The Coming Wave Part 11

"The room is directly over this parlor, and if it dropped into the chimney, it must have come down into this fireplace," replied Leopold.

"I am sure nothing was ever seen of it."

They examined the flue of the Franklin stove, and Miss Liverage was satisfied with the young man's statement in regard to its construction.

"Some one may have picked it up and put it away," suggested the nurse.

"There was a summer piece fastened into the front of this stove, which was not taken down till I removed it to make the fire when you came. If the diary had been there, I should have found it. But I will search the whole house for it, though I am of Harvey Barth's opinion, that some one stole the book. If any person saw him put it into the flue, as Harvey thought the drummer did, he might have supposed it was something very valuable. Why should he take so much pains to hide it, if it was not? If the drummer did not take it himself, he may have told somebody else, who did steal it. If he had left the diary on the table, n.o.body would have touched it, I know. It was all because he hid it, that he lost it."

Miss Liverage was sure the diary was still in the house, and during that and the next day, while the storm lasted, Leopold searched the hotel from cellar to garret. He did not find the key to the hidden treasure of High Rock. The nurse searched for herself, so far as she could do so without exciting the suspicions of the hotel people; but she was no more successful than her confidant in the secret. If the diary was in the house, it could not be found. The structure of the chimney, in which the flue of the fireplace was built, was carefully examined; and Leopold's conclusion seemed to be fully verified. Miss Liverage was reluctantly compelled to abandon all hope of finding the coveted volume.

The storm ended, and the sun shone again. The wind came fresh and cold from the north-west. The nurse looked from the windows of the hotel upon the waters of the river, which, sheltered from the force of the blast, were as smooth as an inland pond though the waves rolled up white and angry beyond the point. The guest at the Cliff House, though she had given up all expectation of finding the diary, had not abandoned the hope of obtaining the hidden treasure.

"Now, Leopold, we must go to the beach under High Rock," said she, after the storm was over.

"What is the use of going there, if you don't know where the money is hidden?" demanded the boatman.

"I think I can find the place," replied Miss Liverage. "Harvey told me where it was; but I can't think of the names he used in telling me. I was pretty sure I should find the diary, when I left New York."

"If you want to go to High Rock, I will take you down there in the boat," added Leopold.

"I'm afraid of boats. Can't we go by land?"

"Not very well. My boat is as stiff as a man-of-war, and you can go a great deal easier in her than you can climb over the rocks on the other side of the river."

Miss Liverage considered the matter, and after dinner she decided to undertake the hazardous trip, as she regarded it. She had an engagement the next week in New York, and she could not remain in Rockhaven more than a day or two longer. What she did must be done at once. Mr.

Bennington was astonished when he saw his son taking her out to sail on such a chilly, bl.u.s.tering day; but he always allowed his guests to suit themselves, and offered no objection to the expedition. Leopold seated his timid pa.s.senger in the standing-room, and shoved off the boat. In the river she made smooth sailing of it; but the instant she pa.s.sed the range of the high bluff on the north sh.o.r.e, the No-Name plunged into a heavy sea, burying her bow deep in a foam-crested billow, whose dense spray drenched the water-proof of Miss Liverage, and it seemed to her as if the end of all things had come.

"Mercy on us!" screamed she, trying to rise from her seat, as the bow of the boat was lifted far up by the wave.

"Sit down, Miss Liverage," said Leopold, pushing her back into her seat.

"We shall be drowned!" cried the terrified pa.s.senger.

"This is nothing; the boat is doing first rate," answered Leopold.

"I shall be wet to the skin," she added, as another cloud of spray was dashed over her. The skipper went to the cuddy, forward, and brought from it an old oil-cloth coat, which he spread over his pa.s.senger.

Though this garment protected her from the spray, the angry waves were still a vivid terror to her, and the skipper vainly a.s.sured her there was no danger. Letting off the main sheet, he put the boat before the wind, and then she rolled, pitched, and floundered, till Miss Liverage declared she was frightened out of her life.

