“Be brief, what is it?”
“My name is not John Calvin Campbell but David Clark.”
“Well I had nothing to do with naming you. Sergeant, bring me the files and the commitment of the prisoner.” (The Captain examines the papers) “I do not care who you are, the commitment does not disclose your name; and my instructions are simply to—‘deliver this prisoner with the letter attached to this commitment to the commandant of the fortress of Barcelona’—and this I am going to do. The letter may mention your name but I have no authority to open it. If a mistake has been made I am not to blame. I must follow my instructions. It is not my business to inquire who you are and why you are held. As we are out of sight of land you will be permitted on the lower deck during the day but at night you will be locked up. That is all.”
————
Wilkinson on his first river venture, at Governor Miro’s suggestion, had engaged Daniel Clark, Sr., to dispose of that portion of his cargo not purchased by the Spanish Government; and Clark, at the Governor’s suggestion, had advanced three thousand dollars on the consignment. Before Wilkinson had left for the Virginia coast he had made arrangements with Clark to represent him in disposing of other consignments; and later through Major Isaac Dunn as intermediary, the agency had ripened into a partnership.
Wilkinson, remaining in Kentucky, was to buy the produce and ship it to New Orleans; there Clark was to [pg 225] sell it; invest the proceeds in such merchandise as the Kentucky trade demanded, which was to be shipped to Wilkinson and sold by him. So long as they were associated, about two years, the business prospered.
————
When Daniel Clark, Jr., learned that David had been carried away on the Spanish frigate he was forced to tell his father the whole transaction.
His father went immediately to the Governor and demanded to know why the son of his first cousin had been made a prisoner, taken aboard ship and transported to Spain.
The Governor was not only greatly surprised but exercised to learn that the prisoner was not the man Wilkinson had requested him to hold. He asked Mr. Clark to excuse him for a moment and going to the captain of the palace guard, sent him at once to apprehend John Campbell.