CHAPTER XXIX.
CAPT. BENDIG’S BLUNDER.
Mr. Wilkins immediately returned to the deck of the “Moonlight,” attended this time by eight seamen, part of whom had come from the cutter in the second boat.
“Well, sir, what do you want now?” demanded Capt. Bendig, as Mr. Wilkins stepped upon the deck.
“I am ordered to take possession of this vessel, and to hold her till further orders,” replied the naval officer.
“What’s that for?” asked the astonished skipper, taken all aback by the announcement.
“I don’t know. I obey orders, and ask no questions about things that do not concern me.--Stand by to lower the foresail!” added Wilkins to his men, as soon as they were on the deck of the “Moonlight.”
“I call this high-handed!” exclaimed the captain; but he was not quite so crank as he had been.
“You can call it what you please,” replied the lieutenant of the cutter, as his men gathered at the foresail halyards. “Lower away!”
“Can’t you tell me what this is for?” demanded Capt. Bendig, as he realized that the command of the yacht had passed out of his hands.
“I cannot. I don’t know, and I don’t care,” answered Wilkins curtly.
“I don’t understand it,” added Capt. Bendig.
“Neither do I; but, if anybody understands it, you ought to. I should judge the order comes on account of some information that boy has given; but I don’t know any thing about it,” added Wilkins; and he seemed to enjoy the chagrin of the captain. “No information has been conveyed to the commander of the cutter by any other person.”
“Would the captain of the cutter hear what a little scalawag like that boy has to say?” demanded the skipper of the “Moonlight,” disgusted with this view of the question.
“The commander of the cutter knows what he is about; and, if the boy tells the truth, he will hear him as readily as any other person,” replied Wilkins.
The lieutenant of the cutter then ordered his men to anchor the yacht. When it was done, he took the most comfortable seat he could find, and gave himself up to the reading of a newspaper. He was perfectly at home; for the yacht, for the time being, was under his command. He did not care to talk any more with the captain, or with anybody else.
Capt. Bendig was utterly cast down. He began to realize that he had made a blunder in treating the “wharf-rat” in the manner he had. When he saw the cutter coming, he had gone among the men, and given each of them fifty dollars of the money he had received for them. He was of the opinion that this was enough for them, and he proposed to keep the other fifty himself; for he had made the bargain with the principals, and the men did not know that one hundred had been paid for each one of them.
But, in order to understand the action of the commander of the cutter, we must return to Wade Brooks, who by this time was clothed in a suit of dry clothes. The steward, who had him in charge, took good care of him, and conducted him to the quarter-deck as soon as he was in condition to see the captain.
Wade was not a little abashed when he found himself in the presence of the commander, who was dressed in uniform, and looked like a greater man than even the captain of the militia company in his native town, who had always filled him with awe and reverence. He looked at him, and was glad to find that he did not look a bit like Capt. Bendig. He did not put on any airs, and actually bestowed a smile upon him.
“Well, young man, have you been taking a cold bath this chilly day?” said he, smiling again.
“The bath was better than the licking,” replied Wade, shrugging his shoulders. “I hope you don’t think of sending me back to Capt. Bendig, who is the hardest man I ever met in my life.”
“That will depend upon circumstances. Do you belong on board of that yacht?” asked the captain.
“No, sir: I do not belong to her. If I did, I would drown myself,” replied Wade, with energy.
“How happened you to fall overboard?”
“I didn’t fall over: I jumped over.”
“What did you do that for?”
“Because the captain was going to lick me for nothing; and I would not stand it.”
“What is your name?”
“Wade Brooks, sir. What is yours?”
The captain and an officer near him laughed outright at the simplicity of the boy; and it was evident that he came from the country.
“You may call me Capt. Singleton; and that is my name,” said the captain, when he had recovered his gravity. “Now, Wade Brooks, what was the captain of the yacht going to flog you for?”
“For nothing at all. He promised Mr. Wallgood that he would not flog me for taking his breakfast and part of his dinner. He would not whip me for this; but he said he should give it to me for hiding in the forecastle when he wanted to whip me.”
Capt. Singleton seated himself on a stool, and continued to question Wade till he had drawn from him his whole history since he came from Midhampton, and up to the time he went on board of the “Moonlight.”
“Do you know what the yacht is doing out here?” asked the captain.
“Yes, sir, I do.”
