by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XII
During the voyage Captain Hampton saw but little of Jacob. Each day hewent to the rope across the deck marking the division between the cabinand the steerage passengers, and the boy at once came running up to him.His report always was that he was getting on 'fust rate,' while each dayhis wonder at the amount of water increased.
'I would not have believed if I hadn't seen it that there could be somuch water, Captain. I can't think where it all comes from. I heard someof them say it was tremendous deep--ten times as deep as that monumentwith the chap on the top of it in Trafalgar Square. Why, it must haverained for years and years to have got such a lot of water here as this.And it tastes bad. I had a wash in a bucket on deck this morning, andsome of the water got in my mouth and it wur as nasty as could be--awfulit wur. What can make it like that? Why the water in the Thames looksten times as dirty, but it don't taste particular nasty for all that.'
'I will tell you about it some day, Jacob; it is too long to go intonow. You remind me of it some evening, when we are at a lonely inn, withnothing to do. How do you get on at night?'
'I sleeps all right, sir; it is awful hot down there in them bunks, asthey call 'em, one above another, just like a threepenny lodging-housewhere I used to sleep sometimes when I had had good luck. The firstnight or two was bad, there was no mistake about it. Most of 'em wasawful ill, and made noises enough to frighten one. I could not thinkwhat made them so; it seemed to me as if someone must have put pison inthe food, and I kept on expecting I was going to be took bad too; but ayoung chap tells me in the morning as most people is so the first daythey goes to sea. If they wur to drink that water I could understand it,but it is all right what they gives us; and there are some of them asgrumbles at the food, but I calls it just bang up. How much more of thiswater is there, sir?'
'About five more days' steaming, Jacob; it is a twelve-days' voyage fromLiverpool to New York. I suppose some day they will get to do it in six,for they keep on building faster and faster steamers.'
'We are going wonderful fast now,' the boy said; 'a chap's cap as wassitting up in the end there blew off yesterday, and I ran to keepalongside with it, but it went a lot faster than I could run. I shall beglad when it is over, Captain; not as I ain't jolly, for I never was sojolly before, but I ain't doing nothing for you here, and I wants to beat work for you somehow. If they would let me wait on you, and put stuffon those white shoes, I should not so much mind.'
'I am very well waited on, Jacob, and if you were to try to wait on meat table while the vessel is rolling, you would be pretty sure to spilla plate of soup down my neck, or something of that sort. You amuseyourself in your own way, and don't worry about me; when there isanything to do I know you will do it.'
'I find you won't land till to-morrow, Jacob,' Captain Hampton said, asthe vessel neared the wharf. 'Here is the name of the hotel where Ishall be, in case by any chance I should miss you. They say you willprobably come ashore at nine o'clock in the morning.'
'Why can't we all land at once, sir?'
'It is late now, Jacob, and it is as much as they will be able to do toget through the cabin passengers' baggage before dark; indeed it isprobable they will only examine the light luggage.'
'What do they want to examine it for, sir? What business have they withyour luggage?'
'They always do it when you go into a foreign country. They do it inEngland too, when you come in from abroad; everything has to be opened.There are some things that pay duty going into a country, and they wantto see that you have got none of them in your boxes; for, if you have,you must pay for them.'
'Then must I open my box if they ask me?'
'You must, Jacob.'
'And let them rummage my things about?'
'If they want to, Jacob; but I don't suppose they search the steeragebaggage much; they will probably ask you who you are, and where you aregoing, and you must tell them that you are my servant, and that I am atthe Metropolitan Hotel. But I am pretty sure to be here to see youthrough.'
However, at half-past eight, as Captain Hampton went to the door of thehotel with the intention of taking a vehicle down to the wharf, he sawJacob coming along carrying his little portmanteau.
'Why, Jacob, I was just starting to the wharf. They told me that youwere not to land till nine.'
