Castlemon Harry
George at the Wheel

"What do you mean by that?" demanded the young pilot, flushing hotly. "If you throw out any more insinuations, I'll send you over the rail into the river. Open that door."

Walker was a full grown man, but George was his equal in stature and weight, and vastly his superior in strength. He looked dangerous as he stood there with his sleeves pushed back and his fists doubled up, and that the clerk thought he was dangerous, was evident from the haste he used in opening the door and stepping aside so that George could pass out.

CHAPTER XVI
WALKER DISCOVERS SOMETHING

George, who was almost ready to boil over with rage, went straight to the lower deck and sought an interview with the chief clerk. That individual saw him coming, and hastened to meet him, for he knew better than to hold any conversation with him just then in the presence of a third party. So great an indiscretion as that would have been the death blow to his plans, which were only half, carried out.

"My dear fellow," said he, in a low tone, taking the young pilot by the arm and leading him toward the jackstaff, "what's the matter with you? You are as white as a ghost."

"A most unfortunate thing has happened," replied George, somewhat mollified by the presence and touch of the man whom he believed to be his friend. "While I was trying to open the safe, Walker came in through the outside door and caught me at it."

"Suppose he did?" said Murray, soothingly. "What of it? Didn't I tell you it was all in the family?"

"Well, you'll find that you have got anything but a peaceable family in your hands if Walker ever speaks to me again as he did when he came into the office," said George through his clenched teeth. "Do you know that he just as good as told me that I was trying to rob the safe? I came within a hair's breadth of knocking him clear across the state of Arkansaw."

As the office was situated on the port side of the boiler-deck, that was the direction in which the second clerk would have gone if George had struck him. Its legislature had not then passed the law declaring that the last syllable of the name of the state should be pronounced as though it were spelled "saw" instead of "sas," but the river men believed, no doubt, that such a law would be passed in time, for they always called it "Arkansaw."

"He even had the impudence to lock the door, as if he were going to keep me a prisoner there," continued George, hotly; "but I tell you, he opened it pretty quickly."

"No matter, no matter," whispered Murray. "Don't talk so loud. It isn't necessary that everybody should know it."

"I don't care who knows it. I can see now that I have been foolish, but I have done nothing wrong. Walker asked me how the key came into my hands, and when I told him that you gave it to me he said plainly that he didn't believe it. But you did give it to me, didn't you?" said George, turning his flashing eyes full upon the chief clerk.

"Of course, I did; certainly."

"Then come up to the office and tell him so," said George, turning Murray around so that he faced toward the stairs leading to the boiler deck.

"My dear fellow, be easy now," said the clerk, coaxingly. "I wouldn't bring you and Walker face to face while you are in such a passion for any money. He is quick-tempered, and said some things he had no business to say, and very likely you did the same. Hold on, now, and let me do the talking," he added, when George withdrew his arm, and doubled up his fists as if he were about to say something emphatic. "I know you think now that your language and your actions were perfectly justifiable, but when you get good-natured, you will be of a different – Oh, yes, you will," said the clerk, seeing that the young pilot shook his head very decidedly. "Never mind; leave it to me, and I'll straighten it all out as smooth as – "

Murray shut one eye, looked at George through the half-closed lids of the other, and spread his open hands before him as if he were smoothing out a table cloth.

"All right. I want you to be in earnest about what you do," said George, throwing all the emphasis he could into his words. "No half-way work, you understand. Walker must be told, in so many words, that you asked me to see if I could open the safe, that you gave me the key, and sat there on your stool and saw me work at it. You did, didn't you?"

Again the flashing eyes, which seemed to shoot forth angry sparks of fire, were turned full upon the clerk, who would no more have dared to deny it, than he would have dared to enter a powder magazine with an uncovered light.

"I don't want anybody to have so poor an opinion of me, and I can depend upon you to explain matters to him, can't I?" continued George. "Make sure work of it while you are about it, for if you don't, I give you fair warning that I shall broach the subject in the presence of witnesses the very first time I can catch you two together."

