MR. PEPPERS FINDS THE TABLES TURNED.
Dory Dornwood gathered himself up after his defeat, and stood upon his
legs again. He was mortified at the result of his attempt to release the
officer, and improve his situation in the boat. He had thought of using
the tiller as a weapon, and now he was sorry he had not done so.
Doubtless it was better for him that he had not; for that would only
have compelled his assailant to use greater violence, and he might have
been seriously injured, for Pearl seemed to be desperate enough to do
any thing.
"Now pick up your sheet, Dory," said Pearl, as he went to the helm, and
took the tiller in his hand.
Dory did not feel so much interest in the sailing of the boat as he had
a short time before, and he took no notice of the order of his
conqueror. He looked at Pearl, and saw him deposit the key of the
padlock in the depths of his trousers-pocket, which he buttoned up, as
though he expected an attempt would be made to take it from him. The new
skipper had kept the helm up until all the sails but the jib were
drawing full.
"I think I told you to pick up that jib-sheet, Dory Dornwood," said
Pearl, in what he doubtless intended for an impressive manner.
Dory had certainly exhibited a considerable degree of prudence under the
trying circumstances in which he was placed; but now his stock of that
virtue appeared to be exhausted, for he took no notice of the order
repeated to him, and the impressiveness of Pearl was wasted. Dory was
disgusted at his overwhelming defeat, and he had not philosophy enough
to submit to it with good grace. In fact, he was downright mad at the
treatment he had received from his last passenger.
He was looking about him for the means of resistance. The long tiller
was in the cabin, and he had neglected to take the small one from the
rudder-head. As the situation was now, he was disposed to fight; but,
unprovided with any sort of a weapon, he realized that he was no match
for the villain who had taken possession of the boat.
He looked at the blinds in the cabin-doors. He could put his foot
through them; but, if he did, the aperture was not large enough for the
officer to crawl through. He began to wonder that Peppers did not say or
do something.
"If you don't pick up that jib-sheet, Dory Dornwood, it will be all the
worse for you," said Pearl, not so impressively as before; for he had
found that manner did not operate with the late skipper.
"If you are going to sail the boat, pick it up yourself," replied Dory
with more grit than discretion.
At this particular moment the eye of the late skipper rested on a round
hard-wood stick which lay on the floor of the standing-room. It was used
in shoving down the centre-board when necessary. When he saw it he laid
hold of it. He felt stronger in spirit and in muscle as soon as he had
it in his possession.
"What are you going to do with that stick, you young cub?" demanded
Pearl, rising from his seat.
"I am going to use it," replied Dory, filled with wrath.
If he had waited for some of his wrath to evaporate, he would have done
better. With the club upraised, he rushed aft with the intention of
attacking his persecutor. He calculated that one blow over the head with
the heavy weapon in his hand would depose and dispose of the new skipper
of the Goldwing, and restore him to his place again. Possibly it might
if Dory had succeeded in delivering the blow. He was angry and excited,
while Pearl was cool and self-possessed.
As he struck what was to be the finishing blow of the conflict, Pearl
caught him by the arm, and in the twinkling of an eye wrested the club
from his hand. He threw it on the floor, and then he jammed the
belligerent young man down upon the seat very hard. Dory felt his bones
quake as he came down on the board.
"You have got grit enough to fit out a flock of Bantam roosters," said
Pearl, still holding his victim by the collar of his coat. "But I don't
want any more of this thing, and I won't have it."
Taking a reef-pendant from under the seat, he proceeded to tie the hands
of the late skipper behind him. When he had done this, in spite of
Dory's struggles, he made him fast to the side of the boat.
"Now, young man, I think you will stay where I put you," said Pearl, as
he looked his prisoner over, and saw that he was secure. "You won't make
any thing by such stupid conduct."
"What's going on out there, Dory?" called Peppers, who could not help
hearing the noise of the scuffle.
"Nothing particular going on just now: it is all over," said Pearl, as
he resumed his place at the helm, though not till he had gathered up the
truant sheet.
"Why don't you unlock the door, Dory?" continued the officer.
"I can't," answered Dory, whose tongue was not tied, if his arms were.
"Pearl Hawlinshed has taken the key away from me, and tied my hands
behind me."
"Are you there, Hawlinshed?" asked Peppers.
"Of course I am here. Ask Dory Dornwood if I am not," replied the
skipper, chuckling at his own reply.
"What does this mean, Hawlinshed?"
"Well, it means any thing you please, Peppers. So you had passengers in
the cabin, Dory; and that is the reason you didn't want to open the
cabin," added Pearl.
"Open this door, and let us out, Hawlinshed, if you have the key," said
the detective in a mild and good-natured tone, as though he expected the
villain to do it.
