The Yacht Club; or, The Young Boat-Builder by Oliver Optic (important books to read txt) 📗

in a haymow, and I can't see it," snapped Donald.

"You can see that I came honorably by the money."

"Honestly by it; I am satisfied on that point," replied Donald. "If I had not been, I wouldn't have sold you the boat. You see I knew something of Captain Shivernock's movements about that time. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have believed that he gave it to you."

"Then you must have seen the captain at the same time."

"I didn't say I saw him," laughed Donald. "But the wind is breezing up, and we are half way over to Brigadier Island. Come about, Laud."

The skipper acceded to the request, and headed the Juno for Belfast.[244]

CHAPTER XIV. CAPTAIN SHIVERNOCK'S JOKE.

Donald considered himself shrewd, sharp, and smart, because he had induced Laud virtually to own that Captain Shivernock had given him the money to purchase his silence, but Donald was not half so shrewd, sharp, and smart as he thought he was.

"Mr. Cavendish, it's no use for us to mince this matter," he continued, determined further to draw out his companion, and feeling happy now, he was very respectful to him.

"Perhaps not, Don John."

"It can do no harm for you and me to talk over this matter. You saw Captain Shivernock on that Saturday morning—didn't you?"

"Of course, if I say I did, you will not let on about it—will you?"

"Not if I can help it; for the fact is, I am in the same boat with you."[245]

"Then you saw the captain."

"Of course I did."

"But what was he doing down there, that made him so particular to keep shady about it?"

"I haven't the least idea. It was the morning after Hasbrook was pounded to a jelly in his own house; but I am satisfied that the captain had nothing to do with it."

"I am not so sure of that," added Laud.

"I am. I went to the captain's house before he returned that day, and both Sykes and his wife told me he had left home at four o'clock that morning, and this was after the pounding was done. Besides, the captain was over on Long Island when I saw him. If he had done the deed, he would have got home before daylight, for the wind was fresh and fair. Instead of that, he was over at Turtle Head when I first saw him. The Juno got aground with him near Seal Harbor, which made him so mad he would not keep her any longer. He was mad because she wasn't a centre-boarder. I suppose after we parted he went over to the Lincolnville or Northport Shore, and hid till after dark in Spruce Harbor, Saturday Cove, or some such place. At any rate, I was at his house in the evening, when he came home."[246]

"The old fellow had been up to some trick, you may depend upon it," added Laud, sagely.

"I came to the conclusion that his desire to keep dark was only a whim, for he is the strangest man that ever walked the earth."

"That's so; but why should he give me such a pile if he hadn't been up to something?"

"And me another pile," added Donald. "We can talk this thing over between ourselves, but not a word to any other person."

"Certainly; I understand. I am paid for holding my tongue, and I intend to do so honorably."

"So do I, until I learn that there is something wrong."

"You have told me some things I did not know before, Don John," suggested Laud.

"You knew that the captain was down by Long Island."

"Yes, but I didn't know he was at Turtle Head; and I am satisfied now that he is the man that shook up Hasbrook that night," continued Laud, in meditative mood.

"Are you? Then I will let the whole thing out," exclaimed Donald.

"No, no! don't do that!" protested Laud. "That wouldn't be fair, at all."[247]

"I would not be a party to the concealment of such an outrage."

"You don't understand it. Hasbrook is a regular swindler."

"That is no reason why he should be pounded half to death in the middle of the night."

"He borrowed a thousand dollars of Captain Shivernock a short time before the outrage. The captain told him he would lend him the money if Hasbrook would give him a good indorser on the paper. After the captain had parted with the money, he ascertained that the indorser was not worth a dollar. Hasbrook had told him the name was that of a rich farmer, and of course the captain was mad. He tried to get back his money, for he knew Hasbrook never paid anything if he could help it. Here is the motive for the outrage," reasoned Laud.

"Why didn't he prosecute him for swindling? for that's what it was."

"Captain Shivernock says he won't trouble any courts to fight his battles for him; he can fight them himself."

"It was wrong to pound any man as Hasbrook was. Why, he wasn't able to go out of the house[248] for a month," added Donald, who was clearly opposed to Lynch law.

Donald was somewhat staggered in his belief by the evidence of his companion, but he determined to inquire further into the matter, and even hoped now that Hasbrook would call upon him.

"One more question, Laud. Do you know where Captain Shivernock got the bills he paid you, and you paid me?" asked he.

"Of course I don't. How should I know where the captain gets his money?" replied Laud, in rather shaky tones.

"True; I didn't much think you would know."

"What odds does it make where he got the bills?" asked Laud, faintly.

"It makes a heap of odds."

"I don't see why."

"I'll tell you why. I paid three of those bills to Mr. Leach to-night for the Maud's suit of sails. One of them was a mended bill."

"Yes, I remember that one, for I noticed it after the captain gave me the money," added Laud.

"Mr. Leach paid that bill to Captain Patterdale."

"To Captain Patterdale!" exclaimed Laud, springing to his feet.[249]

"What odds does it make to you whom he paid it to?" asked Donald, astonished at this sudden demonstration.

"None at all," replied Laud, recovering his self-possession.

"What made you jump so, then?"

"A mosquito bit me," laughed Laud. But it was a graveyard laugh. "Leach paid the bill to Captain Patterdale—you say?"

"Yes, and Captain Patterdale says there is something wrong about the bill," continued Donald, who was far from satisfied with the explanation of his companion.

"What was the matter? Wasn't the bill good?" inquired Laud.

