As he spoke, he stepped to a tree beside the path, and began to unfasten a rope which led down from some place above--Tom could not see where, for the bushes that covered the side of the cliff were too thick.
Grasping the rope with both hands, the governor stepped back a few feet, then ran swiftly to the brink, and, springing into the air, alighted safely on the other side of the chasm.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SAM BARTON"S HARBORING PLACE.]
"I don"t like that way of getting over," said Tom, looking down at the rocks beneath him; "that rope might break."
"I"ll risk that," was the reply. "It"s strong enough to hold half a dozen fellers like us, an" it is made fast up there to a tree as big around as your body. Ketch it, Muley, an" come on."
The governor let go the rope, which swung back to Tom"s side of the chasm, and the latter, with a good deal of trembling and hesitation, prepared to take his turn. He made two or three false starts--stepping back for a short run, as he had seen the governor do, and then suddenly stopping when he reached the brink of the chasm, and thought what would become of him if the rope should break loose from the tree above; but his fear of being laughed at was stronger than his dread of the rocks, and finally he drew in a long breath, and launched himself into the air.
Somewhat to his astonishment, he accomplished the feat very easily; and when he found himself safe on the opposite side, he straightened up and looked at the governor as if he had done something wonderful.
Sam fastened the rope to a bush, and once more led the way up the path, which grew steeper and more difficult the nearer they approached the summit. In some places the cliff was quite perpendicular, and the only way they could advance at all was by drawing themselves up by the bushes that grew out of the crevices of the rocks. They reached the top at last, however, and then Sam stopped, and, pointing through the leaves, showed Tom several men at work in a field, and a farm-house in the distance.
"I hooks them fellers" water-melons," observed the governor.
"What if they should discover us now, and come after us?" said Tom.
"Let "em come. They wouldn"t find us, I reckon; an", even if they did, they couldn"t ketch us, fur they couldn"t get across that gully. But they don"t dream of any body"s livin" down here, in this dark hole. If they miss their water-melons, they lay the blame on some of the village boys."
Tom did not care to remain long on the cliff, for he was afraid that something might happen to direct the attention of the farmers toward him and his companion, and he had no desire to run a race with any body down that steep path. He might make a misstep, and that would be a calamity, for he would bring up among the rocks at the bottom of the chasm, and there would not be enough left of him to carry out his new idea by the time he got there. But, although it was quite as difficult and tedious a task to go down the cliff as to ascend it, no accident happened to them.
They reached the chasm in safety, crossed it with the aid of the rope--this time without any hesitation on Tom"s part--and were soon stretched on the gra.s.s in front of the cabin, refreshing themselves with the water-melon.
CHAPTER III.
A NEW PLAN.
Tom was no less delighted than astonished at what he had seen in the governor"s harboring place. The cove was so romantic, and it was so cool and pleasant down there among the rocks and trees! It was a famous place for reflection, and, as Tom stretched himself out on the gra.s.s, and looked up at the bluffs above him, he told himself that he would be perfectly willing to pa.s.s the remainder of his existence there. What could be more glorious than the life of ease Sam was leading? He had no business to bother him, no father to keep an eye on all his movements, and no merciless village boys to torment him; but he was free from all care and trouble, was his own master, and pa.s.sed his time serenely in doing nothing. That was just the life that suited Tom. If other boys were foolish enough to allow themselves to be shut up in an academy for ten months in the year, or were willing to drag out a miserable existence within the dingy walls of a store or office, that was their lookout, and not his. He would not do it for any body. He would leave the village before he was twenty-four hours older; and if he ever placed his foot inside its limits again, it would be because he could not help himself.
"Governor," said he, "you always were a lucky fellow. Here you have been during the last two weeks, enjoying yourself to the utmost, and free to go and come when you please, while I have been cooped up in the village, scarcely daring to stir out of my father"s sight, compelled to work like a slave for eight hours in the day, and have been badgered and tormented until I have sometimes wished that the earth would open and swallow up Newport and everybody in it, myself included. You must be happy here."
"Well, I should be," replied the governor, "if I only had something good to eat, an" was sartin that Bobby Jennings an" Mr. Grimes would never trouble me."
