ON BOARD THE GUARDIAN-MOTHER
Louis was tired enough to enjoy the arm-chair the captain gave him
in his room, for he had begun to feel that he needed another plate
of soup, and he said as much to his friend. The touch of a button
connected with the electric bells brought Sparks to the apartment, and
the soup was ordered. It came in a few minutes, neatly arranged with
biscuits on a tray, and the owner enjoyed it.
“I have gone through all the formalities, Louis,” said Captain
Ringgold, when the refreshment was disposed of. “I have not yet learned
how you happened to be left alone on that sand-spit, for I was in a
hurry to make you at home on the Guardian-Mother.”
Louis felt quite at home; and he related all the details of his
residence on the sandbank, including the adventure with Flounder, the
burning of the Phantom, and the escape of the Maud.
“Brisbane left you on that sand-spit!” exclaimed the commander,
springing out of his chair. “It was his own fault that his steamer was
burned, for he let his crew go to sleep, when he ought to have kept
part of them awake.”
“I thought of paying him for the loss of the Phantom,” added Louis.
“Not a red cent! That man is under obligations to me, and he deserted
you on a sand-spit, leaving you hardly food enough to keep you from
starving!”
“He did not expect that I should have to remain there so long, as I did
not myself,” replied Louis.
“Didn’t you tell me he said he might have to stay there a week, and
that was his reason for abandoning you?” demanded the captain sharply.
“He was not entirely consistent.”
“I told Brisbane all it was necessary for him to know, and charged him
to see that no harm came to you. I will never trust him with a mud-scow
again.”
Captain Ringgold then explained that he had been obliged to pay the
full sum he had named for the steam-yacht, which was many thousand
dollars less than she had cost. He had used all the haste he could in
getting her ready to sail, but various matters had delayed him.
“The Maud has gone to Bermuda beyond a doubt,” he continued, “and your
mother is still on board of her. I don’t believe any harm will come to
her; but we want her on board of the Guardian-Mother.”
“I do, at any rate,” added Louis.
“And so do I, my boy; and I think she will be happy on board.”
“But I do not quite see how we can reclaim her,” suggested the owner.
“We will find a way. I am glad you put a bullet in that beggar who
burned the Phantom; and it is a pity you did not put it in another
place.”
“I am glad the wound was no worse. I knew he was a reckless fellow, and
when he pointed his revolver at my head, I fired because I was afraid
he would do so,” pleaded Louis.
“You did quite right, my boy; if you had not fired when you did, you
might not have been here to tell the story,” added Captain Ringgold.
“But you have not told me, Louis, how you like the Guardian-Mother.”
“How would it be possible not to like her? She is magnificent beyond
any conception I had of a steamer. In fact, I am so bewildered that I
cannot express myself in regard to her,” replied Louis with enthusiasm.
“Taking her cost and the expense of running her into consideration, I
cannot help feeling that it is a very extravagant outlay for a boy like
me, only sixteen years old.”
“But you are abundantly able to own such a vessel, and to pay the
expense of keeping her in commission all the year round, Louis,” said
the captain very seriously, as he took from his desk a paper on which
he had estimated the probable cost of running the vessel. “If she
should cost you fifty thousand dollars a year, she will leave you a
large margin of your income.”
“I am sure I should not have thought of such a thing as buying her if
it had not been for the service she is to render me in recovering my
poor dear mother,” continued Louis, as the tears started in his eyes.
“That villain might have led me all over the world in a sailing yacht;
and I can truly say that I asked for the purchase of the steamer solely
on account of my mother. I should not have dared to ask for such a
craft for my own pleasure.”
“And yet you might well have done so. With an income of seventy
thousand dollars a year, you can afford such a luxury. But I do not
look upon the vessel as a plaything for your pleasure and amusement.
I think Uncle Moses told me you had fitted for college. Now, Louis,
you must make the Guardian-Mother your university. You ought to have
on board such instructors as you need, though one may be enough, and
pursue your studies just as though you were a regular student in
Columbia College.”
“This is a new idea,” replied Louis.
“But it is a good one. I do not believe you ought to give all your time
to your own amusement, even though it may consist of so reasonable a
recreation as sight-seeing in the various countries of the world. You
can have your mother on board with you, and live as well as you please.
I grant it will be a very expensive education; and I certainly should
not recommend it if you were not abundantly able to pay the cost. I
talked with Uncle Moses about this idea, and he was pleased with it. He
even thought he should like to go with you; but he was not sure that
you would like to have him on board.”
“He ought to have been sure on that point, captain. I should be
delighted to have him with me,” added Louis warmly.
“I think you understand my idea now, my boy; and I must go on deck, for
perhaps you do not realize that we are engaged in a lively chase,” said
Captain Ringgold, as he rose from his arm-chair.