"George, you may depend upon me to the death," said Murray, solemnly. "You have been a true friend to me since you have been on this boat, and I am truly sorry that my unbounded confidence in you has been the means of bringing about this misunderstanding between you and Walker. Why couldn't he have kept out of the office until you got through?"

"Why couldn't I have let the safe alone?" said George, bitterly. "If I had done that, there would have been no trouble."

"Don't think about it. Go to bed now, and when you get up I shall be able to tell you that it is all right. By the way, George, don't say a word to anybody about it."

"I believe I'll go to Mr. Black and tell him the whole thing," replied the young pilot.

"My goodness, Ackerman, don't do that!" exclaimed Murray, in great alarm. "Can't you see how such a proceeding would injure me? It would get to Richardson's ears, of course, and he would sack me as soon as he heard of it. Just leave everything to me, and if I don't put you right with Walker, you can take the matter into your own hands."

George agreed to this with some reluctance, although on the face of it it appeared to be a very fair proposition. Acting upon the clerk's advice, he went up to his room and lay down in his bunk to make up for the sleep he had lost the night before while standing at the wheel, and Murray turned toward the office. He went in through the cabin, opened the door with his key and stepped across the threshold, whistling a lively tune; but he stopped very abruptly and looked inquiringly at the second clerk, who was sitting on the high stool, scowling fiercely.

"Hallo! What's the matter with you?" exclaimed Murray.

"Where's the key of the safe?" asked Walker, in reply.

"Well, you could have asked that question without looking at me so savagely, couldn't you?" said the chief clerk, as he stepped to the lower bunk and threw back the pillow. "What do you want of it?"

Walker did not answer. He sat on the stool and watched the movements of his superior, who looked all around the head of the bunk, and then uttering an exclamation of astonishment, began pulling off the quilts. In two minutes more the bed clothes, mattress and all, were piled in the middle of the floor, and Murray was searching his pockets with frantic haste.

"It's gone!" said he, dropping his hands by his side. "Look here, Walker," he almost shouted. "What are you up to? Hand it here."

The second clerk very coolly took the key out of his pocket and laid it upon the desk.

"I came in just in the nick of time," said he. "I found Ackerman trying to open the safe?"

Murray started as if he had been shot, and leaned heavily on the desk for support.

"I have thought all along that you were altogether too free with him," added the second clerk. "Do you generally keep the key under your pillow?"

"Always," replied Murray. "It is safe there, and if I carried it about with me I might lose it, you know."

"Ackerman must have seen you put it there some time, or take it from there," said Walker. "At any rate, he found it as soon as you went out, and went to work on the safe. You ought to have seen his face when I opened the door and surprised him. I tell you, Murray, that boy is a hard community. One would think that he would have been overwhelmed with fear and shame when he found that he was caught, but he wasn't. He tried to explain matters by saying that you had given him the key and the combination, too, and told him to open the safe if he could."

"What a villain!" exclaimed Murray, indignantly.

"Of course he is. When he saw that I couldn't swallow any such story as that, he showed fight. I locked the door and thought I would keep him in here until you came, but I didn't dare do it."

When the second clerk ceased speaking, Murray looked down at the floor, shook his head and sighed deeply. "So that's what he has been hanging around me for, is it?" said he. "An hour ago I wouldn't have believed such a thing of him."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know. Wait until I get my wits together so that I can think clearly. Walker, I don't believe I can ever trust anybody again."

"You'd better never trust a stranger. You didn't show your usual good sense in taking up with Ackerman as you did. You ought to go straight to the old man with it. If I were captain of this boat I'd put him and his trunk ashore right here in the woods."

"I'll tell you what I think about it," said Murray, suddenly straightening up, and looking at his assistant as if a bright idea had just occurred to him. "It's an ill wind that blows nobody good, and it seems to me that we can make this thing benefit us in some way. As the matter stands now, I am as likely to be punished as Ackerman is, and in the same way – by being kicked off the boat. I will be accused of negligence of duty. Now, I think I see a way to avoid that, and put a few dollars into the pockets of each of us at the same time."

