"But I did not write that letter, Captain Blastblow," repeated the owner; and by this time we were all rather amused at the straightforward earnestness of the captain of the Islander. "Let me see the letter, if you please."
The captain handed him the letter. Colonel Shepard examined it critically. He shook his head as he did so.
"I must acknowledge that the writing looks very much like mine," he said, after he had read it through and examined it in every part. "Who could have written it?"
"Nick Boomsby wrote it, without a doubt," I replied. "I went to school with him, and he was a good penman, though that was about all he was as a scholar."
"Is that my friend, Mr. Boomsby?" asked the colonel, laughing heartily.
"The same person; and he has become a swell of the first magnitude," I replied. "If I had known, or suspected, before we got to Key West, that Nick was on board of her, I could have explained the strange conduct of the Islander, and why she so carefully kept out of our way."
I gave a full account of the robbery of the bank messenger in the saloon of Nick"s father, dwelling upon the efforts Nick had made to arrest Buckner. I stated that he had tried to obtain a pa.s.sage to New Orleans in the Sylvania, that I had refused to let him go in her, and had taken care that he did not become a stowaway on board of her. I added that Nick told me of his intention to run away from his home, and seek his fortune in some other part of the country.
"I have no doubt that Nick stole the four thousand dollars the messenger laid on the counter, and resorted to the trick of forging a letter to Captain Blastblow, so that he could get the Islander off ahead of the Sylvania," I continued.
"But how is it that Cornwood did not stop the Islander at Key West, as it appears he got on board of her there?" asked Colonel Shepard, deeply interested in the narrative.
"I think you will have to ask Cornwood about that," I replied. "I am a Yankee, and I can guess what he meant."
"I don"t know that I care about any guessing, Captain Alick; but if you have any theory with a base under it, I should like to hear it," said Colonel Shepard.
"I think Cornwood was well a.s.sured that Nick was on board of the Islander when you sent him to intercept the steamer at Key West," I answered. "Cornwood would not have gone on such a wild-goose chase for nothing. According to the testimony of Captain Cayo, Cornwood and Nick had very earnest conversation at Key West."
"I don"t think it"s any use to speculate over the case," interposed Captain Blastblow. "Let us search for the money."
We all agreed that this was the next thing to do.
CHAPTER XIX.
A SEARCH FOR THE LOST TREASURE.
The two steamers had pa.s.sed the bend of the river, and we had gone by forts Jackson and St. Philip without a word being said of the historical events which were connected with them. We were too busy with the inquiry before us to give any attention to the surroundings, though I could see that our pa.s.sengers on board the Sylvania were discussing what they saw on the mighty river. But nothing could have been more uninteresting than the banks of the river near its delta.
It was a season of high water, and the low lands beyond the levee on either side were overflowed. Occasionally we pa.s.sed a vessel going down the stream, or a powerful skeleton-tug dragging a ship against the rapid current. There was little to be seen besides the muddy flow of the stream all around us, and the fringe of trees that grew on the levee.
If the theory we had advanced, and supported by such evidence as we had, was correct, the four thousand dollars the bank messenger had lost were on board the Islander. If Nick had taken the package, he had not left it behind him when he started out on his travels. We went down into the after-cabin. The captain said Nick had occupied the large state-room on the starboard side, while Cornwood had taken possession of the corresponding one on the port side. We found enough of the effects of each in his state-room to settle the question of his occupancy of the room. Four thousand dollars was a large sum of money, and we did not expect to find it lying around loosely in the room of either.
Captain Blastblow volunteered to examine Cornwood"s state-room, while I rendered the same service in that of Nick Boomsby. I found a bundle which contained the runaway"s clothing. I searched it thoroughly, but there was no package of any kind in it. I opened all the drawers and lockers in the room with no better success. I tore the bed to pieces and removed the berth sack. The latter was a hair mattress of the best quality. I looked to see if it had been ripped open in any place, and then felt of it in every part, but without discovering anything like a foreign substance in it.
