The Yacht Club; or, The Young Boat-Builder

by Oliver Optic

  CHAPTER XV.

  LAUD CAVENDISH TAKES CARE OF HIMSELF.

  Donald did not sleep very well in the cabin of the Maud, not onlybecause his bed was very hard and uncomfortable, but because he wastroubled; and before morning he fully realized the truth of the saying,in regard to certain persons, that "they choose darkness, because theirdeeds are evil." He wished he had not consented to keep the secret ofeither Captain Shivernock or Laud Cavendish, and was afraid he hadcompromised himself by his silence. When he turned out in the morning,he believed he had hardly slept a wink all night, though he had actuallyslumbered over six hours; but a person who lies awake in the darkness,especially if his thoughts are troublesome, lengthens minutes intohours. But Donald welcomed the morning light when he awoke, and thebright sun which streamed through the trunk ports. He went to the shop,and for two hours before his men arrived worked on the tender of theMaud.

  The mast of the yacht was stepped during the forenoon, and after dinnerthe rigger came to do his part of the work. Samuel Rodman was now somuch interested in the progress of the labor on the new yacht, that hespent nearly all his time on board of her. The top mast, gaff, and boomwere all ready to go into their places, and the Maud looked as thoughshe was nearly completed. All the members of the Yacht Club wereimpatient for her to be finished, for the next regatta had beenpostponed a week, so that the Maud could take part in the affair; andthe club were to go on a cruise for ten days, after the race.

  There was no little excitement in the club in relation to the Maud.Donald had confidently asserted his belief, weeks before, that she wouldoutsail the Skylark, not as a mere boast, but as a matter of business.His father had made an improvement upon the model of the Sea Foam, whichhe was reasonably certain would give her the advantage. The youngboat-builder had also remedied a slight defect in the arrangement ofthe centre-board in the Maud, had added a little to the size of the jiband mainsail, and he hoped these alterations would tell in favor of thenew craft, while they would not take anything from her stiffness inheavy weather.

  "I believe the old folks are as much interested in the next race as themembers of the club, Don John," said Rodman, one day, as he came uponthe wharf.

  "I am glad they are," replied Donald, laughing. "It will make businessgood for Ramsay & Son."

  "Half a dozen of them are going to make up a first prize of one hundreddollars for the regatta; so that the winner of the race will make a goodthing by it," added Rodman.

  "That will be a handsome prize."

  "If the Maud takes it, Don John, the money shall be yours, as you are tosail her."

  "O, no!" exclaimed Donald. "I don't believe in that. The prize willbelong to the boat."

  "If you win the race in the Maud, I shall be satisfied with the glory,without any of the spoils."

  "Well, we won't quarrel about it now, for she may not win the firstprize."

  "Well, the same gentlemen will give a second prize of fifty dollars,"continued Rodman. "But don't you expect to get the first prize, DonJohn?"

  "I do; but to expect is not always to win, you know."

  "You have always talked as though you felt pretty sure of coming infirst," said Rodman, who did not like to see any abatement of confidenceon the part of the boat-builder.

  "It is the easiest thing in the world to be mistaken, Sam. If the Maudloses the first prize, I may as well shut up shop, and take a situationin a grocery store, for my business would be ruined."

  "Not quite so bad as that, I hope," added Rodman.

  "Mr. Norwood is waiting to see how she sails, before he orders a yachtfor Frank. Can't you invite Frank and his father to sail with us in therace?"

  "Certainly, if you desire it, Don John," replied Rodman. "Mr. Norwood isa big man, and he will be a capital live weight for us, if it happens toblow fresh."

  "I hope it will blow; if it don't, the Christabel is sure of the firstprize. I want just such a day as we had when the Sea Foam cleaned outthe Skylark."

  "That was a little too much of a good thing. You came pretty near takingthe mast out of the Sea Foam that day."

  "Not at all; our masts don't come out so easily as that, though I thinkthe mast of the Sea Foam would snap before she would capsize."

  "I like that in a boat; it is a good thing to have a craft that willstay right side up. The fellows have got another idea, Don John."

  "Well, ideas are good things to have. What is it now?" asked Donald.

  "They are going to build a club-house over on Turtle Head."

  "On Turtle Head! Why don't they have it down on Manhegan?" which is anisland ten miles from the coast of Maine.

