Bootlegger

“ He thereupon got back into his own boat and bade the man be off. In less time than it takes to tell he was out of sight. We then drew up alongside the police boat.
"What had we better do, Mr. Inspector?" asked Mr. Wetherell.
"Find the Maid of the Mist at once. She's an untenanted ship, being for sale. You will go aboard, sir, with your companion to the cuddy. Don't take your money, however. We'll draw up alongside as soon as you're below, and when one of their gang, whom you'll despatch for it, comes up to get the coin, we'll collar him and then come down to your assistance. ”

“ The colonel suggests the workhouse, Dawson the police-station—one simply means the other, and I can’t bring me to do it. It is an awful thing for the child of a tramp or a thief to be reared in a workhouse—and this is no common person’s child. For anything I know it may belong to one of you.”
“That’s true enough,” observed a man who had not yet taken part in the discussion, except to laugh now and then. “But remember, Bootles, if you saddle yourself with the child you will have to go on with it. ”

“ As soon as Bootles had a spare moment he made his way to the adjutant’s quarters, where he found Mrs. Gray playing with the mysterious baby.
“Oh, is that you, Captain Ferrers?” she exclaimed. “Come and see your waif. She is the dearest little thing. Why, I do believe she knows you.”
Bootles whistled to the child, which promptly made a grab at his chain, and when he sat down on the sofa on which it was sprawling, tried very hard to get at the gold badge on his collar. ”

“ I’m no good to-night—I can’t even see the cards. Get some one to take my place and make a fresh start.”
“Why, you’re ill, Bootles,” cried Preston. “What is it?”
“It’s a devil of a headache,” answered Bootles, promptly. “Here’s Miles—the very man. Goodnight.”
“Good-night,” called the fellows after him. Then they settled down to their game, and Preston dealt.
p. 5“Never saw Bootles seedy before,” said Lacy.
“Oh yes; he gets these headaches sometimes,” answered Hartog. “Not often, though. Miles, your lead.” ”

“ I have heard of your standing up for”—with a deeper smile—“the poor devils of casuals; and if I hear it, why not others? why not the mother of this child?”
“True. But I think you all overrate my character,” Bootles replied, modestly. “You know I don’t go in for being saintly at all.”
“That is just it. If you did you would have no p. 40more influence than Major Allardyce, whom every one laughs at. But you don’t; you are one of themselves, and yet you will always help a man who is down; you will do any unfortunate creature a good turn. ”

“ He hired a scow or flat-boat, and anchored it over the wreck. An experienced diver, clad in armor, who had been hired at considerable expense in Buffalo, was lowered into the water; but the rapids were so swift that the diver, though incased in the strong armor, feared to be sunk to the bottom. Young Eads determined to succeed, and, finding it impracticable to use the armor, went ashore, purchased a whiskey-barrel, knocked out the head, attached the air-pump hose to it, fastened several heavy weights to the open end of the barrel ”

“ I said.
"Do!" said the inspector. "For mine is not quite matured yet."
"Well," I said; "my idea is this. I propose that Mr. Wetherell shall obtain from his bank a number of gold bags, fill them with lead discs to represent coin, and let it leak out before this man that he has got the money in the house. Then to-night Mr. Wetherell will set off for the water-side. I will row him down the harbour disguised as a waterman. We pick up the other boat as arranged in that letter. In the meantime you start from the other side in a police boat, pull up to meet us and arrest the man. ”

“ Where the clashing waves embraced each other, he was checked and held, being rolled like a log that is caught between a back and an undertow. Thousands of people crowded the banks in the vicinity of the pescaia and they gave Boyton up as lost. Men turned pale and women fainted. Now and again they could see an arm protruding from the dark, angry waters; then a leg and an end of his paddle which he had the presence of mind to retain. It was impossible to get a rope to him and certain death to attempt a rescue with a boat. ”

“ When Booth began "on his own responsibility," to hunt for accomplices, he found his theory at fault. The bold men he had dreamed of refused to join him in the rash attempt at kidnapping the President, and were too conscientious to meditate murder. All those who presented themselves were military men, unwilling to be subordinate to a civilian, and a mere play-actor, and the mortified bravo found himself therefore compelled to sink to a petty rank in the plot, or to make use of base and despicable assistants. ”

