought his new situation would be all that
+he desired. Then he and his future employer had pudding and coffee; and
+Wade was forced to admit that it was the best dinner he had eaten for
+a long time, if not the best he had ever had. The waiter brought two
+checks when the meal was finished.
+
+Wade didn’t see why the man should bring the proprietor these checks,
+as of course he did not have to pay for what he had ordered. Perhaps
+Mr. Flinker saw that he looked with some surprise upon these bits of
+pasteboard; for he at once explained them.
+
+“You will take notice of this little circumstance, Mr. Brooks,” said
+he. “I require a check to be given to every one that eats at these
+tables.”
+
+“What’s that for?” asked Wade.
+
+“If I didn’t do it, all the waiters might dine their friends here. The
+old gentleman at the counter don’t know that you are with me. Every
+one that dines here free carries his check to the cashier; and he is
+instructed to pass it without any money. It is a part of the cashier’s
+duty to see that every one brings a check to him. If the person is not
+to pay, he is the only one that knows any thing about it.”
+
+“Your father seems to be a very smart man, in spite of his age,”
+suggested Wade.
+
+“He thinks he is smart; and so he is, in a certain way; but he makes
+a great many mistakes. Besides, he knows too much for me. I have to
+support him; but he orders me around as though I were still a child,”
+laughed the proprietor of the restaurant. “He is my father; and of
+course I have to humor him.”
+
+“He has forgotten that you have grown up, I suppose,” added Wade.
+
+“Very likely. Now you can go out and ask about my credit; and, if you
+are not gone more than half an hour, I shall be here when you come
+back. You are rather too late for dinner to-day; but you will be on
+hand for supper, for my father only stays during the middle of the day.”
+
+“I will not be gone more than fifteen minutes,” replied Wade, who felt
+that the inquiry was nothing but a mere form.
+
+“Very well: I will be here. I have to go into the kitchen, and lay out
+the meats for supper,” added Mr. Flinker.
+
+Wade left the restaurant with the feeling that his fortune was made.
+He was to have ten dollars a week; for that was what the proprietor
+had promised him in the course of the conversation at the employment
+office. It was the nicest and easiest sort of work he could think of,
+and was not at all like the drudgery he had been obliged to do on the
+farm of Obed Swikes. He had been unlucky a great many times; but now he
+was the luckiest fellow in the world.
+
+At the corner of the next street, he saw a large provision-store. It
+was not unlikely that Mr. Flinker bought his meat at this place. He
+went in. Business was dull at this time in the day. He had read the
+sign over the door; and he asked for Mr. Wangdon.
+
+“That’s my name,” replied the elderly man to whom he had put the
+question. “What can I do for you?”
+
+“Do you know Mr. Flinker?”
+
+“I do: he has been my neighbor for ten years.”
+
+“Is his credit good?”
+
+“Flinker’s? He pays cash for every thing, and don’t owe a dollar in the
+world,” replied Mr. Wangdon with enthusiasm.
+
+“Would you take his note for a thousand dollars?” asked Wade, putting
+the question as he had heard it done at home.
+
+“Yes, for ten or twenty thousand dollars, or any other sum that I could
+lend him, or sell goods for. He is better than half the banks. Why do
+you ask such a question?”
+
+“A gentleman asked me to make some inquiries about Mr. Flinker.”
+
+“He is worth more than a hundred thousand dollars, and has no debts.
+Every business-man about here will tell you the same thing,” replied
+Mr. Wangdon. “And he is one of the best and kindest men in the world.”
+
+Wade thought so too, though he was glad to have his own opinion of the
+keeper of the restaurant confirmed.
+
+“I am much obliged to you for telling me all this,” added Wade, as he
+left the provision-store.
+
+It would have been better for the boy from the country if he had
+told Mr. Wangdon more fully why he asked these questions; but he was
+satisfied. It was useless to ask anybody else about Mr. Flinker for
+the marketman had told him what all the business-people thought of the
+proprietor of the restaurant. He went back; and he had not been absent
+more than a quarter of an hour. As he entered the place, he saw Mr.
+Flinker talking to his father at the counter; but, as soon as he came
+in, the conversation was terminated, and the son took the new cashier
+into a retired part of the room.
+
+“I am all ready for business,” said Wade, with a cheerful smile upon
+his face.
+
+“Then you are satisfied with the inquiries you have made?” added Mr.
+Flinker.
+
+“Perfectly satisfied,” answered Wade, taking his wallet out.
+
+“If you are not, I am entirely willing to give you more time to look
+the matter up; for I want you to feel secure.”
+
+“I don’t want any thing more. The man that keeps on the corner says you
+are worth a hundred thousand dollars, and that you don’t owe a dollar
+in the world,” added Wade, thinking that this report would please his
+new employer.
+
+“That’s all true enough; and this note will be the only piece of paper
+of the kind with my name upon it in New York, or anywhere else,”
+replied Mr. Flinker, as he tossed the note to Wade.
+
+The “one from the country” read the paper again, and then handed his
+hundred dollars to the proprietor of the restaurant, who was worth a
+hundred thousand dollars, and did not owe a dollar.
+
+“By the way, can you find 786 Broadway? I want some one to go up there,
+and collect a bill,” added Mr. Flinker.
+
+Wade was sure he could find it, and started with the bill.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+JUST HIS LUCK AGAIN!
+
+
+Mr. Flinker told the new cashier that if he returned by five o’clock,
+he would be in season for the supper. The bargain was completed, and he
+was the cashier of the great restaurant. If he was minus his hundred
+dollars, it was in better hands than his own. In fact, he was glad to
+get rid of the money, for he was no longer nervous about its safety.
+There were so many sharpers about the great city, that he was glad
+to hold the note of such a man as Mr. Flinker for it. None of those
+swindlers like Caleb Klucker could rob him of it now.
+
+With a light heart Wade walked up Broadway, thinking all the time about
+the new situation. He had a lively imagination, and he could not help
+fancying himself behind that counter in the restaurant, taking in the
+checks for meals, and dealing out the change for bills, as he had seen
+old Mr. Flinker do it. It was a “soft thing” for a boy who had worked
+as hard as he had for the last year.
+
+Still thinking about it, he arrived at the number in Broadway contained
+in his directions. He took out the bill. It was against one Charles
+Wadley, for a dinner for six persons at the restaurant. The amount was
+four dollars. He found the number given him, but he could find no sign
+with Mr. Wadley’s name upon it. The building that was numbered 786 had
+a large store on the street. He went into it, but no one knew any thing
+about Mr. Wadley. Then he went up stairs, calling at every room to the
+top of the house. No one ever heard of such a person as Charles Wadley;
+and the janitor was sure there was no such man in the building.
