A millionaire at sixteen

“Bound to England, is it?” exclaimed Felix, jumping up from the bench on which he was seated. “And will we shtop in swate Ireland on the way? That would give me a chance to foind where me grand-dad is buried in the province of Munshter, in the county of Watherford, and the parish of Ballinyfad.”

“I don’t believe we shall stop on the way, Flix; at least not so far over as Ireland,” added Louis. “I am very sorry, Captain Ringgold, that I have got you into such a bad scrape.”

“It is no worse for me than for you and your mother. It will stir up my blood a little; for I was getting so lazy and rusty that I needed something to wake me up,” replied the captain as cheerfully as though he had a personal interest in the proceedings of the party. “My first idea was that, as you are a millionaire, the banditti had captured us in order to get a big ransom out of you. If I had seen you again I intended to advise you not to pay them a red copper; and I am one to help you hang the whole troop at the fore-yard arm.”

“I don’t know what is the fore-yard arrum, but that is what I’d loike to have you do, me darlint!” exclaimed Felix with enthusiasm.

“Don’t talk so loud, Flix; I don’t care to attract the attention of the villains before we are ready to receive them,” interposed Louis.

“Whisht, is it?” whispered Felix.

“I am not in the hanging business, and I should rather send Scoble to Sing-Sing for a term of years than suspend him to the fore-yard arm,” replied Louis. “There are warrants out for his arrest.”

As Captain Ringgold was likely to become an actor in the drama in progress, the leader decided to inform him at once in regard to the history of his mother’s marriage to Scoble, and to the subsequent events connected with that union.

It did not take him long to relate enough to enable the captain to understand the present situation fully; and the shipmaster promptly volunteered to do all in his power to enable the party to get out of the hole into which they had tumbled. In fact, he was enthusiastic enough to become a knight-errant himself in the service of the lady in the cabin; for she was still fair, and popular enough at the Park to enlist all his sympathies.

“The vessel is easier, and they have doubtless put a reef in the foresail and mainsail,” said Captain Ringgold, after the history of the Belgrave family had been fully considered. “I suppose it is about time to expect a visit from the captain of this craft, and it is rather important to agree upon the ceremonies with which he is to be received.”

“’Pon me wurrud I don’t believe in any ceremonies at all, at all,” said Felix, “unless we eshcort him to the fore-yard arrum to the music of a brickbat in a tin pan, and h’ist him up while we all whistle ‘Pop goes the weasel!’”

“Be quiet and reasonable, Flix; this is not just the time to make fun,” added Louis. “I think you will be comfortable here if I leave you for a time, Captain Ringgold; for my mother is in a stateroom in the cabin, and I must look out for her.”

“Will I go wid ye’s, Louis, darlint?” asked Felix, rising from the bench.

“No, you will not go with me, Flix.”

“Perhaps Oi’d betther go wid ye’s,” replied the Milesian, as he put his hand in his right hip-pocket.

“No; you don’t need that now.”

But Felix drew from the pocket a revolver of medium size, and held it up before his companions.

“Put it away, Flix!” said Louis sharply. “You have no use for that now, and you are not to show it except in an emergency, such as I explained to you.”

“I just wanted to look at the pretty toy,” replied Felix, as he returned the weapon to his pocket. “It does me hairt good to luk at it, and it gives me a whole tub full of stringth and confidence in meself. I advoise ye’s to luk at the one in your pocket, darlint, for it’ll be loike puttin’ an exthra man inside your coat wid ye’s.”

“I know that I have it, and that is enough for me. If my mother thought I was likely to shoot a human being, even her worst and only enemy in the world, I believe she would jump overboard; and I don’t know but I should do so myself if I thought I should do such a thing,” continued Louis.

“What call have ye’s to a revolver if ye’s wouldn’t shoot such a blackguard as Shcoble?”

“Perhaps I would shoot him if my mother’s safety required it.”

“Faix, ye’s have a bone in your bachk, and ye’ll do it.”

Louis left the second cabin and entered the first through the pantry. He had about him the means of defending himself in case of an emergency. His arsenal consisted of a revolver in one hip-pocket and a box of cartridges in the other. But he had no murderous thoughts in his head or in his heart. His idea of an emergency was that last extremity when he might have to use the weapon to save his mother’s or his own life.

He believed that Scoble was a coward at heart, as all villains and bullies are apt to be; and he expected to use the “pretty toy,” if at all, as a means of intimidation, rather than for the purpose of killing or maiming any person, even the great enemy of the Belgraves.

Governed by these reflections, he had purchased two revolvers of moderate size, but of the best quality the expert keeper of the shooting gallery could recommend to him. Scoble had already appeared on the stage, and Louis was likely to be obliged to confront him even when he was totally unprepared for an encounter with a man trained to arms, and of large experience in the ways of the world.

