TEACHING A THIEF A LESSON.
Was there ever such a chance to do the very thing he most longed to do
offered a boy before? Sumner did not believe there ever had been, and
with a quick glance at his mother's smiling face, in which he read her
assent to the plan, he answered:
"I don't know how to thank you, sir, for making me such a splendid
offer, and not only will I gladly accept it, but I promise to do
everything in my power to make Worth have a good time, and see that no
harm befalls him. But I wish you were going too. I hate to think of
taking your place and depriving you of all the pleasure of the trip."
"My dear boy," replied Mr. Manton, "you must not look at it in that
way, for, as I said before, you will be doing me a real favor in taking
my place. I am more of a yachtsman than a canoeman anyway, and I look
forward with fully as much pleasure to cruising down the Indian River
from St. Augustine in the yacht that my brother proposes to charter,
and meeting you at Cape Florida, as I should to running up the reef
in a canoe. There is one more thing, however. I must insist upon your
sailing your own canoe, for I make it a rule never to lend my boats
to any one, and you will have enough responsibility in looking after
Worth, without having the added one of caring for another person's
canoe. So, from this moment, the _Psyche_, and all that she contains,
is yours."
"Oh, Mr. Manton!"
"That will do. Not another word," laughed the young man. "I am as
obstinate as a mule when I have once made up my mind to a thing, and so
there is nothing for you to do but take the canoe, and make the best
use you can of her."
Sumner's protests against this generosity were but feeble ones, and
were quickly disposed of by Mr. Manton, who simply refused to listen to
them. He cut them short by saying, "Now that this matter is settled,
and everything is in readiness for a start, I propose that you get off
in the morning, for I want to take to-morrow night's steamer for Tampa."
That night, after everybody had gone to bed and the house was still,
Sumner lay wide awake, thinking over the good-fortune that had
befallen him. At length he could not resist the temptation of getting
up, partly dressing himself, and slipping out for a look at his canoe,
his very own! the most beautiful craft he had ever seen, and such a one
as in his wildest dreams he had never hoped to possess.
The two canoes had been drawn up on the grass not far from the water's
edge, and covered with some bits of old canvas. Although it was a
moonlit night, the moon was occasionally obscured by drifting clouds,
and when Sumner left the house everything was in shadow from this
cause. He moved very quietly, for he did not wish any one to know
of the weakness that led him to look at something with which he was
already familiar, merely because it had acquired the new interest of
possession.
To his amazement, when he reached the place where the canoes had been
left, he could find but one of them. In vain did he lift the canvas
that had covered them both, and look hurriedly about the little yard.
One of them was certainly gone, and no trace of it remained. As the boy
stood irresolute, wondering what he ought to do, he was startled by a
slight splash in the water. At the same moment the cloud passed from
the face of the moon, and by the light thus afforded Sumner saw the
figure of a man seated in the missing canoe, and cautiously paddling
from the shore.
Without an instant's hesitation he slid the remaining canoe over the
grass and into the water, sprang into it, seized a paddle, and started
in pursuit. Of course the paddler in the first canoe might be one of
the Mantons, but Sumner did not believe it was either of them. He
thought it more than likely that the stranger was some one who only
desired to try the canoe, but it might be a thief. At any rate, the boy
determined to discover who he was, and what he meant by his stealthy
performance before they were many minutes older.
The stranger did not realize that he was pursued until Sumner had
shoved off from shore, and was urging his own craft forward with
vigorous strokes of his double-bladed paddle. When, by a glance over
his shoulder, he discovered this, he redoubled his efforts to escape,
and by his clumsy splashings proved himself a novice in the art of
paddling. Still he made fair headway, and it was not until they were
several hundred yards from shore that Sumner overtook him.
Here was anchored an immense mooring-buoy, with a round, slightly
conical top, having in its centre a great iron ring. It did not rise
more than a foot from the surface of the water, and in trying to watch
Sumner, the occupant of the leading canoe did not notice it until his
light craft struck it a glancing blow, and very nearly upset. The
next instant an effort to recover his equilibrium had precipitated
the fellow into the water, and as Sumner shot past him he was wildly
clutching at the buoy, with desperate efforts to gain its upper surface.
Satisfied that he could not drown so long as he clung to the buoy,
Sumner first picked up the drifting canoe. With it in tow he returned
to the buoy on which the recent fugitive was now sitting, clinging
tightly to the iron ring, and presenting a comical picture of misery.
"Don't leave me here, Sumner!" he cried, in an imploring tone, in which
the boy at once recognized the voice of Rust Morris. "I didn't mean no
harm. I only just wanted to try the trick, and I meant to put her back
again where I found her. Honest I did!"
[Illustration: "HE RETURNED TO THE BUOY, ON WHICH THE RECENT FUGITIVE
WAS NOW SITTING."]
"Well, I don't know," replied Sumner, who could not help laughing at
the other's plight, in spite of his anger at him for taking the canoe
without leave, and his suspicion that it would not have been returned
so promptly as Rust claimed it would. "You look quite as comfortable
as you deserve to be; besides, you will have a nice quiet chance out
here to learn the lesson that it is better to leave other people's
property alone than to take it without permission. So, on the whole, I
think I will leave you where you are for a while. I did think of having
you arrested for stealing, but I guess this will do just as well."
Thus saying, the boy began to paddle towards shore, and at the same
time Rust changed his pleading tone to one of bitter invective,
uttering loud threats of what he would make Sumner suffer in the future.
Without paying any attention to these, the young canoeman continued
on his way to the shore. From there he watched until he saw the dim
form of a fishing-boat come silently drifting down the harbor with the
tide. As she neared the spot where he knew the buoy with its unwilling
occupant to be, he heard shouts, saw the boat alter her course, and
stop for a minute. As she again proceeded, and he was satisfied that
his prisoner had been rescued, Sumner again went to bed, this time to
sleep soundly until morning.
When he related this adventure at breakfast-time, Mr. Manton said he
had served the rascal right; but Mrs. Rankin was fearful lest some
future mischief should come of it. At this Sumner laughed, and said he
thought the lesson would teach Rust Norris to let his things alone in
the future, also that he was not afraid of anything the young sponger
could do anyhow.
The morning was spent in loading the canoes and in making final
preparations for the start. By noon all was in readiness, and after a
hasty lunch the two young canoemates stepped aboard their dainty craft.
Then, amid a waving of handkerchiefs and a chorus of hearty good-byes
from the group of spectators assembled to see them off, they hoisted
sail, and bore away on the first reach of what was to prove one of the
most eventful and exciting cruises ever undertaken up the Florida Reef.
[Illustration: THE "CUPID" AND "PSYCHE" START ON THEIR CRUISE.]