A LITTLE SPARK KINDLES A BIG FIRE.
Before we had steam enough to start the Ruoara, her regular engineer
arrived, and I was relieved from duty in this department. In obedience
to the instructions of Colonel Wimpleton, I took the helm, and ran
the boat over to the other side of the lake. I saw the great man of
Centreport on the wharf, as we approached, and I knew him well enough
to understand at once that something had gone wrong with him. He was
walking, at a hurried pace, back and forth across the end of the wharf.
He frequently compressed his lips and pursed up his mouth. Yet the
worst I feared was, that he had not been able to find Major Toppleton,
in order to make his application for assistance.
The boat ran up to the pier, and still the colonel rushed back and
forth across the wharf, apparently making mouths at the evil destiny
which confronted him. He did not seem to be in any hurry to pursue
the thief who had stolen his money, or even to take any notice of the
steamer which was ready to do his bidding. I had not seen him in such
a frame of mind for two months, and it really gave me much anxiety.
If the great man was angry, he was liable to do something which would
endanger the pleasant relations which now happily subsisted between the
two sides of the lake.
I left the pilot-house as soon as the forward hawser was made fast,
and took position on the hurricane deck, in plain sight of him, in
readiness to receive his commands, whatever they might be. I looked
up the lake to see how Tom Walton progressed with the chase; but both
of the sail-boats had disappeared in the haze of the morning, or had
gone behind the point at Gulfport. I did not think the steamer and the
_posse_ on board of her would be likely to render much assistance in
catching the bank robber, unless she started very soon; but the colonel
still paced the wharf. I observed that he cast an occasional glance up
the pier, but his actions were all a mystery to me. At last he halted
near the gangway of the boat, and, after gazing attentively towards
the head of the wharf for a moment, he rushed, with an appearance of
desperation in his manner, on board of the steamer.
“I can’t wait any longer, Wolf; cast off,” said he.
I had not the least idea what he was waiting for; but I repeated the
order he had given me to the captain of the boat, who was on board, and
in another moment we were headed up the lake. I ought to say that these
ferry boats were a part of my charge, and their commanders looked to
me for directions. The colonel remained on the forward deck, resuming
his walk there with as much zeal as he had manifested on the wharf. I
am sorry to say that he looked decidedly ugly, and I began to fear that
he had had a falling out with Major Toppleton, and that there was more
work for the young peacemakers to do.
Some one had said, within a short time, that Captain Wolf Penniman
had a great deal of influence over both the magnates, and that he
even twisted them around his little finger, as though they had been
boys. For my own part, I could not see it, for I was absolutely afraid
of both of them--I mean, afraid of offending them in some manner. I
certainly treated them both with the most profound respect, and never
ventured upon the slightest familiarity with them. When I felt it to
be my duty to speak, I did so. Whatever influence I had over them was
really through their own sons and daughters. As I had been at times on
good terms with both, I was the medium of communication between them;
and it was presumed to be my influence, when it was actually that of
Tommy and Waddie.
I wanted to know what the matter was with the colonel, yet I had
not the assurance to ask him. But I hoped he would tell me, and, as
there was no one else on board to whom he would be likely to speak,
I expected him to do so. I waited a while on the hurricane deck for
his wrath to subside, and then I went below, where he could see me,
and where, if he wished to do so, he could mention what it was that
troubled him. I passed him on the forward deck, and seated myself on
the rail near the bow, on the lookout for the Belle and the Raven,
which I hoped soon to see again.
“Wolf,” said the colonel, after he had gradually worked forward till he
came to the place where I was seated.
I turned and looked at him. It did not appear to me that his wrath had
sensibly subsided, for his under lip was projected far out beyond the
upper one, and I had learned to interpret this as a bad sign.
“Wolf, I have been trying for two months to believe that Toppleton was
a good friend of mine,” he added, after one of his ominous pauses.
“I have been able to believe it without trying very hard,” I ventured
to reply; for an equivocal answer, under the circumstances, looked
criminal to me.
“It is not so. For dinner parties, and drumming through the streets,
with all the parade of friendship, he’s all right; but when you come to
the real, substantial thing, it is all a humbug with him.”
“I am sorry you think so,” I replied, deeply grieved to have my worst
fears realized.
“I should not think so, if I could help it,” he added, biting his lip.
“I went to Toppleton and told him what had happened, and that I had to
pay twenty thousand dollars to-day.”
“Of course he was willing to accommodate you,” I suggested, in order to
draw him out.
“Not at all. Instead of that, he began to hem and ha, and make
apologies,” replied the colonel, with intense disgust.
“I am very much surprised.”
“So was I,” added the colonel, dryly.
“But he must have some good reason,” I intimated.
“What good reason can he have? Do you suppose, if he came to me under
such circumstances, I would make any apologies? No! I would give him
the money without winking, even if I broke the Centreport Bank.”
