The Wilderness Castaways.
by Dillon Wallace.
CHAPTER I
GETTING ACQUAINTED
"Dan Rudd," roared Captain Zachariah Bluntt, "if I has to tell you again to keep that mouth organ below decks, I"ll wring your neck! Yes, wring your neck! By the imps of the sea, I will!"
"Aye, aye, sir," answered Dan Rudd, a robust, sunny-faced sailor lad of sixteen, quickly slipping the offending harmonica, upon which he had been playing a lively air, into his pocket.
Captain Bluntt, impatiently pacing the deck, was plainly in ill humor.
His great red beard, standing out like a lion"s mane, bristled ominously, and his s.h.a.ggy eyebrows were drawn down in an unpleasant scowl.
It was two o"clock on a mid-July afternoon, the last case of provisions had been lowered into the hold, the last lighter-load of coal stowed into the bunkers, steam was up, and the staunch little Newfoundland steamer _North Star_, riding at anchor in Sydney harbor, had been ready to sail for three hours, and for three hours Captain Bluntt had been impatiently awaiting orders to get under way.
Two clean-cut, smooth-shaven, alert young men of thirty or thereabouts were standing at the port rail aft. Their sun-tanned faces marked them as men accustomed to out-of-door life, and their sinewy, muscular frames and keen but good-humored eyes proclaimed health and genial dispositions. They were intently, and with visible impatience, watching a wharf from which a boat was putting off. As the little craft shot out into the open one of them raised a pair of binoculars to his eyes, studied it for a moment, and announced:
"There he is at last! Here, take a look through the gla.s.s, Ainsworth,"
and he pa.s.sed the binoculars to his friend.
"Yes, that"s he," said Ainsworth, after a moment"s observation, "and, Remington, he"s sitting back smoking a cigarette as unconcernedly as if he hadn"t kept us waiting half a day for him."
"I"ll tell the skipper, and ease his mind," suggested Remington, and striding forward he called out cheerily:
"All right, Captain Bluntt, Master Densmore is coming. You may put out as soon as you please when he"s aboard."
"Very vexing! Very vexing, Mr. Remington!" exclaimed Captain Bluntt.
"Fair wind, fair tide, and losing advantage of it, sir! All right, sir, all right. We"ll weigh anchor at once, sir."
In a moment sailors were working at the windla.s.s, anchor chains were clanking, and the men singing in rhythmic unison as they swung up and down at the crank handles. Then the engines began to pulsate.
The _North Star_ had been chartered by the two young men--George Remington and Henry Ainsworth--for a summer"s voyage to Hudson Bay.
Both were enthusiastic sportsmen, and Remington, who had once before visited the region, had promised Ainsworth some exciting polar bear and walrus hunting, as well as excellent sport fishing the coastal streams for salmon and trout.
Paul Densmore, the only son of John Densmore, a multimillionaire ship owner and a friend of Remington"s, had been invited by Remington to accompany them as his guest. When Remington and Ainsworth went aboard the _North Star_ upon the morning our story begins, Paul had remained ash.o.r.e in Sydney to make some purchases in the town, promising to follow them within the hour. Captain Bluntt had been instructed to make ready for departure accordingly. But Paul had failed to keep his promise, and with hours of idle waiting for the appearance of the delinquent youth Captain Bluntt had worked himself into the high state of ill humor in which we find him.
"The Captain was just at the point of blowing up," laughed Remington when he rejoined Ainsworth, "but he"ll be all right presently. He"s a very impatient old fellow."
"He"s had good reason to be impatient," said Ainsworth. "I can safely prophesy more breakers ahead. Judging from the little I"ve seen of that boy, Remington, you"ll be heartily sorry you brought him before we get back to New York."
"I"m heartily sorry already," admitted Remington, "but I couldn"t help it. Densmore is one of the best fellows in the world. He pulled me out of a tight place once when I was caught in the market, and when he asked me the other day if it would be an imposition upon friendship if he asked me to invite Paul, there was nothing to do but invite the youngster to come."
"Oh, don"t think for a moment I"m finding fault with you, old man,"
Ainsworth hastened to explain. "I see your position, and I"d have done the same under the circ.u.mstances, but it"s a pity nevertheless that we have to put up with him."