“ Bolton, as lieutenant of the archers, stood in the recess of a window at the lower end of the room, accoutred in half armour, and having his helmet lying near him; and Bothwell, clad in black velvet, magnificently embroidered with Venetian gold, his sword and waistbelt, his poniard and bonnet blazing with jewels, as his blue velvet mantle did with spangles, stood in another, clanking his gold spurs, and pointing his well-perfumed and pomatumed mustaches; for, however deep and deadly his projects, he now never omitted an opportunity of appearing to the best advantage in Mary's presence ”

“ What thronging memories it brought to Booth, we can only guess. In this little interval he made the resolve to die. But he was cool and steady to the end. Baker, after a lapse, hailed for the last time.
"Well, we have waited long enough; surrender your arms and come out, or we'll fire the barn."
Booth answered thus: "I am but a cripple, a one-legged man. Withdraw your forces one hundred yard from the door, and I will come. Give me a chance for my life, captain. I will never be taken alive." ”

“ But no matter how frequent and plentiful the wreck and refuse in the matter of bottomless kettles, superannuated umbrellas,262 and broken dishes, the Old Boot is the commonest object of the seashore, highway, by-way, lane, or ditch—no mountain too high, no valley too deep for it to be found. The angler lands it with language and dashed expectations from the trout stream; the trawler finds it unaccountably in his trawl-net when he returns from the bay; the ploughman disinters it from the field; and children dig it up from the sands: everywhere is the Old Boot. ”

“ The moment his grateful friend saw him, he pulled to the rocks where he stood, and they went [Pg 109] on board of the yacht together. Little Bobtail looked her over again, and began to wonder that no one appeared to claim her. He could not help asking if any one would ever appear to claim her. Whoever did so would have to account for the presence of those cases of brandy in her cabin. If the owner had any regard for his reputation, he might choose rather to sacrifice the boat and her cargo, than to subject himself to the penalty of his transgression. ”

“ If Booth received no positive instructions, he was at any rate adjudged a man likely to be of use, and therefore introduced to the rebel agencies in and around Washington. Doubtless by direct letter, or verbal instruction, he received a password to the house of Mrs. Surratt.
Half applauded, half rebuffed by the rebel agents in Canada, Booth's impressions of his visit were just those which would whet him soonest for the tragedy. His vanity had been fed by the assurance that success depended upon himself alone, and that as he had the responsibility he would absorb the fame ”

“ Certainly a man in Booth’s position, ignorant of accounts, much of whose business was done on ‘the nod,’ and required an expert to recognize all his varied customers, would be very slow to dismiss a confidential clerk. Probably the cause was something serious—perhaps criminal? At any rate, it looks shady. If there was a spirit of revenge in this man we have a motive for his master’s death; but if we add to this the possibility, as he himself suggested, of a betting-book being so arranged as to gain largely by Mr. Booth’s death, we have a second and still stronger motive. ”

“ Then somehow he gathered it up and carried it in doubt and trepidation to the big chair by the fire, where the creature sat contentedly upon his knee, the curly golden p. 9head resting against his scarlet jacket, the soft fingers of one baby hand tight twined round one of his, the other picking and wandering aimlessly about the scrolls and curves of the gold embroidery on his waistcoat.
“By Jove! you’re a jolly little chap,” said Bootles, just as if it could understand him. “But the question is, where did you come from, and what’s to be done with you? You can’t stop here, you know.” ”

“ Stone brought out his pipe, filled it, and puffed with calm enjoyment.
“You see,” he said, “Jud Cory told us the truth. When he arrived with the information that he knew of the money that was his, it was like plunging a knife into Boothy’s heart. Money has rather been Boothy’s god. The way to save the money came with Jud’s threat to kill him that so many persons overheard. Boothy went to the bank, drew out five thousand dollars, wrote the will and the note that you found, wrote himself the letter he showed you, and went to Baltimore to await the results he knew would follow. ”

