Little Bobtail

by Oliver Optic

"All ready," replied the Darwinian.

  Bobtail threw the yacht up into the wind, and as soon as she had lost her headway, he gave the order to let go the anchor. Monkey had got out the fishing gear and opened the clams on the passage up, so that the passengers threw over their lines immediately. They did not have a bite for some time, and Monkey threw over a line. It had hardly run out before he had a fish, and pulled in a good-sized cod.

  "How's that?" said Mr. Howe. "I haven't had a nibble yet."

  "Perhaps you don't fish right, sir," suggested Monkey, with one of his apish grins, as he took the gentleman's line, and found that the sinker was not within twenty feet of the bottom. "That's what's the matter, sir. Drop the line down till the sinker touches bottom; then pull up about a fathom."

  The two passengers, following these instructions, began to pull in cod and haddock very rapidly, and Monkey had all he could do to bait their hooks, and take off their fish.

  CHAPTER XIV.

  THE DISCHARGE.

  "Look here, Howe!" exclaimed Mr. Jones, tugging with all his might at his line; "I'm pulling up the bottom of Penobscot Bay, as true as you live!"

  "Don't do that, sir," shouted Bobtail, merrily. "We shall get aground if you do."

  "What is it?" asked Mr. Howe.

  "I don't know," replied Mr. Jones, still hauling away at his line, to which some immense dead weight seemed to be attached. "It must be a whale."

  "No, sir; pull away," said Monkey, laughing; "you have got hold of your grandmother."

  "My grandmother!"

  "Yes, sir; pull away, and you will see her in a minute."

  After much tugging, for the fish was not at all "gamey," he hauled up the strangest looking fish he had ever seen, though Bobtail and Monkey were entirely familiar with the specimen. The hook, drawing upon his mouth, so distended it, that its appearance was not unlike the face of an old woman with a cap on. The fish was a large scate, not less than three feet across the back. The gentlemen had never seen one before, and he was hauled upon the deck to enable them to examine him.

  Half an hour's fishing satisfied the passengers, as there was a tub full of cod and haddock to show for their success. After the gentlemen had fully satisfied their curiosity, the scate was thrown overboard. The anchor was weighed, the jib hoisted, and the Skylark continued on her voyage to Belfast. Monkey dressed a couple of the nicest cod, and then washed down the deck. The Darwinian was then required to take the helm, and Bobtail, sacrificing his dignity as the skipper of the craft, went below and assumed the duties of cook and steward. He pared and sliced a large quantity of potatoes, for Mr. Jones had declared that he was already as hungry as a bear. These he fried, and put them in the oven to keep them hot. The fish was cooked, and coffee made. The table had been set at odd moments, and in less than an hour dinner was ready. Bobtail was invited to dine with the passengers, and he was warmly commended for his culinary skill.

  "That's the best dinner I've eaten in the State of Maine," said Mr. Jones, with enthusiasm.

  "We can get up a pretty good dinner on board of the Skylark," added the proud skipper. "The cook isn't much on puddings and pies, but on the heavy grub he can do as well as the next man."

  "I've drank worse coffee than yours at a first-class hotel in New York," said Mr. Howe.

  "I can give you a chowder for supper, if you like," added the cook.

  "I like the fried fish best."

  "Perhaps we can give you something different."

  The skipper and the passengers went on deck. Bobtail relieved the crew at the helm, and sent him below to eat his dinner, and clear away the dishes. The gentlemen lighted their cigars, and declared that they felt perfectly happy. The Skylark was now going up Belfast Bay, close-hauled, but still laying her course.

  "Now, how long have we been?" asked Mr. Jones, taking out his watch. "Just three hours."

  "But we spent half an hour of it in fishing," suggested the skipper.

  "Exactly so, and we have made the run in two hours and a half."

  Monkey was called on deck, the jib taken in, and the Skylark ran alongside a wharf, where she was secured. It was agreed to sail for Camden on the return at six o'clock, and the passengers left the yacht to explore the town. The skipper washed and "slicked up" as well as he could. Putting on his bobtail coat, he went ashore, to call upon Colonel Montague. After some inquiry he found the house; and it was easily identified, for it was the finest one in the city. The visitor found the owner of the Penobscot smoking his cigar under the shade of a tree, where rustic chairs had been placed. He was alone, and gave the young skipper a hearty greeting.

