CHAPTER XXXII.

EVEN-HANDED JUSTICE.

The captain of the cutter sent an officer, in charge of Mr. Wallgood, to the ship, for the effects of the latter, including the money and credits he had. In half an hour they returned. Capt. Crogick went back to the “Housatonic,” and proceeded on his voyage, his wife remaining with him. Mrs. Wallgood laid aside her queenly air, and wept with her husband at the crushing blow which had overtaken them. Wade really pitied them, they felt so bad; but it showed him that the way of the transgressor was hard.

“What are you going to do with me?” asked Lon Trustleton, after the cutter had started for the “Moonlight.”

“I suppose I can’t do better than to send you back to your father; for I understand that you are a runaway, as well as the cashier of the bank,” replied the captain.

“Wade Brooks told you that; and he is the greatest liar in the whole world,” replied Lon, casting an ugly look at the subject of his remark. “He has been lying about me all along.”

“I find he has told me the truth in all things. I think your father will feel very grateful to him; for he has been the means of arresting the cashier, and of recovering the money,” added the captain. “He says the boy with you stole two hundred dollars from his father, divided it with you, and then you ran away together.”

“He stole it himself,” said Lon at a venture.

“I do not intend to try the case between you,” added the captain. “I am willing to leave it with your father to settle as he thinks best.”

The cutter continued to go at full speed till she was within a short distance of the “Moonlight.” Every thing about the yacht was as it had been, for Mr. Wilkins was still in charge of her. As the water was perfectly smooth, the captain of the cutter decided to come alongside of the “Moonlight,” so that he could more conveniently finish the case. Fenders were put out, and the cutter was made fast to the yacht.

As soon as the two vessels were secured together, Capt. Bendig came on board of the cutter. He had been unable to obtain any satisfaction of Mr. Wilkins; and he judged what had been done, by the movements of the steamer. He had seen her overhaul the ship, but the two vessels were too far off for him to observe what had taken place. The first person he saw when he went over the side of the cutter was the cashier, sitting with his wife on the quarter-deck. The sad face of the defaulter was enough to convince him that the worst had transpired.

“How’s this?” he asked, walking up to the cashier.

“It is all over: your treachery has ruined me,” replied Mr. Wallgood bitterly.

“What do you mean by that?” demanded the skipper of the yacht.

“You took the money I paid that boy, away from him; and he told the captain of this cutter the whole story.”

“What, that wharf-rat?” exclaimed the captain. “I will take it out of his hide if he did.”

“That will do no good. It is too late to do any thing now,” groaned the cashier. “The mischief is done.”

“See here, you young whelp, did you tell the captain of this cutter who was on board of the ‘Moonlight’?” said Capt. Bendig, rushing fiercely at Wade, who was standing near the rail.

“I did: I told him all I knew about the matter,” replied Wade frankly.

“You did!” and the captain seized him by the collar, and was about to chastise him on the spot, when the captain of the cutter ordered his men to lay hands on the assailant.

The sailors were not very gentle about it, and the skipper was tumbled all in a heap into the scuppers.

“If you attempt any thing of that kind again, I will arrest you, and put you in irons,” said the captain of the cutter sternly. “You will find you have enough to do take care of yourself, without meddling with others.”

“I shall get even with that young thief somehow, or my name is not Bendig,” added the skipper, as he picked himself up. “This world isn’t big enough for both of us till I have given him what he deserves.”

“What fault have you to find with him?”

“He broke into the yacht, and then got possession of business secrets, which he has used to my disadvantage; and I will take it out of his hide.”

“If you do, I shall know where to look for you,” replied Capt. Singleton. “Perhaps this business is a little outside of the strict line of my duty; but the robbing of a national bank is a matter for United States officers to deal with, and I shall take the responsibility. As for you, Capt. Bendig, you are guilty of a grave offence. You have used the yacht of your owner in assisting a bank defaulter to escape with his plunder. I don’t think you can settle that with your owner alone.”

“I think I can,” replied the skipper.

“Mr. Wallgood, how much were you to pay this man for his services?” asked the captain of the cutter, turning to the cashier.

“That was a private bargain, and it’s none of your business,” interposed Bendig.

