A QUARREL ON BOARD OF THE JUNIPER.
Dory had put on his overcoat, and gone to sleep on the cushions of the
standing-room. The jib had been lowered, but the fore and main sails
were still set. The skipper had passed the main-sheet around his arm,
so that any motion of the sail would wake him. This signal disturbed
him about eleven by jerking him off the seat upon the floor of the
standing-room.
The wind had begun to come in fresh between Garden Island and
Thompson’s Point, indicating that its direction was from the
south-west. It was fair for Burlington; but, before he got up the
anchor, he listened attentively for any sounds that might come from
the open lake, for he had a suspicion that he heard something.
A moment later he was confident that he heard the puff of steam from
the escape-pipe of a steamer. It was cloudy, and the night was dark.
He looked out between the islands and the mainland, but he could see
nothing. The sounds came nearer for a time: then they ceased for a few
minutes, and were followed by a splash in the water. He was satisfied
that a steamer had anchored at no great distance from Cedar Island.
The skipper’s nap had refreshed him, and he was not inclined to sleep
while there was wind enough to move the schooner. Very likely the
steamer which had anchored was the Juniper. Probably Tim Lingerwell
realized that the Goldwing could not sail without wind; and he was
afraid he might pass her if he continued on his course. Doubtless he
suspected that she had put in behind some island.
Dory got up the anchor, hoisted the jib, and, with the wind on the
beam, stood off to the north-west. He had no doubt the steamer he had
heard was the Juniper. The noise of her screw, and the puff of her
escape-pipe, indicated that she was a very small craft. He concluded
that Tim Lingerwell would keep a sharp lookout for him, and he
expected to be chased as soon as he passed the island.
When he could see between the two islands, he discovered a light,
which marked the position of the Juniper. The Goldwing passed within a
quarter of a mile of her; but the wind was coming quite fresh from the
south-west, and Dory thought that he could take care of himself and
his sleeping passenger.
Though it was very dark, the skipper had not deemed it prudent to
light one of his lanterns; for it would be sure to betray his
presence. As the yacht continued silently on her course, Dory heard
the sound of voices in the direction of Garden Island, behind which he
could see the Juniper’s light.
It was evident that the pursuers were not asleep. Dory listened with
all his might, for he was deeply interested in what was taking place
on board of the steam-launch. It seemed to him that the captain and
engineer were talking a great deal louder than the occasion required.
As they were in the same craft, it was hardly necessary for them to
yell at each other. After he had listened a while, Dory thought the
tones of the speakers were angry and even violent.
The skipper brought the Goldwing up into the wind, for a short
distance farther would carry the yacht out of sight of the Juniper. He
listened again; and the tones of the crew of the steam-launch were
more violent than before. What was the matter? There was clearly a
quarrel in progress between the captain and the engineer. As the
voices became louder and more forcible, the disputants were plainly
approaching a crisis in the quarrel.
“Help! Help! Murder!” yelled one of the angry men; and Dory was
confident it was the voice of the engineer.
The skipper of the Goldwing did not wait to hear any more, or to
speculate upon the cause of the difficulty on board of the Juniper.
Hauling in his sheets, he filled away on the starboard tack. The
schooner could just lay her course for the steamer’s light. It looked
a little like a stormy time ahead, and Dory decided to call his
passenger.
Leaving the helm for a moment, he went to the cabin forward; and a
sharp word roused Mr. Millweed from his slumbers. Hastening back to
the helm, he seized the tiller before the schooner had time to
broach-to. At that moment the cry from the steamer was repeated,
though it was fainter than before.
“What’s the matter, Dory?” asked Mr. Millweed, as he rushed into the
standing-room. “Didn’t I hear a yell just now?”
“If you are not deaf, you did,” replied Dory, still gazing at the
steamer’s light. “There is a row on board of the Juniper. The engineer
is shouting for help.”
“What does it all mean?” inquired the passenger anxiously.
“I don’t know what it means, but I am going up there to find out.”
“Do you think it is safe to go near them?” inquired Mr. Millweed.
“I don’t know whether it is safe or not; but men don’t yell murder in
the middle of the night without some good reason.”
“What can be the meaning of it?” asked the fugitive, evidently
believing that the skipper ought to be able to tell him all about it.
“You can guess as well as I can, Bolly,” answered Dory. “Tim and the
engineer are the only persons on board of the Juniper, and the quarrel
must be between them. That’s all I know about it. But, if we are going
to take a hand in this fight, we had better have some sort of weapons.”
“You don’t mean to take a hand in any fight, do you, Dory?” asked
Bolingbroke, not a little alarmed at the announcement.
“Not if I can help it; but I don’t mean to let Lingerwell kill his
companion, without putting a finger in the pie. Go to the cabin, and
bring out the long tiller. You will find it under the berth you slept
in.”
