CHAPTER XXI.
THE TRIP OF THE TUG.
The tug-boat was a little thing, and not very clean; but she was strongand sea-worthy, we were told, and therefore we were satisfied. There wasa small deck aft, on which Corny and Rectus and I sat, with Celia, thecolored woman; and there were some dingy little sleeping-places, whichwere given up for our benefit. The captain of the tug was a white man,but all the rest, engineer, fireman and hands--there were five or six inall--were negroes.
We steamed down the Savannah River in pretty good style, but I was gladwhen we got out of it, for I was tired of that river. Our plan was to godown the coast and try to find tidings of the boats. They might havereached land at points where the revenue cutters would never have heardfrom them. When we got out to sea, the water was quite smooth, althoughthere was a swell that rolled us a great deal. The captain said that ifit had been rough he would not have come out at all. This sounded ratherbadly for us, because he might give up the search, if a little stormcame on. And besides, if he was afraid of high waves in his tug, whatchance could those boats have had?
Toward noon, we got into water that was quite smooth, and we could seeland on the ocean side of us. I couldn't understand this, and went toask the captain about it. He said it was all right, we were going totake the inside passage, which is formed by the islands that lie alongnearly all the coast of Georgia. The strips of sea-water between theseislands and the mainland make a smooth and convenient passage for thesmaller vessels that sail or steam along this coast. Indeed, some quitegood-sized steamers go this way, he said.
I objected, pretty strongly, to our taking this passage, because, Isaid, we could never hear anything of the boats while we were in here.But he was positive that if they had managed to land on the outside ofany of these islands, we could hear of them better from the inside thanfrom the ocean side. And besides, we could get along a great deal betterinside. He seemed to think more of that than anything else.
We had a pretty dull time on that tug. There wasn't a great deal oftalking, but there was lots of thinking, and not a very pleasant kind ofthinking either. We stopped quite often and hailed small boats, and thecaptain talked to people whenever he had a chance, but he never heardanything about any boats having run ashore on any of the islands, orhaving come into the inside passage, between any of them. We met a fewsailing vessels, and toward the close of the afternoon we met a bigsteamer, something like northern river steamers. The captain said sheran between the St. John's River and Savannah, and always took theinside passage as far as she could. He said this as if it showed him tobe in the right in taking the same passage, but I couldn't see that itproved anything. We were on a different business.
About nine o'clock we went to bed, the captain promising to call us ifanything turned up. But I couldn't sleep well--my bunk was too close andhot, and so I pretty soon got up and went up to the pilot-house, where Ifound the captain. He and one of the hands were hard at work putting theboat around.
"Hello!" said he. "I thought you were sound asleep."
"Hello!" said I. "What are you turning round for?"
It was bright starlight, and I could see that we were making a completecircuit in the smooth water.
"Well," said he, "we're going back."
"Back!" I cried. "What's the meaning of that? We haven't made half asearch. I don't believe we've gone a hundred miles. We want to searchthe whole coast, I tell you, to the lower end of Florida."
"You can't do it in this boat," he said; "she's too small."
"Why didn't you say so when we took her?"
"Well, there wasn't any other, in the first place, and besides, itwouldn't be no good to go no further. It's more 'n four days, now, sincethem boats set out. There's no chance fur anybody on 'em to be livin'."
"That's not for you to decide," I said, and I was very angry. "We wantto find our friends, dead or alive, or find some news of them, and wewant to cruise until we know there's no further chance of doing so."
"Well," said he, ringing the bell to go ahead, sharp, "I'm not decidin'anything. I had my orders. I was to be gone twenty-four hours; an' it'llbe more 'n that by the time I get back."
"Who gave you those orders?"
"Parker and Darrell," said he.
"Then this is all a swindle," I cried. "And we've been cheated intotaking this trip for nothing at all!"
"No, it isn't a swindle," he answered, rather warmly. "They told me allabout it. They knew, an' I knew, that it wasn't no use to go looking fortwo boats that had been lowered in a big storm four days ago, 'way downon the Florida coast. But they could see that this here girl would nevergive in till she'd had a chance of doin' what she thought she was calledon to do, and so they agreed to give it to her. But they told me on noaccount to keep her out more 'n twenty-four hours. That would be longenough to satisfy her, and longer than that wouldn't be right. I tellyou they know what they're about."
