CHAPTER XIV. THE MAN IN THE BOAT
"Fellows," said Jack Harvey, one afternoon, a few days following thereturn of the _Spray_ from its cruise, "I have decided to enter thatfree-for-all race over at Bellport. I've just heard that Ed Perkins isn'tgoing to race the _Ella_, after all; and, with her out of the race, westand a good show. Let's get the stuff aboard and start while there's awind."
"Who'll stay here and watch the camp?" asked Allan Harding.
"Well, I guess you'd better, now you speak of it," responded Harvey,quickly. "There ought to be somebody here, sure. Camps have a way ofdisappearing around here, you know, Allan," giving a huge wink as hespoke.
"I'd just as lieve stay, all right," returned Allan, a little out ofhumour, in spite of his assurance. "But you can't win the race withoutme, you know. You always said I was lucky--and there's a good deal ofluck in racing, after all."
"Well, we'll try to win without luck, that's all," said Harvey. "And,mind, we depend on you to have the camp still standing here when we getback. I shouldn't think it would be nice to get back and find one's campgone, eh, Allan?"
"No," replied the other, shortly.
The crew lost no time in stowing their blankets and camp-kit aboard the_Surprise_, and, leaving Allan Harding sullenly on guard, they sailedaway for Bellport.
"Looks as though something was missing thereabouts," chuckled Harvey, asthey sailed past the spot where Tom's and Bob's camp had stood. "Doesn'tit strike you there used to be something there that's gone now?"
This piece of humour on Harvey's part seemed to tickle the crew vastly,for they shouted with derision as they sailed by.
"Guess they must have got tired of camping there," roared Harvey, atwhich the others roared the louder.
Bellport, whither they were bound, lay about four miles down the coast ofthe mainland below Mayville. It was not so large a place as Southport,but was a favourite resort for yachtsmen, as the bay there was free ofislands, and for ten or more miles there was a good sailing course.
The yacht _Surprise_ did not reach Bellport till late that night, butHarvey and his crew were up bright and early the next morning, as therace was to come off at ten o'clock, and they wished to have everythingready for it.
"Hulloa, Harvey!" called a voice from a sloop a few rods away, as thecaptain of the _Surprise_ came on deck.
"Hulloa, Jeff!" answered Harvey.
The speaker was Jeff Hackett, who ran a small sloop from the foot ofGrand Island over to the mainland once a day to carry the mails.
"Are you in this race, too?" queried Jeff.
"Rather think I am," responded Harvey. "Think I've got any chance?"
"Looks to me as though you had," answered the other. "There are onlyeight yachts going to start. The others backed out because they didn'tthink the handicapping was fair. It's all right, though. You will have togive us fellows a trifle allowance, by just a rough measurement on thewater-line; but you'll get the same from the _Bertha_ and the _AnnaMaud_. They are the only boats that are bigger than yours. You want toget measured right away, too, or it will be too late."
Harvey had soon complied with the requirements of the regatta committee,as the committee of summer guests chosen to act as judges were pleased tostyle themselves, and shortly before the hour for the race the yacht_Surprise_ sailed out of the harbour at Bellport, and stood off and onbefore the starting-line with the others.
Harvey was in high feather, for, by his own estimate of the situation, hehad a fair chance of winning. He knew most of the boats, either byreputation, or from having seen them sail, and the others he was able tojudge of in a great measure by their general appearance.
The prize to be sailed for was a handsome silver cup, for which asubscription had been taken up among the summer residents of Bellport.
The _Bertha_, which conceded the greatest time allowance to Harvey'sboat, was a handsome sloop, about four feet longer than the _Surprise_,and carrying heavy sail. She had never been considered a fast boat of hersize, but, owing to the discrepancy in lengths, had to allow the_Surprise_ several minutes over the complete course of ten miles. This,as the _Surprise_ was really fast for her size and rig, would make itquite an even race.
The _Bertha_ was under charter by a party of young men from Benton, whohad engaged a sailing-master to pilot her for them during the summer.This made them an object of contempt in Harvey's eyes, and he wished allthe more to "take the conceit out of them," as he expressed it.
The _Anna Maud_ was a big catboat, thirty-three feet long, carrying anenormous mainsail, and reputed to be one of the fastest boats of her sizein the bay. She was owned and sailed by Captain Silas Tucker, a native ofone of the islands at the foot of the western bay, that formed part ofthe main thoroughfare leading out to sea. He was generally accorded thedistinction of being the best skipper on this part of the coast.
