CHAPTER XIX.
THE ARMY AND NAVY
Harry Green was greatly encouraged by the report Simmonds brought him concerning the state of affairs in the cove. The Crusoe men were surrounded, and, although he and his crew might not be able to capture them, protected as they were by the burglars' revolvers, they could at least keep them in the cove until the arrival of re-enforcements. He sent Simmonds back to the midshipman with a few orders, and after instructing the second lieutenant to have the jolly-boat called away, he ran down into his cabin and dashed off two short notes, containing, in a condensed form, the report he had just received from Richardson. When Packard, the third lieutenant, who was to go in charge of the boat, reported for orders, Harry commanded him to proceed toward the village, and give one of the notes into the hands of the captain of the first tug met. If he met none of the tugs, he was to go on to Newport and find Mr. Newcombe, or Mr. Henry, if either of them were there, and after that report to Captain Steele, and give him the second note. The young officer was not at all pleased with his orders. He would have been much better satisfied if Harry had sent him ashore to take command of the storming party. He was afraid that if he left the yacht he would not see her again until the pursuit of the pirates was ended. Captain Steele might tell him to remain at the academy; or, if the principal sent out re-enforcements, he might be ordered to take command of his company (Packard was captain of company C), and that was something he did not want to do. The military would join in the pursuit with alacrity, and make the most strenuous exertions to effect the capture of the Crusoe men, and thus rob the navy of the honors now almost within its grasp.
Since the advent of the Storm King, there had been a hot rivalry existing between the military and naval portions of the academy, and many a stormy debate had been held as to the relative merits of the two branches of the service. The military officers said that the navy would do well enough to convey transports of troops in time of war, and that was all it was good for. The hard fighting was always done on the land, and the victories that decided the war were gained by the soldiers.
"Sour grapes!" Harry would always reply. "If I were in your places, I would not run down a thing, after trying my best to win it. You landlubbers burned gallons of midnight oil in preparing for the naval examination. I heard more than one among you say that he would rather be a midshipman than major of the battalion; and now, because you failed to gain any position on board the yacht, the navy is of no account. As for hard fighting – why, fellows, you must have forgotten your history, if you ever knew any thing about it. Take the case of the Bon Homme Richard, in her fight with the Serapis! The action lasted three hours and a half, and, during that time, one hundred and fifty, out of the three hundred and twenty men who composed the crew of the Richard, were killed and wounded. The loss on board the Serapis was about the same. Nearly one-half the men on board the two vessels fell in the fight, and that is something you never heard of in a modern land engagement. And, more than that, the fire of the enemy was not the only thing Commodore Jones had to contend with. The Richard was in flames from the beginning. In the heat of the action she sprang a leak, and the master-at-arms, believing that she was about to sink, released a hundred British prisoners who were confined in the hold."
"Didn't he deserve to be pitched overboard?" asked Jackson.
"This thing can never be decided by argument, fellows," said Major Williams. "I wish something would turn up, so that we might have a chance to show ourselves."
"So do I," answered Harry. "We would soon convince you that the infantry of the Newport Academy is a slow coach compared with its navy."
But for a long time that "something" did not "turn up," and the rival students despaired of ever having an opportunity to test their respective abilities. If Tom Newcombe had only been there to organize another runaway expedition; or if some discontented boy could be found to take his place! But no one thought of deserting the academy now that the grand commander was gone, and the students, determined to excel their opponents in every thing, devoted themselves to their studies. Each side put forward its best scholars for the valedictory and other academic honors, and some of those who were the loudest in denouncing the navy, picked out the offices on board the yacht that they thought themselves competent to fill, and worked night and day to prepare for the examination. But now came Tom Newcombe and his band of outlaws, and gave them the very opportunity they had so long wished for. To the soldiers he did not come so much as an incendiary as a solution. They wanted to capture him simply to beat the navy. The reason why Packard was in no hurry to go back to the academy was, because if he and his boat's crew were ordered to join their company, they would be obliged to work against their favorite branch of the service, and they wanted to assist it by every means in their power.
When the jolly-boat had left the yacht, Harry took his stand on the quarter-deck, and watched the shoals as closely as ever a cat watched a mouse. His crew was now reduced to seven men – a small force with which to board the Sweepstakes, but still the first lieutenant wished she would come out. He knew that his note to Captain Steele would bring all the troops at the academy about the cove, and he was impatient to have the work done before they arrived. The captain would soon be on hand to take command of the vessel, and then, if the Crusoe men were captured by the navy, the lion's share of the honors would fall upon the shoulders that wore the double anchors. Captain Steele was a great man at the academy already, and he did not need any more glory; but Harry did. It might be a point in his favor at the next examination. He kept the yacht sailing back and forth, as close to the entrance to the channel as he dared to go, ready at an instant's warning to intercept the pirate captain; but he never came. Somebody else came, however. It was the midshipman with his company of small-armed men. He had built a bridge in ten minutes after Tom destroyed the other, and led his men at a reckless pace down the path into the cove, only to find it deserted. He met no desperate Crusoe band, drawn up in battle array, to dispute his advance. There was the cabin they had occupied, and a few useless articles they had left scattered about, but nothing was to be seen of them or their vessel.
