"Mr. Litchfield, sir," said a large, heavy man with a nose burned very red, a travelling cap upon his head, and wearing a stiffly starched shirt which had once been white, no collar, and a waistcoat cut very straight in front, now opened, but intended to be b.u.t.toned up very high, "I believe Mr. Litchfield has voiced the sentiments of us all. As he was speaking, I looked from one brother to another, and I think I am right."

"You are right!" cried every one of the st.u.r.dy fellows who had so recently stepped from Synod to yacht.

"I knew it!" exultingly exclaimed the speaker. "I felt it in my heart of hearts! Madam, and Captain, knowing what we do we are not the men to desert you when it is found necessary to continue the voyage for a little!"

"And what would happen to us if we did leave the yacht?" said another.

"We might simply have to remain at Kingston until you returned. Oh no, we wouldn't think of it!"

"Burke," said Shirley, in a low tone, "who are these people?"

"Can't tell you now," said Burke, his eyes glistening, "you might tumble overboard backwards if I did! Gentlemen," he cried, turning to his crew, "you're a royal lot! And if any of you ever ask me to stand by you, I'll do it while there's breath in my body! And now, madam," said he, his doubt and perplexity gone and his face animated by the necessity of immediate action, "I can't now say anything about your kindness in lending us your yacht, but if you and Miss Croup want to go ash.o.r.e, here is a boat alongside."

"Go ash.o.r.e!" screamed Mrs. Cliff. "What are you talking about? If anybody stays on this yacht, I do! I wouldn't think of such a thing as going ash.o.r.e!"

"Nor I!" cried w.i.l.l.y. "What's got into your head, Mr. Burke,--do you intend to go without eating?"

"Ladies," cried Burke, "you are truly trumps, and that's all I've got to say! And we'll get out of this harbor just as fast as we can!"

"Look here," cried Shirley, running after Burke to the captain's room; "I've got to go ash.o.r.e again and get that cable message! We must have authority to turn that steamer back if we overhaul her, and I've got to have somebody to go with me. But before we do anything you must take time to tell me who these queer-looking customers are that you've got on board."

Burke shut the door of his room, and in as few words as possible he explained how some of the members of the recent Synod happened to be acting as crew of the yacht. Shirley was a quiet and rather a sedate man, but when he heard this tale, he dropped into a chair, leaned back, stretched out his legs, and laughed until his voice failed him.

"Oh, it's all funny enough," said Burke, almost as merry as his friend, "but they're good ones, I can tell you that! You couldn't get together a better set of landsmen, and I tell you what I'll do. If you want anybody to go with you to certify that you are all right, I'll send a couple of parsons!"

"Just what I want!" cried Shirley.

Burke quickly stepped out on deck, and calling the mate, "Mr. Burdette,"

he said, "I want you to detail the Reverend Charles Attlebury and Reverend Mr. Gillingham to go ash.o.r.e with Mr. Shirley. Tell them to put on their parson's toggery, long coats, high hats, and white cravats, and let each man take with him the address of his church on a card. They are to certify to Mr. Shirley. Tell them to step round lively--we have no time to lose!"

Soon after the boat with Shirley and the clergymen had pulled away from the yacht, two of the clerical crew came to Mrs. Cliff, and told her that they were very sorry indeed to say, that having consulted the sailing-master, and having been told by him that it was not at all probable that the yacht would be able to return to Kingston in a week, they had been forced to the conclusion that they would not be able to offer her their services during the voyage she was about to make.

Important affairs at home would make it impossible for them to prolong their most delightful vacation, and as they had been informed that the _Antonina_ would return to New York in a few days, it would be advisable for them to leave the yacht and take pa.s.sage to New York in her. They felt, however, that this apparent desertion would be of less importance than it would have been if it had occurred in the port of Na.s.sau, because now the crew would have the a.s.sistance of Mr. Shirley, who was certainly worth more than both of them together.