"I am in for that," said Walker.

"I thought you would be. You say this fellow is a hard one, and that's all the better for us, for he will not be satisfied with making one attempt on the safe. He'll come again, depend upon it, so I say let's hush this matter up, lisp not a word of it to anybody, and keep our eyes open and catch him in the act. Of course Richardson would hear of it, and what would be the result? He'd say: 'Those are wide-awake clerks aboard that boat – honest and always looking out for things. Boys, here's a check for a couple of hundred apiece, to show you that your fidelity is appreciated.' Eh?"

Mr. Walker loved money, and such an argument as this was not without its effect upon him. Murray, seeing by the expression on his face that he had made a point, hastened to add:

"Now, there is only one way in which this can be accomplished, and that is to make Ackerman believe that we don't suspect him of anything wrong. We'll be friendly and sociable with him, as we always have been, and never refer to the matter in any way. If he says anything to either of us about it, and most likely he will, for these hardened fellows are the very ones to try to face down an accusation by an assumption of innocence, we'll assure him that it is all right. What do you think of it?"

"I hardly know," said the second clerk, slowly. "I should like to see him punished, for he richly deserves it."

"Of course he does; but think of the possible reward."

"I do think of it, and that's what makes me hesitate. If I was sure that we could catch him, and that that stingy old Richardson would give us anything" —

"We'll catch him," interrupted Murray. "Don't you worry about that. As for Richardson, he'll come down handsomely. We don't run any risk, you understand, for Ackerman doesn't know the combination."

"But he might blunder on to it," said the second clerk.

"There is not one chance in a thousand," replied Murray confidently.

The result of this interview was that at the end of half an hour the chief clerk had brought his companion around to his way of thinking, and it was agreed between them that they would treat George in the future as they had treated him in the past; that they would act as though they were utterly ignorant of the fact that he had been guilty of any wrong; that if he ever referred to the matter in the presence of either or both of them they would laugh at it; and that while they were exerting themselves to the utmost to make him believe that they still had every faith in his honesty, they would watch him as closely as ever a cat watched a mouse. Having arrived at this understanding, Murray, who wanted to be alone for a few minutes, walked out on the guard, rubbing his hands gleefully as he went.

"If I had the ordering of things I couldn't make them work more to my satisfaction," said he to himself. "There hasn't been a single hitch so far, and if I am sharp there needn't be any at all. I shall be able to pay that note and have a snug sum left over to put into my pocket, and no one will be the wiser for it. Walker and I will be sacked for negligence, but I don't care for that. I wonder what he would think if he knew that he was preparing the way for his own discharge? I must work rapidly now, for my time grows shorter every day. I must be very cautious, too, for Ackerman has shown himself to be a fiery fellow, and if I give him any reason to suspect me, he may knock me clear across the state of Arkansaw."

The young pilot awoke about supper time from a troubled slumber, during which he dreamed that he had been detected in numberless attempts to open safes that contained immense amounts of money, and having made his toilet with great care, he descended to the boiler-deck and began to look around for the clerks. He had made up his mind to one thing, and that was, that that unfortunate affair of the afternoon would have to be satisfactorily settled before he went into the pilot-house that night. The chief clerk had been allowed ample time to explain matters to Walker, and if he hadn't done it, George was determined that he would do it himself.

"I'll take him before the captain, that's what I'll do," said the boy, as he turned toward the cabin after looking in vain for the clerks about the deck. "He knows very well that I never would have thought of touching that safe if he hadn't asked me to do it, and he must tell the captain so in my presence. Of course I shall be sorry to get him into trouble, but I am not going to rest under such an imputation as this any longer."

When George entered the cabin he saw that the window opening into the office was raised, and that the two clerks were at their desk. As he stepped up and rested his arms on the window-sill he thought that Murray started a little and changed color, but Walker greeted him with a cheery "Hollo!"

"What have you to say to me?" demanded the boy without returning the salutation.

