Oliver Optic

“ But where is the Grand Mogul?"
"There she is, about a mile and a half astern of us," replied Scott, as he went to the door. "She has not gained an inch on us, and I have come to the deliberate conclusion that the Fatimé's speed is about twelve knots an hour when she is doing her best. But neither the Pacha nor his pilot has been smart."
"As smart as the speed of his craft will permit," added Louis.
"No, he is not; but if I had been in command of that hooker, I should have been nearer the Maud than she is now." ”

“ With one accord Felix, Morris, and Scott pointed at Louis, as though they were rehearsing a Scriptural tableau of what Nathan said unto David: "Thou art the man!"
"Which his name it is Mr. Belgrave," added Chickworth, taking off his tarpaulin and bowing low to the young gentleman indicated by his companions, for he had more respect for millions than for birth and attainments.
"My name is Louis Belgrave, at your service, Mr. Commander of the Salihé," replied the young millionaire, laughing heartily at the pantomime of his friends and the obsequiousness of the skipper. ”

“ Louis ascended to the upper deck, which was nothing more than the roof of the cabin, and hailed the Guardian-Mother.
"On board the Salihé!" responded Captain Ringgold; and his tones indicated that he could hardly speak on account of a tendency he had to indulge in a hearty laugh. "Have you captured a Spanish man-of-war?"
"No, sir; but we have taken in a gang of smugglers with their schooner; and I will thank you to send half a dozen men on board to help us take care of them," returned Louis.
"All right; I will do so," answered the commander, as the gong rang to stop the little steamer. ”

“ Captain Ringgold descended the gangway steps and went into the cabin of the Maud, in order that he might be close at hand to direct any movement that might become necessary. The commander had hardly seated himself before Felipe, who had seen him when he came on board, presented himself before him.
"He take me!" exclaimed the young Spaniard, pointing in the direction of the anchorage of the Pacha's steamer; and his limbs actually shook with terror.
"No, he will not take you, Felipe; he will not take anybody," replied the captain in a mild tone. ”

“ The door was then opened again; but it looked as though Diego had seen the light before, and he was hailing the Scotchman very vigorously. Louis had only time to gather up a handful of lanyards and other lines from a box under the seats in the standing-room before he heard the footsteps of Gray in the port gangway. He retreated, closing the door all but a crack.
"What's the matter on board of the steamer?" yelled Diego.
"Nothing is the matter," replied Gray, who had not stopped to look in at the cabin windows as he came aft, for the master of the schooner was yelling at him all the time. ”

“ As soon as the steward saw the captain he hastened aft to rearrange the table; and Louis was served as elegantly as became the dignity of a ship-owner, though he put on no airs. He ate his breakfast alone; but he had a good appetite, for he had been up since the morning watch was called at four o'clock.
By nine o'clock Pitts had cleared the tables, and put everything in good order in the galley. His head was still full of the water-casks, and he went to the standing-room to examine them again. They were simply dried up when the water was drawn into them from the tanks. ”

“ A steamer's starboard light of green,
There's not so much for you to do,
For green to port keeps clear of you.'"
"She is still a long distance from the Maud; but what am I to do when we come nearer?" asked Louis.
"Red to starboard; we must keep out of her way," replied Morris. "She will do nothing, for she has the right of way. Port the helm a little and we shall go astern of her all right." ”

“ The blows with the tiller and the saw were now few and far between, for both of them seemed to be tired out by the fury of the struggle.
"No use, Scott," called Louis. "You had better give it up, and we will make the best of the situation. All but you are prisoners; you cannot beat off the whole of them alone, and you had better surrender."
"Then I will throw up the sponge if you say so, Captain Belgrave, though it goes against my grain," replied Scott as he dropped the saw into the cabin through one of the open windows. ”

“ Your reputation among the respectable people of Funchal, where you go occasionally in your steamer, is so bad, so black, that I should not be justified in introducing you to any true lady," replied the commander boldly and resolutely, hoping this plain statement would put an end to the attempts of the Moor to force himself into the presence of his cabin party.
"This is an unmitigated insult, and I hold you responsible for it, Captain Ringgold!" roared the Pacha, loud enough to be heard on board of the Guardian-Mother. "A friend of mine will wait upon you to-morrow, sir!" ”

