Under the Great Bear

by Kirk Munroe

  CHAPTER XIV.

  THE "SEA BEE" UNDER FIRE.

  The arrangement made with the Yankee skipper was satisfactory, save inone respect. He was willing to trade provisions for canned lobsters tothe extent of taking the entire pack, and he also offered to remove themachinery outfit of the factory on the chance of finding a purchaserfor it in the States, but he refused to make any cash advance on thegoods.

  "I'm willing," he said, "to risk considerable for the sake of beingaccommodating, and with the hope of making a little something, but Ican't afford to risk cold cash."

  "I don't see how we can make a trade, then," remarked White, as he andCabot discussed the situation. "It will take every penny I've got topay off the hands, and though I believe we could make a good thing outof a Labrador trip, I can't leave mother and Cola without a cent whileI'm away. If he would only let me have fifty dollars----"

  "He won't, though," interrupted Cabot, "but I will. I have got justthat amount of money with me, and, as I shan't have any use for it inLabrador, I should be more than pleased to leave it here for safekeeping."

  White at first refused to take his friend's money; but on Cabot'sdeclaring that he had plenty more on deposit in St. Johns, hegratefully accepted the loan, which he promised to repay from the veryfirst sale of goods they should make.

  Everything being thus arranged, preparations for departure were pushedwith all speed. Such of the pack as remained in the factory washurried aboard the "Ruth" by a score of willing workers, who alsotransferred to her every tool and bit of machinery, including the bigkettles. Then she and the "Sea Bee," the latter manned by two of theYankee sailors, with David Gidge as pilot, sailed from the harbour, andwere lost to sight beyond its protecting headland.

  The next hour was spent in settling with the lobster catchers and thosewho had been employed in the factory, each of whom was warned to giveno information concerning the movements of the two schooners. This wasbarely finished when the boy who had been posted outside immediatelyafter the departure of the naval launches came hurrying in with newsthat both of them were returning.

  "My!" cried Cabot, "but I'd like to see the fun when they get here."

  "I am afraid you'd see more than enough of it," replied White, "forthey'll be keen on getting us this time. So we'd best be starting.Hold on a minute, though; I want to leave proof behind that we haven'tgone off with either of the schooners."

  With this he ran down to the oil house, in which their well-nighforgotten prisoner was still confined. Flinging open the door, hesaid, in a tone of well-feigned regret:

  "It is too bad, Monsieur Delom, that you should have been kept so longin this wretched place, but I dared not attempt your release whilethose terrible Yankees were here. Now, however, they are gone and youare once more free. Also, as I realise that I can no longer maintainmy factory here, you are at liberty to make what use you please of itscontents. Accept my congratulations on your good fortune, monsieur.As for me, I must now leave you to prepare for my journey to St. Johns."

  With this White bade the bewildered Frenchman a mocking adieu, and lefthim still blinking at the sunlight from which he had been so longsecluded.

  A few minutes later the Baldwin house again stood, closed andtenantless, while a cart driven by Cola, and accompanied by the twoyoung men on foot, climbed the hill back of the village by a roadleading to the nearest railway station. Monsieur Delom witnessed thisdeparture, as did many others, but no one saw the cart leave thehighway a little later and turn into a dim trail leading through anotherwise pathless forest. After a time it emerged from this onanother road and came to a farmhouse to which Mrs. Baldwin hadpreviously been taken. Here mother and son bade each other farewell,while the former also prayed for a blessing upon the stranger who hadso befriended them, and whose fortunes had become so curiously linkedwith theirs. Then the cart with Cola still acting as driver rattledaway, and was quickly lost to sight.

  It lacked but an hour of sunset when our refugees reached a pocket onthe outer coast, in which the two schooners lay snugly, side by side,nearly filling the tiny harbour. On the beach David Gidge alreadywaited, and, as the lads transferred their few effects to the boat thathad brought him ashore, he climbed stiffly into the cart which Cola wasto guide back over the way it had just come.

  "Good-bye, Cola," said Cabot, as he held for a moment the hand of thegirl he had come to regard almost as a sister. "Try and have a lot ofspecimens ready for me when we come back."

  "Good-bye, sister!" cried White. "Take care of mother, and don't lether worry about us. We'll be back almost before you have time to missus. Good-bye, David! I trust you to look out for them because youhave promised."

  "Oh! how I wish I were a boy and going with you," exclaimed Cola. "Itis so stupid to be left behind with nothing to do but just wait. Doplease hurry back."

  "All right," replied her brother. "With good luck we'll sail intoPretty Harbour inside of a month, and perhaps with money enough to takeus all to the States."

