The Yacht Club Part 12

"No; I intend to manage it myself," added Donald, confidently.

"Well, lad, you are clever enough to do it; and if you are like your father, I shall be glad to work for you."

The wages were agreed upon, and Kennedy promised to be at the shop on Monday morning, to a.s.sist the young boat-builder in selecting the stock for the Maud. Donald walked to the house of Captain s.h.i.+vernock. In the yard he found Sykes, the man who did all sorts of work for his employer, from taking care of the horses up to negotiating mortgages. Donald had occasionally been to the house, and he knew Sykes well enough to pa.s.s the time of day with him when they met in the street.

"Is Captain s.h.i.+vernock at home?" asked the young man, trying to appear indifferent, for he wanted to get as much information in regard to the strange man's movements during the last twenty-four hours as possible.

"No, he is not," replied Sykes, who to some extent aped the manners of his eccentric employer.

"Not at home!" exclaimed Donald, who had not expected this answer, though he had not found his own boat at her moorings on his return from the excursion with the fleet.

"Are you deaf, young man?"

"No, sir; not at all."

"Then you heard me say he was not at home," growled Sykes.

"I want to see him very much. Will he be long away?" asked Donald.

"I can't tell you. He won't come back till he gets ready, if it isn't for a month."

"Of course not; but I should like to know when I can probably see him."

"You can probably see him when he comes home. He started in his boat for Vinal Haven early this morning."

"This morning?" repeated Donald, who wished to be sure on this point.

"Didn't I say so? This morning. He comes back when he pleases."

"When do you expect him?"

"I don't expect him. I never expect him. He may be home in five minutes, in five days, or five weeks."

"At what time this morning did he go?"

"He left the house at five minutes after four this morning, the last that ever was. I looked at my watch when he went out at the gate; for I was thinking whether or no his boat wasn't aground. Do you want to know what he had for breakfast? If you do, you must ask my wife, for I don't know," growled Sykes.

"I am very anxious to see him," continued Donald, without heeding the sulky tones and manner of the man. "Perhaps he told Mrs. Sykes when he should return."

"Perhaps he did, and perhaps he told her how much money he had in his pocket. He was as likely to tell her one as the other. You can ask her,"

sneered Sykes.

As the housekeeper sat on the piazza enjoying the cool evening breeze, Donald decided to avail himself of this permission, for he desired to know how well the two stories would agree. He saluted the lady, who gave him a pleasanter reception than her bearish husband had accorded to him.

"Mr. Sykes told me that Captain s.h.i.+vernock was away from home," said Donald. "Can you tell me when he is likely to return?"

"He intended to come back to-night if the wind favored him. He went to Vinal Haven early this morning, and as you are a sailor, you can tell better than I whether he is likely to return to-night," replied Mrs.

Sykes.

"The wind is fair, and there is plenty of it," added Donald. "What time did he leave?"

"About four o'clock. I gave him his coffee at half past three, and it must have been about four when he went away."

If the outrage at Lincolnville had been committed in "the dead of the night," it was perfectly evident to Donald that Captain s.h.i.+vernock had had nothing whatever to do with it. This conclusion was a great relief to the mind of the young man; but he had hardly reached it before the captain himself pa.s.sed through the gate, and fixed a searching gaze upon him, as though he regarded him as an interloper.

CHAPTER VII.

LAYING DOWN THE KEEL.

"What are you doing here, Don John?" demanded Captain s.h.i.+vernock, as he ascended the steps of the piazza.

"I came to see you, sir," replied Donald, respectfully.

"Well, you see me--don't you?"

"I do, sir."

"Have you been talking to Sykes and his wife?" asked the captain, sternly.

"I have, sir."

"Have you told them that you saw me on the island?"

"No, sir; not them, nor anybody else."

"It's well for you that you haven't," added the captain, shaking his head--a significant gesture, which seemed to relate to the future, rather than to the present. "If you lisp a syllable of it, you will need a patch on your skull.--Now," he continued, "what do you want of me?"

"I wanted to talk about the Juno with you. Perhaps I can find a customer for you."

"Come into the house," growled the captain, as he stalked through the door.

Donald followed him into a sitting-room, on one side of which was a secretary, provided with a writing-desk. The captain tossed his cap and overcoat into a chair, and seated himself at the desk. He picked up a quill pen, and began to write as though he intended to scratch a hole through the paper, making noise enough for a small locomotive. He finished the writing, and signed his name to it. Then he cast the contents of a sand-box upon it, returning to it the portion which did not adhere to the paper. The doc.u.ment looked as though it had been written with a handspike, or as though the words had been ploughed in, and a furrow of sand left to form the letters.

"Here!" said the captain, extending the paper to his visitor, with a jerk, as though he was performing a most ungracious office.

"What is it, sir?" asked Donald, as he took the doc.u.ment.

"Can't you read?" growled the strange man.

Under ordinary circ.u.mstances Donald could read--could read writing when not more than half the letters were merged into straight lines; but it required all his skill, and not a little of his Scotch-Yankee guessing ability, to decipher the vagrant, staggering characters which the captain had impressed with so much force upon the paper. It proved to be a bill of sale of the Juno, in due form, and for the consideration of three hundred dollars.

"Surely you cannot mean this, Captain s.h.i.+vernock?" exclaimed the amazed young man.

"Can't I? Do you think I'm a lunatic?" stormed the captain.