The Lost Middy: Being the Secret of the Smugglers' Gap

  CHAPTER TEN.

  Aleck ran his boat close in behind the cutter after lowering the sail soclose that it touched the midshipman's dignity.

  "Hi, you, sir!" he shouted. "Mind where you're going with that boat."

  "All right," replied Aleck, coolly enough. "I won't sink you."

  "Hang his insolence!" muttered the middy; and as Tom lowered himselffrom the post and then went, rock-hopper fashion, down the steps andboarded the boat, the young officer gave Aleck a supercilious stare upand down, taking in his rough every-day clothes and swelling himself outa little in his smart blue well-fitting uniform.

  Aleck felt nettled, drew himself up, and returned the stare beforemaking a similar inspection of the young naval officer.

  "Whose boat's that, boy?" said the latter, haughtily.

  "Mine," was Aleck's prompt reply. "What ship's that, middy--I don'tmean the cutter, of course?"

  "Well, of all the insolence--" began the lad. "Do you know, sir, thatyou mustn't address one of the King's officers like that?"

  "No, I didn't know it," said Aleck, coolly. "I thought you were only amidshipman. Are you the captain?"

  "Why, con--"

  "Look out!" cried Aleck, giving the speaker a sharp push which nearlysent him backward but saved him from receiving a wet dockfish full onthe cheek, the unpleasantly foul object whizzing between the lads'heads, followed by a roar of laughter from a group of the young ruffianson the pier.

  "How dare you lay your hands upon a King's officer!" cried themidshipman, furiously.

  Aleck shrugged his shoulders and laughed.

  "Look out!" he cried. "Here come two or three more," and he doggedaside, while the middy was compelled, metaphorically, to come down fromhis dignified perch and duck down nearly double to escape the missileswhich flew over him.

  "Do you see now?" said Aleck, merrily.

  "Oh! Ah! Yes! Of course! The insolent young scoundrels! Here, halfa dozen of you jump ashore and catch that big boy with the ragged redcap. I'll have him aboard to be flogged."

  Six of the boat's crew sprang out on to the steps, but there was noprospect of their catching the principal offender, who uttered aderisive yell and started off to run at a rate which would have soonplaced him beyond the reach of the sailors; and he knew it, too, as heturned and made a gesture of contempt, which produced a roar of delightfrom the other boys who stood looking on.

  "After him!" yelled the middy to his men, as he stood stamping one footin his excitement; and then turning to Aleck: "If the cat don't scratchhis back for this my name's not Wrighton."

  The communication was made in quite a friendly, confidential way, whichbrought a response from Aleck:

  "He'll be too quick for them. The young dogs are as quick as congers."

  "You wait and you'll see. I'll make an example of him."

  All this passed quickly enough, while the boy in the red cap, feelingquite confident in his powers of flight, turned again to jeer and shoutat the sailors, whom he derided with impudent remarks about theirfatness of person, weight of leg, and stupidity generally, till hejudged it dangerous to wait any longer, when he went off like aclockwork mouse, skimming over the stones, and from the first stridesbeginning to leave the sailors behind.

  "I told you so," said Aleck. "There he goes. I can run fast, but Icouldn't catch him. Ha, ha, ha! Bravo, Tom!" he cried. "Look at thatsailor!"

  For meanwhile Tom Bodger, stick in hand, had made his way back on to thepier, and just as the boy was going his fastest something followed himfaster, in the shape of the wooden-legged sailor's well-aimed cudgel,which spun over the surface of the pier, thrown with all the power ofTom's strong arm, and the next instant it seemed to be tangled up withthe boy's legs, when down he went, kicking, yelling, and struggling toget up.

  "Hi! Oh, my! Help, help!" he yelled at his comrades; but they onlystood staring, while the foremost sailors passed on so as to block theway of escape, and the next instant the offender was hemmed in by a halfcircle of pursuers, who formed an arc, the chord being the edge of thepier, beneath which was the deep, clear water.

  "There," cried the middy, triumphantly. "Got him!" Then to his men:"Bring the young brute here."

  Meanwhile, as the boy lay yelping and howling in a very dog-likefashion, the laughing sailors began to close in, and then suddenly madea dart to seize their quarry, but only to stand gazing down into theharbour.

  For, in pain before from the contact of the stick and his heavy fall,but in agony now from the dread of being caught, the boy kept up thedog-like character of his actions by going on all fours over two orthree yards, and then, as hands were outstretched to seize him, heleaped right off the pier edge, to plunge with a tremendous splash tenfeet below, the deep water closing instantly over his head.

  "He's gone, sir," said one of the sailors, turning to his officer.

  "Well, can't I see he has gone, you stupid, cutter-fingered swab?" criedthe middy. "Here, back into the boat and round to the other side of thepier. You'll easily catch him then."

  "Not they," said Aleck, quietly; "didn't I tell you he was as quick andslippery as a conger?"

  "Look sharp! Be smart, men," cried the middy, angrily.

  "What's the good of tiring the lads for nothing?" said Aleck, as the menbegan to scramble into the cutter. "It will take them nearly tenminutes to get round to where he went off."

  "Would it?"

  "Of course."

  "But, I say," said the middy, anxiously, "mightn't he be drowned?"

  "Just about as likely as that dogfish he threw at you. Come and look!"

  Aleck led the way up the steps, followed by the young officer, and thenas they crossed the pier they came in sight directly of the boy,swimming easily, side stroke, for a group of rocks which formed thestarting-point of the pier curve, and beyond which were several placeswhere the boy could land.

  "He'll be ashore before we could get near him," said Aleck.

  "What! Shall I have to let him go?" cried the middy.

  "Of course! He got a tremendous crack on the legs from Tom Bodger'sstick--he was nearly frightened to death; and he has had a thoroughducking. Isn't that enough?"

  "Well, it will have to be," said the middy, in a disappointed tone. "Imeant him to be treed up and flogged."

  Aleck looked at him in rather an amused fashion.

  "Well, what are you staring at?" said the middy, importantly.

  "I was only wondering whether you would be able to order the boy to beflogged."

  "Well--er--that is," said the midshipman, flushing a little; "I--er--said I should give him--er--report it to the captain, who would give theorders on my statement. It's the same thing, you know, as if I gave theflogging. `I'll give a man a flogging' doesn't, of course, mean that I,as an officer, should give it with my own hands. See?"

  "Yes, I see," said Aleck, quietly.

  "Sit fast there," cried the middy to his men, as he began to descend thesteps. "Let the young scoundrel go."

  Just then Aleck glanced round and saw that the officer who had goneashore was returning, followed by the man who had accompanied him, andhe turned to Bodger, who stood waiting for orders, before descendingagain to the boat.