All the other boats, except one, were smaller than the _Surprise_. Thatone was the Sally, a sloop of exactly the same length as the _Surprise_,and apparently able to sail about on equal terms with her.
The starting-signal was to be a gunshot, the gun to be fired five minutesafter a first warning shot. In the interval after the first shot theyachts could manoeuvre about the starting-line, ready to cross when thesecond shot was fired. As soon as the second shot was fired, it wasallowable for a yacht to cross the line, and all yachts were to be timedone minute after the second gun, whether they had actually crossed theline or not. So that it was to the advantage of all nine craft to be asnear the starting-line as possible at the signal, and under headway andalso up to windward as far as possible.
Harvey's boldness stood him in good stead here. And, moreover, hecertainly did know the working of his yacht to a nicety. After thewarning gun had been fired, he made his calculations carefully, allowingfor the tide which was running out to sea. The race was to be five milesstraight out to windward, and a run home, off the wind. The ebb-tide, andthe southerly breeze rolling a sea in to meet it, made an ugly chop, andthe boats thrashed around, throwing the spray clear aboard.
Just before the second gun the relative positions of the four largestyachts were as follows: farthest up to windward was the _Surprise_; abeamof her, and a short distance to leeward, was the _Bertha_; then the _AnnaMaud_, and then the _Sally_. The _Sally_, like the Surprise, had anamateur skipper, a youth of about Harvey's age.
The _Sally_ was a new boat, not long out of the shipyard, in fact. Shewas perhaps the prettiest craft there. Her hull was beautifully modelled,with a graceful overhang, bow and stern; her sails snow-white, and mastand spars were glistening. She steered with a wheel of ornamentalmahogany and brass, and here and there about her cabin and furnishingsbrass and mahogany had been used, regardless of expense.
"Willie Grimes has us all beat for beauty," remarked Harvey, as theyneared the line, "but that boat is too new for racing; that is, he's tooscared for fear something will happen to her. Most everybody is that way.I used to be scared of the _Surprise_ all the time for fear somethingwould knock a bit of paint off somewhere. It takes about a year to getover that. He handles her as though he was afraid something was going tobreak. Just watch me take advantage of that."
Harvey had seen that the _Anna Maud_ and the _Bertha_ would cross theline a moment ahead of him, but he did not mind that so much, thinkinghis time allowance would give him more than a good chance for the race,anyway. He had selected the _Sally_ for his particular antagonist, andnow prepared to get what advantage he could from the start.
Easing his sheet a trifle, he headed off the wind somewhat, allowing thetwo larger yachts to sail almost directly across his bows. Rushing outjust astern of them, and heading diagonally for the starting-line, underfull headway, Harvey bore down on the _Sally_, as though he meantdeliberately to run her down.
If young Willie Grimes had not been so taken by surprise and so alarmedat this move of Harvey's, he would have perceived that the manoeuvre wasonly done to try his nerve; he would
have realized that as good a sailoras Harvey would not deliberately foul another yacht, when that must losehim the race, as well as the boat he fouled.
But Harvey had reckoned on the other's apprehension for his new boat, andthe move was successful. Just at the point where a moment more would havesent his boom crashing aboard the other yacht as he headed up into thewind, Harvey threw his yacht quickly about, Joe Hinman hauled in rapidlyon the main-sheet, Tim Reardon trimmed in the jibs, and away went the_Surprise_ over the line, footing after the two other boats as fast asfull sail would carry her.
At that same moment Willie Grimes, fearful of a collision, threw the_Sally_ completely off the wind, so that when he had recovered his nerveand realized that he had been imposed upon, he was so far below the boatthat marked the limit of the starting-line that he had to make anothertack to reach it. Before this, the last gun had been fired to mark thetaking of the time, and the luckless _Sally_ crossed the line with onefull minute counting against her.
The youth's face burned with indignation, and he had hard work to keepthe tears from springing to his eyes.
"Bye-bye, Willie," sang out Harvey, looking back and waving his capderisively. "Better courage next time. You don't want to mind a littlepaint, you know."
But the other had regained his spirits and paid no heed. "That's whatyachtsmen call 'jockeying,' I guess," he said, quietly, to his twocompanions in the boat. "It's within the rules, so I suppose we cannotcomplain. That's like Harvey, from all I hear. He might have given us afair show, though, as he knows this is my first summer running a boat bymyself. Perhaps we won't be far astern of him at the finish, at that."
