Books: The Voyage of the Hoppergrass
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Edmund Lester Pearson >> The Voyage of the Hoppergrass
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Spook crawled under a seat as soon as he saw Captain Bannister.
"G-G-Guns again!" said he; "I t-told you s-so!"
"Come out!" I said, "come out quick! It's all right,--these are my
friends. That is Captain Bannister."
"The one wh-who owns this b-boat?"
"Yes."
"D-Do you c-call th-that all r-right?"
"Yes; we can explain, and fix it up. Come out of there,--we have
got to tell them about Snider, and get them to help us drive him
off."
The "White Rabbit" passed us as if we were standing still. One by
one all those on board turned and waved their hands at me,--all
except Jimmy Toppan, who was having too good a time with the sails
to care for any person on earth. Presently they took in the
spinnaker and came about.
I persuaded Spike to believe that these people were neither police
nor crooks, nor anything else dangerous. I got him to come about,
while I dropped the peak of the sail. We made no more attempt to
escape, and in a few minutes the "White Rabbit" was alongside.
Then there had to be explanations. Everybody asked questions at
once.
"What are you doing here, Sam?"
"Where'd you find the 'Hoppergrass'?"
"Why aren't you at Rogers's Island?"
"Why didn't you come back to Lanesport?"
"Why did you try to run away from us?"
"Who are those fellows in the dory?"
The last question struck me as the one to be answered. But we had
to keep an eye on the weather,--the worst of the squall was
passing off to the north-east, and going out to sea, but it was
still breezy, and rather ticklish work for two boats so close
together. We dropped our sail, while the "White Rabbit" took in
everything but the jib.
When we were near enough to talk comfortably, I pointed to the
dory, which was only a stone's throw distant.
"Those are the men--the Gold Company people--from Rogers's Island.
They've been shooting at us with a rifle!"
"Shooting? What for?"
"Is there a feller named Caleb Snider there?" asked the Captain,
reaching again for his shot-gun.
"Yes, he--"
But Mr. Snider arose in the dory to speak for himself. He had on
his black "swallow-tail" still, and his "Bless you!" manner. His
rifle did not appear.
"James!" he called to me, "James! You have treated us badly.
Theft, James, theft--"
But Captain Bannister cut in with a scream.
"Theft! you old sarpent, you! THEFT! I like to hear YOU talk about
it! You don't know me, but I know you! Where's that three hundred
dollars I put into your Monte Cristo mine in '78? You old buzzard!
I heard tell there was a feller of your name runnin' some gold-
brick scheme at Rogerses', an' I cal'lated I'd come over an' see
you. Why,--"
The Professor evidently thought that they would do well to leave
these troubled waters. He jammed the tiller down, and tried to
sheer away. It was the most unfortunate moment possible.
"Look out!" shouted Sprague; "look out! You're going--"
A gust of wind caught their sail, the boom jibed, nearly knocking
Mr. Snider overboard, the little mast snapped like a match, and
the sail went into the water, leaving their boat helpless.
The same gust so nearly brought our boat into collision with the
"White Rabbit" that we were getting out oars, to try to fend off,
while those on board the yacht hastily took in their last sail. A
few drops of rain fell at the same moment, but we hardly noticed
them. In the midst of the confusion another voice arose on the
other side of the yacht.
"Yer're all under arrest,--all on ye!"
It was Eb and his merry men, who had come up in the second small
boat. He still had the pitchfork, which had made such an
impression on Spook.
But his voice merely aroused Captain Bannister the more. He was as
full of rage as a turkey-cock,--his face purple, and his short
figure shaking with anger. He stood on a seat in the yacht, and
dominated the whole fleet. He turned on the constable of Bailey's
Harbor as if he had expected his arrival.
"You go plumb to blazes, Eb Flanders! Go on! Git outer here! You a
kunsterble! You aint fit to ketch muck-worms! Arrestin' boys for
burglary, when the worst land-shark in the country is runnin' a
bunco-game right under yer face an' eyes! Go over an' arrest them
fellers,--arrest that there Snider!"
The voice of Snider was now heard, imploring aid.
"Is that Constable Flanders? Mr. Flanders, come to our assistance!
Our mast is broken. Professor Von Bieberstein and I are here."
"Jus' the same," said Eb, "I've got to arrest that feller!" He
pointed at Daddles. "I ketched him burglarisin' Littlefield's
house. You'll lay yourself open to a charge of resistin' a
officer, if yer interfere, Lem!"
"You'll lay YOURSELF open to a charge of buckshot!" roared the
Captain, "if you try to come on this boat! That's my boat over
there--the 'Hoppergrass'--an' I come into Bailey's with her last
Toosday afternoon, an' this feller was with me, an' the three boys
you arrested. An' what they told you was true,--they thought they
was in his uncle's house,--an' anybody would have knowed it, but a
puddin'-headed son of a sea-cook, like you!"