“ Scott was a very skilful boatman, and in three months he had learned his duty as a seaman.
"I suppose this moonlight excursion means an adventure of some sort, Sir Louis," said Captain Ringgold, when the serious part of the business was settled, and no objection had been made to the enterprise of the big four.
"Of course I am bound to be a knight-errant wherever I go and whatever I do, and I am as sure to get into an adventure as I am to get into my berth when I turn in," replied Louis, laughing with the captain all the time. ”

“ What odds does it make where the goods came from?" asked the Scotchman, beginning to manifest some of Diego's impatience.
"It does not make the least difference in the world to me; but it might to the Spanish custom-house officers," replied Louis lightly.
"You know more than the law allows to a young fellow; and I hope you are as prudent as you are wise," replied Gray, in a tone somewhat severe. "Captain Chickworth is my friend; and if he had not been obliged to go to a society meeting, he would have been here with the Salihé to assist me." ”

“ Belgrave?" asked the engineer.
"You mean the log," replied Louis.
"Yes; I mean the log; but I don't know what you call him. La barquilla in Spanish."
"I thought that was a little boat; but you can't learn everything from the dictionary. But you must not call the barquilla either 'him' or 'her' in English, but 'it,' for we have only natural genders; and things that don't have life are neuter," said Louis, who was still assisting the young engineer to improve his English.
"No!" exclaimed Felipe. "What for you call the moon a 'she'? She don't have no life. ”

“ Have you had any trouble of any kind on board?"
"None whatever, sir," replied Scott, hardly understanding the meaning of the question.
"Boys will sometimes get up ill-feeling and even quarrels among themselves when they are off on their own hook," added Captain Ringgold with a smile.
"There has not been a particle of trouble of any kind, or anything like ill-feeling," protested Scott very warmly. "Every one has obeyed orders, and when I bent on the foresail in the gale all were ready to work, whether they were on watch or not. ”

“ Captain Ringgold, when he realized that the owner of the Guardian-Mother had been engaged in another adventure, was absolutely delighted to see the young knight-errant return in safety, and he continued to press his two hands for a considerable time. He was certainly the young man's devoted friend, as much for his own sake as for that of his mother, to whom also he was so devoted that others had begun to talk a little in whispers. ”

“ The man is choking to death!" called Louis in a very decided tone, as he and Felix rolled the victim over on his back.
"Stay where you are, Morris!" shouted Scott, as he complied with the humane request of Louis, who could see that the prisoner—as he was by this time—had not the strength to make any further resistance. "Shoot any one that shows a knife!"
Francisco had gone to the wheel, and there was no one to shoot. Louis and Felix were each in full possession of one of the arms of Gray, and he could do nothing more to help himself. ”

“ I don't believe he carries any knife like the Spaniards, and you can try the moral effect of your revolvers."
"But I would not shoot him, and no other fellow must do anything of the sort," protested Louis. "I should rather let the affair go through to the end as arranged by the smugglers than have a drop of blood on my conscience."
"We are not exactly doing this thing to save our own life or limbs, for I think we are safe enough," added Scott. "Just now we are at work for the Spanish government, trying to capture those who are engaged in robbing the country of its revenues. ”

“ The boatman said he had picked him up some distance from the Fatimé, and he wanted his fee. The fugitive drew a purse from his pocket, and gave the boatman half a sovereign on his promise not to tell any one that he had picked him up.
"That is a big fee, when a shilling would have paid you well," interposed the captain.
"But I gave him ten shilling to hold his tongue," said the runaway oiler.
"All right, if the boatman keeps his promise; and if he don't keep it, I will have him keel-hauled," replied the commander. ”

“ The Maud was approaching the second headland, where the race must terminate, unless the captain decided to follow the coast to the south-east, in order to keep in shoal water where the chaser could not follow her.
"Mark under water two!" shouted Morris with energy, for he was still heaving the lead on the starboard side.
"All right; that is just as it should be," said the captain, as he put the helm a little to starboard. "That is the shoalest place within half a mile of the shore."
"We are all right in two fathoms," replied Louis. ”

“ He declared that he should cause the arrest of Scott for stealing the suit of clothes he had loaned him; and if he could find the young Spaniard who had stolen his steamer, he would have him arrested also, and have them both sent to Mogadore for trial and punishment.
"You have grossly insulted me, Captain Ringgold; and you have refused to give me the satisfaction which one gentleman has the right to demand of another," stormed the Pacha, apparently as a parting shot. ”