"That I was a fool for my suspicions," answered Walker. "It's all square. What a scoundrel he is," said the second clerk, to himself. "He is actually trying to bluff us down."

"You are satisfied now that I had no intention of stealing your money, are you?" said George.

"Perfectly satisfied as to everything," was the reassuring reply. "Go around to the door and come in."

"No, I thank you," answered George, who had resolved that he would never go into the office again. "I'll stroll around a little before supper, for I must be at the wheel until midnight."

So saying, he turned and walked away, feeling as if a mountain of huge dimensions had been lifted from his shoulders. Why was it that he did not inquire particularly, as to the points upon which Walker had been satisfied? Did he know that Murray had given him the key; that he had asked him to try his skill upon the safe; and that he had watched him while he was at work upon it? The chief clerk was afraid that some such questions as these might be asked, and he was on nettles all the while that George stood at the window.

"I declare, I can't look into Ackerman's face without telling myself that I was dreaming; that I never saw him near the safe," said Walker, leaning his elbows on the desk and looking puzzled. "I don't for the life of me, see how a guilty boy can gaze into a fellow's eyes as squarely as he can."

"O, guilt will stare innocence out of countenance any day," returned Murray, carelessly. "Remember, now, that if he makes another attempt on the safe, we must be on hand to catch him; if he doesn't, we must keep the affair secret. It would hurt us, you know, if it should become known."

Murray took the next day to rest in, and to screw up his courage sufficiently to enable him to carry out the next step in his programme. Everything he had done up to this time, was simply preparatory, and now, that he had got matters arranged to suit him, he was ready to strike his blow. On the morning of the second day, Walker worked at his desk until nine o'clock, and then, after pressing his hand to his forehead several times, he descended from his high stool and proceeded to shut up the office. He put down and hooked the window, that looked out into the cabin; closed and bolted the door that opened out on the guard, as well as the blinds that protected that door, and went out into the cabin, taking pains to satisfy himself that the spring lock on that door did its full duty. Seeing his fellow clerk seated at one of the tables reading a newspaper, he walked up and held out the key to him. There was but one key between them, Walker having managed to lose his own.

"I have a bad headache," said he, "and I am going up in Texas to take a nap. Call me at noon, will you? Here's the key."

"Keep it yourself," replied Murray. "I shall not go near the office until you come down. There's not much to be done, and we can straighten the business up in an hour. Sleep all day if you want to. I'll call you when I want you."

Half an hour after this, Murray laid aside his paper, and arose to his feet. He went out of the cabin, and about fifteen minutes later ascended the stairs that led to the hurricane-deck. He went into Texas, and, after looking all around to make sure that there was nobody in sight, stepped cautiously into George Ackerman's room, and taking his pillow off the bunk thrust something into it. He flattered himself, that this action was entirely unobserved, but such was not the case. No sooner had he gone out, than a black face, which was pressed close against a transom over the door that gave entrance into a stateroom on the other side of the little cabin, was withdrawn; and a moment later, the door was opened, and one of the numerous darkies employed on the boat stepped out. He crept to the door on tip-toe, glanced up and down the deck, and after making sure that the chief clerk had gone below, he ran into George's room, pulled down the pillow and looked into it. Between the pillow and the case, he discovered two articles, one of which, after a moment's hesitation, he put into his pocket. The other he left where he found it; and the pillow he put back in its place on the head of the bunk.

During the rest of the day, the chief clerk could scarcely control himself, so nervous and excited was he. There was something hanging over him, a trying ordeal to be gone through with, and he knew that he would be in the greatest suspense until it was all over. If he succeeded, he would be well out of the last scrape he ever meant to get into; if he failed – but that was something he did not like to think about; and besides, he would not allow himself to believe that there was any chance for failure. His situation was too desperate for that. He must succeed. He did not call the second clerk at noon, and the latter did not get up until three o'clock. Murray saw him when he came down, and went into the barber shop; and as soon as he could do so, without being seen by his assistant, he ran to the lower deck and went back into the engineer's room. He had been there perhaps a quarter of an hour, when Walker, pale and agitated, suddenly made his appearance and seized him by the arm.