+
+Wade was determined to do his work in the most thorough manner, and
+he went into all the neighboring stores and offices. At last he was
+compelled to give it up, and returned to the restaurant; and it was
+about five o’clock when he arrived. He went in as though he belonged
+there, and looked about for Mr. Flinker. He did not see him, and one of
+the waiters followed him up to serve him with whatever he might desire
+for his supper.
+
+“Will you take a seat here?” said the man, pulling out a chair for him.
+
+“No: I don’t want my supper now,” replied Wade. “Can you tell me where
+Mr. Flinker is?”
+
+“That’s Mr. Flinker behind the counter,” answered the waiter.
+
+“I know; but the younger Mr. Flinker,” said Wade, who was surprised to
+see the old gentleman; for the proprietor had told him his father was
+there only in the middle of the day.
+
+“I don’t know any thing about any young Mr. Flinker; but I dare say
+the old gentleman can tell you.”
+
+Wade did not like to talk to the old gentleman, for he had the feeling
+that he would think he was stepping into his place, so he sat down and
+waited, hoping the owner of the establishment would soon appear. He
+waited for an hour, seated near one of the front windows of the room.
+Mr. Flinker the proprietor did not come; and, what was almost as bad,
+the old gentleman did not go.
+
+At last he attracted the attention of the old gentleman, who called a
+waiter, and asked him what that boy wanted. It happened to be the same
+one that had spoken to Wade. The man told him that the boy wished to
+see the young Mr. Flinker.
+
+“Whom do you want to find?” asked Mr. Flinker, senior.
+
+“I was waiting for your son,” replied Wade, walking up to the counter.
+
+“For my son!” exclaimed the old gentleman, with a jolly laugh, as
+though he enjoyed a joke. “I think you will have to wait a tremendous
+long while for him.”
+
+“Why so, sir? won’t he be in again to-day?” asked Wade, opening his
+eyes very wide.
+
+“I don’t believe he will.”
+
+“When will he be in?”
+
+“Really, I can’t say; but I don’t expect him this year,” chuckled the
+old man.
+
+“You don’t expect him this year!” exclaimed Wade, who could not fathom
+the worthy old gentleman’s meaning.
+
+“No, young man; nor next year either. I may say I don’t expect him at
+all.”
+
+A customer who seemed to be intimate with Mr. Flinker, senior, came up
+to the counter, and helped the old man do his laughing.
+
+“I don’t understand you, sir; and I can’t see what you are laughing
+at,” added Wade, very much perplexed and embarrassed.
+
+“Well, young man, I don’t understand you any better than you understand
+me,” laughed the old man. “But what do you want of my son, in case you
+find him?”
+
+“I have come to go to work here.”
+
+“Oh, you have! And what do you intend to do?”
+
+“I agreed to come as cashier of this restaurant,” answered Wade; and he
+was afraid the old man was trying to play some joke upon him.
+
+“As cashier! Then you intend to take my place, for I have done that
+part of the work for the last forty years, and I feel able to do it a
+while longer. Did my son hire you for this place?”
+
+“He did; and agreed to give me ten dollars a week, and my meals.”
+
+“Did he, indeed? Then he engaged to give you very good wages,” laughed
+the old man; and so did his companion in mischief.
+
+“I thought so myself; but, as your son offered me that price, I took
+him up at once,” added Wade.
+
+“Oh! I don’t blame you at all for taking him up; and I hope he will pay
+you what he agreed.”
+
+“He told me to go to work to-night, and take the money of the people
+who come in to supper,” persisted Wade.
+
+“I guess not, young man: I take the money myself. I never trust any one
+to do that,” said the old man, chuckling again.
+
+“Your son said you went home in the middle of the afternoon, and were
+here only in the middle of the day,” continued Wade, hoping to hit upon
+something that would move the old man.
+
+“I think my son did not know me very well.”
+
+“But he said he was the owner of this place, and that he only got you
+to come in and take the money till he could get a cashier that he could
+trust.”
+
+“That was rather mean of my son, to cut me out of the ownership of my
+own property,” said the old man, laughing with his friend.
+
+“He said he had to support you; but that he did not like to have you
+here, because you ordered him around just as if he was still a child,”
+said Wade, piling up the testimony as fast as he could.
+
+“Well, now, if my son talks like that, I shall not like to have him
+here; and between you and me, young man, I’ll bet I shall come out of
+it best.”
+
+“I’ll bet you will,” added the friend.
+
+“He wanted an honest cashier.”
+
+“And you are the honest cashier, are you?”
+
+“I am; and gave security for my honesty.”
+
+“I’m glad you did that; and I hope it will keep you honest as long as
+you live.”
+
+“I wish you would tell me where I can see your son,” said Wade, in
+almost pleading tones.
+
+“I have no son: I never had a son. My boys are all girls,” replied Mr.
+Flinker more seriously, when he saw the troubled expression on the
+boy’s face.
+
+“You have no son!” exclaimed Wade; and for the moment the blood in his
+veins seemed to be icy cold.
+
+It was terrible to think of; but he began to feel that he had been
+deceived once more. He had lost his money again: it was just his luck.
+
+“Young man, I don’t understand your case at all,” said Mr. Flinker in a
+kinder tone. “I saw you here at dinner with a man; and he paid for the
+two meals. You went out, and came in again. You sat down in the corner
+together; and then you both went away. That is all I know about you or
+the man.”
+
+“I saw the man talking to you when I came in,” added Wade.
+
+“True: he did speak to me about the price of meals by the week; and
+that was what we were talking about when you came in.”
+
+“He told me he was the owner of this place, and that you were his
+father. I answered his advertisement for a cashier who could furnish a
+hundred dollars.”
+
+“And did you let him have the money?” asked the real proprietor of the
+restaurant, opening wide his eyes, as Wade had done before.
+
+“I did, sir; and it was all the money I had in the world,” replied
+Wade, with something like a groan of anguish.
+
+Wade Brooks related the whole story, from the time Capt. Trustleton
+gave him the money to the present moment, producing the note, and the
+bill against Charles Wadley, as proof of the truth of the statement. By
+this time it was dark, and too late to do any thing about finding the
+swindlers. Mr. Flinker called in a policeman, and told him the story.
+He had heard of one other case of the same kind. The keeper of the
+restaurant and his friend wished Wade to come again in the morning, and
+they would make an attempt to find the keeper of the employment office;
+for he must be a party to the fraud.
+
+“Just my luck!” exclaimed Wade, as he went out into the street. “I
+didn’t think there was a man in New York smart enough to get that money
+away from me. Now I haven’t a cent to pay for a bed or for my supper.”
