The Coming Wave; Or, The Hidden Treasure of High Rock by Oliver Optic (books to improve english txt) 📖

to the great satisfaction of his son, offered no objection to the purchase; on the contrary, he seemed to be pleased with the transaction.

"There are two gentlemen in the house that want to go over to the Isle of Holt (Isle-au-Haut) this afternoon," added the landlord. "I was just looking for you to go and see whether Ben Chipman could take them over."

"I can take them over myself, father," said Leopold.

"So I was thinking. They want to go right off after dinner."

"I shall be ready. We will bring the boat[Pg 108] down now.—Will you go with me, Stumpy?" continued Leopold, turning to his friend.

"I should like to go, first rate," answered Stumpy.

They hastened to the wharf where the new boat lay, and in a few minutes more they were standing down the river in her.

"She works tip-top," said the skipper, as soon as he began to feel the boat bearing on the tiller. "She minds her helm as soon as I touch the stick."

"She's as handsome as a picture, too. She don't look much like your old boat," replied Stumpy, with a smile as he realized the contrast.

"Not much. She seems to go at railroad speed. We haven't been used to going along at this rate."

"That's so. What's her name Le?"

"She hasn't any yet. We will think of something for her."

The skipper sailed the boat down to the mouth of the river, and came about off the light-house, located on a projecting cliff which extended out nearly half a mile from the southern[Pg 109] shore. The trial-trip was entirely satisfactory; and on her return the sloop was moored near the old boat, which was now used as a tender for the new one. The young boatmen went home to get their dinners and made preparations for the trip to the Isle-au-Haut. Leopold saw the two gentlemen who were to be his passengers, and agreed to take them over for five dollars. They did not object to the price, as the island was over ten miles distant, and there would not be any packet for several days.

Leopold filled the water-keg in the sloop, and laid in a stock of provisions for the voyage. At two o'clock the party started; but we do not intend to follow them in the details of the trip. The breeze was fresh and the sloop was fast. At four o'clock Leopold had landed his passengers; but it was eight in the evening when the boat reached Rockhaven on her return, for the skipper was obliged to beat back. The five dollars earned in the voyage was promptly handed over to the watch-maker, reducing by this amount the debt due him. By nine o'clock Leopold was fast asleep, for he and Stumpy[Pg 110] had arranged to try the mackerel again the next morning.

The skipper of the new boat was very tired for the day had been a long, laborious, and exciting one. It was four o'clock when he awoke the next morning. When he went out, he found Stumpy waiting on the piazza for him. He had not stopped to eat his breakfast, but had provision enough in the basket for both of them.

"We are late," said Stumpy, as Leopold joined him.

"I know it; but I was so tired I didn't wake up," replied the skipper.

"I have seen half a dozen boats go down the river since I stood here, added Stumpy, ruefully.

"I don't expect we shall do much to-day. Folks have found out about the mackerel."

They went down to the new boat, and were soon under way. At the point, they saw that all the craft which came out of the river were headed in the same direction—towards the reef off High Rock.

"What are you going to call this boat?"[Pg 111] asked Stumpy, as the skipper started the sheets, off the light-house. "I don't feel quite at home in her without being able to call her by name."

"I haven't thought of any name yet," replied Leopold.

"We want something to call her by."

"She has no name."

"Then we will call her the No-Name, till you fix upon something," laughed Stumpy.

"All right."

The "No-Name" passed half a dozen of the boats bound to the reef; but when she reached her destination, there were not less than twenty craft, of all sorts and sizes, on the fishing-ground, huddled into a heap, near the spot where the luckless Waldo had gone down. The secret was out. A fisherman going off to the deep water, on the morning before, had seen Leopold's boat near the reef; and when it was said that the young man had obtained a large catch of mackerel, he knew where they came from. But the vicinity of the reefs was the usual place for catching these fish when they were to be had at all; and as soon as there were mackerel in the market,[Pg 112] the fishermen and others knew where to go for them. In a few moments Leopold had joined the crowd, and the fish bit as smartly as before. The No-Name was more fortunate than most of her companions, and got about four hundred mackerel. She might have got twice as many if she had remained longer on the ground; but Leopold reasoned that fish without a market were not very valuable. His was the first boat to reach Rockhaven; and he sold his fare at seven cents apiece. By half past eight the No-Name was washed down, and ready for a party, if any offered. Stumpy went home with seven dollars in his pocket, and Leopold diminished his debt by twenty-one dollars.

There was no "job" for him at the hotel that day; but in the afternoon Leopold took his father and mother and Herr Schlager out to sail in the new boat; and he was quite as happy on this occasion as though he had made five dollars by the trip. The next morning there were no mackerel off the ledges, or if there were, they would not bite; and the No-Name made a profitless trip. When she returned, Leopold found two gentlemen at the hotel who wished to sail[Pg 113] over to Rockland, as there was no steamer that day. While the skipper was making his trade with them, Harvey Barth entered the office. The sick man had finished his narrative of the loss of the Waldo the day before, and sent it off by the mail in the steamer. He looked sadder and more gloomy than usual.

