A NEW PLAN.
Tom was no less delighted than astonished at what he had seen in the
governor's harboring place. The cove was so romantic, and it was so cool
and pleasant down there among the rocks and trees! It was a famous place
for reflection, and, as Tom stretched himself out on the grass, and
looked up at the bluffs above him, he told himself that he would be
perfectly willing to pass the remainder of his existence there. What
could be more glorious than the life of ease Sam was leading? He had no
business to bother him, no father to keep an eye on all his movements,
and no merciless village boys to torment him; but he was free from all
care and trouble, was his own master, and passed his time serenely in
doing nothing. That was just the life that suited Tom. If other boys
were foolish enough to allow themselves to be shut up in an academy for
ten months in the year, or were willing to drag out a miserable
existence within the dingy walls of a store or office, that was their
lookout, and not his. He would not do it for any body. He would leave
the village before he was twenty-four hours older; and if he ever
placed his foot inside its limits again, it would be because he could
not help himself.
"Governor," said he, "you always were a lucky fellow. Here you have been
during the last two weeks, enjoying yourself to the utmost, and free to
go and come when you please, while I have been cooped up in the village,
scarcely daring to stir out of my father's sight, compelled to work like
a slave for eight hours in the day, and have been badgered and tormented
until I have sometimes wished that the earth would open and swallow up
Newport and everybody in it, myself included. You must be happy here."
"Well, I should be," replied the governor, "if I only had something good
to eat, an' was sartin that Bobby Jennings an' Mr. Grimes would never
trouble me."
"You may make yourself easy on that score," said Tom. "Bob Jennings is a
thousand miles from here by this time. He has gone to China, and will
not be back for three years."
As Tom said this he settled back on his elbow, and proceeded to give the
governor a history of all that had happened in the village since the
night the Crusoe men made the attack on the Storm King. He told how
Harry Green had taken him and the rest of the band to the academy as
prisoners of war; repeated what the principal had said to them;
explained how Bob had lost his boat, and found a friend in the man who
had paid him the forty dollars in gold by mistake; and how he had
obtained a berth on board the Spartan, and gone to sea, leaving his
mother well provided for. He wound up by dwelling with a good deal of
emphasis upon the resolve he had made to pay off Harry Green for what he
had done, and hinted, mysteriously, that the first lieutenant would live
to regret that he had ever presumed to act contrary to the wishes of Tom
Newcombe. Sam could scarcely believe some portions of the story that
related to Bob Jennings. He was sure that the fisher-boy had given one
of the gold pieces for the Go Ahead No. 2; and, even if he had not, the
governor could not understand how a boy so hard pressed as Bob had
been--who had more than once been at a loss to know where his next meal
was coming from--could resist the temptation to use a portion of the
money, especially when he knew that the man who had paid it to him would
never be the wiser for it. Sam acknowledged to himself that the truth of
the old adage he had so often heard Bob repeat--that "honesty is the
best policy"--had been fully exemplified.
"Now, that's what comes of bein' born lucky," said he, after he had
thought the matter over. "That ar' Bobby Jennings is a gentleman, now,
an' goes about holden' up his head like he was somebody; while I am a
rascal an' an outlaw, not darin' to show my face outside this yere cove,
an' livin' in constant fear of Mr. Grimes, an' the State's prison. This
is a hard world, Tommy."
"O, now, have you just found it out?" drawled Tom. "If you had seen as
much trouble as I have, you would have come to that conclusion long ago.
I heard Harry Green say, one day, that it was the very best world he
ever saw, and that it could not possibly be any better. If I was as
lucky as he is, I would say so too. He holds high positions among those
Spooneys at the academy, every body in the village speaks well of him,
and he gets along through the world without the least difficulty; while
I--just look at me! I won't stand it; now, that's all about it! I'll
raise a breeze in that village one of these fine days, that will make
the people there think they have never known any thing about Tom
Newcombe."
