THE LORDS OF THE SEA.
Wade Brooks did not take to the water from mere impulse, and because he
saw no other way to escape from the captain of the “Moonlight.” In the
morning, when the cutter seemed to attract some attention on board of
the yacht, he had asked something about her; for he had no more idea of
a revenue-cutter than a baby has. Pollish told him that she was a kind
of missionary vessel, which not only caught the rogues that attempted
to cheat the government, but she assisted vessels in distress, and
looked out for all violations of the laws on the water. If the crew of
a ship mutinied, she was ready to step in, and make the men do their
duty; in a word, she was to serve the government and individuals as
best she could.
From this description of her, Wade concluded that he ought to find
friends on board of her. He knew that the “Housatonic” was bearing
away a man who had cheated a bank--a national bank--out of a hundred
thousand dollars. He had been robbed of his hundred dollars, and he did
not feel obliged to keep his secret any longer. Though Mr. Wallgood
had treated him very well, still he was a robber of the bank; and, if
his secret was betrayed, he must blame Capt. Bendig for it. He had only
agreed to keep the secret if he was allowed to retain the money, which
Capt. Bendig had not permitted him to do.
But the skipper had not intended to give him a flogging while the
cutter was so near the yacht, lest the cries of the victim should be
heard on board of her. His only purpose had been to catch Wade, and
lock him up in the forecastle or some other place on board, so that
he could not have a talk with the son of the bank-president. If Lon
Trustleton ascertained that the “Moonlight” had been used to convey the
defaulter on board of a ship, the fact might come to the knowledge of
his owner; and he knew what would follow. His place was his bread and
butter, as much as that of the cook or steward; and it was not easy to
obtain such positions as he held.
If Capt. Bendig had supposed that Wade Brooks had pluck enough to jump
overboard, he would have handled him more carefully. The stowaway soon
proved himself to be a good swimmer; for he struck out from the yacht,
which sailed away and left him astern of her. But, as soon as the
captain realized the situation, he ordered the yacht to be hove to.
“Hard down the helm!” he shouted to the man at the wheel.
But he had hardly given the order before he saw, that, if it was
obeyed, the “Moonlight” would run into the cutter, which was now
just abreast of her. The steamer had “slowed down” some time before.
She immediately stopped her screw, and then backed till she came to a
full stop. Half a dozen of her uniformed seamen were already in one
of her quarter-boats, ready to drop it into the water; but this was
unnecessary, for Wade had swam towards the cutter, and as soon as she
stopped he was alongside of her. He saw the accommodation ladder at her
quarter, and he made for that. A stout quarter-master was at the foot
of the ladder with a rope in his hand; and with his assistance Wade
soon climbed to the deck of the cutter.
The officer of the deck asked him no questions, but directed one of the
stewards to take him below, and fit him out with dry clothes, and then
bring him on deck again. By this time the “Moonlight” had come about,
and was lying to a short distance from the cutter. The men in the
quarter-boat were ordered to lower away; and an officer was sent in it
to the yacht, which was evidently suspected of doing something out of
the way. Capt. Bendig received the officer in the most courteous manner.
“Will you explain your object in communicating with that ship?” said
the officer, opening the subject of his visit.
“Certainly: her captain is an old friend of mine; and, as we were both
becalmed, he paid me a friendly visit,” replied Capt. Bendig.
“Did you come out here for the purpose of receiving this friendly
visit?” continued the officer.
“No, sir: I brought off the captain’s wife, if you must know the whole
of it,” said the captain of the “Moonlight.” “She lived in the country,
and did not reach New York in season to come out in the ship. Though
I don’t know any thing about it, I think it is more likely than not
that the owners of the ship objected to his taking her on the voyage
as a passenger, and he did not care to have her come on board before
she left the pier. Of course you will regard what I say as told you in
confidence; for I don’t wish to get my friend the captain into trouble
with his owners.”
“What sort of cargo did you receive from her?” asked the officer.
“No cargo at all: the ship is just out of New York,” replied the
captain of the yacht. “Do you think she has smuggled any thing out of
the country?”
“No; but I have known a vessel to keep her contraband goods on
board till she was ready to sail on another voyage, and then ship
them into some gentleman’s private yacht. I want to seize one such
pleasure-craft,” added the officer.
