CHAPTER XXIII.
WALTER.
The wind was westerly, and the boat ran fast down the river fromGravesend; Roberts and Andrew, both in civilian clothes, were sitting inthe bows, where there were stowed a large hamper and a smalltraveling-bag with some clothes. One waterman sat by the mast, in caseit should be necessary to lower sail; the other was aft at the tiller.The men must have thought that they had never had so silent and grave apleasure party before: two elderly gentlemen and two girls, none of whomseemed inclined to make merry in any way. Colonel Bulstrode, indeed,tried hard to keep up a conversation about the ships, barges, and othercraft that they met, or which lay at anchor in the stream, and recallingreminiscences of trips on Indian rivers.
Netta was the only one of his hearers who apparently took any interestin the talk. To her the scene was so new that she regarded everythingwith attention and pleasure, and looked with wonder at the great shipswhich were dragged along by tiny tugs, wondered at the rate at which theclumsy-looking barges made their way through the water, and enjoyed therapid and easy motion with which their own boat glided along. Mr.Pettigrew was revolving in his mind the problem of what should next bedone; while Hilda's thoughts were centered upon Walter, and the joy thatit would be to have him with her again.
"This is Hole Haven," the boatman in the stern said, as a wide sheet ofwater opened on their left.
"Why don't you turn in, then?" Colonel Bulstrode asked.
"There is scarce water enough for us, sir; they are neap tides atpresent, and in half an hour the sands will begin to show all overthere. We have to go in onto the farther side--that is, where thechannel is. You see those craft at anchor; there is the landing, just infront of the low roof you see over the bank. That is the 'LobsterSmack,' and a very comfortable house it is; and you can get as good aglass of beer there as anywhere on the river."
As they turned into the creek they saw two constables on the top of thebank, and at the head of the steps stood a gentleman talking with acoastguard officer.
"That is my friend, Mr. Bostock," Mr. Pettigrew said. "He told me that,if he could manage it, he would drive over himself with the twoconstables. I am glad that he has been able to do so; his presence willstrengthen our hands."
A coast guard boat, with four sailors in it, was lying close to thesteps, and the officer came down with Mr. Bostock, followed by the twoconstables. The magistrate greeted Mr. Pettigrew and took his place inthe boat beside him, after being introduced to the two ladies and theColonel. The officer with the two constables stepped into the coastguardboat, which rowed on ahead of the other.
"I could not resist the temptation of coming over to see the end of thissingular affair, of which I heard from Mr. Pettigrew," Mr. Bostock saidto Hilda. "The officer of the coastguard is going on, partly to show usthe way to the house, and partly because it will be a good opportunityfor him to search the place thoroughly for smuggled goods. He tells methat the barge is up the creek now; it went up yesterday evening. So wemay find the fellow at home."
"Now, my men," Colonel Bulstrode said to the boatmen, "we have got tofollow that boat. You will have plenty of time for beer when you getthere, and a good lunch besides. So pull your hardest; we have not gotvery far to go. Can either of you men row?"
"I AM A MAGISTRATE OF THE COUNTY OF ESSEX."--_Page 289._]
"I can pull a bit," Roberts said, and, aided by the sail and thethree oars, the boat went along at a fair rate through the water, thecoastguard boat keeping a short distance ahead of them. After a quarterof an hour's rowing the bargeman's house came in view. The revenueofficer pointed to it.
"Now, row your hardest, men," Colonel Bulstrode said; "we have but ahundred yards further to go."
The two boats rowed up to the bank together; Mr. Bostock sprang out, asdid the constables and sailors, and ran up the bank, the othersfollowing at once. As they appeared on the bank a boy working in thegarden gave a shrill whistle; a man immediately appeared at the door andlooked surprised at the appearance of the party. He stepped back a foot,and then, as if changing his mind, came out and closed the door afterhim.
"I am a magistrate of the County of Essex," Mr. Bostock said, "and Ihave come to see a warrant executed for the search of your house for achild named Walter Rivington, who is believed to be concealed here, andwho has been stolen from the care of his guardians."
"I know nothing of any child of that name," the man replied, "but I havea child here that I am taking care of for a gentleman in London; I havehad him here for just a year, and no one has made any inquiries abouthim. You are welcome to enter and see if he is the one you are in searchof. If he is, all that I can say is that I know nothing about his beingstolen, and shall be very sorry to lose him."
