CAPT. BENDIG’S BLUNDER.
Mr. Wilkins immediately returned to the deck of the “Moonlight,”
attended this time by eight seamen, part of whom had come from the
cutter in the second boat.
“Well, sir, what do you want now?” demanded Capt. Bendig, as Mr.
Wilkins stepped upon the deck.
“I am ordered to take possession of this vessel, and to hold her till
further orders,” replied the naval officer.
“What’s that for?” asked the astonished skipper, taken all aback by the
announcement.
“I don’t know. I obey orders, and ask no questions about things that do
not concern me.--Stand by to lower the foresail!” added Wilkins to his
men, as soon as they were on the deck of the “Moonlight.”
“I call this high-handed!” exclaimed the captain; but he was not quite
so crank as he had been.
“You can call it what you please,” replied the lieutenant of the
cutter, as his men gathered at the foresail halyards. “Lower away!”
“Can’t you tell me what this is for?” demanded Capt. Bendig, as he
realized that the command of the yacht had passed out of his hands.
“I cannot. I don’t know, and I don’t care,” answered Wilkins curtly.
“I don’t understand it,” added Capt. Bendig.
“Neither do I; but, if anybody understands it, you ought to. I should
judge the order comes on account of some information that boy has
given; but I don’t know any thing about it,” added Wilkins; and he
seemed to enjoy the chagrin of the captain. “No information has been
conveyed to the commander of the cutter by any other person.”
“Would the captain of the cutter hear what a little scalawag like that
boy has to say?” demanded the skipper of the “Moonlight,” disgusted
with this view of the question.
“The commander of the cutter knows what he is about; and, if the boy
tells the truth, he will hear him as readily as any other person,”
replied Wilkins.
The lieutenant of the cutter then ordered his men to anchor the yacht.
When it was done, he took the most comfortable seat he could find, and
gave himself up to the reading of a newspaper. He was perfectly at
home; for the yacht, for the time being, was under his command. He did
not care to talk any more with the captain, or with anybody else.
Capt. Bendig was utterly cast down. He began to realize that he had
made a blunder in treating the “wharf-rat” in the manner he had. When
he saw the cutter coming, he had gone among the men, and given each
of them fifty dollars of the money he had received for them. He was of
the opinion that this was enough for them, and he proposed to keep the
other fifty himself; for he had made the bargain with the principals,
and the men did not know that one hundred had been paid for each one of
them.
But, in order to understand the action of the commander of the cutter,
we must return to Wade Brooks, who by this time was clothed in a suit
of dry clothes. The steward, who had him in charge, took good care
of him, and conducted him to the quarter-deck as soon as he was in
condition to see the captain.
Wade was not a little abashed when he found himself in the presence of
the commander, who was dressed in uniform, and looked like a greater
man than even the captain of the militia company in his native town,
who had always filled him with awe and reverence. He looked at him, and
was glad to find that he did not look a bit like Capt. Bendig. He did
not put on any airs, and actually bestowed a smile upon him.
“Well, young man, have you been taking a cold bath this chilly day?”
said he, smiling again.
“The bath was better than the licking,” replied Wade, shrugging his
shoulders. “I hope you don’t think of sending me back to Capt. Bendig,
who is the hardest man I ever met in my life.”
“That will depend upon circumstances. Do you belong on board of that
yacht?” asked the captain.
“No, sir: I do not belong to her. If I did, I would drown myself,”
replied Wade, with energy.
“How happened you to fall overboard?”
“I didn’t fall over: I jumped over.”
“What did you do that for?”
“Because the captain was going to lick me for nothing; and I would not
stand it.”
“What is your name?”
“Wade Brooks, sir. What is yours?”
The captain and an officer near him laughed outright at the simplicity
of the boy; and it was evident that he came from the country.
“You may call me Capt. Singleton; and that is my name,” said the
captain, when he had recovered his gravity. “Now, Wade Brooks, what was
the captain of the yacht going to flog you for?”
“For nothing at all. He promised Mr. Wallgood that he would not flog
me for taking his breakfast and part of his dinner. He would not whip
me for this; but he said he should give it to me for hiding in the
forecastle when he wanted to whip me.”
Capt. Singleton seated himself on a stool, and continued to question
Wade till he had drawn from him his whole history since he came from
Midhampton, and up to the time he went on board of the “Moonlight.”
“Do you know what the yacht is doing out here?” asked the captain.
“Yes, sir, I do.”
