Part 37 (1/2)

”Who rang the bell?” asked Ben.

”Captain Lawry.”

”Is he on board?”

”He is,” replied Ethan, as he started the engine. ”Ben Wilford, you have got about to the end of your rope.”

”What do you mean?”

”You have done a job which will send you to Sing Sing for the next ten years.”

”No, I haven't,” said Ben, backing out of the engine-room.

”Stop where you are,” interposed Ethan, peremptorily, as he raised his pistol.

”Two can play at that game,” added Ben.

”Two can; but two won't. Drop your hands, or I'll fire!”

Ben obeyed; he had felt that the game was up the moment he saw Ethan at his post, and he had not the courage to draw his pistol upon one who had shot two Indians in one day.

”Sit down there,” continued Ethan, pointing to the bench in the engine-room, and the culprit took his seat with fear and trembling.

”What shall I do?” groaned the wretched young man, as he thought of the consequence of his crime.

”Jump overboard and drown yourself. That would save your friends a great deal of trouble,” replied Ethan. ”Give up your pistol!”

Ben gave it up, and began to plead with Ethan to let him escape, declaring that it would kill his mother, and Lawry never would get over it, if he was sent to the penitentiary. Though the engineer dreaded the day when his friend would be compelled to testify in court against his own brother, he would not yield to the culprit's entreaties, and did not intend that he should escape the penalty of his crime.

When the _Woodville_ reached her wharf, having been absent but little more than an hour, Mr. Sherwood and the ladies were on the wharf. While Ethan was working the engine with the bar, Ben slipped out of the room. The engineer saw him, and gave the alarm; but he could not leave his post at that moment. As soon as the boat was moored, search was made; but Ben could not be found. He certainly was not on board.

Mr. Sherwood was astonished when he was told what had occurred. He sent his coachman after the sheriff at once, and directed that the search for Ben Wilford should be renewed. The stateroom was found locked, as he had left it, and the gold undisturbed. Mrs. Light and the girls, the firemen and the deck-hands, had their own stories to tell, to all of which Mr. Sherwood listened very patiently.

”You have done well, Lawry,” said he. ”You have saved my gold.”

”It was Ethan, sir, that did the business. I don't believe I could have done anything alone,” replied the little captain.

”Lawry did his share,” added Ethan, with due modesty.

”I'm sure they both fit like wildcats in the cabin,” said Mrs.

Light. ”I was e'en a'most scart to death.”

When the sheriff came, he took Baker and Flint into custody, and sent the constable who had come with him to find Ben Wilford. The two robbers in the cabin were in bad condition. The choking they had received had been a terrible shock to their nerves, which, with the hard knocks given by Ethan with the cook's rolling-pin, had entirely used them up, and there was neither fight nor bravado in them. Flint said they had been induced to engage in the enterprise by Ben Wilford; that they intended to proceed to the vicinity of Whitehall in the _Woodville_, where the instigator of the affair had declared his purpose to burn the boat. From this point they were going to the West, disposing of the gold in small sums as they proceeded.

The two robbers were marched off by the sheriff; but nothing was heard of Ben for two hours, when the boy who ran the ferry-boat, returning from Pointville, informed Mrs. Wilford that he had gone over with him. The constable followed, as soon as he heard in what direction the fugitive had gone. He was not taken that night, and the search was renewed the next day, but with no better result. It was afterward ascertained that he had crossed the country to the railroad, and taken a night train. Having worked his way to New York, he s.h.i.+pped in a vessel bound to the East Indies.

It cannot be denied that Lawry and his mother, and even Mr.

Sherwood, were glad of his escape, though he was more guilty than the two men who had been captured and were afterward tried and sent to Sing Sing. The little captain and the engineer of the _Woodville_ were warmly congratulated upon the safety of the steamer, when it was known that Ben intended to burn her in revenge for having been made a ”n.o.body”; but Mr. Sherwood declared that, if the boat had been destroyed, he would have built another, and presented her to Lawry and Ethan, for he was too much interested in the steamboat experiment to have it abandoned.

Mrs. Wilford trembled when she learned that the robbers had been armed with pistols. Many laughed as they, listened to the account of the choking operation in the cabin, and everybody was satisfied with the result.