CHAPTER XXI.
A VISIT TO ORANGE PARK.
Cornwood was slow to move, after I directed him to take the wheel. Isaw that he was not yet in the pilot-house, when I rang the bell to goahead. I directed the mate with Ben and Landy to prevent any of theparty in the boat from coming on board, and hastened to thepilot-house. But before I reached the door Cornwood was at the wheel.He threw it over, and met the boat with the helm when she began to makeheadway. I was not quite sure that he did not intend to rebel; but Iwas ready to send him ashore the instant he did so in word or deed. Mysuspicions began to gather weight again. He had evidently delayed thesteamer until the arrival of the boat containing Captain Boomsby andthe husband of the stewardess.
I could easily fancy that the pilot was at the bottom of all theproceedings to delay or prevent the departure of the boat. Theattachment was to prevent her going at all; the claim for thestewardess was to help along the matter. It seemed to me that someheavy reward had been promised to Cornwood for his services, or hewould not endanger the liberal wages he was paid for his services onboard of the Sylvania. But I knew nothing about the matter, and it wasuseless to conjecture what he was driving at.
The steamer was headed up the river, and we had actually begun ourlong-talked-of trip. Cornwood steered the boat as well as usual, but hewas moody and silent. If he was ugly and bent on mischief, the worst hecould do, as I understood the matter, was to run the steamer aground.This would not be a very serious calamity, and could involve no worseconsequences than a loss of time. I was not alarmed at anything hemight do while we were sailing up the river. I seated myself at theside of the wheel, and allowed things to take their course, as, in NewJersey, when it rains, they let it rain. But if Cornwood was angry, hecooled off in the course of half an hour, and remarked that it was adelightful day for the start. I was not obstinate on this point, and Iagreed with him.
"I don't think you treated me quite fairly, Captain Garningham, in theaffairs of poor Griff and his wife," said he, when the steamer was offMulberry Grove.
"Didn't treat you fairly!" I exclaimed, astonished at this new phase ofthe argument. "Do I treat you unfairly because I won't have a man withmurder in his heart on board? Do I treat you unfairly because his wiferefuses to leave her place?"
"I have told you the reason why I am interested in the man; I am underobligations to him," added Cornwood.
"I have no objection to your being interested in him to the last day ofhis life; but I am not sufficiently interested in him to have a man whodraws a knife on another in this vessel," I answered. "I am not underobligations to him."
"I have done the best I can to serve you, and I thought a friend ofmine might be entitled to some consideration," continued Cornwood, withan injured innocence of tone and manner.
"Your influence procured for him and his wife places on board; andGriffin might have retained his position, if he had behaved half aswell as his wife has."
"Poor Griff lay down on the deck to take a nap----"
"I don't care to hear that argument over again. I could have passedover the scuffle, if he had not drawn his knife when there was nothingto provoke him," I interposed.
"The assistant engineer did not tell the truth when he said he did notlay the weight of his hand on him," protested Cornwood.
"I believe he did. I don't believe Griffin was asleep. He lay down withhis ear to the skylight of the captain's room in order to hear whatpassed between me and the mate. This is the second time Griffin wascaught in the act of listening. More than this, the assistant engineerwas on the watch, by my order, for eavesdroppers, as will appear at thetrial," I replied, with energy.
"By your orders?" exclaimed Cornwood.
"By my orders. Both the engineer and the assistant were asked to dothis duty, because Griffin was seen before, skulking where he had nobusiness to be."
"The mate assaulted poor Griff the other day," added the pilot.
"He caught him listening under the windows of our room, and took him bythe collar for it, if that is what you mean by assaulting him."
"He had no right to take him by the collar."
"I will grant that he had not; but when one is in the midst ofeavesdroppers, his indignation may get the better of his judgment," Ireplied.
"That was just the case with poor Griff; but he is a poor man, and notthe son of an ex-governor; and he is persecuted to the full penalty ofthe law for it," growled Cornwood.
"I think there is some difference in the cases. Griffin was skulkingabout, trying to listen to conversation which did not concern him. Ifhe wants to take a nap, he lies down with his ear to an open skylight.Mr. Washburn is charged with the discipline of the vessel; and whenyour friend attempted to escape from the place where he was caught, themate took him by the collar. Griffin, or you, as his counsel, mighthave prosecuted him for the assault, if you had thought proper to doso," I answered.
"I am sorry I did not do so, after what has happened since."
"I am sorry you did not, for it would have brought to light some thingswhich have not yet been ventilated."
"What do you mean by that, captain?" demanded the pilot, lookingfurtively into my face.