"You did that slick, Jack," said Joe Hinman, admiringly. "We stand a goodchance of winning this race, I think, with the allowance we get."
"Didn't he scoot, though, when he saw us coming?" laughed Harvey."Thought his new boat was wrecked that time, sure. I've seen that trickplayed in big yacht races, but I never saw it work better than it didto-day, if I do say it."
The yachts were now strung out in line along the course, tacking back andforth, and making for a small naphtha launch anchored down the bay at thefive-mile mark. They made a picturesque sight, laying well over under alltheir canvas and throwing the water high over their bows.
It was soon evident that the _Bertha_, take it all in all, was the bestboat for working up to windward in rough water and a good breeze. The_Anna Maud_ was a very broad, beamy boat, and had a marvellous reputationfor running free, but now she seemed to feel the waves more than the_Bertha_, pounding heavily and drenching every one aboard.
The _Bertha_ took the seas cleaner and headed up higher. She wasevidently gaining slowly but steadily. Moreover, although she carried anenormous club-topsail and a mainsail of big area, she heeled over theleast of any of the boats. She had been built for heavy weather, and thiswas exactly the breeze she sailed best in.
The _Surprise_ and _Sally_ were, however, holding their own remarkablywell, and it would not be clear for some time which would come out thewinner.
"Hello!" exclaimed Jack Harvey, suddenly, in a tone of evident surprise."What on earth--or, rather, on water--is Cap'n Silas doing? Look where heis standing. I've been looking for the last few minutes to see him tack,but there he keeps on away off toward shore."
The _Anna Maud_ had, strange to say, gone way off the course, apparentlyheading well over to the westward.
"Why, Jack, don't you know," said Joe Hinman, "how we've noticed the tideover along that shore? It makes a swing in there and runs like amill-sluice. Don't you remember one night how we tried to row against it,and what a time we had?"
"That's true," responded Jack Harvey, "and Cap'n Sile Tucker is cleverenough to take advantage of it. He knows more about sailing in one minutethan that captain of the _Bertha_ does in a week. But there must besomething more in it than the tide alone. I'll tell you, the wind ischanging. It's heading more and more from the westward, and Captain Silewill get the full benefit of the slant when he gets down about a milefurther. He knows what he's doing. We'll just head over and follow him."
"Seems to me it's taking long chances to go so much off the course,"remarked George Baker.
"Of course it is taking chances," responded Harvey, quickly. "You havegot to take chances in a contest of this kind. The fellows that take thechances are the ones that win. But it isn't taking any great chances,following Cap'n Tucker. I tell you he knows these waters better than anyman in the bay. He wouldn't go over there unless he knew he was going tomake something by it. Why, he has sailed that big catboat of his up anddown along this coast for the last twenty years and more, that and otherboats. The skipper in the _Bertha_ comes from away up beyond Millville.He can sail his boat all right, but he don't know this coast like CaptainSile."
Harvey, accordingly, stood over to the westward, in the wake of the _AnnaMaud_.
Only one other boat followed him. That was the _Sally_.
"I don't know what they are standing away over there for," said WillieGrimes to his companions. "I don't know whether it is the best thing todo or not. It may be that they know something about the tide over there.But I know one thing, and that is, wherever Jack Harvey goes I'm going tofollow. I wouldn't care if every other yacht here beat me if I could onlybeat him. You never can tell, you know. Something may happen to him yet."
The wisdom of Captain Silas Tucker's departure from the straight coursesoon became apparent. The tide, indeed, at this point made a sweepinshore, for some reason, flowing far swifter in near the land than itdid offshore. Again, too, the wind had slanted a little, and the yachtsthat had taken this course were soon in a better position relative to thestake-boat than the others.
Slowly the _Anna Maud_ drew ahead of the _Bertha_, the captain of thelatter boat realizing the advantage which the others were gaining toolate to change his own course. As they neared the mark, even the_Surprise_ and the _Sally_ were leading the _Bertha_, which now seemed tobe hopelessly out of the race.
The race, indeed, seemed narrowed down to these three yachts, with aslight advantage in the _Anna Maud's_ favour.
"Hooray!" cried Harvey, "we are holding the _Anna Maud_ in fine style.She's gaining ever so little, not enough thus far to cover our timeallowance. They say she is fast off the wind, but so are we. That's thebest point of the _Surprise_. She sails better running free than any boatof her size I ever saw."
"Cracky!" cried young Tim, "I hope we take that silver cup back to campwith us. We'll march through the streets with it, if we get it."