"Don't be alarmed. There! you can see the ledges now where the Waldo went to pieces," added Leopold, pointing to the black rocks, now in sight, upon which the white foam broke at every surge of the sea.

"I can't see anything, Leopold," gasped Miss Liverage, holding on to the washboard with both hands. "Do go back as fast as you can."

"But you can't find the money if you don't go and look for it."

"I don't care for the money. I wouldn't stay out here another minute for the whole of it," protested the pa.s.senger.

She pleaded so earnestly that Leopold finally came about, and beat his way back to the river, and soon landed her in front of the hotel. She declared she would not get into a boat again for all the treasure hidden in the bowels of the earth.

Miss Liverage was satisfied that Leopold was both honest and zealous, and she finally concluded to commit to him the search for the buried money. The next day she started for home, disappointed and disheartened at the result of her visit to Rockhaven, though she had some hope that her confidant might yet discover the treasure.

CHAPTER VIII.

AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY.

The landlord of the Cliff House was a man who attended to his own business to the exclusion of that of others, and he did not trouble himself any further about the affairs of his guest, though his curiosity was somewhat excited at first. Leopold "was not happy" in being obliged to conceal his thoughts and actions from his father; but then Mr.

Bennington did not question him in regard to her conduct after he was a little accustomed to the ways of Miss Liverage. The young man did not place much reliance upon the statements of the nurse. He had heard and read about "money-diggers" before. He was familiar with the story of Wolfert Webber, who had dug over the whole of his cabbage garden in search of hidden treasure, and he had no little contempt for those who allowed themselves to be carried away by such vain and silly illusions.

While he had no doubt that Miss Liverage was in earnest, he had little confidence in the existence of the hidden treasure at High Rock.

Though Leopold did not intend to become a Wolfert Webber, and dig over half a mile of beach under the cliffs, he admitted to himself the possibility of the existence of the treasure. He had promised the nurse that he would search for the money, and he did so; but he felt that the task was like "looking for a needle in a hay-mow," and he abandoned it before he had made himself ridiculous in his own estimation. He wrote a letter to the nurse, who had given him her address in New York, informing her of the ill success of his endeavors. She answered the letter, giving him further instructions, saying that the money was buried not more than a foot below the surface of the beach, and near a projecting rock. Probably when she was less excited than during her visit to Rockhaven, her memory had recalled some of the statements of Harvey Barth; for certainly she had said nothing so definite as this when she was with Leopold.

The young man, aided by these directions, which certainly were not very precise, made another attempt to find the treasure. There was more than one "projecting rock," and he dug over all the sand and gravel to the depth of a foot in the vicinity of every part of the cliff which answered to the description given. He worked very hard, and the boatmen who saw him at his labors wondered if he expected to find clams so far up on the beach.

He found neither clams nor money; and when he had finished the search he was more than ever dissatisfied with himself for being led away by such a chimera. He wrote to Miss Liverage again, informing her of the continued failure of his efforts, and declaring that he would not "fool with the matter" any longer. The nurse did not answer his last letter and it was evident that she too had "lost hope." Leopold never heard anything more from her or about her, and in a few weeks he had forgotten all about the "hidden treasure of High Rock," for he did not believe there was any treasure there, and it was not pleasant for him to remember that he had made a fool of himself.