"You may make yourself easy on that score," said Tom. "Bob Jennings is a thousand miles from here by this time. He has gone to China, and will not be back for three years."
As Tom said this he settled back on his elbow, and proceeded to give the governor a history of all that had happened in the village since the night the Crusoe men made the attack on the Storm King. He told how Harry Green had taken him and the rest of the band to the academy as prisoners of war; repeated what the princ.i.p.al had said to them; explained how Bob had lost his boat, and found a friend in the man who had paid him the forty dollars in gold by mistake; and how he had obtained a berth on board the Spartan, and gone to sea, leaving his mother well provided for. He wound up by dwelling with a good deal of emphasis upon the resolve he had made to pay off Harry Green for what he had done, and hinted, mysteriously, that the first lieutenant would live to regret that he had ever presumed to act contrary to the wishes of Tom Newcombe. Sam could scarcely believe some portions of the story that related to Bob Jennings. He was sure that the fisher-boy had given one of the gold pieces for the Go Ahead No. 2; and, even if he had not, the governor could not understand how a boy so hard pressed as Bob had been--who had more than once been at a loss to know where his next meal was coming from--could resist the temptation to use a portion of the money, especially when he knew that the man who had paid it to him would never be the wiser for it. Sam acknowledged to himself that the truth of the old adage he had so often heard Bob repeat--that "honesty is the best policy"--had been fully exemplified.
"Now, that"s what comes of bein" born lucky," said he, after he had thought the matter over. "That ar" Bobby Jennings is a gentleman, now, an" goes about holden" up his head like he was somebody; while I am a rascal an" an outlaw, not darin" to show my face outside this yere cove, an" livin" in constant fear of Mr. Grimes, an" the State"s prison. This is a hard world, Tommy."
"O, now, have you just found it out?" drawled Tom. "If you had seen as much trouble as I have, you would have come to that conclusion long ago.
I heard Harry Green say, one day, that it was the very best world he ever saw, and that it could not possibly be any better. If I was as lucky as he is, I would say so too. He holds high positions among those Spooneys at the academy, every body in the village speaks well of him, and he gets along through the world without the least difficulty; while I--just look at me! I won"t stand it; now, that"s all about it! I"ll raise a breeze in that village one of these fine days, that will make the people there think they have never known any thing about Tom Newcombe."
Tom always worked himself into a pa.s.sion when he talked about the wrongs he imagined the world had done him; and as he dwelt upon Harry Green"s success--which he foolishly attributed to luck, instead of downright earnest labor--and drew a contrast between their stations in life, he got angrier with every sentence he uttered; and when he declared that he "wouldn"t stand it," he jumped up and stamped his foot furiously upon the ground, to emphasize his words.
"Well, now, Muley, I can"t see the use of talkin" on that ar" way," said the governor. "The world has been mighty mean to us, but it might have used us a heap worse."
"O, now, I can"t see it!" drawled Tom. "I"d like to know if I wasn"t used just as badly as I could be when I lost that yacht?"
"Of course not. You might have been put in jail, like the rest of the fellers."
"What fellows?"
"Why, Friday, Will Atkins, an" all our crowd."
"They are not in jail. They are ferrying on the harbor every day, and n.o.body troubles them. If you were to go back to the village, no one would say a word to you."
The governor shut one eye, and looked at Tom through, the half-closed lids of the other. "Do you see any thing green about me?" he asked. "We stole the skiff--every body knows that--an" it wasn"t no fault of our"n that Bobby Jennings got her agin. That"s contrary to law, an" Mr.
Grimes, bein" an officer, is bound to put us through for it. He thinks that by lettin" them fellers alone he will get me to go back to the village, and then he"ll arrest the whole of us, an" pack us off to jail.
But I"m too sharp fur him. He said I couldn"t pull no wool over his eyes, an" he"ll find that he can"t pull none over mine, neither."
"But I tell you that every body thinks you are drowned," said Tom.
"That"s all mighty nice, but it don"t fool Governor Barton. I just aint going back to Newport, "cause I know it aint safe. I jumped overboard from the yacht "cause I didn"t want to let Mr. Grimes get his hands on me, an" I"d be the biggest kind of a dunce to put myself in his way ag"in. But I say, Muley, don"t it beat all the world how them "cademy swells got out of the hold that night?"