"Yes, the bill was good; but something was wrong, he didn't tell me what."

"That was an odd way to leave it. Why didn't he tell you what was wrong?"

"I don't know. I suppose he knows what he is about, but I don't."

"I should like to know what was wrong about this bill. It has passed through my hands, and it may affect my honor in some way," mused Laud.

"You had better have your honor insured, for[250] it will get burned up one of these days," added Donald, as he rose from his seat, and hauled in his skiff, which was towing astern.

He stepped into the boat, and tossed Laud's basket to him.

"Here is your basket, Laud," added he. "It was my evidence against you; and next time, when you want to burn a yacht, don't leave it on her deck."

"You will keep shady—won't you, Don John?" he pleaded.

"That will depend upon what you say and do," answered Donald, as he shoved off, and sculled to the wharf where the Maud lay, to assure himself that she was in no danger.

He was not quite satisfied to trust her alone all night, and he decided to sleep in her cabin. He went to the house, and told Barbara he was afraid some accident might happen to the yacht, and with the lantern and some bed-clothes, he returned to her. He swept up the half-burned shavings, and threw them overboard. There was not a vestige of the fire left, and he swabbed up the water with a sponge. Making his bed on the transom, he lay down to think over the events of the evening. He[251] went to sleep after a while, and we will leave him in this oblivious condition while we follow Laud Cavendish, who, it cannot be denied, was in a most unhappy frame of mind. He ran the Juno up to her moorings, and after he had secured her sail, and locked up the cabin door, he went on shore. Undoubtedly he had done an immense amount of heavy thinking within the last two hours, and as he was not overstocked with brains, it wore upon him.

It was nearly ten o'clock in the evening, but late as it was, Laud walked directly to the house of Captain Shivernock. There was a light in the strange man's library, or office, and another in the dining-room, where the housekeeper usually sat, which indicated that the family had not retired. Laud walked up to the side door, and rang the bell, which was promptly answered by Mrs. Sykes.

"Is Captain Shivernock at home?" asked the late visitor.

"He is; but he don't see anybody so late as this," replied the housekeeper.

"I wish to speak to him on very important business, and it is absolutely necessary that I should see him to-night," persisted Laud.[252]

"I will tell him."

Mrs. Sykes did tell him, and the strange man swore he would not see any one, not even his grandmother, come down from heaven. She reported this answer in substance to Laud.

"I wish to see him on a matter in which he is deeply concerned," said the troubled visitor. "Tell him, if you please, in regard to the Hasbrook affair."

Perhaps Mrs. Sykes knew something about the Hasbrook affair herself, for she promptly consented to make this second application for the admission of the stranger, for such he was to her.

She returned in a few moments with an invitation to enter, and so it appeared that there was some power in the "Hasbrook affair." Laud was conducted to the library,—as the retired shipmaster chose to call the apartment, though there were not a dozen books in it,—where the captain sat in a large rocking-chair, with his feet on the table.

"Who are you?" demanded the strange man; and we are obliged to modify his phraseology in order to make it admissible to our pages.

"Mr. Laud Cavendish, at your service," replied he, politely.[253]

"Mister Laud Cavendish!" repeated the captain, with a palpable sneer; "you are the swell that used to drive the grocery wagon."

"I was formerly employed at Miller's store, but I am not there now."

"Well, what do you want here?"

"I wish to see you, sir."

"You do see me—don't you?" growled the eccentric. "What's your business?"

"On the morning after the Hasbrook outrage, Captain Shivernock, you were seen at Seal Harbor," said Laud.

"Who says I was?" roared the captain, springing to his feet.

"I beg your pardon sir; but I say so," answered Laud, apparently unmoved by the violence of his auditor. "You were in the boat formerly owned by Mr. Ramsay, and you ran over towards the Northport shore."

"Did you see me?"

"I did," replied Laud.

"And you have come to levy black-mail upon me," added the captain, with a withering stare at his visitor.

"Nothing of the sort, sir. I claim to be a gentleman."[254]

"O, you do!"

Captain Shivernock laughed heartily.

"I do, sir. I am not capable of anything derogatory to the character of a gentleman."

"Bugs and brickbats!" roared the strange man, with another outburst of laughter. "You are a gentleman! That's good! And you won't do anything derogatory to the character of a gentleman. That's good, too!"

"I trust I have the instincts of a gentleman," added Laud, smoothing down his jet mustache.

"I trust you have; but what do you want of me, if you have the instincts of a gentleman, and don't bleed men with money when you think you have them on the hip?"

"If you will honor me with your attention a few moments, I will inform you what I want of you."

"Good again!" chuckled the captain. "I will honor you with my attention. You have got cheek enough to fit out a life insurance agency."

"I am not the only one who saw you that Saturday morning," said Laud.

"Who else saw me?"

"Don John."

"How do you know he did?"[255]

"He told mo so."

"The young hypocrite!" exclaimed the strange man, with an oath. "I made it a rule years ago never to trust a man or a boy who has much to do with churches and Sunday Schools. The little snivelling puppy! And he has gone back on me."

"It is only necessary for me to state facts," answered Laud. "You can form your own conclusions, without any help from me."

"Perhaps I can," added Captain Shivernock, who seemed to be in an unusual humor on this occasion, for the pretentious manners of his visitor appeared to amuse rather than irritate him.

"Again, sir, Jacob Hasbrook, of Lincolnville, believes you are the man who pounded him to a jelly that night," continued Laud.

"Does he?" laughed the captain. "Well, that is a good