CHAPTER XXX.

THE SEARCH AND THE ARREST.

In a few moments the cutter was going through the water at her highest rate of speed. No doubt Capt. Bendig understood what she was about when he saw her headed towards the “Housatonic.” Very likely he would have made an end of Wade Brooks, if he could have laid his hands upon him at that moment; but Wade was safe for the present. Lon Trustleton was vexed and perplexed to know the meaning of the strange questions the commander of the cutter had put to him; and he had no idea where the steamer was going, though Wade comprehended the matter fully.

“Where are we going now, Wade Brooks?” asked Lon, after he had tried in vain to solve the mystery of the situation.

“You must ask the captain, if you want to know any thing about it,” replied Wade coldly.

“You needn’t be so stiff about it.”

“I don’t run this vessel; and the captain of her hasn’t told me what he is going to do,” added Wade.

“I didn’t suppose he had; but the captain of the yacht says you have been telling him something,” continued Lon.

“I have told him a great many things; and he has told me some.”

“I dare say he thinks a good deal of you, Wade Brooks,” said Lon, with a sneer.

“I think he is one of the sort that will give a fellow fair play. He isn’t such a fellow as the captain of that yacht. You made friends with him; and I don’t believe he was willing to have you leave his vessel,” said Wade.

“What makes you think so?” asked Lon, whose curiosity was excited.

“I think he will take you back to your father, and then charge him a good price for doing it.”

Capt. Bendig had protested against his being taken to the cutter; but he did not know the reason. Lon was satisfied that Wade knew what was going on, and why he had been sent for. He asked him a great many questions, all of which he refused to answer. If the captain wanted him to know what he was about, he could tell him: Wade would not. But the steamer was going at a rapid rate through the water; and, as the “Housatonic” was not making more than four knots an hour, the two vessels were soon within speaking distance.

“Heave to!” shouted the captain of the cutter as he ran his vessel under the stern of the “Housatonic.”

“What do you want now?” demanded Capt. Crogick.

The commander of the cutter repeated his order, and the master of the ship did not deem it prudent to disregard it. A boat was lowered from the cutter; and an officer was sent in it to the ship.

“What is it now?” asked Capt. Crogick, as the lieutenant came upon the deck of the “Housatonic.” “You overhauled this ship last night.”

“I know we did; but this time we want to inquire into another matter,” replied the officer, whose name was Graves. “Have you any passengers on board?”

Capt. Crogick was taken all aback at this question. He had sent his lady passengers into their state-rooms, and had directed the cashier to conceal himself elsewhere, so that they should not be seen; and he had not looked for any trouble in this direction.

“You visited my ship before, and looked her all over; and you did not find any passengers,” replied he.

“You do not answer my question,” replied Mr. Graves. “Have you any passengers on board?”

“Did you find any passengers on board when you searched the ship?” asked the captain.

“I did not; but I was not looking for passengers then. It seems to be an easy matter to answer my question, if you are disposed to do so,” added the revenue-officer.

“What’s the use of answering it?” said Capt. Crogick, utterly disgusted with the situation. “You will search my ship just the same.”

“As you refuse to answer me, I need waste no more time in talking about my duty.”

“Is it against the law of the United States to carry passengers?” demanded the captain.

“It depends upon who the passengers are.”

Mr. Graves called several of his men from the boat, and then went into the cabin. No passengers were in sight; and he began to try the doors of the state-rooms. He found that most of them were empty; but two were locked.

“My wife is in that one; and, if you wish to disturb her, I have no power to prevent you from doing so,” said Capt. Crogick, in the tones of injured innocence.

“I will not disturb her; but I don’t remember to have seen your wife when I was on board before,” replied the officer; “and you will recall the fact that I looked into all the state-rooms.”

“That you didn’t see her, don’t prove that she was not on board,” added Capt. Crogick doggedly.

“It don’t prove it; but I should be willing to bet a hat she was not on board when I visited your ship last time,” said the officer, with a laugh. “But I am not looking for your wife; and I shall not molest her in any way. The next room is locked; and my orders are to bring any passengers except your wife on board of the cutter. I must know who is in that room.”

“Well, sir, my wife’s sister is in that room,” added the captain.

