It was certainly our next move, and after the _Ucayga_ left the wharf,
I went into my stateroom, abaft the wheel-house, to make some figures
relating to my plan. My apartment was a little parlor, and though I had
scarcely been into it before, I was very much pleased with it. Besides
a berth, in which a nice bed was made up, the stateroom was provided
with a desk, lockers for books and papers, a couple of armchairs, a
table, and other suitable furniture.
This was not the traditional “captain’s office” to which passengers are
invited to step up by the boy with the bell. The office was abaft the
port paddle-box on the main deck; and the _Ucayga_, in anticipation
of doing a large business, was provided with a clerk, so that I had
nothing to do but attend to the navigation of the boat.
I felt like a lord in my palatial little room, and I was rather sorry
that the exigencies of the service did not require me to sleep in it.
I sat down at my desk, and was soon absorbed in my calculation. In
my own opinion, I had a splendid idea--one which would induce Major
Toppleton and his son to call me a traitor again as soon as it was
reduced to practise. I had not time to finish writing out the program
before the mate called me, as the _Ucayga_ approached the Horse-Shoe
Channel.
I took the boat through the difficult passage, and after we had made
the landing at Ruoara, I returned to my room, and finished writing
out my plan. Then, with the aid of a handbill which hung up in the
apartment, I drew up an advertisement of the proposed new arrangement
suitable for the newspapers and for posters, so that, the moment it was
approved by Colonel Wimpleton, it could be printed.
I was much excited by the brilliant scheme I had devised, and I was
not quite sure that I could not throw the Lake Shore Railroad into
the shade, even with one steamer. Certainly with two, the road would
be reduced to the condition to which the major had condemned the
_Ucayga_--that of doing merely a local business for the towns on its
own line. I was very sorry that Colonel Wimpleton did not return by
the morning boat, for I was impatient to show him my figures, and to
have the new program inaugurated without any delay.
If the short trips of our boat had done nothing else, they had hurried
up the Lake Shore Railroad; for, when we reached Centreport, the train
had arrived, and the boat for Hitaca had started. Doubtless Major
Toppleton and his son continued to be perfectly happy, and believed
that they had achieved a decisive and final victory. For the present
they had; but it was our next move. As I had nearly three hours to
spare, and as Waddie did not appear on board, I went home for an hour,
taking the steamer’s jolly-boat, with two deck-hands, to pull me across
the lake.
I landed at the steps near the steamboat wharf, and had hardly ascended
to the pier when I had the fortune or the misfortune to confront Tommy
Toppleton. In the enjoyment of his great victory, he had come down to
witness the arrival of the _Ucayga_, ten or fifteen minutes after the
departure of the Hitaca boat. He looked quite as pleasant as when I had
met him down the lake, a couple of hours before.
“How are you again, Wolf?” said he, halting before me on the wharf.
“First-rate,” I replied. “I hope you are.”
“Yes, all but my leg, and that is doing very well. I only limp a little
now. You are not on time to-day, Wolf.”
“Why, yes; I thought I was. The _Ucayga_ was at her wharf at
eleven-twenty-five. That was on time, and a little ahead of it.”
“But you were not in season for your passengers to go up to Hitaca in
the boat which has just gone.”
“No, I was not; but then, you see, we had no passengers for Hitaca. We
did not insure any one a connection at Centreport to-day, and so none
came by our boat. I did so on Saturday, because your train was ten or
fifteen minutes behind time.”
“Well, that won’t happen again,” added Tommy confidently.
“You haven’t fallen out with Lewis Holgate--have you?” I inquired.
“No--oh, no! But I persuaded him to go on the dummy, where he is more
at home.”
“I was satisfied you had some one on the locomotive who understood the
business.”
“Lewis and I are as good friends as ever.”
“I am glad to hear that.”
“Are you, Wolf?” sneered Tommy.
“Certainly I am.”
I had my doubts whether Lewis Holgate was as good a friend as ever;
for, being degraded from the locomotive to the dummy would rankle in
his heart, however well he succeeded in concealing his real feelings.
“You haven’t resigned your situation as captain of the steamer--have
you, Wolf?” asked the little major, with a sinister expression.
“I have not.”
“On the whole, I think I wouldn’t do it, if I were you,” he added,
laughing.
“I did not think of doing so, unless the circumstances required such a
step.”
“Because we are having it all our own way on this side, and we are
perfectly willing you should do anything you please now.”