“ The Portuguese gentlemen at Funchal said that he travelled all over Europe, Asia, and Africa on shore or in his yacht, and spent his money as freely as water," continued Louis. "He is a man of the world in the worst sense of the term."
"But how did the blackguard get here so soon?"
"We have not seen the steam-yacht in which he sails since we left Gibraltar; but she may be in the Bosporus or Golden Horn for all that. We stopped a day at Algiers, and the ship slowed down to the ordinary speed of the Maud. But he could have come here by land in much less time," Louis explained. ”

“ I hail from Von Blonk Park."
"Then you speak English very well for a Dutchman. I never heard of the place you come from; but it is all the same," continued Gray, evidently proceeding to use the gentle measures of which he had spoken. "The Dutch are a very thrifty and money-making people."
"They are, like the Scotch, of whom you are one, I should judge, though you have but little of the dialect in your speech, and you speak English very well indeed, to return your compliment," replied Louis, seeing that Felix and Morris were keeping a close watch over the Spaniards in the boat. ”

“ Make the course for the red light on the New Mole!"
"All right, Captain!" returned Gray, as he hastened forward to the pilot-house.
"We are safe so far," continued Louis, as he retired from the window. "Gray is the most dangerous man with whom we have to deal, for he is a heavy fellow; he shares the profits of this smuggling enterprise; and I think he will fight as long as there is anything left of him."
"Then we must take him where the hair is short," replied Scott. ”

“ All three of them followed Gray, and saw that the Spanish boat was again attached to the steamer.
Scott looked out for the wheel; but he had gone to the door of the pilot-house, where he had seen all that occurred farther aft. He had been the owner of two revolvers, but Captain Ringgold had ordered them to be taken from him when he was a rebellious character, and they had never been restored to him. He was not armed, therefore, as his companions were; but if there was to be any fighting he earnestly desired to do his share of it, for he was far from being a coward. ”

“ When there is a second mate"—
"That's metaphysics, for we have no second mate," protested Felix.
"For that reason the captain has to keep his own watch, which the second mate would keep for him if there were one," continued the captain. "Just as soon as the ship gets into deep water the crew are divided into watches."
"Do you think the water is deep enough in here to divide the crew into watches?" asked Felix, still struggling to be funny.
"It is two hundred fathoms deep in the middle of the bay, and it will do. Each officer chooses a man in turn." ”

“ I don't care a rap for his religion if he were only a decent fellow; but his record at Funchal is very bad indeed, and I will have nothing to do with him."
"Mrs. Woolridge is worrying herself half to death since the Fatimé let go her anchor over there," replied Louis.
"She will be more disturbed than ever when she sees that boat approaching," added the captain.
"The Pacha himself is in the boat," reported Mr. Boulong at the open door.
"All right; only observe the orders I gave you. Tell his Serene Highness that I decline to receive him," replied the commander. ”

“ Now, Mr. Giles Chickworth, let us talk business. Will you let the steam-yacht without captain or engineer?"
"Which I will do with the greatest pleasure in the world to a gentleman with millions in his trousers' pocket; for if you wreck or injure the beauty of a craft, you will pay for 'er like the Christian you are."
"Certainly, I will; but we do not intend to wreck or injure her," added Louis, as he proceeded to arrange the terms more definitely.
Everything was satisfactorily adjusted, and Chickworth promised to have the Salihé at the gangway of the ship at six o'clock. ”

“ But it is late enough for us to make a beginning of our affair, or we shall have no chance to do anything," said Louis. "As nearly as I can make out the position of the steamer, we shall be off Carnero Point in half or three-quarters of an hour, and if the smugglers get a breeze there, they will part company with us."
"I'm all ready for business, and I am only waiting for your orders, Captain Belgrave," replied Scott. "If you will station your men to support me, I will proceed at once." ”

“ Louis soon made a heave-line again of it, and attached it to a fast he found at the stern.
"How do you find yourself, Captain Gray?" he asked of the prisoner on the divan.
"I don't find myself in a very cheerful mood to go into port," replied the Scotchman. "You have knocked me out at my own game, and I feel like a whipped school-boy."
"I suppose you Scotchmen read the Scriptures diligently, and you have found out that 'The way of the transgressor is hard.'"
"Yes, very hard," replied the prisoner with a profane expletive.
"Does your throat trouble you?" ”