CHAPTER VIII.

A FALSE FRIEND, AND AN OPEN ENEMY.

All night long the poor mother seemed to hear Captain Coffin’s last words, “We have every reason to fear the worst,” repeated over and over; but, as though to comfort her, they were always followed by the thought, “Nothing certain is yet known.” She always tried to find a bright side to her troubles, and by looking steadily at it, to forget that there was any dark side. This plan worked so well now that by morning she had determined to still hope for the best, instead of fearing the worst, until something more definite should be known. This was certainly the wisest thing to do, for more than half of all our troubles are those we think may come, but which, after all, never do come; and hoping steadily for the best goes a long way towards bringing the best to us.

Though all this had nothing to do with bringing Breeze McCloud home, he came nevertheless. While his mother was busy, with almost her usual cheerfulness, preparing breakfast, she heard a joyous shout in the little front yard, the door was burst open, and the next moment her boy’s arms were thrown about her neck.

The _Albatross_ had made a glorious run home, and passed in by Eastern Point at sunrise that morning. The moment she was made fast to her wharf Breeze had jumped into a dory and pulled across the harbor, so as to be the first to tell his mother of his own arrival. He could stay to breakfast, but must get back to the schooner as quickly as possible afterwards, and help discharge the fare of fish she had brought in. One of the boy’s first questions was,

“Is there any news from father yet, mother?”

“Not yet,” was the answer; “but I feel certain there will be soon, and that when it comes it will be good news. How much we shall have to tell him when he does get home, and how proud he will be of you!” she added, fondly.

Her faith in her husband’s return was still as strong as ever, and Breeze had always shared it.

While they were at breakfast there came another shout in the front yard, the door again opened, and before he got fairly inside, Captain Coffin exclaimed, “It’s all right, Mrs. McCloud! The _Albatross_ is in, and Breeze is--”

“Here, and mighty glad to see you, sir!” cried the lad, jumping up from the table to greet the new-comer.

“Bless my soul!” exclaimed the astonished skipper, shaking Breeze heartily by the hand, and gazing at him incredulously, “you have both out-footed and out-pointed me this time. I didn’t suppose the _Albatross_ was tied up yet, and thought I had at least half an hour’s start of you.”

The captain sat down to breakfast with them, and between mouthfuls Breeze tried to give them an outline of his recent adventures. They were all so excited, and Mrs. McCloud had to jump up from the table so often to replenish the plates, that she only received a confused impression that her boy had saved somebody’s life and caught the biggest fish that ever was seen. This, however, satisfied her for the present; the details she could learn afterwards.

As soon as breakfast was over, Breeze started back for the schooner, and Captain Coffin went with him. While they were rowing across the harbor the latter said,

“I’ve got a new schooner, Breeze, and a finer craft was never built in Essex. Her name is the _Fish-hawk_, and she is fitting out for a salt trip to Grand Bank. Don’t you want to ship on her? I can offer you a full share now.”

“I don’t know, sir. It seems as though I ought to stay with mother a few days at any rate.”

“So you can; we sha’n’t get off for a week yet, but I thought I would speak about it now, so that if you decided to go I could hold the place for you. Besides, you could put your dunnage right aboard, which would save you the trouble of carrying it home when the _Albatross_ hauls out for repairs.”

“All right, sir,” said Breeze; “I should like to go with you better than with anybody else, and I guess, inside of a week, I can persuade mother to let me start off again. If you’ve got room for another, I’d like to speak for a berth for a friend of mine too.”

“Do you mean the one you went dorymate with on George’s the other day?” asked the captain, laughing.

“Yes, sir. His name is Wolfe Brady, and he has been on one trawling trip to the Banks already, besides two to George’s.”

“Well, I’ve got about all the men I want, except a cook, and I don’t suppose he can fill that berth, but I’ll take a look at him, and if we suit each other perhaps I can make room for him.”

“If you want a cook,” said Breeze, eagerly, “why not try and get old Mateo? He is the best cook sailing out of Gloucester, and if the _Albatross_ is going to be laid up for some time, perhaps he will go with us.”

“I see that you were cut out for a regular shipping agent,” laughed the captain, “but I’ll get Mateo if I can.”

Everything went well that day. Captain Coffin took a fancy to Wolfe and offered him a berth on the _Fishhawk_ almost as soon as he saw him. Wolfe, who was willing to ship for any kind of a trip, was greatly pleased at the prospect of going with Breeze, and at once accepted the offer.

Old Mateo, too, who, now that his boy had become a sailor, seemed to think it his duty to follow and watch over him, was easily booked as cook of the new schooner.

The big halibut caught by Breeze sold for nearly twenty dollars, and the boy was handed a check for thirty-four dollars as the result of his eight days’ trip to George’s. Wolfe was also made happy by receiving twelve dollars as his share of the three days’ fishing after he had been picked up.

