Flood Tide

by Sara Ware Bassett

  CHAPTER XIX

  WILLIE AS PILOT

  The invention was finished! The last rivet was in place, the lastscrew secure, and before the fulfilment of his dream the little old manstood with glowing face. It was a gentle, happy face with misty blueeyes that carried at the moment a serene contentment.

  "I couldn't 'a' done it but for you, Bob," he was saying. "The ideawas all well enough, but 'twould 'a' been of no use without otherbrains to carry it out. So you must remember a big slice of the creditis yours."

  Robert Morton shook his head.

  "Oh, the thing is yours, Willie--every bit yours," protested he. "Ionly did some of the mechanical part, and that any fool could do."

  "The mechanical part, as you call it, is full as important as thenotion," Willie persisted. "I shall tell Zenas Henry it's ourinvention when I turn it over to him."

  The pronoun thrilled Bob with pleasure. It meant the sweeping aside ofthe last film of distrust and the restoration of the old man's formerconfidence and friendship. For days Willie had slowly been reachingthe conviction that if fraud had been practised Tiny's nephew had beenonly an innocent party to it--the tool of more designing hands. Howwas the lad to know he was being so artfully made use of? And anyway,perhaps there may have been no conspiracy at all. Might not Janoahhave been mistaken about Snelling raiding the workshop? Why, a scoreof reasons might have brought him there! He might have left behind himsomething he needed; or there might have been something he wanted todo. It was absurd to accuse him of a secret and deliberately plannedvisit.

  Willie was a simple, single-minded soul and now that Janoah and hismalicious influence had been removed, he dropped comfortably back intoa tranquillity from which, when viewed in perspective, his formersuspicions seemed both unjust and ridiculous. Suppose Mr. Galbraithdid happen to be a boat-builder? Was he not Bob's friend and Delight'suncle, a gentleman of honor who had money enough without stooping tosecure more by treachery? And did it not follow that since Mr.Snelling was in his employ he must be a person of reputable character?A fig for Janoah Spence's accusations!

  Willie blew a contemptuous whiff of smoke into the air. How had heever dropped to being so base as to credit them for an instant? He wasashamed for having done so.

  Therefore whole-heartedly he gave his hand to Robert Morton, and if theact were a mute petition for forgiveness it was none the less sincerein its intent and was met with an equal spirit of good will.

  "I suppose now that everything is complete, there is no reason why wecan't present the thing to Zenas Henry right away, is there?"questioned Bob, who with hands thrust deep in his trousers' pocketscontemplated with satisfaction the product of their joint toil.

  "Not the least in the world," Willie answered. "If we was to keep ithere a week there ain't nothin' more we could do to it, an' sinceyou've tried it out over at Galbraith's we know it works."

  "Oh, it works all right!" laughed Bob.

  The eyes of the little inventor softened and into them crept a glint ofpensiveness.

  "Yes," he repeated, "we can deliver it up to Zenas Henry 'most anytimenow." He paused. "Queer, ain't it, how kinder attached you get toanything you've fussed over so long? It gets to be 'most a part ofyou. You'll think it funny, I guess, but do you know I'll be sortersorry to see this thing goin'."

  It was the regret of the parent compelled to part from his child andwith an effort at comfort Robert Morton said cheerfully:

  "Oh, you'll be having a new scheme before long."

  "Mebbe I will," Willie answered, brightening. "I never can tell whenthe sun rises in the mornin' what idee will kitch me before night.Still, I somehow feel there'll be no idee like this one. You know theysay every artist creates one masterpiece," he smiled shyly. "This, Ireckon, is my masterpiece."

  "It is a bully one, anyhow!" ejaculated Bob. "Aren't you curious tohear what Zenas Henry will say when he sees it?"

  "I am sorter itchin' to," admitted Willie in less meditative tone."Only last night I was thinkin' after I got to bed how would be thebest way of givin' it to him. I've sorter set my heart on springin' iton him as a surprise. What's your notion?"

  "I think that would be a fine plan," replied Bob, eager to humor thegentle dreamer. "If we could get him and the captains out of the way,it would be good sport simply to fasten the attachment to the boat andwait and see what happened."

  "Wouldn't that be the beateree!" chimed in Willie excitedly. His faceglowed and he rubbed his hands with honest pleasure. "Wouldn't it,though? We could manage it, too, for Delight could arrange to getZenas Henry an' the three captains out of the way. She's an almightygood one at keepin' a secret, as I reckon you've found out already."

  He stole a sly glance at the young man at his elbow who flusheduncomfortably.

  "Yes," he rambled on, "Delight can shut her mouth on occasions like asif it was a scallop shell. The only trouble is she'd oughter close hereyes too, for they talk 'most as well as her tongue does. Likelyyou've noticed that," he added innocently.