When Burke heard this, he said to Mrs. Cliff that he was not sure but what the parsons were quite correct, and although everybody was sorry to lose two members of the party, it could not be helped, and all who had letters to send to New York went to work to scribble them as fast as they could. Mrs. Cliff also wrote a note to Captain Horn, informing him of the state of affairs, and of their reasons for not waiting for him, and this the departing clergymen undertook to leave with Beaver & Hughes, where Captain Horn would be sure to call.

When Shirley reached the counting-house of Beaver & Hughes, he found that it was a great advantage to be backed up by a pair of reverend clergymen, who had come to Kingston in a handsome yacht. The message for Captain Hagar was delivered without hesitation, and the best wishes were expressed that they might be able to overtake the _Dunkery Beacon_.

"Her course will be south of Tobago Island," said Mr. Beaver, "and then if your yacht is the vessel you say it is, I should say you ought to overtake her before she gets very far down the coast. I don't know that Captain Hagar will turn back when he gets this message, having gone so far, but, of course, if it is important, I am glad there is a vessel here to take it to him."

"What sort of a looking vessel is the _Dunkery Beacon_?" asked Shirley.

"She is about two thousand tons," said the other, "has two masts which do not rake much, and her funnel is painted black and white, the stripes running up and down. There are three steamers on the line, and all their funnels are painted that way."

"We'll be apt to know her when we see her," said Shirley, and with a hurried leave, he and his companions hastened back to the wharves.

But on the way a thought struck Shirley, and he determined to take time to go to the post-office. There might be something for him, and he had not thought of it before. There he found a telegraphic message addressed to him and sent from Vera Cruz to New York, and thence forwarded by mail. It was from Captain Horn, and was as long as an ordinary business note, and informed Shirley that the Captain expected to be in Jamaica not long after this message reached Kingston. There was no regular steamer which would reach there in good time, but he had chartered a steamer, the _Monterey_, which was then being made ready for sea as rapidly as possible, and would probably clear for Kingston in a few days. It urged Shirley not to fail to keep the _Dunkery Beacon_ in port until he arrived.

Shirley stood speechless for some minutes after he had read this message. This telegram had come with him on the _Antonina_ from New York! What a fool he had been not to think sooner of the post-office--but what difference would it have made? What could he have done that he had not done? If the Captain sailed in a few days from the time he sent the message, he would be here very soon, for the distance between Kingston and Vera Cruz was less than that from New York. The Captain must have counted on Shirley reaching Jamaica very much sooner than he really did arrive. Puzzled, annoyed, and disgusted with himself, Shirley explained the message to his companions, and they all hastened back to the yacht. There a brief but very hurried consultation was held, in which nearly everybody joined. The question to be decided was, should they wait for Captain Horn?

A great deal was said in a very short time, and in the midst of the confused opinions, Mrs. Cliff spoke out, loudly and clearly. "It is my opinion," said she, "that we should not stop. If fitting out a steamer is like fitting out anything else in this world that I know of, it is almost certain to take more time than people expect it to take. If Captain Horn telegraphed to us this minute, I believe he would tell us to go after that ship with the gold on board, just as fast as we can, and tell them to turn back."

This speech was received with favor by all who heard it, and without a word in answer to Mrs. Cliff, Captain Burke told Mr. Burdette that they would clear for a cruise and get away just as soon as they could do it.

When the yacht had been made ready to start, the two clergymen descended into the boat, which was waiting alongside, and the _Summer Shelter_ steamed out of the harbor of Kingston, and headed away for Tobago Island.

CHAPTER XXV

A NOTE FOR CAPTAIN BURKE

Notwithstanding the fact that the _Summer Shelter_ made very good time, that she had coaled at Na.s.sau, and was therefore ready for an extended cruise, it was impossible for any of those on board of her to conceal from themselves the very strong improbability of sighting the _Dunkery Beacon_ after she had got out upon the wide Atlantic, and that she would pa.s.s the comparatively narrow channel south of Tobago Island before the yacht reached it, was almost a foregone conclusion.

