WALKER DISCOVERS SOMETHING.
George, who was almost ready to boil over with rage, went straight to
the lower deck and sought an interview with the chief clerk. That
individual saw him coming, and hastened to meet him, for he knew better
than to hold any conversation with him just then in the presence of a
third party. So great an indiscretion as that would have been the death
blow to his plans, which were only half, carried out.
"My dear fellow," said he, in a low tone, taking the young pilot by the
arm and leading him toward the jackstaff, "what's the matter with you?
You are as white as a ghost."
"A most unfortunate thing has happened," replied George, somewhat
mollified by the presence and touch of the man whom he believed to be
his friend. "While I was trying to open the safe, Walker came in
through the outside door and caught me at it."
"Suppose he did?" said Murray, soothingly. "What of it? Didn't I tell
you it was all in the family?"
"Well, you'll find that you have got anything but a peaceable family in
your hands if Walker ever speaks to me again as he did when he came into
the office," said George through his clenched teeth. "Do you know that
he just as good as told me that I was trying to rob the safe? I came
within a hair's breadth of knocking him clear across the state of
Arkansaw."
As the office was situated on the port side of the boiler-deck, that was
the direction in which the second clerk would have gone if George had
struck him. Its legislature had not then passed the law declaring that
the last syllable of the name of the state should be pronounced as
though it were spelled "saw" instead of "sas," but the river men
believed, no doubt, that such a law would be passed in time, for they
always called it "Arkansaw."
"He even had the impudence to lock the door, as if he were going to keep
me a prisoner there," continued George, hotly; "but I tell you, he
opened it pretty quickly."
"No matter, no matter," whispered Murray. "Don't talk so loud. It isn't
necessary that everybody should know it."
"I don't care who knows it. I can see now that I have been foolish, but
I have done nothing wrong. Walker asked me how the key came into my
hands, and when I told him that you gave it to me he said plainly that
he didn't believe it. But you did give it to me, didn't you?" said
George, turning his flashing eyes full upon the chief clerk.
"Of course, I did; certainly."
"Then come up to the office and tell him so," said George, turning
Murray around so that he faced toward the stairs leading to the boiler
deck.
"My _dear_ fellow, be easy now," said the clerk, coaxingly. "I wouldn't
bring you and Walker face to face while you are in such a passion for
any money. He is quick-tempered, and said some things he had no business
to say, and very likely you did the same. Hold on, now, and let me do
the talking," he added, when George withdrew his arm, and doubled up his
fists as if he were about to say something emphatic. "I know you think
now that your language and your actions were perfectly justifiable, but
when you get good-natured, you will be of a different--Oh, yes, you
will," said the clerk, seeing that the young pilot shook his head very
decidedly. "Never mind; leave it to me, and I'll straighten it all out
as smooth as--"
Murray shut one eye, looked at George through the half-closed lids of
the other, and spread his open hands before him as if he were smoothing
out a table cloth.
"All right. I want you to be in earnest about what you do," said George,
throwing all the emphasis he could into his words. "No half-way work,
you understand. Walker must be told, in so many words, that you asked me
to see if I could open the safe, that you gave me the key, and sat there
on your stool and saw me work at it. You did, didn't you?"
Again the flashing eyes, which seemed to shoot forth angry sparks of
fire, were turned full upon the clerk, who would no more have dared to
deny it, than he would have dared to enter a powder magazine with an
uncovered light.
"I don't want anybody to have so poor an opinion of me, and I can depend
upon you to explain matters to him, can't I?" continued George. "Make
sure work of it while you are about it, for if you don't, I give you
fair warning that I shall broach the subject in the presence of
witnesses the very first time I can catch you two together."
"George, you may depend upon me to the death," said Murray, solemnly.
"You have been a true friend to me since you have been on this boat, and
I am truly sorry that my unbounded confidence in you has been the means
of bringing about this misunderstanding between you and Walker. Why
couldn't he have kept out of the office until you got through?"
"Why couldn't I have let the safe alone?" said George, bitterly. "If I
had done that, there would have been no trouble."
