Part 27 (2/2)
The water was not more than three feet deep at the stem of the boat, and it was impossible to get her any nearer to the dry land on the beach.
Pearl bit his lip; for both of the boats of the Sylph were pulling towards the schooner, and Peppers would soon have an audience to whom he could tell his story.
”I can't get any nearer the sh.o.r.e, Dory,” said Pearl, not a little agitated. ”You must jump into the water, and wade ash.o.r.e.”
Dory leaped upon the forward deck, and Pearl probably thought he intended to adopt his suggestion, and wade to the beach. But the owner of the Goldwing had no intention of ”giving up the s.h.i.+p” in any such manner. The sails hid Dory from the skipper, so that he could not see what he was doing; and, while Pearl was waiting to hear the splash when he went overboard, Dory grasped one of the stays, and climbed half way to the mast-head before his persecutor discovered what he was about.
”What are you doing up there?” demanded Pearl fiercely. ”What are you about?”
”I want to see how far off the sh.o.r.e is,” replied Dory, for the want of something more sensible to say.
”Come down this instant, you young villain!” yelled Pearl, whose hope of saving himself was thus endangered by the unexpected freak of the owner of the boat.
”I think I can make myself very comfortable up here for a while,”
replied Dory, as he placed his feet on the foresail gaff, and pa.s.sed his arm around the topmast.
”If you don't come down, I will shoot you!” stormed Pearl angrily, as he saw the two boats of the steamer coming nearer to him every moment.
Dory had the average aversion to being shot, and he did not like the sound of the threat. He did not know whether or not Pearl had a pistol, though it was not improbable that he had one. He looked at the approaching boats. One of them was not thirty yards from the schooner, and the officer could hardly have helped hearing the threat of the skipper. The port boat had come near enough by this time to enable Dory to see that his uncle was in the stern-sheets.
”Give way, my lads, with all your might!” said the officer of the nearer boat, speaking with great energy, as though he meant to take a hand in the business on board of the Goldwing.
”Are you coming down, Dory Dornwood?” demanded Pearl, as he stopped on the forward deck of the schooner.
”I think I will come down,” replied Dory, who had made up his mind not to run the risk of being shot; but he was satisfied that one of the boats would be alongside the Goldwing before he could reach the deck.
”But it isn't so easy to get down as it was to come up,” he added, making it as an excuse for the slow movement in coming down to the deck.
Dory descended with the utmost caution. He had gained time enough to enable the starboard boat to reach the schooner, and this was all he expected to accomplish by going aloft.
”Come, hurry up, Dory!” shouted the skipper, when he was about half way to the deck.
Dory immediately changed his movement, and began to ascend again.
”What are you about, you young cub? Are you going back again?” cried Pearl.
”You told me to hurry up,” pleaded Dory, wis.h.i.+ng to gain all the time he could.
”You are a natural fool! Come down, or I'll--do what I said I would,”
added Pearl, as he glanced at the nearer boat, which was not fifty feet from the schooner.
”All right! I will be with you in a moment,” answered Dory, as he descended to the deck with a reasonable degree of celerity.
But the boat was alongside the Goldwing as soon as he reached the forward deck. The officer leaped on deck without waiting for any ceremony. Pearl dropped into a seat in the forward part of the standing-room. He evidently realized that he had lost the game he had been playing.
”Which is Theodore Dornwood?” asked the officer as he came on board.
”There he is, on the forward deck,” replied Pearl. ”He is the most obstinate young cub that ever floated on Lake Champlain. You can take him with you as quick as you please. I don't want any thing more of him.”
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