Mr. Burke a.s.sured Mrs. Cliff and his pa.s.sengers that although their chase after the steamer might reasonably suggest a needle and a haystack, still, if the _Dunkery Beacon_ kept down the coast in as straight a line as she could for Cape St. Roque, and if the _Summer Shelter_ also kept the same line, and if the yacht steamed a great deal faster than the other vessel, it stood to reason that it could not be very long before the _Summer Shelter_ overhauled the _Dunkery Beacon_.

But those who consulted with Mr. Portman were not so well encouraged as those who pinned their faith upon the Captain. The sailing-master had very strong doubts about ever sighting the steamer that had sailed away two days before they left Kingston. The ocean being so very large, and any steamer being so very small comparatively, if they did not pa.s.s her miles out of sight, and if they never caught up to her, he would not be in the least surprised.

Four days had pa.s.sed since they left Kingston, when Burke and Shirley stood together upon the deck, scanning the horizon with a gla.s.s. "Don't you think it begins to look like a wild goose chase?" said the latter.

Burke thrust his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

"Yes," said he, "it does look like that! I did believe that we were going to overhaul her before she got outside the Caribbees, but she must be a faster vessel than I thought she was."

"I don't believe she's fast at all," said Shirley. "She's had two days'

start, and that's enough to spoil our business, I'm afraid!"

"But we'll keep on," said Burke. "We're not going to turn back until our coal bunkers tell us we've got to do it!"

Steamers they saw, sometimes two in an hour,--sailing-vessels were sighted, near by or far away;--schooners, ships, or brigs, and these were steaming and sailing this way and that, but never did they see a steamer with a single funnel painted black and white, with the stripes running up and down.

It was very early next morning after the conversation between Burke and Shirley that the latter saw a long line of smoke just above the horizon which he thought might give him reason for looking out for the steamer of which they were in quest; but when he got his gla.s.s, and the masts appeared above the horizon, he saw that this vessel was heading eastward, perhaps a little northeast, and therefore was not likely to be the _Dunkery Beacon_. But in half an hour his gla.s.s showed him that there were stripes on the funnel of this steamer which ran up and down, and in a moment Burke was called, and was soon at his side.

"I believe that's the _Dunkery_!" cried the Captain, with the gla.s.s to his eye. "But she's on the wrong course! It won't take us long to overhaul her. We'll head the yacht a few points to the east. Don't say anything to anybody,--we don't want to disappoint them."

"Oh, we can overhaul her," said Shirley, who now had the gla.s.s, "for it isn't a stern chase by any means."

In less than half an hour everybody on board the _Summer Shelter_ knew that the large steamer, which they could plainly see on the rolling waves to the south, must be the _Dunkery Beacon_, unless, indeed, they should find that this was one of her sister ships coming north. There was great excitement on board the yacht. The breakfast, which was in course of preparation, was almost entirely forgotten by those who had it in charge, and everybody who could possibly leave duty crowded to the rail, peering across the waves to the southward. It was not long before Shirley, who had the best eyes on board, declared that he could read with his gla.s.s the name _Dunkery Beacon_ on the port bow.

"That's not where we ought to see it," cried Burke; "we ought to see it on the stern! But we've got her, boys!"--and then he remembered himself, and added,--"ladies; and now let's give three good cheers!"

Three rousing cheers were given by all on board with such good-will that they would have been heard on the other steamer had not the wind been pretty strong from the west.

The _Summer Shelter_ gained upon the larger vessel, and Burke now ran up signals for her to lay to, as he wished to speak with her. To these signals, however, the _Dunkery_ paid no immediate attention, keeping steadily on, although altering her course towards the south-east.

"What does that mean, Mr. Shirley?" asked Mrs. Cliff. "Mr. Burke wants her to stop, doesn't he?"

"Yes," said Shirley, "that is what the signal is for."