The Shipwreck Read online

  CHAPTER III.

  Aboard the "St. George."

  The Captain took his nephew directly to the harbor. The boy criedsoftly to himself as he trudged along, and at last his uncle said tohim in a mild tone of voice, "Willy, stop your crying. See, all thepassersby are looking at you. If I were a boy like you, I would beonly too happy to get out of such a tiresome old place where you justlearn and pray all day long. I am going to take you into quite adifferent school, one in which all is bright and gay. On board theship you won't have any old exercises to do."

  "Oh, but I liked everything at the College so much, and in the newschool there won't anybody know me," wailed Willy. "And you--are youreally my uncle?"

  "Most assuredly. How can you doubt if? Just look at me! Have I notthe same hooked nose that your father had?"

  "Yes, but you have no such friendly eye. And my father always had somuch reverence for the Father Prefect."

  "While I speak to the Father Prefect only compliments in which all thei's are dotted and all the t's are crossed most punctiliously--ha!ha!--not so bad. But now see here: let us strike a bargain. Yourecognize me as your uncle to whom you owe obedience, and everythingwill be all right. If you go on in this obstinate, defiant way, youshall, so sure as my name is John Brown, this very day make theacquaintance of the cat-o'-nine-tails, and take a diet of bread andwater in the company of the rats in the hold of the ship for awhile."

  Willy had once seen a cabin boy flogged with a cat-o'-nine-tails, andthere was nothing in the world which he feared more than rats, so hethought it best to make peace with his uncle. After a pause he said:

  "If you really are my uncle, I must obey you, but don't whip me, anddon't shut me up with the rats, please.--If you wish me to love youvery much indeed, send me back to the College."

  "Don't say another word about that College," snarled the Captain with adark look. "Now dry your eyes. Here we are on the shore, and here isour boat. Get in, obey--else--"

  The Captain sprang into the boat and Willy followed without more ado.He looked back toward the city to seek among the domes that of theCathedral of the Holy Saviour, and soon recognized it by thescaffolding. At sight of the glittering crosses tears came to hiseyes, but the thought that those he had left behind would pray for himcomforted him. Unmoved he gazed while the boat glided in and outbetween the great ships at anchor in the harbor, and at last, far out,they reached the ship they sought. The "St. George" was a beautifulboat with three masts, and as we have said Willy had made more than onetrip on it with his father. He was then the darling of the crew. Nowas he climbed the ladder behind the Captain strange faces peered downat him over the railing; there were new officers, and officers and crewalike seemed rough fellows. Late in the evening as he stood on therear deck watching the golden crosses of the Church of the Holy Saviourin the light of the setting sun, he heard a well-known voice behind himspeak his name.

  "Oh, it is you, Tommy Green!" said Willy looking around in a friendlymanner. "So there really is after all one old friend on board. Areyou still the second mate? Where are James and John and all the rest?"

  "Well, Master Willy," said Tommy, "they are all gone, one to the 'SouthStar,' and the others to 'The Water Rose.' I was on the point ofleaving"--then he added, looking around cautiously and lowering hisvoice, "for the life on the 'St. George' is not what it was when yourfather was alive. God rest his soul! Now instead of rice sacks andbales of merchandise we carry human freight--slant-eyed, pig-tailedChinamen bound for the gold fields of Australia."

  "I am so glad you are here, Tommy; there is one human being on board Iknow," repeated Willy.

  "Why Master Willy, do you not know your uncle, the Captain?"

  "I did not know until today that I had an uncle."

  "Is that possible? Well, your father surely had no reason to be proudof his brother. Why, in a single night he gambled away 'The GoldNixie' and more, too. I believe that he would gamble away the 'St.George' if it were his, but it belongs to you, Master Willy. I oughtnot to say anything to such a young lad as you about the matter--I knowthat, but--"

  In the cabin Redfox, the first officer, and the Captain sat in earnestconversation. "Redfox, your wish is fulfilled. My nephew is on board,but, do you know, now that I have seen the boy--he so much resembles mypoor dear brother when he was his age--I have not the heart to carryout our plan," said the Captain.

  "Hm, hm," answered the first officer, stroking his red beard, andgiving the Captain a wicked side glance, "hm--and we have everything sowell planned. It is our only salvation. Must I repeat the reasonswhy?"

  "It is not necessary; I understand them, but when our salvation isbought at such a price--shall I say it?--bought at the price of crime."

  "Mr. Brown, you can do it, and it is not only your salvation, but alsomine.--I am far from planning to sacrifice the half million for whichthe 'St. George' is insured on account of any evasion on your part.The half million will suffice to pay our debts and give us enough tolive on for awhile. After your brother had the good grace to die justat the right time--"

  "Do not speak to me of his death. As time goes on I become more andmore convinced, Redfox, that you had a hand in his death."

  "Your brother died a natural death," said the first officer with alowering look; "and even if that were not the case, the most of thesuspicion would fall on you instead of me. And so surely as I standhere, I swear to you, that if you upset my plan I'll manage mattersso you'll be condemned as the murderer of your brother. Sincehis death nothing stands in our way except this boy. Now, if heshould--accidentally--follow in the footsteps of his father, he wouldsurely go to heaven, that is, if what the priests teach is true. If hedoes not die now in the days of his innocence, ten chances to one, hewill grow up to be as reckless and worthless as ourselves. It would bethe greatest luck imaginable for him, if now--by chance, of course,--hewere to make his journey to heaven."

  "True, most true. I wish that I had died when I was his age," groanedthe Captain.

  "You leave all with me. The boy is on board. That is enough--"