BOUND TO ENGLAND
At this stage of the discussion, Louis happened to step out of the
stateroom to which he had retired on the appearance of Scoble, for
he did not wish to provoke a quarrel with him at present. But if
the vessel was in danger, as the mate intimated, he wanted to know
something more of the situation. It would have been better, so far as
preserving the peace was concerned, if he had kept out of sight.
“Go on deck, Mr. Frinks, and put a reef in the mainsail!” stormed the
captain; and his wrath seemed to be freshly rekindled at the sight of
Louis.
“It can’t be done without more hands. If you don’t care what becomes of
your schooner, I am sure I don’t,” replied Frinks, who did not seem to
be a model sailor, for he had not learned the duty of passive obedience.
“Here is a stout boy; take him on deck with you!” said Scoble,
concentrating a look of hatred upon Louis. “He shall work his passage.
Take him on deck with you! He’s of no use below.”
“He is a lubber, and good for nothing,” answered the mate, glancing at
the victim. “I expect every minute to hear the mast snap off; but I
shall wait till you get ready to go on deck, Captain Scoble.”
“What do you mean by calling me Captain Scoble?” demanded the
commander; and it was clear that Frinks had forgotten his instructions
in the excitement, and that Scoble had not noticed it till he realized
that Louis was present to hear the name.
“I stand corrected, though Farrongate is not your name, all the same,”
added the mate in sulky tones.
“We will not quarrel, Mr. Frinks,” said the captain, doubtless seeing
that he was tipping his own fat into the fire. “I will go on deck with
you, and we will reef both the fore and the mainsails.”
“All right, Captain Farrongate,” added Frinks, who had carried his
point, and went on deck.
“Come, Louis, you must do your share of the work in handling the
vessel, and I shall soon make a sailor of you,” said Captain Scoble, in
a more pliable tone than he had used to him before.
“No, I thank you, Captain Scoble; I prefer not to be a sailor on board
of this schooner,” replied Louis firmly, but in a gentle tone.
“At your old tricks, are you?” demanded the captain, scowling
maliciously at the passenger.
“I must decline to do anything to assist you and your crew in carrying
off my mother,” answered the brave young man.
“I don’t intend to argue the point with you any more than with the
mate,” said Scoble, who had been beaten in the discussion with Frinks.
“I have no desire to argue the point, and shall not insist upon doing
so,” replied Louis, moving away from the stateroom door, for he was
afraid his mother would be disturbed.
“I am the master of the vessel, and all on board of her obey my
orders,” retorted Scoble, following the boy farther aft, as though he
intended to enforce his command.
“I have nothing to say,” added the passenger, not desiring to irritate
his tyrant if he could avoid doing so, though that was an almost
hopeless task.
“I have something to say, you young rascal!”
“Say it if you wish; I do not object.”
“I ordered you to go on deck.”
“I am aware that you did; but I did not go.”
“For cool impudence, you beat all the boys I ever knew!” exclaimed
Scoble, who seemed to be a little bewildered for the moment.
“Do you think my impudence will compare with yours? You ask me to
assist in carrying off my own mother,” added Louis, as quietly as
though he had been in the squire’s parlor.
At that moment the Maud gave a lee lurch, and the passenger could hear
the water pouring in over the bulwarks. Captain Scoble did not stay
to bandy any more compliments with his opponent, but rushed on deck,
though even Louis did not apprehend any serious danger. Mrs. Belgrave
was not alarmed; and her son went part way up the steps to see what was
the matter. The sea looked more angry than when he had last seen it;
but he had been out in a rougher time on board the Blanche.
“Put on the hatches, Stowin!” shouted the captain as soon as he reached
the deck and saw that the water was pouring down the hatchway into the
steerage. “Why didn’t you have the hatches put on before this time,
Mr. Frinks?”
Louis did not hear the reply, if there was any, but retreated to the
cabin. His mother was not disturbed by any fears, and he answered all
her questions.
“It was a lucky sea that made them close the hatches, mother; and now I
am going to see if I can find Captain Ringgold and Felix,” said Louis,
anxious to do something for their release.
“Be very careful, my son, won’t you?” pleaded Mrs. Belgrave.
“Certainly, I will; I am always careful.”
“Don’t provoke Scoble if you can possibly avoid it.”
“I have tried not to irritate him, though my blood is boiling every
time I set eyes on him. But I have been firm and decided; for he is one
of those men who would be ten times worse than they are if you did not
keep a stiff upper lip and give them as good as they send. Now keep
quiet, mother, and don’t be alarmed at anything,” said Louis, as he
left the room and closed the door behind him.
The Maud had been fitted up as a passenger vessel, and her cabin was
spacious enough to accommodate at least twenty persons. There was
nothing new to be learned in this part of the schooner, and Louis went
into the pantry from which Scoble had come out when the mate made the
disturbance in the cabin.
In the pantry he discovered a couple of lanterns hanging on a beam
overhead. He took down one of them and lighted it with a match from the
tin safe. He expected to explore some dark places in his search for
his friends, and he was prepared for the emergency. He thought it must
be dark between-decks since the hatches had been put on.