After getting his check cashed, and repaying what old Mateo had loaned him, Breeze carried the rest home to his mother. This money, added to what he had made on the mackerelling trip in the _Curlew_, amounted to sixty-five dollars. It would be hard to tell whether he or his mother was the prouder over this satisfactory result of the boys’ first efforts as a bread-winner.

During the long, happy talk that they had after supper, their one regret was that the father was not there to share their joy, but they spoke hopefully of his coming, and the future looked brighter to them than it had for many a day. Mrs. McCloud was greatly interested in what Breeze had to tell her of his adventure with the New York jeweller who had opened the golden ball. They both examined it minutely, but could discover no joint amid the delicate tracery of its surface. After it had been again restored to its place, Mrs. McCloud cautioned the boy to always guard it carefully, as she felt more than ever certain that some day it would prove of great value to him.

About eight o’clock Breeze started up, saying that he must go back to the schooner after Wolfe Brady. He had invited him to come home to supper and spend the night, but Wolfe had begged for a little time in which to purchase some very necessary additions to his scanty wardrobe, and Breeze had promised to meet him on board the Albatross soon after eight o’clock. Since then he had told his mother all that he knew of the young stranger, and so excited her interest in him that she now sent him an invitation to stay with them as long as he should remain in port.

Kissing his mother good-by, and promising to be back very soon, Breeze left the house; and taking her sewing, Mrs. McCloud sat down to await his return.

Neither Wolfe Brady nor anybody else was to be seen on the _Albatross_ when Breeze reached her. Near by lay the _Fish-hawk_, to which he had transferred his dunnage that afternoon, but she too was deserted. On the opposite side of the wharf lay a shabby-looking old schooner, named _Vixen_, on which several men were still at work, evidently getting her ready for sailing. Breeze asked them if they had seen anybody answering Wolfe’s description about there recently.

“Yes,” answered one of them, “I seen a young feller like that hanging round here ’bout half an hour ago. He came over here and got talking with Hank Hoffer, one of our men, and they walked off uptown together. I expect they’ll be back directly.”

“Did you hear them say where they were going?”

“No; seems to me, though, I did hear Hank say something ’bout Grimes’s. Shouldn’t wonder if they’d gone up there to get a drink.”

Breeze started at the mention of Grimes’s, for he knew it to be one of the lowest and very worst drinking-dens in the town. Such places are not permitted by law to exist in Gloucester, but occasionally they escape the vigilance of the police for a short time, and in them many a sturdy fisherman is tempted to squander the money he has risked his life to earn.

Captain McCloud had seen so much of the pitiful misery and sorrow caused by drink that he had brought Breeze up to regard it with horror. As soon as the boy was old enough to realize what he was doing, he had promised his father that, so long as he lived, he would never touch a drop of any intoxicating liquor. He had never signed a pledge, nor had his father asked him to; for although Breeze was slow to make promises, he would as soon cut off his hand as to break one that he had made, and his father trusted him implicitly.

Now, although he was neither a prig nor a goody-goody boy it distressed Breeze to think of any one whom he called friend visiting Grimes’s. His one hope was that, being a stranger in town, Wolfe did not know what sort of a place it was, and that he would leave it and come back as soon as he discovered its character.

In this hope he waited for half an hour longer, and then, as Wolfe still failed to appear, he determined to go in search of him. He knew pretty nearly where Grimes’s was, and walked in that direction. Very soon he saw several men come out from a dark passage-way and turn down the street, talking and laughing loudly. He followed them until satisfied that Wolfe was not among them, and then returned and waited until another party came out from the same passage-way. His friend did not appear this time, and he felt that he must go in and either satisfy himself that Wolfe was not there, or persuade him to come away if he was.

He walked back and forth several times before he could make up his mind to go in. At last, feeling that he was acting the part of a coward, he entered the passage, and finding a closed door at its farther end, tried to open it. The noise that he made was evidently heard inside, for a slide in one of the upper panels of the door was pushed back a few inches, and a bright light flashed full in his face.

“Who are you?” asked a voice through the opening.

“No matter who I am,” replied Breeze. “I come to look for a friend and I want to be let in.”

“Well, you can’t come in until you’ve told me your name, and whether you are alone or not.”

“My name is Breeze McCloud, if you must have it, and I am alone,” answered the boy.

“That’s all right; I recognize you now,” said the voice, and the next moment the door was thrown open.

Just then two figures came through the dimly lighted hall-way that the open door disclosed, and in the voice of one of them Breeze recognized that of Wolfe Brady.

He waited until they got to where he was standing, and then, taking hold of his friend’s arm, he said, “I’ve been looking for you, Wolfe, and waiting to take you home with me.”

“Hello, Breeze!” exclaimed the other, huskily; “glad to see you, old boy. You’re just in time to go back and have a drink with us.”

