Haste and Waste.
by Oliver Optic.
CHAPTER I
THE SQUALL ON THE LAKE
"Stand by, Captain John!" shouted Lawry Wilford, a stout boy of fourteen, as he stood at the helm of a sloop, which was going before the wind up Lake Champlain.
"What"s the matter, Lawry?" demanded the captain.
"We"re going to have a squall," continued the young pilot, as he glanced at the tall peaks of the Adirondacks.
There was a squall in those clouds, in the judgment of Lawry Wilford; but having duly notified the captain of the impending danger to his craft, he did not a.s.sume any further responsibility in the management of the sloop. It was very quiet on the lake; the water was smooth, and the tiny waves sparkled in the bright sunshine. There was no roll of distant thunder to admonish the voyagers, and the youth at the helm was so much accustomed to squalls and tempests, which are of frequent occurrence on the lake, that they had no terrors to him. It was dinner-time, and the young pilot, fearful that the unexpected guest might reduce the rations to a low ebb for the second table, was more concerned about this matter than about the squall.
Captain John, as he was familiarly called on board the _Missisque,_ which was the name of the sloop, was not a man to be cheated out of any portion of his dinner by the approach of a squall; and though his jaws may have moved more rapidly after the announcement of the young pilot, he did not neglect even the green-apple pies, the first of the season, prepared with care and skill by Mrs. Captain John, who resided on board, and did "doctor"s" duty at the galley. Captain John did not abate a single mouthful of the meal, though he knew how rapidly the mountain showers and squalls travel over the lake. The sloop did not usually make more than four or five miles an hour, being deeply laden with lumber, which was piled up so high on the deck that the mainsail had to be reefed, to make room for it.
The pa.s.senger, Mr. Randall, was a director of a country bank, journeying to Sh.o.r.eham, about twenty miles above the point where he had embarked in the _Missisque_. He had crossed the lake in the ferry, intending to take the steamer at Westport for his destination.
Being a man who was always in a hurry, but never in season, he had reached the steamboat landing just in time to see the boat moving off. Procuring a wherry, and a boy to row it, he had boarded the _Missisque_ as she pa.s.sed up the lake; and, though the sloop was not a pa.s.senger-boat, Captain John had consented to land him at Sh.o.r.eham.
Mr. Randall was a landsman, and had a proper respect for squalls and tempests, even on a fresh-water lake. He heard the announcement of Lawry Wilford with a feeling of dread and apprehension, and straightway began to conjure up visions of a terrible shipwreck, and of sole survivors, clinging with the madness of desperation to broken spars, in the midst of the storm-tossed waters. But Mr. Randall was a director of a country bank, and a certain amount of dignity was expected and required of him. His official position before the people of Vermont demanded that he should not give way to idle fears. If Captain Jones, who was not a bank director, could keep cool, it was Mr. Randall"s solemn duty to remain unmoved, or at least to appear to remain so.
The pa.s.senger finished the first course of the dinner, which Mrs.
Captain John had made a little more elaborate than usual, in honor of the distinguished guest; but he complained of the smallness of his appet.i.te, and it was evident that he did not enjoy the meal after the brief colloquy between the skipper and the pilot. He was nervous; his dignity was a "bore" to him, and was maintained at an immense sacrifice of personal ease; but he persevered until a piece of the dainty green-apple pie was placed before him, when he lacerated the tender feelings of Mrs. Captain John by abruptly leaving the table and rushing on deck.
This hurried movement was hardly to be regarded as a sacrifice of his dignity, for it was made with what even the skipper"s lady was compelled to allow was a reasonable excuse.
"Gracious!" exclaimed Mr. Randall, as the tempting piece of green-apple pie, reeking with indigenous juices was placed before him.
At the same moment the bank director further indicated his astonishment and horror by slapping both hands upon his breast in a style worthy of Brutus when Rome was in peril.
"What"s the matter, squire?" demanded Captain John, dropping his knife and fork, and suspending the operation of his vigorous jaws till an explanation could be obtained.
"I"ve left my coat on deck," replied Mr. Randall, rising from his chair.
