by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER VI.
THE ROBBERY AT THE HOTEL.
Pearl Hawlinshed found that his prediction in regard to the littlesteamer was not verified. She did not go to the bottom in spite of herbad management. It was no fault of her skipper that she did not, for hehad certainly done his best to sink her. Dory recognized her as a boatthat had been kept for all sorts of uses at Burlington.
If Pearl was not satisfied with what had passed between him and the newskipper of the Goldwing, it was too late to do any thing about it now.The boat was off, and he was confident that her skipper had left thewharf to avoid him; for why should he prefer to lie at anchor at thebreakwater when her former moorings were so much more convenient?
Pearl Hawlinshed had been a wayward boy. He had worked on his father'sfarm; he had tended bar at a saloon; he had worked on the steamers onthe lake; and now he evidently desired to try his hand at boating. Ifthe Goldwing was worth any thing, she was certainly worth forty dollars;and it is difficult to see why he limited himself to this sum. Perhapshe had no money to buy her, since he had failed to relieve his father ofthe amount in his possession.
The Goldwing was gone, and there was nothing to keep him on the wharf.He walked up to the Witherill House, where his father had stopped thenight before. He was well acquainted there, and he immediately foundhimself in demand as soon as he entered the office. There appeared to bea considerable excitement about the house.
"You are just the man I want to see, Pearl Hawlinshed," said thelandlord, as he entered the office.
"Well, what is wanted of me?" asked Pearl.
"Where has your father gone, Pearl?" asked the landlord, as though hefelt a great interest in the question.
"That is more than I know," replied Pearl.
"But he took the boat going south this morning. Don't you know where hehas gone?"
"He is going into a lumber speculation in Lawrence County: that's all Iknow about it. He is going to lose all his money if he can; and I reckonhe can," replied Pearl roughly.
"Do you know who the boy was that was with him last night, Pearl? He wasa young fellow about fourteen years old. He came into the house withyour father, and went up-stairs with him."
"I don't know who he is. What's the matter?" asked the graceless son,wishing to know more before he committed himself.
"A man was robbed of a hundred and fifty dollars in the house lastnight. He had the room next to your father; and the boy was seen in thehall about ten o'clock in the evening. We thought he might knowsomething about the money," replied the landlord.
"I have no doubt he knows all about it," added Pearl, delighted toconnect the purchaser of the Goldwing with a crooked transaction; for hehad no doubt that the boy who was with his father had obtained the moneywith which he bought the boat by stealing it. "This explains the wholematter. It is all as clear as any thing can be now."
"What is clear, Pearl?" asked the landlord.
"The boy who was with my father last night has just purchased theGoldwing, poor Lapham's boat; and very likely she will drown the boybefore noon, as she did Lapham."
"What has all this to do with the robbery? I would rather have given ahundred and fifty dollars than have the thing happen in my house. Whathas the boat to do with the money lost, Pearl?"
"Why, the boy paid cash for the boat; planked it right down on the nailthe moment the boat was knocked off to him," answered Pearl, chucklinghis satisfaction at finding Dory in such a scrape.
"Paid cash for the boat, did he? But who is the boy? Does he belong inPlattsburgh?" asked the landlord, beginning to see the relation of theboat to the money.
"The boy says his name is Theodore Dornwood, and that he lives inBurlington."
"Dornwood!" exclaimed the landlord. "That was the name of the pilot thatwrecked the Au Sable last night."
"Wrecked the Au Sable?" repeated Pearl curiously.
"Haven't you heard the news?"
"I haven't heard any such news as that. Is she really wrecked? I used towork on that boat," added Pearl, opening his eyes very wide.
"Where have you been all the morning? It has got to be an old story bythis time. The Au Sable was run on shore, and sunk. No one was lost; butseveral were injured,--how many, I don't know."
"But how came she ashore? It wasn't even foggy last night," said Pearl.
"That's the mystery. The boat ran on to a point of rocks. The reportthinks the pilot in charge was trying to run the boat over the land. Hisname was Dornwood; and he must have been either drunk or asleep, orboth. But all this is neither here nor there. What about this boy? Hemay be the son of this pilot for aught we know."
"I don't know any Dornwood. He was not a pilot in her when I was on theAu Sable."
"How do you know that the boy who was with your father bought theGoldwing, Pearl?" inquired the landlord, who had told his news and losthis interest in it till another uninformed person came along. "I don'twant to accuse any person of robbing my house without the means ofproving the charge."
