CHAPTER XVIII.
HOW NICK BOOMSBY MANAGED HIS CASE.
We had hardly accomplished our introductory work before I saw that bothsteamers, which we had secured together with a stern as well as a bowline, had been set back by the rapid current, and had begun to driftdown the river. I rang for the Sylvania to go ahead, and then calledupon Hop Tossford to take the wheel. I did not care to tow the Islanderagainst the swift current. I satisfied myself that the bow and sternlines were properly made fast, and then went on board of the othersteamer.
I found that Colonel Shepard was inclined to let his angry passionsrise, as he saw Captain Blastblow approaching him, for which I couldnot very strongly blame him. I had called to him before I went on boardof the Islander, and he had come aft to meet me. I suggested that heshould put Washburn in charge of the vessel until matters had beenexplained. He promptly acquiesced, and I sent the mate to thepilot-house of the prize, with instructions to keep her as near theright bank of the river as it was prudent to go, and to direct thewheelman of the Sylvania at the same time.
"Do I understand you to take the command of the Islander out of myhands, Colonel Shepard?" demanded Captain Blastblow, as he heard meinstruct Washburn what to do.
"For the present, yes," replied the colonel, decidedly and sternly, asthough he intended no more mistakes should be made.
"This is rather sudden, for I haven't the least idea that I have doneanything to displease you," replied the captain, struggling to keep histemper.
"What have you been doing with this steamer? What induced you to runaway with her? Why have you taken so great pains to keep away from theSylvania?" asked Colonel Shepard, in a severe tone.
"I have tried to obey my instructions in every particular," repliedCaptain Blastblow, apparently more in astonishment than in anger.
"Have you had any instruction to run away with my steam-yacht?"
"I certainly had no instructions to run away with her; and I am notaware that I have done anything of that kind," answered the captain.
"There has been some mistake, Colonel Shepard," I interposed. "I thinkwe had better go into the pilot-house and talk it over."
Without making any reply, both of the belligerents followed me forward.I was quite as anxious to ascertain what had become of Cornwood andNick Boomsby as I was to have Captain Blastblow explain his singularconduct. I found Captain Cayo on the forecastle, holding his prisonerby the collar of his coat, while Nick was in the care of Buck, on theport side of the house on deck. The former seemed disposed to resist,though he was not willing to risk a conflict with his swarthy captor.
"What do you mean by laying hands upon me, you rascal?" demandedCornwood.
"Don't use any hard words, Cornwood," added the pilot, coolly. "I obeymy orders, and don't answer any questions."
"I don't know anything about your orders; and no one had any right togive you any orders to lay hands on me," foamed Cornwood.
The prisoner began to demonstrate rather violently; he made a spring atthe throat of the pilot; but the latter was too quick and too strongfor him. They clinched together, and then Cornwood went down upon thedeck. Captain Cayo put his foot on the chest of the prostrateFloridian, and held him down.
"I think we had better put a rope around this man's arms," said thepilot, without taking his eyes from his prisoner. "That would keep himquiet and well-behaved."
I picked up a piece of line, and handed it to him. He tipped Cornwoodas carelessly as though he had been a shark, and proceeded to bind hisarms behind him. The Floridian attempted to resist again; but the footof the pilot pressed more heavily upon him as he did so, and he foundit impossible to get upon his feet again.
Captain Cayo drew the arms of the captive up behind him, and quicklyfastened them. Then he took him by the collar, and stood him up on hisfeet. Cornwood looked unutterably scornful at me; and I doubt if hewould have made any trouble if I had not been present. Judging by hislooks, he appeared to regard me with intense hatred. I had interferedwith some of his schemes before, and from the particular attention hebestowed upon me, I came to the conclusion that he considered me theauthor of his present misfortune.
"Why am I treated in this brutal manner?" demanded Cornwood, turninghis gaze from me to Captain Blastblow.
"I don't know anything at all about it," replied the captain. "Thereare several things I don't understand about this business; but I amwilling to be informed."
"I suppose I owe all this to you, Captain Garningham," added Cornwood,giving me a savage look.
"On the contrary, I think you owe it all to yourself," I replied. "If Iremember rightly, you were to detain the Islander at Key West. Insteadof doing this, she runs out of the harbor as soon as the Sylvania comesin sight."
"It's none of your business, Garningham. Do you own the Islander?"
"I think we had better go into the pilot-house and talk the case over,"I added. "We shall soon find out what the matter is."
I led the way, and we seated ourselves in the pilot-house. I hadindicated this place because I wanted to hear the explanation of thecaptain of the Islander.
"Captain Blastblow, your conduct has astonished me," said ColonelShepard, more calmly than he had spoken at first.
"I am sorry for it, sir, for I have tried to do just as I wasinstructed," answered the captain, meekly, and apparently as muchastonished as his owner. "I know my place, and I always expect to dojust what my employer expects of me."
"I did not expect you to run away with my steam-yacht, when all myfamily were waiting to go in her," added the colonel, becoming moreindignant as he rehearsed the incidents of the morning we leftJacksonville.