Under the berth, or rather bedstead, was a considerable s.p.a.ce, where a trunk or other package could be placed. I lighted the lamp in the state-room, and took it from the gimbals, for it was dark under the bed. I looked and felt in every part of the s.p.a.ce, but I had no better success. I examined every hole and corner in the state-room, but found no such package as that for which I was looking.
"I find nothing that looks like money," I said to Colonel Shepard, who was watching the operations with deep interest.
"Blastblow has no better luck in the other state-room. Do you conclude from this fact that you have been mistaken?" inquired the owner of the Islander.
"I do not; I feel morally sure that Nick took that money," I replied, confidently.
"You may be mistaken, Captain Alick," added Colonel Shepard, with a smile. "If he took the package we should be likely to find it in his room."
"I grant that I expected to find it here; or a part of the money in this room, and the rest of it in Cornwood"s state-room," I added, rather warmly. "There are other places where the package could have been concealed."
"That is true; but Nick"s room was the place where he was most likely to put it."
"I think so myself; but Nick has had the advice of Cornwood since the Islander reached Key West."
"Cornwood is a cunning rogue, I know."
"If we had suspected that Nick was on board the Islander, we might have telegraphed to the police at Key West to arrest him and detain the steamer," I continued. "I am satisfied that Cornwood would not have gone to Key West if he had not expected to find Nick on board of the Islander. At least, he would not have gone without the hundred dollars he asked to pay his expenses in advance."
"Your logic seems to be entirely correct, but the facts so far do not seem to bear out the theory," laughed the colonel. "But I have recovered my steam-yacht, and I am entirely happy over the result so far."
"I have no desire to prove that Nick Boomsby is a thief and a rascal; on the contrary, I should be glad to have him relieved of the suspicion that hangs to him just now. Cornwood may have considered that the state-rooms were the most unsafe places on board of the vessel to conceal the money, and even Nick himself may have come to this conclusion before he had seen Cornwood."
"There is some reason in that," said the colonel. "Everybody in Jacksonville knew that both yachts were bound to New Orleans. Nick may have suspected that he would be charged with the robbery. He is old enough to understand all about the telegraph, and he may have put the money where it was not likely to be found, or if found, might not appear to have any connection with him."
Captain Blastblow had made as thorough a search in the port as I had in the starboard state-room, and had joined us in the cabin while we were talking about the matter. He seemed to fall in with our reasoning, and expressed his satisfaction that he had not been boarded by officers, who might have suspected him of being concerned in the robbery of the bank messenger.
"Cornwood has been on board of the Islander three days now," I said.
"Have you seen much of him, Captain Blastblow, during this time?"
"Very little indeed. From the time he came on board Sunday, I think I hardly saw him at all until Monday afternoon. He was in close conversation with Mr. Boomsby most of the time, the steward said to me.
The first night they sat up till after midnight; and Lonsdale says there was a good deal of strong talk between them," replied the captain.
"Do you know what it was about?" I asked.
"I haven"t the least idea. I inquired how the pa.s.sengers were getting on, and Lonsdale told me he thought they were in some kind of a quarrel."
"You don"t spend any of your time in the cabin, do you, Captain Blastblow?" asked the owner.
"I haven"t had time even to come into it on this trip, though I intend to go through it every day, to see that everything is in order. I have had all I could do the last week to look out for the vessel, with two heavy gales and plenty of fog," replied the captain. "I had to make a harbor at Matanzas Inlet, and again at Tavernier"s, for I was afraid this little craft would roll her engine out of her."
"We kept on through the whole of it Friday night," I added.
"You were outside of the reef, and you could not make a harbor,"
retorted Captain Blastblow. "But I got to Key West two hours before you did."
"You did not go to the a.s.sistance of a wrecked bark as I did, and land her ship"s company in Key West," I replied.
The captain of the Islander wanted to know about the wreck; and at another time I told him all about it. We were too much concerned in verifying our theory in relation to the robbery in Jacksonville to agree to any long digression.
"Is the steward the only person who has been a constant visitor to the cabin?" I asked.
"Gibbs, the waiter, did all the work in the cabin; and he must have seen more of the pa.s.sengers than even the steward," replied the captain.
"Where is Gibbs?"