“No, thank you,” replied Breeze; “I never drink anything. I only came here to find you, and now I want you to go home with me.”

“Oh, come along in,” said Wolfe’s companion, in a disagreeable tone. “You ain’t afraid, are you?”

“No,” said Breeze, “I’m not afraid; but now that I’ve found my friend there’s no reason why I should go in, and I don’t choose to do so.”

“Well, you needn’t put on any of your high and mighty airs with me,” exclaimed the other, threateningly. “This gentleman is as much my friend as he is yours, and I’m going to prove it by taking him inside again. Come back in, old pard,” he added, grasping Wolfe’s other arm as he stood balancing himself unsteadily between the two.

“No,” said Breeze, decidedly, “he sha’n’t go back;” and with this he endeavored to pull Wolfe through the still open door-way into the street.

Here the door-keeper, who had watched the scene impatiently, interfered, and saying, “I can’t have any disturbance here, gentlemen; you’ll have to settle this business outside,” assisted Breeze to such purpose that the next moment all three were in the street, and the door was closed behind them.

This excited Wolfe’s anger so that he began to kick the door, at the same time screaming to be let in.

“Oh, come, this won’t do!” exclaimed Wolfe’s companion. “This racket’ll bring the police down on us in no time. You see now what a fix you’ve got us into, don’t yer?” he asked, turning to Breeze.

“I see what a fix you’ve got this poor fellow into by bringing him to such a place,” replied the latter, indignantly, “and I hope you feel as ashamed of yourself as you ought to be.”

“None of your preaching!” cried the other, fiercely, “or you and I’ll have a bigger score to settle than we’ve got now. Take hold of him, can’t you? and let’s get away from here before we get nabbed.”

Together they succeeded in pulling Wolfe from the door, and in directing his unsteady steps down the street in the direction of the wharf.

While Breeze was wondering what on earth he should do with his friend in this wretched condition, Wolfe’s intoxication assumed a new form, and he began to yell and sing at the top of his voice.

“Stop that noise, or I’ll take you all in,” shouted a gruff voice behind them.

“Shut up, can’t yer?” exclaimed Wolfe’s companion to him, angrily. “Don’t you hear the police?”

But Wolfe only yelled the louder, and began to revile the police, and dare them to come and get him.

“We must cut for it,” said Hank Hoffer, for this was the name of Wolfe’s companion. “Grab him tight and run him. We’re pretty near there.”

Almost carrying Wolfe between them, the others hurried him along at such a pace as to quite take his breath away and put a stop to any further outcries.

As they reached the wharf Hank said, “Quick, now! let’s get him aboard this schooner. I belong here, and it’ll be all right. We’ll get him below, and put him in a bunk, where they’ll never notice him. Hurry, they’re coming!”

In the excitement of the moment Breeze did not stop to think whether this was a wise thing to do or not; and, only anxious to shield his friend from the consequences of his own folly, he blindly obeyed these instructions.

Wolfe stumbled on the deck of the schooner and fell, striking his head against the wheel. When they got him below he seemed stupid, and blood was flowing from a gash on his forehead.

Pulling forward a bucket of water, and handing Breeze a rag, Hank said, “You sponge him off, and keep him quiet while I go on deck and see whether the police have followed us down here or not.”

Without waiting for an answer, he sprang up the companion-way and pulled the slide over it. Then he went forward, and began to talk in a low tone to the skipper of the schooner, who, with several other men, was on deck. The police had evidently given up the chase some time before, for none were in sight on the wharf.

What Hank Hoffer said to the skipper was, “I’ve brought you a couple of first-class hands, and they’re both drunk down in the cabin; but they’ll be all right to-morrow. They were making such a racket in the streets that the police gave us a run for it. I’m afraid they’ll come after us yet; so, as long as we’re all ready, why don’t you cast off, drop out into the stream, and make a start.”

Now, this skipper was not much liked by those who knew him, nor was his old schooner a popular boat; so he had found it somewhat difficult to get a crew for the trip she was about to make to the Newfoundland Banks. He had, however, succeeded in shipping all but two of the necessary number, and now that these two had come aboard of their own free-will, he saw no reason why he should not take Hank Hoffer’s advice and make a start.

The motion of the schooner was so gentle as she drifted away from the wharf that Breeze, busily bathing his friend’s head, did not notice it. When, however, those on deck began to hoist the sails, he recognized the sound quickly enough, and springing up, tried to push back the companion-way slide. It was locked. Then he began to pound on it furiously, and to shout for somebody to come and unfasten it; but no attention was paid to his outcries.

“It’s only those drunken fellows in the cabin,” explained Hank Hoffer to the rest of the crew; “they’ll quiet down directly.”

So Breeze McCloud and Wolfe Brady sailed away in the old schooner _Vixen_ for Grand Bank, while in the little cottage on the eastern hill an anxious woman sat and waited for their coming.