It was when we had gone about six miles by Tish’s watch, while I
watched the compass, that Tish suddenly announced something was wrong.
“Either we’ve missed the land altogether, Lizzie,” she said, “or we’ve
passed right over the Baptist church and are now at Graham’s grocery
store.”
I handed the compass to her, but the moment she took it the needle
turned about and continued pointing toward me. It was very unusual, and
Tish stared at me with a justifiable irritation.
“Don’t stand there pretending you’re the magnetic pole,” she snapped.
“Move around, and see what the dratted thing will do.”
Well, wherever I went that needle pointed at me. As events proved, for
Tish to blame it on my gold tooth was quite unjustified, but it was
not until in a burst of irritation she had flung it overboard that we
discovered the true cause.
Aggie’s workbag, containing a magnet for picking up steel beads, was on
my arm.
All the time the fog was growing thicker, so that we could not see ten
feet in any direction. And although we kept moving we never seemed to
arrive anywhere. Once, indeed, I thought I heard faintly the sound of
Aggie’s hammer striking the bell, but it was very feeble and soon died
away.
At seven o’clock it was already dark, and we had just two gallons of
gasoline left. Tish shut off the engine and we considered our position.
“If we use all our gasoline the tide will carry us straight out to sea,
and we may never get back,” she said.
“And Aggie!” I said. “Our poor Aggie!”
“Aggie is all right,” she said impatiently. “At least she doesn’t have
to get anywhere. We do.”
We decided at last until the fog lifted to save our gasoline, in case
we had to get out of the way of some vessel; and Tish--who can knit
quite well in the dark--got out her work. But Lily May seemed to have
recovered, and was acting very strangely.
For instance, she roused once from deep thought to suggest that we
throw the boxes of fish overboard, and she seemed quite worried when
Tish refused.
“Why should I?” Tish said. “They represent money and effort. They have
a certain value.”
Lily May muttered something about a thousand dollars and ten years,
which I did not catch, and then became silent once more. But when,
about seven o’clock, we all heard the engine of a boat not far off and
Tish was for hailing it at once, she sharply said we’d better not.
“Nonsense!” said Tish, and had started to call when Lily May put a hand
over her mouth.
“Haven’t you any sense?” she demanded. “It may be a revenue boat.”
“And what if it is?” said Tish.
Lily May sat down on the edge of a thwart and stared at us.
“Look here,” she said, “is the little old bean gone, or has that shot
of blackberry cordial gone to my head? What about this stuff you’re
loaded with?”
“If there is any fine connected with running fish,” Tish said shortly,
“I have yet to hear of it.”
“Fish!” said Lily May in a disgusted tone. “I could do better than that
myself. Why not canned corn? Or artificial legs? Or bunion plasters?”
“Fish,” Tish repeated. “Dried fish. And if you dare to intimate----”
“Oh, don’t be so silly!” said Lily May, and yawned. “Now see here, you
may be older than I am in years, but I was old when I was born. And I
can’t remember the time when I didn’t know whiskey from fish.”
“Whiskey!” said Tish in a terrible voice.
“Booze,” said Lily May. “You’re loaded to the gunwales with booze.
You’ve landed, so far, about a hundred cases of first-grade Canadian
Club, and if you haven’t made more than I have out of it you’ve been
stung. That’s all.”
Tish got up at that and gave her a really terrible look.
“You have made money out of this iniquitous traffic?” she demanded.
“Oh, a bagatelle,” Lily May replied languidly. “I had to protect you,
you see. If you will run liquor----”
“Silence!” Tish thundered. “What have you made?”
“I got three hundred for keeping Christopher busy while you unloaded,”
she said a trifle sulkily.
“Christopher?” Tish said in a dazed manner.
“He’s in the revenue service,” said Lily May. “So am I, for that
matter. There’s been hardly a day since we came when I couldn’t have
arrested you all. But it would have upset mother a lot. If you don’t
believe me----”
She turned up her skirt, and I shall never forget Tish’s eyes when she
saw what I saw. That chit had her revenue badge pinned to the top of
her stocking!
It was after that that our dear Tish was taken with a sudden shuddering
spell and we had to give her quite a heavy dose of blackberry cordial.
It is possible that in the darkness we gave her more than we intended,
on an empty stomach, and there is undoubtedly a small percentage of
alcohol in it to preserve it. When, later on, she insisted on opening
one of the boxes and on tasting its contents before she would be
entirely convinced, the combination was unfortunate.
She lapsed into silence soon after that, rousing once to shed a few
tears, a most unusual proceeding for her, and with her voice slightly
thickened she said, “We have been ushed by those sons of Belial,
Lizzie. I musht think of a way to shettle with them.”
She dozed a little then, but shortly thereafter she wakened and said
a sea serpent had just stuck its head up beside her, and what if it
should find Aggie? I was greatly alarmed, but Lily May was quite calm.
“She’s only slightly binged,” she said, “but she will sleep it off. Do
her good probably; like having a good cry.”
I pass over the next few hours. Tish slept, and we drifted about at
the mercy of wind and tide. About midnight a gale came up and gave us
considerable trouble, as the boxes kept shifting. Lily May once more
suggested flinging them overboard, but I dared not do this without
Tish’s consent, and when I roused her and asked her she gave me no
satisfaction.
“Shertainly not,” she said. “It’s evidench. Never destroy evidench,
Lizzie.”
“She’ll snap out of it after a while,” Lily May comforted me. “But
she’s sure gifted. I’ll bet a brandied peach would give her the D.T.’s.”
I was about to reprove her when I suddenly perceived that the wind had
lifted the fog, and there was even a pale moonlight. And at that, Lily
May clutched my arm and pointed ahead.
We had indeed been drifting with the tide, and the schooner was just
ahead, within a hundred yards or so. We were moving slowly toward it.
I wakened Tish, and this time she responded. I can still see her,
majestic and calm, clutching the rail and staring ahead. I can still
hear the ringing tone of her voice when she said, “The hour of
vengeance is at hand, Lizzie.”
“I’ll tell the world it is, if you go up there,” said Lily May.
But she brushed the child aside, and immediately Bill yelled from the
schooner, “Stand by, there! What do you want?”
“We’re looking for trouble, Bill,” said Lily May. “If you have any
around----”
But Bill recognized her voice, and he smiled down at us.
“Trouble’s my middle name, ladies,” he said. “Come up and make
yourselves at home. Hi, cap!” he shouted. “Here’s company.”
I had not an idea of what was in the wind until I saw Tish pick up her
knitting bag. Her revolver was in it.
How can I relate what followed? Tish went up first, Lily May was on the
ladder, and I was in the very act of tying up, our rope in my hands,
when I heard Tish say, “Hands up! You are under arrest.”
Immediately on that, a most terrible uproar broke out above, and a shot
rang out. Just after that my poor Tish’s revolver fell into the boat
with a terrible thud, and so startled me that I let go of the rope.
There was a frightful noise going on overhead, and as I drifted away I
heard another shot or two, and then the captain’s voice.
“I’ve got her, the h---- cat!” he called. “Start the engine, Bill. We’d
better get out of here.”
And the next minute the engine of the schooner was starting and they
were getting the anchor up. The schooner was moving away.
I cannot write my sensations without pain. The schooner starting off;
my dear Tish a prisoner on that accursed boat, helpless, possibly
injured; and Lily May, who had been placed in our care, on that
accursed vessel.