These moody thoughts began to dissipate, however, with the coming of the warm golden glow in the east; and when the sun was at length up, and the boys had had their morning swim, and sat about a fire awaiting breakfast, George Warren seemed himself again.
But the breakfast was rudely interrupted by a series of whoops from young Joe, who had taken his brother"s place on guard at the end of the point of rocks, and who now came running down alongsh.o.r.e, crying out that there was a sail that looked like the _Nancy Jane_ coming out from around the islands across the bay, and they all raced back to have a look at it.
"It"s the _Nancy Jane_, sure enough," said Henry Burns. "It"s her big mainsail, with the high peak. She"s making slow headway, though, with this breath of wind. However, we shall have to be off at once, if we are going to try to escape."
It was noticeable that Henry Burns said "if."
However, as no one felt like proposing to give up, they lost no time in getting aboard the _Spray_, and had sail on and the anchor up in what Captain Sam would have called a jiffy. Heading out into the open bay that lay between them and the outer islands, they bade good-bye to Cold Harbour and began a long, slow beat to windward, in the light breeze.
"There"s more wind coming, down between the islands," said Bob. "There"s a line of breeze about two miles to the southward, and we shall catch it a good half-hour before the _Nancy Jane_."
"That"s so; it will give us a fine start," said Arthur.
But, somehow, no one seemed wildly enthusiastic over their prospects.
However, as they caught the fresher breeze, and the little _Spray_ stood stiffly up into it and ate away to windward, their spirits rose. Then, as the islands came plainly into view and they drew nearer and nearer to the first, big Saddle Island, with its low range of little hills dropping down in the centre in the shape of a horse"s back, the excitement became intense; for the _Nancy Jane_ had not rounded the point of Eagle Island, and it seemed as though they might be out of sight behind Saddle Island before they could be seen by those aboard the pursuing yacht.
"Go it, old _Spray_! Good little boat!" cried young Joe, as the yacht glided swiftly up into the shadow of the island. "We"re going to make it, and, once behind old Saddle, who"s to know which way we have gone?"
"Five minutes more of this sailing, and we shall fool Captain Sam once more," said Bob.
The five minutes were nearly up. They had but another leg to run to round the head of Saddle Island. They stood out till they had one and all declared that they could clear it on the next tack; they were all ready to go about. George Warren stood with one hand on the tiller and the other ready to grasp the main-sheet. Joe and Arthur Warren were waiting impatiently to trim the jib-sheets, and then-and then George Warren took their breaths away.
All at once he jammed the tiller over, threw the _Spray_ clear off the wind, let the main-sheet run, and before they scarcely knew what had happened, instead of standing in to round the head of Saddle Island, the little _Spray_ was running dead before the wind and heading squarely back for the point around which the _Nancy Jane_ must soon come in sight.
It was so quickly done that at first they thought there was some mistake, and Arthur and Joe and Bob rushed to the stern to help bring her around again; but George Warren, with a firm, set look on his face, stood them off.
"Oh, I say, George, you"re not going to give it up now, are you?" cried young Joe, who had been in high spirits not a moment before.
"That"s what," responded his brother, quietly. "I"ve thought it all out at last, and I"ve come to the conclusion we are doing the cowardly thing to run away. We have got to face the thing, and we may as well do it first as last. Besides, we didn"t set out to run away when we started."
"That"s a fact," said Tom. "We have sort of drifted into this running away business without realizing what we were doing. Now the best thing we can do is to go back and have it out with Colonel Witham."
"It"s not Colonel Witham that I hate to face," said George. "It"s father and mother. And the part they"ll feel worst about is that we did not stay and talk it over with them."
"That"s so," added Arthur. "What a lot of loons we were to come down here."
"Shall I pull the centreboard up?" asked Henry Burns.
"You bet!" answered George Warren. "And we"ll take a leaf out of your book, Henry, and we won"t worry over what cannot be helped. We"re doing the right thing now, anyway, so there"s that much to feel good about."
"There"s the _Nancy Jane_," said Henry Burns.