"No: I think I won't," replied Pearl. "I am afraid you wouldn't behave
yourself as well out here as you do in the cabin."
The officer said no more for several minutes. Dory concluded that he was
looking over his chances of getting out of his prison. Probably he was
willing to admit by this time that the tables had been turned upon him.
The owner of the Goldwing could think of no way by which the prisoners
could get out. The doors were made of plank, and he could not get at the
hinges to operate upon them.
"I think we had better talk this thing over, Pearl," said Peppers, after
a silence of several minutes. "We may be able to come to an
understanding."
"I don't object to talking it over. I haven't got any thing else to do;
but I am afraid we can't come to any understanding," replied the
skipper. "You are a constable, police-officer, detective, and all that
sort of thing; and I suppose you went over into Vermont on business. Did
you finish it before you were locked into that place?"
Pearl chuckled, and was very good-natured in his remarks; and he plainly
felt that he was master of the situation.
"I didn't finish my business; but, if you will open the door, I will end
it in a very short time," answered the officer.
"Then I guess I won't open the door," laughed Pearl. "Perhaps you won't
object to telling me what your business is in these parts."
"I can't do any thing till you let me out."
"Then you can't do any thing at all. You had better turn in, and take a
nap for the rest of the day."
"Do you mean to keep us in here all day, Hawlinshed?"
"Yes: and all night if you don't behave yourself."
Another silence followed, in which the caged officer was probably
considering what he should do next. It was broken by a sudden crash,
which startled Dory. He found that something besides the silence was
broken. All the blinds in one of the doors were smashed out at a single
stroke from the shoulder of the detective. It hurt Dory's feelings to
see the beautiful work of the boat reduced to splinters in an instant;
but he realized that he was in the midst of a stirring adventure, and
the blinds could be easily restored.
"Good!" exclaimed Pearl, as the opening appeared in the door. "You did
that very well, Peppers. I was wishing I could leave the helm long
enough to do it myself, for I wanted to see who the other fellow was
that had taken passage with me. Besides, I think it is a good deal more
sociable to see a man's face when you are talking to him."
"Of course you know, Hawlinshed, that you are resisting an officer, and
obstructing him in the discharge of his duty?" demanded Peppers,
beginning to be a little more demonstrative as he failed to appreciate
the humor of the new skipper.
"Of course I understand that I am obstructing an officer,--a New-York
officer over here in Vermont," chuckled Pearl. "By the way, Peppers,
have you such a thing about you as a pistol of any kind,--a revolver, a
seven-shooter, or any toy of this sort?"
"I haven't any such thing about me. If I had, I should shoot you the
next thing I did," answered Peppers petulantly.
"Oh, no! You wouldn't do such a thing as that. It might hurt me," said
Pearl with a laugh.
"That is to say"--continued Peppers; and it was plain to Dory that Moody
had indicated to him that he had made a blunder in telling the rascal
that he had no dangerous weapon.
"That is to say that you haven't any pistol, but the other fellow has
one," added Pearl. "By the way, who is the other fellow? It would be a
good deal more sociable if you would introduce him."
"His name is Moody, and he will be very glad to make your acquaintance,
Hawlinshed."
"If he has got a pistol, it might go off, and hurt one of you in that
narrow place; and I think you had better hand it out, and have it
properly taken care of," continued Pearl.
"Moody has four pistols, all of them seven-shooters," said the
detective, who seemed to be determined effectually to counteract the
influence of the blunder he had made.
"Four seven-shooters!" exclaimed Pearl. "He is a walking arsenal. He
would sink if he should fall overboard with such a weight of arms upon
him; and I think he had better pass them out through the hole you have
been so kind as to make."
"He concludes that he may want them, and he don't mean to fall
overboard," replied Peppers.
"All right! but let him be very careful with them; for pistols are
dangerous things in such a little hole as you now occupy," answered
Pearl, who was no simpleton, and was confident that Moody had no pistol,
to say nothing of four of them.
A silence of a full hour followed, for neither party seemed to have any
plan to act upon. It was plain enough to Dory that the new skipper had
discovered the presence of the detective on board of the boat, either
before or soon after he went into her himself. A little later he saw a
plaid overcoat lying on the forward deck. It was odd enough to betray
the identity of its owner, who had forgotten to take it into the cabin
with him.
It afterwards appeared that Moody had sneezed twice. This was the sound
the skipper heard; and it informed the later passenger that the cabin
was occupied, as the coat explained by whom. Two hours had elapsed since
the capture of the boat; and the Goldwing was off Cumberland Head,
hugging the Grand Isle shore.