Tom always worked himself into a passion when he talked about the wrongs
he imagined the world had done him; and as he dwelt upon Harry Green's
success--which he foolishly attributed to luck, instead of downright
earnest labor--and drew a contrast between their stations in life, he
got angrier with every sentence he uttered; and when he declared that he
"wouldn't stand it," he jumped up and stamped his foot furiously upon
the ground, to emphasize his words.
"Well, now, Muley, I can't see the use of talkin' on that ar' way," said
the governor. "The world has been mighty mean to us, but it might have
used us a heap worse."
"O, now, I can't see it!" drawled Tom. "I'd like to know if I wasn't
used just as badly as I could be when I lost that yacht?"
"Of course not. You might have been put in jail, like the rest of the
fellers."
"What fellows?"
"Why, Friday, Will Atkins, an' all our crowd."
"They are not in jail. They are ferrying on the harbor every day, and
nobody troubles them. If you were to go back to the village, no one
would say a word to you."
The governor shut one eye, and looked at Tom through, the half-closed
lids of the other. "Do you see any thing green about me?" he asked. "We
stole the skiff--every body knows that--an' it wasn't no fault of our'n
that Bobby Jennings got her agin. That's contrary to law, an' Mr.
Grimes, bein' an officer, is bound to put us through for it. He thinks
that by lettin' them fellers alone he will get me to go back to the
village, and then he'll arrest the whole of us, an' pack us off to jail.
But I'm too sharp fur him. He said I couldn't pull no wool over his
eyes, an' he'll find that he can't pull none over mine, neither."
"But I tell you that every body thinks you are drowned," said Tom.
"That's all mighty nice, but it don't fool Governor Barton. I just aint
going back to Newport, 'cause I know it aint safe. I jumped overboard
from the yacht 'cause I didn't want to let Mr. Grimes get his hands on
me, an' I'd be the biggest kind of a dunce to put myself in his way
ag'in. But I say, Muley, don't it beat all the world how them 'cademy
swells got out of the hold that night?"
"It doesn't beat me; I know all about it. You broke me, didn't you?"
"I did; but I am sorry fur it now."
"It is rather late in the day to make apologies, governor. If you had
treated me like a gentleman, those students wouldn't have got out."
"I don't understand you, Muley."
"Well, I let them out. You understand me now, don't you?"
Sam, upon hearing this, started up from the ground and glared at Tom so
savagely that the latter began to be alarmed.
"I couldn't help it, governor," said he. "It's my plan to get even with
any fellow who imposes upon me. You played me a mean trick, and I paid
you off in your own coin."
"Well, the thing is done now," said Sam, settling back on his elbow,
"an' it can't be undone. Perhaps it was the best thing that could have
happened to us, fur, since I have had time to think the matter over, I
have come to the conclusion that our cruise would not have been a long
one. That was a terrible storm, Muley, an' the waves were uncommon high.
I found that out the minute I got into 'em. I never expected to come out
alive, an' I hadn't any more than touched the water, till I'd been
willin' to give something nice to get back on board the yacht. But luck
was on my side for once, an' throwed a spar in my way. Where it come
from I don't know; but it was there, an' it saved me. It drifted into
the harbor, carryin' me with it; an' when I come to a place where I
thought I could swim, I struck out for the wharf. It was then almost
daylight, an', as I didn't care about bein' seen, I found a safe
hidin'-place an' stayed there durin' the day, thinkin' an' layin' my
plans. When night come, I stole this skiff an' started for the island.
The next day I found this cove; an', seein' in a minute that it was just
the place for me, I brought my boat around, an' I've been here ever
since. I've made three visits to the village--that's the way I come to
learn the channels--and I've got my bed, all my clothes, an' several
other handy little articles I found layin' around. I wanted to see you
an' find out what was goin' on, but I didn't dare to show myself, fur I
didn't know but you had gone back on me. Rats desert a sinkin' ship, you
know, an' when a feller's in disgrace, everybody gets down on him. I'm
glad to hear that the other fellers are all right, 'cause I've done a
heap of thinkin' since I've been here. Have you given up all idea of
findin' Crusoe's island?"
"No, I haven't," replied Tom. "I'd start to-morrow, if I could find any
one to go with me. What have you been thinking about, governor?"