'They said so last night, Captain, but they began just about seven. Iheard there was another ship come in and they wanted to get us out ofthe way. I was one of the fust ashore, and it didn't take many minutesafore I was out of the shed where they looks at the things. I says tothe first chap I meets, "Where can I take a 'bus to the MetropolitanHotel?" "You won't get no 'bus here," says he. "How far is it?" "Betterthan two miles," he says. That settled it, and I started off to walk. Iought to have been here sooner, but some one I asked the way of put mewrong, I suppose, and a box like this feels wonderful heavier the secondmile than it does the first.'
An arrangement had already been made for Jacob's board and lodging, anda messenger boy showed him up to his little room at the top of thehouse, and then took him down to a room where the few white servants inthe hotel had their meals. In half an hour he returned to the hall whichserved as smoking-room and general meeting-place. Captain Hampton hadalready had a talk with the clerk.
'I have not seen a young woman like that,' the latter said positively,when the photograph was produced, 'but then if the man had registeredand written her name and his she might not have come up to the desk. Ifyou go up to the entrance of the dining-room and ask the negro who takesthe hats there, he will tell you for certain. He has a wonderful head,that chap has. Sometimes there are as many as three hundred come in todinner between five and seven. He takes their hats and puts them on thepegs and racks, and as they come out he will give every man his own hatand never make a mistake. I never saw such a chap for rememberingfaces.'
The negro replied unhesitatingly, on seeing the photograph, that no suchlady had taken any meals at the hotel.
'De ladies don't come into my department, sah, but I notice them as theygoes in and out, and if that young lady had been here I should havenoticed her for sartin.' Captain Hampton returned to the clerk in thehall, who, as he happened for the moment to be disengaged, was notaverse to a talk. 'The darkey has not seen her.'
'Then you may be sure she hasn't been here. Yes, I reckon that is aboutthe list of the hotels most of the passengers by the steamers go to,' hesaid, as he glanced down a list of names Captain Hampton had got afellow passenger to draw up. 'I will put down two or three others; theyare not first-class, but they are a good deal used by people to whom adollar a day more or less makes a difference. And so you say they havebeen doing some swindling across the water. She don't look that sorteither from her photograph, but they get the things up so one can nevertell. I see you haven't got any German hotels; and if, as you say, youthink they came by the line from Hamburg, they might have gone to one ofthem.'
'I should not think it likely they spoke German,' Captain Hampton said.
'Oh, that makes no odds. The waiters all talk English, and like enoughon the voyage they would make friends with some Germans who have beenhere before, and they would recommend them one of their own people.'
'That is probable; and they would be likely to go there too,' CaptainHampton agreed, 'because anyone coming over to search for them would beless likely to search in such places than in houses like yours.'
'Then, again, you see, they might have gone straight through withoutgoing into an hotel at all. That would be the safest way, because thenthere would be no trace left of them.'
'But I suppose not many people do that.'
'Oh, yes, they do--lots of them. A man saves his hotel bills if he goesstraight to the train, and there is only one move; but, of course, thatis only when a man has quite made up his mind where he is going. As arule, when a Britisher comes here he waits a few days and asksquestions, and tries to find out about things, unless he is goingsomewhere straight to a friend. Is that boy looking for you? he
has beenstanding there staring at you for the last five minutes.'
'Oh, yes, that is my servant. Will you give me the address of theCentral Police Station?'
The clerk wrote the address on a piece of paper and handed it to him.
'I don't think you will get much good from them,' he said. 'When peoplewant to hunt a man up here they generally go to an agency. They are away ahead of the regular police, and have got some smart fellows amongthem, I can tell you.'
'Thank you. I should prefer carrying out the matter myself if I can. Ifnot I will certainly go to an agency.'
'There is one advantage in going to the police first,' the man said.'You will find at a good many hotels the people will have nothing to sayto you if you go by yourself. It is no business of theirs whether thepeople who stay at their hotels are swindlers or not, and they ain'tgoing to meddle in it; but if you can get the police to give you a sharpofficer to go round with you it will be a different thing altogether.'
'Yes, that is what I thought myself, and why I am going to the police inthe first place.'
Turning from the desk he joined Jacob.
'You have had your breakfast?' he asked.
'I just have had a breakfast, Captain; I never seed such a lot ofthings--and scrumptious, too; I only wish I could have eaten twice asmuch.'
