The Last Cruise of the Spitfire/Chapter 25
CHAPTER XXV.
THE CAPTURE ON THE OCEAN.
It did not take me long to dress after Captain Flagg made the announcement that the jolly-boat had been sighted. I was eager to find out how the occupants had fared, and what Mr. Henshaw, the government officer, would do with them.
In a few moments Phil Jones and I had on our clothing, and both of us stepped out into the cabin, where we found Mr. Ranson awaiting us.
"Where is the boat?" I asked.
"Not over a quarter of a mile away," he replied. "Mr. Henshaw says you two and myself are to keep out of the way, and he will give Captain Hannock, Lowell, and the rest a complete surprise."
"All right. I suppose if the captain saw us aboard he wouldn't feel much like coming on deck."
"You are right. But he would have to, nevertheless. Mr. Henshaw will place him under arrest immediately."
"I would like to see what takes place," I rejoined.
"So would I," put in Phil. "Captain Hannock is no friend of mine."
"Captain Flagg has assigned us three a place where we may see all that happens," returned the lawyer. "Come with me."
We followed him on deck. Close to the wheel was a small covered place used for storing odds and ends of various kinds. It contained a window so that one might see, and the door was covered with a wire netting, through which we might hear all that occurred.
It was this place that we entered, closing the door tightly behind us. No sooner were we inside than I heard the voice from the jolly-boat sing out:
"Yacht ahoy!"
"Hello, there! Who are you? " was the answer returned.
"Survivors of the schooner Spitfire," said a voice which I recognized as that belonging to Lowell. "Will you take us aboard?"
"Yes. Lay to under our bow."
The yacht stopped moving, and a moment later the jolly-boat came alongside, and Captain Hannock, Lowell, Crocker, and the sailors stepped aboard.
"Who are you?" asked Captain Flagg of Captain Hannock; and I noticed that Mr. Henshaw had laid aside his navy-blue suit and badge, and was standing by apparently as an ordinary passenger.
Captain Hannock told him, and also introduced the rest.
"My schooner, the Spitfire, bound for Liverpool, took fire and sank," he continued. "We just had time to get out the jolly-boat and get a cask of water and some few things to eat when she went down."
"Indeed!" replied Captain Flagg. "How did she catch fire?"
"I can't imagine, excepting that it was set afire by a hand on board who changed his mind about going and wanted me to let him land before we started."
This was certainly cool, to say the least. Of course Captain Hannock meant me. Mr. Ranson pinched my arm.
"Where is that man?" asked Mr. Henshaw.
"I don't know. I wanted him to get into the jolly-boat, but he was sassy, and told me to mind my own business and he'd look out for himself."
"What was his name?"
"Luke Foster. He wasn't very old."
"Are all the rest here?"
"All but the cabin boy."
"Where is he?"
"Dead, I guess. My boatswain here says he saw him jump overboard out of sheer fright as soon as he saw the fire."
"My, what a whopper!" exclaimed Phil under his breath.
"Yes, I guess he's gone to Davy Jones's locker," put in Lowell. "He was a very nervous lad."
Captain Flagg continued to ask questions, and Captain Hannock and the others related their experience since the jolly-boat had left the Spitfire. He said they had a compass on board, but during the storm it had been washed overboard, and they were then compelled to steer by the sun and stars. Then the supply of eatables had fallen short and the sailors had quarreled among themselves on account of it, though he would make no complaint against the poor fellows.
"You don't look starved, Captain Hannock," said Captain Flagg coldly.
"I never show it in my face," was the smooth reply. "But all the same, I am mighty hungry."
"You shall have breakfast very soon." And then as Mr. Henshaw gave him a peculiar look, the captain continued:
"Won't you step into the cabin?"
"Thanks: I will. Where are you bound?"
"For Boston."
"That will just suit me. I can't pay for the passage though. I haven't any money."
"Was your vessel insured?"
"Only about half value."
The two captains and Mr. Henshaw disappeared into the cabin. We waited impatiently.
"I guess he's done for," said Phil.
"Yes; Mr. Henshaw intends to arrest them one at a time, so there will be no fuss," replied the lawyer.
About five minutes after there was a call for Lowell, and a minute after one for Crocker.
"That settles it," said Phil with a grin.
"Were none of the others in it?" asked Mr. Ranson of me.
"I hardly think so."
Just then one of the yacht hands approached us.
The captain would like to see you in the cabin," he said.
"All of us?" I asked.
"Yes, sir."
So we went down into the cabin, Mr. Ranson first, Phil following, and myself last.
The three prisoners were standing in a row, all heavily handcuffed.
"I demand to know the meaning of this?" Captain Hannock was saying in a voice of pretended indignation.
"It means that you are a prisoner," replied Mr. Henshaw.
"I can see that plainly enough," sneered the captain of the late schooner. "But why?"
