CHAPTER XXXII
BACK TO TAKU—CONCLUSION
Now that he had confessed so much, Nuggy Polk seemed anxious to relate all the particulars; and it was a good hour before Gilbert could get away from the sick man. By that time Nuggy was very weak, and the doctor forbade him to talk longer.
Gilbert returned to the encampment with a heart that was as light as a feather. He now knew exactly how matters stood with the Richmond Importing Company; and he felt certain that sooner or later he should come into every dollar which had belonged to his father’s estate.
Nuggy had agreed to put everything into writing; and this document was drawn up two days later, in the presence of Gilbert, Mrs. Bartlett, and one of the prison doctors. At this time Nuggy was feeling fairly well, and the doctor said that it was likely he would be as well as ever in the course of a month or six weeks. The charge made against him by the Bartletts was dropped.
While calling upon Nuggy, Gilbert asked him about Jerry Nickerson, and was told that Nickerson had gone back to Taku, to take the first ship he could get for home. “He is sick of affairs here,” said Nuggy; “and as soon as I got to feeling bad he deserted me. I never want to see him again.”
Shortly after Gilbert and the Bartletts had obtained Nuggy Polk’s confession, the young lieutenant was ordered to Taku, to take charge of some goods which were arriving by transport. He journeyed by rail from Tien-Tsin to Tongku, and was glad to note that the country was now free from Boxers and Chinese troops, and that the natives were going to work again, almost as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
“This campaign is about over,” he reasoned. “The Chinese have been taught a lesson; and they’ll be only too glad to negotiate, through Li Hung Chang, for peace.” And this surmise was correct.
Arriving at Taku, almost the first man Gilbert met was Captain Ponsberry of the Columbia. The captain was as hale and hearty as ever, but rather doubtful concerning the disposition of the cargo he had on board of his vessel.
“We had a mighty reesky time a-gittin’ here,” said the captain. “Run up agin’ two Chinese junks full o’ pirates; but we showed ’em a clean pair o’ heels.”
Gilbert told him of the condition of affairs at Tien-Tsin, and of how he could find Amos Bartlett and Nuggy Polk. The next day the captain journeyed to Tien-Tsin, and spent two days with the Bartletts, paying a visit to Nuggy Polk each day. What was said and done never reached Gilbert’s ears in detail; but later on he found out that the whole matter had been turned over to Amos Bartlett for adjustment, and that Nuggy had written a long letter to his father concerning the state of affairs. This letter came as a thunderbolt to Ramsey Polk; and reaching him as it did, immediately after an interview with the lawyer Gilbert had appointed to take up his case, he found himself so hedged in that he was compelled to bow to the inevitable.