CHAPTER XXIV

THE GUARDIAN-MOTHER

Captain Ringgold and Louis Belgrave reached Von Blonk Park just as the former expressed his readiness to join in the purchase of the new steam-yacht. The young millionaire was so startled at the idea, that he could say nothing, and they left the train after only a mention of the subject. As usual there was a crowd around the station, and they had no opportunity to discuss the question. It was late in the evening; but the shipmaster went with his young friend to the residence of Uncle Moses, the temporary home of Louis.

A steam-yacht that would cost in the vicinity of a hundred thousand dollars, and whose running-expenses would amount to a large sum, was a tremendously big question to the young man of sixteen who had always lived in plenty, but never in luxury. But he did not feel that he was to be responsible for the financial settlement of the question, for Uncle Moses could veto the plan without even a word of explanation if he was so disposed.

“How big is this yacht of which you speak, Captain Ringgold?” asked Louis, still appalled at the thought of such a heavy investment.

“I am not very sure on that point, though she is big enough for a voyage around the world,” replied the captain. “My impression is that she is a vessel of about six hundred tons, though she may be considerably smaller than that.”

“Do you believe we could get my mother back if we had her?”

“I feel reasonably sure of it, Louis. In fact, it looks like a very plain case to me,” replied the captain with enthusiasm. “We could sail around that old tub a dozen times a day, for I don’t believe the Maud can make more than eight knots an hour under the most favorable circumstances.”

“How long do you suppose the Maud will remain in her present hiding-place, wherever it may be?” asked Louis.

“Less than a day, I should suppose. Scoble is as much bothered to know what our movements will be, as we are to understand what he will do. As you told me the villain has no suspicion that the missing million has been reclaimed, and that you are now worth a million and a half, he will not expect a pursuit on a grand scale, such as we are now considering. He supposes you have an income of less than a thousand dollars a year, and he will not believe it possible that we can pursue him with anything more than a small sailing-vessel.”

“He may have come out of his hole before this time, and gone on his way to Bermuda.”

“He may, but I don’t believe he has. He will hardly believe that we can organize a pursuit before to-morrow morning, and he will hardly dare to come out before twenty-four hours from the present time.”

“How long before the steam-yacht will be in readiness to sail?”

“I cannot answer that question definitely; but not in less than a whole day, I should say. I believe she has her crew on board at the present time, for Colonel Singfield intended to sail in her the very day he died.”

“But Scoble will get away from us before that time,” suggested Louis.

“I am confident he will not come out of his hole before to-morrow night, and perhaps not till the next morning; but all this is guess-work, and he may be on his way to Bermuda at this moment. It is no use to follow him in a sailing-vessel. But here we are at the squire’s house, and there is a light in the office. I have no doubt he is very much worried about you and your mother.”

Louis led the way into the office of Uncle Moses without the ceremony of knocking. The worthy lawyer was smoking his cigar very vigorously, and had probably exceeded his usual indulgence on this extraordinary occasion. The moment he saw Louis he sprang out of his big chair as briskly as though he had been a trained athlete, and rushed upon the young man, hugging him as his mother would have done on a similar provocation.

“My dear boy!” cried the two hundred pounder, shaking all over with emotion. “Where have you been? I expected you and your mother back by the middle of the afternoon. I am afraid something has happened.”

“Something has happened, Uncle Moses,” replied Louis, bursting into tears.

“But where is your mother, my poor boy?” demanded the squire, suddenly losing the cheerful expression on his fat face.

“She is John Scoble’s prisoner on board of his vessel,” replied Louis, dropping into a chair and covering his face with both hands, while he wept as though his heart was broken.

“Good-evening, Captain Ringgold,” continued the squire, hardly able to restrain his own feelings, as he turned to the shipmaster. “What does all this mean?”

“It means that we have been tricked, trapped, outwitted by this Scoble!” exclaimed the captain, with a mixture of shame and indignation. “The vessel we went to look at was the Maud, and the whole plot was to get Louis and his mother on board of her.”

“Take a cigar, Captain; sit down and tell me all about it,” said the squire. “Don’t cry, Louis; we shall find a way out of this trouble, as we have out of all others, though this appears to be the severest trial that has beset you, my dear boy,” added Uncle Moses, as tenderly as a woman could have spoken.

Captain Ringgold lighted his cigar, and related very minutely all the incidents of the day; and his indignation waxed almost furious when he came to the part in which the mate had so cleverly tricked him. Squire Scarburn listened with his mouth half open at the exciting details. Then he asked a number of questions which the captain answered.

“It is not so bad as I feared it might be,” said the squire when he was in possession of all the details. “We have had a heavy gale here since you went away this morning, and I was afraid you had gone out to sea to try the vessel. I concluded that you were out on the ocean, and that some of you had been drowned.”