"It doesn"t beat me; I know all about it. You broke me, didn"t you?"
"I did; but I am sorry fur it now."
"It is rather late in the day to make apologies, governor. If you had treated me like a gentleman, those students wouldn"t have got out."
"I don"t understand you, Muley."
"Well, I let them out. You understand me now, don"t you?"
Sam, upon hearing this, started up from the ground and glared at Tom so savagely that the latter began to be alarmed.
"I couldn"t help it, governor," said he. "It"s my plan to get even with any fellow who imposes upon me. You played me a mean trick, and I paid you off in your own coin."
"Well, the thing is done now," said Sam, settling back on his elbow, "an" it can"t be undone. Perhaps it was the best thing that could have happened to us, fur, since I have had time to think the matter over, I have come to the conclusion that our cruise would not have been a long one. That was a terrible storm, Muley, an" the waves were uncommon high.
I found that out the minute I got into "em. I never expected to come out alive, an" I hadn"t any more than touched the water, till I"d been willin" to give something nice to get back on board the yacht. But luck was on my side for once, an" throwed a spar in my way. Where it come from I don"t know; but it was there, an" it saved me. It drifted into the harbor, carryin" me with it; an" when I come to a place where I thought I could swim, I struck out for the wharf. It was then almost daylight, an", as I didn"t care about bein" seen, I found a safe hidin"-place an" stayed there durin" the day, thinkin" an" layin" my plans. When night come, I stole this skiff an" started for the island.
The next day I found this cove; an", seein" in a minute that it was just the place for me, I brought my boat around, an" I"ve been here ever since. I"ve made three visits to the village--that"s the way I come to learn the channels--and I"ve got my bed, all my clothes, an" several other handy little articles I found layin" around. I wanted to see you an" find out what was goin" on, but I didn"t dare to show myself, fur I didn"t know but you had gone back on me. Rats desert a sinkin" ship, you know, an" when a feller"s in disgrace, everybody gets down on him. I"m glad to hear that the other fellers are all right, "cause I"ve done a heap of thinkin" since I"ve been here. Have you given up all idea of findin" Crusoe"s island?"
"No, I haven"t," replied Tom. "I"d start to-morrow, if I could find any one to go with me. What have you been thinking about, governor?"
"About gettin" away from here. I can"t stay on this island much longer, "cause it"s too near the village; an" another thing, grub"s scarce. I"m going over to Newport this very night to see them fellers; an" if they"ll stick to us, we"ll see some fun yet. Will you go?"
"I will," answered Tom, readily; "that is, if you will help me square yards with the princ.i.p.al of the academy."
"I"ll do it; there"s my hand on it. I always knowed you were a brick, Muley, an" now I"ll tell you what I have been thinkin" about since we"ve been sittin" here. In the first place," continued the governor, helping himself to another slice of the water-melon, "I take it fur granted that Friday, Will Atkins, Xury, an" Jack Spaniard will go with us, an" help us carry out our idea. I know them fellers, an" I am sure they can be depended on. We"ll start the Crusoe band ag"in. I will be the head man, as I was before; an" if you"ll promise, honor bright, not to try any tricks on us, we"ll call you cap"n, an" we"ll give you command of the vessel, when we get her."
"All right," said Tom, "I"ll not play any tricks on you as long as you obey orders and behave yourselves; but if you get up a mutiny, and try to make me a foremast hand, as you did before, I"ll knock the whole thing higher than a kite. You must bear two things in mind, governor: I know more about managing these matters than you do, and I am a better sailor. I was president of the Gentlemen"s Club, and grand commander of the Night-Hawks. That runaway expedition from the academy, that made such a stir in the village, originated with me, and I carried it out successfully; and that"s more than any other boy in Newport could have done. I was second in command of the Swallow during that cruise, and, if I had had one or two more friends, I would have been made master of her when the fellows put Rich out. If I go with you, I must be captain of the vessel; and, more than that, you must promise, in the presence of the band, to stand by me, and see that my orders are obeyed to the very letter."
"I"ll agree to that, Muley," said Sam.
"Call me captain," interrupted Tom; "I never did like that other name.