"They are captured now," exclaimed the midshipman, joyfully. "They have put out to sea again, and I expect they are in Harry Green's clutches by this time."
Richardson frantically searched every nook and corner of the cove, to satisfy himself that the pirates had really abandoned their harboring place, and then returned with his men to the top of the cliff, and led them toward the yacht. The young tars went pell-mell down the bank, falling over rocks and logs, and scrambling through bushes, that made sad work with their new uniforms. They expected to find the crews of the two vessels engaged in a desperate fight; and fearing that Harry, with his small force, might get the worst of the encounter, they were in a great hurry to reach the sloop. A minute's delay on their part might give the pirates time to beat off the boarding party and escape. Breathless and excited, Richardson halted on the bank, and there was the yacht, sailing tranquilly back and forth, and not another vessel in sight.
"Storm King, ahoy!" yelled the midshipman, utterly amazed, and wondering what sort of a craft the Sweepstakes was, anyhow, that she could slip out of a narrow channel under the very noses of so many watchful students. "Where is she, sir?"
"Whom do you mean?" asked the first lieutenant, beginning to feel uneasy at once.
"The schooner. She has left the cove. Didn't you see her when she went by you, sir?"
Harry understood from this that the Sweepstakes had again escaped. She certainly had not run past him, as the midshipman had intimated; the Crusoe men could not have taken her out of the cove and carried her across the island, and yet she had escaped. Harry asked himself if he had ever seen her at all that night. He turned and gazed at the second lieutenant, who stood at his side looking the very picture of consternation and bewilderment.
"I don't understand it, sir," said the latter.
"Neither do I," replied Harry. "Run alongside the bank and take those men on board."
While the order was being obeyed, Harry paced up and down the deck, racking his brain in the hope of finding some explanation for this second disappearance of the schooner; but the only conclusion he could come to was, that he had been outwitted in some mysterious way, and that Tom Newcombe, or whoever was the presiding genius of the Crusoe band, possessed more brains than he had given him credit for. He saw now that the pirate captain knew what he was doing when he ran into the cove.
"I will tell you what I think about it, Harry," exclaimed Johnny Harding, who was the first to board the sloop. "The Sweepstakes crossed the shoals farther down."
"Impossible!" cried the first lieutenant.
"Perhaps it is, but how, then, could she get out of the cove without your knowing something about it? From this time forward it will be hard work to make me believe that any thing is impossible. If a man had told you, an hour ago, that a boat could live on those shoals, you would have thought he was crazy, wouldn't you?"
By this time the midshipman came up to report, and after Harry had listened to his story, and held a short consultation with Jackson, he admitted that Johnny's idea concerning the manner of the schooner's escape was correct. He ordered the second lieutenant to fill away for the narrows, and once more the Storm King went dashing over the waves in pursuit of the Crusoe men. But there was little enthusiasm among her officers. A stern chase is always a long one, and they were following a vessel that could sail three feet to the yacht's two. The young sailors thought of the military, and looked anxious.
When the yacht was fairly under way, an eager group gathered on the forecastle to listen to a smooth-tongued fellow who related to them the particulars of the fight at the bridge; and, on the quarter-deck, Johnny Harding entertained the officers with a recital of his adventures. When he finished his story, he was in his turn astonished at what they had to say of the attempt the captain of the Crusoe band had made to destroy their vessel.
"Any sensible boy could have told that Tom would come to something like this," said Johnny, as he went below with the first lieutenant to look at the galley. "A fellow can't keep such company as he has been keeping for the last three months, without getting into serious trouble, sooner or later."
The two friends talked about Tom's probable future, until they were interrupted by the entrance of the officer of the deck, who informed Harry that a tug was following them down the narrows, and that she had whistled three times – indicating a desire to communicate with the yacht. Harry hurried on deck, gave Jackson the necessary orders, and the Storm King was thrown up into the wind to wait for the approaching vessel.
"Tug ahoy!" shouted the officer of the deck, when he heard the bell ring to "slow down."
"Storm King!" was the response.
"That's Captain Steele," said Harry. "I wish he had stayed away a little longer, for I don't like to give up the command without having accomplished any thing. Man the side, Mr. Jackson."
