Budd Boyd's Triumph Part 26

"I believe it; and, like myself, she is proud of her boy;" and Mr. Boyd looked lovingly down into the face of his son.

The dinner at the Executive mansion was a simple affair, the Governor seeming to understand Mr. Boyd's feelings in this respect. There were there the members of the Executive Council; the Judge who had presided at Mr. Boyd's trial; Mr. Johnson; Mr. Boyd's lawyer, and a half-dozen prominent business men that Mr. Boyd had been accustomed to meet in other days. They all congratulated him warmly upon his established innocence, and a.s.sured him of their friendship and help when he had decided upon his future business plans.

He thanked them all for their expressions of kindness, but added, with evident pride:

"My son has a home for me, and there I will go for the present."

At four o'clock he and Budd left the city; at five they were in Providence, and at six they were at their village depot, where they were met by Judd. Ten minutes later they were on the Sea Witch, bound for the island.

As they reached their own wharf Mr. Boyd stepped out of the boat and looked around him. Then he said tenderly, almost reverently:

"This is your home, Budd, and my home, now--inexpressibly dear, because of what my boy has here proved himself to be."

Later on, and when reclining in an easy-chair beside the sitting-room fire, he heard in detail the experiences through which the lads had pa.s.sed. The young partners sat where he could look them both full in the face. Possibly their strong likeness to each other may have suggested the question, for he abruptly asked:

"Judd, what is your father's name?"

"Silas Torr Floyd," answered the wondering boy.

"And your mother's?"

"Helen Budd, before she was married," replied Judd. "That is one reason why I thought Budd's name so funny when I first heard it."

"You are, then, cousins," was Mr. Boyd's astonishing declaration.

"How do you make that out, sir?" the lads exclaimed in one breath.

"My wife and your mother, Judd, were sisters," explained Mr. Boyd.

"They were married about the same time, and used to joke each other about one having married a Boyd and the other a Floyd. When Budd was born his mother gave him her surname for his Christian name; and when, a few weeks later, Judd was born, his mother laughingly gave him the Christian name he bears, saying she would make it as near like Budd's as possible.

"We soon separated, I moving into Boston, and Judd's father going West.

For a time we kept up a correspondence, but it grew less and less frequent, and finally entirely ceased. But your parents must have returned East, Judd, and I cannot understand why they did not communicate with me, unless your mother's pride was such that she did not wish us to know her husband had become a drunkard."

"I think that is it," said Judd, thoughtfully; "for whenever I asked about her relatives, she never would tell me anything about them."

The newly-discovered relationship was discussed for a time, and facts and dates were brought forward to substantiate it. Then Judd said, with much the same grimace he had used months before:

"I told you some time ago, Budd, that we were second-rate twins, and now it has turned out that we are first-rate cousins!"

CHAPTER XXII.--AN EXCITING ADVENTURE.

"Good morning, father! Would you like to go with us to the fish-traps, or will you remain here and rest?"

It was the morning after Mr. Boyd's arrival at the island, and as yet barely six o'clock. Budd had come to the door of his father's room, and finding him awake had thus accosted him.

Mr. Boyd looked up at his boy with a cheerful smile.

"Good morning, Budd!" he responded. "You are around early here, aren't you? Well, I like to see promptness and industry in any one; and as an encouragement, if not an example, to you and Judd, I'll go right along with you. How soon shall I be ready?"

"Breakfast will be on the table in ten minutes, and in course of a half-hour we must be off," answered Budd. "Is there anything I can do for you, father?"

There was manifest affection in the lad's tones as he asked this question, and his face beamed with an irrepressible joy. The great purpose of his heart had been accomplished; his father was not only at liberty, but with him, and he had nothing more to ask.

"No, my son," replied Mr. Boyd, with no less show of affection; "I'll be with you presently."

Budd went back to the kitchen and a.s.sisted Judd in the few preparations necessary to complete the breakfast, and when Mr. Boyd joined the lads a few minutes later all was in readiness for them to sit down to the table; and within the prescribed half-hour the meal had been dispatched and all were on board the Sea Witch.

