Four Afloat: Being the Adventures of the Big Four on the Water

by Ralph Henry Barbour

  CHAPTER XXIII--TELLS HOW THE FOUR ENCOUNTERED OLD ACQUAINTANCES

  Have you ever, dear Reader, sat down in a chair when it wasn't there? Orskated to skim ice supposing it to be two inches thick? Have you everstood at the net, with the eyes of the "gallery" upon you, and smiledgrimly and yet pityingly as you swung your racket up for the overheadsmash that was to "kill" the ball, and then hit only air? If you haveever done any of these things you can have a dim idea, at least, of howNelson and Bob and Tom looked and felt when Dan, alternately scowlinglike a desperado and grinning like a Chinese idol, opened the stateroomdoor and walked out upon them!

  I would tell you just what each one said when he found his voice, onlyBarry kept up such a barking and Tommy such a stuttering that theremarks were anything but intelligible. And the same may be said of theconversation which followed for the next ten minutes. Dan explained anddefended and the others questioned and accused; and Barry barkedhilariously and enjoyed it all immensely. But in the course of timeorder evolved from chaos, and with returning calmness came returninghunger. Tom stopped "dropping stitches" and hurriedly put luncheon onthe table. And by the time it was ready the _Vagabond_ was tied up atthe wharf where the _Sylph_ belonged. At table Dan gave the first clear,orderly narration of events.

  "You see," he said, "when I got home I found that dad was getting readyto take a late train to Meriden on some business or other. But thatwouldn't give us much time with each other, so he said that if I'd comealong he'd take the Norwich boat at six and go on from here this morningat 7.40. So that's what we did."

  "We never thought about the boat," said Nelson sadly.

  "We got in about five this morning and had breakfast aboard. Then Ishowed dad the boat and he thought she was swell. Luckily I had the keywith me and could get inside. Of course I was surprised to find youfellows weren't aboard, but I thought maybe you'd gone to the hotel fordinner last night and that it had rained so hard you'd decided to spendthe night there. But Barry was here and maybe he wasn't glad to see me!Well, about half-past seven I saw dad off on the train. Then I came backand didn't have anything to do. So I thought I'd like to see if I couldrun her myself. I'd watched Nel lots of times and was pretty sure Icould do it. So I tried and there wasn't any trouble at all. I thoughtyou fellows would come along about eight and find the boat gone and havea fit. Then I was going to come back in time for the last spasm. But shewent so well and it was such fun that I went farther than I meant to,and all of a sudden she got peeved and began to cut up."

  "How?" asked Nelson.

  "She lost sparks and pretty near stopped. 'Me to the rescue,' thinks I.I'd seen you do stunts with the vaporizer thing, you know, so I tried myhand. Well, first thing I knew she wouldn't go a foot! Just spit andsighed and sulked. I turned that wheel over about a thousand times, I'llbet! Took my coat off and then my vest, and wilted my collar, but therewas nothing doing. 'Then,' thinks I, 'it's up to little Dannie to dosome towing.' So I put the tender over and came down to change myclothes. That's where I fell down."

  "I should think so," said Bob disgustedly.

  "You see," continued Dan, with a grin, "I hadn't slept very well on theboat coming from New York and I'd got up early. So I was awfully sleepyand tired. 'So,' says I to myself, 'I'll just lie down here on the bunka minute and rest up'; I knew I had a hard job ahead of me. Well, that'sabout all I remember until I woke up a while ago and smelled coffee; Iguess it was the coffee that woke me. At first, when Nelson sung out andtold me you were three to one, I thought I was still dreaming. Then Idid some thinking and guessed that somehow or other you'd taken me forsome one else. I didn't know what the gag was, but I thought I'd see itthrough. When you told me to hand over my revolver I remembered Bob'sand got that out. I did what I could for you, you see. But I came nearspoiling it by laughing. When I heard Nel's stern voice I thought I'dhave to stuff a pillow in my mouth!"

  "It's good you didn't get gay and come through the door," said Nelsongrimly. "If you had you'd been laid out with a monkey wrench on the sideof your head."

  "That would have been a wrench," laughed Dan. "Give me some more of thehash, Tommy; it's the best ever."

  After luncheon was over they decided to go on and try to make New Haventhat evening. It was not yet three o'clock and they would have fourhours and a half of daylight in which to cover about forty-five miles.So the tender was hoisted aboard and the _Vagabond_ was cast loose fromthe wharf, and twenty minutes later they left the river water and turnedwestward. Bob gave a grunt of satisfaction.

  "Well," he said, "I'm glad to see the last of that place. I'd begun tothink that we were going to spend the rest of the summer there!"

  A moment later Tom pointed out the Seamont Inn where it stood on a hilla short distance back from the shore. And for the next half hour heregaled Dan with a history of his brief connection with that hostelry.

  It was an ideal afternoon, with the hot sunshine tempered by a coolbreeze from the southwest. On the starboard the picturesque Connecticutshore lay near at hand, jutting out into little promontories andretreating to form charming bays and inlets. On their other side, thedistant shore of Long Island showed blue and hazy across the smoothwaters of the Sound.

  They made New Haven at a little after seven, found anchorage and rowedashore in the tender. They had dinner ashore, idled away an hour abouttown afterwards and turned in early. The next morning they paid a visitto the post office and were rewarded with a good-sized bunch of mail.Then Dan telegraphed his folks to expect them for dinner that evening,and at nine o'clock they were on their way again. There followed anenjoyable but uneventful day. There was plenty to look at, since theSound was alive with boats of all sorts and descriptions. They passedStamford at one o'clock, the _Vagabond_ taking up the miles and tossingthem astern in a very businesslike manner. Once in the East River it wasnecessary to slow down on account of the traffic. Ferry boats andexcursion steamers persisted in getting in the way, and sailing yachtsand launches were everywhere. At a few minutes before six the _Vagabond_sidled up to a wharf near the end of Fifty-first Street and was madefast for the night. Dan's father knew the owner of the property--Dan hadoften gone in bathing from that very spot when a few years younger--andthe watchman promised to keep an eye on the launch. They made very swelltoilets and then piled out for a walk across town to Dan's house.