The young commander was received by the first lieutenant, the officer of the deck, and four side boys, each of the latter holding a lantern to light him on board. Tom Newcombe had greatly admired him when he was nothing more than an adjutant, and if he could have seen him when he stepped on board his vessel he would willingly have given every thing he possessed to have been in his place. No doubt the wide difference that existed between the captain and himself would have served to confirm him in the opinion he had long entertained – that this was a hard world, and he the unluckiest boy in it.
Tom was not the only one who would have been glad to stand in Captain Steele's boots. The students all envied him, and especially when they saw him in his naval uniform. He presented a fine appearance on horseback, at the head of the battalion, but he looked better with his jaunty-cap and the six stripes of gold lace and star he wore on his arms. Then he had so much authority, and there were the privileges to which his double rank entitled him. He was allowed to decide certain questions of discipline without an appeal to the principal. He was at liberty to go on a cruise in the Storm King twice each week, and he could select the days for the sport. If he wanted to visit Newport at any time after study hours, all he had to do was to report to the principal that he was going; and, if he did not feel like walking, there was a horse always at his service. He and the major had a cosy little room of their own at the academy, nicely furnished, and plentifully supplied with books, and no one, not even the teachers, ever intruded there. The privileges and comforts that fell to his lot were highly prized by the students, and it was no wonder that they envied him, and declared that he should not hold the honors longer than the next examination. Lieutenant Green and Major Williams were his principal rivals. Harry, like a good many others, cared nothing for the lieutenant-colonel's commission, but he did want to command the yacht, and the captain knew it and was afraid of him.
When the young commander came on board his vessel he lifted his cap, saluting first the quarter-deck and then the officers; but, being too excited to maintain his dignity, he exclaimed, as he shook Johnny warmly by the hand:
"What does this mean, Harry? You are not running away from the enemy?"
The first lieutenant was not allowed an opportunity to reply, for he was immediately assailed on all sides. The tug was loaded with students (she had also brought back Lieutenant Packard and his boat's crew), and Major Williams and several other military officers had accompanied the captain on board the yacht. They were intensely excited and impatient, and nearly overwhelmed Harry with their questions and their eager demands to be led to the hiding-place of the Crusoe men without an instant's delay, and the babel that arose from the quarter-deck effectually drowned the lieutenant's voice when he attempted to reply.
The soldiers did not hesitate to follow the example set them by their officers. They poured over the rail and engaged in loud conversation with the foremast hands, and, for a few seconds, the confusion and noise were enough to drive one distracted. Harry tried in vain to make himself understood, and was finally obliged to fall back on his authority as commander of the vessel. He made a motion to Jackson, who hurried off to the forecastle, and a moment afterward the boatswain's whistle was heard above the tumult, followed by the command: "Hear there, fore and aft! Keep silence, every body!"
However much the impatient military might have been disposed to disregard a request, they could not refuse to yield obedience to an order when it came from the lawful master of the vessel.
"Now," said Harry, when quiet had been restored, "ask your questions one at a time, and I will answer them if I can. In the first place, captain, I am not running away from the pirate; I am pursuing him. I thought I had cornered him in the cove, but he has got out, and how he did it is a mystery to me."
"Escaped!" exclaimed the major, in disgust.
Without noticing the interruption, Harry went on to tell Captain Steele what he had done, and to describe to him the movements of the phantom schooner, which filled every body with astonishment. The major and his officers listened attentively to all that was said, and exchanged significant winks with one another. The chase after the pirates promised to be interesting, and to afford them full scope for the exercise of all the judgment and foresight they possessed, and if the skipper of the Sweepstakes continued to show the skill he had thus far exhibited, he might succeed in getting safely on the sea in spite of all their efforts to capture him. They hoped to obtain some clue to his intended movements, but the officers of the yacht were as much in the dark as themselves.
"I might have known better than to ask any information of you," said the major. "If you could put your finger on Tom Newcombe at this moment you wouldn't tell me."
"Indeed I would," replied Harry, honestly. "If the Crusoe men were simply runaway students, and were guilty of no more serious offense than deserting the academy, perhaps I should decline to give you any assistance in the way of advice or information. If they escaped, there would be no great harm done. But Tom Newcombe must not be allowed to remain at liberty after trying to burn our vessel, and if we don't catch him I hope you will. If you are smart enough to do it, you will simply be performing an act of justice, and you can claim the honors."
"Well, we'll be off," said the major. "If you want some help we'll make fast to you and tow you down the narrows."
Harry looked at the captain, but the latter had not yet assumed the command, and had nothing to say, so the lieutenant replied that he was much obliged for the offer of assistance, but, if it was all the same to the major, he would use his own motive power.
"All right," said Williams. "We wish you the best of luck, but that won't help you any; and so you might as well go back to the academy. You have had the 'pirates,' as you call them, twice within your grasp, and allowed them to escape. Just let us put our eyes on them once! The next time you see us we'll have them prisoners."