He stood aside, and the two constables entered, followed closely byHilda. The latter gave a cry of joy, for seated on the ground, playingwith a box of soldiers, was Walter. She would hardly have known himanywhere else. His curls had been cut short, his face was brown andtanned, and his clothes, although scrupulously clean, were such as wouldbe worn by any bargeman's boy at that age. The child looked up as theyentered. Hilda ran to him, and caught him up in her arms.
"Don't you know me, Walter? Don't you remember Cousin Hilda?"
"Yes, I remember you," the child said, now returning her embrace. "Youused to tell me stories and take me out in a carriage for drives. Wherehave you been so long? And where is grandpapa? Oh, here is Netta!" andas Hilda put him down he ran to her, for during the four months spent inthe country she had been his chief playmate.
"I have learned to swim, Netta. Uncle Bill has taught me himself; and heis going to take me out in his barge some day."
The woman, who had come in with her arms covered with lather, from thelittle washhouse adjoining the house, now came forward.
"I hope, miss, that there is nothing wrong," she said to Hilda. "We havedone our best for the little boy, and I have come to care for him justas if he had been my own; and if you are going to take him away I shallmiss him dreadful, for he is a dear little fellow," and she burst intotears.
Walter struggled from Netta's arms, and ran to the woman, and, pullingher by the apron, said:
"Don't cry, Aunt Betsy; Jack is not going away from you. Jack will stayhere; he likes going in a barge better than riding in a carriage."
"Well, Miss Covington," Mr. Bostock said, "the recognition appears to becomplete on both sides; now what is the next step? Do you give this maninto custody for unlawfully concealing this child and aiding andabetting in his abduction?"
"Will you wait a minute while I speak to Mr. Pettigrew?" she said; andthey went out of the house together.
"Well, what do you think, Mr. Pettigrew?"
"I have been thinking it over all the way as we came down," the lawyersaid. "Of course, we have no shadow of proof that this man was aware whothe child was, and, in fact, if he had seen the placards offeringaltogether fifteen hundred pounds for his recovery, we must certainlyassume that he would have given him up; for however well he may havebeen paid for taking charge of him, the offer would have been tootempting for a man of that kind to have resisted. No doubt he had strongsuspicions, but you can hardly say that it amounted to guilty knowledgethat the child had been abducted. If Walter had been ill-treated Ishould have said at once, 'Give him into custody'; but this does notseem to have been the case."
"No; they have evidently been very kind to him. I am so grateful forthat that I should be sorry to do the man any harm."
"That is not the only point," the lawyer went on. "It is evident thatthe other people very seldom come down here, and from what you heard, infuture Simcoe is going to write. If we arrest this man the others willknow at once that the game is up. Now, if you will take the child awayquietly, we can tell the man that he shall not be prosecuted, providingthat he takes no steps whatever to inform his employers that the childis gone; even if one of them came down here to see the child, the wifemust say that he is away on the barge. Anyhow, we shall have ample timeto decid
e upon what steps to take against Simcoe, and can lay hands uponhim whenever we choose; whereas, if he got an inkling that we haddiscovered the child, he and his associate would probably disappear atonce, and we might have lots of trouble to find them."
"Yes, I think that would be a very good plan, Mr. Pettigrew. I will askhim and his wife to come out."
"That will be the best way, my dear. We could hardly discuss the matterbefore Bostock."
Hilda went in. As soon as she spoke to the man and his wife Mr. Bostocksaid, "If you want a conference, Miss Covington, I will go out and leaveyou to talk matters over."
He and the two constables withdrew, and Mr. Pettigrew came in.
"Now, my man," he began, "you must see that you have placed yourself ina very awkward position. You are found taking care of a child that hasbeen stolen, and for whose recovery large rewards have been offered allover the country. It is like the case of a man found hiding stolengoods. He would be called upon to account for their being in hispossession. Now, it is hardly possible that you can have been ignorantthat this child was stolen. You may not have been told so in words, butyou cannot have helped having suspicions. From what the child no doubtsaid when he first came here, you must have been sure that he had beenbrought up in luxury. No doubt he spoke of rides in a carriage, ofservants, his nurse, and so on. However, Miss Covington is one of thechild's guardians, and I am the other, and we are most reluctant to giveyou in charge. It is evident, from the behavior of the child, and fromthe affection that he shows to yourself and your wife, that you havetreated him very kindly since he has been here, and these toys I seeabout show that you have done your best to make him happy."
