Part 25 (1/2)
The soldiers did not hesitate to follow the example set them by their officers. They poured over the rail and engaged in loud conversation with the foremast hands, and, for a few seconds, the confusion and noise were enough to drive one distracted. Harry tried in vain to make himself understood, and was finally obliged to fall back on his authority as commander of the vessel. He made a motion to Jackson, who hurried off to the forecastle, and a moment afterward the boatswain's whistle was heard above the tumult, followed by the command: ”Hear there, fore and aft!
Keep silence, every body!”
However much the impatient military might have been disposed to disregard a request, they could not refuse to yield obedience to an order when it came from the lawful master of the vessel.
”Now,” said Harry, when quiet had been restored, ”ask your questions one at a time, and I will answer them if I can. In the first place, captain, I am not running away from the pirate; I am pursuing him. I thought I had cornered him in the cove, but he has got out, and how he did it is a mystery to me.”
”Escaped!” exclaimed the major, in disgust.
Without noticing the interruption, Harry went on to tell Captain Steele what he had done, and to describe to him the movements of the phantom schooner, which filled every body with astonishment. The major and his officers listened attentively to all that was said, and exchanged significant winks with one another. The chase after the pirates promised to be interesting, and to afford them full scope for the exercise of all the judgment and foresight they possessed, and if the skipper of the Sweepstakes continued to show the skill he had thus far exhibited, he might succeed in getting safely on the sea in spite of all their efforts to capture him. They hoped to obtain some clue to his intended movements, but the officers of the yacht were as much in the dark as themselves.
”I might have known better than to ask any information of you,” said the major. ”If you could put your finger on Tom Newcombe at this moment you wouldn't tell me.”
”Indeed I would,” replied Harry, honestly. ”If the Crusoe men were simply runaway students, and were guilty of no more serious offense than deserting the academy, perhaps I should decline to give you any a.s.sistance in the way of advice or information. If they escaped, there would be no great harm done. But Tom Newcombe must not be allowed to remain at liberty after trying to burn our vessel, and if we don't catch him I hope you will. If you are smart enough to do it, you will simply be performing an act of justice, and you can claim the honors.”
”Well, we'll be off,” said the major. ”If you want some help we'll make fast to you and tow you down the narrows.”
Harry looked at the captain, but the latter had not yet a.s.sumed the command, and had nothing to say, so the lieutenant replied that he was much obliged for the offer of a.s.sistance, but, if it was all the same to the major, he would use his own motive power.
”All right,” said Williams. ”We wish you the best of luck, but that won't help you any; and so you might as well go back to the academy. You have had the 'pirates,' as you call them, twice within your grasp, and allowed them to escape. Just let us put our eyes on them once! The next time you see us we'll have them prisoners.”
The major and his officers went on board the tug, which steamed down the narrows, and the Storm King, as soon as the jolly-boat had been hoisted at the davits, followed after. The captain now intimated that he was ready to take command of the vessel, and Harry a.s.sumed the duties of executive, while Jackson modestly took his place with the other watch officers. They all heard what the major said, and laughed at it, but they were by no means in as good spirits as they pretended to be. They wished he and his men had stayed away a little longer. The navy had heavy odds to contend against, and some of the officers thought their rivals stood an excellent chance of s.n.a.t.c.hing from their grasp the honors they had hoped to win by their cruise after the pirates. Major Williams was working for promotion, and he possessed a decided advantage over the captain, having a tug and two companies of infantry under his command. More than that, there was another tug in pursuit of the Crusoe men, having on board the princ.i.p.al, Mr. Newcombe, Mr. Henry, two constables, and two more companies of infantry under Spencer, the ranking captain. The commander of the Storm King was not so much afraid of Williams as he was of Spencer. The former, if he found himself in need of advice, could consult only with his officers and the captain of the tug, while Spencer's movements would be directed by the ”brains” of the academy.
”We must look to our laurels now,” said Captain Steele. ”Have you any thing to propose? Shall we go out to sea, or stay in the bay?”
”Let us remain here, by all means,” replied the first lieutenant, who had talked the matter over with Johnny. ”My idea is, that we ought to begin a thorough search of these islands. Tom isn't foolish enough to keep on out to sea now, for it is nearly daylight.”
The captain thought the suggestion a good one, and he proceeded to act upon it. Deer Island came first on the list, and, by the time the sun arose, he had sailed around it without discovering any signs of the Crusoe band. ”Now comes the creek,” said he. ”Mr. Green, have the jolly-boat called away, and send Mr. Jackson aft.”
”I'd like to go with him, Bill,” said Johnny.
”You won't see any comfort if you do. The jolly-boat can't seat more than three fellows.”
”I don't care for comfort. If you will let Jackson take me as far as the sh.o.r.e I will get out and walk.”
”Go ahead, and I will tell him to call you when he gets ready to come back. While you are gone I'll run down and look at the other islands.”
In a few minutes the jolly-boat, with an armed crew at the oars, and Johnny Harding crouching in the bow, disappeared among the reeds and bushes that lined the banks of the creek, and Captain Steele, unwilling to waste an instant of time, filled away to continue his search among the lower islands. Had he known all that was to happen in that creek before he saw his boat's crew again, he might not have been in so great a hurry to leave them.
Jackson and his men wondered why Johnny had come ash.o.r.e, and if they had asked him for a reason, the only one he could have offered was that he desired to be doing something. He believed that the Crusoe men were concealed in some place where the sloop would not be likely to go, and, if he took a run about the interior of the island he might, perhaps, obtain some clue to their whereabouts. Jackson set him ash.o.r.e, and continued his voyage of discovery up the creek, and half an hour afterward came in sight of the tall, raking masts of the Sweepstakes rising above the bushes. His first impulse was to make the best of his way back to his vessel and report the matter to the captain, but he knew that the Storm King was a mile down the bay by that time, and before she could return to the creek the Crusoe men might be a long distance from there. They were slippery fellows--they had three times succeeded in making their escape when Jackson would have staked his chances of promotion on their capture--and now that he had found their vessel again, he did not want to lose sight of her. He peered through the bushes, but could see no signs of life about the schooner. Perhaps her crew, believing themselves safe from pursuit, had gone to sleep; and, if that was the case, could he not board the vessel and secure them before they recovered their wits sufficiently to resist him? Mids.h.i.+pman Richardson had dared to attack them with a force no larger than the one now at his command, and had nearly succeeded in capturing Tom Newcombe, and that, too, when the pirates were wide-awake and ready for him. Was he afraid to follow in the lead of an inferior officer--a boy scarcely more than half his size? Jackson told himself that he was not, and that if he could once get his hands on Tom's collar he would like to see him escape.
”Give way together,” said he, in an excited whisper, ”and stand by me, no matter what happens.”
A few swift, silent strokes carried them up the creek to the edge of the bushes that surrounded the Sweepstakes, and then the oars were drawn in, and the crew forced the jolly-boat ahead by pulling at the bushes and reeds. When she came alongside the schooner the lieutenant drew himself up and looked over the rail. The deck was deserted; neither the robbers nor the Crusoe men were in sight.
”Perhaps they are below,” said Jackson. ”We will go on board and make a rush for the cabin. If they are down there, and we can shut the door on them, we'll have them safe enough.”
The boat's crew clambered over the rail and moved across the deck with noiseless steps. They had nearly reached the companion-way, and Jackson was in the act of reaching out his hand to close the door, when, as if by magic, two figures appeared at the head of the ladder, and a brace of revolvers were leveled full at their heads.
”Don't move hand or foot,” said a gruff voice.