“How have you succeeded with Coleman?” continued Enoch. “Are we going to get rid of him as easily as we hoped?” “Coleman is all right,” was Jones’s encouraging reply. “I laid a neat little trap for him, and he fell into it just as easy! I told him that we had been followed nearly all day, and he said he knew it, for he had seen Mack and some of his squad on the dock. I told him, too, that Mack knew all about the party at Windsor, and that I was afraid he would go down there and lie in wait for us; and Coleman offered to go ashore in the dory and reconnoiter.”
“Good!” exclaimed Enoch. “Just the minute he is out of sight we’ll fill away for the bay. Now let’s post the other boys, so that they may know just what is expected of them.”
The deserters did not at all enjoy their ride[285] down the river, for they were thinking about something else. They were impatient to see the last of Coleman, and trembling for fear that something would happen to excite his suspicions. They were strong enough to take the schooner from him by force, and there were some reckless ones in the band who openly advocated it; but the majority would not listen to them. They had enough to answer for already, they said, and they would not countenance any such high-handed proceeding. While they were talking about it they sighted Windsor.
“I guess I had better run in and tie up to the wharf,” said Coleman, who stood at the wheel.
“Don’t do that,” said Enoch, quickly. He wanted to keep the schooner out in the river so that when the proper time came he could fill away without the loss of a moment. If she were made fast to the wharf and the sails were lowered, it would be a work of some difficulty to get under way again, and if Coleman were the active and quick-witted man they took him for, he would upset all their plans in an instant.
“That wouldn’t do at all,” chimed in Jones. “How do we know but that Mack and his men[286] are hidden there on the wharf all ready to board us as soon as we come alongside?”
“Couldn’t you fight ’em off?” inquired Coleman.
“We might, but we’ll not try it,” said Enoch. “There’s no law that prevents a deserter from hiding or taking to his heels, but if he should resist arrest, they’d snatch him bald-headed. We don’t want to fight, for we’re deep enough in the mud already.”
“What will the superintendent do to you when you go back?” asked Coleman.
“Oh, he’ll court-martial us and stop our liberty,” replied Jones. “But we don’t care for that, you know. We intend to have so much fun to-night at the party that we can afford to stay in camp during the rest of the month.”
Jones did not think it best to tell Coleman that he and his companions stood a fine chance of being expelled from the academy to pay for this night’s work. He was afraid that if he did, the man would refuse to assist them in their scheme, and that he would come about and take them back to Bridgeport. If he had tried that, there would have been trouble beyond a doubt, for his[287] passengers were bound to make themselves famous before they went back. They succeeded beyond their most sanguine expectations. It is true that they were taken to the academy under arrest, but they were looked upon as heroes and not as culprits who were deserving of punishment. They gave the students and everybody else something to talk about, but not in the way they had anticipated.
“The safest plan you can pursue is to leave the schooner out here in the river, and go ashore in the dory and see that the way is clear,” continued Jones.
“I don’t know of but one house in Windsor that is big enough for a party, and that’s Dr. Norton’s,” said Coleman.
“There’s right where we’re going,” said Enoch, at a venture. “We want you to go out there and look carefully about his grounds to make sure that Mack and his men are not in hiding there.”
“Why, it’s a mile from the village!” exclaimed Coleman.
“What of that?”
“It would take me an hour to go there and come back,” replied the man, “and to tell the truth,[288] I am afraid to trust the yacht in your hands for that length of time. You might beach her, or a steamer might run her down in the dark.”
“You needn’t be afraid of that,” replied Jones. “Williams can take care of her. He owned and sailed a yacht years ago.”
“And here’s another thing,” said Enoch. “You ought to remember that you are as deeply interested in this matter as we are. If Mack and his men should capture us now, wouldn’t they find out that you are using your owner’s yacht without his knowledge, and wouldn’t they get you into trouble by speaking of it?”
“So they would,” answered Coleman. “I didn’t think of that. I must help you now whether I want to or not. Well, I’ll go ashore, as I agreed. Who’s going to manage the schooner while I am gone?”
Enoch answered that he was.
“All right. Take the wheel, and let me see you throw the yacht up into the wind.”
Enoch complied, and Coleman had no fault to find with the way in which he executed the maneuver. As soon as the schooner lost her headway, the man clambered down into the dory and[289] pushed off toward the dock, not forgetting to tell Enoch that he left the yacht entirely in his hands, and that he (Enoch) would be responsible for her safety.
“Don’t be uneasy,” was the boy’s reassuring reply. “I know just what I want to do; and I’m going to do it,” he added, in a lower tone. “Go for’ard, Jones, and keep an eye on him as long as you can. When you see him go up the street that leads from the wharf, let me know.”
The impatient boys watched Coleman as he rowed toward the dock, and presently they saw his head bobbing up and down in front of the lights in the store windows. As soon as he disappeared up the road that led to Dr. Norton’s house, Jones carried the news to Enoch, who filled away and stood down the river again. The deserters were so delighted at the success of their stratagem that they danced hornpipes, and could with difficulty restrain themselves from shouting aloud.