"That we have, sir," the man said. "Betsy and I took to him from thefirst. We have no children of our own, none living at least, and we havemade as much of him as if he had been one of our own--perhaps more. Wehave often talked it over, and both thought that we were not doing thefair thing by him, and were, perhaps, keeping him out of his own. I didnot like having anything to do with it at first, but I had had somebusiness with the man who gave him to me, and when he asked me toundertake the job it did not seem to me so serious an affair as it hasdone since. I am heartily sorry that we have had any hand in it; notonly because we have done the child harm, but because it seems that weare going to lose him now that we have come to care for him as if he wasour own."
"Of course you played only a minor part in the business, Nibson. Wequite understand that, and it is the men who have carried out thisabduction that we want to catch. Do you know the name of the man whobrought the child to you?"
"I don't, sir. He knows where to find me, but I have no more idea than achild unborn who he is or where he lives. When he writes to me, which hegenerally does before he comes down, which may be two or three times amonth, or may be once in six months, he signs himself Smith. I don'tsuppose that is his right name, but I say fairly that if I knew it, andwhere he lived, I would not peach upon him. He has always been straightwith me in the business I have done with him, and I would rather takesix months for this affair than say anything against him."
"We are not asking you at present to say anything against him, and he isnot the principal man in this business. I believe he is only acting asagent for another more dangerous rascal than himself. We are notprepared at the present moment to arrest the chief scoundrel. Before wedo that we must obtain evidence that will render his conviction acertainty. We have reason to believe that this man that you know willnot come down for some time, and that you will receive the money for thechild's keep by post; but if we abstain altogether from prosecuting youin this matter, you must give us your word that you will not take anysteps whatever to let them know that the child is no longer with you. Hesays that you promised to take him out in your barge. Well, if by anychance this man--not your man, but the other--comes down here, and wantsto see the child, you or your wife will lead him to believe that he ison board your barge. It will also be necessary that, if we do arrestthem, you should enter as a witness to prove that the man handed thechild over to you. You could let it be seen that you are an unwillingwitness, but the evidence of the handing over of the child will be anabsolute necessity."
"All right, sir, I will undertake that. There is no fear of my lettinghim know that the child has gone, for I don't know where to write him;and if he or the other should come down, if I am here I shall have nodifficulty in keeping it from him that the child has gone, for my manhas never set foot in this house. He just meets me on the road nearPitsea, says what he has to say, and gives me what he has to give me,and then drives off again. Of course, if I am summoned as a witness, Iknow that the law can make me go. I remember now that when he gave methe child he said he was doing it to oblige a friend of his, and he maybe able to prove that he had nothing to do with carrying it off."
"That is as it may be," the lawyer said dryly. "However, we are quitecontent with your promise."
"And I thank you most heartily, you and your wife," Hilda Covington saidwarmly, "for your kindness to the child. It would have made me veryhappy all this time if I could have known that he was in such goodhands, but I pictured him shut up in some vile den in London, illtreated, and half starved. He has grown very much since he has been withyou, and looks a great deal more boyish than he did."
"Yes, he plays a good deal with my barge boy, who has taken to him justas we have."
"Well, your kindness will not be forgotten nor unrewarded, Mr. Nibson."
"I'm sure we don't want any reward, miss; we have been well paid. Buteven if we hadn't been paid at all after the first month, we should havegone on keeping him just the same."
"Now, Walter," Hilda said, "we want you to come home with us; we haveall been wanting you very badly. Nurse and Tom Roberts have been in aterrible way, and so has Dr. Leeds. You remember him, don't you? He wasvery kind to you all the time that you were down in the country."
The child nodded. "I should like to see Tom Roberts and nurse, but Idon't want to go away. I am going out in the barge soon."
"Well, dear, I dare say that we shall be able to arrange for you to comedown sometimes, and to go out in it, especially as you have learned toswim. We are going away now in a boat."
"I often go out in the boat," Walter pouted. "I go with Joshua; he is anice boy, Joshua is, and I like him."
"Well, dear, we will see what we can do for Joshua."
"You are sure that I shall come back and go out in the barge?"
"Quite sure, dear; and perhaps I will go out with you, too."
"Yes, you must go, like a good boy," Mrs. Nibson said. "You know, dear,that I shall always love you, and shall be very, very glad if the ladiescan spare you to come down to see me sometimes. You won't forget me,will you?"