"Good, gracious!" exclaimed Murray, while the engineers looked on in amazement. "What's the matter?"

"Say nothing to nobody, but come with me," answered Walker, in a low tone. "You were right when you said that he would make another attempt. He's done it; and more than that, he has been successful. Didn't I tell you that he might blunder on to that combination? Well, he did."

This startling announcement seemed to take away the chief clerk's power of speech. Without saying a word, he allowed Walker to lead him to the boiler-deck and around the guard to the outer door of the office. The room certainly looked as though somebody had been there. The clothing in Murray's bunk was tumbled up, the high stool was overturned, the safe was wide open, the key was gone, one of the panes in the glass door was missing, and the fragments were scattered about over the floor. Murray seemed to be utterly confounded. After standing motionless for a moment, he rushed up to the safe, jerked open a little drawer, and then staggered back to his bunk and fell upon it.

"This is the condition in which I found the room when I entered it a moment ago," said Walker, taking possession of the high stool. "I haven't touched a thing. Before I went to bed this morning, I took particular pains to see that everything was secure. The key of the safe was under your pillow then, for I saw it there."

"How do you suppose he got in?" Murray managed to ask, in a trembling voice. There was no sham about his agitation, but it was not occasioned by the robbery of the safe. The ordeal he so much dreaded, was close at hand; and in spite of the confidence he had thus far felt in the success of his schemes, he feared failure and exposure.

"There is but one way he could have got in," answered the second clerk. "He slipped his fingers in through the blinds and raised the hasp, smashed that pane of glass, and put in his hand and opened the door. Then he found the key under your pillow, stumbled upon the combination, as I was afraid he would, and made off with that big envelope which you put in the drawer with three thousand dollars in it. Say, Murray, your plan didn't work worth a cent, did it? We can just consider ourselves discharged."

"Go out and ask the old man to come in here," said the chief clerk. "This thing has got to be looked into. We'll have to tell him about catching Ackerman here, and explain why we didn't report the matter at once. You must do the talking, for my wits have all left me."

The second clerk was gone scarcely more than a minute, for he found the captain on the boiler-deck. When the latter was conducted into the office he uttered an ejaculation indicative of the profoundest amazement, and seated himself on the bunk by Murray's side. The condition of the room, and the expression on the faces of the two clerks, told him what had happened there.

"When was this done?" he asked, as soon as he found his tongue.

"Sometime between nine and three o'clock," replied Walker, who then went on to tell how the thief had forced an entrance into the office.

"Why, it must be somebody who is acquainted with your way of doing business," said the captain, in deep perplexity. "Now, where shall we look for him? I have seen no one loitering about here except George Ackerman."

"And everything seems to point toward him as the guilty party," exclaimed Murray. "I wish you would have his room searched at once."

"Bless my soul!" cried the captain. "You surely don't suspect him? Well, well!" he added, more in sorrow than anger, when he received an affirmative nod from each of the clerks. "That beats me. I would almost as soon suspect my own son of being a thief."

"I know it is hard to believe," answered Walker, "but, captain, listen to this, and tell us what you think of it."

The second clerk then began and described the incidents that had happened in the office two days before; repeated the conversation which he and Murray had held regarding George's unsuccessful attempt to open the safe; and explained the plans they had laid to catch him, if he were bold enough to make another effort to steal the money. The captain listened in genuine amazement, and after asking a few leading questions, arose to his feet saying:

"This affair must be probed to the bottom and that, too, before we make another landing. Let us go and see if we can find Ackerman. Things look rather black against him, I must confess, but I never will believe that he is the one who broke into this office, until he tells me so."

The captain led the way to the hurricane-deck and into Texas. The boy pilot, having finished his nap, had dressed himself, and was on the point of leaving his room as his visitors entered it. He was about to great them pleasantly, but the words died away on his lips when he saw the way they looked at him.