“ I shouldn’t mind laying my life that Bootles never did and never will cause her or any other woman to write such a letter as came with the child that night. Jolly good thing for this one if she was Bootles’s wife, instead of being tied up to the hound who bound her to secrecy and deserted her. Perhaps she’s dead, poor soul! Who knows?”
“Perhaps she isn’t,” Gilchrist sneered. “Some people never die.”
Good-natured and not very wise Preston stared at him, and Hartog looked from behind his newspaper, aghast at the bitterness of his tone. ”

“ On Tuesday morning they presented themselves at the Port Royal ferry, and inquired of the ferry-man, while he was taking them over in squads of seven at a time, if he had seen any two such men. Continuing their inquiries at Port Royal, they found one Rollins a fisherman, who referred them to a negro named Lucas, as having driven two men a short distance toward Bowling Green in a wagon. It was found that these men answered to the description, Booth having a crutch as previously ascertained. ”

“ A man would never have come out of the business alive, but she did, and what is more, with the money to boot. Three months later the Vectis Queen went ashore, when forty-eight hours out of Singapore, junks sprang up out of nowhere, boarded her in spite of stubborn resistance on the part of the ship's company, looted her bullion room of fifty thousand pounds and her passengers of three thousand more. ”

“ Having done so, he took up his oars and propelled his boat towards us. When he was within talking distance he said in a gruff voice: "Is Mr. Wetherell aboard?"
To which my companion answered immediately, not however without a tremble in his voice, "Yes, here I am!"
"Money all right?"
"Can you see if I hold it up?" asked Mr. Wetherell. As he did so a long black boat came into sight on the other side of our questioner and pulled slowly towards him. I had no doubt at all that it was the police boat. ”

“ Just then the child, in playing with his chain, slipped a little on the smooth cloth of his overalls, and Bootles, with a “Whoa! whoa, my lad!” hauled it up again. In doing so he felt a piece of paper rustle somewhere about the embroidered skirt.
“A note. This grows melodramatic,” said p. 11Bootles, craning his head to find it. “Oh, here we are! Now we shall see.”
The note was written in a firm, large, yet thoroughly feminine hand, and ran thus:
“You will not absolve me from my oath of secrecy respecting our marriage, though now that I have offended you, I may starve or go to the work-house. ”

“ Mr. Bolt is a misconception, a floating microcosm. I really should not bother about Mr. Bolt. He is not nearly so tangible as the butcher, and I have made up my mind never really again to bother about the butcher. Perhaps you will see him for me if he calls about his bill to-morrow.
"It seems so strange to me that business men should not understand that when there is no money bills cannot be paid. Even the minor regions of fact seem closed to them."
Stella agreed to dip into the minor regions of fact with the butcher, but she went on bothering about Mr. Bolt. ”

“ I found it more profitable than the post of an ordinary seaman, and yet not so much so as might be supposed. While the booty taken was very large, it was not all divided between the officers and men. There was a considerable portion that was set aside as a fund to be divided some time between us when we disbanded. For not one of the officers or men expected always to continue pirates. Some day we hoped to give up this outlaw’s life and become respectable citizens, living in ease and luxury on our share of the booty. No one would be the wiser. ”

“ Wetherell! "he said at last. The folk who are running this affair are as cute as men are made nowadays; it's a pleasure to measure swords with them."
"What do you think our next move had better be?"
"Get home as fast as we can. I'll return with you and we'll talk it over there. It's no use our remaining here."
We accordingly went on deck, and descended to our boat again. This time the inspector accompanied us, while the police boat set off down the harbour on other business. ”

“ Never before had such life possessed the spirits of Botello. He stood on the edge of the causey, shouting loud vivas, as the bold cavaliers rushed among the canoes that blocked up the sluice. The novice, though shocked at such untimely exultation, was not able to avoid it; for he was enfeebled, and Botello held him with a fast and determined gripe.
"Unhand me, conjurer," he cried, "and I will swim the ditch."
"Tarry a little, till the path be made clear: thou wilt be murdered else."
"I shall be murdered, if I remain here; and so wilt thou.—Hah! did that shaft hurt thee?" ”