Louis followed him to the deck. The wind was very light from the west,
and the steamer pitched slightly on the long rollers of the ocean; but
Louis thought it was exceedingly pleasant sailing. If his mother had
been with him, he felt that he should be supremely happy. He walked
about the deck to examine the magnificent craft by himself while the
captain was attending to his duties, which consisted just then of an
examination of the log-slate in the pilot-house.
The Guardian-Mother was rigged as a topsail schooner. Captain Singfield
had built her for a voyage around the world, on which he intended
to be absent four years; and with an idea of saving expense, for he
was hardly as rich as the millionaire at sixteen, she was abundantly
supplied with canvas, so that she could make very fair progress under
sail alone, as proved on one of her trial trips.
He seated himself in the _boudoir_ after he had looked the vessel over,
and gave himself up to the reflections of the hour. He could hardly
believe that he was the sole owner of such an elegant and powerful
steamer, and he was delighted with the programme which the commander
had laid out for his education and recreation. But before all, the
steamer was to be used to reclaim his mother from the possession of
Scoble, and he could not think of anything else seriously until this
duty had been fully discharged.
Captain Ringgold came into the _boudoir_ just as the cabin steward rang
a bell in the companion-way. It was half an hour before dinner, at six
o’clock, and the owner thought he was hardly in condition to go to the
table, for he had put on his every-day clothes for the work in which
he had been engaged. His valise had been put in his stateroom, and he
considered it incumbent upon him to dress in a style becoming the
owner of such a steam-yacht.
“We are making sixteen and a half knots just now, Louis, which is half
a knot better than her former owner claimed for her,” said the captain,
as he seated himself opposite Louis.
“But when shall we catch up with the Maud? That is the one question of
interest to me now,” asked Louis.
“The Guardian-Mother will hardly overhaul her for forty-eight hours,
for she had a fair and fresh wind for about two days,” replied Captain
Ringgold. “Don’t be impatient, Louis, for I think that within three
days we shall have your mother on board.”
“Don’t forget to bring off Felix McGavonty with her, for he is to be
the companion of my voyages as well as my mother.”
“You may be sure that I will not forget him, my boy; besides, I am
inclined to think you will have a hand in the final work of the present
expedition.”
“I certainly shall if I am permitted to do so. But it is time for me to
dress for dinner, for I am hardly in condition to show myself at the
table,” added Louis, as he rose from his chair and went below.
His stateroom was the forward one on the starboard side, while the
one on the opposite side was reserved for Mrs. Belgrave. Before he
opened his valise, he had to look the room over. Its comforts and
conveniences, as well as its elegance, filled him with delight.
He could not banish his mother from his mind, and he thought how
amazed and enraptured she would be when she took possession of the
corresponding apartments on the port side. In the bath room he found
hot and cold water at the bowl. He had hardly entered it before the
electric lights flashed a flood of brilliancy into both rooms.
He dressed himself in his best clothes, and at the sound of the bell
went out into the main cabin, where dinner awaited him. The captain was
not there, neither was Mrs. Blossom, who was nominally a stewardess.
“Sparks, where is the captain?” asked Louis with all the _sang froid_
he could command.
“On deck, I think, sir,” replied the steward.
“Find him; present my compliments to him, and say that I desire the
pleasure of his company at dinner,” added Louis; and Sparks hastened to
obey the order.
He returned with the message that the commander would join him in a few
minutes. He then directed the steward to deliver the same invitation
to Mrs. Blossom. She appeared at once, and thanked the owner for his
consideration.
“I do not expect to take my meals at the cabin table with the owner,
for, as you know, I am only the stewardess,” said the lady very
pleasantly, as the captain came below.
“I wish to give my first order, Captain Ringgold,” Louis proceeded, as
the trio stood near the table. “From this moment Mrs. Blossom ceases to
be stewardess, and is to be regarded as the companion, not the servant,
of my mother. I expect and desire that you and she will take your meals
at my table.”
“I had no authority to engage a companion for your mother; and I
heartily approve your order, Mr. Belgrave,” replied the captain.
“Now, Captain Ringgold, you will oblige me by taking the head of the
table,” continued Louis. “I will sit at your right, and Mrs. Blossom at
your left.”
The commander objected; the owner insisted, and the latter had his
own way after many pleasantries. The dinner was equal to a Delmonico
affair, and Monsieur Odervie was generously praised. A full hour was
passed at the table, but most of the time was consumed in conversation.
Louis spent his evening in the _boudoir_, brilliantly illuminated by
electric lights, with Mrs. Blossom. He was tired enough to retire
early. The dinner had banished the last remnants of his malady, caused
by what he called starvation, though this was an exaggeration. He
related to his pleasant companion the history of the cruise he had made
in the Maud, and the chase after the schooner in the Phantom.
The next two days passed as agreeably to the young millionaire as the
absence of his mother would permit. The weather had changed, and the
wind was blowing more than half a gale from the north-west. At daylight
the next morning Captain Ringgold roused the owner, and informed him
that the Maud was in sight.