"Yes, it is a pity," agreed Remington. "That boy has no sense of responsibility. Never keeps an appointment or a promise.
I never saw any one quite so lacking in consideration of others--selfish--selfish--that"s the word."
"Why did his father ever let him grow into such a cad, anyway? What he needs is a good sound thrashing every day for a month. That would cure him."
"Fact is, I don"t think Densmore ever knew much about him until recently. Too many irons in the fire to give much thought to his family. This steamship company"s his pet scheme just now, but he"s the head of half a dozen other big things, and even when he"s home his mind is all taken up with business. He left the boy"s training to the mother, and it"s the old story of an only child. She"s coddled and indulged and pampered him till she"s spoiled him. He failed in the final tests at school this year--he attends a select boys" school uptown somewhere--and the head master wrote Densmore that there was no use sending him back unless he took more interest in the work, adding something to the effect that he seemed strangely void of ambition, never obeyed rules unless convenient, and was a disturbing element in the school. I think that brought Densmore to his senses about his son"s condition."
"And he shoved the boy off on us for the summer," said Ainsworth ill-naturedly.
"Oh, no, not for the purpose of getting rid of him," Remington hastened to explain. "Densmore"s all right. He wouldn"t intentionally cause us inconvenience. He had two reasons for asking me to bring him.
He learned Paul was addicted to cigarettes, and he wanted to get him away somewhere where cigarettes aren"t to be had. He thought, too, that good, wholesome exercise in the open, and a complete change of environment, might give him a new view of life and awaken his ambition. The boy"s mother has never permitted him to take part in what she calls rough games--baseball, football and real boys"
sports--and she"d never let him go camping with other fellows, though he"s begged to go. Afraid he"d get hurt. It took a lot of argument on Densmore"s part to get her permission to let him come with us."
"One of those young hopefuls, isn"t he, that thinks his father is rich and there"s no use of his ever doing anything but spend money?"
suggested Ainsworth. "From the little I"ve seen of him, he"ll spend it, all right, too."
At that moment the boat hove alongside, and a tall, sallow-faced lad, perhaps seventeen years of age, a cigarette hanging at the corner of his mouth, tossed a bill to the boatman, languidly rose to his feet, caught the rope ladder lying over the ship"s side, and with difficulty climbed to the deck.
"Glad to see you, Paul," greeted Remington. "We were getting a bit worried about you. You"re late."
"Oh, I didn"t think there was any rush," said Paul indifferently.
"Stopped for luncheon at the hotel. Horrible stuff they serve there.
It really isn"t fit to eat."
"I"m afraid your appet.i.te isn"t very good, Paul," suggested Remington.
"Wait till you get your lungs full of salt air, and rough it a bit; you"ll think anything is good then."
"Oh, I don"t know," Paul remarked indifferently, as he lounged back upon a chair, drew a fresh cigarette from a silver case, lighted it, flicked some ashes from his white flannel trousers and casually surveyed the deck. "What a rum old ship this is!" he continued. "I thought we were going to have a comfortable yacht."
"The _North Star_ isn"t much to look at," admitted Remington, "but she"s the best sort of a ship for our trip. No ordinary yacht would do. We"re going to rough it good and plenty, you know."
"That so? What kind of roughing it?"
"Hunting, fishing, camping, and that sort of thing. I hope we"ll have some good bear hunting before we get back."
"Bear hunting!" Paul was interested at once. "What kind of bears shall we run across? Grizzlies?"
"No," laughed Remington, "Polar bears."
"Polar bear hunting! Cricky, but that"ll be great!" Paul sat up excitedly. "Where"re we going, Mr. Remington? I didn"t pay much attention to what Father said about it. I thought it was just an ordinary yachting trip."
"You didn"t seem to have much interest in it, coming over on the train," said Remington, and as he explained the region, the prospective hunting and fishing, and the adventure, Paul forgot his cigarette.
"That"s just the kind of trip I"ve wanted to take all my life," he exclaimed. "May I shoot too?"
"Yes, I"ve a rifle and a shotgun among my things for you."
"May I see them? I"ve always been just crazy for a gun!"
"Wait a moment."