"Don't think about it. Go to bed now, and when you get up I shall be
able to tell you that it is all right. By the way, George, don't say a
word to anybody about it."
"I believe I'll go to Mr. Black and tell him the whole thing," replied
the young pilot.
"My goodness, Ackerman, don't do that!" exclaimed Murray, in great
alarm. "Can't you see how such a proceeding would injure me? It would
get to Richardson's ears, of course, and he would sack me as soon as he
heard of it. Just leave everything to me, and if I don't put you right
with Walker, you can take the matter into your own hands."
George agreed to this with some reluctance, although on the face of it
it appeared to be a very fair proposition. Acting upon the clerk's
advice, he went up to his room and lay down in his bunk to make up for
the sleep he had lost the night before while standing at the wheel, and
Murray turned toward the office. He went in through the cabin, opened
the door with his key and stepped across the threshold, whistling a
lively tune; but he stopped very abruptly and looked inquiringly at the
second clerk, who was sitting on the high stool, scowling fiercely.
"Hallo! What's the matter with you?" exclaimed Murray.
"Where's the key of the safe?" asked Walker, in reply.
"Well, you could have asked that question without looking at me so
savagely, couldn't you?" said the chief clerk, as he stepped to the
lower bunk and threw back the pillow. "What do you want of it?"
Walker did not answer. He sat on the stool and watched the movements of
his superior, who looked all around the head of the bunk, and then
uttering an exclamation of astonishment, began pulling off the quilts.
In two minutes more the bed clothes, mattress and all, were piled in the
middle of the floor, and Murray was searching his pockets with frantic
haste.
"It's gone!" said he, dropping his hands by his side. "Look here,
Walker," he almost shouted. "What are you up to? Hand it here."
The second clerk very coolly took the key out of his pocket and laid it
upon the desk.
"I came in just in the nick of time," said he. "I found Ackerman trying
to open the safe?"
Murray started as if he had been shot, and leaned heavily on the desk
for support.
"I have thought all along that you were altogether too free with him,"
added the second clerk. "Do you generally keep the key under your
pillow?"
"Always," replied Murray. "It is safe there, and if I carried it about
with me I might lose it, you know."
"Ackerman must have seen you put it there some time, or take it from
there," said Walker. "At any rate, he found it as soon as you went out,
and went to work on the safe. You ought to have seen his face when I
opened the door and surprised him. I tell you, Murray, that boy is a
hard community. One would think that he would have been overwhelmed with
fear and shame when he found that he was caught, but he wasn't. He tried
to explain matters by saying that you had given him the key and the
combination, too, and told him to open the safe if he could."
"What a villain!" exclaimed Murray, indignantly.
"Of course he is. When he saw that I couldn't swallow any such story as
that, he showed fight. I locked the door and thought I would keep him in
here until you came, but I didn't dare do it."
When the second clerk ceased speaking, Murray looked down at the floor,
shook his head and sighed deeply. "So _that's_ what he has been hanging
around me for, is it?" said he. "An hour ago I wouldn't have believed
such a thing of him."
"What are you going to do about it?"
"I don't know. Wait until I get my wits together so that I can think
clearly. Walker, I don't believe I can ever trust anybody again."
"You'd better never trust a stranger. You didn't show your usual good
sense in taking up with Ackerman as you did. You ought to go straight to
the old man with it. If I were captain of this boat I'd put him and his
trunk ashore right here in the woods."
"I'll tell you what I think about it," said Murray, suddenly
straightening up, and looking at his assistant as if a bright idea had
just occurred to him. "It's an ill wind that blows nobody good, and it
seems to me that we can make this thing benefit us in some way. As the
matter stands now, I am as likely to be punished as Ackerman is, and in
the same way--by being kicked off the boat. I will be accused of
negligence of duty. Now, I think I see a way to avoid that, and put a
few dollars into the pockets of each of us at the same time."
"I am in for that," said Walker.