“Not so bad as that,” replied the captain.

“Terrible as Louis considers the situation, I am greatly relieved to learn that it is no worse,” added Uncle Moses. “That this Scoble is a rascal, there can be no doubt, but”--

“He has not the remotest suspicion that the missing million has been recovered, as Louis tells me, for the villain tried to effect his reconciliation with Mrs. Belgrave by informing her and her son where the treasure was concealed,” interposed the captain.

“So much the better,” answered Uncle Moses, nodding his head half a dozen times to express his satisfaction more forcibly. “As long as the money has been found, and even if it had not been found, Mrs. Belgrave has nothing to fear from her late husband. With Louis I believe it would have been different; and I wonder these conspirators have not contrived some way to have him fall overboard. But what is to be done? We won’t waste even one of the dark minutes of the night.”

“You are aware that just before we parted this morning I protested to you against the purchase of any old tub of a vessel for Louis,” replied Captain Ringgold.

“I remember; and you said something about a steam-yacht, though I did not quite understand what you were driving at.”

“I believe you ought not to permit Louis to risk his life in anything but the strongest and most seaworthy craft that can be built, and especially not in any such old death-trap as the Maud. Now will you excuse me if I ask what may seem to you to be impertinent questions?” continued the captain, very earnestly.

“Certainly, my dear sir; I know now, if I did not know it before, that you are one of Louis’s best friends, and whatever you say will be for his good.”

“I have something to propose, and I wish to know the extent of the young man’s fortune,” added the captain.

“He has one million four hundred thousand dollars, well invested, besides a surplus of about one hundred thousand dollars, which I have kept on deposit for any emergency,” replied Squire Scarburn promptly.

“I think the emergency has come, even independently of the kidnapping of the boy’s mother. Now, what is his probable income?”

“Seventy thousand dollars; for his money will pay an average of five per cent, and I am confident it is safely placed.”

“Good!” exclaimed the shipmaster. “Better than I supposed.”

Captain Ringgold then introduced the subject of purchasing the steam-yacht as yet without a name. The good squire was startled when he named the price it was expected to pay for the vessel, and shook his head rather ominously.

“I will give all I have in the world to get my mother back, and a hundred thousand dollars is nothing but a bagatelle compared with the safety and happiness of my mother!” exclaimed Louis, who had been listening eagerly to all that was said.

“But I propose to pay one-half of the price, and own one-half of the vessel,” interposed Captain Ringgold. “And of course I shall pay one-half of the expense of running the steamer.”

This proposition seemed to knock the squire entirely out of his self-possession; and he paused in silence, gazing intently at the shipmaster as if he desired to fathom his motive in making an offer so startlingly liberal. He had no especial interest in Louis, though he and the boy had always been warm friends. It occurred just then to the squire, and perhaps it had occurred to him before, that the captain had an especial interest in Louis’s mother, as he certainly had had a few years before.

Uncle Moses was silent for some time, during which he did some heavy thinking, though no one could know precisely what it was all about. Perhaps he was considering whether or not he ought to make such a heavy investment in what he regarded as a mere plaything for the boy. But he soon came to a conclusion, and his fat face brightened up all at once, his habitual smile recovering possession of it.

“No, no, Captain Ringgold; I could not for a moment think of accepting your proposition. If Louis is to own a steam-yacht, he must own it himself alone,” said the squire very decidedly.

“Of course I made the offer solely to help along the plan we have in view for the recovery of Mrs. Belgrave; more than this, I believe the purchase at the price it can be bought will be a good investment, for she cost a good deal more money than they ask for her,” replied the captain, taken all aback by the firm and decisive conclusion of the trustee, though it possibly upset some hope he had been indulging.

The shipmaster’s manner assured the squire that he had come to a correct conclusion, for he felt that he had no right to complicate the affairs of the mother in looking out for the welfare of the son. He did not consider that it would be proper for him to put the worthy nautical gentleman in condition to “make his way” with Mrs. Belgrave by permitting him to become half-owner in the steam-yacht.

“Now, my dear captain, can you give me an idea of the probable expense of running this steamer?” asked Uncle Moses.

“Fifty thousand dollars a year might easily be spent on such a yacht, but I believe it will not cost your ward more than half that sum. I believe that a trip around the world in such a craft would be worth more to him than a college course, especially if he took a competent instructor with him,” replied the expert.

“That would just suit me!” exclaimed Louis.

“Buy the yacht for him then, Captain Ringgold,” added the trustee. “He will not spend more than half his income at that rate.”

“What shall her name be?” asked the shipmaster.

“The Guardian-Mother,” replied Louis without an instant’s hesitation.