'I am going out now, Jacob, and as I shall be calling at several places,you had better go your own way. Remember this street is Broadway; it isthe principal street here, so if you do by any chance lose yourself anyone can tell you the way.'
'What time am I to be here again, Captain?'
'Did you ask what time dinner was, Jacob?'
'The black man who brought the things to me said it was two o'clock, butI shan't never be able to eat again so soon.'
'Oh, yes, you will, Jacob. Take a good long walk and you will soon getyour appetite back again.'
On stating his business at the Central Police Station, he was shown intothe room of the chief, a quiet but keen-faced man, dressed in plainclothes. He presented to him the letter from Scotland Yard.
'I shall be happy to help you, Captain Hampton, if I can,' he said,after glancing through it. 'If you had known for certain what steamerthey came over by, we should no doubt be able to lay hold of them in thecourse of a few hours, if they are still in the city.'
'I think the probabilities are greatly in favour of their having come bythe "Bremen," which sailed from Hamburg on July 20 and got here, as Isaw, on August 4. If they did not come by that I think it likely theysailed from some English port two or three days later. My first object,of course, is to find the hotel at which they put up.'
'I will send one of my men round with you,' and the chief touched abell. 'Is Mr. Tricher in? If so, ask him to come here.'
A young man entered the room two minutes later.
'Mr. Tricher, this gentleman has brought us a letter from Scotland Yard;he is in search of two swindlers who have made off with a good deal ofmoney. His name is Captain Hampton; he does not belong to the Britishforce but is a friend of some of the parties who have been swindled, andhas made it his business to find these people. They are believed to havecome out in the "Bremen," which arrived here on August 4; but, if not,they may have come by a boat from an English port within a few days ofthat date. Of course they may have come to Boston or Halifax, or one ofthe Southern ports. Our first step is to inquire at all the hotels here;will you please to go with him and give him any assistance you can? Ifyou are unsuccessful in your search, Captain Hampton, I shall be glad ifyou will come in again and talk the matter over with me. I have all thedates of the arrivals of the steamers from the other side, which mayhelp you in deciding at which port you had better continue your search.'
Captain Hampton's guide proved to be a pleasant and chatty young fellow.'Your first visit here, Captain Hampton?' he asked, as they issued outon the street.
'Yes, it is the first time I have crossed the Atlantic. I have not hadmuch chance of coming before, for I have been out with my regiment inIndia for the last six years.'
'I suppose it is a big business this, as you have taken the trouble tocome out about it.'
'No; in point of money it is not a very large amount. A thousand poundsin money and about two thousand pounds worth of diamonds. I aminterested in the matter chiefly because suspicion has fallen upon alady of my acquaintance, between whom and this woman there is anextraordinary likeness: so great a one that I myself was once deceivedby it. The woman herself knows of it, for she personated my friend, andin her name obtained the jewels and money; so you see it is a matter ofextreme importance to get her back to England.'
'I can quite understand that. I suppose you have a likeness of her?'
'Yes; at least, a likeness of the lady, which will be quite sufficientto enable anyone to identify the woman at once.'
He handed Dorothy's likeness to the detective.
'There ought to be no difficulty in identifying that,' he said, afterexamining it closely. 'No one who has seen her will be likely to forgetit in a hurry; and what is the man like?'
'He is old enough to be her father, and no doubt passes as being so. Heis a clean-shaved man--at least he was when I last saw him. He is abetting man of the lowest type, but has had the education of agentleman, and when well dressed and got up would no doubt pass as oneanywhere. This is the list of hotels I obtained as being those theywould be most likely to go to. You see there are some German onesincluded, as, if they came out in the "Bremen," they might have beendirected by Germans returning here to go to one of their hotels, andwould have done so, as they would be less likely to meet English peopleand attract attention.'
'Yes, that is a good idea. However, we will try the others first.Nineteen out of twenty cabin passengers who land here and don't gostraight on, put up at one or other of the principal places.'
Hotel after hotel was visited, until they arrived at the end of thelist. The detective did the talking; he was well known to all theclerks.
