PAUL EXERCISES A STRONG MORAL INFLUENCE.
At sunrise the sky was clear, and there was not a particle of fog to be
seen in any direction; but the wind had all died out, and there was a
perfect calm upon the ocean. The yacht was out of sight of land, and
Paul judged that she was from eighty to a hundred miles to the eastward
of the Isles of Shoals. There was not a sail to be seen, and the crew
were awed by the feeling that they were alone upon the ocean. Perhaps
not one of them had ever been out of sight of land before, and many of
them had serious doubts whether they should ever see the shore again.
After the Flyaway had rolled and pitched for an hour in the heavy sea
that still prevailed, a breeze sprang up from the southwest. The bonnet
was rove on the jib, and the yacht began to dash merrily over the waves.
Paul ate his breakfast, and remained on deck till nine o'clock, though
he was almost exhausted by the fatigue and incessant watching of the
previous night; but he had trained Tom and Frank so that they could
steer by compass, and at the suggestion of the former, he went below to
obtain the sleep he so much needed.
As the wind continued to blow steadily from the southwest, the yacht
held her course, and the young commander was permitted to sleep till two
o'clock in the afternoon, when, much refreshed, he again appeared on
deck. Land was in sight over the weather bow, and the boys were in
excellent spirits--or rather would have been, if the record of their
misconduct could have been obliterated. Frank and Tom had recovered
their wonted cheerfulness, and when they sighted the land, had begun to
think of the probable consequences of the mutiny in which they had been
the ringleaders. It was clear enough that Captain Gordon would
immediately return home, when he recovered possession of the yacht. The
cruise was, therefore, about up, if they returned to the port from which
they had sailed; and strange as it may seem, Frank was actually trying
to persuade his companions to run for Portland.
They had all enjoyed their sail during the day, and been pleased with
the novelty of their situation. It was not pleasant for them to think of
the frowns of Captain Gordon, and of being compelled to sail at once for
home. A majority of them would have been in favor of continuing the
cruise, if that oppressive sense of having done wrong had not operated
against the scheme. But the most the adventurous leader--brave and
skilful now that it was fine weather and plain sailing--could
accomplish, was to induce the others to consent if Paul would agree to
the plan.
"Of course he won't agree," replied Frank, pettishly. "There are enough
of us to have our own way about it."
"You had your own way yesterday, and we came within one of being
wrecked," said one of them.
"That wasn't my fault," growled Frank.
"Whose fault was it, then?" demanded Tom.
"Yours, of course; didn't you put the helm the wrong way when I told you
to put it hard-a-lee?"
"And you let go the jib sheet long before you ought to have done so.
That's what made all the trouble. If it hadn't been for Paul, some of us
would not have been here to talk about it now."
"You are a spunky fellow, Tom," sneered Frank.
"So are you, when there is no danger near."
"How many fellows will go to Portland?" asked Frank, desperately.
There was no response, and the conversation was here interrupted by the
appearance of Paul. There were enough of them who would gladly have seen
the bow of the Flyaway pointed to the north, instead of the west, but
the influence of Paul was so powerful that no one but Frank would
consent to take the command from him.
"What land is that?" asked Tom, as the skipper joined the group in the
standing room.
"The Isles of Shoals. Keep her away a couple of points, Frank," replied
Paul.
"I shall keep her as I think best," answered Frank, gruffly; for he was
smarting under the disappointment he had just experienced.
"Are you going to run her on the island?" said Paul, astonished at the
rude answer he had received.
"I don't know as it is any more your business than mine where I run
her."
"What is the matter, Frank? What ails you? What makes you so
ill-natured? I hope I haven't done anything to give you reason for any
ill feeling."
"He wants us to go to Portland," said one of the crew.
"I thought you had got enough of cruising on your own hook," added Paul,
with a smile.
"I'm not going back to be snubbed by old Gordon; and the rest of the
fellows wouldn't, if they had any spunk at all. Come, Tom, let's keep
her away for Portland."
"I will not," replied Tom, decidedly; "at least, I will not unless Paul
thinks we had better go there."
"I do not think so," interposed Paul. "You have done wrong, and all of
you had better get in the right path as soon as possible."
"I am willing," said Tom.
"So am I," replied half a dozen others.
"The fact is, fellows," continued Tom, very earnestly, "I have had a
lesson which will last me as long as I live. This is the meanest scrape
I was ever concerned in, and when I get out of it I will try to do
better. You needn't grin, Frank Thompson; I am ashamed of what I have
done, and I confess that I am heartily sorry for it. I did more thinking
last night than I ever did in seven years before."
"Humph!" sneered Frank.
"I don't care what you say, Frank; if it is in my power to reform my
life, I mean to do it."
Tom continued his remarks in quite an eloquent strain, declaring that,
in the perils of the stormy night through which they had passed, he had
thought of all the wrong he had ever done, and resolved to be a better
boy. Above all things, he said, he had learned the necessity of
obedience; and that because he had refused to obey Captain Gordon, he
had been glad to obey the orders of Paul Duncan, a boy like himself.
