The Coming Wave; Or, The Hidden Treasure of High Rock, Oliver Optic [story read aloud TXT] 📗

towards the door, followed by Jones, who desired to pay his note.

"Squire Wormbury," called the landlord, "one word."

The usurer walked back to the counter, determined, however, not to prolong the argument.[Pg 329] Mr. Bennington took a well-filled pocket-book from the iron safe, from which he counted out the amount due the squire.

"I thought you said you couldn't pay it," growled Squire Moses, whose heart sank within him when he saw the bottom drop out of the nice little plan—a very stupid one, by the way—which he had arranged with Ethan.

"I didn't say so. I only asked if you would wait till next week," laughed the landlord.

"Fooling with me—were you?" snapped the squire.

"I understood a while ago that the Sea Cliff House was to have a new landlord about the first of July, and I wanted to see how you felt about it to-day."

"Who said so?"

"Well, you and Ethan talked it over together. You were to take possession, if I didn't pay the interest, turn me out and put your son Ethan in."

"Who said I did?"

"No matter about that. You and he had the talk in the parlor of your house; and I can prove it, if necessary."[Pg 330]

But the landlord did not wish to do so, for it would expose Stumpy, who had given the information to Leopold.

"I don't calculate to have anything which the law don't give me," growled Squire Moses, as he picked up his money, and indorsed the payment on the back of the note.

"The law don't give you the Sea Cliff House, and it never will," added Mr. Bennington, as the money-lender turned to leave.

"Hold on, Squire Moses," interposed Jones; "I want to take up that note of mine."

"You needn't pay it yet," replied the usurer, who had over a thousand dollars on hand now, which he had been unable thus far to invest, for he did not believe in the government and the war, and refused to buy bonds.

"I want to pay it now. I won't owe you anything after what I have heard to-day. I'm afraid I shall lose my place," answered Jones.

The debtor and creditor left together. Jones paid his note. People began to believe that it was not prudent to borrow money of Squire Moses, for he was "tricky" as well as hard.

In the course of that day Mr. Bennington[Pg 331] paid every dollar of his indebtedness in Rockhaven. Those who had refused him credit were profuse in their apologies, and some of them confessed that they were "put up to it" by Squire Moses.

The next day the Orion departed, with all her party, for New York.

Mr. Hamilton paid the bill, which amounted to over seven hundred dollars, without a question, and promised to come again the next season. Leopold assisted the party in going on board of the yacht, and shook hands at parting with Rosabel. He watched the vessel, with the beautiful girl waving her handkerchief to him, till she was out of sight. He was sorry to have her go, for it was a pleasure for him to look at her. He had sailed her to High Rock the day before, and she had said a great many pleasant things to him. It was a quiet time at the Sea Cliff House after the departure of the New York guests, but Leopold missed Rosabel more than all others, and even then began to look forward to her return.

[Pg 332]

CHAPTER XVIII. THE COMING WAVE.

By the middle of July the Sea Cliff House was full. The report of the New Yorkers among their friends that this hotel was the best on the coast, induced a great many families and others to seek accommodations at the house. By the first of August Mr. Bennington was obliged to "colonize" his guests in the neighboring houses. The season was a decidedly successful one to him, and his profits more than realized his anticipations. In the fall he paid off the mortgage on his furniture, and the note he owed to the widow Wormbury, and still had a large balance in the bank. The Island House had hardly any business, for people preferred to go to the Sea Cliff, even if they had to take rooms outside of the hotel. Ethan did not make any money that season.[Pg 333]

Leopold had all he could do in the boat, and made a small fortune for himself by taking out parties. He raised his price to six dollars a day, so that he could pay Stumpy two dollars a day for his services. The affairs of Mrs. Wormbury were therefore in excellent condition.

After the season was finished, a man came over from Rockland and took rooms at the Sea Cliff House. He inquired if there was such a person in the place as Joel Wormbury. The guest was very much surprised to learn that he was dead, and in the course of the day went to see his family. He had come to offer Joel a situation on a plantation in Cuba, where he had first met and known the deceased. The visitor was an engineer, by the name of Walker, and had instructed Joel in his business, so that he was able to run an engine on a plantation. Joel had told him his story. He had been picked up by a passenger steamer, and carried to Liverpool. There, after he had been drinking, he was induced to ship as a seaman in a bark bound to Havana, where he first met Walker. He ran away from the vessel, and went with his new friend to the plantation where the latter was employed.[Pg 334]

Joel was a mechanic, and understood an engine very well. Instructed in the details of the business by Walker, he obtained a situation at very good wages. He had written to his wife, but for some reason unknown his letters failed to reach their destination. After working two years on the plantation, he determined to go home, and ascertain what had become of his family. Walker had gone with him to Havana, where Joel changed his money into American gold, and embarked in the Waldo. That was the last his friend had heard of him. Walker had come home on a visit to his relatives in the interior of the state, and wished Joel to return with him.

