AN EXPEDITION BY MOONLIGHT.
The Sylph lay at the new wharf, and as soon as the students had put on
their uniforms they went on board of her. Chief-engineer Minkfield was
directed to get up steam at once. Captain Dornwood ordered one of the
quarter boats to be lowered into the water and manned. Taking Thad
Glovering, the first officer, with him, he embarked.
At the order of the coxswain the bowman shoved off, and the oars were
dropped into the water. The boat was pulled up the little lake to the
stone quarries. Mr. Miker, the lessee of the quarries, had made good use
of some of the ideas of Bolly Millweed, the architect of the boat-house.
The _caisson_, on which the stone posts for the foundations of the
structure had been transported, had suggested to him the building of a
huge raft, or scow.
He called the craft a "gundalow," which appears to be a corruption of
gondola, though the affair bore but little resemblance to the airy boat
of the Venetians. It was fifty feet long and sixteen feet wide. It was
decked over and caulked, so that it was as tight as a ship on the ocean.
It had a stow-hole at each end; but these compartments were perfectly
tight, so that if any water flowed into them it could not get into the
large middle chamber upon which the craft depended for its power of
flotation.
When heavily loaded with stone, the deck was only a few inches above the
level of the water outside. Mr. Miker's principal market for the
production of the quarries was at Genverres, though he had sold a large
quantity of stone to be delivered in Burlington. In the centre of the
deck was a derrick, which was used as a mast when the gundalow went out
upon Lake Champlain. She was provided with a large, square sail, but it
could be used only when the wind was fair.
On her trips to Genverres she was poled by four or six men, and made
very slow progress. But Captain Gildrock had offered Mr. Miker the use
of the Sylph to tow her when he wished, for this was nothing but fun to
the ship's company, and, as it looked like business to them, they
enjoyed it more than mere sailing without a purpose.
The principal made no charge for the use of the steamer, and Mr. Miker
was grateful for the service rendered by the yacht and the students. The
gundalow was just the thing Captain Dornwood wanted for the operations
of the night. When the boat reached the quarry, the captain went on
board and measured it. But the derrick was in the way, and unless it
could be removed, the craft would be useless to him.
Returning to the boat, he proceeded farther up the creek, to a point
near Mr. Miker's house. Landing again, he found the quarryman in his
garden. He stated his business. Of course he could have the use of the
gundalow, and the derrick could be taken out of her. The man of stone
was enthusiastic to serve the students, and he did not even ask to what
use the craft was to be applied, though Dory volunteered the information
that the plan he was to carry out was approved by the principal.
Mr. Miker hastened to summon all his men, who lived near the quarries,
and by eight o'clock they were on the deck of the gundalow. But it was
no small undertaking to remove the derrick, for the mast was a very
heavy spar, and was stepped in the bottom of the scow.
The rigging and the long arm were taken from it, and then one of the
movable derricks used in the quarries was brought on deck, and guyed up
for work. With the aid of this machinery the mast was taken out, and
deposited on the shore. The mast-hole was covered with a tight scuttle
made for the purpose, and the gundalow was adapted to the business for
which she was to be used in the expedition to Sandy Point.
By this time it was nine o'clock, and the moon was just beginning to
cast its silvery light upon the still waters of the little lake. Captain
Dornwood promised to return the scow to the quarries before morning; but
Mr. Miker said he should not use her for a week, and the captain could
keep her as long as he wished.
"We shall want a lot of blocks, planks, and timbers, but we have plenty
of them on the school grounds, though we shall have to lug them a
considerable distance to put them on board of the gundalow," said
Captain Dornwood, as he was about to step into the boat.
"Hold on then, Dory! I have everything you can possibly want in that
line," interposed Mr. Miker. "The students have saved my men a vast deal
of hard work in towing the gundalow, and they will be glad to put all
the lumber you need on board of the scow."
"That we will!" exclaimed several of the men in the same breath.
"I don't want to give you and your men, who have been at work all day,
any unnecessary trouble," added Dory.
"No trouble at all!" protested the men, as they began to put the timbers
on board.
Dory was very grateful to them, and pointed out the kind of stuff he
wanted, including a large pile of rollers used in moving heavy blocks of
stone. In half an hour the gundalow was loaded with the materials Dory
had indicated. In the little time at his disposal, the energetic leader
of the enterprise had made a list of the material he was likely to
require. He had been at work, while the men were loading the blocks and
planks, with his pencil and paper, and had thought of several things
that were of prime importance.
"I am very much obliged to you, Mr. Miker, and I shall be still more so,
if you will lend us eight jack-screws, for we have not enough of them at
the shops," continued Dory.
