HOW NICK BOOMSBY MANAGED HIS CASE.
We had hardly accomplished our introductory work before I saw that both
steamers, which we had secured together with a stern as well as a bow
line, had been set back by the rapid current, and had begun to drift
down the river. I rang for the Sylvania to go ahead, and then called
upon Hop Tossford to take the wheel. I did not care to tow the Islander
against the swift current. I satisfied myself that the bow and stern
lines were properly made fast, and then went on board of the other
steamer.
I found that Colonel Shepard was inclined to let his angry passions
rise, as he saw Captain Blastblow approaching him, for which I could
not very strongly blame him. I had called to him before I went on board
of the Islander, and he had come aft to meet me. I suggested that he
should put Washburn in charge of the vessel until matters had been
explained. He promptly acquiesced, and I sent the mate to the
pilot-house of the prize, with instructions to keep her as near the
right bank of the river as it was prudent to go, and to direct the
wheelman of the Sylvania at the same time.
"Do I understand you to take the command of the Islander out of my
hands, Colonel Shepard?" demanded Captain Blastblow, as he heard me
instruct Washburn what to do.
"For the present, yes," replied the colonel, decidedly and sternly, as
though he intended no more mistakes should be made.
"This is rather sudden, for I haven't the least idea that I have done
anything to displease you," replied the captain, struggling to keep his
temper.
"What have you been doing with this steamer? What induced you to run
away with her? Why have you taken so great pains to keep away from the
Sylvania?" asked Colonel Shepard, in a severe tone.
"I have tried to obey my instructions in every particular," replied
Captain Blastblow, apparently more in astonishment than in anger.
"Have you had any instruction to run away with my steam-yacht?"
"I certainly had no instructions to run away with her; and I am not
aware that I have done anything of that kind," answered the captain.
"There has been some mistake, Colonel Shepard," I interposed. "I think
we had better go into the pilot-house and talk it over."
Without making any reply, both of the belligerents followed me forward.
I was quite as anxious to ascertain what had become of Cornwood and
Nick Boomsby as I was to have Captain Blastblow explain his singular
conduct. I found Captain Cayo on the forecastle, holding his prisoner
by the collar of his coat, while Nick was in the care of Buck, on the
port side of the house on deck. The former seemed disposed to resist,
though he was not willing to risk a conflict with his swarthy captor.
"What do you mean by laying hands upon me, you rascal?" demanded
Cornwood.
"Don't use any hard words, Cornwood," added the pilot, coolly. "I obey
my orders, and don't answer any questions."
"I don't know anything about your orders; and no one had any right to
give you any orders to lay hands on me," foamed Cornwood.
The prisoner began to demonstrate rather violently; he made a spring at
the throat of the pilot; but the latter was too quick and too strong
for him. They clinched together, and then Cornwood went down upon the
deck. Captain Cayo put his foot on the chest of the prostrate
Floridian, and held him down.
"I think we had better put a rope around this man's arms," said the
pilot, without taking his eyes from his prisoner. "That would keep him
quiet and well-behaved."
I picked up a piece of line, and handed it to him. He tipped Cornwood
as carelessly as though he had been a shark, and proceeded to bind his
arms behind him. The Floridian attempted to resist again; but the foot
of the pilot pressed more heavily upon him as he did so, and he found
it impossible to get upon his feet again.
Captain Cayo drew the arms of the captive up behind him, and quickly
fastened them. Then he took him by the collar, and stood him up on his
feet. Cornwood looked unutterably scornful at me; and I doubt if he
would have made any trouble if I had not been present. Judging by his
looks, he appeared to regard me with intense hatred. I had interfered
with some of his schemes before, and from the particular attention he
bestowed upon me, I came to the conclusion that he considered me the
author of his present misfortune.
"Why am I treated in this brutal manner?" demanded Cornwood, turning
his gaze from me to Captain Blastblow.
"I don't know anything at all about it," replied the captain. "There
are several things I don't understand about this business; but I am
willing to be informed."
"I suppose I owe all this to you, Captain Garningham," added Cornwood,
giving me a savage look.
"On the contrary, I think you owe it all to yourself," I replied. "If I
remember rightly, you were to detain the Islander at Key West. Instead
of doing this, she runs out of the harbor as soon as the Sylvania comes
in sight."
"It's none of your business, Garningham. Do you own the Islander?"
"I think we had better go into the pilot-house and talk the case over,"
I added. "We shall soon find out what the matter is."
I led the way, and we seated ourselves in the pilot-house. I had
indicated this place because I wanted to hear the explanation of the
captain of the Islander.
"Captain Blastblow, your conduct has astonished me," said Colonel
Shepard, more calmly than he had spoken at first.
"I am sorry for it, sir, for I have tried to do just as I was
instructed," answered the captain, meekly, and apparently as much
astonished as his owner. "I know my place, and I always expect to do
just what my employer expects of me."
"I did not expect you to run away with my steam-yacht, when all my
family were waiting to go in her," added the colonel, becoming more
indignant as he rehearsed the incidents of the morning we left
Jacksonville.