  "I'm glad to see you, Captain Bobtail," said he, warmly, shaking the hand of the boy. "I did not expect a visit from you quite so soon, but I'm none the less glad to see you."

  "I brought a couple of gentlemen up in the Skylark, and thought I would call upon you while they were looking over the place."

  "I'm glad you did. Grace and Mrs. Montague will be very glad to see you. I will call them."

  "Not yet, if you please, sir. I want to tell you what a scrape I got into first; and then I don't know that you will want them to see me," replied Bobtail, blushing.

  "A scrape?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "I hope you haven't been doing anything wrong."

  "They say I have, but I have not. I am as innocent as you are, sir. I thought I would come up and tell you about it, as I was here. Mother did not send me."

  "She did not?"

  "No, sir; she was rather opposed to my saying anything to you about the scrape."

  "Sit down, Captain Bobtail, and tell me all about it," said the colonel, in kindly tones, though there was an anxious expression on his face.

  Little Bobtail told the whole story about the letter and the five hundred dollar bill.

  "And your mother paid this same bill to Mr. Gilfilian?" asked Colonel Montague, very much troubled.

  "Yes, sir. The squire wanted to know where she got the bill, and she won't tell," added Bobtail.

  "She won't tell!" echoed the colonel; and there was an expression of relief in his face.

  "She won't give even the slightest hint; and because she wouldn't explain it, Squire Gilfilian caused her to be arrested. They said that both of us will be sent to the state prison for stealing this money."

  "That's bad."

  "I know it is, sir; but I didn't take the letter; and I know mother came honestly by the money."

  "I know she did, too," added the colonel. "When does this examination take place?"

  "It was postponed till next Tuesday, at ten o'clock."

  "Very well, Captain Bobtail. I know where your mother obtained the money."

  "You, sir!" exclaimed Bobtail.

  "I do; and I will be in Camden next Tuesday to tell all I know about it."

  "Thank you, sir; you are very kind."

  "Of course I shall not let your mother be convicted of stealing. I know nothing about the letter; and therefore I can do nothing for you, Captain Bobtail."

  "If you clear my mother you will clear me. If we can only tell where the money came from, we shall be all right."

  "Don't give yourself any uneasiness at all about it. I will certainly be present at the examination."

  "But are you sure you know where my mother got the bill, sir?" asked Bobtail.

  "Certainly, I do; and she came honestly by it. But as this is her affair, I don't feel at liberty to say anything about it yet."

  Little Bobtail was confounded by this sudden solution of the mystery. If Colonel Montague knew where his mother had obtained the bill, it was plain enough to him that he had given it to her himself. He could not, for the life of him, see why this gentleman, wealthy and liberal though he was, should give her such an immense sum of money. It was a very perplexing problem, and he could not solve it. His kind friend conducted him to the house. Grace was so glad to see him, that she actually kissed him this time; and Bobtail felt as though he had tumbled into a cream-pot. Mrs. Montague w
as very demonstrative, and the Hon. Mr. Montague was more dignified, but hardly less cordial.

  "Now you must stay with us all night, and all to-morrow, and all next week," said Grace.

  "I can't," laughed Bobtail. "I brought two gentlemen up in the Skylark, and I must sail them back to-night."

  "Plague take the two gentlemen!" said Grace, pettishly. "Let them go back in the stage or the steamer."

  "I promised to take them back to-night; and I must keep my promise, you know, if the sky falls," pleaded the young skipper.

  "Of course he must, Grace," added her father. "But he will come up some other time, and stay a month."

  Little Bobtail spent an hour in the elegant mansion, whose luxuriously furnished apartments filled him with wonder and astonishment, for he had never seen anything half so fine. He promised faithfully to come some other time, and stay longer. Grace walked with him down to the wharf. The Skylark's passengers were on board, and ready to start, and in a few moments the yacht was under way. Grace waved her handkerchief to the gallant skipper, as the Skylark pulled away.