+
+He wanted to sit down and cry about it; but he knew that folks would
+ask him what the matter was if he did; and so he kept walking, without
+having any place to go to. He wandered up to the vicinity of the City
+Hall, and occupied one of the seats in the park, till a policeman told
+him it was time for him to go home. He wished he had a home to go to;
+but he was afraid of the officer, and he resumed his wanderings. He
+walked up and down Broadway till he heard the clocks striking twelve.
+He was very tired and sleepy, and he wanted to find some place where
+he could lie down. He remembered going through a narrow street into
+which the back-doors of the Broadway stores opened, where he had seen a
+great many large boxes or cases. He could make his bed in one of these;
+and it would be better than lying down in the street.
+
+After a while he found the narrow street, and got into one of the
+boxes. He fell asleep there in a few minutes; but a noise woke him
+after a while. He kept perfectly still, and listened. Then, in the
+gloom of the night, he saw two men bringing things out of the door next
+to him. It was a robbery. He wanted to do something. He heard a man
+groan inside of the store; for the door was only a few feet from him.
+One man went back into the store. Wade sprang upon the other.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+HOLDING THE FORTRESS.
+
+
+It was a bold act for a boy of Wade’s years and strength. But he had
+every advantage, or he would not have dared to tackle a full-grown man.
+The boxes, in one of which he had made his bed, were piled up three
+tiers high; and to escape observation, he had made his bed in the upper
+one. The end of the pile was like a pair of stairs, as the boxes had
+been left for the convenience of the men who had put them in this shape.
+
+Wade stood on the second tier, about six feet from the pavement. The
+robber in the street was stooping down, and appeared to be arranging
+the goods brought from the store in convenient shape for carrying them
+away. Taking this moment for the act, he jumped down, so that his
+cowhide shoes hit the man fairly on the head. He was evidently stunned
+by the blow; for he stretched out on the pavement, and did not move.
+
+But Wade knew there was another, if not two more of them; and his plan
+had succeeded so well, that he determined to repeat the movement. He
+sprang back to the top of the second tier of boxes as soon as he could
+gather himself up. As he rose he picked up a heavy piece of board which
+been part of the cover of one of the cases. When he had reached his
+perch, he heard rapid footsteps in the store. The burglar inside had
+heard the noise, though he must have been in the front part of the
+store, for it took him some time to reach the back street.
+
+The instant he was out of the door, and before he could ascertain what
+was the matter with his companion, Wade leaped down upon him, intending
+that his feet should hit the man in the head. He did strike the robber
+in the head, but he was not stunned like the other; and Wade hit him a
+crushing blow with his club, which settled him for the moment.
+
+The brave boy looked his victims over, and satisfied himself that both
+of them were either dead or stunned, for they did not move. The last
+one he had overthrown had a dark lantern in his belt, of which Wade
+relieved him, and then went into the store.
+
+He had heard a groan, and he listened for it again. It was some time
+before it was repeated, but at length he heard it; and, following in
+the direction it led him, he found a man gagged and bound to a post. He
+was breathing very heavily as though he was struggling for breath.
+
+[Illustration: WADE HIT HIM A CRUSHING BLOW WITH HIS CLUB.--Page 302.]
+
+Wade did not lose a moment in releasing the man, and taking the gag
+from his mouth. The victim was so exhausted that he could not speak,
+or he pretended to be so; and Wade did not wait for him to do so.
+He gathered up the cords with which the man had been tied, and took a
+large coil of line that lay on the floor near the post, and returned to
+the insensible robbers in the street. With the cords he proceeded to
+tie their arms behind them.
+
+Before he had completed the job, the man from the store joined him,
+having partially recovered from the hard usage he had had at the hands
+of the burglars. Wade was not content with binding their arms behind
+them; he tied their ankles together so that they could not run if they
+should suddenly recover the use of their senses. The man from the store
+assisted him at the work. While they were thus engaged, they heard the
+report of a pistol, and Wade was conscious of a whizzing noise near his
+head.
+
+“There are more of them,” said the man, who seemed to be trembling with
+apprehension. “But I have a pistol.”
+
+“Use it, then, if you see anybody,” replied Wade.
+
+The man, who was a clerk in the store, looked up and down the street,
+and then fired his pistol twice.
+
+“Very likely there are two more of them; and we had better get into the
+store, or we may be shot,” said the clerk.
+
+“All right; but we will drag these fellows in with us,” replied Wade.
+
+“We had better lose no time, for a bullet may make an end of us at any
+minute.”
+
+“It won’t take us any longer if we make sure of these men,” added
+Wade, as he dragged the first one that had fallen into the store.
+
+The clerk took hold of the other, but he seemed to lack the strength to
+move him; and Wade had to help him.
+
+“Now shut the door,” continued the active youth, suiting the action to
+the word. “Can you fasten it?”
+
+“I suppose the rascals have spoiled the lock,” replied the clerk.
+
+But Wade found the key on the floor. The burglars appeared to have
+turned it with their nippers, and then pushed it out on the floor,
+using false keys to open the door. When he had turned the key, he
+saw to his astonishment that there were two great bolts on the door,
+besides the lock. These could not have been shoved back without help
+from the inside.
+
+Wade had no time to consider this circumstance, though it was suggested
+to him; for it occurred to him just at that moment, that the goods
+taken from the store by the first man he had “sat down upon” were still
+in the street, and he had forgotten to take them in. He carefully
+opened the door, and, seeing that no one was near, he stepped out. He
+was just picking up the bundle when another pistol was discharged. He
+felt something in his arm, but it was so slight that he did not think
+it could be the bullet from the pistol. It did not disable him, and he
+made haste to drag the heavy bundle into the store. Then he locked and
+double-bolted the door. As he looked over the fastenings, he did not
+believe that any robbers could get through that door.
+
+By this time Wade was pretty well cooled off after the violent
+excitement of the affair. He examined the door very carefully by the
+aid of the lantern he had taken from the burglar’s belt. Certainly
+there was no break in the door by which any one on the outside
+could have moved those two heavy bolts. Near the door was a box of
+carpenter’s tools. It contained augers, chisels, a mallet, and some
+other implements.
+
+While he was examining the door and its surroundings, he heard the
+robbers moving, and went to them to inquire into their condition. To
+his surprise he found that the cords of one of them were partly loosed.
+The clerk was near him, and no one else could have unfastened them.
+Wade made haste to secure him again; and he did it in a more thorough
+manner than before. Then he looked over the other one; but his bonds
+did not seem to have been tampered with. He saw a revolver sticking out
+of the pocket of the man, and he took possession of the toy.
+
+“Why don’t you use your pistol?” he heard the first one say; and he
+could have spoken to no one but the clerk, for the other robber was not
+in condition to use a pistol, or any other weapon.
