SO far I had regarded Miss Bascom as one of the hundreds of others that
just chanced to take the place of the men who had been drafted from the
railroad employees. They came from everywhere, cities, villages and
rural districts, and substitutes for man-power were in such demand that
"no questions" was the rule; no disposition to "look a gift horse in the
mouth" or even to see if they had a spavin, ringbone, or inflicted with
"string halt."
Very likely she may have written the anonymous suggestion to Hiram. I
did know that she entered the back room of a hotel with Becker and had
received his embraces and proposals, which would surely shock a maiden's
ears, but admittedly she did not drink, and she had acted with singular
astuteness.
I knew she was flirting with Burrell, the chief clerk, and that Becker
and Burrell frequented low places together. Altogether it looked as
though she was playing a double rôle and I was not at all sure just
where I fitted into the planning going on in her head, although I'll
admit the latter was very attractive.
At once I decided to put her to a test that would make each blonde hair
stand without support, and the opportunity came sooner than I expected.
As the warehouse to which Superintendent Kitchell referred was not far
away, I went there before keeping my noon appointment with Hiram. It
was, as he said, a veritable graveyard of disappointed hopes and plans
gone wrong--bleached, grinning skeletons of blue-sky finance and
religio-political scheming reduced to the irreducible. They couldn't
even pay the freight to New Orleans, not to mention their Gulf and
Caribbean destinations.
Shippers always receive money in advance for antiquated or experimental
devices from their "bone-yard" and therefore they had no further
interest. Cannon, more deadly at the breech, airships that would do
everything but fly, rifles rejected by shop inspectors, cartridges that
wouldn't explode, and so on. Threshing machines and engines, sawmills
and agricultural implements, cases of rifles and cartridges and other
war-like material in astonishing abundance--but nothing apparently for
our purpose. I did observe a big case made of two-inch lumber, heavily
iron-bound, that might contain an engine or motor, but I needed help to
reach it.
When Hiram returned to the room, a little ahead of time, his pep and
ginger seemed to have been largely augmented. His energy appeared to
have no limit, but with it all there was a shade of disappointment, or
apprehension. He began at once about the boat.
"_Fearsome_ is her name," said he. "She is just what we want, a dandy
for our purpose, but I'm afraid she's too big. While fitted with a
propeller and rudder, and steers from a chicken-coop up front, she has
no power. But she's a peach for size and width!" he exclaimed, with
breath no faster from running up the stairs three steps at a time. "How
the devil are we going to get something to make her go?" he added,
sitting down in front of me, holding his left knee between his hands,
and looking appealingly at me.
"How big a boat is it?" I asked, suppressing my amusement.
"About a hundred and fifty feet long and twenty five or thirty beam.
Not deep in the water, but she draws enough. She looks like an overgrown
canal boat. But I brought the captain along; he can tell you more; do
you want to see him? It's only a matter of getting power into her."
"How much will it cost to get possession of her?"
"Well, that is another thing--the captain says that it's to be auctioned
for the crew's wages. He hints that the owners may have gone to jail, or
back to the mountains to resume their legitimate business as
highwaymen."
"Who is the captain you refer to?"
"Captain Marianna--I told you about him. He's the caretaker, and has
been living on her--starved out, is an Italian, has a shipmaster's
license from the Government. He has it hanging in the boat. I'm sure he
will stay with us if we want him. He is downstairs now--want to see
him?" Then, coming toward me, he asked in an earnest undertone, "Can we
raise the money to put some kind of power in her? I can root out the
Becker crowd, clean my slate and then make a fortune with her if we
can," he insisted with fierce determination.
"When is it to be sold?" I queried.
"The time is up now--I'd say to-morrow or next day."
"I don't know, Hiram, it will be a pretty big lump to swallow. We don't
know how high they will bid it up, but perhaps, with luck, we can manage
it." I knew he was thinking of Anna Bell Morgan, and, as a close second,
the Gold-Beater.
The captain was undoubtedly an old salt, past middle age, looked
dependable, repeated the same story about the boat, but not within
Hiram's hearing would he tell from whence it came, or how, or why they
brought it through the canal instead of up the river, the usual way of
getting into New Orleans. However, I was doubtful about power.
