THE BIG FOUR ARRANGE AN EXCURSION
"What steam-yacht is this, sir?" asked Louis, as he seated himself on a
stool in front of the pilot-house.
"She's the Sali'é, sir," replied the man, pointing to the name above
his head.
"That's an odd name; is it English?" added the young millionaire.
"Not at all, sir; it is a 'eathen name. She was built on the Clyde for
the Grand Mogul of Mogadore; and a very fine craft she is, too, sir."
"But how came she here? This isn't a heathen place, and you don't have
a great many Grand Moguls in Gibraltar, I believe."
"Bless you, no, sir! This place is a part of the realm of the Queen of
Hengland, which she is likewise also the Hempress of Hindia, and is a
Christian sovereign. Is it 'ow comes she 'ere?"
"His it the Queen? His she 'ere?" demanded Felix, opening as though
he was immeasurably astonished; and Louis looked at him and shook his
head in deprecation of the Milesian's travesty of the language of the
present skipper of the Salihé. "If her gracious majesty's here, I'll
go ashore and give her the top of the mornin' as the shades of aiv'nin'
are gadtherin' forninst the big bit of a rock," continued he, taking
his friend's decided hint and promptly acting upon it.
"The Queen which she is not in Gibraltar," replied the skipper,
apparently not at all pleased with the style of the last speaker. "I
was speaking of the Sali'é, sir, and not of the Queen."
"I beg your pardon, sir; I assure you on the honor of an Oirishman I
mint no offince," added Felix, taking off his cap and bowing to the
Englishman, entirely appeased by the apology.
"Is it 'ow the steam-yacht comes to be 'ere in Gib, sir? Well, it's
a bit hodd 'ow she comes 'ere. The Grand Mogul as owned 'er 'ad a
Spanish hengineer which he run away with the Sali'é, and brought 'er
to Gib. But the Grand Mogul 'imself was 'ere in 'is big steam-yacht,
and the Spaniard which 'e got frightened, and made fast the Sali'é to
the Fatimé which it is the Grand Mogul's big yacht, and left for Spain
without stopping to wipe the grease off 'is fingers."
"Then the engineer went to Spain?" queried Louis.
"I s'pose 'e did; where helse would a Spaniard go?" replied the skipper
with a vacant stare.
"I give it up."
"You gives it hup! If any one gives hup the thief as stole the yacht,
the Grand Mogul would cut 'im hup hinto five quarters."
"Four would be enough," interjected Felix.
"Is the Grand Mogul here now?" asked Louis.
"Not in Gib now, and I reckon he went back to Mogadore. He spoke
Henglish like a rock scorpion."
"Like a what?" demanded Felix.
"Like a rock scorpion, Flix; and that is a pet name for a person born
in Gibraltar," interposed Louis. "Where were you educated?"
"Not among the scorpions, moi darlint."
"Then the Spaniard returned the Salihé to her owner, did he?" asked
Louis.
"'E left 'er alongside the Fatimé, and fled like a rat with a cat
after 'im. The Grand Mogul was madder'n a bull with a bunch of Chinese
fire-crackers tied to 'is tail. 'E couldn't do nothing with the yacht
'ere 'n Gib. 'E offered me ten pounds to sail 'er down to Mogadore; but
I wouldn't go to sea in a craft no bigger'n she is. Then 'e sold her
'nd I bought 'er."
"What did you give for her?" inquired Felix.
"A 'undred pounds, which she is worth five 'undred," replied the
skipper, whose name, later on, proved to be Giles Chickworth.
"And what do you do with her?" asked Louis.
"I makes 'er pay the interest on what she cost me, and good wages
besides. I takes out parties as comes to the Rock," replied Chickworth.
"What do you charge for her?"
"Five shillings an hour, sir; and that's only two pound ten a day,
which it is very cheap for a beauty like the Sali'é, sir. Per'aps you
young gentlemen would like to take a turn in 'er?" suggested Giles
Chickworth.
Louis liked the idea, and the boys had a hasty conference in regard to
the matter. The passengers on board had not yet been on shore; for the
Viking, whose commander and his wife were their friends, was moored
near the Guardian-Mother, and they were having very pleasant times in
visiting each other. Three of the young gentlemen had to dine that
day with the guests of Mrs. Belgrave; and they thought it would be
more agreeable to make the excursion in the evening, when it would be
cooler, and the full moon would lend her splendors to the occasion.
"We cannot go now; but we should like to engage the Salihé for this
evening at six o'clock," said Louis, at the close of the conference.
"Me and the hengineer is engaged this evening," replied the skipper.
"We 'ave to go to a meeting of our society, and I must be there, for
I'm the chairman;" and the latter clause seemed to be the idea he
particularly wished to convey to his auditors.
"Very well, Mr. Chairman; but will you let the Salihé without the
captain or engineer?" inquired Louis.
"Sergeant Files told me as 'ow the Guardian-Mother was owned by a young
gentleman in his teens as was sailing in 'er. With all due respect,
which is the gentleman as owns 'er?" inquired Chickworth, touching his
tarpaulin at random to the big four, as Captain Ringgold sometimes
facetiously called them, evidently borrowing the term from a western
railroad folder.
