CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE LORDS OF THE SEA.

Wade Brooks did not take to the water from mere impulse, and because he saw no other way to escape from the captain of the “Moonlight.” In the morning, when the cutter seemed to attract some attention on board of the yacht, he had asked something about her; for he had no more idea of a revenue-cutter than a baby has. Pollish told him that she was a kind of missionary vessel, which not only caught the rogues that attempted to cheat the government, but she assisted vessels in distress, and looked out for all violations of the laws on the water. If the crew of a ship mutinied, she was ready to step in, and make the men do their duty; in a word, she was to serve the government and individuals as best she could.

From this description of her, Wade concluded that he ought to find friends on board of her. He knew that the “Housatonic” was bearing away a man who had cheated a bank--a national bank--out of a hundred thousand dollars. He had been robbed of his hundred dollars, and he did not feel obliged to keep his secret any longer. Though Mr. Wallgood had treated him very well, still he was a robber of the bank; and, if his secret was betrayed, he must blame Capt. Bendig for it. He had only agreed to keep the secret if he was allowed to retain the money, which Capt. Bendig had not permitted him to do.

But the skipper had not intended to give him a flogging while the cutter was so near the yacht, lest the cries of the victim should be heard on board of her. His only purpose had been to catch Wade, and lock him up in the forecastle or some other place on board, so that he could not have a talk with the son of the bank-president. If Lon Trustleton ascertained that the “Moonlight” had been used to convey the defaulter on board of a ship, the fact might come to the knowledge of his owner; and he knew what would follow. His place was his bread and butter, as much as that of the cook or steward; and it was not easy to obtain such positions as he held.

If Capt. Bendig had supposed that Wade Brooks had pluck enough to jump overboard, he would have handled him more carefully. The stowaway soon proved himself to be a good swimmer; for he struck out from the yacht, which sailed away and left him astern of her. But, as soon as the captain realized the situation, he ordered the yacht to be hove to.

“Hard down the helm!” he shouted to the man at the wheel.

But he had hardly given the order before he saw, that, if it was obeyed, the “Moonlight” would run into the cutter, which was now just abreast of her. The steamer had “slowed down” some time before. She immediately stopped her screw, and then backed till she came to a full stop. Half a dozen of her uniformed seamen were already in one of her quarter-boats, ready to drop it into the water; but this was unnecessary, for Wade had swam towards the cutter, and as soon as she stopped he was alongside of her. He saw the accommodation ladder at her quarter, and he made for that. A stout quarter-master was at the foot of the ladder with a rope in his hand; and with his assistance Wade soon climbed to the deck of the cutter.

The officer of the deck asked him no questions, but directed one of the stewards to take him below, and fit him out with dry clothes, and then bring him on deck again. By this time the “Moonlight” had come about, and was lying to a short distance from the cutter. The men in the quarter-boat were ordered to lower away; and an officer was sent in it to the yacht, which was evidently suspected of doing something out of the way. Capt. Bendig received the officer in the most courteous manner.

“Will you explain your object in communicating with that ship?” said the officer, opening the subject of his visit.

“Certainly: her captain is an old friend of mine; and, as we were both becalmed, he paid me a friendly visit,” replied Capt. Bendig.

“Did you come out here for the purpose of receiving this friendly visit?” continued the officer.

“No, sir: I brought off the captain’s wife, if you must know the whole of it,” said the captain of the “Moonlight.” “She lived in the country, and did not reach New York in season to come out in the ship. Though I don’t know any thing about it, I think it is more likely than not that the owners of the ship objected to his taking her on the voyage as a passenger, and he did not care to have her come on board before she left the pier. Of course you will regard what I say as told you in confidence; for I don’t wish to get my friend the captain into trouble with his owners.”

“What sort of cargo did you receive from her?” asked the officer.

“No cargo at all: the ship is just out of New York,” replied the captain of the yacht. “Do you think she has smuggled any thing out of the country?”

“No; but I have known a vessel to keep her contraband goods on board till she was ready to sail on another voyage, and then ship them into some gentleman’s private yacht. I want to seize one such pleasure-craft,” added the officer.

