CHAPTER XI

WHERE IS ROLAND?

“Where is Roland? Oh, Mrs. Force, where is Roland? He was on the pirate ship, you know! Oh, was he wounded in the sea fight? Was he taken prisoner? Was he killed? Oh, was he killed?” breathed little Rosemary Hedge, pulling at the lady’s dress and lifting her light blue eyes beseechingly to the lady’s face.

“Let us hope that he has been rescued, my dear, and brought home in honor, since you know he was himself a captive among the pirates,” replied Elfrida Force, whose face looked quite as pale and anxious as the distressed little face turned up to hers.

“But—but—does not the pilot know? Can he not tell us? Will not some one ask him?”

“I think he has told all he knows, my dear! Remember the _Argente_ was only in port a few hours this morning, after the morning papers were out, and before the afternoon papers were out. The pilot put to sea at once. He could not have got but an outline of the facts, and perhaps not even a true outline.”

“Oh, Uncle Gideon!” pleaded Rosemary, leaving the side of Mrs. Force and joining the old skipper. “Oh, Uncle Gideon, won’t you please ask the pilot if he heard of any prisoner among the pirate crew, rescued from them by the _Eagle_, or if he heard anything at all of Roland Bayard?”

“Yes, yes, child, I will ask him,” promptly replied Capt. Grandiere, pushing to the front of the group, and hailing the pilot, who was elbowing his way through the questioners who would have detained him longer.

“Ahoy, shipmate! Not so fast! Answer one question, and then you may go.”

“Well, what is it?” demanded the pilot.

“Heard you of any honest prisoner rescued from the pirates?”

“No.”

“Heard you of any man of Roland Bayard?”

“No! never heard that name before! There were but two names talked of—Nichol Silver, the captain of the blockade runner, and Craven Cloud, his first officer,” said the pilot, now breaking away and hurrying aft.

“And they’ll both be hung as high as Haman, or my name is not Grandiere, and I never commanded the good ship _Kitty_, and she was never taken from me, with all her cargo, by the piratical craft _Argente_, devil sink her! Blockade runner, is it? No doubt in the world she was a blockade runner! But she was so much worse than that that she was a pirate of the worst order! Attacking and taking unarmed merchantmen, and committing Lord knows what atrocities besides! Ah! I’m glad—I’m glad I didn’t stop longer in England! I’m glad I came over, so as to be able to give evidence that will hang the pirate captain and his mate! I shall take the first train to Washington, after landing! I must be on hand to give my evidence as soon as possible, or those devils will be claiming to be treated as prisoners of war, because they were taken while trying to run the blockade! Prisoners of war, indeed, after taking my peaceable _Kitty_, with her cargo, and sending her crew adrift! We’ll see when I get to Washington! My evidence will hang them as high as Haman!”

“Don’t you think a fifteen-foot gallows and a five-foot fall would be quite as effectual, Capt. Grandiere?” inquired Wynnette.

“What do you know about it?” demanded the skipper.

“Nothing at all! That is the very reason why I was turning the question over in my mind and asking for instructions.”

“Oh, Mr. Force! Oh, Mr. Force! What has become of Roland?” pleaded Rosemary, in a low, wailing voice as she took the squire’s hand.

“I wish I could satisfy you, my dear, but I cannot. We may learn something from the evening papers when we land in New York. If we do not we shall certainly find out when we reach Washington, where we shall meet Le.”

“Oh, how soon shall we go to Washington?”

“By the first train after we land. Of course, you know, we did expect to spend a few days in New York, but this news has altered all our plans, and we shall go on immediately to Washington.”

“To-morrow? Early to-morrow?”

“No, to-night! So that we may be in the city to-morrow morning!”

“Then,” said the quaint little being, “I must bear the suspense as well as I can and trust in the Lord.”

“And, in the meantime, remember, my dear, as your uncle said, we have every reason to hope and expect that Roland is safe on board the _Argente_. Being already a prisoner on board the blockade runner, he could not have been in the sea fight, and, therefore, he could have been neither killed nor wounded. If taken prisoner by the _Eagle_, among the rest, he must soon have told the story of his capture, and he must have been recognized by his friend Le, and released and brought home in honor.”

“Yes,” said Rosemary, in her grave, demure way, “I think that is very probable.”

“And we are going to Washington to find both our lads, Le and Roland.”

“Oh! Lord grant it!” fervently exclaimed Rosemary, clasping her tiny hands and lifting her light blue eyes.

Mr. Force turned to look at his daughter Odalite.