+
+The words were hardly spoken before the report of a pistol was heard
+in the store; but Wade was not hit. He raised his lantern instantly,
+and saw the clerk was aiming at him again. The pistol in Wade’s hand
+was all cocked, ready for use; but he had never fired a revolver in his
+life before. He pointed it at the clerk, and let drive. Probably the
+ball did not go within ten feet of the mark; but it terrified the timid
+clerk as much as though it had gone through his body.
+
+“Don’t fire again!” exclaimed the clerk.
+
+“Drop that pistol, then!” said Wade sharply. The treacherous clerk
+obeyed him instantly, and the pistol fell to the floor.
+
+Wade walked over to him, and picked it up, putting it into his pocket.
+
+“Then it seems that you are one of the robbers,” said Wade, throwing
+the light of the lantern into his face.
+
+“No, I am not. I could not help it,” pleaded the fellow.
+
+“Lie down on the floor!” said the defender of the store.
+
+The clerk obeyed without an instant’s hesitation.
+
+“Now, my man, if you attempt to do any thing, I will put one of the
+bullets in this pistol where it will do the most good,” continued the
+brave boy, who was astonished when he thought that he had looked a
+pistol full in the face; but then, he had lived faster and learned more
+during the last week than in all the rest of his life put together.
+
+Gathering up a handful of the ropes which had been used to bind the
+burglars, he tied the clerk in the same manner as the robbers. He had
+not suspected him of being a confederate till the villain fired at him
+at the suggestion of the fallen burglar. It was plain enough now, how
+the robbers had got in while those two huge bolts were on the door.
+Having secured the inside villains, Wade felt that he held the fortress
+securely; and he did not believe the accomplices on the outside could
+get it away from him.
+
+He had noticed that most of the stores he passed in the night had one
+or more gas-burners lighted. This store was dark as midnight, except
+the faint light he made with the dark lantern. He thought it would be
+better to follow the fashion of the other stores; and he lighted three
+burners, so that he could better find his way about the premises, and
+to enable him to watch the robbers to advantage. The light revealed to
+him the fact that the place he held was a large jewelry establishment.
+At one of the clocks in the front store, he saw that it was half-past
+three o’clock.
+
+When he had satisfied himself on these points, he thought he heard the
+robbers talking together. He returned to the rear of the store, and
+found that two of the burglars had worked themselves together, and
+lay back to back, so that each could use his hands upon the bands of
+the other. One had made some progress in untying the rope that bound
+together the hands of the other.
+
+“That’s the game you are up to,” said he, as he seized one of them by
+the collar, and dragged him to the other side of the store.
+
+“See here, my lad, you are meddling with what don’t concern you,” said
+this man. “When the people come to the store in the morning, they will
+accuse you of being one of us.”
+
+“Just my luck!” exclaimed Wade Brooks.
+
+“You can do better, if you will let us loose. I will give you a
+thousand dollars on the spot, and a share of the swag,” continued the
+burglar.
+
+“No, I thank you. I would rather be honest than make a thousand dollars
+at your trade. That’s the sort of fellow I am,” said Wade.
+
+At this moment he heard a heavy knocking at the rear door. He at
+once concluded that this was some trick of the burglars’ accomplices
+outside, to gain admittance; and he prepared himself accordingly. He
+did not believe anybody could get ahead of him this time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+HOW IT WAS IN THE MORNING.
+
+
+“Who’s there, and what do you want?” demanded Wade, in reply to the
+summons at the door.
+
+“Open the door,” said a man on the outside.
+
+“Not much!” replied the custodian of the fortress.
+
+“Open the door: I am the private watchman,” added the outsider.
+
+“If you are, you ought to have been around here about half an hour
+ago,” answered Wade, who did not even know what a private watchman was.
+
+“That’s Bleeker, the private watchman,” interposed the clerk.
+
+“I don’t care who it is: I won’t let any one in till morning. How do
+I know he is not the man who fired the pistol in the street?” argued
+Wade. “Besides, I don’t feel much like following your advice, after the
+way you have managed this business.”
+
+The private watchman, if it was he, rapped at the door till he was
+tired of it, and then he went off. Wade went his round again, and
+examined all his prisoners very carefully. He had them still, and they
+were all right. The last one visited was the clerk.
+
+“Won’t you let me off, my good fellow?” said this one, in a pleading
+tone.
+
+“No, I won’t: you let these robbers in, and you tried to shoot me,”
+answered Wade decidedly.
+
+“I didn’t mean to shoot you. I have a mother who depends on me to
+support her; and I don’t know what will become of her.”
+
+“I’m sure I don’t know,” added Wade; “but you ought to have thought of
+that before now.”
+
+A little later, the knocking at the back-door was renewed; and again
+the private watchman--at any rate, it was the same voice--demanded
+admittance. Wade made no reply. Then he heard the voices of two other
+men, who said they were policemen.
+
+“I won’t open the door to any one,” said Wade then. “The store has been
+broken into, and the robbers have friends on the outside; and I can’t
+tell the difference between you and them by the sound of your voices.”
+
+“Who are you?” asked one of the men outside.
+
+“I am the fellow that is holding the fort,” answered Wade.
+
+“The police here want to come in,” added the private watchman.
+
+“They can’t come in.”
+
+“Then we will break in the door,” added another.
+
+“If you do, I’ll empty this pistol into you,” replied Wade. “If you
+want to do any thing about it, go and call the man that keeps the
+store.”
+
+“Where is the man that sleeps in the store?” asked the private watchman.
+
+“He is safe enough, tied hand and foot, so that his business is such he
+can’t leave.”
+
+Wade heard the men talking together, and he was pretty well satisfied
+that they were what they represented themselves to be; but, as he was
+not sure, he deemed it best not to let them in. It was time to make his
+round among the prisoners, and he set about it. He let the light of the
+lantern fall upon each, for the gas did not burn very brightly.
+
+When he came to the one who had proposed to buy out his interest in the
+scrape, he renewed his offer. Wade thought the voice sounded like one
+he had heard before; and he threw the light on his face.
+
+“I thought so!” exclaimed he. “You don’t seem to be in the missionary
+business just now.”
+
+It was Mr. Caleb Klucker.
+
+“I see you know me,” said the swindler; “but I am willing to give you a
+chance to make a pile of money.”
+
+“And I am willing to give you a chance to spend the next ten or twenty
+years of your life in the State Prison,” replied Wade. “I am sure we
+can’t make a trade on any other terms.”
+
+Wade left him. By this time the daylight was beginning to come in at
+the great windows on Broadway. It was nearly an hour by the clock since
+he had had his last talk at the back-door with the private watchman.
+The holder of the fortress seated himself in the rear of the store,
+and waited patiently for some one to come to his relief. He began to
+feel hungry too; and this reminded him that he had had no supper.
+He wondered whether he would be charged with being concerned in the
+robbery.