"I thought you would be. You say this fellow is a hard one, and that's
all the better for us, for he will not be satisfied with making one
attempt on the safe. He'll come again, depend upon it, so I say let's
hush this matter up, lisp not a word of it to anybody, and keep our eyes
open and catch him in the act. Of course Richardson would hear of it,
and what would be the result? He'd say: 'Those are wide-awake clerks
aboard that boat--honest and always looking out for things. Boys, here's
a check for a couple of hundred apiece, to show you that your fidelity
is appreciated.' Eh?"
Mr. Walker loved money, and such an argument as this was not without its
effect upon him. Murray, seeing by the expression on his face that he
had made a point, hastened to add:
"Now, there is only one way in which this can be accomplished, and that
is to make Ackerman believe that we don't suspect him of anything wrong.
We'll be friendly and sociable with him, as we always have been, and
never refer to the matter in any way. If he says anything to either of
us about it, and most likely he will, for these hardened fellows are the
very ones to try to face down an accusation by an assumption of
innocence, we'll assure him that it is all right. What do you think of
it?"
"I hardly know," said the second clerk, slowly. "I should like to see
him punished, for he richly deserves it."
"Of course he does; but think of the possible reward."
"I do think of it, and that's what makes me hesitate. If I was sure that
we could catch him, and that that stingy old Richardson would give us
anything"--
"We'll catch him," interrupted Murray. "Don't you worry about that. As
for Richardson, he'll come down handsomely. We don't run any risk, you
understand, for Ackerman doesn't know the combination."
"But he might blunder on to it," said the second clerk.
"There is not one chance in a thousand," replied Murray confidently.
The result of this interview was that at the end of half an hour the
chief clerk had brought his companion around to his way of thinking, and
it was agreed between them that they would treat George in the future as
they had treated him in the past; that they would act as though they
were utterly ignorant of the fact that he had been guilty of any wrong;
that if he ever referred to the matter in the presence of either or
both of them they would laugh at it; and that while they were exerting
themselves to the utmost to make him believe that they still had every
faith in his honesty, they would watch him as closely as ever a cat
watched a mouse. Having arrived at this understanding, Murray, who
wanted to be alone for a few minutes, walked out on the guard, rubbing
his hands gleefully as he went.
"If I had the ordering of things I couldn't make them work more to my
satisfaction," said he to himself. "There hasn't been a single hitch so
far, and if I am sharp there needn't be any at all. I shall be able to
pay that note and have a snug sum left over to put into my pocket, and
no one will be the wiser for it. Walker and I will be sacked for
negligence, but I don't care for that. I wonder what he would think if
he knew that he was preparing the way for his own discharge? I must work
rapidly now, for my time grows shorter every day. I must be very
cautious, too, for Ackerman has shown himself to be a fiery fellow, and
if I give him any reason to suspect me, he may knock me clear across the
state of Arkansaw."
The young pilot awoke about supper time from a troubled slumber, during
which he dreamed that he had been detected in numberless attempts to
open safes that contained immense amounts of money, and having made his
toilet with great care, he descended to the boiler-deck and began to
look around for the clerks. He had made up his mind to one thing, and
that was, that that unfortunate affair of the afternoon would have to be
satisfactorily settled before he went into the pilot-house that night.
The chief clerk had been allowed ample time to explain matters to
Walker, and if he hadn't done it, George was determined that he would do
it himself.
"I'll take him before the captain, that's what I'll do," said the boy,
as he turned toward the cabin after looking in vain for the clerks about
the deck. "He knows very well that I never would have thought of
touching that safe if he hadn't asked me to do it, and he must tell the
captain so in my presence. Of course I shall be sorry to get him into
trouble, but I am not going to rest under such an imputation as this any
longer."
When George entered the cabin he saw that the window opening into the
office was raised, and that the two clerks were at their desk. As he
stepped up and rested his arms on the window-sill he thought that
Murray started a little and changed color, but Walker greeted him with a
cheery "Hollo!"
"What have you to say to me?" demanded the boy without returning the
salutation.
"That I was a fool for my suspicions," answered Walker. "It's all
square. What a scoundrel he is," said the second clerk, to himself. "He
is actually trying to bluff us down."