“But I don’t like the idea of getting into a fight with such a fellow
as Tim Lingerwell,” protested Bolingbroke, without heeding the
request.
“I don’t care whether you like it or not. It is plain enough that we
ought to do something when a man is trying to kill another. Bring out
the tiller!”
Mr. Millweed obeyed the order this time. Dory took the tiller, and
placed it at his side, where it would be ready for use if the occasion
should require.
“There is a round stick by the centre-board casing. You had better
have that in your hand, for you may want to defend yourself before we
get through with this business. I don’t know what the quarrel is
about; but we are likely to find out very soon,” added Dory.
“Help! Help! Murder!”
“There it is again!” exclaimed the skipper, not a little excited by
this time.
“It’s awful, isn’t it, Dory?” added Bolingbroke, his teeth chattering
with terror at the terrible sounds that were borne over the dark
waters.
“Juniper, ahoy!” screamed Dory, forming a speaking-trumpet with his
two hands. “What’s the matter?”
No reply came back in answer to the question. Just then Dory began to
wonder whether or not these cries were not a trick to call the
Goldwing out from her hiding-place. The wind had just breezed up; and
Tim Lingerwell might fear that the fugitive would escape him, after
all his labor and pains to capture him.
He thought enough of the idea to mention it to his passenger.
Bolingbroke was ready to adopt the opinion that it was a trick: he was
ready to adopt any thing rather than go near the Juniper, whether
there was a fight or not on board of her.
“Of course it is a ruse to get you out of your hiding-place,” said he
with energy. “I thought of that myself.”
“If the wind hadn’t just breezed up, I should not have thought of
such a thing,” added Dory, still musing upon the point; for he did not
like the idea of having his passenger taken from the Goldwing by a
trick.
On the other hand, it was possible, perhaps probable, that the two men
had fallen out, and come to blows. Dory knew that Lingerwell was a bad
man, and it is always easy for such men to make trouble. Strange as it
may seem, the skipper did not connect the large sum of money in his
hip-pocket with the quarrel on board of the Juniper. He did not even
think of the bills he had taken from the steam-launch in the absence
of her crew.
“I wouldn’t go near her, Dory,” argued Bolingbroke. “I hope you won’t
step into the trap Tim has set for you to fall into.”
“I am not afraid of Tim Lingerwell, and I am going over there to see
if any thing is the matter. We will be a little cautious about
approaching the steamer.”
“But you can’t run away from her if you find it is only a trick,”
reasoned Bolingbroke.
“We must take our chances,” replied Dory.
By this time the Goldwing was entering the passage between Cedar and
Garden Islands. The Juniper was close to the shore, and the islands
were about the eighth of a mile apart. The wind was freshening every
minute; and Dory decided to run by the steamer, going as near as it
was prudent to go.
He could still hear the voices of the two men, though their tone had
greatly changed. The skipper saw that the steamer was still at anchor,
for she had swung around with her head to the wind. He was satisfied,
by this fact, that the call for help was not a trick: if it had been,
the Juniper would have been under way by this time.
“Juniper, ahoy!” called Dory, as the Goldwing came up with the launch.
“What is the matter on board?”
“Nothing is the matter. Greeze has had the nightmare, and shouted
murder in his sleep,” replied Lingerwell, trying to laugh it off,
though the effort was a very sickly one.
“Help! help!” shouted the engineer from the other end of the boat.
“He don’t seem to have got over his nightmare yet,” added Dory.--“What
is the matter there? What ails you?” demanded the skipper.
“Lingerwell has nearly killed me: he says I stole his money while he
was after the Millweed fellow,” replied Greeze.
“Shut up, you stupid blockhead! Silence! Don’t say another word about
it, and we will fix up the matter,” said Lingerwell in a wheedling
tone, as though he would have given something handsome to have sealed
the lips of the engineer.
“I won’t shut up! I have been insulted and abused; and I will have
satisfaction if it costs me my life. I didn’t take your money. I
didn’t know you had any,” growled Greeze, moving aft.
This explanation on the part of the engineer enabled Dory to
understand the nature of the quarrel between the two men. When the
Juniper had anchored, Lingerwell had evidently taken the pocket-book
from its hiding-place, and found that worthless paper had been put in
the place of the four hundred and fifty dollars. As he was not aware
that Dory, or any other person, had been on board, he naturally
concluded that the engineer must have robbed him of his ill-gotten
money.
Dory had come up into the wind under the lee of the Juniper. The
lantern hung on a stanchion in the after part of the steamer, so that
the skipper of the Goldwing and his passenger could see what took
place on board of her. The engineer had no sooner reached the place
where Lingerwell stood, than he leaped upon him with the fury of a
tiger.