Little Bobtail Part 35

"Have you been talking with any one about this business, Ben c.h.i.n.ks?"

demanded the smuggler, shaking his clinched fist in the face of his nephew.

"I didn't tell him nothin'; he told me, and he said he took that stuff off your hands, and was goin' to have the next lot; he said you oughtn't to land the stuff on that island, and wanted to know how we happened to let the boat go adrift."

"And you told him?" gasped the captain.

"What was the use of my tellin' on him, when he knowed all about it? O, he said you and I had both been takin' too much. He was kind o' jokin', but I stuck to it that we was as sober as he was. I did tell him how the boat got adrift; but he told me all the rest."

"Ben, you are a fool!"

"I tell you he knowed all about it," whined the nephew.

"You've made a pretty mess of it."

"I didn't do it. He knowed all about it afore, and I s'posed you told him."

"I told him nothing. I never said a word to him. Don't you know the man's name?"

"No, I don't. He wouldn't tell me, nor Bob nuther."

"Well, I know who he is," groaned Captain c.h.i.n.ks, pounding the trunk of the cabin with his fist, and grating his teeth with rage.

"Who is he?"

"He's a custom-house officer."

"Sho! you don't say so!" cried Ben, with horror, for he regarded a custom-house officer in about the same light that he did a hangman.

"You've told him all about it," added the Captain.

"I didn't tell him nothin'; he knowed it all before.'

"All we can do now is to get out of the way. Where is this man?"

"I don'no; I hain't seen him to-day. There's the Skylark," replied Ben, pointing to the yacht.

"Is he on board of her?"

"No."

"Are you sure of it?"

"Sartain, I am. I see Bobtail start off in her alone."

"We must get out of the way, but I don't know where to go to," groaned the captain. "I cal'late you've ruined me, Ben."

"I didn't do it," protested the nephew. "I keep a tellin' on you, he knowed all about it in the fust on't."

"Get up your fore'n mainsail. We must get out of this as quick as we can."

"You can't kerry the foresail. It blows like Sam Hill, and squally, too."

"Hist the mainsail then."

This sail was set, but the moment they began to hoist it, Mr. Hines made the signal agreed upon, by waving his handkerchief on the wharf, for the return of the Skylark. The steamer had gone, and most of the people had left the wharf by this time. Bobtail, who was on the lookout for the signal, saw it immediately, and headed the yacht for the pier. As Ben c.h.i.n.ks had remarked, it blew hard, and the wind came in heavy flaws. The Skylark had a single reef in her mainsail, and the jib was furled, but even with this short canvas she flew like a bird.

"There goes the Eagle," shouted Monkey from the forecastle.

"Who's on board of her?" asked Bobtail.

"I reckon it's Captain c.h.i.n.ks; it looks like him."

The skipper looked at the boat through the spy-gla.s.s, and identified the captain.

"He's trying to get away," said he.

"What for?" asked Monkey, who was in blissful ignorance of the smuggling operation of the captain.

"You will soon know," replied Bobtail.

The Eagle, under jib and mainsail, was standing out of the harbor, and the Skylark had to pa.s.s her on her way to the wharf. Captain c.h.i.n.ks was at the helm himself, and at that moment, as he gazed at Little Bobtail, he was the maddest man on the waters of Maine. Both boats were going free, and when they were nearly abreast of each other, and not a hundred feet apart, the captain suddenly put up his helm, and the Eagle darted towards the Skylark, as if she shared the spite of her skipper, and as an eagle would pounce upon a skylark.

"Down with your helm!" shouted Bobtail, full of excitement, for the danger of a collision was imminent.

If the Skylark had held on her course, she would have been struck amidships by the bow of the Eagle; but Bobtail jammed his helm hard down, the result of which was to throw the yacht up into the wind, and bring her alongside the other craft. As it was, the Eagle's bow grated along the quarter of the Skylark. Bobtail supposed that Captain c.h.i.n.ks intended to board the yacht, and he instantly seized the spare tiller, which he always carried in the standing-room when it blew hard, and stood ready to "repel boarders." But the captain did not intend to capture the Skylark. Probably he intended to sink her; but his purposes were only known to himself. The sails of the Eagle were still full, and she continued on her course.

"Keep out of the way next time!" shouted Captain c.h.i.n.ks.

Bobtail made no reply, but filled away again, and in a few minutes was at the wharf. Mr. Hines and Mr. Brooks leaped on board.

"After him, Bobtail," cried the detective, earnestly, as he shoved off the bow of the boat.

"He has heard all about it from Ben, and is going to run away. Hurry up."

The Skylark was clear of the wharf, and coming about, was headed towards the Eagle.

"Is Captain c.h.i.n.ks's boat fast?" asked Mr. Hines.

"Yes, sir; but it blows too hard for her to-day. She don't carry sail worth a cent," replied Bobtail.

"How is it with the Skylark?"

"She is the ablest boat I know."

"Good! Then we have the advantage."

"Hoist the jib, Monkey," shouted the skipper.