"You are satisfied now that I had no intention of stealing your money,
are you?" said George.
"Perfectly satisfied as to everything," was the reassuring reply. "Go
around to the door and come in."
"No, I thank you," answered George, who had resolved that he would never
go into the office again. "I'll stroll around a little before supper,
for I must be at the wheel until midnight."
So saying, he turned and walked away, feeling as if a mountain of huge
dimensions had been lifted from his shoulders. Why was it that he did
not inquire particularly, as to the points upon which Walker had been
satisfied? Did he know that Murray had given him the key; that he had
asked him to try his skill upon the safe; and that he had watched him
while he was at work upon it? The chief clerk was afraid that some such
questions as these might be asked, and he was on nettles all the while
that George stood at the window.
"I declare, I can't look into Ackerman's face without telling myself
that I was dreaming; that I never saw him near the safe," said Walker,
leaning his elbows on the desk and looking puzzled. "I don't for the
life of me, see how a guilty boy can gaze into a fellow's eyes as
squarely as he can."
"O, guilt will stare innocence out of countenance any day," returned
Murray, carelessly. "Remember, now, that if he makes another attempt on
the safe, we must be on hand to catch him; if he doesn't, we must keep
the affair secret. It would hurt us, you know, if it should become
known."
Murray took the next day to rest in, and to screw up his courage
sufficiently to enable him to carry out the next step in his programme.
Everything he had done up to this time, was simply preparatory, and now,
that he had got matters arranged to suit him, he was ready to strike his
blow. On the morning of the second day, Walker worked at his desk until
nine o'clock, and then, after pressing his hand to his forehead several
times, he descended from his high stool and proceeded to shut up the
office. He put down and hooked the window, that looked out into the
cabin; closed and bolted the door that opened out on the guard, as well
as the blinds that protected that door, and went out into the cabin,
taking pains to satisfy himself that the spring lock on that door did
its full duty. Seeing his fellow clerk seated at one of the tables
reading a newspaper, he walked up and held out the key to him. There was
but one key between them, Walker having managed to lose his own.
"I have a bad headache," said he, "and I am going up in Texas to take a
nap. Call me at noon, will you? Here's the key."
"Keep it yourself," replied Murray. "I shall not go near the office
until you come down. There's not much to be done, and we can straighten
the business up in an hour. Sleep all day if you want to. I'll call you
when I want you."
Half an hour after this, Murray laid aside his paper, and arose to his
feet. He went out of the cabin, and about fifteen minutes later ascended
the stairs that led to the hurricane-deck. He went into Texas, and,
after looking all around to make sure that there was nobody in sight,
stepped cautiously into George Ackerman's room, and taking his pillow
off the bunk thrust something into it. He flattered himself, that this
action was entirely unobserved, but such was not the case. No sooner had
he gone out, than a black face, which was pressed close against a
transom over the door that gave entrance into a stateroom on the other
side of the little cabin, was withdrawn; and a moment later, the door
was opened, and one of the numerous darkies employed on the boat stepped
out. He crept to the door on tip-toe, glanced up and down the deck, and
after making sure that the chief clerk had gone below, he ran into
George's room, pulled down the pillow and looked into it. Between the
pillow and the case, he discovered two articles, one of which, after a
moment's hesitation, he put into his pocket. The other he left where he
found it; and the pillow he put back in its place on the head of the
bunk.
During the rest of the day, the chief clerk could scarcely control
himself, so nervous and excited was he. There was something hanging over
him, a trying ordeal to be gone through with, and he knew that he would
be in the greatest suspense until it was all over. If he succeeded, he
would be well out of the last scrape he ever meant to get into; if he
failed--but that was something he did not like to think about; and
besides, he would not allow himself to believe that there was any chance
for failure. His situation was too desperate for that. He _must_
succeed. He did not call the second clerk at noon, and the latter did
not get up until three o'clock. Murray saw him when he came down, and
went into the barber shop; and as soon as he could do so, without being
seen by his assistant, he ran to the lower deck and went back into the
engineer's room. He had been there perhaps a quarter of an hour, when
Walker, pale and agitated, suddenly made his appearance and seized him
by the arm.
