At the pier was a large, stanch vessel--the _Columbia_--bound for San Francisco, around Cape Horn.
All was dark, but the second officer was pacing the deck.
Curtis Waring hailed him.
"What time do you get off?"
"Early to-morrow morning."
"So the captain told me. I have brought you a pa.s.senger."
"The captain told me about him."
"Is his stateroom ready?"
"Yes, sir. You are rather late."
"True; and the boy is asleep, as you will see. He is going to make the voyage for his health, and, as he has been suffering some pain, I thought I would not wake him up. Who will direct me to his stateroom?"
The mate summoned the steward, and Dodger, still unconscious, was brought on board and quietly transferred to the bunk that had been prepared for him.
It was a critical moment for poor Dodger, but he was quite unconscious of it.
"What is the boy"s name?" asked the mate.
"Arthur Grant. The captain has it on his list. Is he on board?"
"Yes; but he is asleep."
"I do not need to see him. I have transacted all necessary business with him--and paid the pa.s.sage money. Julius, bring the valise."
Julius did so.
"This contains the boy"s clothing. Take it to the stateroom, Julius."
"All right, Ma.s.sa Curtis."
"What is your usual time between New York and San Francisco?" asked Curtis, addressing the mate.
"From four to six months. Four months is very short, six months very long. We ought to get there in five months, or perhaps a little sooner, with average weather."
"Very well. I believe there is no more to be said. Good-night!"
"Good-night, sir."
"So he is well out of the way for five months!" soliloquized Curtis.
"In five months much may happen. Before that time I hope to be in possession of my uncle"s property. Then I can snap my fingers at fate."
Chapter XXI.
A Seasick Pa.s.senger.
The good ship _Columbia_ had got fifty miles under way before Dodger opened his eyes.
He looked about him languidly at first, but this feeling was succeeded by the wildest amazement, as his eyes took in his unusual surroundings.
He had gone to sleep on a bed--he found himself on awakening in a ship"s bunk.
He half arose in his birth, but the motion of the vessel and a slight feeling of dizziness compelled him to resume a rec.u.mbent position.
"I must be dreaming," thought Dodger. "It"s very queer. I am dreaming I am at sea. I suppose that explains it."
He listened and heard the swish of the waters as they beat against the sides of the vessel.
He noted the pitching of the ship, and there was an unsteady feeling in his head, such as those who have gone to sea will readily recall.
Dodger became more and more bewildered.
"If it"s a dream, it"s the most real dream I ever had," he said to himself.
"This seems like a ship"s cabin," he continued, looking about him. "I think if I got up I should be seasick. I wonder if people ever get seasick in dreams?"
There was another pitch, and Dodger instinctively clung to the edge of his berth, to save himself from being thrown out.
"Let me see," he said, trying to collect his scattered recollection.
"I went to sleep in a house uptown--a house to which Curtis Waring lured me, and then made me a prisoner. The house was somewhere near One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street. Now it seems as if I was on board a ship. How could I get here? I wish somebody would come in that I could ask."
As no one came in, Dodger got out of the berth, and tried to stand on the cabin floor.
But before he knew it he was staggering like one intoxicated, and his head began to feel bad, partly, no doubt, on account of the sleeping potion which he had unconsciously taken.
At this moment the steward entered the cabin. "h.e.l.lo, young man! Have you got up?" he asked.
"Where am I?" asked Dodger, looking at him with a dazed expression.
"Where are you? You"re on the good ship _Columbia_, to be sure?"
"Are we out to sea?"
"Of course you are."
"How far from land?"
"Well, about fifty miles, more or less, I should judge."
"How long have I been here?"