The Yacht Club; or, The Young Boat-Builder by Oliver Optic (ebook e reader .txt) π
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- Author: Oliver Optic
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"But he folded his money, however he got it," continued the good.
"I can bring you a dozen bills with the white cross on them," blustered the wicked, "and all of them folded like that one."
"Can you tell where you got it, captain?"
"From the bank," replied he, promptly; and then more to have his hit at the missionaries than to explain the white cross, he told how the bills were torn. "That's all I have to say," he added; and he stalked out of the house, in spite of the host's request for him to remain, without giving a word or even a look to Donald.
"I am astonished," said Captain Patterdale. "Can it be possible that he paid that bill to Laud?"
Perhaps this was the joke of the strange manβsimply to confuse and confound a "psalm-singer."
"It looks as though we had lost the clew," said the deputy sheriff. "At any rate, Don John's story is confirmed."
"Why should the captain give Laud so much money?" mused the nabob.
"I know," said Donald. "I told you, in the first place, that I knew where Laud got the money[292] to pay for the Juno; but it was a great secret affecting another person, and he wished me not to tell."
"I remember that, Don John," added the captain.
"He told me that Captain Shivernock gave him the money; but he would not tell me why he gave it to him; but I knew without any telling, for the captain gave me sixty dollars, besides the Juno, for holding my tongue."
"About what?" asked the nabob, deeply interested in the narrative.
"I don't understand the matter myself; but I will state all the facts, though Captain Shivernock threatened to kill me if I did so. On the morning after the Hasbrook outrage, while I was waiting on Turtle Head for the Yacht Club to arrive, the captain came to the Head, saying he had walked over from Seal Harbor, where he had got aground in his boat. I sailed him down, and on the way he gave me the money. Then he said I was not to mention the fact that I had seen him on Long Island, or anywhere else. I didn't make any promises, and told him I wouldn't lie about it. Then he gave me the Juno, and took my boat,[293] which he returned that night. After I went up in the Juno, I met Laud, and offered to sell him the boat. When we parted, he stood over towards the Northport shore, where Captain Shivernock had gone, and I thought they would meet; but I lost sight of them."
"Then you think the captain paid Laud the money when they met."
"That was what I supposed when Laud paid me for the boat. I believed it was all right. I had a talk with Laud afterwards about it, and I told him how he got the money. He did not deny what I said."
"This was the morning after the Hasbrook outrageβwas it?" asked Mr. Beardsley.
"Yes, it was; but I knew nothing about that till night."
"We can easily understand why the captain did not want to be seen near Lincolnville," added the sheriff. "It was he who pounded Hasbrook for swindling him."
"No, sir; I think not," interposed Donald. "I inquired into that matter myself. Mr. Sykes and his wife both told me, before the captain got home, that he left his house at four o'clock in the morning."[294]
"I am afraid they were instructed to say that," said the nabob.
"They shall have a chance to say it in court under oath," added the officer; "for I will arrest the captain to-morrow for the outrage. I traced the steps of a man over to Saturday Cove, in Northport, and that is where he landed."
"Was it the print of the captain's boot?" asked the nabob.
"No; but I have a theory which I shall work up to-morrow. Don John's evidence is the first I have obtained, that amounts to anything."
"If he pounded Hasbrook, why should he run over to Seal Harbor, when he had a fair wind to come up?" asked Donald.
"To deceive you, as it seems he has," laughed Mr. Beardsley. "Probably getting aground deranged his plans."
"But he ran over to Northport after we parted."
"Because it was a better place to conceal himself during the day. Sykes says he went down to Vinal Haven that day. I know he did not. Now, Don John, we must go to Turtle Head to-night, and see about that box."
"I am ready, sir."[295]
"I will go with you," added Captain Patterdale; "and we will take the Sea Foam."
Donald was permitted to go home and comfort his mother with the assurance that he was entirely innocent of the crime with which he was charged; and great was the joy of his mother and sister. The mainsail of the Sea Foam was hoisted when he went on board. The wind was rather light, and it was midnight before the yacht anchored off Turtle Head. The party went ashore in the tender, the sheriff carrying a lantern and a shovel. Donald readily found the place where the earth had been disturbed by Laud's clam-digger. Mr. Beardsley dug till he came to a rock, and it was plain that no tin box was there.
"But I am sure that Laud had been digging here, for I saw the print of his clam-digger," said Donald.
"This hole had been dug before," added the sheriff.
"Even Laud Cavendish would not be fool enough to bury the box in such an exposed place as this," suggested Captain Patterdale.
"I know he came down here on the day the box was stolen," said Donald, "and that he was here[296] with his clam-digger on the day I met Captain Shivernock. He must have put those papers in the shop."
"If the box was ever buried here, it has been removed," added the captain.
"Just look at the dirt which came out of the hole," continued Mr. Beardsley, pointing to the heap, and holding the lantern over it. "What I threw out last is beach gravel. That was put in to fill up the hole after he had taken out the box. When he first buried it, he had to carry off some of the yellow loam. In my opinion, the box has been here."
"It is not here now, and we may as well return," replied Captain Patterdale. "I am really more desirous of finding the papers in the box than the money."