"Yes, if we get it," replied Harvey. "It don't do to be too sure,though."
Now the _Anna Maud_ was rounding the stake-boat and coming back over thecourse, not quite before the wind, owing to the slant to the westwardthat it had taken, but with her sheet well out.
"The wind is in our favour," said Harvey, gleefully. "There's just enoughslant to it so our jibs will help us some. They will draw a little, andthat gives us an advantage over that catboat. Let that sheet go, now,Joe, the minute we turn the mark."
A moment later the _Surprise_ rounded the stake-boat, with a good leadover the _Sally_, and still near enough astern of the _Anna Maud_ to giveher a good race.
"Up with that centreboard, now, George--lively," cried Harvey. "It's abig board, and we don't want to drag it a minute longer than we have to.It counts a whole lot with this tide running against it. What's thematter? What are you waiting for? Up with it!"
"Why, hang the thing!" exclaimed George Baker, "I'm trying to get it upas hard as ever I can. It won't come. It's stuck."
"What's that?" cried Harvey. "Stuck? Nonsense! Here, you, Joe, hold thiswheel a moment. I'll have it up in a hurry."
He sprang forward, brushing George Baker out of the way impatiently.
"Let me get hold there," he said.
Harvey seized the iron rod, which was fastened to the centreboard, andgave a strong pull. But the centreboard did not budge. He took a firmerhold and pulled with all his strength. It was of no avail. The board hadstuck
fast in its box.
"I'll have it up or break something," cried Harvey, beside himself withanger, and again he grasped the rod with both hands and gave a furiouswrench. There was a most unexpected and baffling verification of histhreat, for the rod, broken off short at its connection with thecentreboard, did come up, so suddenly that Harvey sprawled overbackwards, still grasping the rod with both hands clenched, and rolledover on the floor of the cockpit.
There was no such thing as getting the centreboard up now. It was down tostay.
Harvey, white with rage, sprang to his feet and hurled the rod into thesea. Then he took his seat sullenly at the wheel again.
"That settles it," he said, as soon as he could speak for anger. "Wehaven't a ghost of a chance now. I shouldn't wonder, even, if the _Sally_overhauled us." And he looked back helplessly at the yacht astern.
Slowly but surely the _Anna Maud_ forged ahead. The distance between herand the _Surprise_ grew ever farther and farther.
"That's queer," said Captain Silas Tucker, looking back at Harvey'syacht. "I thought she was going to give us a harder run home than that.I've heard the boat was good off the wind, but she doesn't seem to bedoing well. It's first prize for us this trip, and easily won. Well, yourUncle Silas hasn't sailed around these parts all his life for nothing."
Slowly but surely, too, the _Sally_ was creeping up close astern of the_Surprise_, to the wild delight of Willie Grimes and his comrades.
"If I can only beat Jack Harvey," he kept saying, "I don't care about theother yacht's beating us."
"If Willie Grimes beats us, I'll run him down and sink him some day,"muttered Harvey, grinding his teeth.
It was still a close race between these two as the finish-line wasneared. The _Sally_ had crept up until she was almost abeam of the_Surprise_, and was gaining, ever so slowly, but surely. Harvey, doggedto the last, waited until the _Sally_ was nearly abreast of him, andthen, as a last resort, tried once more to bully the race from his lessexperienced rival.
Throwing his wheel over slightly, he tried the tactic of crowding theother off the course.
But Willie Grimes was bound to win or sink this time. He kept his ownboat off just enough to avoid the possibility of Harvey's fouling him,maintaining the same relative distance between them, and all the whiledrawing ahead.
The judges, watching the close finish through their glasses, perceivedthis trick of Harvey's, and were ready to disqualify him in case of anyaccident. But their determination was unnecessary. Less than a dozen rodsfrom the finish-line the _Sally_ had sailed clear of the _Surprise_, andnow cut in on to the course, leaving Harvey astern, and crossed the linea rod to the good.
Then, as a storm of cheers rang out from the assembled boats, as afluttering of handkerchiefs and waving of parasols, a tossing of hats andshrieking of whistles, saluted the victory of Willie Grimes over him,Harvey did not deign to cross the line. Angrily he swung out of thecourse, and stood over, without a word, for the town of Bellport.
"Takes his licking hard, doesn't he, Willie?" called out a voice, and achorus of laughter mocked at Harvey's wrath as he sailed away.