"About gettin' away from here. I can't stay on this island much longer,
'cause it's too near the village; an' another thing, grub's scarce. I'm
going over to Newport this very night to see them fellers; an' if
they'll stick to us, we'll see some fun yet. Will you go?"
"I will," answered Tom, readily; "that is, if you will help me square
yards with the principal of the academy."
"I'll do it; there's my hand on it. I always knowed you were a brick,
Muley, an' now I'll tell you what I have been thinkin' about since we've
been sittin' here. In the first place," continued the governor, helping
himself to another slice of the water-melon, "I take it fur granted that
Friday, Will Atkins, Xury, an' Jack Spaniard will go with us, an' help
us carry out our idea. I know them fellers, an' I am sure they can be
depended on. We'll start the Crusoe band ag'in. I will be the head man,
as I was before; an' if you'll promise, honor bright, not to try any
tricks on us, we'll call you cap'n, an' we'll give you command of the
vessel, when we get her."
"All right," said Tom, "I'll not play any tricks on you as long as you
obey orders and behave yourselves; but if you get up a mutiny, and try
to make me a foremast hand, as you did before, I'll knock the whole
thing higher than a kite. You must bear two things in mind, governor: I
know more about managing these matters than you do, and I am a better
sailor. I was president of the Gentlemen's Club, and grand commander of
the Night-Hawks. That runaway expedition from the academy, that made
such a stir in the village, originated with me, and I carried it out
successfully; and that's more than any other boy in Newport could have
done. I was second in command of the Swallow during that cruise, and, if
I had had one or two more friends, I would have been made master of her
when the fellows put Rich out. If I go with you, I must be captain of
the vessel; and, more than that, you must promise, in the presence of
the band, to stand by me, and see that my orders are obeyed to the very
letter."
"I'll agree to that, Muley," said Sam.
"Call me captain," interrupted Tom; "I never did like that other name.
The second thing you must remember is, that, if you and I are friends,
the expedition will be successful; but, if you make an enemy of me, I'll
ruin it in some way or another. Let's hear the rest of your plan."
"I can tell it in few words," replied Sam: "If the fellers promise to go
with us, we must find a vessel somewhere. We want a good one, fur
there's no knowin' how many storms we may get into before we reach our
island. I'd like to have that yacht, 'cause she's a good sea-boat, an'
sails like lightnin'; but them 'cademy swells will always be on the
watch now, an' when you see Governor Barton within reach of them
bayonets ag'in, you'll see a weasel asleep. Our best plan would be to
take the Sweepstakes. 'Squire Thompson leaves her in the harbor, with no
one to watch her, an' it'll be the easiest thing in the world to board
her, some dark night, an' make off with her. That part of the business
don't trouble me none, but the grub does. I s'pose the few crackers we
had on hand when we made the attack on the yacht are lost, or eat up;
an' Atkins said there was not much more'n twenty dollars in the
treasury. That wouldn't be enough to buy grub fur us six fellers, even
if we had it; but I know it's been fooled away fur peanuts an' candy
long before this time. Of course, we can't go to sea without something
to eat, an' the only way we can get it is to hook it."
"Steal it!" drawled Tom. "O, now, if that's the way you are going to get
your supplies, you needn't ask me to help, for I won't do it."
"Mebbe you'll be willin' enough to eat the grub when we get it,"
returned Sam.
"That's a different matter. Of course, I'll not starve if there's is any
thing on board the vessel to eat, but I won't steal. Where are you going
to get your provisions?"
"At Mr. Henry's store."
"O, now, suppose you should be caught? That would kill the expedition at
once. Johnny Harding sleeps in the store every night."
"Does he?" exclaimed the governor. "That's something I didn't calculate
on; but I guess we aint much afraid of him. If we can only get inside
the store without awaking him, we can manage him easy enough. I'll have
a club, or something, an' the sight of it will keep him quiet while the
other fellers are securin' the provisions."