[Illustration: “AT THE SAME MOMENT CAPTAIN RINGGOLD APPEARED AT THE
OPENING WITH FELIX.” Page 62.]
He opened the door leading forwards, for the captain had not locked it
when he came out, and stepped into a passageway, which was as dark as
Egypt ahead of him. He closed the door through which he had passed, and
finding the key in the lock, he turned it. By the light of his lantern
he found a door on his left, which he opened. Then he found himself in
what he took to be the second cabin. There was a skylight in the deck
overhead, and he left his lantern in the passage. The apartment was
full of tobacco smoke, and he readily concluded that this was where the
captain had passed his time before he came into the cabin. He remained
there but a few minutes.
Proceeding towards the forward part of the vessel, he found that his
light was a necessity, and it soon enabled him to make out the lower
hatchway, which he had seen before from the main deck. His first
inquiry was into the strength of the padlock that held the hatch-bar in
place. It was large and heavy, and the task of breaking it looked like
a formidable job.
He had no tools of any kind; but there was a stove in the second cabin,
and he had seen a heavy poker lying by the side of it. It was but the
work of a moment to procure this implement. He thrust the small end of
it under the hasp, and then applied all his strength to it. Salt water
is not good for iron ware, and the fixtures were rusty. A few vigorous
twists with the poker drew out the staple that held the hasp, and the
lock was removed. The operator made short work with the iron bar; and
in less time than it takes to tell about it, he had removed one of the
hatches.
At the same moment Captain Ringgold appeared at the opening with Felix,
for they had heard the noise made in getting to them. Louis could
hear a heavy pounding and rattling on deck, with the voice of Scoble
rising above it, and he concluded that the captain was attending to the
reefing himself of the mainsail. He was therefore so far aft that he
was not likely to hear anything at the main hatch.
“Arrah, Louis, me darlint, is it you?” asked Felix. “What are ye givin’
us?”
“I’m giving you your liberty,” replied Louis in a low tone. “Don’t
speak out too loud.”
“It’s a good thing ye’re givin’ us. I had nearly broke me bachk in
thinkin’ they moight have kilt ye, me darlint.”
“Not yet, Flix; and I shall not be the first one to drop, if it comes
to that,” replied Louis cheerfully. “I hope you have not suffered much,
Captain Ringgold.”
“Suffered? Oh, no, I have not suffered at all; for I found a pile of
old bagging, or something of that sort, and I have been asleep most of
the time for the want of something better to do,” replied the retired
shipmaster in a pleasant voice, evidently taking his cue from his
companions. “But I should very much like to know what all this means.”
“I think you had better come out of the hold before we have any more
talk,” answered Louis, as he extended his hand to assist the captain.
“Thank you; I don’t need any assistance,” added the shipmaster, as he
mounted to the lower deck by the aid of the notched stanchion which
supported the forward deck-beam, Felix following him in the same manner.
“Now come with me, and we shall soon be in a place of safety,” said
Louis, as he led his friends aft, feeling that their captivity could
not last much longer.
“Faix, the darkness is broighter than the loight down here,” said
Felix, as they groped their way through the gloomy passage; for their
leader had put out the lantern, fearful that it might be seen through
the skylight in the steerage.
“You shall have more light in a minute; and don’t let the darkness
dazzle your eyes, Felix,” added Louis.
The conductor soon reached the door of the second cabin, which he had
decided to make the headquarters of the party for the present. He
threw it wide open, and the light from the apartment pervaded the dark
gangway. Leading the way into the steerage, he closed the door as soon
as his companions had both entered.
“I think we shall be comfortable here for a while,” said Louis, as he
seated himself on one of the benches under the berths that surrounded
the apartment. “Sit down, Captain Ringgold, and make yourself at home
if you can.”
“Faix, a man that was raised in a bog couldn’t ask for onything better
nor this,” added Felix, as he took a seat by the side of Louis, while
the captain was on the other side of him.
“It seems to be getting a little rough out from the shore,” said
Captain Ringgold, as the Maud made a heavy roll. “If I had known that
you intended to take a sail in this craft, I should have told you that
it looked as though a north-easter was coming up.”
“I had no intention of taking a sail, captain; and I have to confess
that I have been made the victim of a trick,” added Louis.
“But how much of a trip do your friends intend to make of it?”
“My enemies on deck would express it better; and the word is especially
applicable to the captain.”
“Who is the captain of the Oxford?”
“The schooner is not the Oxford, but the Maud; and her captain is John
Scoble, whom you will better recognize by his assumed name of Wade
Farrongate,” Louis explained.
“Farrongate!” exclaimed Captain Ringgold. “Then I begin to get an idea
why Felix and myself were shut up under the hatches.”
“This was a trick to get my mother and myself on board of the Maud.
Fobbington is a fraud; and we are bound to England.”
This was startling information to Captain Ringgold and Felix.