A FALSE FRIEND, AND AN OPEN ENEMY.
All night long the poor mother seemed to hear Captain Coffin’s last
words, “We have every reason to fear the worst,” repeated over and over;
but, as though to comfort her, they were always followed by the thought,
“Nothing certain is yet known.” She always tried to find a bright side
to her troubles, and by looking steadily at it, to forget that there was
any dark side. This plan worked so well now that by morning she had
determined to still hope for the best, instead of fearing the worst,
until something more definite should be known. This was certainly the
wisest thing to do, for more than half of all our troubles are those we
think may come, but which, after all, never do come; and hoping steadily
for the best goes a long way towards bringing the best to us.
Though all this had nothing to do with bringing Breeze McCloud home, he
came nevertheless. While his mother was busy, with almost her usual
cheerfulness, preparing breakfast, she heard a joyous shout in the
little front yard, the door was burst open, and the next moment her
boy’s arms were thrown about her neck.
The _Albatross_ had made a glorious run home, and passed in by Eastern
Point at sunrise that morning. The moment she was made fast to her wharf
Breeze had jumped into a dory and pulled across the harbor, so as to be
the first to tell his mother of his own arrival. He could stay to
breakfast, but must get back to the schooner as quickly as possible
afterwards, and help discharge the fare of fish she had brought in. One
of the boy’s first questions was,
“Is there any news from father yet, mother?”
“Not yet,” was the answer; “but I feel certain there will be soon, and
that when it comes it will be good news. How much we shall have to tell
him when he does get home, and how proud he will be of you!” she added,
fondly.
Her faith in her husband’s return was still as strong as ever, and
Breeze had always shared it.
While they were at breakfast there came another shout in the front yard,
the door again opened, and before he got fairly inside, Captain Coffin
exclaimed, “It’s all right, Mrs. McCloud! The _Albatross_ is in, and
Breeze is--”
“Here, and mighty glad to see you, sir!” cried the lad, jumping up from
the table to greet the new-comer.
“Bless my soul!” exclaimed the astonished skipper, shaking Breeze
heartily by the hand, and gazing at him incredulously, “you have both
out-footed and out-pointed me this time. I didn’t suppose the
_Albatross_ was tied up yet, and thought I had at least half an hour’s
start of you.”
The captain sat down to breakfast with them, and between mouthfuls
Breeze tried to give them an outline of his recent adventures. They were
all so excited, and Mrs. McCloud had to jump up from the table so often
to replenish the plates, that she only received a confused impression
that her boy had saved somebody’s life and caught the biggest fish that
ever was seen. This, however, satisfied her for the present; the details
she could learn afterwards.
As soon as breakfast was over, Breeze started back for the schooner, and
Captain Coffin went with him. While they were rowing across the harbor
the latter said,
“I’ve got a new schooner, Breeze, and a finer craft was never built in
Essex. Her name is the _Fish-hawk_, and she is fitting out for a salt
trip to Grand Bank. Don’t you want to ship on her? I can offer you a
full share now.”
“I don’t know, sir. It seems as though I ought to stay with mother a few
days at any rate.”
“So you can; we sha’n’t get off for a week yet, but I thought I would
speak about it now, so that if you decided to go I could hold the place
for you. Besides, you could put your dunnage right aboard, which would
save you the trouble of carrying it home when the _Albatross_ hauls out
for repairs.”
“All right, sir,” said Breeze; “I should like to go with you better than
with anybody else, and I guess, inside of a week, I can persuade mother
to let me start off again. If you’ve got room for another, I’d like to
speak for a berth for a friend of mine too.”
“Do you mean the one you went dorymate with on George’s the other day?”
asked the captain, laughing.
“Yes, sir. His name is Wolfe Brady, and he has been on one trawling trip
to the Banks already, besides two to George’s.”
“Well, I’ve got about all the men I want, except a cook, and I don’t
suppose he can fill that berth, but I’ll take a look at him, and if we
suit each other perhaps I can make room for him.”
“If you want a cook,” said Breeze, eagerly, “why not try and get old
Mateo? He is the best cook sailing out of Gloucester, and if the
_Albatross_ is going to be laid up for some time, perhaps he will go
with us.”
“I see that you were cut out for a regular shipping agent,” laughed the
captain, “but I’ll get Mateo if I can.”
Everything went well that day. Captain Coffin took a fancy to Wolfe and
offered him a berth on the _Fishhawk_ almost as soon as he saw him.
Wolfe, who was willing to ship for any kind of a trip, was greatly
pleased at the prospect of going with Breeze, and at once accepted the
offer.
Old Mateo, too, who, now that his boy had become a sailor, seemed to
think it his duty to follow and watch over him, was easily booked as
cook of the new schooner.
The big halibut caught by Breeze sold for nearly twenty dollars, and the
boy was handed a check for thirty-four dollars as the result of his
eight days’ trip to George’s. Wolfe was also made happy by receiving
twelve dollars as his share of the three days’ fishing after he had been
picked up.
