Chapter 43

IN WHICH PHIL PUTS A CHECK ON THE OPERATIONS OF MR. BEN WATERFORD.

Mr. Waterford had anchored the Marian within a couple of rods of the shore, where there was a bank convenient for landing. He had simply lowered the jib, leaving the mainsail set, but with the boom hauled down to the traveller, to keep it from swaying. Miss Collingsby did not come on deck when she had finished her dinner, but sat in the cabin, apparently reading a book she had found there; but I think her mind was not interested in the contents of the volume.

"Come, Phil; will you go on shore with me?" repeated Mr. Waterford, after he had hauled the little tender alongside the yacht.

"I haven't cleared away the dishes yet," I replied.

"Never mind them now; there will be time enough for that when we return."

"But everything in the kitchen is just as I left it," I added.

"We shall not be absent more than ten or fifteen minutes."

"Can't you go alone?"

"No, but you can," he replied, with a winning smile, which was doubtless intended to lure me into the trap he had set for me. "There are some beautiful swamp flowers a short distance from the shore, and I wish to get a bouquet for Miss Collingsby."

"Can't one carry the bouquet alone?" I asked.

"You are a stout fellow; possibly you could," laughed he. "If you will go, I will tell you where to find the flowers."

"If you know, it would be better for you to go, and I will clear away the dinner things while you are gone."

"We must pull the tender out of the water when we land, and I don't think I can do it alone. I want to turn it over, and get the dirty water out of it, for it really is not fit for a lady to get into. Miss Collingsby says she is not afraid to stay alone for a few moments."

"Very well; if you will stay on board and put away the dishes, I will go on shore alone," I replied, moved to give this answer by a whispered suggestion from Miss Marian.

"All right; but can you turn the boat over alone?"

"Certainly I can; that boat don't weigh more than seventy-five pounds."

Miss Collingsby immediately came on deck, and went to the side where the tender was lying.

"I think I will go with you, Mr. Phil," said she. "I should like to see where the flowers grow."

"But that boat is not fit for a lady to get into in its present condition," interposed Mr. Waterford, annoyed by this new phase of our lady passenger's will.

"It will answer very well for me," she replied.

"Indeed, I cannot permit you to get into that boat; but if you wish to land, we will take it ashore first, and empty out the dirty water."

"O, no! I won't give you all that trouble," added she, retreating to the cabin again.

"I will go down and put out my fire, and then I shall be ready," I continued, following her below.

"Don't leave me, Phil," said Marian, earnestly, but in a low tone.

"If you will trust the matter to me, I will manage it right," I replied. "But I wish to let him have his own way for the present."

"But you see now that he wants to leave you on shore."

"I have no doubt of that; still I wish to go on shore with him. You may be assured that no accident shall happen to you," I answered, as I rattled the stove to convince the skipper that I was busy at the work I had come below to do.

"I am terribly alarmed. All Mr. Waterford's looks and, actions convince me that he means mischief."

"I know he does; he has fully satisfied me on that point. But will you leave the whole matter to me?"

"Yes; but do be very cautious."

"I shall go on shore with him."

"Then he may leave you there."

"No; he cannot do that. I will watch him; and I can swim off to the boat before he can hoist the jib and get under way. Trust me, Miss Collingsby."

"I do trust you; but he may deceive you."

"He will if he can. I cannot afford to be left here, for I have business with Mr. Whippleton for your father's sake, as well as my own."

"You seem to understand yourself very well; but Mr. Waterford is very sharp."

"Perhaps I am; at any rate, he will not leave me on shore."

"Are you ready, Phil?" shouted the skipper, at the companion-way; and I began to think he was a little suspicious of my movements.

"All ready," I replied, and hastened on deck.

I pulled off my coat, and left it in the yacht, so that, in case I had to swim, I should be the less encumbered.

"Throw a bucket into the boat, so that you can wash out the tender," said the skipper.

"I don't know that I can haul the boat up that bank alone, after all," I added, looking at the shore.

"I don't think you can; my plan is the most sensible one. We will both go."

He jumped into the boat, and I followed him. Taking one of the oars, he paddled the tender to the shore, and we landed. Mr. Waterford was evidently a thorough strategist, for he went through all the forms of doing what he had proposed. We hauled the boat out of the water, removed everything movable, and then turned her over.

"Now, Phil, those swamp flowers grow about ten rods from here, on the bank of a little brook. Follow that path, and you will come to the place," said he, pointing into the swamp. "While you are getting them, I will wash out the boat. But don't be gone long, for I can't put the boat into the water without your help."