"Are you going to move a meeting-house, Dory?" asked the quarryman,
laughing.
"We are going to do something of that sort," replied the leader of the
enterprise. "But I don't let on just yet."
"All right; you know what you are about every time, and it is best to
keep your mouth shut, in ease you should not succeed as well as you
expect. I have a dozen rather small jack-screws, and I will have all of
them put on the deck of the gundalow," added Mr. Miker, as he ordered
his men to bring them from a shanty where they were kept under lock and
key.
"I will see that everything is brought back again before morning," said
Dory, as he stepped into his boat, and gave the order to return to the
Sylph.
It was now nearly ten o'clock on as beautiful an evening as ever
gladdened the heart of any night wanderers. The full moon gave an
abundance of light, and the operations of the students could be as
readily conducted as in the day-time. Everything that would be needed,
with the exception of a few coils of rope, was on board of the gundalow.
A party was sent to the shops for them; and when these necessary
articles were obtained, the fasts were cast off, and the steamer stood
up to the quarries.
The gundalow had been so often towed by the Sylph, that the business was
perfectly understood. In a few moments more she was made fast to the
steamer by the double tow-lines, so that the awkward craft could be
steered even around a corner without any difficulty. Will Orwell, the
second officer, was detailed to take charge of a party of six on board
of the tow. But before the steamer got under way again, Captain Dornwood
called all hands together on the forward deck.
"Now we shall know what sort of a racket this is going to be," said Dick
Halifax, as they hastened to the place of meeting.
"No, you won't," replied Dick Short, to whom the remark was addressed.
"You won't know anything at all about it until we come to the work to be
done."
"Why don't he tell us what we are to do?" asked Dick. "I should like to
know something about it."
"It was a trick of Captain Gildrock to keep his business to himself, and
Dory takes after him. The principal thinks the fellows can obey orders
better when they don't know what is coming than they can when they
understand all about it. Every fellow thinks he knows best how to do
almost anything."
"I don't know but he is right. I never saw a horse tumble down in the
street, but every one of the crowd around him wanted to boss the job of
getting him on his feet again," added Dick.
"I have called you together, fellows, to say that it will be necessary
to keep as still as possible on the expedition of to-night;" said
Captain Dornwood, when the ship's company had all gathered on the
forward deck. "I don't know that a noise would defeat our plans, but I
am very much afraid it would cause us some trouble. I don't believe in
any yelling when we are on duty, but I fear it would make mischief
to-night. Please to observe this request in the strictest possible
manner."
"Where are we going, Captain Dornwood?" asked Bark Duxbury, one of the
new students.
"Going to work now," replied the captain with a smile. "All hands to
their stations."
The ship's company separated, and all the officers and seamen went to
the places where they belonged. Though no meals were to be served during
the night, so far as was known, the cooks went to the galley, and the
stewards to the forward cabin. The second officer, with his gang, went
on board of the gundalow, and at the order from the captain the pilot on
duty rang the bell to back her. By this movement the scow was hauled out
from the wharf, and the bell to go ahead was given.
Mr. Miker and some of his men stood on the shore watching the departure
of the expedition, and wondering what sort of a mission the students
were going upon at that time in the evening. But the Sylph and her tow
soon disappeared beyond the trees at the lower end of Beechwater. Dory
was on the hurricane deck, keeping a sharp lookout upon everything that
was done.
At the V-point the pilot slowed down without any order from the captain,
and the scow was switched around it without touching the mud. There was
now nothing to do outside of the engine-room and pilot-house; and the
crew gathered into companies in various parts of the deck to speculate
upon the nature of the expedition in which they were engaged. They
guessed a hundred things. The crew of the Goldwing were pretty sure they
were going to Sandy Point.
The Sylph was approaching the mouth of the river, and it would soon be
necessary for Captain Dornwood to say something. For, if the expedition
was bound to the northward, she would take that course as soon as she
came up with the point on that side of the river; if she was going to
the southward, she would have to keep her present course half a mile
farther out into the lake to avoid the shoals off Field's Bay.
Oscar Chester and Dick Short, the latter of whom had been promoted from
a deck-hand to the position of second pilot, were in the pilot-house. No
order came to alter the course at the north point, but a few minutes
later the captain entered the pilot-house.
"We are bound to Sandy Point," said he; and the head of the steamer was
turned to the southwest.
In less than half an hour, the Sylph was close in to the end of the
point, and Dory discovered Paul on the shore. The steamer was headed
into the bay, and the gundalow brought up to a point directly in front
of the cottage.