Up The Baltic Part 35

The s.h.i.+p had gone, and every vessel of the squadron had departed with her. Clyde felt that all his trials were ended, and he had nothing more to fear from the big boatswain. He walked confidently to the Victoria Hotel, where he was sure to find his mother. He had even arranged in his mind the reproaches with which he intended to greet her for delivering him over to the savage discipline of the Young America, as he regarded it, and as, doubtless, it was for evil-doers.

He pa.s.sed into the pa.s.sage-way which led to the court-yard. As he entered the office on the right to inquire for Mrs. Blacklock, he encountered Peaks, who no sooner saw him than he laid violent hands upon him.

"Let me alone!" shouted Clyde, struggling to escape from the grasp of his powerful antagonist.

"Not yet, my beauty," replied the boatswain, as he dragged his victim into his own room, which was near the office. "I've been looking for you."

"I want to see my mother," growled Clyde, when he had exhausted his strength in the fruitless struggle to escape.

"I dare say you do; babies always want to see their mothers."

"I'm not a baby."

"Then behave like a man."

Peaks deposited him on a chair, and permitted him to recover his breath.

"Where is my mother?" demanded Clyde.

"She is safe and well, and you needn't bother your head to know anything more about her," answered Peaks. "She has turned over a new leaf, so far as you are concerned, youngster, and is going to have us make a man of you."

"Where is she?"

"No matter where she is."

"Can't I see her?"

"No, sir."

"I must see her."

"Perhaps you must, my hearty; but I don't think she wants to see you till you are a decent young gentleman. She told me to be sure and put you on board of the s.h.i.+p, and I'm going to do it."

"Where is the s.h.i.+p?"

"She sailed for Gottenburg yesterday morning; but we shall find her in good time," replied Peaks, taking a bundle from the bureau, which contained the young Briton's uniform. "Now, my bantam, you don't look like a gentleman in that rig you've got on. Here's your gear; put it on, and look like a man again, whether you are one or not. Those long togs don't become you."

The boatswain unfolded the uniform of Clyde, which he had left in his chamber when he leaped out of the window.

"I'm not going to put on those clothes," protested the unhappy youth.

"No?"

"I'm not!"

"Then I'm going to put them on for you."

"I'll cry murder."

"If you cry anything, I shall put a dirty handkerchief in your mouth.

Look here, my chicken; don't you know that you are making a fool of yourself? You mean to strain your own timbers for nothing. You'll put this rig on anyhow, and it depends on yourself whether you will do it with or without a broken head."

Clyde looked at the clothes and then at the brawny boatswain. It was foolish to resist, and he yielded to the force of circ.u.mstances. He put on the s.h.i.+p's uniform, and threw himself into a chair to await the further pleasure of his tyrant.

"Now you look like a respectable young gentleman, my lad," said Peaks.

"What are you going to do with me?" demanded Clyde, in a surly tone.

"I'm going to keep my eye on you every moment of the time till you are on board of the s.h.i.+p again."

"I want to see my mother before I go."

"It can't be done."

Clyde relapsed into silence. He had never before been subjected to such unheard-of tyranny. It was useless to resist, and the future looked as dark as the present. Probably his mother was in the hotel, but he was not permitted even to see her. Though the boatswain seemed to have it all his own way, he was not at all satisfied with the situation. Mrs. Blacklock and her daughter had gone to ride, but in the course of an hour or two they would return. The waiters would inform her that Clyde had arrived, and she would insist on seeing him.

Though she had fully given up the control of him to the s.h.i.+p, the weakness of the mother might induce her to change her mind. Peaks only desired to discharge the duty with which he had been intrusted. The crew of the second cutter had not yet arrived, and he could not depart with his prisoner before they came. He was perplexed; but being a man of expedients, he decided upon his course in a short time. It was absolutely necessary to seek another hotel, where the dangerous proximity of Mrs. Blacklock might be avoided. The boatswain rang his bell, and sent for the _commissionnaire_ whom he had employed while prosecuting his search for the runaway. When this man came, he ordered a carriage, and paid his bill.

"Now, youngster, we are going to take a ride," said Peaks to his victim.

"Where are you going?"

"That's my affair. If you make a row in the street, I shall just hand you over to the police, who will lock you up in that stone castle over there. You must understand that you are a deserter from your s.h.i.+p, and will be treated so, if you don't behave like a man. Now come with me."

As a deserter from his s.h.i.+p! The boatswain certainly had the weather-gage of him, and the idea of being thrown into prison was absolutely startling to Clyde. He had no doubt the savage boatswain would do all he threatened, and, almost for the first time in his life, he felt no inclination to bully. He stepped quietly into the carriage with Peaks and the _commissionnaire_. The driver was directed to convey the party to the landing-place. The steamer would sail the next morning; but unless the absent crew of the cutter arrived before that time, he could not go in her. Remaining in Christiania, he feared to encounter Mrs. Blacklock, for the honest tar dreaded a lady's power more than the whole battery of a s.h.i.+p of the line. He was fully resolved, if he pa.s.sed through fire and water in doing it, to discharge the duty intrusted to him by the princ.i.p.al. The lady was in the city, and the problem was to keep his charge out of sight of her during the rest of his stay. He might meet her; some one at the hotel might, and probably would, inform her of the arrival of Clyde.

After deliberating for some time, he directed his _commissionnaire_ to procure a boat, in which he embarked with his prisoner and interpreter. By his order the two oarsmen pulled over to the hotel which was located so picturesquely on the island. Taking a room, he ordered dinner for his little party, and contrived to pa.s.s away the afternoon till sunset, when he returned to the city. His man, at his request, conducted him to an obscure hotel, which happened to be the one which Sanford and his friends had just left, to depart by the English steamer. The landlord recognized the uniform which Clyde wore.

"We had more of the young gentleman here," said he, in broken English.

"More of them!" exclaimed Peaks, interested in the intelligence.

"Yes; more as ten of them," added the landlord.

"Arn't they here now?" asked Clyde, who had felt a ray of hope when Peaks brought him to the hotel where he had left his late companions.

"All gone; no more here."

"Where have they gone?" asked the boatswain.

"To Gottenburg. They eat some dinner in my hotel, and at seven o'clock they go in the steamer."

"I saw that steamer go out, but I didn't think the cutter's crew were in her. I'm sorry I didn't know it before," said Peaks, chagrined by this tardy discovery. "How many were there of them?"

"Ten."

"That couldn't be; there were only nine of the crew."

"There was more as ten, but one of them went away."