  "It will be only a shanty, where the fellows can have a good time, andget up chowders. They talk of hiring a hall in the city, and havingmeetings for mutual improvement during the fall and winter."

  "That will be a capital idea."

  "We can have a library of books on nautical and other subjects, take thenewspapers and magazines, and hang up pictures of yachts and othervessels on the walls. I hope, when you get the Maud done, you will notbe so busy, Don John, for you don't attend many of our club meetings."

  "I hope to be busier than ever. You see, Sam, I can't afford to run withyou rich fellows. I don't wear kid gloves," laughed Donald.

  "No matter if you don't; you are just as good a fellow as any of them."

  "Everybody uses me first rate; as well as though my father had been anabob."

  "Well, they ought to; for it is brains, not money, that makes the man.We want to see more of you in the club. You must go with us on our longcruise."

  "I am afraid I can't spare the time. Ten days is a good while; but itwill depend upon whether I get the job to build Mr. Norwood's yacht."

  Donald would gladly have spent more time with the club, but hisconscience would not permit him to neglect his business. He felt thathis success depended entirely upon his own industry and diligence; andhe never left his work, except when the occasion fully justified him indoing so. He attended all the regattas as a matter of business, as wellas of pleasure; and he had seen the Sea Foam beaten twice by theSkylark since he won the memorable race in the former. Edward Patterdalewas fully satisfied, now, that a skilful boatman was as necessary as afast boat, in order to win the honors of the club, and he wished Donaldto "coach" him, until he obtained the skill to compete with thecommodore. Donald had promised to do it, as soon as he had time, and theowner of the Sea Foam hoped the opportunity would be afforded during thelong cruise.

  The work on the Maud was hurried forward as rapidly as was consistentwith thoroughness, and in a few days she was ready for the last coats ofpaint. The boat-builder was favored with good, dry weather, and on theday before the great regatta, she was ready to receive her furniture andstores. The paint was dry and hard; but when the stove-dealer came withthe little galley for the cook-room, the deck was carefully covered withold cloths, the cushions were placed on the transoms, the oil-clothcarpet was laid on the floor by Kennedy, who was experienced in thiskind of work, and Samuel Rodman was as busy as a bee arranging thecrockery ware and stores which he had purchased. It only remained tobend on the sails, which was accomplished early in the afternoon.

  With Mr. Rodman, Samuel, and the two workmen on board, Donald made atrial trip in the new craft. The party went down the bay as far as SealHarbor; but the wind was rather light for her, and she had noopportunity to show her sailing qualities, though with her gaff-topsailand the balloon-jib, she walked by everything afloat that day.

  "I am entirely satisfied with her, Don John," said Mr. Rodman, as theMaud approached the city on her return. "I think she will sail well."

  "I hope she will, sir," replied Donald. "To-morrow will prove what thereis in her."

  "She is well built and handsomely finished, and whether she wins therace or not I shall be satisfied. I never looked upon a handsomer yachtin my life. You have done your work admirably, Don John."

  "Mr. Kennedy did the joiner work," said Donald, willing to have hisforeman, as he calle
d him, share the honors of the day.

  "He did it well."

  "I only did just what my boss ordered me to do," laughed Kennedy; "andI want to say, that I didn't do the first thing towards planning anypart of her. Don John hasn't often asked for any advice from me. He isentitled to all the credit."

  "I have no doubt you did all you could to make the job a success," addedMr. Rodman.

  "I did; and so did Walker," said Kennedy, indicating the other shipcarpenter. "Both of us did our very best, never idling a moment, ormaking a bad joint; and I can say, there isn't a better built craft inthe United States than this yacht. Not a knot or a speck of rot has beenput into her. Everything has been done upon honor, and she will be stiffenough to cross the Atlantic in mid-winter. I'd rather be in her than inmany a ship I've worked on."

  "I'm glad to know all this," replied Mr. Rodman. "Now, Don John, if thefirm of Ramsay & Son is ready to deliver the Maud, I will give you acheck for the balance due on her."

  Donald was all ready, and after the yacht had been moored off the wharfwhere she had been completed, the business was transacted in the shop. Abill of sale was given, and the boat-builder received a check for fourhundred dollars, which he carried into the house and showed to hismother. Of course the good lady was delighted with the success of herson, and Barbara laughed till she shook her curls into a fearful snarl.

  "You have done well, Donald," said Mrs. Ramsay. "I thank God that youhave been so successful."

