by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER XX.
MR. PEPPERS FINDS THE TABLES TURNED.
Dory Dornwood gathered himself up after his defeat, and stood upon hislegs again. He was mortified at the result of his attempt to release theofficer, and improve his situation in the boat. He had thought of usingthe tiller as a weapon, and now he was sorry he had not done so.Doubtless it was better for him that he had not; for that would onlyhave compelled his assailant to use greater violence, and he might havebeen seriously injured, for Pearl seemed to be desperate enough to doany thing.
"Now pick up your sheet, Dory," said Pearl, as he went to the helm, andtook the tiller in his hand.
Dory did not feel so much interest in the sailing of the boat as he hada short time before, and he took no notice of the order of hisconqueror. He looked at Pearl, and saw him deposit the key of thepadlock in the depths of his trousers-pocket, which he buttoned up, asthough he expected an attempt would be made to take it from him. The newskipper had kept the helm up until all the sails but the jib weredrawing full.
"I think I told you to pick up that jib-sheet, Dory Dornwood," saidPearl, in what he doubtless intended for an impressive manner.
Dory had certainly exhibited a considerable degree of prudence under thetrying circumstances in which he was placed; but now his stock of thatvirtue appeared to be exhausted, for he took no notice of the orderrepeated to him, and the impressiveness of Pearl was wasted. Dory wasdisgusted at his overwhelming defeat, and he had not philosophy enoughto submit to it with good grace. In fact, he was downright mad at thetreatment he had received from his last passenger.
He was looking about him for the means of resistance. The long tillerwas in the cabin, and he had neglected to take the small one from therudder-head. As the situation was now, he was disposed to fight; but,unprovided with any sort of a weapon, he realized that he was no matchfor the villain who had taken possession of the boat.
He looked at the blinds in the cabin-doors. He could put his footthrough them; but, if he did, the aperture was not large enough for theofficer to crawl through. He began to wonder that Peppers did not say ordo something.
"If you don't pick up that jib-sheet, Dory Dornwood, it will be all theworse for you," said Pearl, not so impressively as before; for he hadfound that manner did not operate with the late skipper.
"If you are going to sail the boat, pick it up yourself," replied Dorywith more grit than discretion.
At this particular moment the eye of the late skipper rested on a roundhard-wood stick which lay on the floor of the standing-room. It was usedin shoving down the centre-board when necessary. When he saw it he laidhold of it. He felt stronger in spirit and in muscle as soon as he hadit in his possession.
"What are you going to do with that stick, you young cub?" demandedPearl, rising from his seat.
"I am going to use it," replied Dory, filled with wrath.
If he had waited for some of his wrath to evaporate, he would have donebetter. With the club upraised, he rushed aft with the intention ofattacking his persecutor. He calculated that one blow over the head withthe heavy weapon in his hand would depose and dispose of the new skipperof the Goldwing, and restore him to his place again. Possibly it mightif Dory had succeeded in delivering the blow. He was angry and excited,while Pearl was cool and self-possessed.
As he struck what was to be the finishing blow of the conflict, Pearlcaught him by the arm, and in the twinkling of an eye wrested the clubfrom his hand. He threw it on the floor, and then he jammed thebelligerent young man down upon the seat very hard. Dory felt his bonesquake as he came down on the board.
"You have got grit enough to fit out a flock of Bantam roosters," saidPearl, still holding his victim by the collar of his coat. "But I don'twant any more of this thing, and I won't have it."
Taking a reef-pendant from under the seat, he proceeded to tie the handsof the late skipper behind him. When he had done this, in spite ofDory's struggles, he made him fast to the side of the boat.
"Now, young man, I think you will stay where I put you," said Pearl, ashe looked his prisoner over, and saw that he was secure. "You won't makeany thing by such stupid conduct."
"What's going on out there, Dory?" called Peppers, who could not helphearing the noise of the scuffle.
"Nothing particular going on just now: it is all over," said Pearl, ashe resumed his place at the helm, though not till he had gathered up thetruant sheet.
"Why don't you unlock the door, Dory?" continued the officer.
"I can't," answered Dory, whose tongue was not tied, if his arms were."Pearl Hawlinshed has taken the key away from me, and tied my handsbehind me."
"Are you there, Hawlinshed?" asked Peppers.
"Of course I am here. Ask Dory Dornwood if I am not," replied theskipper, chuckling at his own reply.
"What does this mean, Hawlinshed?"
"Well, it means any thing you please, Peppers. So you had passengers inthe cabin, Dory; and that is the reason you didn't want to open thecabin," added Pearl.
"Open this door, and let us out, Hawlinshed, if you have the key," saidthe detective in a mild and good-natured tone, as though he expected thevillain to do it.