“That’s handsome; that’s magnanimous, Tommy; and I thank you for
your condescension,” I answered, as cheerfully as I could. “I am very
pleasantly situated just now, and it affords me very great pleasure
to know that anything in the way of fair competition will not be
considered as interfering with your rights and privileges.”
“Do anything you like, Wolf. You will be beaten both ways, now, and
I think you have come about to the end of your rope. After Colonel
Wimpleton has spent so much money on that new steamer, we ought not
grudge him the little business he can obtain in Centreport and Ruoara.”
“I am glad you feel so, Tommy, and that I have your kind permission to
take any step I may think proper.”
“Do just what you think best now.”
“Thank you.”
“I don’t mean to say that my opinion of your conduct toward us is
at all changed; but as I look at it, your treachery will be its own
reward.”
“That’s rather cool, Tommy. After turning me off with every indignity
and mark of contempt you could devise, you talk about my treachery!”
“We won’t jaw about that. I don’t love you now; but we won’t quarrel,
if you will only take yourself out of Centreport.”
“We may not find it convenient to do that immediately; but probably our
business will require us to leave soon.”
“We have made our next move, and we are satisfied.”
“I hope you won’t find any fault when we make ours.”
“Certainly not,” sneered the little major. “You can’t do anything now.”
“You may be mistaken; but I hope you will take it as kindly as we do,
if things should not go to suit you.”
“Oh, yes!”
“I have your permission to do what I think best,” I replied, walking up
the pier.
The little major evidently saw no possible way by which the _Ucayga_
could compete with the railroad, as long as the Hitaca boats did
not land first at Centreport. I did. I walked to my father’s house,
thinking over what he had said, and anticipating the storm which would
take place when my plan was carried out, as I was confident it would
be, as soon as it was submitted to Colonel Wimpleton.
“There has been a gentleman here to see you, Wolfert,” said my mother,
as I went into the house.
“Who was he?”
“Mr. Portman, or Captain Portman, I think he said. He was very anxious
to see you.”
“Portman, Portman,” I replied, repeating the name, and trying to recall
the owner thereof, for it sounded familiar to me.
“He is a stout gentleman, and wore gray clothes.”
“Oh, I know!” I exclaimed, pulling out my pocket-book, and taking
therefrom the card of the stout stranger who had pitched Tommy
Toppleton out of the car on the railroad.
“He told me, if you came over to-day noon, to send word to him at the
hotel.”
My mother accordingly sent the message by one of my sisters; and, while
she was absent, I related all the events of the forenoon. Presently
Captain Portman presented himself. He was very glad to see me, and
spoke of me very handsomely, to my face, for my conduct on the railroad.
“As you are no longer in the employ of the Lake Shore Railroad, Wolf, I
thought I would like to offer you a place,” he said. “But your mother
tells me you have a good situation now.”
“Yes, sir; I am running the new steamer from Centreport to Ucayga.”
“I am sorry you are engaged, though I congratulate you on your splendid
situation. I am going to keep a yacht at my place, near Hitaca, and
I wanted you to take charge of her next spring, and I will give you
plenty of work, and good pay for the winter.”
“I am very much obliged to you for your kind offer; but as things stand
now, I shall be obliged to decline.”
“I see you must; but I am glad to meet you, for I took a fancy to you.
My place is only five miles from Hitaca, and I should be pleased to see
you there.”
We talked for half an hour about affairs on the lake, and I invited him
to dine with me; but he was engaged with a friend at the hotel. Just as
he was taking his leave, we heard a timid pull at the door-bell.
“Miss Grace Toppleton,” said my mother, showing her into the room where
we were, which was the parlor.
“Grace!” I exclaimed, delighted to see her.
But I perceived in an instant that she was intensely agitated, and I
realized that her visit was not one of ceremony. Indeed, I could not
help fearing that some terrible calamity had happened.
“Oh, Mr. Wolf! I am----”
“Take a chair, Miss Grace,” I interposed, as she gasped, and seemed to
be entirely out of breath.
I placed the rocking-chair for her, and she began to move toward it.
Then I saw that her face had suddenly become deadly pale. Her step
tottered, and she was on the point of falling to the floor, when I
sprang to her assistance, as did my mother also at the same time. I
received her into my arms, and bore her to the sofa.
“Bless me, the poor child has fainted! What can have happened to her?”
exclaimed my mother, running for her camphor-bottle.
Though it was not very strange that a young lady should faint, I was
utterly confounded by the situation. Something had occurred to alarm
or agitate her; but I could not imagine what it was. I looked out the
window; but I could see not even a horse, cow, or dog, to terrify her.