XVII
THE OBLIGATION OF A GENTLEMAN
THE fog held throughout the day, changing to a deluge of rain aboutnightfall, but Cal and Tom had provided an abundance of firewood, thepalmete shelter was waterproof, the long gray moss with which it wascarpeted was soft to loll upon, and the book from which they readaloud by turns proved to be an amusing one. Larry kept his promise andindulged in no further impatience.
When morning came the rain was still coming down in torrents, and itwas unanimously agreed that no attempt should be made to quit the placeuntil it should cease.
“An open rowboat in a heavy rain is about the wettest placeimaginable,” Dick said, and the experience of the rest had been such asto confirm the judgment.
When at last a brisk westerly wind began to tear the clouds to pieces,all agreed that Larry’s patience had fairly earned its reward, and allhands worked hard to get as early a start as possible. It was twoo’clock in fact when they finally set sail, with Cal again at the helmbecause he knew of a narrow but navigable passage which would enablethem to avoid the heavy ebb tide of the channel that Larry had selectedtwo days before. The tide would not begin to ebb for two or three hoursto come, and by taking this short cut Cal hoped to reach broad watersbefore that time.
He did so in fact, but upon running out of the little creek he wasdisappointed to find that a shift had given him a headwind to contendwith. There was nothing for it but to beat to windward, and the breezewas so light that their progress was slow. Cal made the best ofconditions as he found them, according to his custom, but about sunsetthe tide turned against him, and worse than that, the wind went downwith the sun, leaving not a breath to fill the sails.
Then Cal asked for orders.
“What is your wish, Captain Larry?” he asked. “Shall we take to theoars and push on against the tide, or land for the night? Without afavoring wind we can’t possibly make Beaufort to-night.”
“What do the rest of you say?” asked Larry, in some perplexity.
“Never mind what anybody else says,” broke in Cal, before the otherscould answer. “This isn’t a debating club or an advisory council ofancients, or anything else of the kind. We’re a ship’s company and youare the captain; so give your orders.”
“Very well, we’ll run ashore. Do you know of a suitable place, Cal?”
“No, not from personal experience in these parts, but I’ve beenwatching the coast-line over there to starboard, and I think I make outthe mouth of a small creek or inlet. The chart doesn’t show it verydistinctly, but it roughly indicates a number of small indentations inthe land, and the soundings given for all that shore seem satisfactory.”
“To the oars then,” said Larry, “and we’ll look for a landing placesomewhere over there. The whole shore seems to be heavily wooded. Pullaway.”
It was fully dark when Cal’s keen eyes found what he was lookingfor, namely, the sheltered mouth of a small creek or inlet, heavilyovershadowed by woods and a tangled undergrowth.
Running into it the company landed on a small bluff-like bit of shoreand made things snug for the night. The heavy dew, so prevalent onthat coast, was already dripping from the trees, and the air was verychill. To avoid the dew drippings the camp-fire was built close to themargin of the inlet at a point where a little patch of star-studded skyshowed clear overhead.
The little company sat with their backs against a large fallen tree asthey ate their supper and planned an early start for the morrow. Allwere eager to make the visit to Beaufort and have it over with as soonas possible, for a reason which Dick put into words:
“I’m anxious to go to Quasi. The very name of the place appeals to myimagination; the story of it fascinates me. How long will it take us toget there, Cal, after we finish what we have to do at Beaufort?”
“The wind bloweth where it listeth, you know,” Cal answered; “and worsestill, it doesn’t blow at all unless it is doing a little ‘listing’;the tides are subservient to the will of the sun and moon, and we mustreckon upon them as a frequently opposing force; then too, there arefogs sometimes, as recent experience has taught us, to say nothing ofpossible encounters with smugglers, from which we may not escape soeasily next time as we did before. How, then, shall I presume to set atime for our arrival at Quasi, particularly when I do not know how longwe shall be detained at Beaufort.”
