Fitz the Filibuster Part 12

"But my head swims so, sir."

"Exactly. That's only another sign. You are eating well now, and getting quite yourself. But I am going to prescribe you another dose."

"Physic?" said Fitz, with a look of disgust.

"Yes, fresh air physic. I want you to take it very coolly for the next few days, but to keep on deck always except in the hottest times. In another week you won't know yourself."

"Hah!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the boy. "Then now, sir--don't think me ungrateful, for n.o.body could be kinder to me than you and Poole here have shown yourselves since I have been aboard."

"Thank you, my lad, for both of us," said the skipper, smiling good-humouredly. "I am glad you give such ruffians as we are so good a character. But you were going to say something."

"Yes, sir," said the boy excitedly, and he cleared his voice, which had grown husky.

"Go on, then. You are beating about the bush as if you had some favour to ask. What is it?"

"I want," cried Fitz excitedly, and his cheeks flushed and eyes flashed--"I want you, sir," he repeated, "now that you say I'm better and fit to get about--"

"On deck," said the skipper dryly.

"Oh yes, and anywhere as soon as this giddiness has pa.s.sed off... I want you now, sir, to set me ash.o.r.e."

"Hah! Yes," said the skipper slowly. "I knew we were coming to that."

"Why, of course, sir. Think of what I must have suffered and felt."

"I thought Poole here had done his best to make you comfortable, my lad."

"Oh yes, and he has, sir," cried the boy, turning to look full in his attendant's eyes. "He has been a splendid fellow, sir. n.o.body could have been kinder to me than he has, even at my worst times, when I was so ill and irritable that I behaved to him like a surly brute."

"It's your turn now, Poole," growled the skipper, "to say 'Thank you'

for that."

"But you must feel, sir, how anxious and worried I must be--how eager to get back to my ship. In another day or two, Captain Reed, I shall be quite well enough to go. Promise me, sir, that you will set me ash.o.r.e."

The skipper had pursed up his lips as if he were going to whistle for the wind, and he turned his now frowning face to look steadfastly at his son, who met his eyes with a questioning gaze, while the midshipman looked anxiously from one to the other, as if seeking to catch an encouraging look which failed to come.

At last the boy broke the silence again, trying to speak firmly; but, paradoxically, weakness was too strong, and his voice sounded cracked as he cried, almost pitifully--

"Oh, Captain Reed! Promise me you will now set me ash.o.r.e!"

The skipper was silent for a few moments, before turning his face slowly to meet the appealing look in the boy's eyes.

"Set you ash.o.r.e?" he said gruffly.

"Yes, sir, please. Pray do!"

And the answer came--

"Where, my boy? Where?"

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

THOUGHTS OF HOME.

Fitz Burnett looked wonderingly at the skipper as if he did not comprehend the bearings of the question. "Where?" he faltered. "Yes; you asked me to set you ash.o.r.e. I say, where?"

"Oh, at any American or English port, sir."

"Do you know how far we are from the nearest?"

"No; I have no idea how far we have come."

"Never mind that," said the skipper gravely. "Let's take it from another way of thinking. Do you know what it means for me to set you ash.o.r.e at some port?"

"Oh yes, sir: that I shall be able to communicate with any English vessel, and get taken back to Liverpool."

"Well," said the skipper grimly, "you are a young sailor, but I am afraid that you have very small ideas about the size of the world. I dare say, though, that would be possible, sooner or later, for you go to very few ports now-a-days without coming across a ship flying British colours. It would be all right for you; but what about me?"

Fitz looked at him wonderingly again. "What about you, sir?" he stammered. "I was not thinking about you, but about myself."

"That wanted no telling, my lad. It's plain enough. You were not thinking about me, but I was. Look here, my boy. Do you know what my setting you ash.o.r.e means just now?"

"Yes, sir," said the boy sharply. "Getting rid of a very troublesome pa.s.senger."

"Oh, you think so, do you? Well, I'll tell you what I think. It would mean getting rid of one troublesome pa.s.senger, as you call yourself, and taking a dozen worse ones on board in the shape of a prize crew. Why, young Burnett, it would mean ruin to me and to my friends, whose money has been invested in this cargo."

"Oh no, _no_, sir. I am alone out here, and my captain's vessel is far away. I couldn't go and betray you, even if I wanted to. You could set me ash.o.r.e and sail away at once. That's all I want you to do."

"Sweet innocency!" said the skipper mockingly. "But I won't set it down to artfulness. I think you are too much of a gentleman for that. But do you hear him, Poole? Nice ideas he has for a beardless young officer in Her Majesty's Navy. Why, do you mean to tell me, sir, you know nothing about international politics, and a peculiar little way that they have now-a-days of flashing a bit of news all round the world in a few minutes of time? Don't you think that after that bit of a turn up off Liverpool way, a full description of my schooner and her probable destination has been wired across the Atlantic, and that wherever I attempted to land you, it would be for the port officials to step on board and tap me on the shoulder with a kindly request to give an account of myself?"

"I didn't think of that," said Fitz, slowly.

"No," said the skipper. "You thought that I could hail the first ship I saw, or sail up to the side of a quay, pitch you ash.o.r.e, and sail off again. Why, Fitz Burnett, as soon as I came in sight I should be overhauled, seized, delayed for certain, and in all probability end by losing schooner, cargo, and my liberty."

"Surely it would not be so bad as that, sir?"

"Surely it would be worse. No, my lad; I am sorry for you. I regret the ugly accident by which you were knocked over; but you are thinking, as we said before, about your position, your duty. I have got to think of mine. Now, here's yours; you came on board here, unasked and unseen until the next morning when we had put a good many knots between us and your gunboat. It was impossible to land you, and so we made the best of it and treated you as well as we could. Time is money to me now, and my coming up punctually means something much more valuable than hard cash to the people I have come to see. To be plain, I can't waste, even if I were so disposed, any time for sailing into port to put you ash.o.r.e."

"Never mind that, then, sir," cried Fitz excitedly. "Speak the first vessel you see, of any country, under any flag, and put me aboard there."

"No, my lad," said the skipper sternly. "And I can't do that. I am going to speak no ships. My work is to sail away and hold communication with no one. I have no need to make all this explanation to you, my boy, but I am doing it because we are sorry for you, and want to make things as easy as we can. Now, look here, you are a sensible lad, and you must learn to see your position. I can do nothing for you beyond treating you well, until I have made my port, run my cargo of knick-knacks, and cleared for home. By that time I shall have a clean bill of health, and be ready to look all new-comers in the face."

"But how long will that be, sir?" cried Fitz excitedly.

"Dunno, my lad. It depends on what's going on over yonder. If all goes smooth it may be only a month; if all goes rough, perhaps two, or three.

I may be dodging about a long while. Worse still, my schooner may be taken, condemned, and my crew and I clapped in irons in some Spanish-American prison, to get free n.o.body knows when."