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Slow and Sure: The Story of Paul Hoffman the Young Street-Merchant, a novel by Horatio Alger |
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Chapter 22. Marlowe Overtakes His Victim |
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_ CHAPTER XXII. MARLOWE OVERTAKES HIS VICTIM On emerging into the street the two boys parted company. It was time for Paul to go back to his business. Julius was more indifferent to employment. He had five dollars in his pocket, and forty-five dollars deposited with Paul. Accustomed to live from hand to mouth, this made him feel very rich. It was a bright, pleasant day, and it occurred to him that it would be very pleasant to make an excursion somewhere, it made little difference to him where. The first place that occurred to him was Staten Island. It is six miles from the city or half an hour by water. The boats start from a pier near the Battery. "Where's he going, I wonder?" thought Marlowe, following at a little distance. As no conversation had passed between the boys about the excursion, he was quite in the dark; but he was determined to follow where-ever it might be. He soon ascertained. Julius met a street acquaintance--Tom Barker, a newsboy--and accosted him. "Tom, come with me." "Where you goin'?" "To Staten Island." "What's up?" "Nothin'. I'm goin' for the benefit of my health. Come along." "I can't come." "Haven't you got the stamps? I'll pay." "I've got to go to Twenty-seventh street on an errand. I'll go with you to-morrow." "Can't wait," said Julius. "I must go alone." "Goin' to Staten Island," thought Marlowe, in exultation. "I'll get a chance at him there." Marlowe had not much money with him, but he had enough to pay the fare to Staten Island--ten cents. So he kept on the track of Julius, and passed the wicket just behind him. The boat was approaching the pier, and they had not long to wait. Julius went to the forward part of the boat, and took a seat just in front of the boiler. Marlowe took a position near, but not too near. He had considerable confidence in his disguise, but did not want to run any unnecessary risk of recognition. It so happened that a few steps from him was a genuine specimen of the profession he was counterfeiting. With the sociability characteristic of a sailor, he undertook to open a conversation with Marlowe. "Hollo, shipmate!" he said. "Hollo, yourself!" said the counterfeit, not over pleased with the salutation. "I thought I'd hail you, seein' we both foller the sea. Have you been long ashore?" "Not long," answered Marlowe. "Where was your last v'y'ge?" "To Californy," answered Marlowe, hesitating. "What craft?" Here was an embarrassing question. Marlowe wished his questioner at the North Pole, but felt compelled to answer. "The--Sally Ann," he answered. "You don't say!" said the other, with animation. "I was aboard the Sally Ann myself, one v'y'ge." "Confound you, I'm sorry to hear it!" thought the impostor. "There's more than one Sally Ann, it's likely," he said. "Who was your captain?" "Captain Rice." "Mine was Captain Talbot." "How long was your v'y'ge, shipmate?" Now Marlowe had no knowledge of the number of days such a voyage ought to take. He knew that the California steamers came in in three or four weeks, and the difference of speed did not occur to him, not to speak of the vastly greater distance round Cape Horn. "Thirty days," he answered, at random. "Thirty days!" exclaimed the sailor, in amazement. "Did you go round the Horn in thirty days?" "Yes, we had favorable winds," explained Marlowe. "He must be crazy, or he's no sailor," thought the true son of Neptune. He was about to ask another question, when Marlowe, who suspected that he had made a blunder, turned abruptly, and walked away. "He ain't no sailor," said the questioner to himself. "He never lived in the forecastle, I know by his walk." Marlowe had not the rolling gait of a seaman, and the other detected it at once. "Went round the Horn in thirty days!" soliloquized the sailor. "That yarn's too tough for me to swallow. What's he got on that rig for?" Meanwhile, Julius looked around him with enjoyment. Cheap as the excursion was, he had but once made it before. It had been seldom that he had even twenty cents to spare, and when he had money, he had preferred to go to the Old Bowery or Tony Pastor's for an evening's entertainment. Now he felt the refreshing influence of the sea breeze. He was safe from Marlowe, so he thought. He had left danger behind him in the great, dusty city. Before him was a vision of green fields, and the delight of an afternoon without work and without