Leopold and Stumpy went to school together during the winter, and continued to be as good friends as ever. Mrs. Wormbury struggled with her hard lot, and Squire Moses still threatened to take possession of the cottage. The Cliff House prospered in its small way, and the landlord still nursed his grand project of having a big hotel in Rockhaven. During the next season Leopold did very well with his boat, both with the fishing and with the "jobs" from the hotel. He saved his money and still kept it in the iron safe of Herr Schlager, who was as proud of and as devoted as ever to his nephew. In the spring, the question for the name of the new boat came up again, and the skipper was prepared to settle the question. Among the guests at the hotel in the summer, was the family of the Hon. Franklin Hamilton, a wealthy merchant of New York, who was a native of Rockhaven. They had spent a few days at the Cliff House for several seasons, though it was painfully apparent to the landlord that his accommodations were not satisfactory to his distinguished and wealthy guests, for the time they spent at the house was very brief. The family consisted of Mr. Hamilton, his wife and an only daughter. They always wanted to sail when they came to Rockhaven, but Ben Chipman's boat did not suit them. Leopold did not buy his sloop till after they had gone; but he congratulated himself upon the fact that when they came the next season he should be able to sail them in a boat which was good enough for any nabob in the land.

Being in funds in the spring, he fitted up the sloop very nicely, and could not help antic.i.p.ating the pleasure it would afford him to sail the Hamiltons, especially the daughter, who, at the age of fourteen, was a very pretty girl. Revelling in these delightful thoughts, it suddenly occurred to him that he might give the young lady's name to the boat. It was certainly a very pretty name for so jaunty a craft as the sloop. It was Rosabel. In another week it appeared in gilt letters on the stern of the boat. In the summer the family came again. Rosabel was taller and prettier than ever, and Leopold actually realized all his pleasant and romantic antic.i.p.ations, as he sailed her and her parents about the bay.

Mr. Hamilton engaged the boat for every day during his stay, which was prolonged to a whole week, or twice as long as he usually remained; for Rosabel was so pleased with the water excursions that her father extended his visit at her desire. Probably Leopold had as much romance in his nature as most young men of seventeen, and after his first full season in the Rosabel, the beautiful face and form of Miss Hamilton were a very distinct image in his mind, often called up, and often the subject of his meditations, though he could not help thinking of the wide gulf that yawned between the daughter of the rich merchant and the son of the humble landlord of a small hotel.

In the fall of the year, Leopold observed that his father was making frequent visits to Squire Moses Wormbury; and it soon came out that the rich man was to loan the landlord six thousand dollars, to enable the latter to make his contemplated improvements upon the hotel. The squire was to have this sum on the first of January, and though Mr. Bennington did not want it for several months, he consented to take it at that time; for Squire Moses would not allow it to remain a single month uninvested. The landlord was confident that he could make money enough on the new hotel to pay off the mortgage in three years. As soon as the snow melted in the spring, the work was commenced. The old portion of the hotel was partly torn to pieces, and for a time business was very good at the Island Hotel, for the Cliff House was closed.

Both the landlord and his son, pleasurably excited by the alterations in progress, worked with their own hands. Among other changes, the parlor chimney was taken down, and Leopold took a hand in the job, enjoying the operation of tumbling down to the cellar great ma.s.ses of brick.

"Hold on, Le," shouted the mason who was at work with him, when they had removed the chimney as far as the level of the parlor floor. "What's that?"

The mason pointed to a bundle which was lodged in an opening back of the flue of the Franklin stove that had stood in the parlor. It was covered with bricks and lime dust, but the mason brought it to the surface with his iron bar.

"I know what it is," exclaimed Leopold, as he picked up the package, and knocked it several times against a part.i.tion in order to remove the soot and dust from it.

It was the oil-cloth containing the diary of Harvey Barth.

Leopold was somewhat excited by the discovery, and all the incidents of Miss Sarah Liverage's visit to the hotel came back fresh to his mind, though they had occurred eighteen months before.

"What is it?" asked the mason, whose curiosity was excited by the event.

"It is a book that belonged to Harvey Barth, the steward of the Waldo, which was wrecked off High Rock," replied Leopold. "I will take care of it."

"But how came it in the chimney?" asked the workman.

"He put it in the flue of the fireplace, and it tumbled down."

"What did he put it in there for?"

"Because there was no closet in the room, and he was a very queer fellow. He is dead now."