“Well, sir, you can make a beginning with the ‘Moonlight,’” laughed
Capt. Bendig, delighted to find that the revenue-officer did not
suspect the true nature of his business with the “Housatonic.” “I think
her owner can fight his own battle as well as any of them.”
“I don’t say that any thing of this kind has been done; but the
captain of the cutter directs me to ascertain your errand with that
ship,” added the lieutenant.
“Well, sir, I have told you my errand; and I don’t know that I have
done any thing to violate the laws of the United States,” added Capt.
Bendig, beginning to bluster a little.
“I don’t know that you have: I came to ascertain. It becomes my duty to
search your vessel,” continued the officer.
“You can do that as much as you please; and I can tell you in the
beginning that you will find no smuggled goods on board,” said Capt.
Bendig, with more pertness than the occasion required.
The officer called certain men from his boat, and a thorough search was
made of the “Moonlight.” Her skipper made a great show of opening every
locker, closet, and trunk, where it was possible to conceal a piece of
silk or a box of cigars. Of course nothing was found, and the captain
crowed accordingly.
“I hope you are satisfied,” said the skipper, when the search was
completed.
“Entirely satisfied,” replied the courteous officer. “I am very sorry
to have troubled you.”
“It is not much trouble to me; but I will take care to inform my owner
that his yacht has been searched for contraband goods,” said Capt.
Bendig, who could not resist the opportunity to bully when occasion
offered.
“Of course you are at liberty to do that, as I am to inform the owners
of the ‘Housatonic’ that you conveyed the captain’s wife on board of
her; and possibly your owner would like to know the fact,” replied the
revenue-officer, who was very much disgusted with the tone and manner
of the captain.
“You have me there,” said Capt. Bendig, with a coarse grin; “and I
think we had better both hold our tongues.”
“Just as you please: I don’t often go out of my way to meddle with
private affairs: I have only done my duty in this case, and you can
tell whom you please about it.”
The officer was really sorry that he found nothing on board of the
yacht, for he was human enough to desire to see such an ill-natured
fellow as the captain of the “Moonlight” get into a scrape.
“I want you to send that boy you picked up in the water back again to
the vessel from which he escaped,” said the skipper, as the officer was
about to return to his boat.
“Does he belong to the yacht?” asked the officer.
“No: he’s nothing but a wharf-rat: he broke into this vessel night
before last, and I owe him a licking for it,” grinned the captain, as
though it would be a pleasant thing for him to bestow the castigation.
The officer’s sympathies were with the boy; and he was willing to do
any thing in his power to save any human being from falling into the
clutches of such a brute as he saw the master of the “Moonlight” to be.
“How happened he to fall overboard?” asked the revenue-officer.
“He didn’t fall overboard: he jumped over.”
“Well, what made him jump overboard?”
“To get rid of the licking he deserved, I suppose. He is a young scamp
that ran away from the place in the country where he lived; and I
intend to have him sent back,” replied Capt. Bendig.
“I will report the matter to the captain, and he will do what he thinks
proper,” added the officer.
“See here, I don’t want no fooling over this case. I want the boy
sent back at once. You are not the lords of the sea, if you are in a
revenue-cutter. You haven’t any claim on that boy, and I want him sent
back,” blustered Capt. Bendig.
“Do you know to whom you are talking?” said the officer. “We do not
take any orders from any but the government.”
“I want the boy; that’s all I’ve got to say about it; and, if you
don’t send him, you’ll have a bone to pick with my owner, who has some
influence in Washington. Some things can be done as well as others.”
“I will report what you say to the captain of the cutter; and it is
probable that he will not be bullied into sending the boy back,”
replied the officer indignantly. “If you want the boy, you had better
send for him; for I am quite confident the captain will not trouble
himself to send him back, after your insulting message.”
“You young squirts of officers think you are the lords of the sea; and
you talk to men like me as if we were of no consequence,” growled Capt.
Bendig.
“I treated you like a gentleman till you proved that you were not one.”
The revenue-officer went over the side into his boat; but, just as he
was ordering his crew to shove off, he discovered another boat pulling
from the cutter. In a few moments it was alongside of the “Moonlight.”
“Mr. Wilkins, by order of the captain of the cutter, you will take
possession of this yacht, and hold her till further orders,” said the
officer of the boat, touching his cap to his superior.
Mr. Wilkins was glad to receive the order.