A BLOW WITH THE BOAT-HOOK.
The robber appeared to be suffering so much from the injuries in
his shoulder that I had not considered him capable of giving us any
further trouble; and when I went forward to clear away the jib, I
put the revolver in my pocket. I did not suppose a man who declared
that his shoulder was broken would make an attack upon us, and I had
relinquished the precautions adopted when the desperado came on board.
I was astounded and horrified when I saw Tom pitched into the lake
with so little ceremony. I saw the robber spring towards me, and I
fully comprehended his purpose. He doubtless intended to throw me
overboard also, and then seek some more available landing-place than
he had chosen before. I had only time to pick up the boat-hook, when
I divined his plan, before he was upon the half deck. I had been too
tender-hearted and forbearing before, but now I was desperate, when I
saw poor Tom floundering in the lake, wounded, and hardly able to help
himself.
Swinging the boat-hook over my head, I sprang towards the robber; and,
clearing the fore-stay, I brought it down upon his bare pate with a
force that felled him to the floor of the standing-room. He attempted
to dodge my blow, but the boom swung round and held him so that he
could not avoid it. I hit him fairly with the heavy iron at the end of
my weapon, and he dropped as an ox does under the butcher’s axe.
“I think you will lie still for a while now,” said I, glancing at him,
as I hastened to the helm.
The Belle had lost her headway when Tom was removed from the helm, and
I was fortunately able to reach him with the boat-hook. I extended it
to him, and he grasped it with the hand of the uninjured arm, I pulled
him in, and helped him on board.
“Are you hurt, Tom?” I asked, anxiously, as soon as I had dragged the
skipper into the standing-room.
“No, I guess not,” he replied, shaking the water from his hair. “That
fellow wouldn’t have done that it I had only had two arms, instead of
one. It was a shabby trick he played me.”
“I think he will have a sore head after this.”
“I saw you crack him with the boat-hook.”
“I gave him a stunner.”
“Did you kill him?”
“I don’t know. He hasn’t moved since he fell.”
Gathering up the sheet, which had run out in the scrape, I headed the
boat for the foot of the path, where the sheriff was waiting for us. I
had heard him yell when the robber tossed Tom into the lake, and I had
no doubt he was gratified with the turn I had been able to give to the
affair.
“How do you feel, Tom?” I asked, when I had put the Belle on her course.
“First rate, Wolf,” he replied; but his looks and actions belied his
words.
“No, you don’t, Tom. You are suffering.”
“Well, to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, that villain
gave my sore arm an awful twist, and it don’t feel as good as it did.”
“Let me get the sheriff on board, and then we will run for Priam, where
we can have something done for you.”
“O, never mind me, Wolf. I’m so glad we have got our man, that I don’t
care much for anything else,” replied Tom.
“I’m afraid you will take cold, and have a bad arm, if something isn’t
done for it.”
“I should rather laugh to see myself taking cold,” added Tom. “Why,
I’m in the water half the time, and I feel just as good when I’m wet
through as when I’m dry.”
“I don’t care what you say; I intend to take good care of you, Tom,” I
replied, as I lowered the mainsail, and ran the boat up at the foot of
the path.
“You have had a narrow escape,” said the sheriff.
“Yes; but an inch is as good as a mile. We are all right now. Hurry up,
Mr. Bradshaw. We are going up to Priam.”
“To Priam?”
“Yes; I’m going to have Tom taken care of before I do anything more.”
“But I don’t want to go to Priam.”
“Leave you here, then, if you like,” I replied.
“But I want to take that man up to Centreport.”
“On board, or I will shove off without you.”
The sheriff stepped into the boat, and began to talk about his
prisoner; but I headed the Belle for Priam, in spite of his objections.
“That fellow begins to move,” said Tom.
The robber rolled over and put his hand to his head. Then he heaved a
long sigh. Tom took the helm, at his own desire, and the sheriff and I
raised the desperado, and laid him on one of the seats. The blood was
flowing down the side of his head, and we found an ugly wound where I
had hit him. The blow had stunned him; but he was beginning to revive.
The sheriff washed his head, and bound a handkerchief over the wound,
which I judged was not a serious one. In a short time he was able to
sit up, and the officer put a pair of handcuffs upon his wrists.
“I suppose it is all up with me now,” said he, after he had surveyed
the situation, and glanced particularly at the handcuffs.
“You may us well hang up your fiddle now,” added Tom. “How is your
shoulder?”
“My shoulder is sore, but I think I could use it again if there was a
good chance,” said he, biting his lips. “What are you going to do with
me?”
“I’ll take good care of you now,” replied the sheriff.
“Don’t be rough on a fellow.”
“By gracious! I’ve seen this fellow before!” exclaimed Tom, suddenly.
