by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER XXVIII.
TERRIBLE INTELLIGENCE PROM HOME.
To say that Dory was delighted with the results of his strategy, when hesaw the Sylph going through the Eastern Cut of the Gut, would be tostate the case very mildly. He sat on the summit of the hill, and atehis ham and hard-bread with entire satisfaction; and, when he hadfinished it, the steamer was no longer in sight.
He hastened back to the boat, where he ate another slice of ham, withthe proper allowance of hard-bread. It was a luxury to be able to eatall he wanted, with no anxiety on his mind. He went to work to put theboat in order for the trip up the lake to Burlington. While he wasoverhauling her, he came to a bottle half full of whiskey. Possibly theother half of its contents had caused the upsetting of the Goldwing, thefault of which had been charged upon the boat. He emptied the bottleinto the lake, and finished his work on board.
He hoisted the sails; and, getting in the anchor, he shoved the schooneroff the beach. Going to the northward of the island, he found that hecould just lay his course to the Gut. As the sun rose higher, the windfreshened; and he had an eight-knot breeze all the forenoon. His returnwas without incident; and as the first bells were ringing for church, helanded at Plattsburgh.
He reported to the landlord at the Witherill House. He thought thisgentleman looked very serious, when he expected to be greeted as asuccessful skipper after his cruise. He had no doubt Peppers had arrivedwith his prisoner, and the story of his trip must be known. The firstthing the hotel-keeper did was to hand him a ten-dollar bill, as hisreward for the capture of Pearl Hawlinshed.
"You have earned your money, Dory; and there it is," said the landlord,as he handed him the bill.
"I suppose Mr. Peppers has arrived," added Dory, as he put the money inhis wallet.
"Yes: he got back about half-past seven this morning. You had a roughtime of it with Hawlinshed."
"Yes, sir: he got the bulge on us at one time," answered Dory, laughingas he thought of the exciting scenes of the day before.
But the landlord did not laugh, as he had always done before. He lookedvery serious; and the skipper wondered if he had been charged with anyother crime, his friend looked so coldly upon him. The landlord pulledout his watch, and then shook his head.
"Have you been to breakfast, Dory?" he asked.
"Yes, sir: I had some ham and hard-bread."
"I should ask you in to breakfast; but I am afraid you ought not to stayhere any longer," added the hotel-keeper. "It is nine o'clock now, andyou will be late."
"Late? Late for what?" asked Dory, astonished at this remark, which hecould not comprehend.
"Late for the funeral," replied the landlord in a subdued and gentletone.
"The funeral? What funeral?" asked Dory, with his heart in his throat.
The landlord looked at him in silence for a moment, and appeared to begreatly surprised.
"Didn't you know there was to be a funeral in Burlington this afternoon,Dory?" inquired the landlord, almost holding his breath.
"I didn't know any thing about a funeral," answered Dory, trembling withemotion.
"You haven't heard the news? Didn't you know that one of your familywas"--And the hotel-keeper paused, afraid of the effect of the suddenimparting of the information to the boy.
"My mother isn't dead, is she?" gasped Dory, clinging to theoffice-counter for support.
"No, she is not. But another member of your family is to be buriedto-day," added the landlord.
"Is it my sister Marian?" groaned Dory.
"No, Dory: it is your father."
The young skipper staggered to a chair, and dropped into it. Thelandlord hastened to him. His father was dead. Though it was known inPlattsburgh, and had been for three days, that the Au Sable steamer,while in charge of Perry Dornwood, the assistant pilot, had been runover a point of rocks, and wrecked, Dory had not heard of it. Some whocould have told him the news did not care to hurt his feelings; othersdid not know he was the son of the pilot; and many heard of the event,and forgot it the next minute.
"My father dead!" groaned Dory. "And I did not even know that he wassick!"
The landlord did not care to give him the whole of the sad particulars.He was silent, thinking that some friend of the family could dischargethis painful duty better than he could.
"That is what my uncle Royal wanted of me, and I have been running awayfrom him," added Dory.
The landlord had seen Captain Gildrock the day before when he came toPlattsburgh to look for the boy; and he supposed he had found him. Heconcluded that the skipper thought it necessary to take his boat toBurlington, and had therefore permitted the Sylph to go on without him.He was surprised to see him when he came into the hotel.
The Sylph had merely come up to the wharf to land her passengers, andPeppers had only told about the trick played upon him by Pearl. In fact,the captain had asked him and Moody not to mention the fact that hisnephew had run away from him. It looked like an unpleasant familymatter, and he did not care to have it talked about.