"He has only chosen a new hiding-place for it," said the sheriff. "If we say nothing, and keep an eye on him for a few days, we may find it."
As this was all that could be done, the party returned to the city; and early in the morning Donald went to bed, to obtain the rest he needed before the great day. Possibly Mr. Beardsley[297] slept some that night, though it is certain he was at Saturday Cove, in Northport, the next forenoon. He had a "theory;" and when a man has a theory, he will sometimes go without his sleep in order to prove its truth or its falsity. Jacob Hasbrook was with him, and quite as much interested in the theory as the officer, who desired to vindicate his reputation as a detective. He had driven to the house of the victim of the outrage, and looked the matter over again in the light of the evidence obtained from the boat-builder.
"I have been trying to see Donald Ramsay," said Hasbrook. "I have been to his shop four times, but he's always off on some boat scrape. You say he saw Captain Shivernock the next morning."
"Yes; and the captain didn't want to be seen, which is the best part of the testimony. If it was he, it seems to me you would have known him when he hammered you."
"How could I, when he was rigged up so different, with his head all covered up?" replied Hasbrook, impatiently. "The man was about the captain's height, but stouter."
"He was dressed for the occasion," added the[298] sheriff, as he walked to the shore, where the skiff lay.
They dragged it down to the water,βfor it was low tide,βand got into it. Beardsley had traced to the cove the print of the heavy boot, which first appeared in some loam under the window where the ruffian had entered Hasbrook's house. He found it in the sand on the shore; and he was satisfied that the perpetrator of the outrage had arrived and departed in a boat. He had obtained from the captain's boot-maker a description of his boots, but none corresponded with those which had made the prints in Northport and Lincolnville.
At the cove all clew to the ruffian had been lost; but now it was regained.
The sheriff paddled the skiff out from the shore in the direction of Seal Island. The water was clear, and they could see the bottom, which they examined very carefully as they proceeded.
"I see it," suddenly exclaimed Hasbrook, as he grasped the boat-hook.
"Lay hold of it," added the sheriff. "I knew I was right."
"I have it."
Hasbrook hauled up what appeared to be a bun[299]dle of old clothes, and deposited it in the bottom of the skiff. Mr. Beardsley had worked up his case very thoroughly, though it was a little singular that he had not thought to ask Donald any questions; but these investigations had been made when the boat-builder was at home all the time, and the detective did not like to talk about the case any more than was necessary. He had ascertained that Captain Shivernock wore his usual gray suit when Donald saw him after the outrage, and he came to the conclusion that the ruffian had been disguised, for Hasbrook would certainly have known him, even in the dark, in his usual dress. They returned to the shore; and the bundle was lifted, to convey it to the beach.
"It is very heavy," said Hasbrook. "I suppose there is a rock in it to sink it."
"Open it, and throw out the rock," added the sheriff.
Instead of a rock, the weight was half a pig of lead, which had evidently been chopped into two pieces with an axe.
"That's good evidence, for the ballast of the Juno is pig lead," said Beardsley, as he stepped on the beach with the clothes in his hand.[300]
They were spread on the sand, and consisted of a large blue woolen frock, such as farmers sometimes wear, a pair of old trousers of very large size, and a pair of heavy cow-hide boots.
"Now I think of it, the man had a frock on," exclaimed Hasbrook.
"That's what made him look stouter than the captain," added Beardsley, as he proceeded to measure one of the boots, and compare it with the notes he had made of the size of the footprints. "It's a plain case; these boots made those tracks."
"And here's the club he pounded me with," said Hasbrook, taking up a heavy stick that had been in the bundle.
"But where in the world did Captain Shivernock get these old duds?" mused the sheriff.
"Of course he procured them to do this job with," replied Hasbrook.
"That's clear enough; but where did they come from? He has covered his tracks so well, that he wouldn't pick these things up near home."
"There comes a boat," said the victim of the outrage, as a sail rounded the point.
"Get out of the way as quick as you can," added the sheriff, in excited tones, as he led the[301] way into the woods near the cove, carrying the wet clothes and boots with him.
"What's the matter now?" demanded Hasbrook.
"That boat is the Juno; Laud Cavendish is in her, and I want to know what he is about. Don't speak a word, or make a particle of noise. If you do, he will sheer off; and I want to see the ballast in that boat."
Laud ran his craft up to the rocks on one side of the cove, where he could land from her; but as it is eleven o'clock, the hour appointed for the regatta, we must return to the city.[302]
CHAPTER XVII. THE GREAT RACE.It was nine o'clock when Donald turned out on the day of the great regatta. He had returned at three in the morning, nearly exhausted by fatigue and anxiety. It was horrible to be suspected of a crime; and bravely as he had carried himself, he was sorely worried. He talked the matter over with his mother and sister while he was eating his breakfast.
"Why should Laud Cavendish charge you with such a wicked deed?" asked his mother.
"To save himself, I suppose," replied Donald. "But he won't make anything by it. He hid those papers in the shop within a day or two, I am sure, for I had my hand in the place where he put them, feeling for a brad-awl I dropped day before yesterday, and I know
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