+
+He had promised to go back to the restaurant of Mr. Flinker in the
+morning; but he had little hope of ever seeing the hundred dollars he
+had lost. Perhaps the jolly old man that kept the eating-house might
+give him some breakfast; and that was all he had to hope for. While he
+was thinking in this way, he heard noises at the front door: some one
+was at work on the locks, and presently the door opened.
+
+A well-dressed gentleman and three other men entered at the Broadway
+door, and two of them were policemen. The person at the head of the
+procession was evidently the one that kept the store; and the man with
+the policemen was doubtless the private watchman. As they came in, Wade
+Brooks rose to show himself.
+
+“Who are you?” demanded the gentleman at the head of the procession.
+
+“I am the fellow that is keeping this store at present,” replied Wade.
+
+“Are you one of those that broke into the store?”
+
+“No, sir! I found the door open, and I came in.”
+
+“What has been going on here?” continued the proprietor, gazing sternly
+at Wade as though he considered him an intruder.
+
+“Well, sir, there has been an awful time here,” answered Wade, shaking
+his head to emphasize the statement.
+
+“Has the store been robbed?”
+
+“That’s more than I know; but I think the fellows that took the job
+didn’t get away with any thing.”
+
+Mr. Maynard, the proprietor, led the way toward the rear of the store,
+looking about on both sides of him, evidently anxious to learn the
+present condition of the establishment. Presently he came to the bag of
+goods which Wade had dragged in from the back street.
+
+“What’s this?” he asked.
+
+“I don’t know what’s in it; but I brought it into the store from that
+street,” replied Wade, pointing to the one in the rear.
+
+Mr. Maynard opened the bag, and found it was filled with watches,
+chains, and jewelry. He looked about in the vicinity of the counters
+and the big iron safe, and found two other bags, both containing the
+same kind of goods as the first. Wade had not seen these, for he had
+not been behind the counters.
+
+“Where did you find that bag?” demanded Mr. Maynard.
+
+“I brought it in from the back street; but I haven’t seen these two
+bags till now,” replied Wade.
+
+“The store has been robbed!” exclaimed the proprietor with a good deal
+of excitement. “Where is Steeples?”
+
+“Steeples? I don’t know him,” said Wade.
+
+“He is the clerk that sleeps in the store,” added Mr. Maynard.
+
+“Oh! I know where he is,” answered the boy custodian of the store.
+“Come this way, and I will show him to you.”
+
+Wade led the way to the part of the store where he had put the clerk
+after he had bound him, and, throwing the light of his dark lantern on
+the face of the recreant employé, enabled the proprietor to recognize
+him at a glance.
+
+“Steeples!” exclaimed Mr. Maynard, as he gazed upon the clerk he had so
+lately trusted with all the property in the store. “How is this?”
+
+But Steeples made no reply to the question, and closed his eyes as
+though he could not bear the sight of his employer.
+
+“This way, if you please, sir, and I will show you something that is
+worth seeing,” said Wade, as he led the way to the nearest of the
+robbers. “That is one of the fellows that did it.”
+
+“We know him; but I didn’t think he was up to a job as big as this
+one,” said the officer of the police, who was one of the party.
+
+“Here is another one, sir,” added Wade, leading the proprietor to the
+other side of the store. “This is Caleb Klucker.”
+
+“Who?” asked the officer; and he probably knew the man better than the
+boy from the country.
+
+“His name is Caleb Klucker; and he swindled me out of eighteen
+dollars.”
+
+“This is Crapsy: he is a sneak-thief and general confidence man,” added
+the police-officer. “But he has as many names as he has fingers and
+toes.”
+
+“But why is Steeples tied up with the rest of them?” asked Mr. Maynard,
+looking towards the place where the clerk lay on the floor.
+
+“Because he fired a pistol at me, and tried to kill me; and he did it
+when the robber on the other side of the store told him to do it,”
+replied Wade.
+
+“But he thought you were one of the robbers,” suggested the owner of
+the property.
+
+“No, he didn’t; for he knows that when I found him gagged, and tied
+to a post, I let him loose; and he knew that I had knocked over these
+two robbers without any help from him. He knew I was not one of the
+thieves; and he would not have fired at me if he had known I was one of
+the thieves.”
+
+“You knocked the robbers over!” exclaimed the officer of the police,
+with something like a laugh, in which his companions joined.
+
+“That’s my remembrance of the matter,” added Wade.
+
+“Do you mean to say that you, a mere boy, knocked over these two men,
+one of whom is an accomplished cracksman, and bound them as we find
+them?” demanded the officer, with an incredulous chuckle.
+
+“That’s just what I mean to say,” replied Wade stoutly.
+
+“Won’t you tell how it was done?” laughed the police-officer. “We have
+had some experience with the thieves of New York.”
+
+“So have I,” added Wade, as he led the way to the back-door.
+
+He turned the key, and threw back the bolts. Opening the door, he
+related the story as it has already been told. The police were
+satisfied that the feat was possible in the way it was described. The
+officer then examined the broken heads of the discomfited robbers, and
+found plain marks of the heels of the boy’s shoes on both of them. The
+“one from the country” recited all the details of the affair with the
+utmost minuteness. Mr. Maynard and the officer questioned him very
+closely; and they had no alternative but to believe him, because all
+the circumstances confirmed what he said. Wade pointed to the box of
+tools on the floor of the store.
+
+“Those are kept down stairs, and no one is allowed to leave them in the
+upper store,” said the owner. “Were those used in opening the door?”
+
+“Not at all, sir: Steeples opened the door for the robbers. I found the
+key of the door on the floor; but they could not have got the door open
+if those two big bolts had not been shoved back for them,” continued
+Wade. “That box of tools was brought up here to fix the door, and make
+it look as if it had been cut away. Then Steeples let them gag and bind
+him, and he groaned like a sick man, so as to make himself appear all
+right; and he was to get a share of the swag, as that fellow calls it.”
+
+“My partners have said lately that Steeples was living too fast for his
+means,” said Mr. Maynard, musing.
+
+“The boy has the right of it: the robbery could have been carried out
+on no other plan,” added one of the officers.
+
+Not a little to the astonishment of Wade Brooks, he found he was not to
+be accused as one of the robbers. But it was _not_ “just his luck.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+GATHERING UP THE SWINDLERS.
+
+
+Later in the morning the partners and clerks of the store came. A
+thorough examination of the establishment was made, and it was found
+that none of the goods had been carried away. Some of the watches in
+the bag which had been conveyed to the street were somewhat injured,
+probably by the descent of Wade upon the robber, who was at work on the
+bag at the time; but a few hundred dollars would repair all the damage.
+The two robbers and Steeples had been ironed and taken away by the
+police, who came back as soon as they had committed their prisoners, to
+continue the examination.