The mystery was solved; and the visitor declared that his friend had not drank a drop of liquor during the two years he was in Cuba.

It was a great satisfaction to Mrs. Wormbury and her children to hear this good report of the deceased husband and father; and Walker left, sincerely grieved at the death of his friend, whom he highly esteemed.

In the winter Leopold went to the "academy," and studied hard to improve his mind and[Pg 335] increase his knowledge. He applied himself diligently to German, under the instruction of Herr Schlager, so that he could talk in that language with Rosabel when she came the next season, for it must be confessed that he thought a great deal of her.

The spring came, bringing nearer to Leopold the coming of Rosabel. In June a letter from the honorable Mr. Hamilton arrived, announcing the intended visit of the family to the Sea Cliff House, and fixing the time at about the first of July. He engaged his own rooms, and three others for his party and they were to come in the Orion. This was the best of news to Leopold. He was a year older than when he had last seen Rosabel, and had grown much taller and stouter. An incipient mustache was coming on his upper lip,—though he was not yet eighteen,—on which he bestowed some attention. The young ladies in the academy had declared among themselves that he was the handsomest young man in Rockhaven; and with this indorsement there can be no doubt that he was a very good-looking fellow. He dressed himself neatly, out of his own funds, and was very particular in regard to his personal appearance.[Pg 336]

As the first of July approached, he was even more particular than usual. The dawning mustache was carefully trained, so that each hair was in the most eligible position to produce an effect. For a boating dress, he wore a gray woolen shirt, trimmed with pink, and secured in front with black studs. But even in this garb, with his hair nicely combed, his mustache adjusted, his broad shirt-collar, open down to his breast, and held in place by a black handkerchief, tied in true sailor style,—in this garb, even, he was a fellow upon whom a young lady would bestow a second and even a third look, if the circumstances were favorable.

From early morning till dark, on the first day of July, Leopold kept an eye on the sea-board side of the town, looking out for the Orion. She did not appear; but on the afternoon of the next day, he discovered the yacht as she rounded the point on which stood the light-house. Captain Bounce knew his way into the river this time, and in a few moments more the Orion reached the anchorage off the wharf. As soon as Leopold recognized the vessel, he hastened to the Rosabel, his heart beating wildly[Pg 337] with the pleasant excitement of the occasion. Embarking in the sloop, he was soon alongside the Orion. The accommodation-steps were placed over the side for him, and he ascended to the deck.

"I am glad to see you, Leopold," said Mr. Hamilton, extending his hand to the boatman.

"Thank you sir; we are all glad to see you and your family here again," replied Leopold, as he glanced towards the quarter-deck in search of Rosabel. "Are Mrs. Hamilton and your daughter on board?"

"Yes, both of them; but I have a smaller party than I had last year."

At this moment Leopold saw Rosabel emerging from the companion-way. His brown face flushed as he approached her, and she was as rosy as a country girl when she offered him her little gloved hand, which he gratefully clasped in his great paw.

"I am very glad to see you again, Miss Hamilton," said Leopold; and certainly he never uttered truer words in his life.

"And I am delighted to see you again, Leopold," she replied gazing earnestly into his handsome[Pg 338] brown face, and then measuring with her eye his form from head to foot. "How tall and large you have grown!"

We are inclined to believe, from the looks she bestowed upon him, that she fully indorsed the opinion of the young ladies of the academy. Rosabel was taller, more mature, and even more beautiful than when he had seen her last. She was dressed to go on shore; but as soon as she saw Leopold and the Rosabel, a new idea seemed to take possession of her mind.

"I want to go to High Rock this minute!" exclaimed the fair girl. "I have been thinking about the place every day since I was here last year; and I want to go there before I land at Rockhaven."

Her father objected, her mother objected, and the grim old skipper of the Orion declared there would be a shower and a squall, if not a tempest, before night. But Rosabel, though a very good girl in the main, was just a little wilful at times. She insisted, and Leopold was engaged to convey her to the romantic region. He was seventeen and she was fifteen; and no young fellow was ever happier than he was as he took[Pg 339] his place at the helm with Rosabel opposite him in the standing-room.

No other member of the party was willing to join her in the excursion, for Belle Peterson and Charley Redmond were not passengers in the yacht this time. If Leopold had been a young New Yorker, perhaps her father and mother would have objected to her going alone with him. As it was, they regarded him, in some sense, as a servant, and they intrusted her to his care as they would have done with a conductor on the train, or with the driver of the stage. He was simply the boatman to them—a very good-looking fellow, it is true, but not dangerous, because he was not the young lady's social equal. He always treated her with the utmost respect and deference.

The breeze was fresh, and in a few moments Leopold landed her on the narrow beach beneath the lofty rock. The maiden left the boat, climbed the high rock, and wandered about among the wild cliffs and chasms, all alone, for Leopold could not leave the inanimate Rosabel—which the rude sea