"Mr. Flanders! Mr. Flanders!" called Snider, again, "you must come
and help us. There is water in this boat,--we are in danger of
sinking!"
"Yes, go an' help him," shouted the Captain, "an' take that crowd
of numbskulls with you."
Eb's boat--the only one of the four under sail--had drawn well
ahead of us. His "crowd of numbskulls" consisted of three men,
among whom was Justin of the fan-like ears. They crossed our bows,
and came back to the assistance of Mr. Snider. The two gold makers
were transferred to the constable's boat, where they seemed to be
treated with great awe and respect. A light rain was falling now,
and the wind had moderated. Sprague ran up his jib, and maneuvered
his boat alongside the "Hoppergrass" again,--this time with a view
to letting the Captain, Ed, and Jimmy come aboard. Out of regard
for the paint, however, they finally came in the tender. About the
same time we saw Eb's boat, towing the disabled dory, set out in
the direction of Rogers's Island.
"There goes the crooks," remarked Captain Bannister, "safe in the
protection of the kunsterble."
"Yes," said I, "they'll have to hurry back, and get the Professor
down under the wharf before the 'May Queen' arrives. She's due
about three o'clock, with a lot more money on board for 'em."
I was anxious to get the Captain in the right frame of mind toward
the twins. There was no need to worry, however. His anger vanished
when Snider and Eb departed. Besides, it appeared that he knew how
they happened to be on board the "Hoppergrass." As soon as he had
looked his boat over, he turned to Spook.
"Your father said we'd find you when we found this boat! But I
wasn't so sure. I heard about these here burglars, so I thought it
couldn't do any harm to have a gun ready."
"F-Father! How'd he know?"
"Well, he could put two and two together when he heard I'd lost
her from Mulliken's Wharf. Besides he's seen a feller that saw you
off Squid Cove yesterday."
"C-Captain B-B-Baluster, I wouldn't s-steal your b-boat again f-
for a th-th-th-m-million dollars. It's been a t-time of a-a-
absolute m-m-misery!"
Then we said good-bye to Sprague, Pete, the Chief, and Simon the
duck. The "White Rabbit" was going to Porpoise Island, and we set
out again to Lanesport.
"Mr. Daddles--" I began,--but he interrupted me.
"I've demonstrated to the satisfaction of everyone on board the
'White Rabbit' that that nickname is grossly unjust. It was given
me by someone who thought I walked like a duck. Simon and I went
through our paces--side by side, and it was voted that there was
not the slightest resemblance. My name is Hendricks,--Richard
Hendricks when I'm up before Eb. Though--"
He hesitated an instant and stammered.
"You need not be excessively formal. My first name IS Richard, but
my middle name is William, and, as the poet says, the fellers call
me Bill."
Spike--who was looking after the "White Rabbit"--turned his head
with a snap.
"BILLY Hendricks?"
"Yes."
"The sprinter?"
"Even so!" And Mr. Daddles laughed.
There was a pause, and then Spook said:
"B-But it said in the p-papers that you were c-coming East in the
fall t-t-to take a p-p-post-g-graduate c-course at--"
"That's so. But I wanted to earn a little money too, so I promised
Mr. Kidd to come to Big Duck Island and tutor his sons for a
month, in Latin and English. And when I saw him yesterday, he told
me I must catch the sons. This is the first time I have ever
tooted."
Spook fell back on the cabin and kicked.
"And w-we've b-been t-trying to g-give you the s-slip!" he moaned.
It took us nearly all the afternoon to reach Lanesport. When the
rain stopped, the wind fell, and we were almost becalmed. We
knocked about on the Bay till a little before five o'clock.
Ed and Jimmy told me how they had found the Captain at Big Duck
Island, and how he had spent the night with them all on the "White
Rabbit." In the morning the whereabouts of the "Hoppergrass" was
still a mystery, although the Captain had been told that the Kidds
had probably taken her. Everyone was too impatient, however, to
stay at Big Duck until noon, so they set out for Lanesport. Of
course they did not find me at the Eagle House, so they decided to
make for Rogers's Island. They were on their way when they sighted
us. It was our action, in altering our course, that made them
think there might be something in the theory that the
"Hoppergrass" had been stolen by the burglars.
Then I told them about my adventures with the gold makers, and
Spook--to the Captain's great delight--related the troubles of the
Kidd brothers on board the "Hoppergrass." Toward five o'clock we
got a breeze, and half an hour later sailed up the river again, to
Lanesport.
"We won't land at Mulliken's Wharf," said Captain Bannister, "I'm
kinder superstitious 'bout that."
"Why did you come over here that afternoon?" I asked him.
"To see if I could get some letters to put on the stern of this
boat. I'd rigged up a sign on canvas 'fore I left the Harbor, 'but
it didn't look quite fust class. I'd no manner of notion but what
I'd get back 'fore you boys did from Fishback."
