PEARL HAWLINSHED RESORTS TO VIOLENCE.
"Hallo! is that you, Dory Dornwood?" shouted Pearl Hawlinshed, as the
Goldwing came within hail of the steamer. "Come alongside, and take me
on board!"
"All right!" replied the skipper of the schooner, as he hauled in the
sheets with all his might.
"Take me on board, and I will make it all right with you," continued
Pearl, who did not seem to believe that Dory intended to take him on
board.
The skipper had brought the boat about so that all her sails were
shaking, but she had headway enough to carry her to the port quarter of
the steamer.
"Be all ready to jump on board when I come up alongside," called Dory.
"Are you going off to leave us, now that you have got us into this
scrape?" demanded Captain Vesey, springing to his feet; for he had
evidently been asleep on the quarter-deck.
"I am going to get a steamer to drag you off this shoal," replied Pearl.
"I will come back in a couple of hours or so."
"You may forget to come," added Mr. Button, the engineer. "I think you
had better pay me the five dollars you owe me before we part company."
"And five dollars you owe me," added Captain Vesey.
"I don't owe you any five dollars, either of you," replied Pearl
blandly, as he was about to leap on board of the Goldwing. "I was to
give you five dollars apiece if you put me on board of this boat, and
you haven't done it."
"We should have done it if we hadn't let you do the piloting," replied
Captain Vesey. "You owe us the money, and you must pay it."
"I think not," added Pearl, as he sprang on the forward deck of the
schooner. "You haven't done what I agreed to pay you for."
"Hold on!" shouted Button angrily. "If you don't pay me, I will take it
out of your hide."
"You will catch me first, won't you?" jeered Pearl, as he leaped down
into the standing-room of the boat.
"Don't carry him off, Dory," added Captain Vesey. "He is the biggest
rascal that ever floated on Lake Champlain."
"Keep off, Dory, if you know when you are well off!" said Pearl in
threatening tones.
But Dory was anxious to perform his part in the drama; and he filled
away on the starboard tack, pointing the head of the boat towards
Plattsburgh. His fellow-voyagers did not give Pearl a good character,
but this was not a surprise to the skipper. He knew what Pearl was
before he had seen him in the daylight.
"Here we are, Dory," said the villain, as he seated himself in the
standing-room. "You have dodged me times enough yesterday and to-day,
and I am glad to be alone on board of this craft with you."
The skipper did not express his satisfaction that they were not alone,
but he felt it just the same. Pearl was ugly, and Dory did not like the
looks of him. The new passenger gazed about him, and seemed to be
examining the boat for some time. He looked under the seats in the
standing-room, and opened a couple of lockers. Then he raised the
floor-boards, and looked at the ballast.
When he had done this, he seated himself again. He looked at Dory, and
then he glanced up at the sails. He watched the sailing of the schooner
in silence for a few minutes. He evidently had something on his mind,
and he appeared to be debating with himself as to the manner in which he
should open the subject. As his eyes wandered about the boat, they
rested upon the cabin-doors. He looked at them a moment, and then went
forward, and tried to open them.
"You keep the cuddy locked, do you, Dory?" asked he, as he pulled
several times at the doors.
"Just now I do," replied Dory, who had no skill in lying, and no
inclination to practise it. "I wish you would come aft, Mr. Hawlinshed.
When you are so far forward, it puts her down too much by the head."
"She works very well indeed, Dory Dornwood. What have you been doing to
her?" asked Pearl.
"I changed the position of the foremast, and have shifted the ballast,"
replied Dory, wishing the third passenger would come aft; for he was
afraid he might discover the presence of the others in the cabin.
"Do you happen to have the key to this padlock in your pocket, Dory?"
asked Pearl in an indifferent tone.
Just then he saw the inquirer drop his head, and put his right ear very
near the blinds in the doors of the cabin. But he did not act as if he
had discovered any thing. The skipper thought he heard some kind of a
noise in the cabin, as though one of its occupants had coughed or
sneezed. But he was not sure of it, and the noise was just as likely to
have been the dashing of the water against the bow of the boat.
"You spoil the sailing of the boat by staying so far forward," repeated
the skipper, with his heart in his mouth.
"Perhaps I do, Dory Dornwood. I asked you if you happened to have the
key of that padlock in your pocket," said Pearl, as he moved aft. "I
should like to have you answer me if it isn't too much trouble."
"Of course I have the key," replied Dory.
"Suppose you give it to me? I should like to take a nap in the cabin
while we are going down the lake," added Pearl.