"It"s just as safe there as "twould be on your back, squire," added the skipper.
"There"s six thousand dollars in the pocket of that coat," said the bank director, with a gasp of apprehension. "Where"s my coat?"
demanded he.
"There it is," replied Lawry Wilford, pointing to the garment under the rail. "We had a flaw of wind just now, and it came pretty near being blowed overboard."
"Gracious!" exclaimed Mr. Randall, as he clutched the coat. "I"m too careless to live! There"s six thousand dollars in a pocket of that coat."
"Six thousand dollars!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Lawry, whose ideas of such a sum of money were very indefinite. "I should say you ought not to let it lie round loose in this way."
"I"m very careless; but the money is safe," continued the director.
"Stand by, Captain John!" suddenly shouted Lawry, with tremendous energy, as he put the helm down. The squall was coming up the lake in the track of the _Missisque_; a dull, roaring sound was heard astern; and all the mountain peaks had disappeared, closed in by the dense volume of black clouds. The episode of the bank director"s coat had distracted the attention of the young pilot for a moment, and he had not observed the rapid swoop of the squall, as it bore down upon the sloop. He leaped over the piles of lumber to the forecastle, and had cast loose the peak-halyard, when Captain John tumbled up the companionway in time to see that he had lingered too long over the green-apple pie, and that one piece would have been better for his vessel, if not for him.
"Let go the throat-halyard!" roared he. "Down with the mainsail!
down with the mainsail!"
Lawry did not need any prompting to do his duty; but before he could let go the throat-halyard, the squall was upon the sloop. Mr. Randall had seized hold of the rail, and was crouching beneath the bulwark, expecting to go to the bottom of the lake, for he was too much excited to make a comparison of the specific gravities of pine boards and fresh water, and therefore did not realize that lumber would float, and not sink.
The squall did its work in an instant; and before the bank director had fairly begun to tremble, the rotten mainsail of the _Missisque_ was blown into ribbons, and the "flapping flitters"
were streaming in the air. Piece after piece was detached from the bolt-rope, and disappeared in the heavy atmosphere. The sloop, in obedience to her helm, came about, and was now headed down the lake.
The rain began to fall in torrents, and Mr. Randall was as uncomfortable as the director of a country bank could be.
"Go below, sir!" shouted Captain John to the unhappy man.
"Is it safe?" asked Mr. Randall.
"Safe enough."
"Won"t she sink?"
"Sink? no; she can"t sink," replied the skipper. "The wu"st on"t"s over now."
The fury of the squall was spent in a moment, and then the fury of Captain John began to gather, as he saw the remnants of the sail flapping at the gaff and the boom. The _Missisque_ and her cargo were safe, and not a single one of the precious lives of her crew had been sacrificed; but the skipper was as dissatisfied as the skipper of a lake sloop could be; more so, probably, than if the vessel had gone to the bottom, and left him clinging for life to a lone spar on the angry waters, for men are often more reasonable under great than under small misfortunes.
"Why didn"t you let go that throat-halyard?" said he, as he walked forward to where the young pilot stood.
"I did," replied Lawry quietly.
"You did! What was the use of lettin" it go after the squall had split the sail? Why didn"t you do it sooner?"
"I did it as soon as I saw the squall coming down on us."
"Why didn"t you see it before then?" growled Captain John.
"I told you the squall was coming half an hour ago. Why didn"t you come on deck, and attend to your vessel?"
"Don"t be sa.s.sy," said Captain John.
"I"m not the skipper of this craft. If I had been, that sail would have been safe. I told you the squall was coming, and after that I did the best I could."
"You ain"t good for nothin" "board a vessel. I thought you knew enough to take in sail when you saw a squall comin"."
"I should have taken in sail long ago if I had thought the captain didn"t know enough to come on deck when there was a squall coming up," replied Lawry.
"I don"t want nothin" more of you."
"And I don"t want anything more of you," added Lawry smartly. "I"ve got almost home."
"What do you s"pose I"m goin" to do here, eighty mile from Whitehall, with the mainsail blowed clean out?" snarled Captain John, as he followed Lawry.