  That evening was a merry one. It was good to sit down once more at atable a-glimmer with cut glass and radiant with white napery andflowers; in fact, it was good to be at home again, even if the homedidn't happen to belong to them all. Mr. and Mrs. Speede, who were oldfriends since the Four had spent several days there the preceding summerbefore their walking trip, made Bob and Nelson and Tom feel quite asmuch at home there as Dan himself; although I don't believe muchcompulsion was necessary in Tom's case; Tom would have made himself athome anywhere. Mr. Speede was much interested in the story of theirtrip, and especially in the adventure with Captain Sauder and SpencerFloyd.

  "Well," he said, "it's too bad the captain got him again, for that'sjust what happened, I guess, but you boys did all you could and Iwouldn't have had you do any less."

  "I suppose the poor kid's halfway up North by this time," observed Bob.

  "And getting his lickings regular," added Nelson.

  "Maybe not, though," said Tom hopefully. "Maybe he found another chanceto run away and made a go of it."

  "Well, let's hope so," said Mr. Speede. "Now, how do you boys feel abouta visit to one of the roof gardens? It's late, but I guess we can seesomething of the show. At least we can keep cool."

  What they said was quite flattering to their host and to roof gardens.Bedtime came very late that night and breakfast time very late the nextmorning. It was an insufferably hot day in the city and that fact madethem less regretful over leaving the comforts of Dan's home. But theSpeedes were busy getting ready to go to the country and even Tom feltthat their presence wasn't exactly necessary to Mrs. Speede's happiness.Besides, their cruise was nearing its end, since the last lett
er thatNelson had received from his father made it plain that the _Vagabond_was expected back at Boston in a few days. So the Four said good-by ateleven and returned to the launch. They were to head for Boston, but asthey had four or five days in which to get there, they proposed to stoponce or twice along the Long Island shore on the way. But first it wasnecessary to put in gasoline, and to that end they dropped down theriver to a wharf near the Brooklyn Bridge where that necessity was sold.

  The fogs which made that summer well remembered along the coast had notyet taken their departure, and on the river distant objects were veiledin gray haze. So the _Vagabond_ made the trip very cautiously, keeping asharp watch for ferry boats, which, as every experienced launch knows,are blundering, awkward things which would just as lief run you down asnot. But the wharf was made without misadventure and the _Vagabond_snuggled up to its side under the counter of a small schooner. WhileNelson and Dan went ashore to order the gasoline Bob and Tom busiedthemselves cleaning up about the deck. It was while engaged at this taskthat Tom heard voices almost overhead. One of the voices soundedfamiliar in a dim sort of way and he began to wonder who was talking.From where he was he could not see the persons, for they were on thedeck of the schooner and hidden by her rail. But presently Tom climbedto the cabin roof and craned his head. The next moment he was down againand out of sight in the cockpit. He had glimpsed only the heads andshoulders of two men. One was a well-dressed man, evidently a landsman,and Tom had never seen him before. But the other, and Tom had needed butthe briefest glance to satisfy himself of the fact, was Captain Sauder!

  Excitedly he dragged Bob into the engine room and told him. Bob laughed.

  "Nonsense, Tommy!" he said. "Captain Sauder's up North somewhere by thistime."

  "Look yourself!" answered Tom. "But du-du-du-don't let him su-su-seeyou!"

  "I will," answered Bob. But it wasn't necessary, for as he returned tothe cockpit his eyes traveled upward over the schooner's stern and therein gold letters was the name:

  HENRY NELLIS NEW YORK

  Impatiently they awaited the return of Nelson and Dan, keeping well outof sight the while. Presently the voices ceased, but whether the captainand the other man had left the schooner or merely moved away from thestern there was no telling. Nelson and Dan were back a moment later andlistened eagerly to the news.

  "What's to be done?" asked Bob.

  "Keep out of sight," answered Nelson promptly, "until we've got ourgasoline in and then move away as quietly as we can."

  "And leave Spencer?" asked Dan incredulously.

  "No, but if the captain sees us here we'll never have a show to see theboy. What we want to do is to keep out of sight. One of us, though,ought to stay around here and find out how long the schooner's going tobe here and whether Spencer is aboard of her. And Bob's a good chap todo that."

  "Let me do it!" begged Dan.

  "You! He'd recognize you first time he set eyes on you! You don't think,do you, that he's likely to forget a fellow that's looked at him along arevolver barrel?"

  Dan gave in.

  "I'll get into shore clothes," said Bob, "and try to look as little aspossible as I did when he saw me last. You tell me where you'll be sothat I can find you." And he hurried down to the stateroom. When hereturned Dan pretended not to know him, declaring finally that the"disgust" was perfect. Then, very carelessly, Bob climbed to the wharfand sauntered out of sight. During the operation of filling the gasolinetank the remaining three kept as much as possible out of sight, althoughthey neither heard nor saw anything more of Captain Sauder. Finally,casting loose from the wharf, they pushed the _Vagabond_ quietly awayalong the side of the _Henry Nellis_ until they had rounded the end ofthe pier and were out of sight from the schooner. Then they dropped downthe river until there were three wharves between them and the _Nellis_and found a new berth.