"No, Aunt Betsy, I shall never forget you; I promise you that," thechild said. "And I don't want to go away from you at all, only CousinHilda says I must."
Mr. Pettigrew went out to tell Mr. Bostock that they should not giveNibson into custody.
"The principal scoundrels would take the alarm instantly," he said,"and, above all things, we want to keep them in the dark until we areready to arrest them. It will be much better that we should have thisman to call as a witness than that he should appear in the dock as anaccomplice."
"I think that you are right there," the magistrate agreed; "and really,he and his wife seem to have been very kind to the child. I have beentalking to this young barge boy. It seems he is no relation of thesepeople. His mother was a tramp, who died one winter's night on the roadto Pitsea. He was about ten or eleven years old then, and they wouldhave sent him to the workhouse; but Nibson, who was on the coroner'sjury, volunteered to take him, and I dare say he finds him very usefulon board the barge. At any rate, he has been well treated, and says thatNibson is the best master on the river. So the fellow must have somegood in him, though, from what the coastguard officer said, there arevery strong suspicions that he is mixed up in the smuggling business,which, it seems, is still carried on in these marshes. Wel
l, no doubtyou have decided wisely; and now, I suppose, we shall be off."
At this moment they were joined by the coastguard officer.
"He has done us again," he said. "We have been investigating theseouthouses thoroughly, and there is no question that he has had smuggledgoods here. We found a clever hiding-place in that cattle-shed. Itstruck me that it was a curious thing that there should be a stack ofhay built up right against the side of it. So we took down a plank ortwo, and I was not surprised to find that there was a hollow in thestack. One of the men stamped his foot, and the sound showed that therewas another hollow underneath. We dug up the ground, and found, sixinches below it, a trapdoor, and on lifting it discovered a hole five orsix feet deep and six feet square. It was lined with bricks, roughlycemented together. It is lucky for him that the place is empty, and Ishould think that after this he will go out of the business for a time.Of course we cannot arrest a man merely for having a hidden cellar; Ifancy that there are not many houses on the marshes that have not someplaces of the sort. Indeed, I am rather glad that we did not catch him,for in other respects Nibson is a decent, hard-working fellow. Sometimeshe has a glass or two at the 'Lobster Smack,' but never takes too much,and is always very quiet and decent in his talk. I doubt whether the menwould have found that hiding-place if I had not been there; they allknow him well, and would not get him into a scrape if they could helpit, though there are some fellows on the marshes they would give amonth's pay to catch with kegs or tobacco."
The door of the house opened, and the three women and Nibson came outwith Walter, who was now dressed in the clothes that they had broughtdown for him.
While the others were getting ready to enter the boat the officer tookNibson aside.
"You have had a close squeak of it, Nibson; we found your hiding-placeunder the stack, and it is lucky for you that it was empty. So we havenothing to say to you. I should advise you to give it up, my man; sooneror later you are bound to be caught."
The man's brow had darkened as the officer began, but it cleared upagain.
"All right," he said; "I have been thinking for the last half hour thatI shall drop the business altogether, but when a man once gets into it,it is not so easy to get out. Now that you have found that cellar, it isa good excuse to cut it. I can well say that I dare not risk it again,for that, after so nearly catching me, you would be sure to keep anextra sharp eye on me in the future."
"You give me your word for that, Nibson?"
"Yes, sir; I swear off it altogether from the present day."
"Good. I will take your word for it, and you can go in and come out asyou like without being watched, and you need not fear that we shall payyou another visit."
Walter went off in fair spirits. The promise that he should come downagain and see his friends and have a sail in the barge lessened the pangof leaving, and as Hilda's and Netta's faces came more strongly back tohim, as they talked to him and recalled pleasant things that had almostfaded from his memory, he went away contentedly, while Betsy Nibson wentback to the house and had what she called "a good cry." She too,however, cheered up when her husband told her how narrow an escape hehad had, and how he had given his word that he would drop smugglingaltogether.
"That makes my mind easier than it has been for years, Bill. And willyou give up the other thing, too? There may not be much harm in runningkegs and bacca, but there is no doubt about its being wrong to haveanything to do with stolen goods and to mix yourself up with men whosteal them."
