In obedience to a sign from Uncle Dick the tug steamed off toward Hobart Town, the Stranger filled away on her course, and then the party went into the cabin to talk over the events of the last few days. Frank first told the story of the seizure of the schooner, as he had heard it from the lips of the convict, and described how they had recovered possession of her, giving Archie all the credit for the exploit, as he was in duty bound to do. He laid a good deal of stress on the services rendered by the Doctor, and said all he could in praise of the three foremast hands; but when he proposed that they should be retained as if nothing had happened, Uncle Dick shook his head.
“That will hardly do, Frank,” said he. “As far as I am concerned, I should not hesitate to keep them and trust them as I did before; but we should have no peace if I did. The rest of the men have threatened to take vengeance on them, and every time their liberty was granted there would be trouble, which would probably end in all the crew finding their way into the lockup. I think I had better discharge them.”
Of course that settled the matter. Frank was sorry, for he believed that the three foremast hands were ready to make amends for their misconduct by every means in their power; but he saw the force of the captain’s reasoning, and so he said no more about it.
In accordance with Frank’s request, Uncle Dick then told how he had first discovered the loss of the schooner. He and his friend, Mr. Wilbur, had returned from their ride about nine o’clock, he said, and had gone to bed believing that everything was just as it should be. He never troubled himself about his vessel when he was ashore, for he knew that his officers were able to take care of her.
Just before daylight, the sailors whom Fowler had sent off on that wild-goose chase, came back, having been lost for hours in the bush. They had found the station which Fowler had described to them, and were surprised to learn that no arrangements for a race had ever been made there. Believing that they were the victims of a practical joke they were very indignant, and promised one another that they would square yards with the consul’s clerk before another twenty-four hours had passed over their heads. They put their horses into the inclosure where they found them, went down the bank to hail the schooner for a boat, and were amazed to find that she was gone. Far from suspecting that there was anything wrong, they believed that Uncle Dick had taken Mr. Wilbur and his family out for the excursion that had been so long talked of; and knowing that if this was the case, some of the herdsmen could tell them all about it, they returned to the house and pounded loudly upon the door. The summons was answered by Uncle Dick in person, and the bluejackets were as surprised to see him as he was to learn of the discovery they had just made. An investigation was ordered at once, and it resulted in the finding of the two officers and the rest of the crew, whom the convicts had left bound and gagged in the bushes on the bank.
Uncle Dick did not wait to hear the whole of the story that Mr. Baldwin had to tell; a very few words were enough to let him into the secret of the matter. Accompanied by Mr. Wilbur he set out on horseback for Hobart Town, and the police commissioner being hunted up, the matter was explained to him. That gentleman informed his visitors that there was no war steamer nearer than Melbourne, but she should be sent for at once, and Uncle Dick might go home fully assured that his vessel would be returned to him in a very few days, unless she was burnt or sunk by her convict crew before the man-of-war could come up with her. Uncle Dick, however, did not go home, and neither did Mr. Wilbur. They both remained at Hobart Town and boarded every vessel that came in, to inquire if anything had been seen of the Stranger; but they could gain no tidings of her, and Uncle Dick began to be seriously alarmed. He did not fear for the safety of his vessel—he scarcely thought of her—but he did fear for Frank and his cousin. He remembered what had transpired shortly after Waters and his three friends were rescued from the breakers, and he knew that they had two objects in view when they captured the vessel. One was to regain their liberty, and the other was to make themselves rich by stealing the contents of the strong box. They might succeed in regaining their liberty, if they could elude the war-vessel that had gone in pursuit of them, but they would never make themselves rich as they hoped. There were not more than twenty-five pounds in the safe. When the Stranger was hauled into the dry-docks, Walter had deposited every cent of the vessel’s funds in the bank; and all there was in the strong box now was a little of his own and Eugene’s pocket-money, which they had put in there for safe keeping. Uncle Dick did not like to think what would happen when Waters discovered this fact. Beyond a doubt he would be very angry, and if he acted as he had done on a former occasion, when he allowed his rage to get the better of him, what would become of Frank and his cousin?
“While I was worrying about that it never occurred to me that you were man enough to take care of him,” added Uncle Dick, nodding to Archie.
“I declare it beats anything I ever heard of,” said Featherweight. “I didn’t know you had so much pluck.”
“If you had seen me while I was doing it and after it was done, you wouldn’t give me so much credit,” replied Archie. “I don’t think I was ever before so badly frightened.”
Uncle Dick then went on to say that the war-steamer had returned to Hobart Town about ten o’clock on the morning of the previous day. He and Mr. Wilbur boarded her as soon as she touched the quay, and sought an interview with her commander, who put all their fears at rest by telling them that he had the convicts safe under guard, and that he had left the Stranger in the hands of those who seemed fully competent to take care of her. Uncle Dick was astonished beyond measure to learn how completely the boys had turned the tables upon their captors, and could hardly believe it until he was told that Waters himself had confirmed the story. The English commander further stated that he would have brought the yacht into port under convoy, had it not been for the obstinacy of her captain. Frank having hoisted his colors would not take them down, and as he had no right to do it, and his officers could not be expected to sail under a foreign flag, he had left the Stranger to take care of herself. Uncle Dick laughed when he came to this part of his story, and Frank knew by the stinging slap he received on the back that he had done just as the old sailor himself would have done under the same circumstances.