CAPTAIN AND MATE
Mike Murphy would have given the launch a speed of fifty miles an hour
had it been in his power, so impatient was he to reach the thieves who
had not only stolen the launch, but had insulted and defied him. He
would not pause to secure the _Deerfoot_, but would leap ashore the
instant he was within reach of it.
Taunting and gibing him, the miscreants waited until hardly a dozen
yards separated them. Then they wheeled about and dashed into the woods
as fast as they could go! Though there were two and each was older than
he, they dared not meet him in fair fight!
Mike could have cried with rage and disappointment. He shouted his
reproaches, hoping to anger them into coming back and standing their
ground, and kept the launch going until her bow nearly touched the
bank. Had there been any possibility of success, he would have made
after them. But they buried themselves among the trees and he never saw
them again.
During those brief moments he had so plain a sight of their faces that
he would have recognized them anywhere. He was surprised to know that he
had never seen either before. They were not the couple with whom he and
Alvin Landon had had the encounter some nights previous and who, both
believed, were the thieves of the motor boat. Not to make a mystery of a
comparatively unimportant matter, I may say that facts which afterward
came to light showed that these young men had nothing to do with the
robbery of the post offices in southern Maine, nor, so far as known,
with any other crime, excepting the theft of the _Deerfoot_. Even in
taking that they did not intend to keep or try to sell it. They were a
couple of "city chaps" who, happening upon the craft by accident,
yielded to the temptation to play a practical joke upon the unknown
owners. Both had some knowledge of motor boating, and knowing that
instant measures would be taken to recover the property, and beginning
also to feel some misgivings as to the consequences, they ran into the
cove with the intention of abandoning the _Deerfoot_, to be found sooner
or later by the right parties. They were but a short distance off when
the sound of the exhaust told them that some one had come aboard and
they hastened back to learn who it was. Uncertain whether Mike Murphy
had any more right to it than themselves they opened a bombardment, but
when he so promptly accepted their challenge, they wasted no time in
effecting a change of base, which carried them far beyond harm.
Convinced that it was out of his power to bring the couple to account,
Mike once more headed for the mouth of the small bay. He did not forget
the boatman and swerved in to where he was patiently waiting. The youth
was in high spirits over his success, barring his latest disappointment,
and ran in quite close to the man.
"I won't naad ye," he called, "but ye've airned yer fee all the same."
Taking a half dollar from his pocket, Mike stood up.
"Howld yersilf riddy!" he said, motioning to toss the coin to him.
The boatman sprang to his feet and eagerly held his bony hands
outspread. When the couple were nearest Mike tossed the silver piece,
and he deftly caught it, though the motion of the launch came within a
hair of carrying the money beyond reach.
"Thank you kindly; you're a gentleman."
"Which the same is what all me acquaintances remark whin they get a
squar' look at me winsome countenance," said Mike, settling back in his
seat.
Now that he was once more plowing the waters of the broad Sheepscot, he
spent a minute or two debating with himself what he ought to do.
"Fortinitly I haven't any Captain or mate to consult--being that I'm
both."
His first thought was to head up the river in quest of his friends, but
he did not know where to look for them. They would have left Charmount
long before he could reach that point, and it would have taken many
hours to stop at all the intermediate landings in the effort to trace
them. Moreover, a not unnatural longing came over him to make the utmost
of the privilege at his command. A thrilling pride filled him when he
realized that he was the sole occupant of the _Deerfoot_, with no one to
say nay to his plans. The handsome craft was obedient to his slightest
whim and he could go whither he chose. The engine was working with
perfect smoothness, and though lacking full practical knowledge, he
believed he could run hither and yon for several days without trouble.
Furthermore, his waggish disposition manifested itself.
"I might as well give Alvin and Chester a run fur their money; they let
the boat get away from them and it's mesilf that has the chance to taich
them a big moral lesson; so here goes, as me second cousin said whin the
bull throwed him over the fence."
Midway in the channel, Mike turned the bow of the launch southward,
leaving the Isle of Springs well to the left. A little later he shot
past McMahans on his right, then Dog Fish Head opposite, followed by
Hendrick Light, Cedarbrush Island, Cat Ledges and finally Lower Mark.
