CHAPTER XXIII
CAPTAIN AND MATE
Mike Murphy would have given the launch a speed of fifty miles an hourhad it been in his power, so impatient was he to reach the thieves whohad not only stolen the launch, but had insulted and defied him. Hewould not pause to secure the _Deerfoot_, but would leap ashore theinstant he was within reach of it.
Taunting and gibing him, the miscreants waited until hardly a dozenyards separated them. Then they wheeled about and dashed into the woodsas fast as they could go! Though there were two and each was older thanhe, they dared not meet him in fair fight!
Mike could have cried with rage and disappointment. He shouted hisreproaches, hoping to anger them into coming back and standing theirground, and kept the launch going until her bow nearly touched thebank. Had there been any possibility of success, he would have madeafter them. But they buried themselves among the trees and he never sawthem again.
During those brief moments he had so plain a sight of their faces thathe would have recognized them anywhere. He was surprised to know that hehad never seen either before. They were not the couple with whom he andAlvin Landon had had the encounter some nights previous and who, bothbelieved, were the thieves of the motor boat. Not to make a mystery of acomparatively unimportant matter, I may say that facts which afterwardcame to light showed that these young men had nothing to do with therobbery of the post offices in southern Maine, nor, so far as known,with any other crime, excepting the theft of the _Deerfoot_. Even intaking that they did not intend to keep or try to sell it. They were acouple of "city chaps" who, happening upon the craft by accident,yielded to the temptation to play a practical joke upon the unknownowners. Both had some knowledge of motor boating, and knowing thatinstant measures would be taken to recover the property, and beginningalso to feel some misgivings as to the consequences, they ran into thecove with the intention of abandoning the _Deerfoot_, to be found sooneror later by the right parties. They were but a short distance off whenthe sound of the exhaust told them that some one had come aboard andthey hastened back to learn who it was. Uncertain whether Mike Murphyhad any more right to it than themselves they opened a bombardment, butwhen he so promptly accepted their challenge, they wasted no time ineffecting a change of base, which carried them far beyond harm.
Convinced that it was out of his power to bring the couple to account,Mike once more headed for the mouth of the small bay. He did not forgetthe boatman and swerved in to where he was patiently waiting. The youthwas in high spirits over his success, barring his latest disappointment,and ran in quite close to the man.
"I won't naad ye," he called, "but ye've airned yer fee all the same."
Taking a half dollar from his pocket, Mike stood up.
"Howld yersilf riddy!" he said, motioning to toss the coin to him.
The boatman sprang to his feet and eagerly held his bony handsoutspread. When the couple were nearest Mike tossed the silver piece,and he deftly caught it, though the motion of the launch came within ahair of carrying the money beyond reach.
"Thank you kindly; you're a gentleman."
"Which the same is what all me acquaintances remark whin they get asquar' look at me winsome countenance," said Mike, settling back in hisseat.
Now that he was once more plowing the waters of the broad Sheepscot, hespent a minute or two debating with himself what he ought to do.
"Fortinitly I haven't any Captain or mate to consult--being that I'mboth."
His first thought was to head up the river in quest of his friends, buthe did not know where to look for them. They would have left Charmountlong before he could reach that point, and it would have taken manyhours to stop at all the intermediate landings in the effort to tracethem. Moreover, a not unnatural longing came over him to make the utmostof the privilege at his command. A thrilling pride filled him when herealized that he was the sole occupant of the _Deerfoot_, with no one tosay nay to his plans. The handsome craft was obedient to his slightestwhim and he could go whither he chose. The engine was working withperfect smoothness, and though lacking full practical knowledge, hebelieved he could run hither and yon for several days without trouble.Furthermore, his waggish disposition manifested itself.
"I might as well give Alvin and Chester a run fur their money; they letthe boat get away from them and it's mesilf that has the chance to taichthem a big moral lesson; so here goes, as me second cousin said whin thebull throwed him over the fence."
Midway in the channel, Mike turned the bow of the launch southward,leaving the Isle of Springs well to the left. A little later he shotpast McMahans on his right, then Dog Fish Head opposite, followed byHendrick Light, Cedarbrush Island, Cat Ledges and finally Lower Mark.