“And who else?”

“No one else,” answered the captain, as he knocked on the door.

It was opened by Mrs. Wallgood. She stepped out into the cabin, looking as disdainfully at the officer as though she had been a tragedy queen.

“I beg your pardon, madam,” said Mr. Graves. “I am sorry to disturb you, but the captain of the cutter desires your presence on board of the vessel.”

“If the captain of the cutter wishes to see me, he must come where I am,” replied Mrs. Wallgood, as proudly as though she had been in her own house.

“I beg to remind you that he is an officer of the United States,” added Mr. Graves.

“I don’t care what he is. If I am to go on board of the cutter, I shall be taken there by force,” said the lady, with a queenly toss of the head.

“Very well, madam; for the present, I will let the matter rest,” added Mr. Graves, touching his cap to the lady, and retiring from the cabin, though not till he had examined the interior of the state-room.

“You will bear witness that I do not oppose you in the discharge of your duty,” said Capt. Crogick, following him to the deck.

“Of course you do not: I find no fault with you,” replied Mr. Graves, who saw that the captain supposed he had given up the search.

The officer called all his men to the deck, and commenced a search for the husband of the lady. He returned to the cabin with four of them, and the place was carefully examined. The officer was familiar with the business, and had been through the “Housatonic” once before. He started his men into the between-decks.

“I was not aware that officers of the United States were in the habit of molesting lady passengers,” said Mrs. Wallgood, with a withering sneer.

“They often do it, madam,” replied Mr. Graves. “I have met a lady with ten thousand dollars’ worth of smuggled goods on her person. When ladies engage in questionable transactions, they can hardly be excepted from interference by the officers of the customs.”

“Do you charge me with smuggling?” demanded the lady.

“Certainly not, madam: I charge you with nothing,” answered the officer, with a pleasant smile. “I only invited you to go on board of the cutter.”

“But I will not go.”

“Very well, madam: I shall simply inform the captain that you decline his invitation. I dare say that will be the end of the whole matter. I am sure he will not be so ungallant as to use any compulsion.”

“Here he is!” shouted the old quarter-master, who was conducting the search between decks.

A moment later the veteran appeared leading out the cashier. It seems that the defaulter had a slight cold in the head, and an unfortunate sneeze betrayed his presence to the cutter’s men.

“I am glad to see you, sir,” said the officer. “I must trouble you to go on board of the cutter.”

“I think you have made some mistake, for I have no business with the cutter,” replied Mr. Wallgood: but he was trembling with emotion; and, in fact, he was altogether too nervous a man to rob a bank, and then manage his own escape.

“Are you a passenger in this ship, Mr. Wallgood?” asked the officer.

“I am a passenger; but my name is not Wallgood,” answered the cashier.

“Then I beg your pardon for calling you by a wrong name,” added Mr. Graves. “May I ask your name?”

“My name is John Simpson.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Simpson, for the mistake I made. But I shall be obliged to ask you to visit the cutter, and my boat is waiting for you,” continued the officer, in the blandest tones.

“But I am not Mr. Wallgood, and you have mistaken the person you want,” persisted the cashier.

“Not at all: my orders are to bring on board the cutter all the passengers except the captain’s wife,” replied Mr. Graves. “This lady declines to go, and I shall merely report her refusal to the captain.”

“But what is your business with me?” asked the defaulter.

“I have no business whatever with you. I only obey the orders of my captain; and I know nothing whatever in regard to the matter,” replied Mr. Graves. “You will oblige me by going into the boat which is at the accommodation ladder.”

The cashier objected, but the officer was inflexible. Mr. Simpson had no business on board of the cutter: he was ill, and it was an exposure for him to leave the ship.

“Why don’t you tell him up and down that you won’t go, as I did?” demanded Mrs. Wallgood.

“Well, I won’t go, then!” exclaimed the cashier.

“That is candid and straightforward,” replied the officer. “Here, Peterson, put this gentleman into the boat,” he added, turning to the quarter-master.

Peterson seized him by the collar, and marched him out of the cabin. Mrs. Wallgood appealed to the captain to resist; but he was too prudent to meddle with a United States officer. In spite of the lady he was compelled to get into the boat, which pulled for the cutter.