As soon as the captain had gone we started for the unclaimed freight
warehouse to investigate further. While we were on the way Hiram caught
me by the arm and, bringing his face nearly in front of mine, half
whispered:
"Ben, I have some money--I did not spend all the Gold-Beater gave me as
my last dot. I've got the money we pried from the old captain who was
going to drown us, and I have saved my wages, but the heck of it is to
get some kind of power. No one will pay much for the boat. How about
selling that barrel? The last offer was something like seven hundred
dollars, wasn't it?" His tone was of the wheedling variety.
"Perhaps I had forgotten to tell you, Hiram, that I have had some
favorable news about that barrel of steel-filings," said I, at the same
time giving him a gentle nudge. "But as soon as I can get in touch with
the right market I expect to get a much better offer. I don't want to
sell that just now, but I, too, have saved a little money we can use if
necessary." I then explained the possibility of finding something in the
way of a motor in the warehouse for which we were then bound, and if so,
no immediate outlay would be necessary, but of course that was only a
chance, and besides, we were not sure some fool would not bid it well
up.
"I don't care how fast it goes, just so it can beat the river current,"
he urged. "Oh, she looks tough. No one will bid much, that's certain."
"Have you figured on the fact that this boat is in the canal, and while
only a mile from the river, you must go a long way by water to get
there?"
"Yes, I know it is two hundred miles or more, clear out through the
Mississippi and Chandeleur Sound, but that won't take long if she can
move at all," he replied without hesitation. "You see, it is practically
inland water all the way," he added.
"Hiram, are you still keeping away from Anna Bell Morgan? Don't you hear
from her at all?" I asked this question suddenly, as we approached the
warehouse, and the change of subject appeared to have startled him.
"No--and, I never shall unless this matter is cleaned up completely. If
I go to the bow-wows I won't take any one with me," he said, looking far
away down the sidewalk.
"You haven't seen her for some time. Are you cooling off?"
"No, Ben, not one bit. That girl is the only one who has ever held me. I
don't believe there is a half hour of the time that I am awake I do not
think of her, and I believe it is the thought of her that makes me
fight. I tell you it must be no halfway business. If they try to pin
anything on me and have me arrested, which they may, some people will
always believe me guilty even if I am acquitted. And if that comes to
pass I don't believe I will ever see her again; in fact I told her so.
It is a fearful thing to think of, and while we are making headway, the
delay almost drives me wild when I stop to think about it," he said,
still downcast.
"You'll forget--most men do."
"Yes--I may forget--I may not be different from other men, but I don't
feel that way now, and I don't think I ever will," he replied with a
certain convincing firmness. But when we got to the warehouse, the
possibility of failure, suggested by the reference to Anna Bell Morgan,
seemed to lend strength to his body. He lifted big cases with ease and
smaller ones left his hands with a toss until we uncovered the big case
that had attracted my attention.
A sledge broke the iron binding and I lifted one of the thick planks.
When I told Hiram it was a steam engine, and worthless to us, it was the
first time I ever heard him use voluble profanity, to which I listened,
amused.
But in uncovering this case, bigger ones back of it were revealed. We
went at them. The next one we opened contained an antiquated automobile,
not worth the expense of packing for sea-shipment. Another case that
had just been unloaded from a car that morning promised something and
our hopes arose; it was much longer and larger than any of the others
and readily answered to the blows of the sledge. It contained the body
of an air-ship. Hiram was about to sulphurize the warehouse again but
sat down instead, wet with perspiration.
"Ben, that infernal thing contains a gasoline motor--is it possible to
use it?" He waited expectantly for a reply.
"Perhaps; rip off another plank so that I can see."
Two more blows from the flying sledge sent another plank flying.
"There you are!" he exulted.
We were astonished to find a twelve-cylinder motor of standard
manufacture, which I thought might be used in a boat. And, of course, a
self-contained plant, ready for running.
Hiram's spirits rose to the heights with this information and he began
his habit of cavorting like a colt, apparently forgetting the sad
disappointment of only a moment before. In many respects he was yet a
boy.
I called Mr. Kitchell on the telephone, told him briefly about the boat
and of the motor in the air-plane.
"Yes, take it, and anything there you can use; you know we can
requisition anything we want when necessary. Take it quick if you can
use it to get us out of this nightmare," he snapped back at me. "A
complaint from Washington has reached the president of the road, who has
passed it down the line with a stinger in every word. Both the railroad
administration and the Bureau of Animal Industry are riding on my neck
without a saddle. Go as far as you like, only hurry."