"That schooner is bearing down upon us," said Samuel Nason, pointing to
a vessel over the weather quarter.
The stranger was evidently a fisherman, and had now approached within
hail of the Flyaway. In a few moments more she had come near enough to
enable the boys to distinguish the persons of those on board of her.
"Captain Littleton!" exclaimed Tom, who was the first to recognize him.
"Ease off the jib sheet!" shouted Frank, as he cast off the main sheet
himself, and put the helm up, so as to carry the yacht away from the
schooner.
"What are you doing?" demanded Paul.
"Do you think I am going to throw myself into the hands of Captain
Littleton and old Gordon? I'll bet I ain't," replied Frank.
"What are you going to do?" asked Tom.
"Get out of his way, of course; the Flyaway can outsail that craft, and
we may as well have our cruise out as be snubbed by any of 'em. Ease off
that jib sheet, I say. Come, Tom, show your spunk."
"I will, but in a little different way from what you want," said Tom,
seizing the helm, and attempting to restore the yacht to her former
course.
"No, you don't," growled Frank, dealing him a heavy blow, which Tom
promptly returned; and then commenced a struggle between them for the
possession of the tiller.
Frank was the largest and strongest boy on board, and for a moment the
victory leaned to his side. Paul, who had seconded Tom's movement by
hauling in the main sheet, now rushed to the conflict, assisted by
several of the larger boys. After a severe engagement, Frank was knocked
down, and held till his hands and feet were tied.
This turbulent spirit thus secured, Paul took the helm, and the yacht
was brought to her course again. By this time the schooner had lowered
her boat from the stern davits, and Captain Littleton and his companions
were pulling towards the Flyaway.
"What does this mean?" demanded the captain, sternly, as he leaped over
the rail. "Paul," he continued, as he discovered his young friend at the
helm, "I am astonished to see _you_ here."
The boys hung their heads with shame, and Paul preferred to let some
other person vindicate him from the implied charge.
"Will you explain this, Paul?" said Captain Littleton. "If it had been
my own son, I could not have been more surprised."
"Paul is innocent, sir," interposed Tom, stepping forward. "Frank
Thompson and myself are the guilty ones. He and I got up the scrape; we
fastened Paul and Dick in the cabin, and deceived the rest of the
fellows. We kept Paul a prisoner till we had nearly wrecked the Flyaway,
and then we called him up, and he saved the yacht and all our lives."
"That sounds like a true story, Tom, and I am glad to find you have the
manliness to acknowledge your guilt. Paul, your hand; I have been
grieving over you all day, and now I am rejoiced to find you are still
true to yourself and the good character you have hitherto borne."
Paul gave the captain his hand, and thanked him for the kind words he
had spoken.
"What was the quarrel I witnessed just before I came on board?" asked
Captain Littleton.
"Frank Thompson wanted to run away from you, and have the cruise out,"
replied Paul. "Tom and all the rest of the party opposed him, and
finally took the helm away from him by force."
Paul proceeded to give a more detailed account of the events which had
transpired on board of the Flyaway since her departure from Portsmouth
harbor. Tom and the other mutineers expressed their sorrow for what
they had done, and were ready to submit to such punishment as the
captain thought it necessary to inflict upon them. But Paul told him how
penitent they had been, that Tom had promised to reform his life, and he
thought they had already been severely punished for their misconduct by
the terrors of the long and anxious night they had passed through. This
he proved by showing that all of them had refused to follow Frank's plan
of continuing the cruise.
"But they punished you more than they punished themselves, by keeping
you on deck all night," said Captain Littleton.
"It was not punishment to me, for I was innocent, and they were guilty,"
replied Paul.
"You are right, my boy; it is guilt that makes us cowards in the midst
of peril. You plead so strongly for them, Paul, that I shall forgive all
except Frank. He must be a passenger in that fishing schooner, which is
bound for Boston. When I arrived at Portsmouth this morning, I learned
from Captain Gordon that the boys had run away with the yacht. I
supposed, of course, you had wrecked her in the gale and the fog, and I
chartered that vessel, which was on the point of sailing for Boston, to
go in search of you. I thank God you are all safe."
Frank Thompson, in spite of his earnest protest, was put on board the
schooner, and the Flyaway's head was turned to the north. Captains
Gordon and Briskett resumed their places, and Henry Littleton spent the
whole afternoon in listening to Paul's animated narrative of the cruise
of the yacht to seaward.
In the course of the night the Flyaway reached Portland. But we have not
space to detail the adventures of the Teneans in the harbor, or to give
the particulars of the race between them and the North Star Boat Club.
On the following Saturday night the Flyaway arrived at Bayville, and
Mrs. Duncan once more pressed to her heart her darling boys.