Haste and Waste; Or, the Young Pilot of Lake Champlain. A Story for Young People by - (top 100 books to read txt) 📗

mortgage on the place had been canceled. Mrs. Wilford was profuse in the expression of her gratitude to him for his kindness to the family, and hoped that Lawry and his father would be able to pay him back the whole sum.

"Mrs. Wilford, so far as gratitude and obligation are concerned, the balance is still largely against me. Millions of dollars would not pay the debt I owe to your son."

"Oh, Lawry don't think anything of that, sir!"

"But I do. Madam, if your son had been five minutes later than he was when the little steamer went down, Miss Fanny Grant would certainly have been drowned, and my wife would doubtless have shared her fate. And when I think that this exposure of their precious lives was my own fault; that my wife and her sister had nearly perished by my foolish haste and recklessness, I feel like giving every dollar I have in the world to Lawry. You don't understand this matter as I do, Mrs. Wilford."

"I didn't think you were in any great danger."

"Miss Fanny would certainly have been drowned; and I don't think it would have been possible for me to save my wife, for I was nearly exhausted when Lawry came. Now, Mrs. Wilford, do you suppose I shall mind one, two, or ten thousand dollars, where my brave deliverer is concerned? In one word, I will never take a dollar which I have expended for Lawry or the family. Your son is a manly and independent boy, and I don't like to hurt his feelings; so I shall not say anything about this money at present."

"Lawry is a good boy," said Mrs. Wilford proudly.

"He is worth his weight in gold. I am sorry your oldest son is not more like him."

"I don't know what to think of Benjamin."

"Where is he now?"

"I don't know; I haven't seen him since the steamer left, this morning."

"Lawry is a good deal troubled about the ferry-boat."

"He needn't be."

"Can you hire a man to run the boat?"

"Yes; I can get a boy who will do it for half a dollar a day, and be glad of the chance. I will engage one."

"Lawry goes to Burlington to-night to take out a party to-morrow."

"To-night?"

"Yes; he must be there by eight in the morning."

Mrs. Wilford thought her son was having a hard time with the steamer; but she knew he would be satisfied as long as he was doing well. Mr. Sherwood, assured that there was nothing at home to detain the young pilot, left the house. Lawry soon after entered; but he had not time to tell his mother the particulars of his first trip on the Woodville. He could remain but a few moments, while the hands were "coaling up," from a cargo of coal deposited on the wharf that day, by the order of Mr. Sherwood.

At nine o'clock everything was ready for the departure. The fireman grumbled at being called upon to work at night; but Lawry promised to get another man to keep watch as soon as he could. It was a long day's work for all hands. When the young captain had gone to the wheel-house to start the boat, Mr. Sherwood rushed down the wharf, and jumped aboard.

"I was afraid I should be too late," said he, as Lawry met him on the main-deck. "I have been all over the village to find you another fireman, and I have succeeded in getting you a first-rate one—an old hand at the business."

"Thank you, sir; you are taking a great deal of trouble for me."

"There's another thing I quite forgot; I didn't pay you for the trip nor the dinners. Here is the money."

"I can't take it, Mr. Sherwood," protested Captain Lawry.

"But you must take it; if you don't I can't engage the boat again."

"Not from you, sir."

"I am more interested than any other person in your success with the steamer, and I insist that you take the money."

"I owe you for this cargo of coal, now."

"That was a present from Miss Fanny Grant."

"She is very generous."

"Generous! If she doesn't do more than that for you, I shall be ashamed of her. By the way, captain, she paid the bill for repairing the steamer at Port Henry."

"Indeed!" exclaimed Lawry, who had intended to discharge this debt with the first money he earned. "She is very kind. I don't deserve so much from her and you."

"More, my boy. We haven't done anything at my house but talk about you for a week. Now, you must be reasonable. We intended to give you a good start. Miss Grant wishes to put an upright pianoforte in the saloon. There is just room for it at the end of the stateroom on the starboard side. When that is put in, we shall let you alone. Now, Lawry, take this money; if you don't, I shall be offended."

"I don't like to do so," pleaded Lawry. "It makes me feel mean."

"It need not; take it, Lawry, for you will want money to provision your boat in the morning."

Captain Lawry took it, though it seemed to burn his fingers.

"Now, my boy, you shall have your own way. I will force nothing more on you, except what I fairly owe you, and you shall make your fortune without any help or hindrance from anybody."

"I owe you now—-"

"Silence, Lawry!" laughed Mr. Sherwood. "There comes your second fireman."

As the man came down the gangplank, he handed Mr. Sherwood a long package, done up in brown paper.

"One thing more, Lawry," said his munificent friend, as he led the way to the engine-room, which was lighted by a lantern. "Will you let me put this sign up over the front windows in the wheel-house?"

"Certainly, sir. What is it?"

"It is the motto of the steamer, and fully explains how I lost the boat," replied Mr. Sherwood, as he unrolled the package.

It was a small sign, about three feet in length, elegantly painted and gilded, on which was the motto:

HASTE AND WASTE.