“Well, what is she doing out here?”
“The cashier of the Walnut National Bank in Midhampton has run away
with one hundred thousand dollars; and the yacht came out here to put
him on board of that ship,” replied Wade, pointing to the “Housatonic,”
which was not more than three or four miles distant; for she had
tacked, and was standing up to the north-east.
“Do you mean that he stole the money?” inquired Capt. Singleton, deeply
interested in the matter.
“Yes, sir, that’s what I mean. His name is Mr. Wallgood, and he is the
brother-in-law of the captain of the ship. He went on board with his
wife, and the wife of the captain of the ship; and the two women are
sisters.”
“Are you sure you are telling me the truth?” asked the commander of the
cutter.
“Dead sure of it, sir; and, if you go to the ship, you will find Mr.
Wallgood on board of her, with his wife and Mrs. Crogick, who is her
sister.”
“You said that before,” said the captain.
“The cashier gave the men on the yacht a hundred dollars apiece to
keep still about it; and I don’t know what he gave the captain of the
‘Moonlight,’” continued Wade, not a little excited. “He gave me a
hundred dollars too; but Capt. Bendig took it away from me.”
“And that’s the reason you are telling about the matter, I suppose,”
added Capt. Singleton.
“I told Mr. Wallgood I would keep still if I was allowed to keep the
money; and, as the captain did not allow me to keep it, I am willing
to tell all I know about the case,” answered Wade.
“I see; and the captain of the yacht made a mistake when he took the
money away from you,” laughed the commander.
“I didn’t mean to meddle with any thing that did not concern me,” said
Wade.
“Didn’t you say you would not take any of the money the two boys had?”
“Yes, sir: I wouldn’t have any thing to do with the money Matt Swikes
stole from his father.”
“But you were willing to take some of the money the cashier stole. How
is this?” asked Capt. Singleton.
“I didn’t think any thing about it. Do you suppose the hundred dollars
was a part of the money he stole from the bank?” asked Wade, with a
look of anxiety on his face; for this was the first time he had thought
about the subject.
“I should suppose so, though I know nothing about it.”
“I had an idea that the hundred thousand dollars he took from the bank
was all fixed up some other way. I heard him tell his wife about it;
but I couldn’t understand it. Somehow he was to get the money when he
got to Italy. At any rate, I didn’t think the money he gave me had any
thing to do with what he stole: if I had, I wouldn’t have taken it.”
“And you say the two boys are on board of that yacht?”
“Yes, sir; and one of them is the son of Capt. Trustleton, the
president of the bank,” replied Wade.
“His son, is he? What did he say when he saw the cashier of his
father’s bank on board of the yacht?”
“He did not see him. Capt. Bendig locked the two boys into his
state-room till the cashier and his wife had gone on board of the
‘Housatonic.’”
Capt. Singleton sent the officer to direct Mr. Wilkins to take
possession of the yacht. He wanted her captain to be where he could
find him. He questioned Wade for half an hour longer, and then he sent
a boat to bring Lon Trustleton on board.
“He will tell you hard stories about me; but they are not true,” said
Wade, when the boat had gone.
“I will hear what he has to say. Did you tell the president’s son that
the cashier had gone on board of the ship?” asked Capt. Singleton.
“No, sir: I had no chance, for the captain kept them out of my way. He
took them into the cabin.”
When Lon Trustleton came on board of the cutter, he looked very much
scared. Mr. Wilkins had put him into the boat in spite of the protest
of Capt. Bendig.
“If that fellow has been saying any thing bad about me, it is all a
lie,” said Lon, almost as soon as he touched the deck, and saw the
captain and Wade talking together.
“Never mind that just now, my lad,” interposed the commander. “You will
answer my questions; and be sure you speak the truth. Do you know a
man by the name of Wallgood?”
“Yes, sir, I do: he is the cashier of the Walnut National Bank, and my
father is president of it,” replied Lon, his face brightening up; for
the question did not seem to affect him in any bad way.
“Where is Mr. Wallgood now?” inquired Capt. Singleton, in a very
indifferent way.
“In Midhampton, I suppose.”
“Have you seen him to-day?”
“No, sir: of course I haven’t. I have been on the water all day,”
replied Lon, puzzled at the questions put to him.
“Should you know him if you saw him?”
“Certainly I should: I used to see him about every day.”
“That’s all now.--Go ahead,” added the captain to an officer; and the
cutter was headed for the “Housatonic.”