“Well, what is she doing out here?”
“The cashier of the Walnut National Bank in Midhampton has run away with one hundred thousand dollars; and the yacht came out here to put him on board of that ship,” replied Wade, pointing to the “Housatonic,” which was not more than three or four miles distant; for she had tacked, and was standing up to the north-east.
“Do you mean that he stole the money?” inquired Capt. Singleton, deeply interested in the matter.
“Yes, sir, that’s what I mean. His name is Mr. Wallgood, and he is the brother-in-law of the captain of the ship. He went on board with his wife, and the wife of the captain of the ship; and the two women are sisters.”
“Are you sure you are telling me the truth?” asked the commander of the cutter.
“Dead sure of it, sir; and, if you go to the ship, you will find Mr. Wallgood on board of her, with his wife and Mrs. Crogick, who is her sister.”
“You said that before,” said the captain.
“The cashier gave the men on the yacht a hundred dollars apiece to keep still about it; and I don’t know what he gave the captain of the ‘Moonlight,’” continued Wade, not a little excited. “He gave me a hundred dollars too; but Capt. Bendig took it away from me.”
“And that’s the reason you are telling about the matter, I suppose,” added Capt. Singleton.
“I told Mr. Wallgood I would keep still if I was allowed to keep the money; and, as the captain did not allow me to keep it, I am willing to tell all I know about the case,” answered Wade.
“I see; and the captain of the yacht made a mistake when he took the money away from you,” laughed the commander.
“I didn’t mean to meddle with any thing that did not concern me,” said Wade.
“Didn’t you say you would not take any of the money the two boys had?”
“Yes, sir: I wouldn’t have any thing to do with the money Matt Swikes stole from his father.”
“But you were willing to take some of the money the cashier stole. How is this?” asked Capt. Singleton.
“I didn’t think any thing about it. Do you suppose the hundred dollars was a part of the money he stole from the bank?” asked Wade, with a look of anxiety on his face; for this was the first time he had thought about the subject.
“I should suppose so, though I know nothing about it.”
“I had an idea that the hundred thousand dollars he took from the bank was all fixed up some other way. I heard him tell his wife about it; but I couldn’t understand it. Somehow he was to get the money when he got to Italy. At any rate, I didn’t think the money he gave me had any thing to do with what he stole: if I had, I wouldn’t have taken it.”
“And you say the two boys are on board of that yacht?”
“Yes, sir; and one of them is the son of Capt. Trustleton, the president of the bank,” replied Wade.
“His son, is he? What did he say when he saw the cashier of his father’s bank on board of the yacht?”
“He did not see him. Capt. Bendig locked the two boys into his state-room till the cashier and his wife had gone on board of the ‘Housatonic.’”
Capt. Singleton sent the officer to direct Mr. Wilkins to take possession of the yacht. He wanted her captain to be where he could find him. He questioned Wade for half an hour longer, and then he sent a boat to bring Lon Trustleton on board.
“He will tell you hard stories about me; but they are not true,” said Wade, when the boat had gone.
“I will hear what he has to say. Did you tell the president’s son that the cashier had gone on board of the ship?” asked Capt. Singleton.
“No, sir: I had no chance, for the captain kept them out of my way. He took them into the cabin.”
When Lon Trustleton came on board of the cutter, he looked very much scared. Mr. Wilkins had put him into the boat in spite of the protest of Capt. Bendig.
“If that fellow has been saying any thing bad about me, it is all a lie,” said Lon, almost as soon as he touched the deck, and saw the captain and Wade talking together.
“Never mind that just now, my lad,” interposed the commander. “You will answer my questions; and be sure you speak the truth. Do you know a man by the name of Wallgood?”
“Yes, sir, I do: he is the cashier of the Walnut National Bank, and my father is president of it,” replied Lon, his face brightening up; for the question did not seem to affect him in any bad way.
“Where is Mr. Wallgood now?” inquired Capt. Singleton, in a very indifferent way.
“In Midhampton, I suppose.”
“Have you seen him to-day?”
“No, sir: of course I haven’t. I have been on the water all day,” replied Lon, puzzled at the questions put to him.
“Should you know him if you saw him?”
“Certainly I should: I used to see him about every day.”
“That’s all now.--Go ahead,” added the captain to an officer; and the cutter was headed for the “Housatonic.”