“Well, sir, you can make a beginning with the ‘Moonlight,’” laughed Capt. Bendig, delighted to find that the revenue-officer did not suspect the true nature of his business with the “Housatonic.” “I think her owner can fight his own battle as well as any of them.”

“I don’t say that any thing of this kind has been done; but the captain of the cutter directs me to ascertain your errand with that ship,” added the lieutenant.

“Well, sir, I have told you my errand; and I don’t know that I have done any thing to violate the laws of the United States,” added Capt. Bendig, beginning to bluster a little.

“I don’t know that you have: I came to ascertain. It becomes my duty to search your vessel,” continued the officer.

“You can do that as much as you please; and I can tell you in the beginning that you will find no smuggled goods on board,” said Capt. Bendig, with more pertness than the occasion required.

The officer called certain men from his boat, and a thorough search was made of the “Moonlight.” Her skipper made a great show of opening every locker, closet, and trunk, where it was possible to conceal a piece of silk or a box of cigars. Of course nothing was found, and the captain crowed accordingly.

“I hope you are satisfied,” said the skipper, when the search was completed.

“Entirely satisfied,” replied the courteous officer. “I am very sorry to have troubled you.”

“It is not much trouble to me; but I will take care to inform my owner that his yacht has been searched for contraband goods,” said Capt. Bendig, who could not resist the opportunity to bully when occasion offered.

“Of course you are at liberty to do that, as I am to inform the owners of the ‘Housatonic’ that you conveyed the captain’s wife on board of her; and possibly your owner would like to know the fact,” replied the revenue-officer, who was very much disgusted with the tone and manner of the captain.

“You have me there,” said Capt. Bendig, with a coarse grin; “and I think we had better both hold our tongues.”

“Just as you please: I don’t often go out of my way to meddle with private affairs: I have only done my duty in this case, and you can tell whom you please about it.”

The officer was really sorry that he found nothing on board of the yacht, for he was human enough to desire to see such an ill-natured fellow as the captain of the “Moonlight” get into a scrape.

“I want you to send that boy you picked up in the water back again to the vessel from which he escaped,” said the skipper, as the officer was about to return to his boat.

“Does he belong to the yacht?” asked the officer.

“No: he’s nothing but a wharf-rat: he broke into this vessel night before last, and I owe him a licking for it,” grinned the captain, as though it would be a pleasant thing for him to bestow the castigation.

The officer’s sympathies were with the boy; and he was willing to do any thing in his power to save any human being from falling into the clutches of such a brute as he saw the master of the “Moonlight” to be.

“How happened he to fall overboard?” asked the revenue-officer.

“He didn’t fall overboard: he jumped over.”

“Well, what made him jump overboard?”

“To get rid of the licking he deserved, I suppose. He is a young scamp that ran away from the place in the country where he lived; and I intend to have him sent back,” replied Capt. Bendig.

“I will report the matter to the captain, and he will do what he thinks proper,” added the officer.

“See here, I don’t want no fooling over this case. I want the boy sent back at once. You are not the lords of the sea, if you are in a revenue-cutter. You haven’t any claim on that boy, and I want him sent back,” blustered Capt. Bendig.

“Do you know to whom you are talking?” said the officer. “We do not take any orders from any but the government.”

“I want the boy; that’s all I’ve got to say about it; and, if you don’t send him, you’ll have a bone to pick with my owner, who has some influence in Washington. Some things can be done as well as others.”

“I will report what you say to the captain of the cutter; and it is probable that he will not be bullied into sending the boy back,” replied the officer indignantly. “If you want the boy, you had better send for him; for I am quite confident the captain will not trouble himself to send him back, after your insulting message.”

“You young squirts of officers think you are the lords of the sea; and you talk to men like me as if we were of no consequence,” growled Capt. Bendig.

“I treated you like a gentleman till you proved that you were not one.”

The revenue-officer went over the side into his boat; but, just as he was ordering his crew to shove off, he discovered another boat pulling from the cutter. In a few moments it was alongside of the “Moonlight.”

“Mr. Wilkins, by order of the captain of the cutter, you will take possession of this yacht, and hold her till further orders,” said the officer of the boat, touching his cap to his superior.

Mr. Wilkins was glad to receive the order.