"Good, gracious!" exclaimed Murray, while the engineers looked on in
amazement. "What's the matter?"
"Say nothing to nobody, but come with me," answered Walker, in a low
tone. "You were right when you said that he would make another attempt.
He's done it; and more than that, he has been successful. Didn't I tell
you that he might blunder on to that combination? Well, he did."
This startling announcement seemed to take away the chief clerk's power
of speech. Without saying a word, he allowed Walker to lead him to the
boiler-deck and around the guard to the outer door of the office. The
room certainly looked as though somebody had been there. The clothing in
Murray's bunk was tumbled up, the high stool was overturned, the safe
was wide open, the key was gone, one of the panes in the glass door was
missing, and the fragments were scattered about over the floor. Murray
seemed to be utterly confounded. After standing motionless for a moment,
he rushed up to the safe, jerked open a little drawer, and then
staggered back to his bunk and fell upon it.
"This is the condition in which I found the room when I entered it a
moment ago," said Walker, taking possession of the high stool. "I
haven't touched a thing. Before I went to bed this morning, I took
particular pains to see that everything was secure. The key of the safe
was under your pillow then, for I saw it there."
"How do you suppose he got in?" Murray managed to ask, in a trembling
voice. There was no sham about his agitation, but it was not occasioned
by the robbery of the safe. The ordeal he so much dreaded, was close at
hand; and in spite of the confidence he had thus far felt in the success
of his schemes, he feared failure and exposure.
"There is but one way he could have got in," answered the second clerk.
"He slipped his fingers in through the blinds and raised the hasp,
smashed that pane of glass, and put in his hand and opened the door.
Then he found the key under your pillow, stumbled upon the combination,
as I was afraid he would, and made off with that big envelope which you
put in the drawer with three thousand dollars in it. Say, Murray, your
plan didn't work worth a cent, did it? We can just consider ourselves
discharged."
"Go out and ask the old man to come in here," said the chief clerk.
"This thing has got to be looked into. We'll have to tell him about
catching Ackerman here, and explain why we didn't report the matter at
once. You must do the talking, for my wits have all left me."
The second clerk was gone scarcely more than a minute, for he found the
captain on the boiler-deck. When the latter was conducted into the
office he uttered an ejaculation indicative of the profoundest
amazement, and seated himself on the bunk by Murray's side. The
condition of the room, and the expression on the faces of the two
clerks, told him what had happened there.
"When was this done?" he asked, as soon as he found his tongue.
"Sometime between nine and three o'clock," replied Walker, who then went
on to tell how the thief had forced an entrance into the office.
"Why, it must be somebody who is acquainted with your way of doing
business," said the captain, in deep perplexity. "Now, where shall we
look for him? I have seen no one loitering about here except George
Ackerman."
"And everything seems to point toward him as the guilty party,"
exclaimed Murray. "I wish you would have his room searched at once."
"Bless my soul!" cried the captain. "You surely don't suspect _him_?
Well, well!" he added, more in sorrow than anger, when he received an
affirmative nod from each of the clerks. "That beats me. I would almost
as soon suspect my own son of being a thief."
"I know it is hard to believe," answered Walker, "but, captain, listen
to this, and tell us what you think of it."
The second clerk then began and described the incidents that had
happened in the office two days before; repeated the conversation which
he and Murray had held regarding George's unsuccessful attempt to open
the safe; and explained the plans they had laid to catch him, if he were
bold enough to make another effort to steal the money. The captain
listened in genuine amazement, and after asking a few leading questions,
arose to his feet saying:
"This affair must be probed to the bottom and that, too, before we make
another landing. Let us go and see if we can find Ackerman. Things look
rather black against him, I must confess, but I never will believe that
he is the one who broke into this office, until he tells me so."
The captain led the way to the hurricane-deck and into Texas. The boy
pilot, having finished his nap, had dressed himself, and was on the
point of leaving his room as his visitors entered it. He was about to
great them pleasantly, but the words died away on his lips when he saw
the way they looked at him.