"Such is the fact, however," said I.
"I am sure you must be mistaken," he repeated.
"May I use your telephone one moment?" asked Pinkerton; and s soon as permission had been granted, I heard him ring up the printing-office where our advertisements were usually handled.
More I did not hear; for suddenly recalling the big, bad hand in the register of the What Cheer House, I asked the consulate clerk if he had a specimen of Captain Trent's writing.
Whereupon I learned that the captain could not write, having cut his hand open a little before the loss of the brig; that the latter part of the log even had been written up by Mr.
Goddedaal; and that Trent had always signed with his left hand. By the time I had gleaned this information, Pinkerton was ready.
"That's all that we can do. Now for the schooner," said he;"and by to-morrow evening I lay hands on Goddedaal, or my name's not Pinkerton."
"How have you managed?" I inquired.
"You'll see before you get to bed," said Pinkerton. "And now, after all this backwarding and forwarding, and that hotel clerk, and that bug Bellairs, it'll be a change and a kind of consolation to see the schooner. I guess things are humming there."
But on the wharf, when we reached it, there was no sign of bustle, and, but for the galley smoke, no mark of life on the Norah Creina. Pinkerton's face grew pale, and his mouth straightened, as he leaped on board.
"Where's the captain of this----?" and he left the phrase unfinished, finding no epithet sufficiently energetic for his thoughts.
It did not appear whom or what he was addressing; but a head, presumably the cook's, appeared in answer at the galley door.
"In the cabin, at dinner," said the cook deliberately, chewing as he spoke.
"Is that cargo out?"
"No, sir."
"None of it?"
"O, there's some of it out. We'll get at the rest of it livelier to-morrow, I guess."
"I guess there'll be something broken first," said Pinkerton, and strode to the cabin.
Here we found a man, fat, dark, and quiet, seated gravely at what seemed a liberal meal. He looked up upon our entrance; and seeing Pinkerton continue to stand facing him in silence, hat on head, arms folded, and lips compressed, an expression of mingled wonder and annoyance began to dawn upon his placid face.
"Well!" said Jim; and so this is what you call rushing around?"
"Who are you?" cries the captain.
"Me! I'm Pinkerton!" retorted Jim, as though the name had been a talisman.
"You're not very civil, whoever you are," was the reply. But still a certain effect had been produced, for he scrambled to his feet, and added hastily, "A man must have a bit of dinner, you know, Mr. Pinkerton."
"Where's your mate?" snapped Jim.
"He's up town," returned the other.
"Up town!" sneered Pinkerton. "Now, I'll tell you what you are: you're a Fraud; and if I wasn't afraid of dirtying my boot, I would kick you and your dinner into that dock."
"I'll tell you something, too," retorted the captain, duskily flushing. "I wouldn't sail this ship for the man you are, if you went upon your knees. I've dealt with gentlemen up to now."
"I can tell you the names of a number of gentlemen you'll never deal with any more, and that's the whole of Longhurst's gang," said Jim. "I'll put your pipe out in that quarter, my friend.
Here, rout out your traps as quick as look at it, and take your vermin along with you. I'll have a captain in, this very night, that's a sailor, and some sailors to work for him."
"I'll go when I please, and that's to-morrow morning," cried the captain after us, as we departed for the shore.
"There's something gone wrong with the world to-day; it must have come bottom up!" wailed Pinkerton. "Bellairs, and then the hotel clerk, and now This Fraud! And what am I to do for a captain, Loudon, with Longhurst gone home an hour ago, and the boys all scattered?"
"I know," said I. "Jump in!" And then to the driver: "Do you know Black Tom's?"
Thither then we rattled; passed through the bar, and found (as I had hoped) Johnson in the enjoyment of club life. The table had been thrust upon one side; a South Sea merchant was discoursing music from a mouth-organ in one corner; and in the middle of the floor Johnson and a fellow-seaman, their arms clasped about each other's bodies, somewhat heavily danced. The room was both cold and close; a jet of gas, which continually menaced the heads of the performers, shed a coarse illumination; the mouth-organ sounded shrill and dismal; and the faces of all concerned were church-like in their gravity. It were, of course, indelicate to interrupt these solemn frolics; so we edged ourselves to chairs, for all the world like belated comers in a concert-room, and patiently waited for the end. At length the organist, having exhausted his supply of breath, ceased abruptly in the middle of a bar. With the cessation of the strain, the dancers likewise came to a full stop, swayed a moment, still embracing, and then separated and looked about the circle for applause.
"Very well danced!" said one; but it appears the compliment was not strong enough for the performers, who (forgetful of the proverb) took up the tale in person.
"Well," said Johnson. "I mayn't be no sailor, but I can dance!"
And his late partner, with an almost pathetic conviction, added, "My foot is as light as a feather."
Seeing how the wind set, you may be sure I added a few words of praise before I carried Johnson alone into the passage: to whom, thus mollified, I told so much as I judged needful of our situation, and begged him, if he would not take the job himself, to find me a smart man.
"Me!" he cried. "I couldn't no more do it than I could try to go to hell!"
"I thought you were a mate?" said I.
"So I am a mate," giggled Johnson, "and you don't catch me shipping noways else. But I'll tell you what, I believe I can get you Arty Nares: you seen Arty; first-rate navigator and a son of a gun for style." And he proceeded to explain to me that Mr.