"Well, it wont be enough to satisfy her," I said, and then I went downto the little deck. I couldn't make the man turn back. I thought the tughad been hired to go wherever we chose to take her, but I had beenmistaken. I felt that we had been deceived; but there was no use insaying anything more on the subject until we reached the city.
I did not wake Rectus to tell him the news. It would not do any good,and I was afraid Corny might hear us. I wanted her to sleep as long asshe could, and, indeed, I dreaded the moment when she should awake, andfind that all had been given up.
We steamed along very fast now. There was no stopping anywhere. I sat onthe deck and thought a little, and dozed a little; and by the time itwas morning, I found we were in the Savannah River. I now hated thisriver worse than ever.
Everything was quiet on the water, and everything, except the engine,was just as quiet on the tug. Rectus and Corny and Celia were stillasleep, and nobody else seemed stirring, though, of course, some of themen were at their posts. I don't think the captain wanted to be aboutwhen Corny came out on deck, and found that we had given up the search.I intended to be with her when she first learned this terrible fact,which I knew would put an end to all hope in her heart; but I was in nohurry for her to wake up. I very much hoped she would sleep until wereached the city, and then we could take her directly to her kindfriends.
And she did sleep until we reached the city. It was about seven o'clockin the morning, I think, when we began to steam slowly by the wharvesand piers. I now wished the city were twenty miles further on. I knewthat when we stopped I should have to wake up poor Corny.
The city looked doleful. Although it was not very early in the morning,there were very few people about. Some men could be seen on the decks ofthe vessels at the wharves, and a big steamer for one of the northernports was getting up steam. I could not help thinking how happy thepeople must be who were going away in her. On one of the piers nearwhere we were going to stop--we were coming in now--were a few darkeyboys, sitting on a wharf-log, and dangling their bare feet over thewater. I wondered how they dared laugh, and be so jolly. In a fewminutes Corny must be wakened. On a post, near these boys, a lounger satfishing with a long pole,--actually fishing away as if there were nosorrows and deaths, or shipwrecked or broken-hearted people in theworld. I was particularly angry at this man--and I was so nervous thatall sorts of things made me angry--because he was old enough to knowbetter, and because he looked like such a fool. He had on greentrousers, dirty canvas shoes and no stockings, a striped linen coat, andan old straw hat, which lopped down over his nose. One of the men calledto him to catch the line which he was about to throw on the wharf, buthe paid no attention, and a negro boy came and caught the line. The manactually had a bite, and couldn't take his eyes from the cork. I wishedthe line had hit him and knocked him off the post.
The tide was high, and the tug was not much below the wharf when wehauled up. Just as we touched the pier, the man, who was a littleastern of us, caught his fish. He jerked it up, and jumped off his post,and, as he looked up in delight at his little fish, which was swingingin t
he air, I saw he was Mr. Chipperton!
I made one dash for Corny's little cubby-hole. I banged at the door. Ishouted:
"Corny! Here's your father!"
She was out in an instant. She had slept in her clothes. She had nobonnet on. She ran out on deck, and looked about, dazed. The sight ofthe wharves and the ships seemed to stun her.
"Where?" she cried.
I took her by the arm and pointed out her father, who still stoodholding the fishing-pole in one hand, while endeavoring to clutch theswinging fish with the other.
The plank had just been thrown out from the little deck. Corny made onebound. I think she struck the plank in the middle, like an India-rubberball, and then she was on the wharf; and before he could bring his eyesdown to the earth, her arms were around her father's neck, and she waswildly kissing and hugging him.
Mr. Chipperton was considerably startled, but when he saw who it was whohad him, he threw his arms around Corny, and hugged and kissed her as ifhe had gone mad.
Rectus was out by this time, and as he and I stood on the tug, we couldnot help laughing, although we were so happy that we could have cried.There stood that ridiculous figure, Mr. Chipperton, in his short greentrousers and his thin striped coat, with his arms around his daughter,and the fishing-pole tightly clasped to her back, while the poor littlefish dangled and bobbed at every fresh hug.
Everybody on board was looking at them, and one of the little blackboys, who didn't appear to appreciate sentiment, made a dash for thefish, unhooked it, and put like a good fellow. This rather broke thespell that was on us all, and Rectus and I ran on shore.