What a change had come over the pale, grave face of the girl. Her cheeks and her lips were glowing with fire, her dark eyes were sparkling with light.

“What do you think of all this, my dear?” he inquired.

“Oh, father! I feel so happy! so happy! Le has distinguished himself! Le is the hero of the day! Thank Heaven! Oh, thank Heaven! We shall see Le in a few hours from this! See Le safe, well and honored! Thank Heaven! Oh, thank Heaven!”

Mr. Force looked at his wife. Her face was very pale and troubled.

“My dear Elfrida,” he said, “you let your sympathy for little Rosemary Hedge and her lover affect you without cause. I think there is no doubt the young man is now quite safe on board the _Argente_, on her way to the Washington Navy Yard. We shall land at New York about sunset. We shall leave our effects at the custom house and take the night express for the South. We shall reach Washington before the _Argente_ gets there; but we shall wait for her, and as soon as she arrives we shall find both the boys safe—Leonidas and Roland—safe.”

“You are very, very good,” she replied, in a low tone.

“There is the gong for dinner. I have an appetite for the first time in ten days,” he said, gayly, as he drew his wife’s arm within his own to take her down.

At all the tables in the dining saloon nothing was discussed but the war news. Gen. Grant was slowly fighting his way on to Richmond, opposed by an army that was daily wasting away under toil, fever and privation, but who made up for want of numbers with indomitable courage, endurance and self-devotion.

After dinner the passengers all went up on deck to watch for the first glimpse of land.

Many had glasses, through which they looked long and wistfully to the westward, and then passed their instruments on from hand to hand among the less fortunate passengers who had none of their own.

Often they mistook a cloud lying low on the horizon for a line of coast.

Presently some one staring through the glass cried out:

“Land!”

“Nothing but a low cloud!” cried another man, staring through another glass.

“The Highlands!” cried the first speaker.

And in a very few minutes “The Highlands!” was the verdict of all on the outlook.

The progress of the ship was now very rapid.

She soon passed the Narrows, and stopped.

The quarantine officers came on board. No ship ever came into the harbor with crew and passengers in a healthier condition, Mr. Force’s chronic rheumatism being the only case of indisposition on board. So the _Asia_ was allowed to go on her way, and reached her pier a little after sunset.

Mr. Force at once landed with his party, taking only such luggage as they had used during the voyage, and which could be carried in the hands of the servants.

This was duly examined and passed by the custom house officers; the bulk of their luggage to be afterward brought on by the groom of Lord Enderby, who was left in charge.

There was a train for Washington at nine o’clock. It was now seven.

They had time to go to a hotel and take tea.

They had scarcely left the custom house officers before they were assailed by a swarm of newsboys crying their papers.

“Eve-en-ing——” this, that, or the other.

“Latest from the Perningsalar!”

“Capture of the blockade runner _Argente_ by United States ship _Eagle_!” etc., etc.

“Hi! Boy! Let us have a paper!” called Mr. Force, as they were swarming past him to a large group of men who were also just off the steamer, famishing for news and calling for venders.

Two or three turned back.

Mr. Force and the earl bought papers from all of them.

At this moment the negro valet who had been sent for carriages came up with two.

The papers were distributed to the members of the party and they entered the carriages, the four girls in the front carriage, and the four elders in the hind one—and read as they drove along.

But, in fact, they learned nothing more from the papers than they had learned from the pilot, except that there were more details of the fight which ended in the capture of the privateer by the man-of-war.

This word “privateer” always put the old skipper into a rage.

“Privateer!” he exclaimed. “They might as well call an assassin a mere sneak thief. She is a pirate of the most devilish description. She took my unarmed _Kitty_. She seized her cargo. She sent her crew adrift in open boats in midocean. And I’ll hang all hands for it. I swear it!”

“I don’t think you could hang a whole ship’s crew,” laughed Lord Enderby.

“Well, may I be blowed from a cannon’s mouth myself if I don’t hang the head devil and his mate! That’s what I’m going to Washington for—to make my charge.”

In good time they reached their hotel, took their tea, and sat down to rest and read the papers at their leisure before starting on their night journey.

Here a little surprise met the whole party. When Mr. Force tendered a ten-dollar goldpiece in payment of his bill at the counter of the office, the coin was rung suspiciously on the board, then examined critically, and finally dropped into the till. And he was handed a ten-dollar greenback and a two-dollar greenback in exchange, with the information that he would find it all right, as gold was that day at one hundred and twenty per cent. premium.

This information so astonished the simple squire that he did not recover himself until he had reached the railway station at Jersey City.

The party arrived in full time to purchase their tickets and take their seats.