“I shall tell the whole truth now, wherever it hits; and I don’t think I am under any obligations to you for taking the money for your crew, and robbing this boy so that he was tempted to betray me,” added Mr. Wallgood.

“Your best way is to tell the whole truth,” said the captain of the cutter. “This man took the money, knowing it to be stolen from a national bank; and I think it will appear that he is an accomplice after the fact.”

“Me?” exclaimed Capt. Bendig, startled at this view of the case.

“I am no lawyer; but that is what it ought to be.--How much did you pay him, Mr. Wallgood?”

“I gave him five hundred dollars for himself, and one hundred dollars for each of the men on board of the yacht. I paid the boy the money myself; but Bendig took it from him, so that he has that also,” replied the cashier.

“This money was a part of the plunder; and it must be paid to the bank again,” continued Capt. Singleton. “Did you give the money to the men, captain?”

“I did,” replied the skipper of the “Moonlight;” and he appeared to be very much embarrassed.

“Mr. Wilkins, call all hands on board of the yacht,” said the captain of the cutter to the officer in charge of the “Moonlight.”

The crew of the yacht were mustered in the waist, and the revenue-officers proceeded to question them separately. Every one of them declared that he had received but fifty dollars, and not one of them knew any thing about the affairs of the cashier. They had been told that the owners of the ship might object if they knew that she took passengers.

“How much money did you pay this man?” asked the captain of the cutter, returning to the deck of his vessel, where the cashier remained.

Mr. Wallgood stated the amount as he had before.

“Capt. Bendig, it seems that you have intended to cheat your own crew out of one-half of the sum they were to receive for their services,” continued the captain. “It is easy enough to believe this of you, after you have robbed this boy of all his share. I will give you about five minutes to restore to me all the money you have received from Mr. Wallgood.”

“All of it?” asked the bewildered skipper.

“Every cent of it.”

“But I paid out some money for provisions and stores,” pleaded the captain of the “Moonlight.”

“That shall be your loss; but the stolen money must be restored, without regard to whose pocket it comes out of.”

“What if I do not do it?”

“Then I will put you in irons, and hand you over to the first United States officer I can find in New York.”

Capt. Bendig concluded to restore all he had; and the cook, steward, and crew did the same. They could not help themselves: it was stolen money; and the captain of the cutter took the responsibility. Doubtless he exceeded the limit of his duty, as he himself declared; but he had certainly done justice to all as far as it was in his power.

“Now, Capt. Bendig, you are released; and you may return to your vessel,” said the captain of the cutter. “If you are not satisfied with what I have done, you know where to look for me.”

“You are rough on me, captain.”

“Not so rough as you are on yourself. If you had not attempted to grasp more than your fair share of the plunder, and robbed that boy, you might have got out of it with more money in your pocket. You may go now.”

“You won’t mention this little matter to the owner of the ‘Moonlight,’ will you, captain?” whined Capt. Bendig. “I am a poor man; and, if I lose my place as the sailing-master of the yacht, I don’t know what I shall do. I have a family to support; and I don’t want to be out of a job.”

“I don’t know your owner; and I don’t make bargains of that sort with fellows like you.--Cast off the bow-line, Mr. Wilkins.”

Capt. Bendig returned to the yacht; and his view of the case was so changed, that it is doubtful whether he even wished to “take it out of the hide” of Wade Brooks.

“Where is the other boy?” asked the captain of the cutter; but no one had seen him.

“Where is Matt?” asked Wade. “The captain wants him.”

“He must be in the yacht: I have not seen him since I left her,” replied Lon.

Mr. Wilkins was sent to look him up. It was found that he was locked into Capt. Bendig’s state-room. The skipper intended to make sure of him, if he could, so as to make some money by robbing him of what he had, and then making his father pay for restoring him. Matt was glad enough to get out of the “Moonlight;” for the captain had been rough on him during the absence of the cutter.

As soon as he was on board, the revenue-steamer started for New York. Lon and Matt had a conference as soon as they could get by themselves. They talked about the future; and they were not quite ready to be sent back home with a good part of the money they had taken still unspent in their pockets. They had not had the “good time” they anticipated; but they could not see how they were to escape from the cutter.

Some time in the night the cutter anchored off the Battery.