"For burning the Spitfire, with a view of obtaining the high insurance upon her."
"Burning the Spitfire! Who ever heard of such a thing!"
And Captain Hannock started back in assumed astonishment.
"We have heard of it; and also of the bogus cargo you carried."
"It's a falsehood!" cried Lowell. "We know nothing of the burning of the schooner. I'm almost certain that boy set her on fire."
"What boy?"
"Luke Foster."
"Did you hire him to do it?"
"Hire him? Do you think I am a fool!" shouted Captain Hannock.
"Perhaps I do. The reason I asked was because I know you started out with the intention of setting fire to the schooner, or destroying her in someway," returned Mr. Henshaw.
"It's false," began Captain Hannock. "The Spitfire was"
At that instant he stopped short. He had caught sight of us, and his face turned a sickly green. No doubt he felt that for once he had been thoroughly sold.
Lowell and Crocker also noted our entrance. The sailor fell back in a fright. The boatswain turned upon me fiercely.
"You whippersnapper!" he exclaimed. "Where did you come from?"
I offered him no reply, and he went on:
"This is the chap who set the Spitfire on fire."
"We know all about it," said Mr. Henshaw quietly. "For the present you three may consider yourselves under arrest."
"It's an outrage," cried Captain Hannock; but evidently his heart was not in the words.
"I'll risk it."
"You'll be sorry for it," put in Lowell, who was white with rage.
Mr. Henshaw paid no attention to him.
"Where shall we place them?" he asked of Captain Flagg.
"There is no place but an empty coal locker or two."
"That is good enough."
"Put me into a coal locker!" foamed the boatswain.
"Yes, my man. And let me add that I think a coal locker plenty good enough for a man who tries to burn a boy up."
"I won't go!"
"Oh, yes, you will."
"I won't!"
Mr. Henshaw suddenly caught him by the arm. I could see that the clasp was as that of steel.
"See here, I want no more nonsense," he said sternly. "You will do just as I say. Come along."
He marched Lowell off. The rest of us stood guard over Captain Hannock and Crocker.
"You will catch it for this!" said Captain Hannock to Phil.
"Maybe I will," returned the cabin boy. "After this I'm going to look out for myself."
"I'll skin you when I get a chance!"
"But you sha'n't get the chance," I put in; "that is, not if I can help it."
"You! why, do you know who you are?"
"Yes, sir."
"You are Felix Stillwell's nephew."
"And what of that?" I asked, wishing to draw him on.
"Oh, nothing, only you'll be sorry for what you've done."
"As Mr. Henshaw says, I'll risk it," I replied.
"You'll risk it? "he repeated, staring at me strangely.
"Yes, I'll risk it."
"You talk like a fool, Foster."
"Thank you."
"I can place your uncle in a very bad hole."
"How?"
"Never mind, I can, and that's enough."
"Then you'll have to go and do it, that's all."
"Don't you care?" he asked, considerably astonished at my apparent indifference.
"Yes, I care," I replied, honestly. "But if my uncle has done wrong I suppose he'll have to suffer for it."
"Perhaps you don't think much of your uncle," he said, suspiciously.
"I do and I don't. He has not treated me right at times."
"Oh!"
"Of course I hate to see him in company, in any transaction, with you," I added, pointedly.
"Don't crow, Foster," he fumed. "The end hasn't been reached yet."
"Not quite; but we'll be close to it when you are landed in the Boston jail."
This remark made Captain Hannock more angry than ever, and he began to use language that I would not care to remember, much less repeat.
"We'll see," he said at length. "I am not the only one to suffer, when this goes into court. Felix Stillwell will catch it, too!"
"Yes, and I reckon I can put in a word or two against this boy of his," put in Crocker, who had been listening to what was going on.
"You may say what you please," I returned, calmly.
"Say, Captain, didn't that uncle of his send him along to set the Spitfire on fire?" went on the sailor, suggestively.
"Why, of course he did!" burst out Captain Hannock, caught by the idea. "How else would he happen to be on board?"
I must confess I was rather taken back by this cool assertion.
I was about to reply, when Mr. Ranson caught me by the arm and shook his head.
"Don't waste time talking to him," said the lawyer. "He will do and say what he can to get free, but it will not avail him—he will only twist himself up."
"Will I?" sneered Captain Hannock.
"You will. You had better remain quiet and think over what you'll have to say when you come up for a hearing in court."
In a moment more Mr. Henshaw reappeared, with the information that since Lowell had objected so strongly to the coal locker they had put him in the oil closet (the rankest place on board), and now there were two lockers for the two remaining prisoners.
Despite their protestations, Captain Hannock and Crocker were quickly transferred to their improvised cells. They did not wish to be separated, but Mr. Henshaw would have it no other way.
And then we steamed for Boston harbor.