With one accord Felix, Morris, and Scott pointed at Louis, as though
they were rehearsing a Scriptural tableau of what Nathan said unto
David: "Thou art the man!"
"Which his name it is Mr. Belgrave," added Chickworth, taking off
his tarpaulin and bowing low to the young gentleman indicated by his
companions, for he had more respect for millions than for birth and
attainments.
"My name is Louis Belgrave, at your service, Mr. Commander of the
Salihé," replied the young millionaire, laughing heartily at the
pantomime of his friends and the obsequiousness of the skipper.
"I knowed it was you, sir, from the gentility which it is marked on
your honor's face, and shows itself in every motion you make," gushed
Mr. Chickworth. "My name which it is Giles Chickworth."
"Mr. Chairman, I move that you use no more blarney; and I should say
you had kissed the Blarney stone if you were an Irishman."
"The motion is not seconded, and I can't put it to the 'ouse," said the
skipper.
"Put it to yourself and not to the house, and I shall be satisfied.
Now, Mr. Giles Chickworth, let us talk business. Will you let the
steam-yacht without captain or engineer?"
"Which I will do with the greatest pleasure in the world to a gentleman
with millions in his trousers' pocket; for if you wreck or injure the
beauty of a craft, you will pay for 'er like the Christian you are."
"Certainly, I will; but we do not intend to wreck or injure her," added
Louis, as he proceeded to arrange the terms more definitely.
Everything was satisfactorily adjusted, and Chickworth promised
to have the Salihé at the gangway of the ship at six o'clock. The
Guardian-Mother had arrived at Gibraltar about noon on the day that the
boys discovered the little steam-yacht. The Viking had come a couple
of hours sooner. Captain W. Penn Sharp, her commander, had formerly
been the third officer of the steamer, and his wife had been intimately
connected with the affairs of the Belgrave family.
They came on board of the ship as soon as she was moored; and the
rest of the party, including Captain Ringgold, were in the cabin
while the big four were bargaining for the use of the Salihé. The two
commanders had some business, and the ladies had more to say than could
be disposed of in half a day. Fourteen persons sat down at luncheon
together, and just escaped the fatal number by one, so that no life was
sacrificed to the ominous thirteen.
The boys went on deck as soon as the meal was finished, for they were
anxious to see more of the famous Rock, while the rest of the party
remained in the cabin. The little steam-yacht cast off her cable, and
stood off towards the town, where her enterprising captain probably
expected to obtain a job for his boat.
"You have not said anything to Captain Ringgold about this excursion,
Louis," suggested Morris Woolridge, as they observed the departing
steamer.
"I did not consider it necessary to say anything to him," replied the
owner of the Guardian-Mother.
"He will charge you with getting up another adventure like that you
three had in the same little craft, or that we had in the felucca off
Teneriffe, Sir Louis."
"If there is any adventure in a moonlight excursion in Gibraltar Bay
in which you cannot get away more than five miles from the ship, I do
not see it," added the young knight-errant, as Uncle Moses and Captain
Ringgold insisted upon regarding him.
"I'm go'n' wid ye's, moi darlint, and Oi shall see that no harrum comes
to ye's," interposed Felix. "I'll take as good care of ye's as your
modther wud if she went wid ye's."
"Then I shall be perfectly safe, Squire Felix; but who will take care
of you, my broth of a boy?" laughed Louis.
"St. Patrick hisself, long loife to 'm! is allus on the lukout for me;
an' ye've nothin' to faer as long as Oi'm wid ye's."
"We have no pilot for these waters," suggested Scott.
"You can take a look at the big chart of this locality before we go,
and then we shall be all right," replied Louis. "The water here is a
hundred fathoms deep, and I believe there is only one island in all the
bay."
"But there may be shoal places in the northern part of the bay, and it
would not be pleasant to get aground and have to stay all night stuck
in the mud," argued Scott.
"The tide rises and falls about four feet here; and by the looks it
will not be at the flood before nine or ten this evening; and if we get
caught, we can work off any shoal without much trouble. You will be the
pilot, Scott, and you must study up the tide and the shoals before we
leave."
"In what conspiracy are the big four engaged just now?" asked the
commander, as he came out of the boudoir, in which was the grand
staircase to the state cabin; and those rather high-sounding names were
so marked on the plan of the interior of the ship, made by the original
owner before she was purchased for the young millionaire. "Do you
intend to set Gibraltar Bay on fire, blow up the Rock, or bridge over
the Strait?"
"We may set the bay on fire to-night if it will only burn. Do you see
that little steam-yacht, Captain, making for the town?" replied Louis,
as he pointed to the pretty craft.
"I see her; and she is quite a handsome steam-launch," answered the
commander.
"That is the Salihé, in which Flix and I, with the 'middy,' made the
voyage from Madeira to Tarifa," added Louis.
"That? It seems to be quite impossible."
"She has been at the gangway, and her captain and owner, Mr. Giles
Chickworth, told us all about her, and how he happened to buy her of
the Grand Mogul;" and Louis proceeded to relate the entire history of
the craft, and to inform the commander that the big four had engaged
her for a moonlight excursion on the bay.
Captain Ringgold made no serious objection to the enterprise.