The _Anna Maud_ had won the race, but the honours were as much for the_Sally_ as for the winner. They took substantial form, moreover, for, oneof the committee, vowing the _Sally_ should have a second prize, if hehad to buy one himself, as there had not been any offered, the suggestionmet with a ready response; and the owner and crew of the _Sally_ rejoicedthat night in the unexpected award of a handsome compass for their cabin.
"Now," said Harvey, as the _Surprise_ neared the landing at Bellport, "Iwant to get out of this town just as quick as I step foot in it. I don'tintend to stay here and have those chaps and those girls laugh at me.They've got altogether too good a chance. You fellows have got to stayhere and take the _Surprise_ up to Billy Coombs's marine railway. She'llhave to be hauled out for a day and the ballast come out of her aroundthat centreboard box. Tell him to put a new iron in, and you can pay forit, Joe, and I'll pay you when you come back to camp."
"But where are you going?" asked the others.
"I am going to foot it down the road for seven miles to Hackett's Cove,and wait for Jeff Hackett to come down," answered Harvey. "Then I'll goacross to the foot of the island with him in his sloop. I'd walk fartherthan that to get clear of the crowd that will be ashore here soon; but,for that matter, I want to get back to the island to-night, anyway.There's a dance in the old town hall at Carter's Harbour, and I'll getthere in time for that."
"He's all cut up over Willie Grimes's beating him," said Joe Hinman, asHarvey sprang out on the landing and walked rapidly away. "He won't getover it for a week. Well, we shall have to catch it for him when theboats come in. However, we didn't sail the boat. That's one comfort."
Late that afternoon, Jack Harvey, hot and dusty with his long walk,waited impatiently, seated on a pile of timber by the shore, for thearrival of Jeff Hackett's sloop. Five o'clock came, and then six, and nosloop in sight. Harvey strolled up to the village store and bought somecrackers and cheese for his supper.
"So you're waiting for Jeff Hackett's sloop to take you across to theisland, are you?" said the storekeeper. "Well, you'll wait till morningnow, I reckon. Wish I'd known you wanted to go over sooner. You see, Jeffengaged Tom Crosby to make his trip this afternoon for him, and he's beengone an hour now. You must have seen Tom's boat off there."
"I did," replied Harvey, shortly, "but I had no idea he was going across.What can I do, now?"
"Nothing that I see," said the storekeeper, "except to take itcomfortable here to-night, and go over with Jeff in the morning."
Harvey strode angrily out and walked down to the shore again.
A rod or two out a fisherman was rowing in a small boat.
"Here, you, where are you going?" sang out Harvey.
The man looked up, surprised, but did not answer.
"I say, there, where are you going? Can't you hear?" cried Harvey,roughly.
The man stopped rowing. "What's that to you?" he answered.
Harvey laughed. "You've got me there," he said. "I didn't mean to berude--but I've been disappointed. I didn't know but you might be going torow across to the island, and I thought perhaps you might like to earn adollar. I'll help row, too, if you like. I want to go, the worst way."
The man hesitated for a moment, started as though he were going to rowaway, and then paused again.
"Where do you belong?" he asked.
"Over on the island," said Harvey. "I'm camping there."
"What's that?" said the man, putting his hand to his ear. "Say it again."
"I'm camping out over on the island," repeated Harvey.
The man looked stealthily in at him from under his eyebrows. "Campingthere!" he muttered to himself, and began backing water slowly with hisoars.
"I'll take you across for--for a dollar," he said.
"Good!" cried Harvey. "Come on, lively, then. It's a good five miles, andI'm in a hurry to get across."
The man, however, was in no hurry. He came in slowly, as though perhapshe might still be considering the matter, whether he should take thispassenger aboard or not. He worked the boat inshore, finally, and Harveysprang aboard.
"You are going to help row," said the man.
"Yes," answered Harvey. "Didn't I say I would?" He took his seat towardthe stern of the boat, where there were rowlocks for an extra pair ofoars.
The man at the bow oars was a thick, heavy-set, middle-aged man, burneddark by sun and wind. He was roughly dressed in ill-fitting clothes, thatlooked as though they might have come from the dunnage-bag of a fishermanwho had been long at sea. They were patched in one or two places withcloth that did not match the original garments. He wore a red,cheap-looking handkerchief tied loosely about his neck, and a rough beardof several weeks' growth heightened the effect of his swarthy complexion.
They rowed for some time in silence, making good headway, for the windhad gone down with the sun, and the man in the bow pulled a powerfulstr
oke, making even the sturdy efforts of Jack Harvey seem like child'splay.