'I generally am put on hotel thief business,' he said, as his companionremarked on his acquaintance with all the houses they visited; 'no doubtthat is why the chief sent me with you. Now we will try these Germanhouses. You may take it for granted that they have not been at any ofthe others. If none of the clerks or waiters recognise that photograph,it is because she wasn't there. You see they all said "No" right offwhen they saw it. If it had been an ordinary face, they would havethought it over, but they did not want half a minute to say they hadnever seen her.'
At the first two German houses they went to they received the usualanswer.
'Now I have rather hopes of this next place,' the detective said; 'it isa quiet sort of house, and used by a good class of Germans--rich men whohave been over to Europe, and are waiting here for a day or two beforethey go West again. If the man was asking, as he would be likely to do,for a quiet hotel, and said that he did not mind paying for comfort, aGerman who knew the ropes would probably send him here. This is thehouse.'
He went up to the clerk's desk.
'Good morning, Mr. Muller. How goes on business?'
'Pretty brisk, Mr. Tricher. What can I do for you, this morning? You areon business, too, I suppose.'
'Yes. The chief asked me to come round with this gentleman, CaptainHampton, from England. He wants to find out about a man and a woman whoare believed to have come across on the "Bremen," which arrived here onAugust 4. I think it likely enough that they may have been recommendedto your house. Will you turn to August 4?'
The clerk turned over the leaves of the register.
'Had you an English lady and gentleman, father and daughter, arrive onthat day?'
'I had. Mr. and Miss White. The man was clean shaven, about forty-fiveyears old.'
'This is the portrait of his daughter.'
'That is all right,' the clerk said. 'She was just as good-looking agirl as ever I saw.'
Captain Hampton uttered an exclamation of satisfaction. Here then wasthe first absolute proof that his theory w
as correct, and that therereally existed a double of Dorothy, and the evidence of this clerk wouldin itself go far to disprove the charge against her.
'How long did they stay here?' the detective asked.
The clerk turned to the ledger. 'Two days. They left on the evening ofthe sixth. They were charged the full day.'
'How did they go?'
'By carriage. Here is the charge--a dollar and a half.'
'Which station did they go to?'
'Ah, that I cannot tell you. We have two carriages and they are both outnow, but I can find out this evening. Anything else?'
'Yes; I want to know if they made any inquiries about trains.'
'I don't know that they inquired, but the man spent a whole morninggoing through the train books and looking through the tables hanging upthere. I wondered what in thunder he could be wanting to spend such atime over them, when a couple of minutes would have shown him the traintime to any place he wanted to go to. I expect he had not made up hismind where to go. I reckon that was it. I saw him come in with half adozen books under his arm the morning after they got here.'
'Well, we can do nothing till we hear what station they were taken to. Iwill look in again this evening.'
'Do you mean to say they were bad ones, Mr. Tricher?'
The detective nodded.
'Well, well, one never knows what to believe. I don't know about theman, but that gal I should never have thought could have been bad.'
'Please look at the photograph again,' Captain Hampton said. 'Examine itclosely; is it what you would call a very good likeness?'
'It is a good likeness,' the man said. 'I should have known it if I hadseen it in a shop window anywhere; but photographs are never quitelike--men's may be, but I have never seen a woman's that was the realthing. They always smooth out their faces somehow, and put on a sort ofcompany expression. This is as like her as two peas, and yet it isn'tquite like, if you can understand it. That has got a pretty, innocentsort of expression. The girl's face was harder than that; it was just aspretty, but somehow it looked older, as if she had had some sort ofdisappointment, and had had a bad time of it. This one looks like theface of a thoroughly happy girl. The other didn't, you know. I said tomyself that she had made up her mind to marry some chap her fatherdidn't like, and that he had brought her over here to get her out of hisway. You see, she was an unusual sort of woman. I don't know that I eversaw a much prettier one--and one naturally reckoned her up a bit. Sheonly went out once while they were here, and did not seem to have muchinterest in the city.'
'Well, I think we have been pretty lucky, Captain Hampton,' thedetective said when he went out.