“It’s Schleifer, that hardware drummer, as sure as you live!”
I looked at him carefully, and was satisfied that Tom was right. But
he was very much changed. His face was covered with smut and dirt. His
dress, which had been carefully adjusted when we saw him before, was
now deranged and soiled. He had evidently used a good deal of oil in
cutting the hole through the door of the bank vault, and had daubed his
face all over, so that he looked like a machinist just from the shop.
As I looked at him now, I was not surprised that we had not recognized
him.
“Schleifer it is, if you believe that is my name,” he replied. “Names
are cheap.”
“Where is the other fellow?” asked Tom.
“I hope he has been smarter than I have,” answered the robber, gloomily.
“You have been smart,” added Tom.
“If I had not run into that infernal hole, I should not have been here.”
“Who was that man with you?” I asked, recalling the scene in front of
the stable at the hotel, on the preceding evening.
“Who is he? You can ask just as many questions as you please; and I
can answer just as many as I like,” replied he. “But we won’t quarrel
because I have been unfortunate. It’s a great pity that a young man
like me should be sent to the jug for the best part of my life. Can’t
we make a trade?”
“What do you mean by a trade?” asked the sheriff.
“I’ll be fair with you,” continued the robber. “I have in my bag about
thirty or forty thousand dollars--I don’t know how much. We didn’t
stop to count the money. Call it forty thousand. Here are four of us,
and that’s just ten thousand apiece. In other words, if you will let
me off, I will give you ten thousand apiece, whether I have anything
myself or not.”
“That’s a pretty good offer,” said the sheriff, who had probably never
seen ten thousand dollars in his life.
I did not care to discuss such a question, and therefore said nothing.
“It won’t compromise you in the slightest degree,” continued the
robber, evidently encouraged by the remark of the officer. “Just run
the boat up to the shore, and I will take care of myself. All you have
to say is, that you could not catch me. You can put a shot or two
through your hat, and through your coat, to prove that you have not
been backward in following me up.”
“Ten thousand dollars is a good deal of money to a poor man like me,”
added Mr. Bradshaw. “It is more money than I ever expected to see at
one time.”
“It will not be the first time such a trade has been made,” urged the
robber.
“What do you say, Wolf?” added the sheriff turning to me.
“I don’t say anything,” I replied.
“Here is a good chance to make some money.”
“I can tell you of a better chance.”
“What’s that?”
“Go up and rob the Middleport or the Ucayga Bank. If you do the job
well, I have no doubt you can make fifty thousand by it.”
“Of course I wouldn’t rob a bank,” he replied, laughing.
“You might as well as make a trade with this fellow. It’s all the same
thing.”
“You really don’t suppose I meant to do such a thing,” said he, with a
sickly smile.
“Come, what do you say?” persisted the robber, glancing anxiously
ahead, for we were rapidly approaching Priam.
“We will not say anything more about it,” replied the sheriff.
And he did not. I will not say whether, if the sheriff had been alone,
he would have made such nefarious bargain as that suggested by the
robber; but I considered it better that he was not alone. Schleifer
pressed the subject; but Bradshaw was now indignant at the idea, and
finally it was dropped. The sheriff behaved rather nervously; but I
could not tell whether it was because he was losing a chance to make
his fortune, or was afraid he had committed himself.
“Do you suppose they have caught the other fellow?” asked Tom, as we
approached Priam.
“If they haven’t, they will catch him,” I replied.
“What makes you think so?” demanded the robber.
“I know all about him now,” I answered.
“You don’t know so much as you think you do.”
“I think I shall be able to find Lord Palsgrave,” I added.
“Bah! You will find him as you did me--by accident, if you find him at
all. If I had not run into that hole, you would not have seen me again.
I was a fool that I did not cut a hole in the bottom of this boat,
instead of trying to burn her.”
“We all make blunders,” I suggested.
“Yes, you have made your full share,” sneered he. “Do you know where I
was when you were looking for me on the other side? I’ll tell you. I
was in that gully, listening to what you said.”
The robber was evidently trying to comfort himself in his misfortune,
and he regaled us, until we reached the wharf, with a recital of the
manner in which he had balked us. He wanted to know how we happened to
be in the Narrows at midnight, but I did not care to enlighten him. We
landed at Priam, and went up to the hotel, the sheriff guarding his
prisoner with the greatest care. The intelligence of the robbery of the
bank had already reached the town, for Captain Synders and Waddie had
passed through the place several hours before in pursuit of the other
robber.
I sent for a doctor as soon as we reached the hotel, and obtained a
supply of dry clothing for Tom. In a short time I had made him very
comfortable, The physician dressed his wound, and declared that it was
not serious, though it would give the patient some trouble.