At the wharf next the one where we landed the "May Queen" was
lying, still covered with flags and bunting. She was empty,
however, except for a man washing down the deck. The band had gone
and her glory had departed. There was a boy in a small boat rowing
around the steamer, and staring at her. I seemed to remember his
round, red face and when he put down an oar, and waved his hand,
grinning and showing where his front teeth ought to have been, I
recollected him instantly. He was the boy who had driven the
horse-car from Squid Cove yesterday afternoon. Now, he let his
boat float down alongside the "Hoppergrass."
"Have you heard about the Comp'ny?" said he.
"No,--what about it?"
"Gee! Bust up! Yes,--the excursion went over again this afternoon,
on the 'May Queen' here, an'--an' Gran'father went too, an' while
Mr. Snider was doin' the 'speriment Orlando Noyes an' two other
fellers pried up a place on the wharf with a crow-bar, an' they
found the P'fessor down there,--he was up to some monkey business,
an' they say the whole thing is a fake! Gee! An' that aint all,
neither. They've arrested Mr. Snider an' the P'fessor,--they're
the burglars that have been burglin' houses over on Little Duck.
One of the fellers with Orlando was a special perlice an' they
went through the house an' found a whole lot of spoons an' things
that they stole outer Mis' Ellis' house. They say the P'fessor
aint a p'fessor at all,--he just got outer State's Prison 'bout a
month ago!"
No one on the "Hoppergrass" was as much interested in this as the
Captain and I. So while we talked with the boy, Ed Mason and Jimmy
Toppan walked up town to get some supplies, while Mr. Daddles--or
Billy Hendricks, rather--and the two Kidds went to see Mr. Kidd at
his office. We had invited all three of them to come with us and
finish the week on the "Hoppergrass." We felt that they belonged
on the boat now, and that the voyage was really just beginning.
In an hour they were all back once more. The Kidds had been to
their house for some clothes. They were allowed to go with us on
condition that we sail over to Big Duck Island as soon as we
could, to prove to the others of their family that they were still
alive and above water.
"And that'll be all right," said the Captain, "for we were bound
for Big Duck in the fust place... Cast off the line, Ed, and
Jimmy, I guess you can take her now. It's half-past six and I'm
going below, and see if I've forgotten how to cook flap-jacks."
Fifteen minutes later we were out of the river and crossing the
Bay once more,--this time toward Big Duck Island. A pleasing smell
of flap-jacks began to come up from below.
"There has been more doing in these three days," said Ed Mason,
"than usually happens in a month,"
"But the voyage has been tame and uneventful," said Mr. Daddles,
"compared with one my uncle made in these very parts, three years
ago."
"What happened to him?"
"Why, he was one of the sixty-seven sole survivors of the famous
wreck of the 'Hot Cross Bun'."
"Where was she wrecked?" asked Jimmy.
"On Pelican Point."
"How many were drowned?"
"No one was drowned. That was the trouble."
"Trouble?"
"Yes. They all got to hating each other so, and the food worried
'em so much, that they used to wade out in batches every morning
and TRY to drown themselves. It was the food mostly. You see the
'Hot Cross Bun' was an excursion steamer,--like that one we just
saw at the wharf. She wasn't on an excursion this time, however,--
she was making a regular trip between one of the islands in this
Bay and the mainland. That's the charm of Broad Bay,--there are
so many islands and towns that almost anything can happen.
"Well, this steamboat had on board a miscellaneous lot of
passengers, including a bird-study club, a fife and drum corps,
and two scissors-grinders. It wasn't until the boat was wrecked in
a thick fog, and they tried to exist on Pelican Point for four
days,--foggy all the time--that they found out what it was going
to be like. The Point is cut off from the mainland in bad weather,
you know. Well, they examined the food supply of the 'Hot Cross
Bun' and they found that it consisted of thirty-seven dozen sticks
of pineapple chewing gum, four quarts of peanuts, (these went the
very first day), eight pounds of half-petrified Turkish Delight,
six boxes of all-day-suckers, and about thirty thousand chocolate
mice.
"Now, all these things are very delightful when you're on dry
land, and can have them now and then, so to speak. But Pelican
Point wasn't dry, and the food got awfully tiresome! Why, my
uncle,--he's a bishop, and very regular in his habits--told me he
got so that he almost thought he wouldn't mind if he never saw a
chocolate mouse again as long as he lived!
"On the third day came the mutiny. The bird-study club had been
complaining--"
Mr. Daddles paused.
"Are you waiting for us, Captain?"
"The flap-jacks are ready," said Captain Bannister, from below.
"Why did they mutiny?" asked Spike.
"After supper," said Mr. Daddles, gravely, "I will conclude my
account of the wreck of the 'Hot Cross Bun'."
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