'Wonderfully lucky. I am more thankful than I can express; the evidenceof that man alone would go a long way towards clearing my friend, for itwould at any rate prove that just after these robberies were committed,and at the exact time at which a thief would reach here from England, awoman precisely like her arrived here with a man answering to thedescription of the one believed to be her accomplice.'
'That would be a great thing certainly; at any rate, if I were you,Captain Hampton, I would get an affidavit, made by Muller and one or twoof the waiters, to the effect that a man of whom they would give adescription, and the original of a portrait that would of course bemarked for identification, arrived at the hotel on August 4, having comeby the steamer "Bremen" from Hamburg. There is nothing like getting anaffidavit when you can, and the waiters are to hand now; there is nosaying where they might be three months hence. I don't say that Mulleris likely to leave, but he is bright, and might get a better offer anyday from one of the big hotels at St. Louis or Cincinnati, or any otherplace where there are many Germans.'
'I will certainly do so, and send it across to England at once.'
Arranging with the detective to call for him at the Metropolitan atseven o'clock that evening, Captain Hampton returned to the hotel. Ithad been a splendid morning's work. Even if all further search wasunsuccessful, enough had been done to establish at least a strong casein favour of the contention that the person who called upon the jewellerand Mr. Singleton was not Dorothy Hawtrey. The interview he himself hadwitnessed, which, had he been compelled to give evidence, would havebeen in itself almost fatal to her, was now strongly in her favour, forit showed the connecting link between the person who had taken thejewels and this man who was now proved to be passing as her father inthe States. It was no longer Dorothy Hawtrey buying off the man who hadbeen persecuting her, but Truscott's partner in the crime informing himof the success of her operations.
Jacob was standing at the door of the hotel when he arrived there. Hehad long since been made acquainted with the object for which a searchwas being made for the betting man Marvel, and the woman whose likenesshe had been shown. He was greatly delighted at learning that a trace hadbeen obtained of him, and eager to set to work to follow it up.
'It will be bang up, Captain, if we find them here while all themperlice at home is running after them everywhere.'
'Well, I did not think of it in that light, and I don't much carewhether they are run down by us or by any one else, so long as they arecaught at last, but it is a long way between hearing of them here andcatching them. You must remember that this country is twenty times aslarge as England, and we have really nothing to go upon. We don't knowwhat the man's intentions are. If he intended to go in for swindling, Ishould think he would have done better on the Continent than here. Thereare not many very large towns where he could as a stranger expect tomake much money, and it would be easier to trace him here than inEurope, where the distances are so much shorter that one can get out ofany country in a few hours. If he intends, as I should think mostlikely, only to stop over here for a short time so as to be out of theway, and then go back and begin the same thing over again, he might takelodgings here or anywhere else.
'He may know some one who has come over here and has gone in forfarming, and may be going to stay with him for a time. There is nosaying, in fact, what he may be going to do. I do not suppose that hehas the slightest fear that the share he and this woman have played hasbeen discovered, and his motive in coming away was chiefly to ensureMiss Hawtrey's disgrace, and he was anxious that there should be nochance whatever of any one who knew her meeting this woman anddiscovering that there was some one about who was so strikingly likeMiss Hawtrey as to be able to pass for her. My best hope is that weshall get some clue this evening from the man who drove them away fromthe hotel.'
This hope was realised. On reaching the hotel with the detective theclerk at once sent for the driver. 'He remembers the parties wellenough, but I don't know that you will find his news altogethersatisfactory. You have got a crafty bird to deal with. Here is the man,he had better tell you himself. Now, Mike, this is the gentleman whowants to know about those people I was speaking to you about.'
'I mind them well enough, sor--a gintleman with as pretty a little girlas I've seen since I left ould Ireland. I drove them down to the wharfand saw the baggage carried on board the steamer.'
'And what steamer was it, Mike?' the detective asked.
'The steamer for New Orleans, of course; that was where they told me totake them. She had got her steam up when we got there, and anice-looking crowd there was going on board.'
'Would the steamer touch anywhere else on its way?' Captain Hamptonasked.
'It might put in at Mobile; some do and some don't,' the detectivereplied, 'but as we know the day she sailed there will be no difficultyat finding that out at the office.'