He was now in Sheepscot Bay, fully four miles across. Although he didnot know the names of the points and islands, his close study of the maphad given him a general knowledge and he knew precisely where he waswhen he glided around Cape Newagen, which, as we remember, is the mostsouthern reach of the big island of Southport. There his parents livedand Alvin and Chester made their summer home. Running close in shore hecoasted northward and soon saw plainly the dwelling of Chester Haynes,but no person was in sight. A little farther the handsome residence ofMr. Landon--that is, when he chose to spend a few weeks there--rose toview.
Mike preferred that his father should not see him, for he feared theconsequences, but it so happened that the old gentleman had come downto the shore to fish and was seated on the rocks thus engaged. The verymoment in which he caught sight of the launch he recognized it and roseto his feet.
"Hello, dad!" shouted Mike, waving his hand at him.
"Are ye alone?" asked the astonished parent.
"That's what I am, as yer brother said whin he fell overboard."
"Where are the byes?"
"I left them up the river; they'll be back agin one of these days."
Inasmuch as Mike showed no purpose of stopping, the father thought ittime to assert his authority.
"What do ye maan, ye spalpeen, by such outrageous thricks? Come right toland, and resave the whaling ye desarve. Do ye hear me?"
"Thank ye, dad, for yer kind permission to take a sail; it's meintintion to return be morning or mayhap before. Don't worry, and tellmither I'm all right."
"Ye'll be all right whin I lays me hands on ye!"
The parent flung down his line and ran leaping along the rocks in theeffort to keep abreast of the launch. He shook his fist and shouted:
"Turn into land, confound ye! I'm aching to lay hands onto ye! DO YEHAAR ME?"
"Ye always was a kind dad and I'll bring ye a pound of 'bacca fromBoothbay or Squirrel Island. Good luck to ye!"
And with a parting wave Mike turned away his head and gave his attentionto guiding the craft which by a freak of fortune had come under his solecontrol.
"I wonder if it will be aisy to make dad think the motion of the boatraised such a wind that it twisted his words so they didn't carry right.I doubt not that him and me will be obleeged to have a sittlement andI'll be the one to come out sicond best, as was the case wid all thefolks that I had a shindy with."
No wonder the Irish lad was exhilarated. He was seated in the cockpit ofthe finest motor launch seen for a long time in those waters, with hishands resting upon the wheel and the boat as obedient to his lightesttouch as a gentle horse to the rein of its driver. The breeze caused byits swift motion made the flags at the prow and stern flutter and whip,and now and then give out a snapping sound. The sharp bow cut the clearcold water like a knife, sending a fanlike spread of foam that widenedand lost itself behind the churning screw. The wind-shield guarded hisface from so much as a zephyr, and the consciousness that among all theboats big and small in sight at varying distances, there was not onethat could hold its own with the _Deerfoot_, was enough to stir hisblood and make him shout for very joy.
Mike was in a varying mood. His first impulse was to make for BoothbayHarbor, but he felt some misgiving about threading his way among themany craft that
are always anchored or moored there. With the steamerscoming and going, he might become confused over the signals and theright of way, with disastrous results to the launch. He had not yetlearned the meaning of the toots of the whistle which Captain Alvin gavewhen crossing the bow of a larger boat, or when meeting it.
He was only prudent, therefore, when he turned from the larger town andsped toward Squirrel Island. He observed the _Nellie G._ in the act ofmoving aside to make room for a mail steamer that had whistled itswishes, and half a hundred men, women and children were gathered on thewharf, with nothing to do but to watch the arrival and departure ofboats.
There were so many constantly going and coming at the height of thesummer season that the only person, so far as Mike could see, who gavehim a look was Captain Williams of the _Nellie G._ Mike had meant toland, but he feared he would become involved in a tangle, and sheeredoff. Captain Williams had backed out so far that he was brought upalongside the _Deerfoot_. He had done so often what he was now doingthat it was instinctive on his part. He could have gone through themanoeuvre with his eyes shut.
"Where are Alvin and Chester?" he asked from his little pilot house ashe was gliding past.
"I lift them behind. If ye maat them before I do, Captain, tell 'em I'veslipped off on a little thrip to the owld counthry, but will soonreturn."
"I'll tell them what you told me," said Captain Williams, giving hisattention to his return to the wharf.