Four Afloat Part 42

Have you ever, dear Reader, sat down in a chair when it wasn't there? Or skated to skim ice supposing it to be two inches thick? Have you ever stood at the net, with the eyes of the "gallery" upon you, and smiled grimly and yet pityingly as you swung your racket up for the overhead smash that was to "kill" the ball, and then hit only air? If you have ever done any of these things you can have a dim idea, at least, of how Nelson and Bob and Tom looked and felt when Dan, alternately scowling like a desperado and grinning like a Chinese idol, opened the stateroom door and walked out upon them!

I would tell you just what each one said when he found his voice, only Barry kept up such a barking and Tommy such a stuttering that the remarks were anything but intelligible. And the same may be said of the conversation which followed for the next ten minutes. Dan explained and defended and the others questioned and accused; and Barry barked hilariously and enjoyed it all immensely. But in the course of time order evolved from chaos, and with returning calmness came returning hunger. Tom stopped "dropping st.i.tches" and hurriedly put luncheon on the table. And by the time it was ready the _Vagabond_ was tied up at the wharf where the _Sylph_ belonged. At table Dan gave the first clear, orderly narration of events.

"You see," he said, "when I got home I found that dad was getting ready to take a late train to Meriden on some business or other. But that wouldn't give us much time with each other, so he said that if I'd come along he'd take the Norwich boat at six and go on from here this morning at 7.40. So that's what we did."

"We never thought about the boat," said Nelson sadly.

"We got in about five this morning and had breakfast aboard. Then I showed dad the boat and he thought she was swell. Luckily I had the key with me and could get inside. Of course I was surprised to find you fellows weren't aboard, but I thought maybe you'd gone to the hotel for dinner last night and that it had rained so hard you'd decided to spend the night there. But Barry was here and maybe he wasn't glad to see me!

Well, about half-past seven I saw dad off on the train. Then I came back and didn't have anything to do. So I thought I'd like to see if I could run her myself. I'd watched Nel lots of times and was pretty sure I could do it. So I tried and there wasn't any trouble at all. I thought you fellows would come along about eight and find the boat gone and have a fit. Then I was going to come back in time for the last spasm. But she went so well and it was such fun that I went farther than I meant to, and all of a sudden she got peeved and began to cut up."

"How?" asked Nelson.

"She lost sparks and pretty near stopped. 'Me to the rescue,' thinks I.

I'd seen you do stunts with the vaporizer thing, you know, so I tried my hand. Well, first thing I knew she wouldn't go a foot! Just spit and sighed and sulked. I turned that wheel over about a thousand times, I'll bet! Took my coat off and then my vest, and wilted my collar, but there was nothing doing. 'Then,' thinks I, 'it's up to little Dannie to do some towing.' So I put the tender over and came down to change my clothes. That's where I fell down."

"I should think so," said Bob disgustedly.

"You see," continued Dan, with a grin, "I hadn't slept very well on the boat coming from New York and I'd got up early. So I was awfully sleepy and tired. 'So,' says I to myself, 'I'll just lie down here on the bunk a minute and rest up'; I knew I had a hard job ahead of me. Well, that's about all I remember until I woke up a while ago and smelled coffee; I guess it was the coffee that woke me. At first, when Nelson sung out and told me you were three to one, I thought I was still dreaming. Then I did some thinking and guessed that somehow or other you'd taken me for some one else. I didn't know what the gag was, but I thought I'd see it through. When you told me to hand over my revolver I remembered Bob's and got that out. I did what I could for you, you see. But I came near spoiling it by laughing. When I heard Nel's stern voice I thought I'd have to stuff a pillow in my mouth!"

"It's good you didn't get gay and come through the door," said Nelson grimly. "If you had you'd been laid out with a monkey wrench on the side of your head."

"That would have been a wrench," laughed Dan. "Give me some more of the hash, Tommy; it's the best ever."