After getting his check cashed, and repaying what old Mateo had loaned
him, Breeze carried the rest home to his mother. This money, added to
what he had made on the mackerelling trip in the _Curlew_, amounted to
sixty-five dollars. It would be hard to tell whether he or his mother
was the prouder over this satisfactory result of the boys’ first efforts
as a bread-winner.
During the long, happy talk that they had after supper, their one regret
was that the father was not there to share their joy, but they spoke
hopefully of his coming, and the future looked brighter to them than it
had for many a day. Mrs. McCloud was greatly interested in what Breeze
had to tell her of his adventure with the New York jeweller who had
opened the golden ball. They both examined it minutely, but could
discover no joint amid the delicate tracery of its surface. After it had
been again restored to its place, Mrs. McCloud cautioned the boy to
always guard it carefully, as she felt more than ever certain that some
day it would prove of great value to him.
About eight o’clock Breeze started up, saying that he must go back to
the schooner after Wolfe Brady. He had invited him to come home to
supper and spend the night, but Wolfe had begged for a little time in
which to purchase some very necessary additions to his scanty wardrobe,
and Breeze had promised to meet him on board the Albatross soon after
eight o’clock. Since then he had told his mother all that he knew of the
young stranger, and so excited her interest in him that she now sent him
an invitation to stay with them as long as he should remain in port.
Kissing his mother good-by, and promising to be back very soon, Breeze
left the house; and taking her sewing, Mrs. McCloud sat down to await
his return.
Neither Wolfe Brady nor anybody else was to be seen on the _Albatross_
when Breeze reached her. Near by lay the _Fish-hawk_, to which he had
transferred his dunnage that afternoon, but she too was deserted. On the
opposite side of the wharf lay a shabby-looking old schooner, named
_Vixen_, on which several men were still at work, evidently getting her
ready for sailing. Breeze asked them if they had seen anybody answering
Wolfe’s description about there recently.
“Yes,” answered one of them, “I seen a young feller like that hanging
round here ’bout half an hour ago. He came over here and got talking
with Hank Hoffer, one of our men, and they walked off uptown together. I
expect they’ll be back directly.”
“Did you hear them say where they were going?”
“No; seems to me, though, I did hear Hank say something ’bout Grimes’s.
Shouldn’t wonder if they’d gone up there to get a drink.”
Breeze started at the mention of Grimes’s, for he knew it to be one of
the lowest and very worst drinking-dens in the town. Such places are not
permitted by law to exist in Gloucester, but occasionally they escape
the vigilance of the police for a short time, and in them many a sturdy
fisherman is tempted to squander the money he has risked his life to
earn.
Captain McCloud had seen so much of the pitiful misery and sorrow caused
by drink that he had brought Breeze up to regard it with horror. As soon
as the boy was old enough to realize what he was doing, he had promised
his father that, so long as he lived, he would never touch a drop of any
intoxicating liquor. He had never signed a pledge, nor had his father
asked him to; for although Breeze was slow to make promises, he would as
soon cut off his hand as to break one that he had made, and his father
trusted him implicitly.
Now, although he was neither a prig nor a goody-goody boy it distressed
Breeze to think of any one whom he called friend visiting Grimes’s. His
one hope was that, being a stranger in town, Wolfe did not know what
sort of a place it was, and that he would leave it and come back as soon
as he discovered its character.
In this hope he waited for half an hour longer, and then, as Wolfe still
failed to appear, he determined to go in search of him. He knew pretty
nearly where Grimes’s was, and walked in that direction. Very soon he
saw several men come out from a dark passage-way and turn down the
street, talking and laughing loudly. He followed them until satisfied
that Wolfe was not among them, and then returned and waited until
another party came out from the same passage-way. His friend did not
appear this time, and he felt that he must go in and either satisfy
himself that Wolfe was not there, or persuade him to come away if he
was.
He walked back and forth several times before he could make up his mind
to go in. At last, feeling that he was acting the part of a coward, he
entered the passage, and finding a closed door at its farther end, tried
to open it. The noise that he made was evidently heard inside, for a
slide in one of the upper panels of the door was pushed back a few
inches, and a bright light flashed full in his face.
“Who are you?” asked a voice through the opening.
“No matter who I am,” replied Breeze. “I come to look for a friend and I
want to be let in.”
“Well, you can’t come in until you’ve told me your name, and whether you
are alone or not.”
“My name is Breeze McCloud, if you must have it, and I am alone,”
answered the boy.
“That’s all right; I recognize you now,” said the voice, and the next
moment the door was thrown open.
Just then two figures came through the dimly lighted hall-way that the
open door disclosed, and in the voice of one of them Breeze recognized
that of Wolfe Brady.
He waited until they got to where he was standing, and then, taking hold
of his friend’s arm, he said, “I’ve been looking for you, Wolfe, and
waiting to take you home with me.”
“Hello, Breeze!” exclaimed the other, huskily; “glad to see you, old
boy. You’re just in time to go back and have a drink with us.”
“No, thank you,” replied Breeze; “I never drink anything. I only came
here to find you, and now I want you to go home with me.”
