Read Ebook: The Young Wild-Fowlers by Castlemon Harry

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Ebook has 1149 lines and 83879 words, and 23 pages

"If the law says they shan't follow that business, I don't see how they are going to help themselves," said Don.

"They can take revenge on any one who incurs their displeasure, can't they? They can and they will. If a person renders himself obnoxious to them, the first thing he knows some of his buildings will go up in smoke, or his boats will be smashed, or the rigging of his yacht cut, or his oyster-bed will be fouled. Why, they don't hesitate to make a fight with the police, if they are surprised at their business. That Baltimore detective, who worked his way into their good graces and joined them in their night excursions, said that the smack he went out in was as thoroughly armed as any little pirate."

"I'd like to go out with them just once in order to see how they operate," said Don, in whom the love of adventure was as strong as it ever had been. "They must see plenty of excitement."

Egan, who was more than half asleep, replied that they probably did, especially while they were dodging the police-boats; but he did not believe that his friend Don would ever learn by personal observation how the big-gunners conducted their business. Well, he didn't; but there were others of our characters who did, and who they were, and how they came to be permitted to accompany the poachers on one of their nocturnal expeditions, shall be told further on.

Don would have been glad to hear more of the big-gunners, but a gentle snore coming from the other side of the room told him that Egan had gone to sleep again; so he rearranged his pillow and prepared to go to sleep himself.

The morning dawned bright and clear, and with just enough frost in the salt air to make it invigorating, and to send the blood coursing through one's veins with accelerated speed. The visitors, who had not been given much opportunity to look about them the night before, were up at the first peep of day, and their host led them out to show them what there was to be seen. As he opened the door and stepped upon the porch, he was greeted by four large, shaggy dogs, which fawned upon him with every demonstration of delight, but showed their white teeth to the other boys when they attempted to scrape an acquaintance with them.

"They are as ugly in disposition as they are homely in appearance," said Curtis. "Egan, why do you keep such worthless brutes about you?"

"They are not worthless," answered the ex-sergeant. "They would sell to-day for two hundred dollars apiece to any one of a dozen men whose names I could mention."

"What makes them so valuable?" asked Curtis. "They don't look as though they are worth feeding."

"I know they are not handsome, but they are very useful," replied Egan. "They are called Chesapeake Bay dogs, and they belong to a breed that are considered to be the best retrievers in the world. You don't need a boat to pick up your wounded ducks when you have one of these fellows in the blind with you, and neither do you have to tell him when to go out after a bird. If you kill half a dozen ducks and wound one, he will swim straight through the dead ones and take after the wounded one; and he'll have it, too, before he comes back to the shore. That one," continued Egan, pointing to the largest of the dogs, "once swam more than three miles through floating ice in pursuit of a wing-tipped canvas-back. Father was in the blind with me, and he was so very much afraid that he was going to lose the dog, that he sent me out in a boat to pick him up. When I overtook him he had the bird, and was striking out for the shore, apparently none the worse for his long cold swim. Dogs of this breed are very enduring while they last, but in the end they are laid up with rheumatism, just as a man would be who spent his life as they do. Now, come with me, and I will show you the swiftest and handiest little boat on the bay. I call her a cutter for short, and that is what almost every one else calls her; but she isn't a cutter--she's a yawl."