"I should like to go over with you," said Harvey, after Leopold had named the price for the trip. "I will pay my share of it."

The gentlemen looked at Harvey and did not seem to like the appearance of him; and he certainly did not promise to be a very agreeable companion for an excursion. They took no notice of him, and the steward was mortified by their coldness.

"Are you going to leave us, Mr. Barth?" asked the landlord, who was behind the counter.

"Yes; I thought I would be on my way to New York as soon as I could, for I want to find that drummer," drawled Harvey, with his usual hacking cough. "I feel better this morning, and I think I can stand it to move towards home. Those men don't seem to want me to go with them, but I suppose I can wait till[Pg 114] to-morrow. If you will give me my bill, I will pay it."

"Never mind that, Mr. Barth."

"But I can pay what I owe."

"You can't pay anything here," laughed the landlord. "We don't charge shipwrecked people anything."

"But I have been here about ten days."

"You can stay ten or twenty more at the same rate, if you will," added Mr. Bennington.

Harvey Barth remonstrated, but the landlord was firm. The physician who had attended him also refused to take a cent from him, and so did all who had done anything for him. He tried to give a dollar apiece to the employes of the hotel who had been kind to him, but not one of them would accept the gift. When Harvey left the room, the two passengers for Rockland asked the landlord who he was; and when informed that he was the only survivor of the Waldo, they changed their tone, and desired his company. They sent for him, and politely offered him a passage with them.

"I don't want to go where I am not wanted," replied Harvey.[Pg 115]

"But we shall be delighted to have you go with us," said one of the gentlemen, and the other heartily indorsed the remark.

"I'll pay my share of the expense, if you are really willing to let me go with you."

"We are glad to have you go with us; and as to the expense, we will arrange that when we get to Rockland."

Shortly after the No-Name departed, manned, by Leopold and Stumpy, with the three passengers in the standing-room. On the passage, Harvey, at the request of his new friends, told the whole story of the wreck of the Waldo, and then dwelt with particular emotion upon the loss of his diary. One of the gentlemen resided in New York city, and volunteered to assist him in recovering the cherished volume. When they arrived at their destination, Harvey was not permitted to pay any portion of the expense of the trip; and the gentlemen insisted upon his accompanying them to the best hotel in the city, where from the abundant sympathy of the proprietor, he was not permitted to diminish his funds by a single dollar. Having, a few days after, obtained the fifty copies of the newspaper[Pg 116] which contained his account of the loss of the brig, he started in the steamer for Boston, with a free ticket in his pocket.

His first care after he got on board the boat, was to read the narrative he had written. He was sorely grieved to find that the first half of the account had been struck out by the remorseless editor; but it must be added that this portion of the history was wholly irrelevant, being made up of observations on the outward voyage of the Waldo, and remarks upon the geography, climate, people and institutions of Cuba. Then, in the description of the wreck, Harvey was indignant when he found that all his finest passages had been eliminated from the manuscript. Adjectives and fine phrases without number had been struck out, and the poor steward felt that he might as well never have been a schoolmaster. The truth was, that the editor had only three columns of his paper to spare, and all he and his readers wanted were the facts in regard to the wreck. A vivid description of a tempest at sea seemed to be lost upon them. But Harvey felt that he should not realize half the pleasure he had anticipated in distributing the[Pg 117] fifty copies of the paper among his friends at home.

It was late at night when the No-Name arrived at her moorings in the river at Rockhaven; for on the return trip the wind was contrary and very light. Leopold, after this "job," had reduced his indebtedness to Herr Schlager to about thirty-two dollars. Our space does not permit us to follow him in the process of extinguishing the debt, but it was all wiped out by the first of October. All the summer visitors had left the place, and it was a "dry time" at the Cliff House. The landlord counted up his profits, and felt rich when he realized that he owned the hotel, did not owe a dollar to any man, and had twenty-five hundred dollars in the bank, or otherwise available for immediate use. He had a plan drawn for the enlargement of the hotel which would give him fifty chambers, besides a large dining-room and parlor. But it would cost eight thousand dollars to complete the building and furnish the house; and being a prudent man, he decided not to carry out the project till his funds were considerably increased.[Pg 118]

About the middle of October the steamer brought to Rockhaven a woman, apparently about forty years of age, who registered her name at the Cliff House as Miss Sarah Liverage. Though it was certain, from her own confession, that she had never been there before, she seemed to know all about the hotel, and all the persons connected with it. She was a plain-looking woman, well, but not richly, dressed, and her speech indicated that she was not a cultivated person. There was nothing remarkable about her, except her knowledge of the hotel, and a certain excitement in her manner, which indicated that she