I thought he could put it into the water without my help, and that he would do it as soon as I was out of sight. I went into a clump of bushes near the spot where he stood, intending to watch his movements, for I wished to be entirely satisfied that he meditated treachery. I wished to be able to justify myself for any step I might be compelled to take.

I did not think Mr. Ben Waterford would have undertaken his present desperate scheme if he had not received some encouragement from Miss Collingsby. She confessed to me that she had listened to him once before, when he suggested an elopement; but she was now, as she began to reap the fruits of complaisance, convinced of her own imprudence. It was necessary for the bold schemer to get rid of me; and he was prepared to part company with me in the most summary manner. If he could do so, it was possible that he might win or drive his fair passenger into compliance with his proposition. She would be rich at some time in the future; but more than this, she was beautiful and accomplished. Her father would not consent to her union with such a character as Waterford. He could only win her by such a bold movement as that upon which he had already entered.

I had not been in the bushes three minutes before Mr. Ben Waterford suddenly changed his tactics. The boat seemed to be no longer unfit for the reception of a lady, and he shoved it down the bank into the water, as though he had suddenly been endowed with a new strength. Of course I expected him to do this; and before he could pick up the oars, I stepped out of my covert, and was prepared to leap into the boat with him; for, though the day was warm and pleasant, I had no fancy for swimming off to the Marian.

"Where are the flowers?" demanded he, with some wrath, which he could not wholly conceal, and apparently taken all aback by my sudden reappearance.

"I didn't find them," I replied, with a good-natured smile, for I was not a little pleased at the checkmate I had put upon my fellow-voyager.

"Did you look?"

"Not much."

"Why didn't you? We don't want to stay here all day," said he, unable to hide his chagrin.

"I am ready to go when you are."

"Why didn't you get the flowers?" growled he.

"To tell the whole truth, I was afraid you would forget that I was on shore, and go on board without me," I answered, laughing.

"You blockhead! What do you mean by that?"

"I'm compelled to believe you have a bad memory; and I fear you forgot to invite the rest of the ladies included in your programme. You might forget me, in the same manner, and this wouldn't be a good place to stay."

"You are growing impudent, Phil."

"No; only prudent."

"Come with me, you lunkhead, and I will show you where the flowers are," said he, rushing towards the path, as though he meant to obtain the flowers or die in the attempt.

"If you know where they are, you can get them alone," I added.

"I do know where they are. You seem to think I am playing a trick upon you; and I want to show you that I am not."

"I don't think you will be able to show me that if I go; so I may as well stay here."

"Come along!"

"I don't think you washed the boat out very nicely. You didn't have time to do it, and you didn't give me three minutes to find and pick the beautiful flowers."

"What is the matter with you, Phil? You seem to have changed your face all of a sudden. What ails you?"

"Nothing at all; never was in better health in my life, thank you."

"Why didn't you get the flowers, then, as you said you would?"

"I didn't say so; you said it. I should have got them, if I hadn't been afraid you would forget I was on shore, and go on board without me."

"What put that into your silly head?"

"You did."

"No, I didn't."

"I don't like to contradict a gentleman; but I had not gone three rods before you shoved the boat into the water, without troubling yourself to wash it out."

"What were you watching me for?" demanded he.

"Because I was afraid you would forget me, as I said."

"What do you mean? What makes you so suspicious?"

"Your conduct; nothing else."

"What have I done?"

"You tried to get rid of me, and intended to leave me here in this inhospitable swamp, away from any human habitation, and with nothing in sight but the railroad and the lake."

"What put such a notion as that into your head, Phil?"

"I have come to the conclusion that you think there is one too many for the present cruise in the Marian. I should not have come, if you had not been so kind as to invite me; and now I don't intend to be left in this swamp."

"Nobody thought of leaving you in the swamp."

"Then you are nobody--which it is not polite to say."

"Come, Phil, we have been good friends, and we won't quarrel now."

"I won't, if I can help it."

"Let us walk up to the place where the flowers grow," said he, leading the way.

I followed him; but I deemed it advisable to keep at a respectful distance from him. His only purpose was to get rid of me, and I did not believe that he would be very scrupulous about the means of doing so. I did not think he would attempt to murder me, or anything of that sort; but Miss Collingsby, and Miss Collingsby's expectations, were the prize for which he was playing. I followed him about twenty rods from the boat, but without seeing anything which looked like flowers. Indeed, I had landed here before; and I should as soon have thought of looking for flowers in the Desert of Sahara as in this region.

Mr. Ben Waterford seated himself on a little hummock, and looked as though he had something more to say. He did not seem to be in any hurry, though Miss Collingsby was alone on board of the yacht; and, as the Florina was also in the lagoon, I could afford to wait as long as he could; so I seated myself on another hummock near him.