“But what did he say, sir?” I inquired, not quite willing to believe
that Major Toppleton would be behind the colonel in good intentions.
“What did he say? Why, he began to make excuses. He told me he had
hastened home to pay a note of thirty thousand dollars for railroad
iron, which became due to-day, and the payment would use up his entire
balance in the bank.”
It seemed to me that this was a tolerably good excuse, though I did not
venture to say so while the great man was so excited.
“Didn’t I understand you to say that you were waiting on the wharf for
something?” I asked.
“I was waiting for Toppleton. He said he would see the cashier of the
Middleport Bank, and ascertain what could be done. He told me he would
see me on the wharf in ten or fifteen minutes.”
“Perhaps he could not find the cashier.”
“Perhaps not,” sneered the colonel. “I don’t think he wanted to see him
very badly.”
“I am satisfied Major Toppleton will do all he can,” I added.
“If he means to do so, he has an awkward way of showing it. In my
opinion he is selfish, and does not act like a genuine friend.”
“I think you wrong him, Colonel Wimpleton.”
“No, I don’t! Isn’t there fifty thousand dollars in the Middleport
Bank?” continued he, warmly. “Isn’t there enough to pay his note and
mine?”
“I know nothing about it; but I think you and Major Toppleton need a
couple of bears between you.”
“A couple of what?” demanded the colonel, sternly.
“A couple of bears,” I replied, laughing.
“Bears?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What do you mean by that, Wolf?”
“One is _bear_, and the other is _forbear_.”
“I don’t want any moral lessons, Wolf, from you.”
“Excuse me, sir; but I meant no offence.”
“You need not presume to lecture me on my duties.”
“Captain Portman presented a black bear to me yesterday, and that
bear was indirectly the cause of my being here last night, when these
robbers crossed the lake. Bears have been uppermost in my mind since
that event.”
“Without any fault on my part, I am put in a tight place. I have
no claim upon Toppleton, it is true; but, if he were the friend he
pretends to be, he would help me bear my burden to-day. That is the
only bear I want to know anything about at the present time. I am
mortified and disgusted with myself to think I said anything to him
about the matter.”
“But you did not even wait to hear what he would do, or what he could
do.”
“I waited fifteen minutes, and he knew I was in a hurry. In my opinion,
he did not mean to see me again. I call it shabby treatment, and
Toppleton won’t make anything by it. No, he won’t!” continued the
colonel, working himself up into a passion. “I tell you what it is,
Wolf; I have been a fool to think that man was my friend, or that he
could be anything different from what he has been for the last dozen or
fifteen years. The union line won’t last much longer, Wolf.”
Turning on his heel, he walked aft, shaking his head in the fury of his
wrath. Certainly the relations between the two magnates were again in
a very perilous condition, and my heart rose to my throat, so much did
I dread the consequences of the colonel’s wrath. He was an impulsive
and unreasonable man. It would not be unlike him to notify the major at
once that the two lines would no longer run in correspondence. I should
not have been surprised, at that moment, to receive an order to run the
Ucayga through to the lower end of the lake, even without notifying
the Railroad Company. Such a step was a calamity to be feared.
“Wolf, I shall put more money into Toppleton’s pocket in one year by
giving him the through passengers on the railroad, than I asked him to
lend me,” said the colonel, as he again came up to the place where I
sat.
“I think it is rather necessary to know what Major Toppleton intends to
do before you condemn him,” I suggested.
“I don’t care what he intends to do, so long as he did not come up to
the mark. I shall not take money out of my pocket, and put it into his,
after this.”
He walked off again, leaving me to consider how small a spark could
kindle a great fire. I was afraid he would order me to notify the
Railroad Company that the present arrangement was to be discontinued.
He was excited now, and I wished to get out of his way before he
directed me to do any disagreeable thing. By this time the boat was
approaching Gulfport, and I hoped soon to see the Belle; and the sight
of her would be likely to change the subject. I concluded to go on the
hurricane deck; but as I passed the colonel, he stopped me.
“Wolf, I must be at Middleport at nine o’clock to take the train for
Ucayga,” said he. “I must raise the money to pay the note, though I
cannot be on time.”
“We have an hour to spare, sir, and within that time we shall know what
is to be done,” I replied. “I have no doubt Tom Walton has given the
fellow in the Raven a hard run.”
“The Belle!” shouted the captain of the boat, as we came up with the
point below Gulfport.
“There they are! Tom is crowding him hard, and the fellow is making for
the shore below the town!” I added.
In a short time the steamer came within hailing distance of the Belle;
but the water was too shallow for her to run in towards the shore. It
was decided that I should join Tom in the Belle, while a party was
landed above and below to surround the robber if he took to the shore,
as he plainly intended to do.