Tom was amazed at the coolness with which the governor discussed this
villainous plan for supplying the commissary of the Crusoe band. He was
hardly prepared for so desperate an undertaking, and yet, at the same
time, he had determined upon the perpetration of an offense which was
even more atrocious in the eyes of the law than the one Sam had
proposed. When it first entered his mind, he had been terrified at the
bare thought of it; but he had pondered upon it so often, and had
weighed so many schemes for its accomplishment, that the enormity of the
crime had finally dwindled into insignificance. Perhaps, if he had spent
as much time in thinking about robbing Mr. Henry's store as he had about
destroying the Storm King, Sam's proposition would not have startled him
in the least. The fact was, Tom had long been going down hill, in a
moral point of view. Like every one else who does not advance, he was
retrograding. There is no such thing as standing still in this world. A
boy grows better or worse every day of his life. The change may be so
gradual as to escape the notice of those around him, but it is,
nevertheless, surely going on. The truth of this had been fully
illustrated in Tom's case. From studying up schemes for mischief, which
were simply intended to amuse himself and companions, he had come, by
easy steps, to think seriously of attempting a crime, to revenge himself
upon his father, the students, and the principal of the academy. He did
not expect to accomplish it without being discovered; and he knew that,
if he was captured, his punishment would be something more terrible than
any thing he had yet experienced. But this thought did not deter him. He
was resolved to carry out his new idea, if within the bounds of
possibility, and to escape the consequences by running away from the
village.
"Well, cap'n, what do you say?" asked the governor, after Tom had sat
gazing thoughtfully at the ground for several minutes. "We must have
something to eat, an that's the only way I know of to get it."
"You can do as you please," was the answer. "I shall not take any part
in robbing the store; there is too much danger in it."
"Well, we can get along without your help. You can stand by and look on.
You said something about gettin' even with them 'cademy swells, didn't
you?"
"Yes, I did. I am going to burn that yacht."
It was now Sam's turn to be astonished. He started up and looked at his
companion as if he hardly believed that he could be in earnest.
"O, I mean it, governor," said Tom, with a decided shake of his head.
"Now, if you will listen to me, cap'n', you will keep away from them
'cademy fellers. They think a heap of that little vessel, an' if they
ketch you tryin' to burn her, they won't be no ways backward about
givin' you a good drubbin'. Besides, you'll have Mr. Grimes after you."
"I have thought the matter over thoroughly, Sam, and nothing you can say
will turn me from my purpose. Do you suppose that, after all that has
happened, I am going to let those fellows enjoy quiet possession of the
Storm King? No, sir; I won't do it. She rightfully belongs to me, and if
I can't have her, nobody shall. When I meet those sailors strutting
about the village, showing off their new uniforms, and see Harry Green
planking his quarter-deck with all the dignity of an admiral, I feel as
if I'd like to sink the vessel and her crew in the deepest part of the
ocean. If my father had given her to me, as he ought to have done, I
should now be the happiest boy in the world; as it is, I am the most
miserable. I don't expect you and the band to run any risks, governor.
All I ask of you is to pull me alongside the yacht, and I'll do the
rest. I'll slip on board with a bottle of coal-oil in my pocket, and if
I can once get into the galley without being discovered, I'll finish
her."
The governor gazed at Tom in silent wonder and admiration. The latter's
plan for "squaring yards" with the principal was likely to involve him
in considerable danger, and Sam could not help acknowledging to himself
that it was something he would not dare undertake. He had great respect
for courage, and he believed that he had been sadly mistaken in Tom. He
began to stand in awe of him, too; for a boy who could conceive of such
an exploit, and talk so calmly about it, after the experience he had
already had with the students, might indeed prove a dangerous person to
make an enemy of. The governor secretly determined to keep on the right
side of Tom.
"Well," said he, at length, "I promised that I would help you, an' I'll
stick to it."
"If you don't, I'll do the job alone," declared Tom. "I'll board the
yacht some night, and set fire to her, even if I know that the students
will catch me in the very act. But it is getting dark, and I must go
home."
"Come ag'in to-morrow afternoon, cap'n," said the governor. "I'll have
the other fellers here then, an' we can talk the matter over."