  "Oh, wouldn't that be splendid! Do get started, for the sooner youare off the quicker you'll come back," cried the girl.

  "That's so. Come on, Cabot," and in another minute the boat had shotout from the beach, while the cart was slowly climbing the rugged trailthat led inland.

  On reaching the schooners our lads found Captain Bland impatientlyawaiting them, since the transfer of goods was nearly completed, and hewas anxious to get his compromising cargo away from the coast patrolledby those meddlesome frigates.

  "Let me once get beyond the three-mile limit," he said, "and I wouldn'tmind meeting a fleet of 'em; if either one of 'em caught me in here,though, I'd not only stand to lose cargo, but schooner as well. So Ireckon we'd best get a move on at once, and talk business while we towout."

  As our lads wore equally desirous of gaining a safe distance from theauthorities they had so openly defied, they readily agreed to CaptainBland's proposal, and four dories, each manned by a couple of stalwartYankee fishermen, were ordered to tow the schooners from their snughiding place. While this was going on, and White was busily engaged onthe deck of the "Sea Bee," Cabot and Captain Bland were examininginvoices and price lists in her cabin.

  "Here's a list of all I've put aboard," said the latter, "and you'llsee I've only made a small freight charge over and above the cost pricein Boston. Same time I've allowed for your pack the full market priceon canned lobsters according to latest St. Johns quotations, and youought not to sell a single barrel at less 'n one hundred per cent.clear profit. As for the kettles and tools, here's an order on myowners in Gloucester for them, or what they'll fetch less a freightcharge, provided I get 'em there all right; but I want both you andyoung Baldwin to sign this release that frees me from all claims forloss of property in case anything happens to 'em."

  "I am perfectly willing to sign it," replied Cabot, "because I have noownership in the property, but I shouldn't think Baldwin would care togive such a release."

  "I guess he will, though," said the skipper.

  And he was right, for White readily consented to sign the paper, sayingthat the property would have been lost anyhow if it had been leftbehind. "I have also full faith that Captain Bland will do the rightthing about it," he added, "for, while I have always found you Yankeessharp as knives in a trade, I have yet to meet one whom I wouldn'ttrust."

  "Thank you, Mr. Baldwin," said the skipper, "and I shall try my bestnot to be the first to abuse your confidence."

  So the paper was signed, and White had barely laid down his pen whenthe occupants of the cabin were startled by a loud cry from above,followed almost immediately by a distant shot. Hurrying on deck theyfound that the schooner had reached open water and was beginning tofeel the influence of an offshore breeze. At the same time the manwhom White had left at the tiller was pointing up the coast, where theycaught sight of a steam launch that had just cleared South Head.

  "He fired a shot at us," announced the steersman.

  "That's all right
'long's he didn't hit us," replied Captain Bland."It is our French friend, and he only took that way of hinting that hewished us to wait for him. I don't think we can afford the time justnow, though--leastways, I can't. Hello there in boats! Drop your towlines and come alongside."

  "Do you think there is any chance of our getting away from him?" askedCabot.

  "Dunno. Mebbe, if the breeze freshens, as I believe it will. Anyhow,I'm going to give him a race for his money. Good-bye! Good luck, andI hope we'll meet again before long."

  So saying Captain Bland, taking the steersman with him, stepped into adory that had come alongside and was rowed towards his own schooner.He had hardly gained her deck before she set main and jib topsails anda big main staysail. Our lads also sprang to their own sails, andspread to the freshening breeze every stitch of canvas that the "SeaBee" possessed. When they next found time to look at the "Ruth," Whiteuttered an exclamation of astonishment, for she had already gained agood half mile on them and was moving with the speed of a steam yacht.

  "There's no chance of the Yankee being caught," he said enviously, "butthere's a mighty big one that we will."

  Although the "Sea Bee" was holding a course in the wake of the "Ruth,"and was heeled handsomely over before the same freshening breeze, shewas not doing so well by a half, and it was evident that in a long runthe launch must overtake her.

  "She is certainly gaining on us," said Cabot, after a long look, and hehad hardly spoken before a second shot from the launch plumped a ballinto the water abreast of the little schooner and not two rods away.

  White, who was at the tiller, glanced nervously backward. "Do you wantto heave to and let them overhaul us?" he asked.

  "Certainly not," replied Cabot promptly. "They have no right to meddlewith us out here, and I would keep straight on without paying theslightest attention to them until they either sink us or get alongside."

  "All right," laughed the other. "I only wanted to make sure how youfelt. Some fellows, you know, don't like to have cannon balls fired atthem."