CHAPTER II
THE BIG FOUR ARRANGE AN EXCURSION
"What steam-yacht is this, sir?" asked Louis, as he seated himself on a stool in front of the pilot-house.
"She's the Sali'é, sir," replied the man, pointing to the name above his head.
"That's an odd name; is it English?" added the young millionaire.
"Not at all, sir; it is a 'eathen name. She was built on the Clyde for the Grand Mogul of Mogadore; and a very fine craft she is, too, sir."
"But how came she here? This isn't a heathen place, and you don't have a great many Grand Moguls in Gibraltar, I believe."
"Bless you, no, sir! This place is a part of the realm of the Queen of Hengland, which she is likewise also the Hempress of Hindia, and is a Christian sovereign. Is it 'ow comes she 'ere?"
"His it the Queen? His she 'ere?" demanded Felix, opening as though he was immeasurably astonished; and Louis looked at him and shook his head in deprecation of the Milesian's travesty of the language of the present skipper of the Salihé. "If her gracious majesty's here, I'll go ashore and give her the top of the mornin' as the shades of aiv'nin' are gadtherin' forninst the big bit of a rock," continued he, taking his friend's decided hint and promptly acting upon it.
"The Queen which she is not in Gibraltar," replied the skipper, apparently not at all pleased with the style of the last speaker. "I was speaking of the Sali'é, sir, and not of the Queen."
"I beg your pardon, sir; I assure you on the honor of an Oirishman I mint no offince," added Felix, taking off his cap and bowing to the Englishman, entirely appeased by the apology.
"Is it 'ow the steam-yacht comes to be 'ere in Gib, sir? Well, it's a bit hodd 'ow she comes 'ere. The Grand Mogul as owned 'er 'ad a Spanish hengineer which he run away with the Sali'é, and brought 'er to Gib. But the Grand Mogul 'imself was 'ere in 'is big steam-yacht, and the Spaniard which 'e got frightened, and made fast the Sali'é to the Fatimé which it is the Grand Mogul's big yacht, and left for Spain without stopping to wipe the grease off 'is fingers."
"Then the engineer went to Spain?" queried Louis.
"I s'pose 'e did; where helse would a Spaniard go?" replied the skipper with a vacant stare.
"I give it up."
"You gives it hup! If any one gives hup the thief as stole the yacht, the Grand Mogul would cut 'im hup hinto five quarters."
"Four would be enough," interjected Felix.
"Is the Grand Mogul here now?" asked Louis.
"Not in Gib now, and I reckon he went back to Mogadore. He spoke Henglish like a rock scorpion."
"Like a what?" demanded Felix.
"Like a rock scorpion, Flix; and that is a pet name for a person born in Gibraltar," interposed Louis. "Where were you educated?"
"Not among the scorpions, moi darlint."
"Then the Spaniard returned the Salihé to her owner, did he?" asked Louis.
"'E left 'er alongside the Fatimé, and fled like a rat with a cat after 'im. The Grand Mogul was madder'n a bull with a bunch of Chinese fire-crackers tied to 'is tail. 'E couldn't do nothing with the yacht 'ere 'n Gib. 'E offered me ten pounds to sail 'er down to Mogadore; but I wouldn't go to sea in a craft no bigger'n she is. Then 'e sold her 'nd I bought 'er."
"What did you give for her?" inquired Felix.
"A 'undred pounds, which she is worth five 'undred," replied the skipper, whose name, later on, proved to be Giles Chickworth.
"And what do you do with her?" asked Louis.
"I makes 'er pay the interest on what she cost me, and good wages besides. I takes out parties as comes to the Rock," replied Chickworth.
"What do you charge for her?"
"Five shillings an hour, sir; and that's only two pound ten a day, which it is very cheap for a beauty like the Sali'é, sir. Per'aps you young gentlemen would like to take a turn in 'er?" suggested Giles Chickworth.
Louis liked the idea, and the boys had a hasty conference in regard to the matter. The passengers on board had not yet been on shore; for the Viking, whose commander and his wife were their friends, was moored near the Guardian-Mother, and they were having very pleasant times in visiting each other. Three of the young gentlemen had to dine that day with the guests of Mrs. Belgrave; and they thought it would be more agreeable to make the excursion in the evening, when it would be cooler, and the full moon would lend her splendors to the occasion.
"We cannot go now; but we should like to engage the Salihé for this evening at six o'clock," said Louis, at the close of the conference.
"Me and the hengineer is engaged this evening," replied the skipper. "We 'ave to go to a meeting of our society, and I must be there, for I'm the chairman;" and the latter clause seemed to be the idea he particularly wished to convey to his auditors.
"Very well, Mr. Chairman; but will you let the Salihé without the captain or engineer?" inquired Louis.
"Sergeant Files told me as 'ow the Guardian-Mother was owned by a young gentleman in his teens as was sailing in 'er. With all due respect, which is the gentleman as owns 'er?" inquired Chickworth, touching his tarpaulin at random to the big four, as Captain Ringgold sometimes facetiously called them, evidently borrowing the term from a western railroad folder.
