Chapter 16

A PARTIAL SOLUTION OF THE MYSTERY.

"What does Captain Blastblow mean? Does he mean to run away with the Islander?" demanded Colonel Shepard, when he realized that his steam-yacht was again trying to elude him.

"He must have seen the Sylvania," I replied, very much perplexed by the conduct of the captain of the Islander. "If he stopped at Key West at all, he must have seen us before he started."

"Is it possible to overtake her, Captain Alick?" asked Colonel Shepard, nervously.

"As the case now stands, Captain Blastblow is running away from us. He has some object in view which we cannot comprehend. I have no doubt we can overtake her, for she can't run in behind any keys, or dodge into any unfamiliar channels."

"But I ought not to ask you to pursue her any farther," continued the owner of the runaway steam-yacht. "I know your party wish to stop here, and I will not compel them to go any farther."

"I think we can see all we want to of Key West from the deck," interposed my father. "At any rate, if we wish to spend any time in Key West, it will be easy enough to come back here, for we have the whole summer before us, and the winter, too, if the summer is not long enough."

"I have no desire to stop here, and Margie would much rather continue with her friend, Miss Edith, than stop at this place," added Mr. Tiffany. "We are all quite interested in solving the problem of the intentions of the captain of the Islander."

"We will leave the whole matter to Alick; and whatever he does we will not complain," said my father.

"You are very considerate and kind, gentlemen, and I am under very great obligations to you and to Captain Alick for all the favors you have extended to me," replied the colonel.

"If it is left to me we will chase the Islander," I added. "But we must land our shipwrecked passengers here, and that will take a little time; and I want a pilot, for I don't like to lose any time in those shoal waters and crooked channels."

"Get your boats all ready, Captain Alick, and it won't take five minutes to land me and my men, and I will put your steamer where you can get a pilot in two minutes," interposed Captain Mayfield. "I have no doubt we should have all perished if you had not come to the wreck at no small peril to your vessel; and I hope the time will come when I shall have a chance to do something for you."

"Oh, that's all right," I replied. "I hope I never shall be in a situation to need such help as we had a chance to give you, Captain Mayfield."

I gave the order to clear away the boats, the davits were swung out, and the falls manned ready to drop them into the water without a moment's delay. The ship's company of the Olive shook hands with me, and thanked me very warmly for what the Sylvania had done for them. I was sorry to part with them so hastily, but the anxiety of the colonel seemed to admit of no other course. Captain Mayfield ran the steamer within a hundred yards of the shore by Tift's observatory. He rang to back her, and as soon as she had lost her headway, the two boats were dropped into the water, with two hands in each. They were then brought up to the gangway steps, which had been rigged out for the use of the ladies, who were all ready to embark.

We assisted Mrs. Mayfield and her daughter into the stern-sheets of one, and the captain joined them. The boat shoved off, when the mate and four of the sailors had stowed themselves away. The captain and the ladies waved their adieus as soon as Dyer and Hop began to pull. Before the port boat was off the second mate and the rest of the seamen had piled into the starboard boat, and both were off at nearly the same time.

I saw the seamen in both boats assisting the oarsmen, and the boats went through the water at a lively rate. Not more than two minutes had elapsed before the party were all on shore. Several men hastened up to Captain Mayfield, and I saw him select one of them, who immediately jumped into the port boat. It was hardly a minute more before the boats were under the falls. They were rapidly hoisted up, and swung inboard. The men leaped out of them, and Washburn rang to back the boat into deeper water. The men secured the boats, and the person sent off went into the pilot-house.

I looked at the clock and found we had lost less than ten minutes in landing the wrecked party, during which time the Islander had made over a mile. Moses Brickland had been attending to the furnaces while the boats were absent with the two firemen, and I was sure that he had a good head of steam on. The pilot was a swarthy person, with long black hair, and I had no doubt he was a Conch, as Captain Mayfield had described them to me. He was well dressed in seaman's blue clothes. I rather liked the looks of the man, and began to feel confidence in him as soon as I saw him.

"I am glad to see you, Mr. Pilot," I said, giving him my hand, when I went into the pilot-house after assuring myself that the boats were well secured.

"Thank you, Captain Alick," he replied with a smile.

"As you seem to know my name, it is no more than fair that I should know yours," I replied, as good-naturedly as he had spoken.

"I am called Captain Cayo, but my name is Cazador, which is the Spanish for 'Hunter.' But it don't make much difference what you call me. Cayo is Spanish for Key, and people here are so used to the word that they have given it me for a name. Where are you bound, Captain Alick?"

"To New Orleans, or rather we are bound to overhaul the little steamer, just like this one, which left here not more than half an hour before we arrived," I replied.

"I should have thought it was the same steamer if I had seen both of them at the same time," replied Captain Cayo, who had taken the wheel when he first came into the pilot-house, for he had been engaged to take the Sylvania through the North-West Channel, as it is called. "You wish to overhaul the Islander, do you?"