+
+Wade Brooks was questioned by Mr. Maynard and his partners till he was
+exhausted from the want of food and sleep. The excitement had subsided,
+and he felt the effect of his long vigil. He began to feel faint and
+sick.
+
+“I can’t say any thing more,” replied he, sinking into a chair in the
+private office of Mr. Maynard.
+
+“Why, what is the matter, my lad?” asked the senior partner of the
+firm, who saw that the brave boy was pale and faint.
+
+“I am about used up,” said Wade wearily. “I haven’t had any thing to
+eat since yesterday noon, and I didn’t sleep more than two or three
+hours in that box last night; and I worked hard from the time I got
+up till you came in the morning. I had to watch those fellows all the
+time, for once one of them nearly got loose.”
+
+“It was very thoughtless of me not to think that we were keeping you
+till after ten o’clock in the morning without your breakfast,” said Mr.
+Maynard, hastily seizing his hat.
+
+“I shouldn’t mind it if I had had any supper last night,” added Wade,
+trying to laugh.
+
+“I shall not forgive myself for not thinking of your wants. Now come
+with me, and we will make it right as soon as possible,” said the
+senior.
+
+Mr. Maynard conducted him to Delmonico’s, where he ordered the best
+that could be had even at that famous place, and three times as much
+as the famished boy could eat. The wealthy jeweller watched him with
+genuine interest, as he consumed his beefsteak and potatoes and omelet;
+and Wade came to himself before he had half finished the meal.
+
+“I have to go down to Flinker’s restaurant some time this forenoon,”
+said Wade, when he began to feel like himself. “A man robbed me of a
+hundred dollars yesterday; and it was every cent of money I had in the
+world.”
+
+Mr. Maynard wanted to know about it; and Wade told his story from the
+hour he had left Midhampton down to the time he had made his bed in
+the boxes in the rear of the store. The jeweller was interested; and
+Wade gave all the names, keeping back nothing. He was musing all the
+time upon the story to which he was listening, or something else.
+
+“I have had a hard time of it since I came to New York, and I don’t
+think I am equal to these swindlers you have here. They clean me out
+every time.”
+
+“An officer of the police shall go with you, to the restaurant and the
+employment office, and see what can be done; but I don’t think you will
+ever see your money again,” added Mr. Maynard.
+
+“I don’t like to have to sleep in boxes and barrels in the street; and
+I shouldn’t have to if I could get something to do. I am willing to
+work, and do hard work too.”
+
+“Don’t trouble yourself any more about that matter, for I shall see
+that you have a place,” added Mr. Maynard, in the kindest of tones.
+
+“Thank you, sir: I shall be very glad to get a place on the smallest
+wages; and I will do my best for the man that hires me.”
+
+When they returned to the store, the senior called the officer of
+police, who was still about the premises, looking up the facts in the
+case, and told him of Wade’s experience in the employment office.
+
+“Now, Barnett, I want you to go with the young man, and do what you can
+to set him right,” said Mr. Maynard.
+
+“It is a hard case to find these fellows,” said the officer, “but I
+will do the best I can.”
+
+Mr. Barnett and Wade left the private office together. They walked
+along by the counter for some distance, where customers were looking
+at the goods. Suddenly Wade pulled the coat of the officer, and turned
+square around, evidently so that somebody should not see his face.
+
+“What’s the matter?” asked the policeman.
+
+“Do you see the man that is looking into the glass case?” added Wade
+greatly excited,--“the man in a frock coat?”
+
+“I see him.”
+
+“That is Mr. Flinker!”
+
+“Do you mean that he is the one who keeps the restaurant?”
+
+“He is the one that pretended to keep it.”
+
+“Are you very sure?” inquired the careful officer.
+
+“He has changed his clothes, and is fixed up more than he was
+yesterday; but I know he is the one.”
+
+Mr. Barnett had so much confidence in the boy, that he immediately
+arrested the man, and, in spite of his energetic protest, put the
+handcuffs upon him. He was looking at some gold rings when he was
+taken; and Wade concluded that he was spending his money upon these
+trinkets.
+
+“You are utterly mistaken in your man, Mr. Officer,” said Mr. Flinker.
+
+“If you will give me your name and residence, I will try to find out
+the truth of what you say,” replied Mr. Barnett.
+
+“I live in Buffalo,” added the thief.
+
+“Street and number; and I will telegraph to the police of Buffalo,”
+said the business-like officer.
+
+“I don’t care to frighten my family with any inquiries of the sort you
+propose,” replied Mr. Flinker, who evidently did not like the plan
+mentioned.
+
+“Very well, Mr. Flinker: I can tell whether or not you are the man I
+want, without disturbing your family in Buffalo,” added Mr. Barnett.
+
+He called a carriage; and the trio drove to the restaurant.
+
+“You think the real Mr. Flinker will know this gentleman, don’t you,
+Wade?” asked the officer.
+
+“I am sure he will; for he was talking with him for some time,”
+answered Wade.
+
+And so it proved. The old gentleman was confident he was the man who
+had come in with the boy the day before; and he was willing to swear to
+his identity.
+
+“But where have you been all the morning, my lad?” asked the genuine
+Mr. Flinker. “The officer who was to look up your case waited two hours
+for you; and then we concluded that you were a fraud, and that you had
+been making fools of us all.”
+
+“He has been well employed; and he is no fraud,” interposed Mr.
+Barnett. “In my opinion, he is the smartest boy in New York City.”
+
+“Is that so?” exclaimed the elder Mr. Flinker. “If that is the case, I
+don’t know but I can find something for him to do. He wanted to get a
+place.”
+
+“I think he will get a better place than you will be able to give him,”
+added the officer.
+
+“I can’t give him ten dollars a week, and his board; but I will give
+him a job, and pay him all he is worth to me.”
+
+“I am much obliged to you, Mr. Flinker; and, if I find I want a place,
+I will come down and hire out with you,” added Wade, who was certainly
+very grateful for the offer.
+
+“I think he will get his ten dollars a week,” said Mr. Barnett. “Now we
+will try to find the employment office. You have no idea where it is,
+you say.”
+
+“I only know that it is farther from Broadway than this place is, and
+it is over this way,” replied Wade, pointing in the direction he had
+come the day before.
+
+“Perhaps you can tell us where it is, Mr. Flinker,” said the officer,
+turning to his prisoner.
+
+“I know nothing at all about it. You have got hold of the wrong man,
+and you will find it so,” replied the swindler.
+
+“When I do, I will let you know,” laughed Mr. Barnett. “Never mind,
+Wade: I know where the place is, from your description.”