'That was the lady, I suppose,' Captain Hampton said, showing thephotograph to the driver.
'That's her, sor. I would swear to her anywhere.'
'Well, here is a couple of dollars for you now; I shall want to see youagain to-morrow.'
'We shall be getting some affidavits out,' the detective said to theclerk. 'It is important to us to be able to prove that they have beenhere, even if we never succeed in catching them. It will be a simplething, merely a statement signe
d before a justice of the peace to theeffect that you make oath that a man of the appearance and descriptionset down and a young woman passing as his daughter, and whosephotograph, which will of course be marked and verified, you recogniseas being hers without any possibility of doubt, arrived at this hotel onAugust 4, and left on August 6, being driven from here and seen on boarda steamer starting for New Orleans. I shall be glad of the signatures ofyourself and as many of the waiters as attended upon them at their mealsand can recognise the portrait, also of the chambermaid. We shall have aseparate affidavit drawn out for the driver.'
'Very well. Can you leave the photograph with me? I will give it to thehead waiter and tell him to show it to the others; as they were here twodays and took all their meals here I should say most of the crowd wouldrecognise her. Look here, you had better bring a justice round here toswear them, for it would be difficult to let a dozen of them all go atonce.'
'I will manage that. Well, can you spare a couple of minutes to comeround into the bar and have a drink?'
The clerk thought he could manage it, and drinks were taken in duecourse.
'Now what is my best way of getting down to New Orleans?' CaptainHampton asked, as they left the hotel.
'Steamer,' the detective said; 'the railway is not fairly through yet,and it will take pretty nearly as long as if you go by boat, and be adeal more uncomfortable.'
'How often do the boats go?'
'Once or twice a week, sometimes more. There are considerable peopletravelling down there now. A good many of the folk going to Californiago that way; they either strike across from there or go up the river bysteamer and then make across the plains; it saves a long land journey.But I will tell you about it when I see you in the morning. I will goround the first thing and find out whether that boat that sailed on the6th put in anywhere, and also what her name was; also whether they tooktheir berths under the name of White or changed them again; then I willsee when the next boat goes. I will bring the man before whom they cantake an affidavit round here with me--I know two or three I can lay myhands on any time--and then we will go together to the hotel.'
By twelve o'clock next day the business was finished, and the affidavitssworn in duplicate by thirteen witnesses, in addition to that of thedriver.
When all was done, Captain Hampton asked the detective as to how much hewas indebted to him.
'Nothing at all, sir. My services were placed at your disposal by thechief, and it is all in the way of business. I am very glad to have beenof assistance to you.'
'You have been of immense assistance, indeed, Mr. Tricher, and I feeldeeply obliged to you. I should never have got on by myself in the sameway; it was entirely owing to the clerk at the hotel knowing you that heso readily gave me the information I required, and interested himself inthe matter. Well, will you come round and lunch with me at the hotel attwo o'clock? We shall go on board the steamer this evening. I am goinground now to thank your chief.'
'I shall be happy to lunch with you, and, by the way, you might as wellask the chief to give you a line to the chief at New Orleans. You mightfind it very useful there; it is a pretty lively place, and if this manhappens to have any pals there, you may find it mighty useful to havethe aid of the police.'
'Thank you very much for the suggestion, which I will certainly follow.'
On saying good-bye to the detective, Captain Hampton, with muchpressure, succeeded in inducing him to accept, as a remembrance, ahandsome meerschaum that he had the evening before admired.
Upon the voyage down, Captain Hampton was much struck at the differencebetween the passengers on board the 'Enterprise,' and those with whom hewas associated on his passage across the Atlantic. There were among thema sprinkling of Southern gentlemen, a few travellers and Northernmanufacturers, but the majority were men who were bound to the far west,some to Texas only, but California was the destination of the greaterpart. These again were sharply divided into two sections, the onecomposed of hardy-looking men, the sons of Eastern farmers, or Britishemigrants who were going out with the fixed intention of making theirfortune at the goldfields.