The boys followed their host along a broad walk, through an extensive and well-kept flower-garden which, in the proper season, must have been one solid mass of bloom, and down to a little stream that flowed into the bay a short distance from the house. On the bank they found a snug boat-house, which was used as a place of storage for two or three canoes, oyster-dredges, lobster-pots, and various other things which none of the visitors, except Hopkins, knew the use of. One of the canoes having been shoved into the water, the boys got into it, and pushed off toward a couple of little vessels that were riding at anchor in the bay. One of them was an oyster-boat--Don and Bert were sure of that, for in rig and model she corresponded with the descriptions they had read of such vessels; but the other one puzzled them. She was not a sloop, for she had two masts; and yet she was not a schooner, because the mizzen mast, if that was the proper name for it, was stepped close to the stern. But she was a beautiful little vessel they found when they boarded her, and very roomy, too, although she was only seventeen feet in length, with five feet beam. She had a house or hatch on deck, which proved to be the top of the cabin, and a small cock-pit, in which the boy who managed the helm stood or sat while he steered the vessel. The cabin was spacious, owing to the deep, straight sides of the boat, and was provided with two berths, one on each side, which could be turned up against the bulk-head, or let down at pleasure, like the berths in a sleeping-car. Behind the foremast, which came down through the forward end of the cabin, was the alcohol stove, on which the captain and owner cooked all his meals while he was cruising about the bay--that is, when he didn't feel in the humor to go ashore to cook them, or couldn't get ashore on account of the surf. There were two water-tanks, plenty of lockers in which to stow food, clothing, and hunting and fishing accoutrements--in short, she seemed to be perfect in every particular; and Don and Bert, who, as we know, took almost as much delight in a sail-boat as they did in their ponies, were prompt to say so.

"Yes, I am rather proud of her, because she was built according to my own ideas of what a boat for single-handed cruising ought to be," said Egan, as he led the way out of the cabin, and seated himself in the cock-pit. "First and foremost, you can't capsize her. If the Mystery had been built after this model she would have weathered that gale without shipping so much as a bucket of water."

"What do you mean by 'single-handed cruising'?" asked Curtis, continuing the conversation which we have for the moment interrupted. "Can one person handle this boat in all kinds of weather?"

"Certainly; and there is where the beauty of her rig shows itself. If I want to beat in or out of a narrow channel I run up the mainsail only, and then she works like a cat-boat, never missing stays, but keeping her headway clear around. If I am caught out in a gale, I drop the mainsail, and scud along under the jib and mizzen. I have stayed out on the bay alone, fooling around, when boats that were twice as big as this were running for shelter. I expect to lose her some day, but it will be through no fault of my own."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Bert.

"Why, I am accused of having assisted that detective in running those big-gunners to earth last fall," answered Egan. "I didn't do it, but some of their friends saw me talking with the detective on several different occasions, and they know that I detest their business, for I have often said so when perhaps I ought to have kept my tongue still. It is very plain that somebody gave the detective all the information he wanted, and, as I said, these poachers lay it to me. They have sent me word that they intend to get even with me, and that's why I expect to lose my boat."

"Can't you head them off in any way?" asked Don, whose chivalrous nature revolted at the mere mention of so cowardly a way of "getting even." "You are not obliged to stand still and see your property destroyed."

"Of course not, and I don't intend to do it, either," said Egan, in very decided tones. "These boats are guarded every night, and have been for a year. One of our darkies sleeps on board the oyster-boat, and he has two of the retrievers and a loaded musket for company. It will be a cold season when those dogs get left, for they are all ears and nose, and would rather fight than eat when they are hungry. Now, perhaps, we had better go ashore. Breakfast will be ready directly, and then we will take a run down the bay, unless you can think of something else you would rather do."

The boys hastened to assure their host that they couldn't think of anything that would afford them so much pleasure as a sail in his neat little cutter, and so one day's sport was provided for. We may run far enough ahead of our story to say that they thoroughly enjoyed their boat-ride, but whether or not they saw any fun in some things that followed close upon the heels of it, is another matter altogether.

Having drawn the canoe high and dry upon the beach, the boys went into the house and up to Egan's room, which contained his small but well-chosen library, his hunting and fishing outfit, and a few specimens of his skill as a sportsman and cabinet-maker; for Egan understood the use of tools, and spent every stormy day when at home in his shop. Prominent among his specimens was a magnificent white swan which, after being so badly wounded that it could not take wing, had led him a two hours' chase in the teeth of a fierce gale, and through water covered with huge cakes of ice, that every now and then were thrown by the waves against the sides of his yacht with force enough to make her tremble all over.

Yes, the boys knew what it was as soon as they looked at it. It was the five dollar bill that the paymaster had given him for the part he had borne in putting down the Hamilton riot. Every boy who was in that fight had received the same amount, and they had one and all declared that nothing could induce them to spend a cent of it; but the pancakes at Cony Ryan's proved to be too strong a temptation for some of them to resist, and our five friends were among the very few who had held to their resolution.