After luncheon was over they decided to go on and try to make New Haven that evening. It was not yet three o'clock and they would have four hours and a half of daylight in which to cover about forty-five miles.

So the tender was hoisted aboard and the _Vagabond_ was cast loose from the wharf, and twenty minutes later they left the river water and turned westward. Bob gave a grunt of satisfaction.

"Well," he said, "I'm glad to see the last of that place. I'd begun to think that we were going to spend the rest of the summer there!"

A moment later Tom pointed out the Seamont Inn where it stood on a hill a short distance back from the sh.o.r.e. And for the next half hour he regaled Dan with a history of his brief connection with that hostelry.

It was an ideal afternoon, with the hot sunshine tempered by a cool breeze from the southwest. On the starboard the picturesque Connecticut sh.o.r.e lay near at hand, jutting out into little promontories and retreating to form charming bays and inlets. On their other side, the distant sh.o.r.e of Long Island showed blue and hazy across the smooth waters of the Sound.

They made New Haven at a little after seven, found anchorage and rowed ash.o.r.e in the tender. They had dinner ash.o.r.e, idled away an hour about town afterwards and turned in early. The next morning they paid a visit to the post office and were rewarded with a good-sized bunch of mail.

Then Dan telegraphed his folks to expect them for dinner that evening, and at nine o'clock they were on their way again. There followed an enjoyable but uneventful day. There was plenty to look at, since the Sound was alive with boats of all sorts and descriptions. They pa.s.sed Stamford at one o'clock, the _Vagabond_ taking up the miles and tossing them astern in a very businesslike manner. Once in the East River it was necessary to slow down on account of the traffic. Ferry boats and excursion steamers persisted in getting in the way, and sailing yachts and launches were everywhere. At a few minutes before six the _Vagabond_ sidled up to a wharf near the end of Fifty-first Street and was made fast for the night. Dan's father knew the owner of the property-Dan had often gone in bathing from that very spot when a few years younger-and the watchman promised to keep an eye on the launch. They made very swell toilets and then piled out for a walk across town to Dan's house.

That evening was a merry one. It was good to sit down once more at a table a-glimmer with cut gla.s.s and radiant with white napery and flowers; in fact, it was good to be at home again, even if the home didn't happen to belong to them all. Mr. and Mrs. Speede, who were old friends since the Four had spent several days there the preceding summer before their walking trip, made Bob and Nelson and Tom feel quite as much at home there as Dan himself; although I don't believe much compulsion was necessary in Tom's case; Tom would have made himself at home anywhere. Mr. Speede was much interested in the story of their trip, and especially in the adventure with Captain Sauder and Spencer Floyd.

"Well," he said, "it's too bad the captain got him again, for that's just what happened, I guess, but you boys did all you could and I wouldn't have had you do any less."

"I suppose the poor kid's halfway up North by this time," observed Bob.

"And getting his lickings regular," added Nelson.

"Maybe not, though," said Tom hopefully. "Maybe he found another chance to run away and made a go of it."

"Well, let's hope so," said Mr. Speede. "Now, how do you boys feel about a visit to one of the roof gardens? It's late, but I guess we can see something of the show. At least we can keep cool."

What they said was quite flattering to their host and to roof gardens.

Bedtime came very late that night and breakfast time very late the next morning. It was an insufferably hot day in the city and that fact made them less regretful over leaving the comforts of Dan's home. But the Speedes were busy getting ready to go to the country and even Tom felt that their presence wasn't exactly necessary to Mrs. Speede's happiness.

Besides, their cruise was nearing its end, since the last letter that Nelson had received from his father made it plain that the _Vagabond_ was expected back at Boston in a few days. So the Four said good-by at eleven and returned to the launch. They were to head for Boston, but as they had four or five days in which to get there, they proposed to stop once or twice along the Long Island sh.o.r.e on the way. But first it was necessary to put in gasoline, and to that end they dropped down the river to a wharf near the Brooklyn Bridge where that necessity was sold.