“Oh, not long,” broke in Larry. “We have nothing to do there but reportto the customs authorities and spend an hour or so buying coffee, shipbiscuit, some hams—for we’re out of bacon—and such other supplies ofa non-perishable sort as we need. Two hours ought to cover our staythere.”
“Well, I’m not so certain of that,” said Cal. “As likely as not ourdetention will last for two days, or possibly two weeks, and if—”
“But how, Cal?” Tom interrupted with a look almost of consternation onhis face, for he, too, was impatient to reach Quasi and try the huntingthere.
“Let Cal finish, Tom,” said Larry. “He has something in mind.”
“Something on my mind,” Cal replied; “and it weighs heavily too. I’vebeen thinking of it ever since we turned our prow toward Beaufort.”
“You must have thought it out by this time, then; so go on and tell usabout it,” said Dick, impatiently.
“I wonder the rest of you haven’t thought of it for yourselves,”resumed Cal; “but it isn’t worth while to speculate about that. Iwas going to say that we four fellows have the misfortune to beeye-witnesses in the case of those smugglers. We saw them bring theirgoods ashore. Now I don’t know what the revenue officers do withsmugglers when they catch them. I suppose they take them to a UnitedStates Court somewhere, though where I don’t know. Charleston is themost likely place in the case of men caught along this coast. In anycase I suppose they need witnesses to testify to the smuggling, andunfortunately we are the witnesses in this case. Is it really necessaryto set the matter forth more fully? It all comes to this, that we maybe detained for an indefinite length of time at Beaufort, or we mayeven be taken back to Charleston as witnesses. For that reason I amreluctant to go to Beaufort at all—at least until we’ve had our tripout.”
“You’re quite right, Cal,” answered Dick; “it would be a shame to haveour jolly outing spoiled. As for supplies, I suppose we might run downto Bluffton and pick up the absolutely necessary things—”
“Yes, or we can do without them,” interposed Tom, to whom every hourof their sporting trip seemed a precious thing not to be lost on anyaccount.
“Oh, yes, we could get them by going a little out of our way,” saidCal, “or we could go without. I spent two or three months alone downamong these woods and waters without such things, and I can’t rememberthat I was the worse for it—though I confess my breeches and my shirtand shoes suffered. Anyhow, Larry is our captain this time, and he mustdecide. He hasn’t spoken a word yet.”
“It has not seemed necessary,” Larry answered. “Of course we shall goto Beaufort just as fast as we can.”
“But why, Larry?” asked Tom.
“Simply because it is our duty.”
“But why can’t we wait till we’re on our way back?”
“It would be too late then.”
“But I say, Larry,” interposed Dick, “do you really think we are underso imperative an obligation as that?”
“To do one’s duty is always an imperative obligation. We are all ofus the sons of gentlemen. We have been trained to think—and trulyso—that a gentleman must do his duty regardless of consequences tohimself. So we are going to start for Beaufort at daylight, no matterwhat annoyances it may bring upon us.”
“Of course you are right,” said Dick and Tom in a breath. Cal saidnothing until one of them asked him why he remained silent.
“I’m a Rutledge,” he answered, “and what Larry has said is the gospelin which I have been bred. I hadn’t thought it out till Larry spoke,that’s all.”
“Neither had I,” said Dick.
“Nor I,” said Tom. “Of course
we’ve all been bred in the same creed,and I for one shall never again wait to be reminded of it when a dutypresents itself.”
“Your decision is unanimously sustained and approved, Larry,” addedDick, by way of relaxing the seriousness of the talk. “The Rutledges,the Garnetts and the Wentworths echo your thought, if not yourwords—for Echo insists upon pronouncing them—‘Bully for you!’”
At that moment something happened which brought all four of the boysto their feet and prompted Cal to slip the cartridges out of his gunand substitute others carrying buckshot in their stead. The others,observing his act, quickly imitated it.