Dory was overwhelmed by the intelligence of the death of his father. Itwas some time before he recovered his self-possession, and then onlywhen the landlord again reminded him that he might be late for thefuneral. His good friend walked down to the wharf with him, carrying abasket of provisions he had ordered for him; but the skipper did notfeel like eating now. He took the basket, and the Goldwing was soonstanding down the bay.
Of course it was not possible for Dory to think of any thing but thedeath of his father as he sailed up the lake. He had no particulars ofthe sad event; but now it appeared that his uncle had been in search ofhim, and had taken great pains to find him. He regretted very much thathe had avoided him, and he thought more of uncle Royal than ever beforein his life. He had regarded him as a rich man, who was selfish, and whohad neglected his sister, the boy's mother. He had not been in her housesince she was married.
At eleven o'clock the Goldwing was off Colchester Light; and it waslikely to take a couple of hours more to finish the trip. Dory had eatenhis breakfast at five o'clock; and, if he was not hungry, he was faint,and felt the need of food. Mechanically he opened the basket thehotel-keeper had given him. It contained the choicest food from thetable of the hotel; and he ate, though rather from a sense of duty thanbecause he felt much interested in the operation. The lunch made himfeel better, for it seemed to allay a sort of nervousness that troubledhim.
He could not eat all the basket contained. The provision was wrapped upin a sheet of white paper, and then the parcel was enclosed in anewspaper. As he was restoring this last wrapper, something printed inthe paper attracted his attention. The article was headed "Suicide of aPilot."
Dory was almost paralyzed as he read the piece. He was obliged to stopto control his emotion several times before he could finish it. Helearned that his father had drowned himself in the lake on Friday, andhis body had been found and sent to Burlington on Saturday morning.
For the first time he read of the disaster to the Au Sable. Theparticulars of that event were reviewed in the article. The steamer hadrun on the rocks while his father was at the wheel. The paper said thathe was either intoxicated or asleep, or possibly both. It was veryfortunate that no lives were lost, though several persons had been ingreat peril.
The pilot was ruined by the catastrophe. The owners of the boat suffereda heavy loss by allowing him to continue in their employ when his habitsdisqualified him for the responsible position he occupied on board.Perry Dornwood, either from remorse, or the consciousness that he hadruined himself and his future prospects, had ended the life which hadbeen so unproductive to himself and his little family.
It was some time before Dory recovered in a measure from the shock whichthe reading of this article gave him. He wept bitterly, and reproachedhimself because he had not been with his mother in the midst of herterrible affliction; but he consoled himself with the reflection that hehad been at work for her.
He fastened his boat to a wharf on his arrival, a
nd hastened to hishome. He saw that the Sylph was at the next wharf, and, whatever CaptainGildrock had failed to do for his mother in the past, he was with her inher hour of affliction.
He threw himself into his mother's arms when he reached the house, andwept as he had never wept before. His mother mingled her tears and sobswith her son's. But violent grief usually vents itself, and reliefcomes. When the people gathered at the funeral, both Mrs. Dornwood andher son were calm. The minister spoke words of hope and comfort to them,and they followed the dead to his grave. Captain Gildrock supported hissister, and certainly no one could have been kinder or more considerate.
They went back to the desolate home. Little was said of the departedhusband and father; but all that was said was of his good deeds, and hisfailings were not mentioned. The day wore away. The door of one state ofexistence seemed to close with that sad day, and with the next morningthe family felt that they had entered upon a new era in their career.Captain Gildrock slept on board of the Sylph, because there was no roomfor him in the poor abode of his sister.
"When your uncle told me that you ran away from him, I was afraidsomething terrible had happened to you, Dory," said his mother, afterbreakfast. "Why did you avoid him?"
"Because I never liked him. While you have almost suffered for the wantof food, clothes, and a decent house, he has never done a thing for you.You told me he had never been to see you since you were married. Ialways looked upon him as a hog," replied Dory with spirit.
"Your uncle Royal and your father could never agree. When I was married,my father and my brother were both opposed to it. They did not believeyour father was able to take care of a family. They were right, though Iwill not speak ill of him who is gone. Your father forbid Royal fromever entering his house. But Royal has offered to help me a hundredtimes, but I was afraid to accept his aid on account of your father. Nowhe has offered me a home for myself and my two children in his ownhouse," replied the widow, wiping the tears from her eyes. "He is a goodbrother."
Dory was both astonished and mortified.