"But your going in the Islander depended on your business; and when Isaw you the morning before we sailed, you could not tell what you woulddo. You instructed me to water and provision the vessel, and wait forfurther orders. Towards evening, you sent off a card by young Boomsby,directing me to have steam up and be ready to sail early in themorning. I was ready to go by six o'clock," answered the captain,taking from his desk in the pilot-house a package of papers, from whichhe selected the card sent off by Nick. "Is it all straight so far?"
"Entirely: it was just as you say. I received a letter by the afternoonmail, which assured me a business matter would allow me to be absentfrom New York a month or six weeks longer; and I decided to go up theriver with the Sylvania."
"I didn't ask questions, or inquire into your business. All I had to dowas to obey the orders of my owner," added Captain Blastblow. "I madesure that everything on board was ready for the voyage before I turnedin that night. By half-past five in the morning we had steam enough onto sail down the river. It was about half-past six when your friend,Mr. Boomsby, came----"
"My friend, Mr. Boomsby!" exclaimed the colonel. "I never even saw myfriend, Mr. Boomsby, that I know of."
"I only know that you called him your friend yourself," replied CaptainBlastblow.
"I called him so! How could I call him so when I had no acquaintancewith him?" demanded the owner, with a smile of incredulity.
"I don't know anything about that," continued the captain, fumblingover the papers he had taken from his desk. "I learned to read writingwhen I was a boy; and that was what you wrote."
"I never wrote anything of the kind, Captain Blastblow. But never mindthat: go on with your story," added the colonel.
"I can prove all that I say, sir. Your friend, Mr. Boomsby, as youcalled him in your letter, came on board about half-past six, and gaveme your instructions to proceed to New Orleans as soon as I got theletter."
"I sent you no such letter, Captain Blastblow," protested ColonelShepard. "I never wrote any such letter; some one has been playing atrick on you."
"But I have the letter in your own handwriting," pleaded the captain."I will read it to you. It is dated at the St. James Hotel, with apicture of the house, and the heading printed upon it. Here is what itsays:--
CAPTAIN BLASTBLOW:
I have received a despatch
which will prevent me from leaving Jacksonville for a few days. You will proceed to New Orleans as soon as you get this letter; and I will go there by land with my family. For reasons I will explain to you some other time, I want you to keep out of the way of the Sylvania. I have made a bet that the Islander will get to New Orleans first; and I expect, from what you said, you will win the bet for me. This letter will be delivered to you by my friend, Mr. Boomsby, who will take passage with you; and you will treat him as well as you would me."
Yours truly,
P. G. SHEPARD.
"If those instructions are not as plain talk as any shipmaster coulddesire, I should like to know what would be plain," continued CaptainBlastblow, as he finished the reading of the letter. "I hove up theanchor at once, and rang to go ahead. I was ordered to keep out of theway of the Sylvania, and I have done my best to avoid her."
"But I did not write that letter, Captain Blastblow," repeated theowner; and by this time we were all rather amused at the straightforwardearnestness of the captain of the Islander. "Let me see the letter,if you please."
The captain handed him the letter. Colonel Shepard examined itcritically. He shook his head as he did so.
"I must acknowledge that the writing looks very much like mine," hesaid, after he had read it through and examined it in every part. "Whocould have written it?"
"Nick Boomsby wrote it, without a doubt," I replied. "I went to schoolwith him, and he was a good penman, though that was about all he was asa scholar."
"Is that my friend, Mr. Boomsby?" asked the colonel, laughing heartily.
"The same person; and he has become a swell of the first magnitude," Ireplied. "If I had known, or suspected, before we got to Key West, thatNick was on board of her, I could have explained the strange conduct ofthe Islander, and why she so carefully kept out of our way."
I gave a full account of the robbery of the bank messenger in thesaloon of Nick's father, dwelling upon the efforts Nick had made toarrest Buckner. I stated that he had tried to obtain a passage to NewOrleans in the Sylvania, that I had refused to let him go in her, andhad taken care that he did not become a stowaway on board of her. Iadded that Nick told me of his intention to run away from his home, andseek his fortune in some other part of the country.
"I have no doubt that Nick stole the four thousand dollars themessenger laid on the counter, and resorted to the trick of forging aletter to Captain Blastblow, so that he could get the Islander offahead of the Sylvania," I continued.
"But how is it that Cornwood did not stop the Islander at Key West, asit appears he got on board of her there?" asked Colonel Shepard, deeplyinterested in the narrative.
"I think you will have to ask Cornwood about that," I replied. "I am aYankee, and I can guess what he meant."
"I don't know that I care about any guessing, Captain Alick; but if youhave any theory with a base under it, I should like to hear it," saidColonel Shepard.
"I think Cornwood was well assured that Nick was on board of theIslander when you sent him to intercept the steamer at Key West," Ianswered. "Cornwood would not have gone on such a wild-goose chase fornothing. According to the testimony of Captain Cayo, Cornwood and Nickhad very earnest conversation at Key West."
"I don't think it's any use to speculate over the case," interposedCaptain Blastblow. "Let us search for the money."
We all agreed that this was the next thing to do.