The fogs which made that summer well remembered along the coast had not yet taken their departure, and on the river distant objects were veiled in gray haze. So the _Vagabond_ made the trip very cautiously, keeping a sharp watch for ferry boats, which, as every experienced launch knows, are blundering, awkward things which would just as lief run you down as not. But the wharf was made without misadventure and the _Vagabond_ snuggled up to its side under the counter of a small schooner. While Nelson and Dan went ash.o.r.e to order the gasoline Bob and Tom busied themselves cleaning up about the deck. It was while engaged at this task that Tom heard voices almost overhead. One of the voices sounded familiar in a dim sort of way and he began to wonder who was talking.

From where he was he could not see the persons, for they were on the deck of the schooner and hidden by her rail. But presently Tom climbed to the cabin roof and craned his head. The next moment he was down again and out of sight in the c.o.c.kpit. He had glimpsed only the heads and shoulders of two men. One was a well-dressed man, evidently a landsman, and Tom had never seen him before. But the other, and Tom had needed but the briefest glance to satisfy himself of the fact, was Captain Sauder!

Excitedly he dragged Bob into the engine room and told him. Bob laughed.

"Nonsense, Tommy!" he said. "Captain Sauder's up North somewhere by this time."

"Look yourself!" answered Tom. "But du-du-du-don't let him su-su-see you!"

"I will," answered Bob. But it wasn't necessary, for as he returned to the c.o.c.kpit his eyes traveled upward over the schooner's stern and there in gold letters was the name:

HENRY NELLIS NEW YORK

Impatiently they awaited the return of Nelson and Dan, keeping well out of sight the while. Presently the voices ceased, but whether the captain and the other man had left the schooner or merely moved away from the stern there was no telling. Nelson and Dan were back a moment later and listened eagerly to the news.

"What's to be done?" asked Bob.

"Keep out of sight," answered Nelson promptly, "until we've got our gasoline in and then move away as quietly as we can."

"And leave Spencer?" asked Dan incredulously.

"No, but if the captain sees us here we'll never have a show to see the boy. What we want to do is to keep out of sight. One of us, though, ought to stay around here and find out how long the schooner's going to be here and whether Spencer is aboard of her. And Bob's a good chap to do that."

"Let me do it!" begged Dan.

"You! He'd recognize you first time he set eyes on you! You don't think, do you, that he's likely to forget a fellow that's looked at him along a revolver barrel?"

Dan gave in.

"I'll get into sh.o.r.e clothes," said Bob, "and try to look as little as possible as I did when he saw me last. You tell me where you'll be so that I can find you." And he hurried down to the stateroom. When he returned Dan pretended not to know him, declaring finally that the "disgust" was perfect. Then, very carelessly, Bob climbed to the wharf and sauntered out of sight. During the operation of filling the gasoline tank the remaining three kept as much as possible out of sight, although they neither heard nor saw anything more of Captain Sauder. Finally, casting loose from the wharf, they pushed the _Vagabond_ quietly away along the side of the _Henry Nellis_ until they had rounded the end of the pier and were out of sight from the schooner. Then they dropped down the river until there were three wharves between them and the _Nellis_ and found a new berth.

CHAPTER XXIV-WHEREIN SPENCER FLOYD LEAVES THE _HENRY NELLIS_

"Now what?" asked Dan when the _Vagabond_ had been made fast in her new quarters at the end of a file of disreputable ca.n.a.l boats. "How are we going to get hold of Spencer?"

"It's a heap easier to ask questions than to answer them," replied Nelson. "Anyone got any suggestions?"

Of course every one had, but none of them were practical and they were still discussing the problem when Bob arrived on the scene.

"What did you find out?" asked Nelson and Dan as one. Bob looked surprisedly about the circle to the accompaniment of Barry's tapping tail.

"Isn't there going to be any luncheon?" he asked.

"Thunder!" cried Tom. "What time is it? I forgot all about it!"