We did not ask any questions, we were too glad to see him. After he hadput Corny on one side, and had shaken our hands wildly with his lefthand, for his right still held the pole, and had tried to talk and foundhe couldn't, we called a carriage that had just come up, and hustled himand Corny into it. I took the pole from his hand, and asked him where hewould go to. He called out the name of the hotel where we were staying,and I shut the door, and sent them off. I did not ask a word aboutCorny's mother, for I knew Mr. Chipperton would not be sitting on a postand fishing if his wife was dead.
I threw the pole and line away, and then Rectus and I walked up to thehotel. We forgot all about Celia, who was left to go home when shechose.
It was some hours before we saw the Chippertons, and then we were calledinto their room, where there was a talking and a telling things, such asI never heard before.
It was some time before I could get Mr. and Mrs. Chipperton's storystraight, but this was about the amount of it: They were picked upsooner than we were--just after day-break. When they left the ship, theyrowed as hard as they could, for several hours, and so got a gooddistance from us. It was well they met with a vessel as soon as theydid, for all the women who had been on the steamer were in this boat,and they had a hard time of it. The water dashed over them very often,and Mr. Chipperton thought that some of them could not have held outmuch longer (I wondered what they would have done on our raft).
The vessel that picked them up was a coasting schooner bound to one ofthe Florida Keys, and she wouldn't put back with them, for she was undersome sort of a contract, and kept right straight on her way. When theygot down there, they chartered a vessel which brought them up toFernandina, where they took the steamer for Savannah. They were on thevery steamer we passed in the inside passage. If we had only known that!
They telegraphed the moment they reached Fernandina, and proposedstopping at St. Augustine, but it was thought they could make bettertime by keeping right on to Fernandina. The telegram reached Savannahafter we had left on the tug.
Mr. Chipperton said he got his fancy clothes on board the schooner. Hebought them of a man--a passenger, I believe--who had an extra suit.
"I think," said Mr. Chipperton, "he was the only man on that mean littlevessel who had two suits of clothes. I don't know whether these were hisweekday or his Sunday clothes. As for my own, they were so wet that Itook them off the moment I got on board the schooner, and I never sawthem again. I don't know what became of them, and, to tell the truth, Ihaven't thought of 'em. I was too glad to get started for Savannah,where I knew we'd meet Corny, if she was alive. You see, I trusted inyou boys."
Just here, Mrs. Chipperton kissed us both again. This made several timesthat she had done it. We didn't care so much, as there was no one therebut ourselves and the Chippertons.
"When we got here, and found you had gone to look for us, I wanted toget another tug and go right after you, but my wife was a good dealshaken up, and I did not want to leave her; and Parker and Darrell saidthey had given positive orders to have you brought back this morning, soI waited. I was only too glad to know you were all safe. I got up earlyin the morning, and went down to watch for you. You must have beensurprised to see me fishing, but I had nothing else to do, and so Ihired a pole and line of a boy. It helped very much to pass the timeaway."
"Yes," said Rectus, "you didn't notice us at all, you were so muchinterested."
"Well, you see," said Mr. Chipperton, "I had a bite just at that minute;and, besides, I really did not look for you on such a little boat. I hadan idea you would come on something more respectable than that."
"As if we should ever think of respectability at such a time!" said Mrs.Chipperton, with tears in her eyes.
"As for you boys," said Mr. Chipperton, getting up and taking us each bythe hand, "I don't know what to say to you."
I thought, for my part, that they had all said enough already. They hadpraised and thanked us for things we had never thought of.
"I almost wish you were orphans," he continued, "so that I might adoptyou. But a boy can't have more than one father. However, I tell you! aboy can have as many uncles as he pleases. I'll be an uncle to each ofyou as long as I live. Ever after this call me Uncle Chipperton. Do youhear that?"
We heard, and said we'd do it.
Soon after this, lots of people came in, and the whole thing was goneover again and again. I am sorry to say that, at one or two places inthe story, Mrs. Chipperton kissed us both again.
Before we went down to dinner, I asked Uncle Chipperton how his lung hadstood it, through all this exposure.
"Oh, bother the lung!" he said. "I tell you; boys, I've lost faith inthat lung,--at least, in there being anything the matter with it. Ishall travel for it no more."