As Felix was his constant companion, he had given him one of the weapons. He informed Uncle Moses what he had done, and added that both of them were practising with the toys in a gallery in New York. The worthy lawyer looked serious, and even troubled; but he made no objection, though he read the boys a long lecture on the danger of carrying concealed weapons.

Louis was as conservative in his views on this subject as the squire, and he did his best to elevate the sentiments of Felix to the same high standard. After what had occurred, it could not be denied that the young millionaire was in peril at all times while Scoble was known to be on this side of the Atlantic; and he carried his weapon everywhere he went, and slept with it within reach of his hand. As a further precaution both of the boys had taken lessons in fencing and the art of self-defence, though neither of them took the least interest in prize-fights, or even amateur boxing.

When he entered the cabin where his mother was, Louis found no one to dispute his passage. The captain of the Maud was probably on deck listening to the report of the mate on his operations. The vessel was going along comparatively easily, though she still had a considerable pitch and roll, and it was evident that the storm Captain Ringgold had predicted was coming down upon the Maud. As nearly as Louis could make it out, the vessel was somewhere to the southward of Long Island, and not far from the shore.

Mrs. Belgrave declared that she needed nothing; and preferring to be alone, she begged Louis to leave her: she thought she could sleep; and he complied with her request. He went back to the second cabin, and told his companions that nothing could be done at present, as his mother was still sick. He was sorry to prolong their imprisonment; but Mrs. Belgrave was not yet in condition to bear the excitement of any movement.

“Don’t disturb yourself in the least degree, Louis,” replied Captain Ringgold. “Let this cruise continue for a week or a month. I have nothing in the world to do at the Park, and I was thinking of taking a trip to the South, for the sake of something to occupy my mind; but this excursion will answer my purpose just as well.”

“Me, too!” exclaimed Felix. “The only thing that’s bodthering me is whether or not we’ll get ony dinner.”

“I was thinking of that myself,” added the captain. “An excursion without anything to eat is not wholly to my mind.”

“I think I can settle that question very soon,” replied Louis, as he returned to the pantry, where he had seen a whole boiled ham and other eatables on the shelf.

He placed the ham on a tray, with bread, butter, pickles, and an apple pie, and carried it to the second cabin. He put the eatables on the table, and then arranged them in proper order, bringing knives and forks from the pantry. Though he had not thought of dinner before, the sight of the food stimulated his appetite, and he ate a hearty meal with his companions. With the help of Felix, everything not consumed was restored to the pantry.

Louis returned to the first cabin, and listened at the door of his mother’s room. He could hear nothing, and he did not disturb her. He seated himself and began to consider a plan he had thought of to redeem his party from their imprisonment. While he was thinking of this subject, a man came down from the deck and began to set the table for dinner. He put on the cloth, arranged the dishes, and then brought out the remains of the ham.

“I wonder who has been cutting into this ’am,” said the man, who was the cook. “I boiled it this morning, and took it out of the pot since breakfast, which it was only three hours ago, and no one hadn’t any occasion to touch it. These dishes are all dirty, which it was me that washed them all this morning. I don’t understand it at all.”

Louis understood it all, but he said nothing.

“All the pickles is gone that I took out, and more than half the butter has been gobbled up, as the Yankees say. Have you taken a lunch, sir?” asked the cook, turning to the involuntary passenger, “or was it the sick lady that ate up ’alf this ’am?”

“It was not the sick lady,” replied Louis.

“Then maybe it was yourself, sir?” interrogated the puzzled cook, who appeared to be also the steward.

“I did not eat half the ham; but with my two friends, we helped ourselves to what we wanted of it,” answered Louis, as coolly as though he had owned and commanded the vessel. “I am very much obliged to you for putting it where you did, and here is a five-dollar gold piece to help you out in white silk handkerchiefs, or any such things as you may need.”

“Thank you, sir, which it is very ’andsome of you; and if you and your friends want anything more in my line, which it is cook and steward, I shall be very pleased to serve you.”

“Thanks, cook and steward,” added the passenger. “Do you happen to know which is the captain’s stateroom?”

“Of course I know, which it is the room where the lady is,” replied Bickling; “which it was his name.”

“Is that ham all you have for dinner, cook?” inquired Louis, in order to change the subject.

“Which it is all I have; but I did not know that all your party were to lunch off it first. For a gentleman as treats me so ’andsomely, I will cook a beefsteak, or some ’am and heggs.”

“I have already dined, and I don’t wish for anything more.”

Louis thought he heard his mother moving in her room, and he softly opened the door. She was sitting up in her berth, and wanted to know if it were possible to obtain a cup of tea. He assured her she should have it, and asked the cook for it. He had made his peace with Bickling, who hastened to the galley to make it. He returned to the room and seated himself in front of the berth.