"Yes, I will give that up, too, Betsy; and, as soon as I have time tolook round, I will give an order for a new barge to be built for me. Ihave been ashamed of the old thing for a long time past with her patchedsails. Of course, she suited my purpose, for when the other barges kepton their course it gave me a good excuse for anchoring; but it aintpleasant to have every barge passing you. There is old Joe Hargett; hesaid the other day that, if I ever thought of getting a new barge, hewould give a hundred for her. He has got a set of decent sails, and heis a pretty handy carpenter, and no doubt he will make her look decentagain. A hundred pounds aint much, but it will help. I can get a new onecomplete, sails and all, for fourteen or fifteen hundred, and have ahundred or two left in the bag afterwards. I tell you what, Betsy, Iwill get an extra comfortable cabin made, and a place forward forJoshua. It will be dull for you here now the child is gone, and it wouldbe a sight more comfortable for us both to be always together."
"That it will, Bill," she said joyfully. "I was always very happy onboard till we lost our Billy. I took a dislike to it then, and was gladenough to come here; but I have got over it now, and this place is verylonely during the long winter nights when you are away."
Then they talked over the barge, and how the cabin should be fitted up,and, in spite of having lost Walter, the evening was a pleasant one tothem.
That was not the only conversation that took place that day withreference to a new barge for Bill Nibson. As they rowed up against thetide, Hilda said:
"We must do something for that bargeman, Colonel Bulstrode. I am sure wecannot be too grateful to him and his wife for their treatment ofWalter. Think how different it might have been had he fallen into badhands. Now he looks the picture of health; the change in the life andthe open air has done wonders. You know, Dr. Leeds said that the officerof the coastguard had told him that Nibson's barge was one of the oldestand rottenest crafts on the river. Now, I propose that we buy him a newone. What would it cost, Colonel Bulstrode?"
"I have not the slightest idea," the Colonel replied; "it might costfive hundred pounds, or it might cost five thousand, for all I know."
"I will ask the waterman," Hilda said, and raising her voice she said,"How much do barges cost when they are new?"
"From ten or eleven hundred up to fifteen," the man said.
"Does that include sails and all?"
"Yes, miss; down to the boat."
"Who is considered the best barge-builder?"
"Well, there are a good many of them, miss; but I should say that Gill,of Rochester, is considered as good as any."
"What do you think, Mr. Pettigrew?" Hilda said. "Should we, as Walter'sguardians, be justified in spending this money? Mind, I don't care a bitwhether we are or not, because I would buy it myself if it would not beright for us to use his money."
"I am afraid that it would not be right," Mr. Pettigrew said. "As atrustee of the property, I should certainly not feel myself justified insanctioning such a sum being drawn, though I quite admit that this goodcouple should be rewarded. I cannot regard a barge as a necessary;anything in reason that the child could require we should be justifiedin agreeing to. Of course, whatever may be his expenses at a publicschool, we should pay them without hesitation; but for a child of thatage to give a present of fifteen hundred pounds would be altogetherbeyond our power to sanction."
"Very well," Hilda said decidedly, "then I shall take the matter into myown hands, and I shall go down to Rochester to-morrow and see if thesepeople have a barge ready built. I don't know whether they are the sortof things people keep in stock."
"That I can't say, my dear. I should think it probable that in slacktimes they may build a barge or two on speculation, for the purpose ofkeeping their hands employed, but whether that is the case now or not Idon't know. If these people at Rochester have not got one you may hearof one somewhere else. I want you all to come up to the office one daynext week to talk over this matter of the order Simcoe is applyingfor--for us to carry out the provisions of the will--at any rate, as faras his legacy is concerned."
"Very well, Mr. Pettigrew, I will come up any time that you write to me,but you know that I have very strong opinions about it."
"I know your opinions are strong, as ladies' opinions generally are,"Mr. Pettigrew said with a smile; "but, unfortunately, they are much moreinfluenced by their own view of matters than by the legal bearing ofthem. However, we will talk that over when we meet again."
The arrival of Walter occasioned the most lively joy
in Hyde ParkGardens. Hilda had written to his nurse, who had gone home to live withher mother when all hope of finding Walter had seemed to be at an end,to tell her that he would probably be at home on Wednesday evening, andthat she was to be there to meet him. Her greeting of him was rapturous.It had been a source of bitter grief to her that he had been lostthrough a momentary act of carelessness on her part, and the relief thatHilda's letter had caused was great indeed. The child was scarcely lesspleased to see her, for he retained a much more vivid recollection ofher than he did of the others. He had already been told of hisgrandfather's death, but a year had so effaced his memory of him that hewas not greatly affected at the news. In the course of a few hours hewas almost as much at home in the house as if he had never left it.