Breakfast being over and a substantial lunch provided, the boys returned to the cutter, which had been christened the "Sallie" by her proud captain and owner. Hopkins declared that she was named after Asa Peters' sweetheart--the one he had intended to take to the show on the day that Don and Egan borrowed his clothes; but the indignant master of the yacht affirmed that there wasn't a word of truth in it, adding that if he had been going to name his boat after anybody's girl, he would have named her after his own, who was by all odds the very handsomest one in America.

Having stowed their guns and cartridge-belts away in one of the lockers, the boys went on deck to get the yacht under way. Egan was the only sailor in the party, but the others, who, during their cruise in the Idlewild in pursuit of Enoch Williams and his band of deserters, had learned to tell a halliard from a down-haul, were able to give him considerable assistance, and in a very few minutes the Sallie was flying down the bay with all her canvas set except the big topsail, which her cautious captain did not think she could stand, seeing that there was no boat for her to race with, and no wing-tipped swan scudding along in front of her.

Being fairly under way, the boys began amusing themselves as live boys generally do when they are entirely satisfied with themselves and their surroundings--by singing songs and telling stories. Egan, who stood at the helm, was roaring out , "I'm going to fight mid Zeigle," when, just as he was saying that he would like to have "sweitzer kase and pretzel" for rations rather than "salty pork," the Sallie shot around a low point which jutted out into the bay, and bore swiftly down upon what appeared to be an immense flock of canvas-backs and red-heads. They were floating about among the waves with their heads erect, as if they were on the point of taking wing, while about two hundred yards farther down the bay, approaching on rapid pinion, was another and much larger flock, which was already beginning to "swing" as if preparing to alight among the ducks on the water.

"Great Scott!" cried Don, making a headlong rush for the companion ladder. "Why didn't I bring my gun up with me?"

"Well, that is rich!" exclaimed Egan, with a hearty laugh. "I thought you had hunted ducks often enough to know the difference between a live bird and a decoy. Don't you see that sink-box right in the midst of them?"

Yes, Don saw it, after he had taken another and a closer look, and he saw too that the objects which he had at the first glance mistaken for canvas-backs and red-heads, were wooden counterfeits, so closely resembling live birds in form and coloring that almost anybody, except an expert, would have been deceived.

The approaching flock changed its course as soon as the yacht rounded the point, and having seen them well started on their way toward the middle of the bay, Don turned to look at the sink-boat. It was in reality a floating blind--an anchored box with hinged flaps to keep the waves from washing into it. When these sink-boats are used the gunner lies on his back completely out of sight, and shoots into the passing flocks as they swing to his decoys. The birds he kills are picked up by a confederate, who also skirmishes around in his canoe, putting up every flock he can find, and trying to start them toward the gunner. If the latter has all the sport, he likewise has the hardest part of the work to perform. It is drowning work when the sea comes up suddenly and fills his box full of water before his companion in the canoe can get him out of it; it is freezing work when the wind chops around to the north and drives the rain and sleet before it with cutting force; it is uncertain work when that same wind drives the ducks off shore to the open waters of the bay; and it is tiresome and unpleasant owing to the cramped position the gunner is compelled to occupy. But, as a general thing, he shoots plenty of birds, and those he doesn't shoot he frightens away so that no one else can shoot them.

As Don looked at the sink-boat he saw the occupant's head rise slowly above the side of it. He gazed in every direction to see what it was that had frightened the flock for which he had been so long and patiently waiting, and which he had hoped would alight among his decoys, and finally he turned his face towards the yacht. It was a very savage looking face, thought Bert, who was gazing at it through Egan's binoculars, and that the owner of it felt savage was made evident by the first words he uttered.

When the man in the sink-boat discovered the approaching yacht he laid down his gun, got upon his knees, and shook both his fists at the boy who stood at the helm.

"You're always around when you are not wanted, Gus Egan," said he, fiercely. "If you know when you are well off, you will learn to mind your own business. I've the best notion in the world to send a charge of duck-shot after you."

