Raftmates: A Story of the Great River Read online

  CHAPTER XVIII.

  FOLLOWING THE TRAIL.

  The next morning, when Winn opened his eyes after the first night ofundisturbed sleep he had enjoyed since leaving home, he was for amoment greatly puzzled to account for his surroundings. His bed hadbeen made down in the exhibition hall on two benches drawn closetogether, and as he awoke, he found himself staring at a mostmarvellous painting that occupied the full height and nearly the entirewidth of the stage at the farther end of the hall. It was a luridscene, but so filled with black shadows that to a vivid imagination itmight represent any one of many things. While the boy was wondering ifthe young woman in yellow who appeared in the upper corner of thepicture, with outstretched arms and dishevelled hair, was about tocommit suicide by flinging herself from the second story of thefactory, and only hesitated for fear of crushing the badly frightenedyoung man in red who from the street below had evidently justdiscovered his peril, a door opened, and his host of the evening beforetiptoed into the room.

  The expression "tiptoed" is here used to indicate the extreme cautionof Cap'n Cod's entrance, and his evident desire to effect it asnoiselessly as possible. As he could only tiptoe on one foot, however,and had neglected to muffle the iron-shod peg that served him in placeof the other, his progress was attended with more than its usual amountof noise. He appeared relieved to find Winn awake, and advancing witha cordial greeting, he laid the boy's own clothing, now cleaned anddried, within his reach. "I should have sent Solon in with these," heexplained, "but for fear he might make a noise that would rouse you,and I noticed last evening that you were sadly in need of sleep. So,if you had not been awake, I should have stolen away as noiselessly asI entered, and left you to have your nap out. Now, however, I thinkyou had better come to breakfast, for Sabella and I finished ours sometime ago."

  "Thank you, sir," said Winn. "I will be out in half a minute; but willyou please explain that painting? I have been studying it ever since Iwoke."

  "That," replied the Captain, with an accent of honest pride, "is what Iconsider one of my _chef-dovers_. I term it a 'Shakespeariancomposite.' In order to please the tastes of certain audiences, Ishall describe it as the balcony scene between Romeo and Juliet. Yonmay note Romeo's mandolin lying at his feet, while over the whole fallsthe melancholy light of a full moon rising behind the palace. To suita less-intelligent class, it would perhaps be described as the escapeof a Turkish captive by leaping from the upper floor of the Sultan'sseraglio into the arms of her gallant rescuer, who would be American,British, French, German, or Spanish, according to the predominatingnationality of my audience. Or it might be called 'A ThrillingIncident of the Great New York Fire,' in which case Juliet's moonlightwould be spoken of as 'devastating flames,' and Romeo's mandolin wouldfigure as a fireman's helmet. It is a painting of infinitepossibilities, any one of which may be impressed upon an audience by ajudiciously selected title and the skilful directing of theirimagination. Although I am proud of this picture, I have a number ofother 'composites' that are even more startling than this in thevariety of scenes that they can be made to illustrate. By studyingthem you will learn that the whole secret of artistic success lies inthe selection of titles that appeal to and direct the imagination ofthe critic, the spectator, or the would-be purchaser. I would gladlyexhibit and explain them to you now, but business before pleasure; so,if you are dressed, let us to breakfast."

  While Winn was eating his late breakfast, Billy Brackett, only a coupleof miles away, was gazing with an expression of the blankest amazementat his nephew's note-book. "How in the name of all that is mysteriousand improbable did this book happen to be in that coat, that coat inthat skiff, that skiff on that raft, and that raft here? It certainlyseems as though I had brought the skiff from the raft--at least thisman says I did. You are certain that I came in that identical boat,are you?"

  "Certain, sir," replied the watchman to whom this question wasaddressed.

  "No one else could have come in this skiff, and then gone off in mineby mistake?"

  "Impossible, sir. I have been wide-awake all night, and there has notbeen another soul aboard this wharf-boat until just now. Besides, Itook that coat from the skiff just after you left it last evening."

  "Then," said Billy Brackett, "the chain of evidence seems to beunbroken, incredible as it may appear, and it stretches from herestraight away down the river--book coat, coat skiff, skiff raft, raftWinn. Now, in order to bring its ends together, and recover mylong-lost nephew, I must again overtake that raft. I must start assoon as possible after breakfast, too. I don't know whether the gameWinn and I are playing is blind-man's-buff or hide-and-seek, but itcertainly resembles both."

  Musing over this new aspect of the situation, the young engineerhastened back to his hotel and breakfast. In the dining-room, a fewminutes later, a waiter was leaning over him, and asking, for the thirdtime, "Tea or coffee, sir, an' how'll you have your eggs?" when theinattentive guest suddenly caused him to jump as though galvanized, bybringing his fist down on the table with a crash, and exclaiming, "No,by the great hornspoon, it can't be that way either! What's that yousay? Oh yes, of course. Coffee, soft-boiled, and as quick as youcan." Having delivered this order, the young man fixed his intent gazeon a brown spot ornamenting the table-cloth, and resumed his thinking.