  "I--eh--"

  "Fur's that goes, your own eyes do somethin' in the speakin' line,"affirmed Willie, bending to fleck a bit of dust from the appliancebefore them.

  "What!" Robert Morton exclaimed with alarm.

  The old inventor nodded gravely.

  "Yes," continued he, "now I come to think of it, you've got among themost speakin' eyes I ever see. They kinder bawl things right out."

  "What--what--have they--" stammered Bob, crumpling weakly down upon therickety chair before the stove.

  "Bawled? Oh, a lot of things," was the provokingly ambiguous retort.

  His companion eyed him narrowly.

  "I'm--I'm--in a horrible mess, Willie," he suddenly blurted out quiteirrelevently.

  "I know it."

  Robert Morton gasped, then lapsed into stunned silence.

  "Without goin' into any details or discussin' any ladies we know, myadvice would be to make a clean breast of the whole thing," the littleold man announced, avoiding Robert Morton's eyes and blowing a ring ofsmoke from his pipe impersonally toward the low ceiling. "Have it outwith Zenas Henry an' set yourself right with the Belleport folks. Youdon't want to do nothin' under cover."

  "No, I don't," rejoined the younger man quickly. "The reason I didn'tdo so in the first place was because Zenas Henry was so upset when heheard about Madam Lee that we--I thought--"

  "He's calmed down now, ain't he?"

  "Yes, he seems to have accepted the facts, especially as the Galbraithshave not been near him and have let the whole matter drop. Of coursethat is only a temporary condition, however. Mr. Galbraith has been inNew York attending to important matters ever since Madam Lee's death.What will be done when he returns I do not know; but he will dosomething--you may be sure of that."

  "That ain't no special business of yours or mine, is it?" Willieremarked. "All that concerns you is to let both those men know whereyou stand--Zenas Henry first, 'cause he's been like a father toDelight; an' Mr. Galbraith afterwards, 'cause--" he hesitated for thefraction of a second, "'cause the Galbraiths are the girl's nearest ofkin an' legally, I s'pose, have a right--"

  "Yes," interrupted Robert Morton hastily.

  "When you get things all squared up, we'll talk more about it,"continued Willie. "But 'til you do the affair ain't open an' aboveboard, an' I don't want nothin' to do with it. The top of the ocean isgood enough for me; I never was much on swimmin' under water."

  He broke off abruptly to refill his pipe.

  "Now about this motor-boat," he went on crisply, veering to a lessdelicate subject. "S'pose you fix it up with Delight to keep ZenasHenry an' the three captains away from the beach for a couple of daysso'st to give us time to get our invention securely rigged to the _SeaGull_. She could find somethin' for 'em to do up at the house for thatlong, couldn't she?"

  "I guess so."

  "If she can't, Abbie can," chuckled Willie, with a grin. "AbbieBrewster's the most famous woman in the world for
settin' folks towork. She's made Zenas Henry clean over since his marriage. Why, Iremember the time when you could no more have got him to do a day'swork than you could have lined up the fish of the sea in aSunday-school. But with trainin', Zenas Henry now does his plowin',plantin' an' harvestin' in somethin' approachin' alarm-clock fashion.Of course, he backslides if he ain't constantly held to it; but knowin'his past it's a miracle what Abbie's made of him. She ain't neverwholly reformed his temper, though. There's plenty of cayenne in thatstill. I reckon if you was to amputate Zenas Henry's temper you'd findyou had took away the most interestin' part of him."

  His listener smiled.

  "Now you go ahead an' arrange things with Delight, Bob," continuedWillie. "An interview with her won't be no great hardship for you,will it? I thought not. An' any fillin' in I can do, I'll do--anyfillin' in," he repeated significantly. "You can count on me to plugany gaps that come anywheres--remember that."

  "It's bully of you, Willie!" cried Bob, seizing his hand.

  "Not a mite," protested the little man, with a deprecating gesture."Now that I've got Bart Coffin an' Minnie livin' like turtle doves, an'Jack Nickerson as good as married to Sarah Libbie Lewis, two of myships seem to have dropped anchor safe an' sound. I reckon I shan'tneed to do no more pilotin' there."

  The little old inventor stopped a moment, then added:

  "Sometimes I figger what I was put in the world for was to do pilotduty. You know there's folks that never own a ship of their own butjust spend their days towin' other people's ships into port. Theyain't so bad off neither," he went on in a merrier tone, "'causethere's a heap of joy in helpin' some other vessel to make a landin'."

  More moved by the words than he would have confessed, Robert Mortonwatched the bent figure move through the door and out into thesunshine; and afterward, banishing the seriousness of his mood, heclimbed the hill to the white cottage, there to evolve with Delight aplot that should hold the men of the Brewster household captive longenough for Willie and himself to attach to Zenas Henry's motor-boat thenew invention.