"Oh, it's all straight, you may depend upon it!" replied Pearl. "Ithought the boy looked like a young rascal, and now I know that he stolethe money. Of course it is no sale, so far as the boat is concerned. Howis that?" asked Pearl, who seemed to realize for the first time, that,if the money paid for the Goldwing was stolen, it would have to bereturned to the rightful owner.
"I should say it would be no trade under the circumstances. But youdon't tell me how you know it was this boy that was with your fatherlast night in my house," said the landlord impatiently.
"I don't know that he was in your house with my father. He was with myfather last night, for he told me so. He brought me a letter from myfather this morning. When we were bidding on the Goldwing, I found itwas the same boy. That's how I know it; and there is no mistake aboutit," added Pearl.
"It looks as though there might be something in it. At any rate we willhave the thing looked into. Where is the boy now? What has become ofhim?"
"The last I saw of him he was in the Goldwing, at anchor off thebreakwater, on the outside. I have no doubt he is going to Burlington inthe boat as soon as the weather is fit for him to sail."
"Perhaps he has gone by this time," suggested the landlord.
"I don't believe he has. It is blowing heavy out on the lake; and theboy knows what sort of a boat the Goldwing is, for I warned him that shewould drown him."
"There seems to be no doubt that the boy is the same one that went toyour father's room last night, though that don't prove that he robbedthe room of one of my guests. I should like to see the boy, and have himexplain what he has been about," added the landlord.
"We will have him arrested if he can't tell a straight story," saidPearl. "If you authorize me to do it, I will bring the boy up here; butI may have to get a steamer to chase him, and there will be some expenseabout it."
"I will pay any reasonable expense," replied the landlord. "You are notan officer, and of course you can't arrest him."
"But I will bring him up here, whether I am an officer or not,"continued Pearl. "I am as much interested in getting him back as youare."
"How is that?"
"I wanted to buy the Goldwing; and I expected to get her for abouttwenty dollars, though her sails cost more than that. The young rascaltricked me out of her. If he stole the money, it is no trade, and theboat will have to be put up again."
The landlord was satisfied that Pearl would bring the boy to the hotelif it were possible. Pearl was very sure that he would do it. Withoutknowing any thing particular about the Burlington boy, he had taken anintense dislike to him; but he had no suspicion that he was the personwho had interfered with his operations in the woods the night before. Hehastened down to the wharf, where he found the little steamer that hehad seen struggling with the big waves in the lower bay.
"You have had a rough time of it," said Pearl to a man he found on thedeck of the boat.
"Rather rough; but we came through all right," replied the man.
"What boa
t is this?" inquired the thief-taker, as he already regardedhimself.
"This is the Missisquoi. A man in Plattsburgh bought her, and I came tofetch her over; but he won't be here till to-morrow night," replied thetemporary skipper. "I fetched over a lot of boys from Burlington, andthey made things lively on the way."
"Do you know a boy in Burlington by the name of Theodore Dornwood?"asked Pearl.
"Well, I guess I do. Everybody that has any thing to do with boats inBurlington knows all about him. He is a little wild, but he is as smartas a steel trap," replied Captain Vesey, as he was called by courtesy.
"Is he an honest boy?" asked Pearl, as though that were a matter of theutmost consequence to him.
"I guess he is. He is worth two of his father, who was the pilot on dutyon board of the Au Sable last night, and tried to take the boat across ap'int of land. He didn't make out, and I guess it will be a bad job forhim."
"Where are the boys you brought over?" inquired Pearl, looking about theboat for them.
"You see, they came over here on a lark, and will have to get back thebest way they can. We found Dory in a sailboat, anchored off thebreakwater. The boys wanted me to put them aboard of her, and I did.Dory says he is going to sail the boat to Burlington, and the rest ofthe boys are going with him. They are the wildest set of boys on thelake."
"I suppose you don't object to earning five dollars with this boatbefore you deliver her to her owner?" suggested Pearl in an indifferentsort of way.
"I guess not," said Captain Vesey, with a broad grin on his face. "Inever object to making five dollars, or one dollar, for that matter."
"I want to see Dory Dornwood on some particular business; and, if youwill put me on board of his boat, I will give you five dollars," saidPearl in an insinuating tone.
Captain Vesey was ready to do it.