Sure enough, Captain Sam"s pride was just turning the point, and Captain Sam, looking at the _Spray_ coming down free and pointing its nose right at him, could hardly believe his eyes.
"It"s them, all right," he a.s.sured the squire and the colonel. "They are coming back; tired of being runaways, I guess. Well, I thought they would get sick of it after a night or two away from home. They ain"t the kind of boys to enjoy running away."
"Humph!" snorted the colonel.
"They"re a lot of young scamps and scapegraces," snarled the squire.
Getting aground and spending a night in a bed that the colonel swore was stuffed with pig iron and seaweed had not improved their tempers.
"Well, anyhow," responded Captain Sam, "they are coming back of their own accord, and that is something in their favour."
The colonel and the squire only sneered.
Meanwhile the little _Spray_ came running down the wind in merry style, and the end of the next hour found her swinging up into the wind, with sails flapping, while the _Nancy Jane_ ran alongside.
The colonel and the squire were at last avenged.
Full of wrath was the one, and br.i.m.m.i.n.g with wrathful satisfaction was the other.
"So we have caught you at last, have we?" exclaimed Squire Brackett.
"We seem to have sort of caught ourselves, squire," answered George Warren.
"Well, never mind about being smart," said the colonel, hotly. "You are under arrest for burning my hotel down. Perhaps that will take some of the smartness out of you."
"Under arrest!" George Warren"s face paled. "It isn"t right," he added.
"We didn"t do it nor have any hand in it."
"Guess you won"t attempt to deny that you were in the billiard-room, will you?" broke in Squire Brackett. "Because, bein" as I saw you all in there, it might not do you any good to swear as how you wasn"t."
"Don"t you dare accuse us of trying-" But young Joe got no further.
"Be quiet, Joe," said George Warren, calmly. And then, turning to the colonel, he said:
"We are not going to deny anything, Colonel Witham. That is why we are coming back of our own accord. We have got nothing to conceal, and we are going to tell everything just as it happened."
"That is just about what we are arresting you for," said the squire, sneeringly. "We calculate you"ll have to tell everything."
"Hold on there a minute, squire," cried Captain Sam. "Let"s not be too hard on these boys. There may be some mistake, as they say. I hold these "ere warrants, and I don"t see as there is any necessity of serving of "em just yet. If these boys will give me their word to go along straight as they can sail for Mayville, and agree to appear when wanted before Judge Ellis, why, I guess maybe the warrants will keep till-say, just as we go in the door. Or perhaps Judge Ellis will consent that they come before him of their own accord, without serving these warrants at all, considering as they are only boys."
It is needless to say that Captain Sam"s legal experience was of the most limited sort.
"Bully for you, Captain Sam!" cried Bob. "You"re a brick,-and you won"t regret it." And a yell of thanks from the others gave Captain Sam a warm glow under his blue shirt.
The squire and the colonel were loud and furious in their denunciation of such a course.
"It"s against the law," cried the colonel; and he vowed he would make it hot for Captain Sam when Judge Ellis found his orders were not obeyed.
But Captain Sam knew better than they of the warm corner in the judge"s heart, and knew, moreover, that his old friend of years, the judge, would never reprimand him for a breach of duty of this sort. So he shut his lips firmly and let the squire and the colonel boil away as best they might between themselves.
The captain shortened sail on the _Nancy Jane_, so that the two boats kept along near together, heading back for Southport.
It was a sorry crew aboard the _Spray_ as the little craft silently followed in the wake of the _Nancy Jane_. They might have been in dreamland as they sailed all that day, for scarcely a word was spoken; and when night dropped down and the boys, all but George Warren, piled into the cabin to sleep, it was scarcely more quiet than by day.
Very late that night, as the _Spray_ and the _Nancy Jane_ ran into Southport harbour and brought up for a few moments alongside the wharf, to let a serious-looking man, and a tearful woman aboard, the boys were still sleeping soundly; and George Warren and his father and mother sat alone together till the sun rose, while the _Spray_, following the _Nancy Jane_, ran along up the island and then stood across to Mayville, where Judge Ellis would hold his court that morning.