The sun sank behind the hills and the shadows deepened across the water,fading out at length into the darkness that settled over all the bay. Afew lights glimmered out from the shore of the island, some three milesdistant, and the stars appeared in the sky.
"Lucky I fell in with you, just as I did," said Harvey, as he slowed uphis stroke. "Lucky for both of us, I take it. I should have been stuckthere all night if I hadn't met you; and I don't suppose you mind pickingup a dollar, as long as you were going this way."
"No," said the man, though there was a queer expression on his face. "Idon't mind,--and the fishing isn't any too good these days."
"Got a smack, have you?" inquired Harvey.
"No," answered the other. "I don't own any boat myself. But I sail with aman as owns his own boat, and I come in for a fair share of the fish."
"Where does she lie?" asked Harvey.
The man waited a moment before answering. "She's down among the islandssomewhere," he said, finally. "She'll be in for me to-night or to-morrow.I've been visiting some relations of mine back of Bellport a few miles.So you're a summer visitor at the island, are you?"
"Yes," replied Harvey, "I spend my summers there."
"Pretty quiet place, isn't it?" said the man.
"Mostly," returned Harvey, "but not so quiet this year. We've had someexciting times there."
"Yes?" said the man. "How's that?"
He had slowed up, himself, in his rowing now. And if by chance theconversation had turned whither he had intended it should, there was noway that Harvey should know of that, for his back was toward the man andhe could not see his face.
"Why," continued Harvey, "they caught the men that stole the Curtisdiamonds over there; that is, they got two of them. A third one escaped.He was the worst of the three, they say."
The man in the bow had paused in his rowing.
"The worst one got away, did he?" said he.
"He did," said Harvey. "It seemed one of them had the diamonds hidden ina house that every one thought was haunted. He was stopping at the hotelas a regular guest. And no one suspected him but Henry Burns. Then, whenhis confederates came, the detectives were lying in wait for them in thecellar. They nearly beat the detectives, though, at that. For theysmashed the lanterns out--that is, one of them did, and made a run forit. The other one was hurt."
"Did he die?" asked the man, quickly.
"No," replied Harvey. "He's all right, waiting trial along with the otherone. We got him, too, just as he was nearly down to shore, where theother man was waiting to take him off in a boat. The third man escaped inhis yacht. We only captured two."
The man in the bow had drawn his oars in, now, so that they rested alongthe side of the boat. His hands worked nervously together, and hehalf-rose in his seat.
"Who's 'we'?" he asked, huskily. "Who did it--did you have a hand in it?"
If, by chance, this moment was a crisis in the life of Jack Harvey, andif, by chance, he was in greater danger at this moment than he had everbeen before in all his life, there was no shadow of it across his mind.He answered with a laugh:
"No, not I. No such luck. If there's anything like that going on, I'msure to miss it. No, 'twas the other camp and a crowd I have no likingfor that did it all, that got all the glory and all the fun and themoney, too. The reward, I mean. I'd rather have been there at thecapture, though, than get the money for it. And I don't know why, but Ifelt rather sorry for the two chaps that got caught, bad as they were."
A good speech for you, Jack Harvey, if you did but know it!
"So you missed all the fun, did you?" said the man, quietly. "That wastoo bad; too bad."
He had put his oars into the water once more now, and resumed his rowing.He did not pause to rest again, but pulled long and steadily. Evidentlyhe did not care to row and talk too, for he lapsed into silence now, andHarvey could not draw him into conversation again. At the end of anotherhour they had come close to the Grand Island shore, and shortly they hadpulled alongside a ledge, where Harvey could jump out. The man started torow away.
"Here, hold on, there," cried Harvey. "Don't you want your dollar? You'veearned it, fair enough."
The man came slowly back to shore.
"Indeed," he said, as he stretched out his hand, "I ought not to forgetthat, with the fishing as bad as it is." And then he added, quietly, ashe started to row away again, "And it's worth a dollar to you to gethere, isn't it?"
"Indeed it is," replied Harvey.
"Indeed it is," said the man to himself.
Then he rowed down the shore for about a mile farther, turned into asheltered cove, rowed his boat alongside a black sloop that lay mooredthere, climbed aboard, dragged the boat aboard, and waited for an hour orso, till a faint breeze stole across the water. Then he hoisted sail onthe sloop and drifted slowly out of the cove; drifted slowly away fromthe island, and was swallowed up in the night.
The Rival Campers; Or, The Adventures of Henry Burns Page 15
