Haste and Waste Part 34

"Why, what did he say, Ben?"

"What did he say! Didn't you hear what he said? Didn't he tell you I was a drunken fellow, and couldn't be trusted?"

"Well, he certainly did," replied Lawry moodily.

"And you heard him! And you didn't say a word!" said Ben furiously.

"What could I say when Mr. Sherwood spoke only what I know is true?"

"Then you think I'm a drunken fellow, and can't be trusted?"

demanded Ben, with an injured look.

"Don't you drink too much sometimes?"

"No, I don't! I drink what I want; but no one ever saw me the worse for liquor. Who says I can't be trusted?"

"When I gave you the wheel, at your own request, you left it, and the boat would have been ash.o.r.e in another minute. Does that look as though you could be trusted?" added Lawry.

"That was because you wouldn't trust me. I was mad."

"One who would expose the lives of twenty or thirty persons when he got mad ought not to be trusted."

"Lawry, you are no longer my brother. You and your mother, and Sherwood here, have been trying to put me down, and make a n.o.body of me. You can't do it. I'm your enemy now. You have made me mad, and you must take the consequences. I'll burn or smash this boat the first chance I get! As for Sherwood, I'll teach him to talk about me!"

The angry young man rushed out of the wheel-house. If Mr. Sherwood had heard his insane threats he would probably have insisted that he should be immediately put on sh.o.r.e; but Lawry did not think his brother capable of the madness of malice his speech indicated; he was in a pa.s.sion, and when he cooled off he would be reasonable again.

Ben sat down on the forecastle where the pilot could see him, and nursed his wrath till the _Woodville_ arrived at Burlington. He was in deep thought all the time, and did not heed the singing or other amus.e.m.e.nts of the party on board, who were enjoying themselves to the utmost. Apparently with no perception of his own faults and shortcomings, he regarded himself as a deeply injured young man. His mother and his brother had turned against him, and were persecuting him to the best of their ability. He had come on board to gain his purpose by conciliation; he had failed, and, in his own view, there was nothing left for him but revenge.

The boat touched at Burlington, and to the great relief of Lawry, his brother followed Mr. Sherwood on sh.o.r.e. At three o'clock the _Woodville_ returned from Port Kent with the happy excursionists.

While the steamer lay at the wharf, waiting for Mr. Sherwood, many persons, moved by curiosity to inspect the beautiful craft, came aboard; and whenever she stopped, she had plenty of visitors of this description. Among them Lawry saw his brother, accompanied by two men, who, from the remarks they made, were evidently familiar with the machinery and appointments of steamers.

Mr. Sherwood presently appeared attended by a bank messenger with the precious coin he had purchased at 2.44, the telegraphic quotation from New York for that day.

"Where shall I put this gold. Captain Lawry?" asked Mr. Sherwood.

"I don't know, sir; I'm really afraid of it," replied the captain nervously. "Can't you carry it in your pockets?"

"It weighs about thirty-seven pounds," laughed Mr. Sherwood. "I will lock it up in my stateroom. I shall sleep on board to-night, and it will be safe enough after we leave the wharf, for no one but you and me knows there is any specie on board."

The man of gold went aft with the coin, which was contained in two bags.

"I suppose I can go home with you--can't I, Lawry?" asked Ben, as the little captain started for the wheel-house.

Lawry could not refuse this request, though his brother was evidently a little excited by the liquor he had drank. He hoped Ben had not heard anything about the treasure on board; for he feared that revenge, if not dishonesty, might prompt him to commit a crime.

The visitors were warned ash.o.r.e, and the _Woodville_ departed for Port Rock, where she arrived at about six o'clock. The excursion-party went on sh.o.r.e, after the usual compliments to the steamer and her commander.

"Now, Lawry, I must go up to the house for my valise; but I will return in an hour," said Mr. Sherwood, whose carriage was waiting for him at the head of the wharf.

"But the gold, sir?" whispered Lawry anxiously.

"You or Ethan may watch the stateroom till I return, if you please; but there is no danger here. You must turn in at once, Lawry, so as not to lose your sleep."

"I shall be gone four or five days, this time, and I must go home after some clean clothes."

"Very well; I will get Ethan to keep his eye on the stateroom,"

replied Mr. Sherwood; and Lawry ran up to the cottage.

Ethan, who had ordered the fires to be banked in furnaces, and was letting off the superfluous steam, consented to watch the room containing the gold. Rounds, the deckhand, and the first fireman turned in, that they might be ready for duty at midnight, when the boat would start for Whitehall.

CHAPTER XIX

CAPTURED AND RECAPTURED

Unfortunately for Ben Wilford, he had heard Mr. Sherwood inform Lawry of his intentions in regard to the purchase and transportation of the gold. Before the _Woodville_ reached Burlington, the dissolute young man had resolved to obtain the money if possible, prompted partly by revenge, and partly by the desire to possess so large a sum, with which he could revel in luxury in some distant party of the country. It must be confessed that this resolve to commit a crime was not simply an impulse, for the young man who leads a life of indolence and dissipation is never at any great distance from crime. Ben had been schooling himself for years for the very deed he now determined to do.

With more energy and decision, Ben was, in other respects, the counterpart of his father. His moral perceptions were weak, and the dissolute life he led had not contributed to strengthen them. He was the antipode of Lawry, who had been more willing to listen to the teachings of his mother.

Ben had resolved to commit a crime, but he had not the skill or the courage to do it alone. When he went on sh.o.r.e at Burlington, he met two of his former boon companions, with whom he had often tippled, gambled, and caroused. One of them had been a fireman, and the other a deck-hand, on board a steamer with Ben, and he knew them thoroughly. By gradual approaches he sounded them, to ascertain their willingness to join him in the robbery. The gold converted into currency would give them seven or eight thousand dollars apiece, and the temptation was sufficiently strong to remove all prudential obstacles.

While the _Woodville_ was absent on her trip to Port Kent, the details of the robbery had been settled. The confederates sat on the corner of the wharf and arranged their plans, which were mainly suggested by the one who had been a fireman. The scheme was to be executed while the boat lay at Port Rock, and the two men whom Lawry had seen with his brother were his a.s.sociates in the intended crime.

Ben had concealed them in the forehold of the steamer. While the excursion-party were going on sh.o.r.e at the gangway abaft at the wheels, and all hands had gone aft to witness their departure, Ben had called them from their hiding-place, and sent them on the wharf, where he soon joined them. From a point near the head of the pier, where they were not observed, they waited till Mr. Sherwood and Lawry had gone, and all was quiet on board of the steamer.

"Now is our time," said Ben nervously; for he was not familiar enough with crime to be unmoved by the desperate situation in which he had placed himself.

"Is the coast clear?" asked the fireman.

"Yes," replied Ben, whose teeth actually chattered with apprehension.

"Who is there on board now?"

"No one but the engineer and the fireman, except two boys," answered Ben. "They were all going to turn in as soon as they got to the wharf."

"The firemen are both men, but I reckon they won't fight; all the rest are boys."

"One fireman and two boys have turned in by this time," added Ben.

"Then there is no one up but the engineer and one fireman?"

"No."

"Where is the gold, Ben?"

"In the starboard saloon stateroom."