Her moorings were speedily cast off, and with a strong southeast wind to contend against she tacked down the bay. The first run carried her close under the west sh.o.r.e of the bay, and just before she was put about for her second tack, Budd, who was forward, noticed a large flat-boat coming out from a small cove right ahead of them. A single glance showed him that the one sail of the boat was furled, and that his old employer, Mr. Benton, was pulling her along against the stiff breeze with an enormous pair of sweeps.

"Where did Mr. Benton get that boat, and what is he doing with her, Judd?" he asked.

"All I know about it," replied Judd, eying the clumsy craft, "is that he had her down on Plum Beach, yesterday, loading her with sand. Where he got her I can't say. Perhaps he knocked her together himself; I should judge so, from her build. She won't stand a rough sea long, though; and unless he hurries around with his load to-day, she'll go down under him, I'm thinking."

"Are we going to have a storm right away?" asked Mr. Boyd, looking up at the mackerel-sky.

"Yes, sir," replied Judd, promptly. "When the wind blows as fresh as this from the southeast, it won't take over six hours to bring a regular gale. That's one reason we have hurried off to the traps so early this morning. I'll agree to show you all the rough weather you'll care to see before we get back to the island;" and the lad spoke with a positiveness that gave a convincing force to all his words.

On account of the strong head-wind the lads had thought it best to first work down along the west sh.o.r.e and visit the two traps on that side of the bay, and then, with the breeze on their starboard, run over to their trap under Canonicut Island. This would give them, also, a stern-breeze for their return home.

In carrying out this plan they ran on their third tack close enough to Mr. Benton to hail him.

"Good-morning, Mr. Benton," Budd cried out. "Shall we take you in tow and leave you at the beach?"

He made the offer, for he had noticed that the old man was making but slow progress against the head-wind. A surly refusal of the offered help was, however, the only answer he received. It was quite evident that Mr. Benton, while he had steadily let the young partners alone since his last encounter with them, had never forgiven them for the advantage they had then gained.

A few minutes after pa.s.sing Mr. Benton the first fish-trap was reached, and the lads soon emptied it of its "catch" with all the quickness and dexterity for which they were noted. Mr. Boyd a.s.sisted them somewhat, but laughingly declared that "he would have to serve a regular apprenticeship at the business before he could hope to compete with them."

"Oh! you would learn how to do it sooner than you think," remarked Budd, giving the huge net a vigorous pull that sent it slowly back to its place. "I was as great a novice at the work as you are when Judd took me into partnership; but I soon caught the knack, and rather like the business now."

"He proved an apt scholar, and has outstripped his teacher," put in Judd, laughingly. "I sometimes find it hard work to keep up my end with him. But we are ready now, I believe, to work down to the lower trap."

The anchor of the sloop was raised, and her sails adjusted for the brief run around Plum Beach Point to the other fish-pound. As she pa.s.sed along the sandy sh.o.r.e, on which the huge breakers were rolling with a constantly increasing power, the boys noticed that Mr. Benton had already beached his boat, and had commenced to load her with sand.

"He ought to know better than to put a flat-bottomed boat on there with the wind from this quarter," observed Judd, sagely. "If the wind increases, as I think it will, she'll pound to pieces there in no time; and even if he's lucky enough to get her off before that happens, he can't get up into his cove with her to-day."

"Why not?" asked Mr. Boyd, with some show of interest.

"Because she has no keel or center-board, and can't hold herself for a moment against the wind. Just as sure as he clears the point with her the wind will drive her straight ahead for our island, or by the west end of it, on to the 'The Hummocks.' See if it don't turn out as I tell you."

"You are right," Budd quietly a.s.sented--"unless, as you suggested, before she goes down under him. That sand is heavy, and if he only puts on a half-load, it will sink her well down into the water. A rough sea may flood her, and between the water and the sand she will surely sink.

Possibly he will think of this, and be wise enough to leave her where she is at the risk of her being stove up."

"I don't think so," went on Judd, quickly. "The first board that starts off of her will make him think she is going to pieces right there, and to save her he will try to get her off sh.o.r.e, and that means no chance for the boat, and only half a chance for himself."