“Oh, come along in,” said Wolfe’s companion, in a disagreeable tone.
“You ain’t afraid, are you?”
“No,” said Breeze, “I’m not afraid; but now that I’ve found my friend
there’s no reason why I should go in, and I don’t choose to do so.”
“Well, you needn’t put on any of your high and mighty airs with me,”
exclaimed the other, threateningly. “This gentleman is as much my friend
as he is yours, and I’m going to prove it by taking him inside again.
Come back in, old pard,” he added, grasping Wolfe’s other arm as he
stood balancing himself unsteadily between the two.
“No,” said Breeze, decidedly, “he sha’n’t go back;” and with this he
endeavored to pull Wolfe through the still open door-way into the
street.
Here the door-keeper, who had watched the scene impatiently, interfered,
and saying, “I can’t have any disturbance here, gentlemen; you’ll have
to settle this business outside,” assisted Breeze to such purpose that
the next moment all three were in the street, and the door was closed
behind them.
This excited Wolfe’s anger so that he began to kick the door, at the
same time screaming to be let in.
“Oh, come, this won’t do!” exclaimed Wolfe’s companion. “This racket’ll
bring the police down on us in no time. You see now what a fix you’ve
got us into, don’t yer?” he asked, turning to Breeze.
“I see what a fix you’ve got this poor fellow into by bringing him to
such a place,” replied the latter, indignantly, “and I hope you feel as
ashamed of yourself as you ought to be.”
“None of your preaching!” cried the other, fiercely, “or you and I’ll
have a bigger score to settle than we’ve got now. Take hold of him,
can’t you? and let’s get away from here before we get nabbed.”
Together they succeeded in pulling Wolfe from the door, and in directing
his unsteady steps down the street in the direction of the wharf.
While Breeze was wondering what on earth he should do with his friend in
this wretched condition, Wolfe’s intoxication assumed a new form, and he
began to yell and sing at the top of his voice.
“Stop that noise, or I’ll take you all in,” shouted a gruff voice behind
them.
“Shut up, can’t yer?” exclaimed Wolfe’s companion to him, angrily.
“Don’t you hear the police?”
But Wolfe only yelled the louder, and began to revile the police, and
dare them to come and get him.
“We must cut for it,” said Hank Hoffer, for this was the name of Wolfe’s
companion. “Grab him tight and run him. We’re pretty near there.”
Almost carrying Wolfe between them, the others hurried him along at such
a pace as to quite take his breath away and put a stop to any further
outcries.
As they reached the wharf Hank said, “Quick, now! let’s get him aboard
this schooner. I belong here, and it’ll be all right. We’ll get him
below, and put him in a bunk, where they’ll never notice him. Hurry,
they’re coming!”
In the excitement of the moment Breeze did not stop to think whether
this was a wise thing to do or not; and, only anxious to shield his
friend from the consequences of his own folly, he blindly obeyed these
instructions.
Wolfe stumbled on the deck of the schooner and fell, striking his head
against the wheel. When they got him below he seemed stupid, and blood
was flowing from a gash on his forehead.
[Illustration: “QUICK, NOW! LET’S GET HIM ABOARD THIS SCHOONER.”]
Pulling forward a bucket of water, and handing Breeze a rag, Hank said,
“You sponge him off, and keep him quiet while I go on deck and see
whether the police have followed us down here or not.”
Without waiting for an answer, he sprang up the companion-way and pulled
the slide over it. Then he went forward, and began to talk in a low tone
to the skipper of the schooner, who, with several other men, was on
deck. The police had evidently given up the chase some time before, for
none were in sight on the wharf.
What Hank Hoffer said to the skipper was, “I’ve brought you a couple of
first-class hands, and they’re both drunk down in the cabin; but they’ll
be all right to-morrow. They were making such a racket in the streets
that the police gave us a run for it. I’m afraid they’ll come after us
yet; so, as long as we’re all ready, why don’t you cast off, drop out
into the stream, and make a start.”
Now, this skipper was not much liked by those who knew him, nor was his
old schooner a popular boat; so he had found it somewhat difficult to
get a crew for the trip she was about to make to the Newfoundland Banks.
He had, however, succeeded in shipping all but two of the necessary
number, and now that these two had come aboard of their own free-will,
he saw no reason why he should not take Hank Hoffer’s advice and make a
start.
The motion of the schooner was so gentle as she drifted away from the
wharf that Breeze, busily bathing his friend’s head, did not notice it.
When, however, those on deck began to hoist the sails, he recognized the
sound quickly enough, and springing up, tried to push back the
companion-way slide. It was locked. Then he began to pound on it
furiously, and to shout for somebody to come and unfasten it; but no
attention was paid to his outcries.
“It’s only those drunken fellows in the cabin,” explained Hank Hoffer to
the rest of the crew; “they’ll quiet down directly.”
So Breeze McCloud and Wolfe Brady sailed away in the old schooner
_Vixen_ for Grand Bank, while in the little cottage on the eastern hill
an anxious woman sat and waited for their coming.