He was now in Sheepscot Bay, fully four miles across. Although he did
not know the names of the points and islands, his close study of the map
had given him a general knowledge and he knew precisely where he was
when he glided around Cape Newagen, which, as we remember, is the most
southern reach of the big island of Southport. There his parents lived
and Alvin and Chester made their summer home. Running close in shore he
coasted northward and soon saw plainly the dwelling of Chester Haynes,
but no person was in sight. A little farther the handsome residence of
Mr. Landon--that is, when he chose to spend a few weeks there--rose to
view.
Mike preferred that his father should not see him, for he feared the
consequences, but it so happened that the old gentleman had come down
to the shore to fish and was seated on the rocks thus engaged. The very
moment in which he caught sight of the launch he recognized it and rose
to his feet.
"Hello, dad!" shouted Mike, waving his hand at him.
"Are ye alone?" asked the astonished parent.
"That's what I am, as yer brother said whin he fell overboard."
"Where are the byes?"
"I left them up the river; they'll be back agin one of these days."
Inasmuch as Mike showed no purpose of stopping, the father thought it
time to assert his authority.
"What do ye maan, ye spalpeen, by such outrageous thricks? Come right to
land, and resave the whaling ye desarve. Do ye hear me?"
"Thank ye, dad, for yer kind permission to take a sail; it's me
intintion to return be morning or mayhap before. Don't worry, and tell
mither I'm all right."
"Ye'll be all right whin I lays me hands on ye!"
The parent flung down his line and ran leaping along the rocks in the
effort to keep abreast of the launch. He shook his fist and shouted:
"Turn into land, confound ye! I'm aching to lay hands onto ye! DO YE
HAAR ME?"
"Ye always was a kind dad and I'll bring ye a pound of 'bacca from
Boothbay or Squirrel Island. Good luck to ye!"
And with a parting wave Mike turned away his head and gave his attention
to guiding the craft which by a freak of fortune had come under his sole
control.
"I wonder if it will be aisy to make dad think the motion of the boat
raised such a wind that it twisted his words so they didn't carry right.
I doubt not that him and me will be obleeged to have a sittlement and
I'll be the one to come out sicond best, as was the case wid all the
folks that I had a shindy with."
No wonder the Irish lad was exhilarated. He was seated in the cockpit of
the finest motor launch seen for a long time in those waters, with his
hands resting upon the wheel and the boat as obedient to his lightest
touch as a gentle horse to the rein of its driver. The breeze caused by
its swift motion made the flags at the prow and stern flutter and whip,
and now and then give out a snapping sound. The sharp bow cut the clear
cold water like a knife, sending a fanlike spread of foam that widened
and lost itself behind the churning screw. The wind-shield guarded his
face from so much as a zephyr, and the consciousness that among all the
boats big and small in sight at varying distances, there was not one
that could hold its own with the _Deerfoot_, was enough to stir his
blood and make him shout for very joy.
Mike was in a varying mood. His first impulse was to make for Boothbay
Harbor, but he felt some misgiving about threading his way among the
many craft that are always anchored or moored there. With the steamers
coming and going, he might become confused over the signals and the
right of way, with disastrous results to the launch. He had not yet
learned the meaning of the toots of the whistle which Captain Alvin gave
when crossing the bow of a larger boat, or when meeting it.
He was only prudent, therefore, when he turned from the larger town and
sped toward Squirrel Island. He observed the _Nellie G._ in the act of
moving aside to make room for a mail steamer that had whistled its
wishes, and half a hundred men, women and children were gathered on the
wharf, with nothing to do but to watch the arrival and departure of
boats.
There were so many constantly going and coming at the height of the
summer season that the only person, so far as Mike could see, who gave
him a look was Captain Williams of the _Nellie G._ Mike had meant to
land, but he feared he would become involved in a tangle, and sheered
off. Captain Williams had backed out so far that he was brought up
alongside the _Deerfoot_. He had done so often what he was now doing
that it was instinctive on his part. He could have gone through the
manoeuvre with his eyes shut.
"Where are Alvin and Chester?" he asked from his little pilot house as
he was gliding past.
"I lift them behind. If ye maat them before I do, Captain, tell 'em I've
slipped off on a little thrip to the owld counthry, but will soon
return."
"I'll tell them what you told me," said Captain Williams, giving his
attention to his return to the wharf.