"He would do it in a minute if he thought he could escape the consequences," said Egan, in a low tone. "He is one of the fellows who has so often threatened me. The detective took his big gun away from him, and now he has to resort to a sink-boat to get birds for market."

"I shouldn't like to make an enemy of that man," observed Bert, as he passed the glass over to Hopkins. "Unless his countenance belies him, he is capable of doing anything."

"His face is a true index to his character," replied Egan. "He is accused of almost everything that's bad, and some day there will be trouble in this neighborhood. He is under indictment for shooting ducks contrary to law, but he says he will get up the biggest kind of a fight before he will be arrested, and he means every word of it."

"If that yawl of yours scares just one more flock of ducks for me, she will never scare another," continued the man in the sink-boat. "You have done about damage enough on this bay by taking the bread out of poor men's mouths, and it is high time you were larnt better manners."

Egan, who did not act as though he had either seen or heard the occupant of the sink-boat, kept the Sallie away a point or two, so as to clear the outer edge of the decoys, and ran on down the bay until he came opposite to a small board cabin that stood on the shore in the midst of a little grove; then he threw the yacht up into the wind and called out: "O Eph!" whereupon an aged negro, who was sitting on a bench beside the open door, arose and hobbled down to the beach, bowing and pulling at his almost brimless hat as he came.

"That's old Eph, the terrapin hunter," observed Egan. "He makes anywhere from ten to forty dollars a week out of his 'birds,' as they are called, but, like the most of his race, he spends his money as fast as he gets it, and what will he do when the rheumatism gets a good grip on him and he has to quit work, I don't know. I suppose he will have to fall back on father for support, because he belonged to our family before the war."

"Terrapins are nothing more nor less than mud-turtles, I believe?" said Curtis, inquiringly.

Egan replied that that was just what they were--turtles that were caught in tide-water; and then he called out to the negro, who had by this time reached the water's edge:

"I say, Eph, have you two or three diamond-backs to spare?"

"Ise allers got some for you, Marse Gus," was Eph's answer.

"All right. Come aboard and get this basket."

The negro stepped into a canoe that lay on the beach close at hand, and a few strokes with the paddle brought him alongside the yacht. The basket containing their lunch was passed down to him with the request that he would have three diamond-backs, cooked in his best style, ready for them at one o'clock sharp. The negro promised compliance and shoved off for the shore, after exchanging a few complimentary remarks with Egan, who, it was plain, was a favorite of his, while the yacht filed away on her course.

"What is a diamond-back?" asked Don, as soon as they were fairly under way.

"It is a terrapin not less than seven inches in length, measuring along the under shell," answered Egan. "They are better than the larger and coarser kinds, just as a two and a half pound yellow pike is better than one that weighs nine or ten pounds. They bring from twenty-five to thirty-six dollars a dozen, while the river turtles are worth only nine dollars; but the latter are extensively used by hotels and restaurants where they are served up as diamond-backs, just as red-heads are served up as canvas-backs. However, as both those species of ducks live on the same kind of food--wild celery--there is not so much difference between them as there is between the tide-water and river terrapin. Hallo! Hand me that glass a moment, Curtis."

The boys looked around to discover what it was that had called forth this exclamation from the skipper, and all they could see was a neat little schooner standing up the bay. Egan leveled the glass at her for a second or two, and then handed it back to Curtis, saying:

"Just as I expected. Now look out for breakers."

Curtis, in turn, took a look at the schooner and was surprised to see that she was manned by academy boys, to wit, Enoch Williams, Jones, and Lester Brigham. As the little vessels dashed by each other, moving swiftly in opposite directions, no sign of recognition was exchanged between the crews. They seldom spoke now.

"Those fellows will be up to some sort of mischief before we see the last of them," observed Curtis, after he had taken a good look at the schooner.

"That is my opinion," said Egan, "and I believe that Enoch has been up to something already. I don't know it to be a fact, but still I am pretty certain that he is hail fellow well met with these big-gunners, and if he is, he will bear watching."

"What is that long black streak out there on the water?" asked Bert, suddenly.

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