"I just said it spoiled the sailing of the boat to have you so far
forward. I slept on that seat here in the standing-room last night; and
I think you can take your nap just as comfortably there as in the
cabin," answered Dory.
There was something cunning and suspicious in the conduct of Pearl
Hawlinshed that made the skipper very uncomfortable. He acted as though
he was playing a part to accomplish a purpose. The skipper had made up
his mind that it was time for him to open the cabin-doors, and thus
obtain the assistance and protection of the officer.
"Don't say any thing more to me about spoiling the sailing of the boat,
Dory. I know more about sailing a boat than you do," replied Pearl. "You
are a cross-grained youth, and you know more than the law allows for a
boy of your years. You beat me out of this boat; but you stole the money
to buy her, and it was no trade."
The skipper concluded that it was best to make no reply to this charge.
"We will settle that matter at another time," continued Pearl. "I
believe I hinted to you that I wanted to take a nap in the cabin."
"And I hinted to you that I did not want the boat loaded by the head any
more," replied Dory, who was not at all disposed to be bullied, politely
or otherwise.
"I prefer to sleep in the cabin, and I want the key of that padlock,"
said Pearl more decidedly than he had before spoken.
"You can't have it," replied Dory with quite as much decision.
"Do you wish me to throw you overboard, Dory Dornwood?" demanded Pearl,
fixing his ugly look upon the skipper.
"No, I don't."
"Then I hope you won't make me do it, for I might be sorry for it; but I
must have that key."
"I don't see what you want of the key," added Dory, whose sober second
thought was, that he had better not provoke such a dangerous man. "This
boat has a bad reputation, and I have to be very careful with her."
"You were very careful yesterday when you ran across the lake in her
with the wind blowing a heavy gale," said Pearl with a sneer.
"I will fix a nice bed for you on that seat."
"I want the key!" exclaimed Pearl savagely.
Dory was silent. The key was in his trousers-pocket, where he kept his
wallet, containing sixty dollars. His ugly passenger was evidently
determined to have the key. Unless he had discovered that some one was
in the cabin, he could not see why his persecutor was so strenuous to
obtain the key. Pearl was not a large man; but he was very strong and
quick, as he had learned in the affair in the woods, when the ruffian
had hurled him away from him as though he had been nothing but a baby.
He could hardly get the better of him if Pearl resorted to violence. His
companion in the standing-room claimed to be a skilful boatman, and was
not dependent upon him to act as skipper. The situation began to look
very serious. Though Peppers must have heard every word that passed
between him and Pearl, he had not betrayed his presence on board of the
boat. Perhaps it would have been foolish for him to do so, as he was as
securely caged as though he had been locked up in the Clinton County
jail.
Dory finally decided that the only thing for him to do was to open the
cabin-doors, and thus secure the aid of the officer. But Pearl was
watching him as a cat eyes a mouse. Whether the ruffianly passenger
would permit him to open the doors was now the question. The skipper got
his hand on the key in his pocket, though he did not venture to take it
out. At a favorable moment, if any such was presented, he intended to
make a rush to the forward deck to effect his purpose.
"There is a steamer bound to the north," said he, pointing to a vessel a
mile to the windward of the Goldwing. "Perhaps she would run over, and
pull the Missisquoi off the shoal."
"I don't want any thing more of the Missisquoi; and she may lie where
she is till she rots," replied Pearl, without taking his gaze from Dory.
"Do you know what boat that is, Mr. Hawlinshed?" asked the skipper, very
anxious to induce his companion to look away from him, even for an
instant.
"I don't know what steamer that is; and I don't care, unless you should
happen to go too near her. In that case, I should object," answered
Pearl, without looking at her.
"Are you afraid of her, Mr. Hawlinshed? She looks peaceful enough,"
added Dory.
"You needn't talk any more. I know what you are trying to do; and you
won't do it," said the passenger.
Dory saw that it was no use to wait any longer. Pearl was determined not
to take his eyes off the skipper. Dory fussed a moment with the sheets,
trying in this manner to distract the attention of the villain. Finally
he let go the jib-sheet, and it ran out. With the key in his hand, he
rushed forward, as if to secure the rope, but really to unlock the
cabin-door.
Before he could reach the doors, Pearl threw himself upon his victim.
Dory went down into the bottom of the boat in spite of his best
exertions to save himself. His right hand was firmly grasped by his
assailant, and the key wrenched from his hand. It was done almost as
quick as a flash, and Dory was as powerless in the hands of the villain
as though he had been only an infant.
Pearl did not offer to use any more violence than was necessary to
obtain the key. When he had secured possession of it, he hurled his
victim from him.