"But your going in the Islander depended on your business; and when I
saw you the morning before we sailed, you could not tell what you would
do. You instructed me to water and provision the vessel, and wait for
further orders. Towards evening, you sent off a card by young Boomsby,
directing me to have steam up and be ready to sail early in the
morning. I was ready to go by six o'clock," answered the captain,
taking from his desk in the pilot-house a package of papers, from which
he selected the card sent off by Nick. "Is it all straight so far?"
"Entirely: it was just as you say. I received a letter by the afternoon
mail, which assured me a business matter would allow me to be absent
from New York a month or six weeks longer; and I decided to go up the
river with the Sylvania."
"I didn't ask questions, or inquire into your business. All I had to do
was to obey the orders of my owner," added Captain Blastblow. "I made
sure that everything on board was ready for the voyage before I turned
in that night. By half-past five in the morning we had steam enough on
to sail down the river. It was about half-past six when your friend,
Mr. Boomsby, came----"
"My friend, Mr. Boomsby!" exclaimed the colonel. "I never even saw my
friend, Mr. Boomsby, that I know of."
"I only know that you called him your friend yourself," replied Captain
Blastblow.
"I called him so! How could I call him so when I had no acquaintance
with him?" demanded the owner, with a smile of incredulity.
"I don't know anything about that," continued the captain, fumbling
over the papers he had taken from his desk. "I learned to read writing
when I was a boy; and that was what you wrote."
"I never wrote anything of the kind, Captain Blastblow. But never mind
that: go on with your story," added the colonel.
"I can prove all that I say, sir. Your friend, Mr. Boomsby, as you
called him in your letter, came on board about half-past six, and gave
me your instructions to proceed to New Orleans as soon as I got the
letter."
"I sent you no such letter, Captain Blastblow," protested Colonel
Shepard. "I never wrote any such letter; some one has been playing a
trick on you."
"But I have the letter in your own handwriting," pleaded the captain.
"I will read it to you. It is dated at the St. James Hotel, with a
picture of the house, and the heading printed upon it. Here is what it
says:--
CAPTAIN BLASTBLOW:
I have received a despatch which will prevent me from leaving
Jacksonville for a few days. You will proceed to New Orleans as
soon as you get this letter; and I will go there by land with my
family. For reasons I will explain to you some other time, I want
you to keep out of the way of the Sylvania. I have made a bet that
the Islander will get to New Orleans first; and I expect, from what
you said, you will win the bet for me. This letter will be
delivered to you by my friend, Mr. Boomsby, who will take passage
with you; and you will treat him as well as you would me."
Yours truly,
P. G. SHEPARD.
"If those instructions are not as plain talk as any shipmaster could
desire, I should like to know what would be plain," continued Captain
Blastblow, as he finished the reading of the letter. "I hove up the
anchor at once, and rang to go ahead. I was ordered to keep out of the
way of the Sylvania, and I have done my best to avoid her."
"But I did not write that letter, Captain Blastblow," repeated the
owner; and by this time we were all rather amused at the straightforward
earnestness of the captain of the Islander. "Let me see the letter,
if you please."
The captain handed him the letter. Colonel Shepard examined it
critically. He shook his head as he did so.
"I must acknowledge that the writing looks very much like mine," he
said, after he had read it through and examined it in every part. "Who
could have written it?"
"Nick Boomsby wrote it, without a doubt," I replied. "I went to school
with him, and he was a good penman, though that was about all he was as
a scholar."
"Is that my friend, Mr. Boomsby?" asked the colonel, laughing heartily.
"The same person; and he has become a swell of the first magnitude," I
replied. "If I had known, or suspected, before we got to Key West, that
Nick was on board of her, I could have explained the strange conduct of
the Islander, and why she so carefully kept out of our way."
I gave a full account of the robbery of the bank messenger in the
saloon of Nick's father, dwelling upon the efforts Nick had made to
arrest Buckner. I stated that he had tried to obtain a passage to New
Orleans in the Sylvania, that I had refused to let him go in her, and
had taken care that he did not become a stowaway on board of her. I
added that Nick told me of his intention to run away from his home, and
seek his fortune in some other part of the country.
"I have no doubt that Nick stole the four thousand dollars the
messenger laid on the counter, and resorted to the trick of forging a
letter to Captain Blastblow, so that he could get the Islander off
ahead of the Sylvania," I continued.
"But how is it that Cornwood did not stop the Islander at Key West, as
it appears he got on board of her there?" asked Colonel Shepard, deeply
interested in the narrative.
"I think you will have to ask Cornwood about that," I replied. "I am a
Yankee, and I can guess what he meant."
"I don't know that I care about any guessing, Captain Alick; but if you
have any theory with a base under it, I should like to hear it," said
Colonel Shepard.
"I think Cornwood was well assured that Nick was on board of the
Islander when you sent him to intercept the steamer at Key West," I
answered. "Cornwood would not have gone on such a wild-goose chase for
nothing. According to the testimony of Captain Cayo, Cornwood and Nick
had very earnest conversation at Key West."
"I don't think it's any use to speculate over the case," interposed
Captain Blastblow. "Let us search for the money."
We all agreed that this was the next thing to do.