+
+This proved to be the case; for he conducted his party to the
+employment office which Wade had visited the preceding day. But the
+oily-tongued fellow who had been in attendance was not there. One
+with all his qualifications was behind the counter, however; and
+the officer opened upon him at once. He knew of no such man as Wade
+described. He was the keeper of the office, and he had no person in his
+employ.
+
+“It must have been some other place,” suggested the man behind the
+counter.
+
+Wade was willing to make oath that this was the right place. At this
+point in the interview, two officers on this beat, who had been told by
+the captain to come to the office, made their appearance. They insisted
+that the office was a swindling-shop, and they had looked it up. They
+knew the other man, and were sure they could find him in the course of
+a day or two. The man in charge and Mr. Flinker were arrested, and sent
+to the Tombs.
+
+The next day the other man was discovered, and the trio were tried for
+the swindle, and sent to Sing Sing for a term of years. On Mr. Flinker
+was found a roll of bills, which on counting them contained one hundred
+dollars. They were on the Walnut National Bank, and Wade was sure they
+were the ones taken from him. They were given back to him, and the
+boy from the country was rich again. Wade proved to be a good witness
+in this case and in the one against the robbers of the jewelry-store.
+There were plenty of witnesses to confirm about all his statements; and
+he stood the test of the lawyers that defended the burglars very well
+indeed, for he told the truth, and only the truth, hit where it might.
+
+After the arrest of the employment swindlers, Wade went back to the
+store of Maynard & Co. As the poor boy went into the private office, it
+was plain enough to all that he was used up. The excitement had been
+tremendous. He gaped fearfully.
+
+“I see, my lad, that you are tired out and very sleepy,” said the
+senior partner. “Come with me, and I will try to do something for you.”
+
+Wade followed him out into the store. The ceiling was at least eighteen
+feet from the floor. On one side, beginning in the middle and extending
+to the rear, was a kind of gallery, ten feet above the floor. Part
+of this was partitioned off so as to contain rooms used for various
+purposes. Wade followed Mr. Maynard up a flight of stairs that led to
+this gallery. In the rear, which was lighted by windows opening into
+the back street, were several work-shops for the repair of articles of
+jewelry. Passing through these, they came to a room which was fitted
+up as a sleeping-apartment. It contained two beds; and every thing
+about it was almost as nice as the upper chambers of the hotel Wade had
+visited.
+
+“This was John Steeples’s room,” said Mr. Maynard. “Another clerk used
+to sleep in the other bed; but he has been sick for the last week. You
+can go to bed here, and sleep till you are rested. If you do not wake,
+I will have you called about six o’clock.”
+
+Mr. Maynard left him, and Wade was soon in bed and fast asleep. He
+hardly noticed the apartment, he was so tired.
+
+At the time stated, Mr. Maynard called him. The store had been closed,
+and most of the clerks had left; but the partners were all there. Wade
+was conducted to the private office, where the firm were assembled.
+Wade wondered “what was up.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+THE TURNING OF THE TIDE.
+
+
+“Wade,” said Mr. Maynard, “I have made some arrangements for the
+present, which I hope will be satisfactory to you.”
+
+“Any thing you do will suit me, sir,” replied Wade, wondering what was
+coming.
+
+“Here is the pistol which I provided for the use of John Steeples. I
+want you to sleep in his room with another man to-night, and till we
+can make other plans for the future. I will go with you now to a place
+where you can take all your meals at our expense.”
+
+“Thank you, sir; but now I have got my money back, I am able to take
+care of myself. All I want is a place to work,” said Wade, who felt as
+independent as a basket of chips, now that he was rich.
+
+“You shall have a place to work in a few days: you may depend upon
+that,” added Mr. Maynard.
+
+“I can go to the restaurant, where Mr. Flinker said he would give me a
+job of some kind, I don’t know what.”
+
+“We can give you better work and better pay than any restaurant in the
+city,” continued Mr. Maynard. “Don’t think any thing more about Mr.
+Flinker.”
+
+“I am willing to do any kind of work; and I have been used to hard
+labor for the last year, and to poor living and very little of it. I
+don’t expect to live in the parlor,” added Wade.
+
+“Wade, your conduct, including your modesty, pleases us very much; for
+you don’t seem to think that you have done a great service to us,” said
+Mr. Maynard; and the other partners could not help laughing at the
+simplicity of the boy.
+
+“I only did what I thought was right,” replied Wade, fixing his gaze
+upon the floor. “When I saw those fellows bringing stuff out of the
+store in the middle of the night, I knew enough to see that it wasn’t
+the thing to do, if I was not brought up in New York.”
+
+“You did the right thing. Now, have you any idea what the goods the
+robbers had packed up to take away with them were worth?”
+
+“No, sir, I have not; but I shouldn’t wonder if they would foot up to
+a thousand dollars, because watches and such things as you keep here
+count up pretty fast,” added Wade.
+
+“We don’t know what they were worth exactly, but it would be more,
+rather than less, than twenty thousand dollars.”
+
+“Creation!” exclaimed Wade, astounded at these figures.
+
+“Now I will show you where you are to get your meals,” continued the
+senior partner.
+
+Wade followed him to a hotel in the neighborhood, where the jeweller
+had made arrangements for him. He had a nice supper, and then returned
+to the store, where he was admitted by one of the partners, and
+introduced to his room-mate. The latter was one of the clerks; and,
+though he could not wholly conceal his contempt for his companion’s
+greenness, he treated him very well. No attempt to break into the store
+was made that night, and Wade slept like a rock till daylight in the
+morning.
+
+For several days the boy from the country took his meals at the
+restaurant, slept in the gallery-chamber, and did such work about the
+store as he could find to do. Some of the clerks were disposed to make
+fun of him because he was not fashionably dressed; but Wade took no
+notice of them. He was kind and obliging to all; and, in spite of his
+verdancy, all in the store began to like him.
+
+He was willing to work, and anxious to do so; and all that troubled him
+was, that he had so little to do. He kept his ears and eyes wide open,
+and he soon began to learn something about the business. When he could
+find nothing else to do, he studied the map of the city, which he found
+in the store, so as to learn all about the streets; for he found he was
+often sent upon errands, and required to deliver goods. He seldom saw
+Mr. Maynard; but the junior partners told him what to do, and gave him
+all the good advice he needed.
+
+When he had been in the store a week, Mr. Maynard sent for him, and he
+presented himself in the private office. The senior partner looked very
+good-natured, and saluted him very kindly. Wade wondered that nothing
+more had been said to him about the kind of work he was to do, for he
+had been doing nothing but odd jobs up to this time. He felt now that
+he was to have some kind of a position in the establishment, and that
+he would have his particular duties assigned to him.
+
+“Wade, I have been to Midhampton three times since I spoke to you last;
+and I have seen Capt. Singleton of the cutter,” said Mr. Maynard. “I
+have inquired into your character of all persons I could find who knew
+any thing about you.”