Tom promised to be on hand; and after Sam had piloted his boat out of
the cove into still water, he filled away for home, feeling happier than
he had done for many a day. We are so well acquainted with him, that it
is scarcely necessary to say that he passed a sleepless night, and that
during the following day he lived in a state of constant excitement. Of
course he was certain of success--he always was, in spite of his former
experience--and of course he gave full sway to his imagination, and
indulged in pleasing anticipations of the life of glorious ease upon
which he was soon to enter. There would be no Johnny Harding to bother
him (Tom spent a good deal of time in trying to decide upon some plan to
punish Johnny before he left the village); no stern, unreasonable father
to interfere with his grand ideas; no care or trouble of any description
to mar his happiness; but his days would be passed in one continual
round of enjoyment. Every one who came in contact with him noticed that
he was in wonderful spirits--not morose and sullen as he had lately
been, but gay and active, and, for a wonder, industrious. This was
enough to excite the suspicions of his father, who watched him more
closely than ever, but could discover nothing wrong.
Tom remained at the office until four o'clock, and then went home. He
kept the back streets, to avoid meeting any of his acquaintances, but,
to his intense disgust, he ran against two of the crew of the Storm
King, in front of his father's house. They were the ones who threatened
him with a bath in the harbor if he attempted to carry out any more of
his plans against the yacht, and whom Tom alarmed by declaring that he
had another idea already.
"O, now, I'd like to see you duck me in the harbor," drawled Tom. "If
you think you can scare me, you are very much mistaken. I'll astonish
you, one of these days."
"You had better be careful how you talk, captain," said one of the young
tars, placing his hand on the gate as if he had half a mind to follow
Tom into the yard; "we are in no humor to listen to any threats."
"Now, haven't I told you a dozen times that I want you to quit calling
me captain?" whined Tom. "I've stood your insults just as long as I am
going to. I've got a splendid idea."
Tom turned on his heel, and walked down the lawn toward the wharf where
the Mystery lay; and when he had hoisted the sails, he started for the
island, to keep his appointment with Sam Barton. On the way he overtook
and passed a yawl, in which were seated the four members of the Crusoe
band; and the significant manner in which they shook their heads at Tom,
satisfied him that the governor had talked the matter over with them,
and that they were ready to join the expedition.
He found Sam on the rock where he had met him the day before; and when
he had piloted the Mystery into the cove, he conducted Tom up the path
that led to the summit of the bluff, and together they returned to the
rock, to await the arrival of the other members of the band. They came
at length, and in a few minutes the yawl was lying in the cove beside
the Mystery, and the Crusoe men were seated on the grass in front of the
cabin, talking over their plans.
The arrangements for the cruise were speedily completed. It was
unanimously agreed by the band that the only way to get their provisions
was to rob Mr. Henry's store (to Tom's great surprise, not the slightest
objection was made to this proposition); that they should capture the
Sweepstakes, and assist Tom in destroying the yacht; that Sam should be
chief of the band, Tom captain of the vessel, and Xury, in view of the
skill he had exhibited in navigating the yacht down the harbor on that
stormy night, should be first mate. It was further agreed that the
members of the band should go back to the village, collect all the
articles of the outfit, and, as soon as it grew dark, return to the
island, where they would remain concealed until they were ready to start
on their cruise.
"You see," explained the governor, "when you five fellers run away,
it'll be sure to raise a big fuss, and mebbe Tommy's father will try to
find him. But he'll never think of lookin' fur him so near the village;
an' here we'll stay, as snug an' comfortable as bugs in a rug. The fuss
will die out after awhile, an' then, some dark night, we'll pay our last
visit to Newport."
This programme was duly carried out; and, while every body was
wondering what had become of the runaways, and Mr. Newcombe was sending
his tugs up and down the bay, in all directions, in the hope of hearing
some tidings of the missing Tom, he was safely sheltered in Sam Barton's
retreat, enjoying a foretaste of Crusoe life, happy in the society of
the young vagabonds he had chosen for his companions, and never wasting
a thought upon the home and friends he had deserted.