  "Who is that young lady?" asked Mr. Jones, as Bobtail returned the salute.

  "That's the one that fell off the rocks at Blank Island," replied the skipper.

  "And the one you saved! Why didn't you say so before, so that we could have a good look at her?"

  "I didn't think of it."

  "She is a rich man's daughter."

  "Yes, sir; her father is as rich as mud."

  "And one of these days, Captain Bobtail, you will marry her, just as it is laid down in the novels," laughed Mr. Howe.

  "I guess not;" and Bobtail blushed at the presumptuous idea. "She will not marry any poor fellow like me, you'd better believe. She will fish for bigger game than I am."

  "She seems to like you very well."

  "O, well, that's nothing; she's only a girl, and I'm only a boy," added the skipper.

  Much to his relief, the topic was changed. The return trip was quite as pleasant as the other had been, and at nine o'clock the Skylark landed her passengers at the steamboat wharf, in good order and condition, and very much delighted with the excursion. The skipper received the eight dollars for the trip, and paid off his crew. It was Saturday night, and Monkey wanted to buy some provisions and groceries for his mother with the money he had earned; but he proposed to return before ten, and sleep on board, as usual. Bobtail told him he had better spend Sunday at home, for he could not pay him when the yacht did not go out. The Darwinian was willing to sleep on board without pay.

  "Did you see Colonel Montague, Robert?" asked Mrs. Taylor, as he went into the house.

  "Yes, I saw him; and he promised to be at the examination next Tuesday."

  "What did he say?"

  "He said he knew where you got the money, and that it would be all right; but I told him you didn't send me to him."

  "What else did he say?" inquired Mrs. Taylor, anxiously.

  "That's about all. He took me into the house, and treated me like a lord. That's the handsomest house I ever went into;" and Bobtail described the glories and the beauties of the mansion.

  "Of course, after what you have done, they feel very grateful to you."

  "I suppose so; but, mother, I can't keep that confounded bill out of my head," continued Bobtail. "I conclude, if Colonel Montague knows where you got it, he gave it to you himself."

  "He must explain that himself."

  "Of course he gave it to you. You saw him on board of the Penobscot, the day before I was taken up."

  "You had better not say anything more about it, Robert."

  "But why should he give you such a pile of money?" persisted the boy.

  "I didn't say he gave it to me."

  "I know he did."

  "Well, the less you say about it, the better."

  "If that is the bill which that Slipwing sent in the letter, I should like to know where Colonel Montague got it."

  "I don't know anything at all about that," replied Mrs. Taylor.

  The conversation was interrupted by the entrance of Ezekiel. He was sober, because he could obtain no liquor. He had spent the day in searching for the contraband cargo. He had been upon Negro Island, and explored North-east Point, and all the surrounding country, but he could find no vestige of the cases. He wanted to talk with Bobtail, and he was very gentle and conciliating in his tones and manner. After beating about the bush for a long time, he so far disregarded the instructions of Captain Chinks, as to ask him what he had done with the cargo of the Skylark.

  "I see you have been talking with Captain Chinks," said Bobtail. "When any one claims the boat, I am willing to talk with him, but I can't say a word before that time;" and the young skipper abruptly left the house, and went on board of the yacht.

  He had scarcely seated himself in the standing-room before a gentleman from the hotel came alongside in a boat, and wanted to engage the yacht for the next day.

  "To-morrow will be Sunday," replied the skipper.

  "I know it; but I must leave on Monday," said the applicant.

  "I don't engage her for Sundays, sir."

  "It is the only time we have."

  "I can't help it, sir."

  "But we want to go down to Rockland to church."

  "I can't let her go out on Sunday. I want to go to meeting myself, and to Sunday school."

  The gentleman begged hard, but Bobtail was as resolute as the case required; he would as soon have thought of setting the Bay View House on fire, or robbing the bank, as of going out in a boat for pleasure on Sunday. The applicant offered him ten dollars, then twelve, and at last fifteen, if he would take the party out; but he refused to go for any sum that could be named, and the gentleman departed, with some hard words about fanatics, and declared that he would not hire the boat on a week day if he could not have her on Sunday.