  It had just occurred to him that, according to all accounts, the raftfrom which he had taken that skiff had come down the river to thispoint two days before. So how could Winn Caspar, who had only escapedfrom the island a few minutes before he and Bim made good their ownretreat, have reached the same place and joined that raft withoutattracting attention? Both the day and night watchmen at thewharf-boat had assured him that no such boy as he described had beenseen on the water-front. They also said that the raft had been thereall the day before, and that when it left it held only the three menwho came with it. "Of course he might have been inside the 'shanty'when I was aboard, though I can't see how he got there, nor why heshould join a strange raft anyway," argued the young man. "At anyrate, it's my business to find out whether or not he is aboard it now.How about using the skiff, though? If it is the one Winn ran off with,it belongs to that Sheriff fellow. Like as not, he has already sentword down the river to have it picked up. In that case, if I waspicked up in it, I might be accused of stealing it, which would neverdo in the world. No; to be on the safe side I must leave the skiffhere, and take the first down-river steamboat that stops at thislanding. First, though, I'll advertise for Winn in this town, and if Idon't find him on the raft, there may be news waiting for me here whenI come back."

  This was the plan upon which the young engineer decided to act, andimmediately after breakfast he proceeded to put it into execution.

  There was no paper published in the place, but it did contain amakeshift sort of a printing-office, and towards this Billy Brackettdirected his steps, after learning at what hour the next down-riverboat was expected. Here he spent some time in composing a smallcircular, of which he ordered five hundred copies to be struck off, anddistributed broadcast. His boat came along and he had to leave beforethis was ready for press; but he had engaged the services of his newacquaintance the night-watchman, who promised to place the billswherever they would do good.

  Poor Bim, tied up on the wharf-boat, and nearly heart-broken at hismaster's desertion, was also left in charge of this man. BillyBrackett was desirous of establishing friendly relations with theraftsmen when he should overtake them, and feared that would beimpossible in case they should recognize him. This they wouldcertainly do if he were accompanied by the bull-dog, whom one of themat least had reason to remember so well.

  At another small landing, nearly a hundred miles farther down theriver, Messrs. Gilder, Grimshaw, and Plater were rendered somewhatuneasy, late on the following day, by the appearance on board theirraft of a young man who asked questions. Billy Brackett hadexperienced considerable difficulty in finding this raft, and wasgreatly disappointed that his search in this direction
should provefruitless. The raftsmen had never heard of Major Caspar, nor of WinnCaspar, his son. They were lumbermen from far up on the WisconsinRiver, and were taking this raft to New Orleans as a speculation. Theyknew nothing of Sheriff Riley or his skiff. Yes, they had picked up anempty skiff two days before, but it had been taken away and anotherleft in its place by a young fellow with a dog, who had boarded theirraft without invitation, set his dog on one of them, and then skipped.They would like to meet that party again--yes, they would--and they'dmake things pretty lively for him.

  Then they began asking questions in turn, and assuming such a hostiletone that Billy Brackett concluded he might as well leave then aslater. So, after asking them to keep a sharp lookout for a raft withthree "shanties," two of which were filled with wheat, he bade themgood-evening, and started back up the river by rail.

  In the mean time the _Whatnot_ had reached the town to which he wasreturning, and was now tied up just below the wharf-boat. It had beendecided that the first exhibition of the "Floating Panoramic Show"should be given here, and Cap'n Cod went up into the town as soon asthey arrived to have some bills printed. Winn, at the same time,started along the water-front to search for traces of his lost raft;and Sabella, who was very fond of dogs, went aboard the wharf-boat tomake the acquaintance of a fine bull-dog she had noticed there as theypassed.

  At supper-time they all gathered again in the living-room of the_Whatnot_, where Sabella reported her new friend to be the mostsplendid bull-dog she had ever seen, and that his name was Bim.

  This name at once attracted Winn's attention, and he said he had anuncle somewhere out in California who owned a dog named Bim. Then theboy reported that nothing had been seen or heard of his raft, though hedid not tell them he had discovered Sheriff Riley's skiff.

  Cap'n Cod remarked that if he could only claim all the rewards he hadjust seen offered, he could afford to run the _Whatnot_ by steam."There is one of a thousand dollars," he said, "for any informationthat will lead to the capture of a gang of counterfeiters, supposed tobe operating in this vicinity. Then there is one of a hundred dollarsfor the arrest of the fellow who ran off with Sheriff Riley's skiff,and who is supposed to be a member of the same gang. There is stillanother, of an equal amount, for any information as to the whereabouts,if he is still living, or for the recovery of the body of a boy namedCaspar, the only son of my old friend, Major John Caspar, of Caspar'sMill, in Wisconsin. He has disappeared most unaccountably, togetherwith a raft owned by his father. By-the-way, his first name is thesame as your last one, which is a little odd, for Winn is not a commonname. That's what it is, though, 'Winn Caspar.'"