"Her owner is on board of this steamer, and he is very anxious to get on board of her," I answered.

"Very well; if the Sylvania has the speed we will overhaul her, Captain Alick," added the pilot.

"Where did you learn my name, Captain Cayo, for you called me by it before any one had used it on board; and those who came off in the boat with you invariably call me Captain Garningham?" I inquired, taking up one of the points which had attracted my attention from the first.

"I heard you called so by a gentleman who arrived here by the morning steamer from Cedar Keys."

"Who was the gentleman?" I asked, with interest.

"I don't remember his name, if I heard it at all."

"What time did the Islander get to Key West?"

"Not more than two hours before the Sylvania. I went on board of her to offer my services as pilot. The captain did not want a pilot, for he had a Conch on board who used to live in the city."

"Then this man is now piloting the Islander through this channel?"

"I suppose he is; but I don't think he is a pilot, for he is taking the steamer a long way to the eastward of the bar-buoy. She went pretty near a shoal with only five feet of water on it. I shall make one sea-mile in going five compared with the course of the Islander."

"I am very glad to hear it. What sort of a looking-person was it that came in the morning-boat from Cedar Keys?" I asked.

The pilot described Cornwood as though he were a novelist. Of course I had no difficulty in supposing it was he. In order to get the most reliable intelligence from the pilot, I told him all about the abrupt departure of the Islander from Jacksonville without her owner and his family. I stated my belief that Captain Blastblow was avoiding us, and that he had put to sea as soon as he discovered the Sylvania headed in for Key West. I told him the sudden departure of the other steamer was a great mystery to her owner and all the rest of us.

"I am sure I don't know anything about the matter, Captain Alick. I don't believe the Islander intended to stop at the city, for the man from Cedar Keys----"

"His name is Cornwood," I interposed.

"Cornwood went off in a boat and hailed the Islander. She would not stop till he flourished a letter. I was out in my boat looking for any craft that wanted a pilot, and I was close aboard of her. When she stopped I climbed aboard on one side while Cornwood got aboard on the other side. Instead of delivering the letter to the captain, he said it was for a person supposed to be on board. The captain indulged in strong talk; but Cornwood made some statement I did not hear, which seemed to satisfy him. The steamer came to anchor just outside of Fort Taylor. When the captain told me he did not want a pilot, I left the steamer. As I pulled away, I saw that a sharp lookout was kept over the stern of the Islander, which I can understand now, if I could not then."

"You don't know whether or not Cornwood delivered any letter to the captain of the Islander?" I inquired, with deep interest.

"Very likely he did, but not while I was on board. I pulled up the harbor, and landed the other side of the Lazaretto. Before I reached the shore I saw Cornwood and a swellish-looking fellow rowing to the same landing-place. Cornwood was talking very earnestly to the swell, and continued to do so after they got ashore."

"What did the swell look like?" I asked, wondering who he could be, for I had seen all the crew of the Islander, and could remember no one that looked like a swell.

Captain Cayo gave a minute description of the person; but it would have applied as well to one swell as to another.

"Did you see anything more of Cornwood and this swell?" I asked, somewhat excited over the narrative, and hoping to get some clue to the conspiracy for running off the Islander.

"Cornwood and the young fellow took a seat on a bench near the landing-place, and talked for a full hour. Before they got through I had a sight of this steamer coming up by the West Sambo. I passed quite near them, on my way up the hill to the lighthouse, to see if I could make out your steamer. As I did so, I heard Cornwood call the other fellow Nick."

"Nick!" I exclaimed, looking at Washburn.

"That explains it all," added the mate.

"What does it explain?" asked the pilot, who seemed to be quite as much interested in the case as Washburn and myself were.

"It explains another story I have not told, and which I did not suppose had anything to do with this matter of the running off of the Islander."

I related the affair of the robbery of the messenger of the bank, giving all the details of the case, including the unexplained disappearance of Nick Boomsby. The case looked as plain as day to Washburn and myself. Nick had taken possession of the package of money, and concealed it somewhere under the counter; and doubtless there were holes and corners enough there where it could be put without its being seen by his father. He wanted to get out of Jacksonville as soon as possible after the robbery. He had applied to me, with his pathetic story about being compelled to sell whiskey, and wanted to be taken as a passenger in the Sylvania.

"Nick had the card written by Colonel Shepard, which he delivered the night before we sailed," said Washburn.

"I should like to know what was written on that card," I added.

"Probably it was nothing more than an intimation from the colonel that he should be ready to sail the next morning. He had not room enough on a card to go into the particulars," answered Washburn. "You saw him write the card, Alick."

"There was not more than a line or two on it, for it was done in half a minute, signature and all."

"Captain Blastblow had steam up in the morning, as directed," continued Washburn. "Nick observed the writing closely, and wrote a letter such as he wanted for use the next morning. Captain Blastblow is not to blame, unless it is for letting Nick deceive him."

The case looked plain enough now.