IN WHICH IS HUE AND CRY
We ran by the river-front of Baton Rouge, and lay to on the opposite
side while our dingey ran in with mail. I sent Peterson and Lafitte
ashore for the purpose, and meantime paced the deck in several frames
of mind. I was arrested in this at length by L'Olonnois, who was
standing forward, glasses in hand.
"Here they come," said he, "and a humpin' it up, too. Look, Jean
Lafitte is standin' up, wavin' at us. Something's up, sure. Mayhap, we
are pursued by the enemy. Methinks 'tis hue and cry, good Sir."
"It jolly well does look like it, mate," said I, taking his glasses.
"Something's up."
I could see the stubby dingey forced half out the water by Peterson's
oars, though she made little speed enough. And I saw men hurrying on
the wharf, as though about to put out a boat.
"What's wrong, Peterson?" I shouted as he came in range at last.
"Hurry up!" It was Lafitte who answered. "Clear the decks for action.
Yon varlet has wired on ahead to have us stopped! They're after us!"
So came his call through cupped hands.
I ran to the falls and lowered away the blocks to hoist them aboard,
even as I ordered speed and began to break out the anchor. We hardly
were under way before a small power boat, bearing a bluecoated man,
puffed alongside.
"What boat is this?" he called. "_Belle Helene_, of Mackinaw?"
In answer--without order from me,--my bloodthirsty mate, L'Olonnois,
brought out the black burgee of the Jolly Rover, bearing a skull and
cross-bones. "Have a look at that!" he piped. "Shall we clear the
stern-chaser, Black Bart?"
"Hold on there, wait! I've got papers for you," called the officer,
still hanging at our rail, for I had not yet ordered full speed.
"He hollered to me he was going to arrest us, Mr. Harry," explained
Peterson, much out of breath. "What's it all about? What papers does
he mean?"
"The morning papers, very likely, Peterson," said I. "The baseball
scores."
"Will you halt, now?" called the officer.
"No," I answered, through the megaphone. "You have no authority to
halt us. What's your paper, and who is it for?"
"Wire from Calvin Davidson, Natchez, charging John Doe with running
off with his boat."
"This is not his boat," I answered, "but my own, and I am not John
Doe. We are on our way to the coast, and not under any jurisdiction
of yours."
He stood up and drew a paper from his pocket, and began to read. In
reply I pulled the whistle cord and drowned his voice; while at the
same time I gave the engineer orders for full speed. Shaking his fist,
he fell astern.
None the less, I was a bit thoughtful. After all, the Mississippi
River, wide as it was, ran within certain well defined banks from
which was no escaping. We were three hundred miles or more from the
high seas, and passing between points of continuous telegraphic
communication; so that a hue and cry down the river might indeed mean
trouble for us. Moreover, even as I turned to pick up the course--for
I had myself taken the wheel--I saw the figure of Aunt Lucinda on the
after deck. She was on the point of heaving overboard a bottle--I
heard it splash, saw it bob astern. "Now, the devil will be to pay,"
thought I. But, on second thought, I slowed down, so that distinctly I
saw the officer, also slowing down, stoop over and take the bottle
aboard his launch.
"Ahoy, the launch!" I hailed. He put a hand at his ear as I megaphoned
him. "Take this message for Mr. Calvin Davidson," I hailed. He nodded
that he heard. "--That to-night John Doe will wear his waistcoat, the
one with the pink stripes. Do you get me?"
Apparently he did not get me, for he sat down suddenly and mopped his
face. We left him so. And for aught I could know, he took back ashore
material for a newspaper story, which bade fair to be better for the
newspapers than for us on board the _Belle Helene_; for, up and down
the river, the wires might carry the news that a crazy man had been
guilty of piracy, highway robbery, abduction, I know not how many
other crimes; and to arrest him on his mad career they might enlist
all the authorities, municipal, county, state and even national. "John
Doe," said I to myself, "if I really were you, methinks I should make
haste." None the less I smiled; for, if I were John Doe only, then
Calvin Davidson had no idea who had stolen his chartered yacht, and
who was about to disport in his most cherished waistcoat! The
situation pleased me very much. "L'Olonnois," said I, "come hither, my
hearty."
"Aye, aye, Sir," replied that worthy. "What is it, Black Bart?"
"Nothing, except I was just going to say that I enjoy it very much,
this being a pirate."
"So do I," said he. "An' let any pursue us at their peril!"