"No: I think I won't," replied Pearl. "I am afraid you wouldn't behaveyourself as well out here as you do in the cabin."
The officer said no more for several minutes. Dory concluded that he waslooking over his chances of getting out of his prison. Probably he waswilling to admit by this time that the tables had been turned upon him.The owner of the Goldwing could think of no way by which the prisonerscould get out. The doors were made of plank, and he could not get at thehinges to operate upon them.
"I think we had better talk this thing over, Pearl," said Peppers, aftera silence of several minutes. "We may be able to come to anunderstanding."
"I don't object to talking it over. I haven't got any thing else to do;but I am afraid we can't come to any understanding," replied theskipper. "You are a constable, police-officer, detective, and all thatsort of thing; and I suppose you went over into Vermont on business. Didyou finish it before you were locked into that place?"
Pearl chuckled, and was very good-natured in his remarks; and he plainlyfelt that he was master of the situation.
"I didn't finish my business; but, if you will open the door, I will endit in a very short time," answered the officer.
"Then I guess I won't open the door," laughed Pearl. "Perhaps you won'tobject to telling me what your business is in these parts."
"I can't do any thing till you let me out."
"Then you can't do any thing at all. You had better turn in, and take anap for the rest of the day."
"Do you mean to keep us in here all day, Hawlinshed?"
"Yes: and all night if you don't behave yourself."
Another silence followed, in which the caged officer was probablyconsidering what he should do next. It was broken by a sudden crash,which startled Dory. He found that something besides the silence wasbroken. All the blinds in one of the doors were smashed out at a singlestroke from the shoulder of the detective. It hurt Dory's feelings tosee the beautiful work of the boat reduced to splinters in an instant;but he realized that he was in the midst of a stirring adventure, andthe blinds could be easily restored.
"Good!" exclaimed Pearl, as the opening appeared in the door. "You didthat very well, Peppers. I was wishing I could leave the helm longenough to do it myself, for I wanted to see who the other fellow wasthat had taken passage with me. Besides, I think it is a good deal moresociable to see a man's face when you are talking to him."
"Of course you know, Hawlinshed, that you are resisting an officer, andobstructing him in the discharge of his duty?" demanded Peppers,beginning to be a little more demonstrative as he failed to appreciatethe humor of the new skipper.
"Of course I understand that I am obstructing an officer,--a New-Yorkofficer over here in Vermont," chuckled Pearl. "By the way, Peppers,have you such a thing about you as a pistol of any kind,--a revolver, aseve
n-shooter, or any toy of this sort?"
"I haven't any such thing about me. If I had, I should shoot you thenext thing I did," answered Peppers petulantly.
"Oh, no! You wouldn't do such a thing as that. It might hurt me," saidPearl with a laugh.
"That is to say"--continued Peppers; and it was plain to Dory that Moodyhad indicated to him that he had made a blunder in telling the rascalthat he had no dangerous weapon.
"That is to say that you haven't any pistol, but the other fellow hasone," added Pearl. "By the way, who is the other fellow? It would be agood deal more sociable if you would introduce him."
"His name is Moody, and he will be very glad to make your acquaintance,Hawlinshed."
"If he has got a pistol, it might go off, and hurt one of you in thatnarrow place; and I think you had better hand it out, and have itproperly taken care of," continued Pearl.
"Moody has four pistols, all of them seven-shooters," said thedetective, who seemed to be determined effectually to counteract theinfluence of the blunder he had made.
"Four seven-shooters!" exclaimed Pearl. "He is a walking arsenal. Hewould sink if he should fall overboard with such a weight of arms uponhim; and I think he had better pass them out through the hole you havebeen so kind as to make."
"He concludes that he may want them, and he don't mean to falloverboard," replied Peppers.
"All right! but let him be very careful with them; for pistols aredangerous things in such a little hole as you now occupy," answeredPearl, who was no simpleton, and was confident that Moody had no pistol,to say nothing of four of them.
A silence of a full hour followed, for neither party seemed to have anyplan to act upon. It was plain enough to Dory that the new skipper haddiscovered the presence of the detective on board of the boat, eitherbefore or soon after he went into her himself. A little later he saw aplaid overcoat lying on the forward deck. It was odd enough to betraythe identity of its owner, who had forgotten to take it into the cabinwith him.
It afterwards appeared that Moody had sneezed twice. This was the soundthe skipper heard; and it informed the later passenger that the cabinwas occupied, as the coat explained by whom. Two hours had elapsed sincethe capture of the boat; and the Goldwing was off Cumberland Head,hugging the Grand Isle shore.