The major and his officers went on board the tug, which steamed down the narrows, and the Storm King, as soon as the jolly-boat had been hoisted at the davits, followed after. The captain now intimated that he was ready to take command of the vessel, and Harry assumed the duties of executive, while Jackson modestly took his place with the other watch officers. They all heard what the major said, and laughed at it, but they were by no means in as good spirits as they pretended to be. They wished he and his men had stayed away a little longer. The navy had heavy odds to contend against, and some of the officers thought their rivals stood an excellent chance of snatching from their grasp the honors they had hoped to win by their cruise after the pirates. Major Williams was working for promotion, and he possessed a decided advantage over the captain, having a tug and two companies of infantry under his command. More than that, there was another tug in pursuit of the Crusoe men, having on board the principal, Mr. Newcombe, Mr. Henry, two constables, and two more companies of infantry under Spencer, the ranking captain. The commander of the Storm King was not so much afraid of Williams as he was of Spencer. The former, if he found himself in need of advice, could consult only with his officers and the captain of the tug, while Spencer's movements would be directed by the "brains" of the academy.
"We must look to our laurels now," said Captain Steele. "Have you any thing to propose? Shall we go out to sea, or stay in the bay?"
"Let us remain here, by all means," replied the first lieutenant, who had talked the matter over with Johnny. "My idea is, that we ought to begin a thorough search of these islands. Tom isn't foolish enough to keep on out to sea now, for it is nearly daylight."
The captain thought the suggestion a good one, and he proceeded to act upon it. Deer Island came first on the list, and, by the time the sun arose, he had sailed around it without discovering any signs of the Crusoe band. "Now comes the creek," said he. "Mr. Green, have the jolly-boat called away, and send Mr. Jackson aft."
"I'd like to go with him, Bill," said Johnny.
"You won't see any comfort if you do. The jolly-boat can't seat more than three fellows."
"I don't care for comfort. If you will let Jackson take me as far as the shore I will get out and walk."
"Go ahead, and I will tell him to call you when he gets ready to come back. While you are gone I'll run down and look at the other islands."
In a few minutes the jolly-boat, with an armed crew at the oars, and Johnny Harding crouching in the bow, disappeared among the reeds and bushes that lined the banks of the creek, and Captain Steele, unwilling to waste an instant of time, filled away to continue his search among the lower islands. Had he known all that was to happen in that creek before he saw his boat's crew again, he might not have been in so great a hurry to leave them.
Jackson and his men wondered why Johnny had come ashore, and if they had asked him for a reason, the only one he could have offered was that he desired to be doing something. He believed that the Crusoe men were concealed in some place where the sloop would not be likely to go, and, if he took a run about the interior of the island he might, perhaps, obtain some clue to their whereabouts. Jackson set him ashore, and continued his voyage of discovery up the creek, and half an hour afterward came in sight of the tall, raking masts of the Sweepstakes rising above the bushes. His first impulse was to make the best of his way back to his vessel and report the matter to the captain, but he knew that the Storm King was a mile down the bay by that time, and before she could return to the creek the Crusoe men might be a long distance from there. They were slippery fellows – they had three times succeeded in making their escape when Jackson would have staked his chances of promotion on their capture – and now that he had found their vessel again, he did not want to lose sight of her. He peered through the bushes, but could see no signs of life about the schooner. Perhaps her crew, believing themselves safe from pursuit, had gone to sleep; and, if that was the case, could he not board the vessel and secure them before they recovered their wits sufficiently to resist him? Midshipman Richardson had dared to attack them with a force no larger than the one now at his command, and had nearly succeeded in capturing Tom Newcombe, and that, too, when the pirates were wide-awake and ready for him. Was he afraid to follow in the lead of an inferior officer – a boy scarcely more than half his size? Jackson told himself that he was not, and that if he could once get his hands on Tom's collar he would like to see him escape.
"Give way together," said he, in an excited whisper, "and stand by me, no matter what happens."
A few swift, silent strokes carried them up the creek to the edge of the bushes that surrounded the Sweepstakes, and then the oars were drawn in, and the crew forced the jolly-boat ahead by pulling at the bushes and reeds. When she came alongside the schooner the lieutenant drew himself up and looked over the rail. The deck was deserted; neither the robbers nor the Crusoe men were in sight.
"Perhaps they are below," said Jackson. "We will go on board and make a rush for the cabin. If they are down there, and we can shut the door on them, we'll have them safe enough."
The boat's crew clambered over the rail and moved across the deck with noiseless steps. They had nearly reached the companion-way, and Jackson was in the act of reaching out his hand to close the door, when, as if by magic, two figures appeared at the head of the ladder, and a brace of revolvers were leveled full at their heads.
"Don't move hand or foot," said a gruff voice.
The students stood as if petrified.