"While you were at Port Henry, repairing the boat, I went up to Burlington, where I ordered this to be done. It came down to-day, and I want it put up in the wheel-house, where it will be constantly before your eyes, as the best axiom in the world for a steamboat man. It will be the history of the Woodville to you, and I hope you will always act upon it, never running your boat above a safe speed, nor leave your wharf when it is imprudent to do so."

"I shall be very glad to have those words always before me," replied
Lawry.

"When you are ready to go, captain, we are," said Mr. Sherwood.

"I'm all ready, sir."

Lawry turned, and to his astonishment saw Mrs. Sherwood and Miss
Fanny, who had been looking over his shoulder at the pretty sign.

"We are going with you, Captain Lawry," added Mr. Sherwood; "that is, if you won't charge us anything for our passage."

"I am very happy to have you as passengers," stammered Lawry.

"We are so much in love with your boat, Lawry, that we could not stay away from her," added Mrs. Sherwood.

"And her captain," said Miss Fanny.

Lawry was good for nothing at complimentary speeches, and he went aft to give the girls directions to light up the cabin and the two staterooms for the accommodation of his unexpected passengers.

"Where's Fanny Jane?" asked Ethan, when Mr. Sherwood had gone to the wheel-house to put up the motto.

"She is going to keep house for us while we are gone," replied Miss Fanny mischievously. "You were so unsocial to-day she would not come with us."

"I had to look out for the engine," pleaded Ethan.

"That was not the reason, Ethan," interposed Mrs. Sherwood. "You behaved splendidly."

"If you were twenty, instead of sixteen, Ethan, I should say you were in love with Fanny Jane," laughed Miss Fanny.

"Oh, nonsense!" exclaimed Ethan, blushing beneath his smutty face. "I like her, and after what we went through out West, I don't think it is very strange I should."

"You are right, Ethan. She is a good girl, and I hope you will like her more, rather than less."

"The saloon is ready for you, ladies," said Lawry, interrupting this pleasant conversation—very pleasant to Ethan, for without entering into an analysis of the young engineer's feelings, it is quite certain he thought a great deal of the companion of his wanderings in Minnesota; but fortunately he is not the hero of this book, and this interesting suggestion need not be followed out any further.

The little captain conducted the ladies to the saloon, and then hastened to the wheel-house, where Mr. Sherwood, by the light of a lantern in the hands of one of the boys, had screwed up the sign.

"Haul in the plank!" shouted Lawry, "Cast off the bow-line."

The Woodville backed till she was dear of the wharf, and then went ahead. Lawry knew the lake by night as well as by day, and he was perfectly at home at the wheel, not withstanding the darkness that lay in the steamer's path. One of the deck-hands was a boy of sixteen, who had served in a similar capacity on board the lake steamers, and was a good wheelman, though he knew nothing of the navigation of the lake, and steered only by the directions given him from time to time. Captain Lawry called this hand, and gave him the wheel, with orders to run for a certain headland several miles distant.

The young captain went below with Mr. Sherwood, to make his arrangements for the night. The second fireman had already been installed in the fire-room by Ethan, and the first had gone forward. A portion of the forehold of the steamer had been fitted up for the accommodation of the crew. It contained four berths, and was well ventilated by a skylight in the forecastle. In building the boat, Mr. Sherwood had insisted upon having everything put into her that was to be found in larger craft; and these quarters for the hands were now very convenient, if not indispensable.

Lawry gave one of these berths to the first fireman, and appropriated the other to the use of the second and the two deck-hands. The second boy was gaping fearfully on the forward deck, and was quite delighted when the captain told him he might turn in. On the starboard side of the steamer, forward of the wheels, were two very cunning little staterooms, the corresponding space on the port side being occupied by the kitchen and storerooms. One of these was for the engineer, and the other for the captain. Abaft the wheels, on each side, was a small stateroom, one of which had been designed for the captain. Both of these rooms had been appropriated to the cook and the two waiter girls. Mrs. Light, in the apartment of the commander, was quite delighted with her accommodations; but Mr. Sherwood declared that she deserved a princely couch for the good dinner she had served that day.

The two staterooms to be occupied by the passengers were taken out of the space that would otherwise have been park of the saloon, and were entered by doors on each side of the passageway leading to it. They were beautiful little rooms, though ladies in full crinoline might have been somewhat perplexed at their contracted dimensions. They were elegantly furnished, and Miss Fanny declared that her room made her think of the fairy palaces for little people, of which she had read in her childhood. There were twelve berths in the lower cabin, but these were not needed.

Having disposed of his crew for the night, Lawry returned to the wheel-house, where he was soon joined by his passengers, who spent an hour with him before they retired. At half-past ten they went to their rooms, and Lawry was alone. Not a sound was to be heard except the monotonous clang of the engine, and the lake was as silent in the gloom as though the shadow of death was upon it. There was a solemnity in the scene which impressed the young pilot, even accustomed as he was to the night and the silence. He was worn out by the labors and the excitement of the day, but he could not resist the inspiration which came from the quiet waters and the gloomy shores.

The Woodville sped on her way,