FIRE ON THE LAKE.
I began to think my bear was as fickle as human beings, for he seemed
to have taken quite a fancy to Edith. Certainly, in this respect, I was
willing to believe he was a bear of excellent taste.
He did not offer to hug her arm, or to take other liberties with her,
but was very affectionate, while he was very circumspect. Mr. Overton
did not again attempt to use force with the young lady while she was
thus guarded.
“Let the ugly beast alone, Edith!” growled her disconcerted guardian.
“He behaves very well now, Charles, and I am not afraid of him.”
“Once more, are you going to the hotel, or not?”
“Very soon I am, if Lord Palsgrave does not appear,” she replied, still
caressing Bruin.
“I think, Waddie, I will go up to Captain Portman’s, His men are coming
again after the bear, and I will take him along with me,” I interposed.
“Come, Bruin, old fellow, don’t you know me?”
I put my hand upon his head, and he leaped upon me, as though he was
heartily glad to renew the acquaintance.
“I am going to the hotel, Miss Dornwood,” said Waddie, touching his cap
to the young lady, and moving in the direction indicated.
She placed herself at his side, and they started together.
“You are not going with her, sir,” said Mr. Overton, angrily.
“Then she will go with me.”
“You young puppy!”
“Gently, if you please, sir,” added Waddie, quietly.
“Stop, Edith!” commanded the guardian.
“You told me to go to the hotel, Charles, and I am going,” she replied.
“Not with that young man.”
“That shall be as he pleases.”
“No; it shall be as I please. Stop, sir! Do you hear me?” cried Mr.
Overton.
“If I understand the matter, sir, you have no control over me, if you
have over this lady,” replied Waddie, turning around to address the
guardian.
They continued on their walk, followed by Mr. Overton, who was
presently joined by the lady he had left when he came forward to
discipline his ward. They soon disappeared among the trees, and I made
my way to the mansion of Captain Portman, where I spent a couple of
hours very pleasantly. I told him about the adventure we had had with
Edith and her guardian.
“I pity the poor girl,” I added; “for this Mr. Overton is a petty
tyrant, who must make her very uncomfortable.”
“Doubtless it is very unfortunate for her; but it is one of those cases
with which outsiders cannot meddle,” replied my friend.
“I think he would have dragged her up to the hotel by force, if the
bear had not interfered.”
“Well, the interference came better from the bear than from you.”
“Do you think one ought to stand by, and see a man abuse a young lady
without taking her part?” I inquired, with considerable interest.
“That’s a hard question to answer, Wolf. The gentleman is her guardian,
and has authority over her; but if he were actually abusing her, I am
inclined to think I should interfere on my own responsibility. Yet it
is not prudent to meddle with things of this kind.”
“I am afraid Waddie will meddle,” I added.
“He seemed to be rather interested in the young lady.”
“He should be very careful what he does.”
“I must go over to the hotel, and see that he does not get into
trouble.”
“But you will come and spend the night with me, Wolf.”
“We intended to sleep on board of the Belle.”
“I shall be very glad to see you and Waddie to-night, and I hope you
will spend a day with me before your return home.”
“Thank you, sir. I will do so, if possible,” I replied.
I walked to the hotel, and found Waddie on the piazza. He looked very
nervous and uneasy, and I was afraid something had happened.
“Where is the young lady?” I asked.
“She is in the house,” he replied. “I was hoping I should see her
again. There is something wrong somewhere, Wolf. A man don’t treat a
young lady like that unless there is something wrong.”
“It is hardly proper for us to meddle with the matter,” I suggested.
“I don’t purpose to meddle with it, unless he abuses her before my
face. If he does that, I shall feel justified in protecting her; for a
man has no right to abuse even his own child. But I should like to know
something more about the matter,” continued Waddie, warmly.
“Did she say anything to you on your way up to the hotel?” I asked.
“Not a word. We were talking about the bear all the way. Her guardian
followed close to us. I know by her sad manner that she is in trouble
all the time. After the brute spoke to her as he did, my sympathies
were all with her.”
“I don’t think we shall be likely to see her again. This men is
evidently her guardian, and he will take care that she does not come
out of her room again to-day.”
“I would give a good deal to know what the trouble is between them. He
must be some relation to her, or she would not call him Charles.”
“Very likely. Did you see Lord Palsgrave?” I inquired.
“Not a lord,” laughed Waddie. “I asked the landlord about him, and was
told his lordship had taken a horse and buggy, but had not been seen
since. Mr. Overton appears to be a little worried about him; but I
don’t believe he has run away.”
“I think we shall have to give up the idea of seeing the show
to-night,” I suggested.
“We shall be about here a few days, and we will come up to the hotel
again,” replied Waddie. “I am ready to go down to the boat when you
are.”
“I don’t think there is anything more for us to say or do here;” and we
started for the lake.
Tom had put the Belle in good order during our absence, and caught some
fish for supper. While he was cooking them, we sat in the cabin, and
told him our adventure in the woods, informing him that he would have a
black bear for a passenger on the return voyage.
“If he only behaves himself, I don’t care what he is,” laughed the
young skipper.