  "I have paid nearly all my bills, and I shall make about two hundred andfifty dollars on the job," added the young boat-builder. "I think I canbuild the next one for less money."

  "You may not get another one to build, my son."

  "That depends upon the race to-morrow. If I beat the Skylark, I'm sureof one."

  "Don't be too confident."

  "I am to sail the Maud to-morrow, and if there is any speed in her, as Ithink there is, I shall get it out of her. To-morrow will be a big dayfor me; but if I lose the race, the firm of Ramsay & Son is used up."

  Donald put the check in his wallet, and went out to the shop again,where he found Samuel Rodman looking for him. The owner of the Maud wasso delighted with the craft, that he could not keep away from her, andhe wanted to go on board again.

  "Bob Montague is going to give you a hard pull to-morrow, Don John,"said Rodman, as they got into the tender.

  "I hope he will do his best; and the harder the pull, the better,"replied Donald.

  "If we only beat him," suggested Rodman.

  "I expect to beat him; but I may be mistaken."

  "Bob hauled up the Skylark on the beach this afternoon, and rubbed herbottom with black lead."

  "I am glad to hear it."

  "Glad? Why?"

  "It proves that he means business."

  "Of course he means business."

  "I wonder if he knows I am to build a yacht for Mr. Norwood, in case Iwin this race."

  "I don't believe he does. I never heard of it till you told me."

  "He is such a splendid fellow, that I was afraid he would _let_ me beathim, if he knew I was to make anything by it."

  "I think it very likely he would."

  "But I want to beat the Skylark fairly, or not at all."

  "There comes Laud Cavendish," said Rodman, as the Juno came up the bay,and bore down upon the Maud. "He was blackballed in the club the otherday, and he don't feel good. Let's go ashore again, and wait till hesheers off, for I don't want to see him. He will be sure to go on boardof the yacht if we are there, for he is always poking his nose in wherehe is not wanted."

  Donald, who was at the oars, pulled back to the shore. The Juno ranclose up to the Maud, tacked, and stood up the bay.

  "He is gone," said Rodman. "I don't want him asking me why he wasblackballed. He is an intolerable spoony."

  "Don John!" called some one, as he was shoving off the tender.

  Donald looked up, and saw Mr. Beardsley, the deputy sheriff, who hadbeen working up the tin box case with Captain Patterdale.

  "I want to see you," added the officer.

  Donald wondered if Mr. Beardsley wanted to see him officially; but hewas thankful that he was able to look even a deputy sheriff square inthe face.

  He jumped out of the tender, and Rodman went off to the yacht alone. Weare somewhat better informed than the young boat-builder in regard tothe visit of the sheriff, and we happen to know that he did comeofficially; and in order to explain why it was so, it is necessary to goback to the point where we left Mr. Laud Cavendish. He slept in thecabin of the Juno after he left the house of Captain Shivernock. He didnot sleep any better than Donald Ramsay that night; and the long surgesrolled in by the paddle-wheels of the steamer Richmond, as she came intothe harbor early the next morning, awoke him.

  The first thing he thought of was his visit to the house of the strangeman; the next was his breakfast, and he decided to go on shore, and getthe meal at a restaurant. The Juno was moored near the steamboat wharf,where the Portland boat made her landings. This was a convenient placefor him to disembark, and he pulled in his tender to the pier. As heapproached the landing steps, he saw Captain Shivernock hastening downthe wharf with a valise in his hand. It was evident that he was going upthe river, perhaps to Bangor. Laud did not like the idea of thecaptain's going away just at that time. Donald had told CaptainPatterdale that the mended bill came from him, and of course the ownerof the tin box would immediately come to him for further information.

  "Then, if I tell him Captain Shivernock gave it to me, he will want tosee him; and he won't be here to be seen," reasoned Laud. "I can'texplain why the captain gave me the money, and in his absence I shall bein a bad fix. I must take care of myself."

  Laud went to the restaurant, and ate his breakfast; after which hereturned to the Juno. He took care of himself by getting under way, andstanding over towards Castine, where he dined that day. Then hecontinued his voyage down the bay, through Edgemoggin Reach to MountDesert, where he staid several days, living upon "the fat of the land"and the fish of the sea, which go well together. When he was confidentthat Captain Shivernock had returned, he sailed for Belfast, and arrivedafter a two days' voyage. The strange man had not come back, and Laudthought it very singular that he had not. Then he began to wonder whythe captain had laughed so unreasonably long and loud when he told himto say that he had given him the mended bill. Laud could not see thejoke at the time; but now he concluded that the laugh came in becausehe was going away on a long journey, and would not be in town to answerany questions which Captain Patterdale might propose.