  At an early hour Bobtail turned in, with the feeling that he had done his duty, though fifteen dollars was a large sum to sacrifice. He might lose some of his engagements on other days by his observance of the Sabbath, but he would as soon have thought of robbing the bank, or setting the Bay View House on fire, for fifteen dollars, as of running the Skylark on Sunday for that sum. He was satisfied with himself, after he had faithfully considered the subject, and confident that there were good people enough to make the yacht pay without wounding his own conscience.

  He went to church and to Sunday school the next day; and the services never seemed to do him so much good as after the sacrifice he had made.

  A party was ready for him on Monday, and though the weather was rainy and foggy,—as it sometimes is at Camden,—he made his eight dollars, and his passengers were entirely satisfied. A party wanted the boat on Tuesday; but of course he could not go out until after the examination. At nine o'clock in the morning the Penobscot dropped her anchor in Camden harbor, and Colonel Montague immediately went on shore in the barge. An hour later the defendants and the witnesses had assembled at the office of Squire Norwood.

  "We have our witness here," said Mr. Simonton, with one of his pleasantest and blandest smiles—"Colonel Montague."

  The justice bowed to the distinguished witness, and requested Squire Gilfilian to produce the five hundred dollar bill, which was promptly done. Squire Norwood then rehearsed the evidence which had been given at the former hearing. The letter had been left on Mr. Gilfilian's desk; it had disappeared, and the bank bill it had contained was paid to Mr. Gilfilian by Mrs. Taylor, to cancel a mortgage on her husband's house. One of the defendants had denied all knowledge of the letter after he put it on the desk, and the other, refusing to explain where she had obtained the bill, had been arrested as a party to the crime, or as accessory to it.

  "This is the bill," continued Squire Norwood, handing it to Colonel Montague, who examined it for a moment. "Have you any knowledge of that bill?"

  "I have."

  "Do you identify it?"

  "Fully. I gave this bill to Mrs. Taylor last Thursday afternoon, ab
out sunset, on board of my yacht."

  This evidence produced a decided sensation among the spectators. Squire Gilfilian sprang to his feet, and Captain Chinks, who was toying with his pocket-knife, turned as red as a red cabbage.

  "On what account did you pay Mrs. Taylor five hundred dollars, Colonel Montague?" demanded Mr. Gilfilian.

  "She was in my employ many years ago. She came on board of my yacht last Thursday, and told me her husband would lose his house if a mortgage upon it of five hundred dollars was not paid; that the mortgage was already foreclosed, and the house was to be advertised for sale. Under these circumstances, I loaned her the money to save her from being turned out of house and home," replied Colonel Montague, deliberately, but with more agitation than the case seemed to warrant.

  "You are confident that this is the same bill?" added Squire Norwood.

  "Perfectly confident; I declare upon oath that it is the same bill."

  "Now, Colonel Montague, where did you obtain this bill?"

  "At Bar Harbor, Mount Desert."

  "Of whom?"

  "I have really forgotten the name of the gentleman, but he came to Mount Desert in a small yacht, and had a very rough passage. He was quite sick, and told me he was disgusted with yachting in a small craft. He had just sold his boat for half her cost, and had received this five hundred dollar bill in payment for her, which he wished me to change for him, and I gave him smaller bills for it."

  "Do you know the boat he sold?" asked Mr. Simonton.

  "I never saw her, that I am aware of."

  Squire Norwood ordered Mrs. Taylor to be discharged; Squire Gilfilian suggested that Bobtail was the purchaser of the yacht, but it was proved that he had not been absent from Camden even an hour before the time when Colonel Montague obtained the bill, and he was also discharged. When the examination was finished, Captain Chinks quietly stole out of the office, evidently dissatisfied with the result. Little Bobtail was warmly congratulated by all his friends, old and new, on the issue, and he was hastening away, in order to take out his party in the Skylark, when Mr. Hines stopped him.

  CHAPTER XV.

  A TRIP TO BAR HARBOR.