“Brigham, tell those fellows to keep still,” commanded the new captain. “Now, Jones, the next thing is something else. We’ve got the schooner easy enough, but what shall we do with her?”
[290]
“Let’s crack on and get into the bay as soon as we can,” suggested Jones.
“I should like to, for I know we are not safe as long as we are in the river, but I am afraid to put any more canvas on her. Not being familiar with the channel I am going it blind, and I don’t want to knock a hole in her, or run her high and dry on a sand-bar before I know it. I think it would be safest to stay here for a while, and let our pursuers get ahead of us, so that we will be in their wake instead of having them in ours. Perhaps you had better talk it up among the boys and see what they think of it. While you are about it, find out if there is any one in the band who knows the river. If there is, send him to me.”
Jones hurried away to obey this order, and presently returned with a boy who lived in Oxford, and who had often piloted his father’s tugs up and down the river. The information he gave the captain was contained in a very few words, but it proved to be of great value to him. The boy told him that he had better keep as close to the bluff banks as he could, for there was where the channel was; but when he came to a place where the banks were low on both sides, he would find the[291] deepest water pretty near the middle of the river.
“That’s all I want to know about that,” said Enoch. “It is eleven o’clock, isn’t it, and we are about thirty-five miles from Bridgeport? Very well. How much farther down the river ought the current and this wind to take us by daylight?”
“I should think it ought to take us past Mayville, and that is seventy miles from Bridgeport,” replied the boy.
“Do you know of any little creeks around there that we could hide in during the day?”
The boy said there were a dozen of them.
“All right,” answered Enoch. “Perhaps you had better stay on deck with me to-night, and to-morrow we will sleep. Now Jones, divide the crew into two equal watches, and send one of them below if they are sleepy and want to go. Then bring up a couple of lanterns and hang them to the catheads. If we don’t show lights we may get run over.”
Jones proved to be an invaluable assistant, and it is hard to tell how Enoch would have got on without him. He hung out the lamps, set the watch, and then he and some of the band went[292] below to take a look at their floating home. He peeped into all the state-rooms, glanced at the forecastle, examined all the lockers as well as the galley and pantry, and was delighted with everything he saw.
“I didn’t know there was so much elbow-room on one of these little boats,” said he, after he had finished his investigations. “There are provisions enough in the store-rooms to last us a week, and the owner has left his trunk and his hunting and fishing traps on board.”
“That must not be touched,” said Enoch, decidedly.
“It wouldn’t do any harm to take out one of those fine breech-loaders and knock over a mess of squirrels with it,” said Jones.
“Yes, it would. Most men are very particular about their guns and don’t want strangers to use them. We must return all this property in just as good order as it was when it came into our hands. We’ve got money enough to buy our own grub, and I’ll raise a row with the first fellow who dips into those provisions, I don’t care who he is. We’re not mean, if we did run away with the schooner.”
[293]
Perhaps Egan would have been astonished to have heard such sentiments as these expressed by the boy whom he believed to be the “meanest fellow that ever lived.” Enoch could be manly so long as he was good-natured, and so could Lester Brigham. It was when they got angry that they showed themselves in their true characters. It may be that the fear of a rigorous prosecution by the angry owner of the yacht had something to do with the stand Enoch took in regard to the provisions and hunting outfit.
Of course none of the band wanted to go below, inviting as the berths looked, and Enoch, who liked company, did not insist upon it. They showed a desire to sing, but that was something the captain opposed. The noise they made would be sure to attract the attention of some of the people living along the banks, and put it in their power to aid Captain Mack and his men when they came in pursuit. He wanted to cover up their trail so as to mystify everybody.
“You need not expect to do that,” said one of the band. “Coleman will blow the whole thing as soon as he gets home.”
“But I don’t think he will go home and face[294] his owner after what he has done,” said Enoch. “I know I shouldn’t want to do it if I were in his place. If he keeps away from Bridgeport, so much the better for us. Wait till we get out of danger, and then you can sing to your hearts’ content.”
Enoch stood at the wheel all night, and the boy who lived in Oxford kept him company to see that he gave the sand-bars a wide berth. Some of the band managed to sleep a little, but the majority of the members lounged about the deck and wondered what they were going to do for excitement during their cruise.
The schooner passed Mayville shortly after daylight, and the deserters could not see that there was any one stirring. About half an hour afterward Enoch’s companion directed his attention to a wide creek which he said would afford an excellent hiding-place for their vessel during the day, and the schooner was accordingly turned into it. After she had run as far up the stream as the wind would carry her, the sails were hauled down, a dory they found in the creek was manned, a line got out, and the yacht was towed around the bend out of sight, and made fast to the bank.
[295]
And where were Captain Mack and his men all this time, and did they succeed in finding the trail of the deserters in spite of all Enoch’s efforts to cover it up? They spent the night in their quarters, and struck a hot scent the first thing in the morning. It came about in this way:
When Lester Brigham, with Jones’s assistance, succeeded in eluding Don Gordon, the latter became firmly settled in the belief that there was “something up.” He and Captain Mack used their best endeavors to get on Lester’s track again, looking in every place except the one in which they would have been sure to find him. That was at Cony Ryan’s house. As we sa............