"I can"t leave the wheel, sir."
"But don"t you want some dinner?"
"I"ll have my dinner when we get to Whitehall. Haste makes waste, you know; and if I should be in a hurry to eat my dinner we might get aground, or be smashed up on the rocks."
"I suppose you are right, Lawry, and I will do the honors of the table for you," laughed Mr. Sherwood.
The dinner was not only satisfactory, but it was warmly praised; and Mrs. Light was made as happy as the captain by the enthusiastic encomiums bestowed upon her taste and skill in the culinary art.
The _Woodville_ reached Whitehall at two o"clock, where the party went on sh.o.r.e to spend an hour. While they were absent Lawry and all hands had their dinner, the cabins and the deck were swept, and everything put in order. Quite a number of people visited the little steamer while she lay at the pier; and a gentleman engaged her to take out a party the next Sat.u.r.day, with dinner for twenty-four persons. When Mr. Sherwood returned, he had let her for another day.
At three o"clock the _Woodville_ started for Port Rock. The party were still in high spirits, and the singing was resumed when the wheels began to turn. On the way down, she stopped at Ticonderoga, while her appearance so delighted a party of pleasure-seekers that she was engaged for another day, and a dinner for twenty spoken for.
"Lawry, you must have an engagement-book, or you will forget some of your parties," said Mr. Sherwood, who stood by the pilot, in the wheel-house, when the steamer started.
"I have put them all down on a piece of paper, sir. I will get a book when I go to Burlington."
"Which will be to-morrow. I had engaged her for four days when you came up with her from Port Henry; but I"m afraid we shall work you too hard."
"No fear of that, sir. I only hope I shall be able to pay you that money you advanced this morning."
"Don"t say a word about that. Let me see: you are engaged in Burlington to-morrow, to me the next day, and in Whitehall on the following day."
"I will get a book and put them down, sir."
"But you must be in Burlington by eight o"clock tomorrow morning."
"We can run up to-night."
"You will get no sleep if you run all night."
"I think we shall want another fireman."
"You will: for in order to keep your engagements you will occasionally have to run nights."
At eight o"clock the _Woodville_ landed her pa.s.sengers at Port Rock, and as the gentlemen went ash.o.r.e, they gave three cheers for the little steamer and her little captain.
CHAPTER XVII
BURLINGTON TO ISLE LA MOTTE
On his way home, Mr. Sherwood went to the ferry-house and satisfied himself that the mortgage on the place had been canceled. Mrs.
Wilford was profuse in the expression of her grat.i.tude to him for his kindness to the family, and hoped that Lawry and his father would be able to pay him back the whole sum.
"Mrs. Wilford, so far as grat.i.tude and obligation are concerned, the balance is still largely against me. Millions of dollars would not pay the debt I owe to your son."
"Oh, Lawry don"t think anything of that, sir!"
"But I do. Madam, if your son had been five minutes later than he was when the little steamer went down, Miss f.a.n.n.y Grant would certainly have been drowned, and my wife would doubtless have shared her fate. And when I think that this exposure of their precious lives was my own fault; that my wife and her sister had nearly perished by my foolish haste and recklessness, I feel like giving every dollar I have in the world to Lawry. You don"t understand this matter as I do, Mrs. Wilford."
"I didn"t think you were in any great danger."
"Miss f.a.n.n.y would certainly have been drowned; and I don"t think it would have been possible for me to save my wife, for I was nearly exhausted when Lawry came. Now, Mrs. Wilford, do you suppose I shall mind one, two, or ten thousand dollars, where my brave deliverer is concerned? In one word, I will never take a dollar which I have expended for Lawry or the family. Your son is a manly and independent boy, and I don"t like to hurt his feelings; so I shall not say anything about this money at present."
"Lawry is a good boy," said Mrs. Wilford proudly.
"He is worth his weight in gold. I am sorry your oldest son is not more like him."
"I don"t know what to think of Benjamin."
"Where is he now?"
"I don"t know; I haven"t seen him since the steamer left, this morning."
"Lawry is a good deal troubled about the ferry-boat."
"He needn"t be."
"Can you hire a man to run the boat?"
"Yes; I can get a boy who will do it for half a dollar a day, and be glad of the chance. I will engage one."
"Lawry goes to Burlington to-night to take out a party to-morrow."
"To-night?"
"Yes; he must be there by eight in the morning."
Mrs. Wilford thought her son was having a hard time with the steamer; but she knew he would be satisfied as long as he was doing well. Mr. Sherwood, a.s.sured that there was nothing at home to detain the young pilot, left the house. Lawry soon after entered; but he had not time to tell his mother the particulars of his first trip on the _Woodville_. He could remain but a few moments, while the hands were "coaling up," from a cargo of coal deposited on the wharf that day, by the order of Mr. Sherwood.
At nine o"clock everything was ready for the departure. The fireman grumbled at being called upon to work at night; but Lawry promised to get another man to keep watch as soon as he could. It was a long day"s work for all hands. When the young captain had gone to the wheel-house to start the boat, Mr. Sherwood rushed down the wharf, and jumped aboard.
"I was afraid I should be too late," said he, as Lawry met him on the main-deck. "I have been all over the village to find you another fireman, and I have succeeded in getting you a first-rate one--an old hand at the business."
"Thank you, sir; you are taking a great deal of trouble for me."
"There"s another thing I quite forgot; I didn"t pay you for the trip nor the dinners. Here is the money."
"I can"t take it, Mr. Sherwood," protested Captain Lawry.
"But you must take it; if you don"t I can"t engage the boat again."
"Not from you, sir."