+
+“I suppose Obed Swikes didn’t speak very well of me,” added Wade.
+
+“He did not; but everybody else did. I had a long talk with Capt.
+Trustleton about you, and we went over all the events that occurred
+before and at the time of your leaving Midhampton. He was confident
+that you were an honest and truthful boy: he was sure you had a good
+deal of real grit. I saw your teachers in the day and Sunday school,
+and their testimony was all in your favor. In a word, Wade, I am
+entirely satisfied with you. What Swikes says against you, under the
+circumstances, is rather in your favor than otherwise.”
+
+“I had to bear all the blame, while I was at his house, for whatever
+his son Matt did that was out of the way. Matt was a bad boy,” said
+Wade.
+
+“So I ascertained. Swikes wants to get you back; but I went to the
+authorities of the town, and they say he has no claim upon you.”
+
+“I always said that when I was accused of running away from him. They
+said I belonged in the poorhouse; and I would rather have gone there,
+if it hadn’t been for the name of the thing.”
+
+“I have a paper from the overseers of the poor of the town, binding you
+over to me until you are of age,” added Mr. Maynard.
+
+“I like that first-rate; and I begin to feel as though I belonged
+somewhere now,” replied Wade, with a cheerful smile.
+
+“You belong to me for the present; but if you do not like the
+arrangement, after you have tried it a while, I shall be glad to
+release you from the contract,” added Mr. Maynard. “Now I am going to
+tell you what I mean to do with you. We all feel an interest in you,
+and desire to make the best of you that we can. It is not altogether
+because you have saved a large amount of our property, but because we
+think you will become a useful young man to us.”
+
+“I shall try to do the best I can,” said the grateful boy.
+
+“Now let me tell you that Steeples was a poor boy like yourself. He did
+very well for several years; but at last he got above his business. He
+had ten dollars a week, but that was not enough to support him and his
+mother; but she was the sufferer, rather than himself. He began to
+live too fast; and now we find that he has not been honest for the last
+year, for we have been looking over his affairs since the robbery. We
+point him out as an example for you to shun.”
+
+“I don’t think I could ever let the robbers into the store, as he did,”
+said Wade.
+
+“Probably he did not think so when he first got his place. He was
+considered a very good boy, or we should not have trusted him as we
+did. We shall give you ten dollars a week, and pay your board.”
+
+“That’s very liberal, as I have no mother to support,” replied Wade,
+delighted with the prospect thus held out to him, for his dream of
+riches was fully realized in this plan. “But what am I to do?”
+
+“In the first place, you are to sleep in the store with Ranlet, when
+he gets well. We close the establishment at six, and open it at eight.
+Between ten and six, one of you must walk about the store all the time.
+This will be eight hours, or four for each of you; and you and Ranlet
+can divide the time as you please: only, when you have made the plan,
+let me know what it is. To make up for this night service, you will not
+be asked to do any thing after one o’clock, or before nine o’clock in
+the morning. One of you may be out of the store till ten every evening.”
+
+“What am I to do in the forenoon, sir?” asked Wade.
+
+“At first you will carry bundles, assist in packing goods, and make
+yourself generally useful,” replied Mr. Maynard. “During the holidays,
+and at other times when we are very busy, we shall expect you to do all
+you can without regard to hours, though you will have plenty of time to
+eat and sleep. Let me say, Wade, that you must put on better clothes
+than you wear now, and, if you desire it, one of us will go with you
+to the tailor’s, and we shall present to you your first suit,” added
+Mr. Maynard, with a smile, as he surveyed the primitive garments of the
+“one from the country.”
+
+Wade accepted this kind offer; and in a few days he was as fashionably
+dressed as the rest of the employés in the store. In another week
+Ranlet was able to return to his duty, and he and Wade divided the time
+between them. As his room-mate had friends in the city, it was agreed
+that he should be out every evening till ten, while Wade was to sleep
+from six till two. This was eight hours for him, and all he needed.
+Ranlet was to sleep from two in the morning till eight, and take his
+nap in the afternoon if he wanted it. Mr. Maynard thought it was about
+an even thing, and approved the plan.
+
+Then Wade found he had all the afternoon on his hands: and for a few
+days he preferred to work during these hours, rather than “loaf,”
+but Mr. Maynard suggested that he could go to school at one of the
+mercantile academies, and fit himself for business. He took this
+advice, and was wholly devoted to his studies.
+
+In October he was allowed a week’s vacation; and he spent it in a visit
+to Midhampton. Even a month of absence had made a wonderful change in
+his appearance and manners; and his old friends hardly knew him. He
+found that Capt. Trustleton had sent his son to a boarding-school of
+the strictest sort, where he had to eat and sleep with his teachers,
+and had no time at all to “cut up.”
+
+Wade went to see Obed Swikes’s folks; but they were not very glad to
+see him. The old lady told him he looked like a dandy, and she supposed
+he was as “stuck up as any of the rest of them city fellers.” Obed
+thought, as he had plenty of money now, he had better pay for his board
+for the time he was in the family; but Wade “couldn’t see it.”
+
+Matt had a terrible sore head since he got back from his excursion to
+New York and out to sea. His father had talked a great deal with Capt.
+Trustleton about him and Lon. They had been partly spoiled, both of
+them, by being humored too much. The captain spoke favorably of the
+boarding-school to which he intended to send his own son; but Obed was
+too mean to pay the bills, and he thought he could “knock the nonsense
+out of Matt” by putting him down to hard work. And he did do it. Since
+Matt had stolen his money, the old man’s eyes were opened. It was hard
+times with Matt just now; and, if he could have got hold of any money,
+he would have lost no time in running away again. But Obed kept his
+money in the bank after it had been stolen twice.
+
+Wade Brooks is now one of the best salesmen in the store of Maynard &
+Co.; and he knows that part of the business as well as the partners.
+He has followed up his studies so closely that he is a well-educated
+man. He is only twenty-two; and there is no doubt that he will soon
+be one of the partners of the firm. He has been relieved of the duty
+of sleeping in the store; and though he was “one from the country,”
+and noted in the beginning for his verdancy, he is now an elegant and
+accomplished gentleman; and rumor has it that Mr. Maynard’s youngest
+daughter is not wholly indifferent to him.
+
+Our story is finished. Wade Brooks has come out of all his troubles. He
+has been faithful to his employers; he has improved his mind; and he
+has studied to make himself perfect in the knowledge of his business.
+After his courage and skill had procured him a good situation, the
+turning of the tide came to him; and since that time, when things good,
+pleasant, and profitable come to him, it is “Just his Luck.”
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
+
+
+  Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
+
+  Perceived typographical errors have been corrected.
+
+  Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
+
+  Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76585 ***