Few of the other section were, he thought, likely to get so far. Theywere simply rough characters who were more likely to remain at NewOrleans or some of the river towns than to undertake a long and perilousjourney. Whatever might be their nominal vocation, he set them down asbeing thieves, gambling-house bullies, or ruffians ready to turn theirhand to any scoundrelism that presented itself. The real working mensoon came to know each other, and being bound by a common object keptaloof from the others, and generally sat in little groups discussing thejourney before them and the best methods of proceeding.
Some were in favour of ascending the Missouri to Omaha, others of goingup the Arkansas and striking across by the Santa Fe route. All hadevidently studied the newspapers diligently, and had almost by heart thenarratives of travel that had appeared there, and before the end of thevoyage several parties had been made up of men who agreed to journeytogether for mutual aid and protection.
In the saloon gambling went on all day. As night came on, voices wereraised in anger, and fierce quarrels took place, which were onlyprevented from going further by the captain's prompt intervention, andby his declaration that any man who drew pistol or bowie knife should beput in irons for the rest of the voyage.
Captain Hampton was heartily glad when the vessel entered theMississippi. He had associated principally with two or three of theSouthern gentlemen, and had kept as far as possible aloof from the rowdyportion of the passengers. This, however, he had been unable to doaltogether. He himself was an object of general curiosity. He was aBritisher; he was not bound for the West; he was not thinking of takingup land; he was unconnected with any commercial house. His explanationthat he was travelling for pleasure and intended to go up the two greatrivers of the continent, was considered altogether unsatisfactory, andone after another most of his fellow passengers endeavoured, by a seriesof searching questions, to get at the facts of the case. Jacob, on theother hand, enjoyed the voyage greatly; unconsciously to himself he wasa student of human nature, and this was a phase entirely new to him.
'It seems to me, Captain,' he said to his master one evening, 'that mostof this 'ere gang ought to be in Newgate. Why, to hear what they say ofthemselves, there is scarce one of them that hasn't killed one or twomen in his time. I have been a-listening to some of that black-beardedchap's stories, and if all that he says is true, he has killed overtwenty; I counted them up careful. I can't make out how it is that achap like that is going about free; why, he would have been hung a dozentimes if he had been at home. What is the good of the perlice if theylets a chap like that go on as he likes?'
'You may be sure that the greater part of his stories are lies, Jacob,though some of them may be true. New Orleans is perhaps as rough a cityas any of its size in the world, and as you go farther West, lifebecomes still more unsafe. In so vast a country the law is powerless,and men settle their disputes in their own way. Almost every one carriesarms, and shooting affrays are of common occurrence, and as long as whatis considered fair play is preserved, no one thinks of interfering. Aman who is killed is buried, and the one who killed him goes his wayunconcernedly; so, though a good many of these stories you hear arelies, there may be more truth in some of them than you would think.'
'They have been a-pumping me, lots of them has,' Jacob said, 'and tryingto find out what you are doing out here. I have stuffed them up nicely;I have told them as you had been out in India, and had killed thousandsupon thousands of lions, and tigers, and elephants.'
'What was the use of telling lies, Jacob?' Captain Hampton askedangrily.
'Well, sir, I don't suppose as they believe it all, because I don'tbelieve their stories; but it was, I thought, just as well as theyshould think you was a great fighter, and could shoot wonderfulstraight. I know by what they said that some of them was half inclinedto get up a quarrel with you. "'Cause," as they said, "you was stuck up,and thought yourself better tha
n other people;" and it seemed to me asit was best they should think as you wasn't a good man to quarrel with."Bless you," says I, over and over again, "there ain't nothing stuck upabout my master; only I know as he hates getting into trouble, 'cause hedon't like having to kill a man and so he keeps hisself to hisself;" andthen I pitches it in strong about killing Indians, and that sort ofthing, and I do think, Captain, as it has kept them a bit quiet.'
Captain Hampton laughed.
'Well, perhaps it may have done, Jacob; these fellows seldom interferewith a man unless they think it safe to do so. Still, I would muchrather in future you did not invent any stories about me. Always stickto the truth, lad; lying never pays in the long run.'