“If he don’t behave well, you must bear with him,” said Waddie.
“I’ll do that, for I can’t bear to quarrel with anybody, even if he is
a bear,” added Tom.
“It is barely possible that he may help you, for he can bear a hand in
an emergency,” I continued.
“Does he wear gloves?” asked the skipper.
“No.”
“How can he bare a hand, then?” grinned Tom. “However he will make a
good barometer.”
“He knows _weather_--it rains or not.”
“By the way, Wolf, is he barefooted?” inquired Tom.
“Yes, and barefaced.”
“Can he sing?”
“Certainly; he is a barytone. But, punning aside, I must go home a day
sooner, and build a house for him.”
“Baronial halls!” exclaimed Waddie.
“Forbear!” I added.
“What’s for bear?” asked Tom. “Beefsteak?”
“Not an ounce; he must have no meat. It would make him savage, and then
he would eat up all the cats and kittens in the neighborhood, if not
the children,” I replied.
“Don’t make a bugbear of him, Wolf,” added Waddie.
“Fish ready!” shouted Tom. “Bear this dish to the table, if you please.”
“Let the table bear it,” said Waddie.
“The fish smells good, and I think my stomach will bear some of it,” I
added, as we seated ourselves at the table.
The odor of the dish before us did not belie its quality, and we
ate a very hearty supper. For a vacation, this kind of life exactly
suited me. I enjoyed the sailing and the fishing very much, and it was
delightful o put in at the various points and ramble on shore, while
sleeping in the little cabin of the Belle added a new excitement to the
cruise. I had begun to think Ucayga Luke was rather too small to afford
full scope for the pleasures of such an occasion; and I thought, when
I was able, and had the time, a yacht cruise on the ocean would suit
me exactly. But the lake was certainly very pleasant, and I was not
disposed to complain.
When we had finished our supper, Waddie and I adjourned to the
standing-room, in order to give Tom a chance to wash his dishes and put
the cabin in order; for three persons about filled it, so that there
was little space for one to move around. It was nearly dark, and there
was a fresh breeze on the lake. We enjoyed the scene very much, for
certainly there is no more beautiful region in the whole world than
that which surrounded us. The hills and the precipitous rocks were in
strong contrast with the water. The Ucayga was just passing the point
where we lay, though on the other side of the lake. Coming from the
opposite direction was a tow-boat, dragging slowly after her a fleet of
canal-boats.
Waddie and I continued to pun on the bear till the last glimpses of
twilight were fading out behind the hills on the opposite shore of
the lake. Tom had made up our beds in the cabin, and we were thinking
of playing a game of chess, which I had just begun to learn under the
pleasant instruction of Grace Toppleton. The lamp on the foremast
burned brightly, and the little cabin looked very cosy and attractive.
“What’s that?” exclaimed Waddie, suddenly, as a yell from the fleet of
canal-beats, which had just passed our anchorage, started us from the
quiet of our situation. “By the great horn spoon, one of the boats is
on fire!”
“That’s so!” added Tom, nervously. “What shall we do?”
“I don’t know that we can do anything,” I replied, as my companions, by
their looks, appeared to appeal to me. “It burns like tinder. I think
she must have petroleum, or something of that kind, on board.”
The fire blazed up very suddenly, and it was plain to me that she had
some combustible materials on her deck. The hands on the other boats
made haste to cast off the fasts which connected the burning craft to
their own, in order to prevent the flames from spreading. At the same
time, the tow-boat increased her speed to drag the other canal-boats
out of the way of their dangerous companion.
“Get up your anchor, Tom. Let us go out there, and see what we can do,”
said I. “The thing appears to be drifting this way, and we may be
burned up if we stay here.”
“My sentiments exactly,” replied Tom, as he sprang to his cable.
“Stand by the jib-halyards, Waddie,” I added, removing the stops from
the mainsail. “Up with it!”
We were all thorough boatmen, and in half a minute we had the Belle
under way. As the burning canal boat was dead to windward of us, we
had to stand away from her, in order to beat up to her position. As
soon as Tom had set the jib, he took the helm, while Waddie and I
seated ourselves to watch the progress of the flames. By this time
the steamer, having dragged the other canal-boats out of the reach of
possible danger, had stopped her wheels, and was getting out a boat to
visit the doomed vessel, for such she was by this time, as her deck was
covered with one sheet of flame.
“Help! Help!” shouted some one from the boat.
“By the great horn spoon, there is some one on board of her!” exclaimed
Waddie, springing to his feet under the excitement of the moment.
“I do not see any one,” added Tom. “Of course those who were on board
left her before she cast off from the other boats. They had only to
step from one deck to another.”
“Help! Help! Save me!” again shouted the unseen person.
“He must be in the cabin,” I suggested. “The wind drives the flame
right over the hatchway, so that he cannot escape.”
“What shall we do?” demanded Waddie, appalled by the prospect of a
human being perishing in the flames before our eyes.
“Run up to windward of her, Tom,” said I.
He obeyed, and by the time the Belle reached her bow, I had the cable
ready to make fast to her stern.
[Illustration: FIRE ON THE LAKE. Page 56.]