Part 35 (1/2)

Mr. Hawlinshed went back to his hotel. The New Yorkers finished their survey of the Sylph; and she soon left with the Goldwing Club, with the exception of Dory, on board. Not a word had been said in regard to Captain Gildrock's plan.

Dory slept on board of the Goldwing that night. The next morning he started with his pa.s.sengers. They went over to Mallett's Bay first on a fis.h.i.+ng-excursion. When they got there, the skipper was astonished to find that the polite young gentlemen from New York were too tipsy to use the bait and lines he had procured. They drank all they could hold, and then went to sleep. They had not told Dory where to go next, and he anch.o.r.ed to wait for further orders.

At noon they both turned out, but it was only to drink till they were tipsy again. They insisted that the skipper should drink with them; but, when he asked them who was to take care of the boat if he did as they did, they gave up the point. They remained in Mallett's Bay all the first day. The next morning they wanted to go to Missisquoi Bay, and the skipper sailed the Goldwing to that part of the lake. The second day was like the first. On the third they had drank so much that they could not keep up the debauch, and they gambled with props in the cabin.

Dory was disgusted with his pa.s.sengers; but, when he landed them in Plattsburgh, they were as sober and polite as though they had been with their mothers all the time. The skipper received his fifteen dollars, and that was all the satisfaction he got out of the cruise. He returned to Burlington the next day, and spent the afternoon in looking for another party at the hotels.

There was no more business that week. The next week he got only a half-day job, taking a party of ladies and gentlemen across the lake.

Three dollars was all he made that week; and he was beginning to be discouraged when he received a postal from the Witherill House. It was a fis.h.i.+ng-party to Mallett's Bay. The young gentlemen from New York were saints compared with his present pa.s.sengers. They got crazy drunk; and, when a shower came up, they threatened to throw the skipper overboard because he anch.o.r.ed the boat to avoid a squall. Dory was afraid of his life, and five dollars a day was no compensation for the misery he endured.

Another week satisfied Dory that the business was a failure, for he did not obtain a single fare. He went to his mother, and told her he had had quite enough of it. He was ready to sell the boat, though the Goldwing Club had fine times in her when she was not engaged; and there were plenty of fine times for them. He had been offered a place in a dry-goods store, and he was willing to take it.

”I think you had better see uncle Royal before you take the place,” said his mother. ”I have never sailed in the Goldwing, and Marian and I would like to have you sail us up to Beech Hill.”

”What does uncle Royal want me to do, mother?” asked Dory, who suspected that the captain and his mother had something on their minds.

”I don't know. You must let him speak for himself,” replied Mrs.

Dornwood.

The next morning Dory took his mother and sister into the Goldwing, and sailed up to Beech Hill. His mother had to act as his pilot, for he did not know how to take the boat from the river to the estate. Leaving Beaver River, he followed a narrow and crooked stream, though it was very deep, till he reached a small lake, on the sh.o.r.e of which stood the house of Captain Gildrock.

The party received a warm welcome, and Mrs. Dornwood stated the business that had brought them to Beech Hill. Seated in the library, the great question was opened for discussion and settlement.

”Go into a store!” exclaimed Captain Gildrock. ”There are more merchants and traders in the country now than can get a living, and mercantile life is a desperate struggle in these days. Be a mechanic, Theodore.”

”A mechanic!” exclaimed Mrs. Dornwood.

”A mechanic, Patty,” added the captain decidedly. ”The first thing a boy wants is an education, and the next is a good trade. I have been thinking of this subject for years. Now I am going to tell you about my scheme. I want to help supply the country with good, educated mechanics.”

”I don't think mechanics need much education, Royal,” suggested Mrs.

Dornwood.

”There you are mistaken, Patty. What this country, especially the Eastern and Middle States, needs more than any other cla.s.s of men, is educated mechanics,--skilled labor. Too many boys want to be shopkeepers, and wear fine clothes.”

”I should like to be a mechanic, uncle Royal,” said Dory.

”So would the other members of the Goldwing Club,” continued Captain Gildrock. ”Now I will tell you about my scheme. For the last year I have had enrolled about a dozen of the young fellows of this vicinity as volunteers on board of the Sylph. Jepson and I have been instructing them in seamans.h.i.+p and mechanics. Jepson has instructed them in the science of the steam-engine, so that they know all about the building of one, though they haven't the practical skill to build one. They have acted as engineers and firemen of the yacht; and every one of them is competent to run a marine engine, or any other.”

”Those were the young fellows that were pulling your boats that day, were they not?” asked Dory.

”They were, Theodore. The only men I employ on board are the cook and a waiter, but I have required every one of these young men to learn to do plain cooking. All of them have served a term in the galley. I am captain, and Jepson is the first officer, of the Sylph. I have taught these students how a vessel or a boat is built, how to sail a boat or a s.h.i.+p; I have instructed them in navigation, and required them to get the lat.i.tude and longitude of every princ.i.p.al point on the lake; I have taught them how to heave the log, and keep a vessel's dead reckoning; I have required them to survey portions of the lake, and make charts of their work. They have been greatly interested, and they have profited by their opportunities. Not one of them has rich parents, and all of them must soon earn their own living; and you may be sure that not one of them will be a shopkeeper, a lawyer, a doctor, or a minister.”

”I should say that was first-rate,” added Dory, with enthusiasm. ”I suppose some of them will be sailors.”

”About half of them have a desire to go to sea, and some of them have got places as engineers, oilers, and firemen. Two of them will run stationary engines. I have done with them; for most of them were obliged to go to work, and take care of themselves.”