care. He was sure of a good supper and a comfortable bed; for had he not five dollars in his pocket? Julius felt as rich as Stewart or Vanderbilt, and so he was for the time being. But he would have felt anxious, could he have seen the baleful glance of the disguised sailor; for Marlowe, though he had changed his seat, still managed to keep Julius in sight. But there was another who in turn watched him, and that was the genuine sailor. The latter was bent on finding out the meaning of the disguise, for disguise he knew it to be. He was not long in discovering that Marlowe was watching Julius with a malignant glance. "He hates the lad," thought the sailor. "Does he mean him harm?" He was making an excursion of pleasure, but he had another object in view. He had a cousin living on Staten Island, and he was intending to make him a call; but this business was not imperative, and he resolved to follow out the present adventure. "If he tries to harm the lad," said the kindhearted sailor, "he'll have to take me too." So while Marlowe watched Julius, he was watched in turn. The boat reached the first landing, and some of the passengers got off. But Julius made no motion to disembark, and of course Marlowe did not. Shortly afterward the second landing was reached; but it was not until the boat touched the third that Julius rose from his seat and descended the stairs to the lower deck. The two sailors followed. Julius walked up the road that leads to the pier. He had no particular destination. He cared little where he went, his main object being to get back into the country. The sailor soon perceived that Marlowe had no object except to follow Julius. All his movements depended upon the boy's. When Julius turned, he turned also. "What has he got ag'in the boy?" thought the sailor. "He shan't harm him if Jack Halyard can prevent it." Marlowe was tall and strong, and a formidable opponent. The sailor was three inches shorter, but he was broad-shouldered, and had an immense chest. It was clear that he was very powerful. He was thoroughly brave also. Fear was a stranger to him, and he did not hesitate for a moment to encounter Marlowe in the boy's defense. Julius kept on. At one place he stopped to watch two boys who were pitching ball to each other. He asked them if he might join in the game; but the boys looked contemptuously at his shabby clothes, and one of them said, rudely: "We don't play with ragamuffins." "I ain't a ragamuffin!" said Julius. "Perhaps you're a gentleman in disguise," said one, with a sneer. "I'm as much of a gentleman as you are," retorted Julius, angrily. "Clear out, you beggar! We don't want you here," said the second boy, arrogantly. Julius walked on indignantly. "They insult me because I am poor," he said to himself. "I'll be rich some time, perhaps." The possibility of becoming rich had never occurred to him before to-day; but Mr. O'Connor's words, and the fifty dollars which had been given him, made him hopeful and ambitious. He had heard that some of the rich men who owned warehouses in the great city had once been poor boys like himself. Might he not rise like them? For the first time in his life he seemed to be having a chance. Marlowe saw him leave the boys with satisfaction. Had Julius stopped to play with them his scheme of vengeance would have been delayed, perhaps frustrated. It would not do for him to attack the boy in the presence of others. But Julius w r as walking away from the village into the interior. If he only went far enough he would be at his mercy. What should he do to him? He might kill him, but killing is rather a dangerous game to play at in a civilized community. "I'll take his money," thought Marlowe, "and beat him within an inch of his life. I'll teach him to betray me!" At length Julius wandered to a spot solitary enough to suit his purpose. Strange to say, the boy had not turned, or noticed his pursuer. Marlowe was quite out of his thoughts. Who would think of finding him in this quiet scene? But he was destined to be rudely awakened from his dream of security. All at once he felt a hand upon his shoulder. Turning quickly, he saw one whom he supposed to be a sailor. "What's wanted?" he asked. "You're wanted." "What for?" asked Julius, not yet recognizing his enemy. "Don't you know me?" asked Marlowe. "No." "But I know you, you young villain!" exclaimed Marlowe, unable longer to repress his fury. "I'm the man you sold along with Jack Morgan. I've got a reckoning with you, my lad, and it's goin' to be a heavy one. I haven't followed you all the way from New York for nothing." _ |
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