With one accord Felix, Morris, and Scott pointed at Louis, as though they were rehearsing a Scriptural tableau of what Nathan said unto David: "Thou art the man!"
"Which his name it is Mr. Belgrave," added Chickworth, taking off his tarpaulin and bowing low to the young gentleman indicated by his companions, for he had more respect for millions than for birth and attainments.
"My name is Louis Belgrave, at your service, Mr. Commander of the Salihé," replied the young millionaire, laughing heartily at the pantomime of his friends and the obsequiousness of the skipper.
"I knowed it was you, sir, from the gentility which it is marked on your honor's face, and shows itself in every motion you make," gushed Mr. Chickworth. "My name which it is Giles Chickworth."
"Mr. Chairman, I move that you use no more blarney; and I should say you had kissed the Blarney stone if you were an Irishman."
"The motion is not seconded, and I can't put it to the 'ouse," said the skipper.
"Put it to yourself and not to the house, and I shall be satisfied. Now, Mr. Giles Chickworth, let us talk business. Will you let the steam-yacht without captain or engineer?"
"Which I will do with the greatest pleasure in the world to a gentleman with millions in his trousers' pocket; for if you wreck or injure the beauty of a craft, you will pay for 'er like the Christian you are."
"Certainly, I will; but we do not intend to wreck or injure her," added Louis, as he proceeded to arrange the terms more definitely.
Everything was satisfactorily adjusted, and Chickworth promised to have the Salihé at the gangway of the ship at six o'clock. The Guardian-Mother had arrived at Gibraltar about noon on the day that the boys discovered the little steam-yacht. The Viking had come a couple of hours sooner. Captain W. Penn Sharp, her commander, had formerly been the third officer of the steamer, and his wife had been intimately connected with the affairs of the Belgrave family.
They came on board of the ship as soon as she was moored; and the rest of the party, including Captain Ringgold, were in the cabin while the big four were bargaining for the use of the Salihé. The two commanders had some business, and the ladies had more to say than could be disposed of in half a day. Fourteen persons sat down at luncheon together, and just escaped the fatal number by one, so that no life was sacrificed to the ominous thirteen.
The boys went on deck as soon as the meal was finished, for they were anxious to see more of the famous Rock, while the rest of the party remained in the cabin. The little steam-yacht cast off her cable, and stood off towards the town, where her enterprising captain probably expected to obtain a job for his boat.
"You have not said anything to Captain Ringgold about this excursion, Louis," suggested Morris Woolridge, as they observed the departing steamer.
"I did not consider it necessary to say anything to him," replied the owner of the Guardian-Mother.
"He will charge you with getting up another adventure like that you three had in the same little craft, or that we had in the felucca off Teneriffe, Sir Louis."
"If there is any adventure in a moonlight excursion in Gibraltar Bay in which you cannot get away more than five miles from the ship, I do not see it," added the young knight-errant, as Uncle Moses and Captain Ringgold insisted upon regarding him.
"I'm go'n' wid ye's, moi darlint, and Oi shall see that no harrum comes to ye's," interposed Felix. "I'll take as good care of ye's as your modther wud if she went wid ye's."
"Then I shall be perfectly safe, Squire Felix; but who will take care of you, my broth of a boy?" laughed Louis.
"St. Patrick hisself, long loife to 'm! is allus on the lukout for me; an' ye've nothin' to faer as long as Oi'm wid ye's."
"We have no pilot for these waters," suggested Scott.
"You can take a look at the big chart of this locality before we go, and then we shall be all right," replied Louis. "The water here is a hundred fathoms deep, and I believe there is only one island in all the bay."
"But there may be shoal places in the northern part of the bay, and it would not be pleasant to get aground and have to stay all night stuck in the mud," argued Scott.
"The tide rises and falls about four feet here; and by the looks it will not be at the flood before nine or ten this evening; and if we get caught, we can work off any shoal without much trouble. You will be the pilot, Scott, and you must study up the tide and the shoals before we leave."
"In what conspiracy are the big four engaged just now?" asked the commander, as he came out of the boudoir, in which was the grand staircase to the state cabin; and those rather high-sounding names were so marked on the plan of the interior of the ship, made by the original owner before she was purchased for the young millionaire. "Do you intend to set Gibraltar Bay on fire, blow up the Rock, or bridge over the Strait?"
"We may set the bay on fire to-night if it will only burn. Do you see that little steam-yacht, Captain, making for the town?" replied Louis, as he pointed to the pretty craft.
"I see her; and she is quite a handsome steam-launch," answered the commander.
"That is the Salihé, in which Flix and I, with the 'middy,' made the voyage from Madeira to Tarifa," added Louis.
"That? It seems to be quite impossible."
"She has been at the gangway, and her captain and owner, Mr. Giles Chickworth, told us all about her, and how he happened to buy her of the Grand Mogul;" and Louis proceeded to relate the entire history of the craft, and to inform the commander that the big four had engaged her for a moonlight excursion on the bay.
Captain Ringgold made no serious objection to the enterprise.