"It is not necessary to explain matters that have not yet been broughtinto the case," I replied coldly. "I think we had better drop thesubject, and not allude to it again. As a guide and pilot, I amentirely satisfied with you. Griffin Leeds has been discharged; and hecannot be employed again under any circumstances on this vessel. Iwon't have a man about who is skulking under windows, listening to whatdon't concern him, or a man who will draw a knife on another."
"The steward wants to know at what hour he shall serve dinner in thecabin to-day?" asked Cobbington, poking his head into the pilot-houseat this moment.
For some reason not apparent to me, the pilot was so startled at thesound of the new waiter's voice that he let go the wheel, as he wasswinging the boat around at a bend of the river. The wheel flew overwith force enough to knock a man down if it had hit him. I immediatelygrasped the spokes, and began to heave it over again.
"No harm done; my hand slipped," said the pilot.
"Good morning, Mr. Cornwood," added the new waiter, with a broad grinon his face. "I didn't know you were the pilot of this steamer. I hopeyou are very well."
"Very well," answered Cornwood, with an utterly disgusted expression onhis face, as he continued to throw the wheel over.
"I think the passengers will not dine on board to-day," I replied tothe question of the waiter. "But I will let the steward know inseason."
The forward-cabin steward retired. It was evident that Cornwood had notseen him on board before, and that he was not at all pleased to havehim as a fellow-voyager on the river. Cobbington looked as though hehad gained twenty pounds in flesh since he came on board on Saturdaynight. In his new clothes he presented a very neat appearance; and hehad done his duty faithfully. He was so familiar with his work, that herequired scarcely any instruction. All hands were greatly interested inhis accounts of forest life in Florida, and he appeared to be a generalfavorite. By Monday morning, he was generally called the "sportsman."
"Is that man employed on board?" asked Cornwood, soon after Cobbingtontook his head out of the door.
"He is; he takes the place of Griffin Leeds," I replied.
"How long has he been on board?"
"He came on Saturday night."
"He is a good-for-nothing vagabond!" exclaimed the pilot.
"He has had a hard time of it in Florida, according to his own account.If he does his duty, that is all I want of him," I added.
"Where did you pick him up?"
"He hailed Mr. Washburn in the street when I was with him, and webrought him off with us. He was in a starving condition, and CaptainBoomsby, at whose house he used to have a room, refused to give himeven a supper. I believe he has been in the snake business to someextent," I replied, indifferently.
I knew very well that Cornwood wished to know precisely what ourrelations were
with Cobbington; but he was not so simple as to ask anyquestions about them. I could not prove that Captain Boomsby had placedthe moccasin in the closet of the room where he had confined me, for mybenefit, but I could prove that the explanation of the presence of thesnake there was without any foundation in truth. Griffin Leeds haddiscovered by listening to the conversation of the mate and myself,that we were investigating the matter, and had a clue to Cobbington.Then Cornwood had sent a note to the saloon-keeper to this effect, andCaptain Boomsby had bribed the invalid with a dollar to lie about thematter.
While I was reasonably certain in regard to such portions of the chainof the story as I had been compelled to supply, I could not prove all Ibelieved. On the other hand, Cornwood was an exceedingly valuableperson to me as guide and pilot, and I was unwilling to dispense withhis services until he showed the cloven foot too palpably to beretained.
The Sylvania was approaching Orange Park, a place which Colonel Sheparddesired to visit. A sign four hundred feet long, and fifteen feet high,the largest in the world, indicates the locality. It can be read a mileoff, and the visitor "who runs may read." Cornwood ran the steameralongside the long pier, and our passengers landed. Mr. Benedict, theenterprising Rhode Islander who owns the vast estate of nine thousandacres, was on the wharf to welcome them. The place had formerly been animmense sugar plantation; but the present owner had cut it up intosmall farms and town lots, and considerable progress had been made inpeopling it with residents from the North.
The bluffs were thirty feet high on the river, and the highestelevation was seventy feet, about the highest on the St. Johns. Quite anumber of dwelling-houses had been erected, including a hotel, and theplace had a store, a school, and a hall for religious services. Severalthousand orange-trees had been set out, and were in a thriftycondition. They set out stumps of sour orange-trees, three inches indiameter, and graft into them two shoots, a few inches above theground. These had grown two or three feet in a single year, and in fiveor six years they would be in bearing condition. Young trees, five orsix feet high, are also set out. If the orange grower is successful,the crop is exceedingly profitable.
Lots of from one to twenty acres were sold at from one to thirteenhundred dollars, as they were nearer or farther from the river. A housethat would answer the purpose of a settler could be built for onehundred and thirty dollars, and a comfortable cottage for five hundreddollars.
We walked up to the hotel, and dined with the proprietor.