  Mr. Cavendish was disturbed, and felt that he was a victim of apractical joke, and he determined to get out of the way again.Unfortunately for him, he had shown himself in the city, and before hecould leave he was interviewed by Captain Patterdale and Mr. Beardsley.The white cross of Denmark was pleasantly alluded to again by theformer, and exhibited to Laud. Did he know that bill? Had he ever seenit before?

  He did not know it; had never seen it.

  It was no use to say, in the absence of that gentleman, that CaptainShivernock had given him the bill. It would be equally foolish to tellthe Haddock Ledge story in the absence of the generous stranger, who haddeclined to give his name, though he was kind enough to say that he hadspent a few days in Belfast. Since neither of these fictions wasavailable in the present emergency, Laud "went back" on Donald Ramsay.He did not love the boat-builder, and so it was not a sacrifice ofpersonal feeling for him to do it. On the contrary, he would ratherlike to get his "rival," as he chose to regard him, out of the way.

  "But you paid him a considerable sum of money some two months ago,"suggested Captain Patterdale.

  "Not a red!" protested Laud. "I never paid him any money in my life."

  "You bought the Juno of him."

  "No, sir; nor of any one else. She don't belong to me."

  "But you are using her all the time."

  "Captain Shivernock got tired of her, and lets me have the use of herfor tak
ing care of her."

  "Didn't you say you owned her, and that you were going to change hername from Juno to Nellie?" demanded the captain, sternly.

  "I did; but that was all gas," replied Laud, with a sickly grin.

  "If you would lie about one thing, perhaps you would about another,"said the captain.

  "I was only joking when I said I owned the Juno. If you will go up toCaptain Shivernock's house, he will tell you all about it."

  That was a plain way to solve the problem, and they went to the strangeman's house. Laud knew the captain was not at home; but his persecutorsgave him the credit of suggesting this step. Sykes and his wife were athome. They did not know whether or not Captain Shivernock had given Laudthe use of the Juno, but presumed he had, for the young man was in thehouse with him half the night, about ten days before. Thus fareverything looked well for Laud; and the Sykeses partially confirmed hisstatements.

  "Now, Captain Patterdale, I have answered all your questions, and I wishyou would answer mine. What's the matter?" said Laud, putting on hisboldest face.

  "Never mind what the matter is."

  "Well, I know as well as you do. I used to think Don John was a goodfellow, and liked him first rate. I didn't think he would be mean,enough to shove his own guilt upon me," replied Laud.

  "What do you mean by that?" demanded Captain Patterdale.

  "Though I knew about it all the time, I didn't mean to say a word."

  "About what?"

  THE PAPERS FROM THE TIN BOX. Page 281.]

  "About your tin trunk. We didn't keep any such in our store! I knew whatyou meant all the time; but I didn't let on that Don John had done it."

  "Done what?"

  "Stolen it. That day I was in the library with Don John and Hasbrook, Iwas discharged from Miller's, because I wanted to go away to stay overSunday. I had a boat down by Ramsay's shop, and I went there to get off.Well, captain, I saw Don John have the same tin trunk I saw in yourlibrary."

  "Are you telling the truth?"

  "Of course I am. I wouldn't go back on Don John if he hadn't tried tolay it to me. If you search his house and shop, I'll bet you'll find thetin trunk, or some of the money and papers."

  Captain Patterdale was intensely grieved, even to believe Laud'sstatement was possibly true; but he decided to have the boat-builder'spremises searched before he proceeded any further against Laud. Mr.Beardsley was to do this unpleasant duty, and for this purpose he calledon Donald the night before the great race.

  The deputy sheriff did his work thoroughly, in spite of the confidenceof Donald and the distress of his mother and sister. Perhaps he wouldnot have discovered the four fifty-dollar bills concealed in the bureauif Donald had not assisted him; but he had no help in finding a lot ofnotes and other papers hidden under a sill in the shop. The boat-builderprotested that he knew nothing about these papers, and had never seenthem before in his life.

  Mrs. Ramsay and Barbara wept as though their hearts would break; butDonald was led away by the sheriff.

  That night Captain Shivernock returned by the train from Portland.