Facing the Flag: Chapter 4

Chapter 4

THE SCHOONER EBBA.

It was not till the next morning, and then very leisurely, that
the _Ebba_ began to make preparations for her departure. From the
extremity of New-Berne quay the crew might have been seen holystoning
the deck, after which they loosened the reef lines, under the
direction of Effrondat, the boatswain, hoisted in the boats and
cleared the halyards.

At eight o'clock the Count d'Artigas had not yet appeared on deck.
His companion, Serko the engineer, as he was called on board, had not
quitted his cabin. Captain Spade was strolling quietly about giving
orders.

The _Ebba_ would have made a splendid racing yacht, though she had
never participated in any of the yacht races either on the North
American or British coasts. The height of her masts, the extent of
the canvas she carried, her shapely, raking hull, denoted her to be a
craft of great speed, and her general lines showed that she was also
built to weather the roughest gales at sea. In a favorable wind she
would probably make twelve knots an hour.

Notwithstanding these advantages, however, she must in a dead calm
necessarily suffer from the same disadvantages as other sailing
vessels, and it might have been supposed that the Count d'Artigas
would have preferred a steam-yacht with which he could have gone
anywhere, at any time, in any weather. But apparently he was satisfied
to stick to the old method, even when he made his long trips across
the Atlantic.

On this particular morning the wind was blowing gently from the west,
which was very favorable to the _Ebba_, and would enable her to stand
straight out of the Neuse, across Pamlico Sound, and through one of
the inlets that led to the open sea.

At ten o'clock the _Ebba_ was still rocking lazily at anchor, her stem
up stream and her cable tautened by the rapidly ebbing tide. The small
buoy that on the previous evening had been moored near the schooner
was no longer to be seen, and had doubtless been hoisted in.

Suddenly a gun boomed out and a slight wreath of white smoke arose
from the battery. It was answered by other reports from the guns on
the chain of islands along the coast.

At this moment the Count d'Artigas and Engineer Serko appeared on
deck. Captain Spade went to meet them.

"Guns barking," he said laconically.

"We expected it," replied Serko, shrugging his shoulders. "They are
signals to close the passes."

"What has that to do with us?" asked the Count d'Artigas quietly.

"Nothing at all," said the engineer.

They all, of course, knew that the alarm-guns indicated that the
disappearance of Thomas Roch and the warder Gaydon from Healthful
House had been discovered.

At daybreak the doctor had gone to Pavilion No. 17 to see how
his patient had passed the night, and had found no one there. He
immediately notified the director, who had the grounds thoroughly
searched. It was then discovered that the door in rear of the park was
unbolted, and that, though locked, the key had been taken away. It was
evident that Roch and his attendant had been carried out that way. But
who were the kidnappers? No one could possibly imagine. All that could
be ascertained was that at half-past seven on the previous night one
of the doctors had attended Thomas Roch, who was suffering from one of
his fits, and that when the medical man had left him the invalid was
in an unconscious condition. What had happened after the doctor took
leave of Gaydon at the end of the garden-path could not even be
conjectured.

The news of the disappearance was telegraphed to New Berne, and thence
to Raleigh. On receipt of it the Governor had instantly wired orders
that no vessel was to be allowed to quit Pamlico Sound without having
been first subjected to a most rigorous search. Another dispatch
ordered the cruiser _Falcon_, which was stationed in the port, to
carry out the Governor's instructions in this respect. At the same
time measures were taken to keep a strict lookout in every town and
village in the State.

The Count d'Artigas could see the _Falcon_, which was a couple of
miles away to the east in the estuary, getting steam up and making
hurried preparations to carry out her mission. It would take at least
an hour before the warship could be got ready to steam out, and the
schooner might by that time have gained a good start.

"Shall I weigh anchor?" demanded Captain Spade.

"Yes, as we have a fair wind; but you can take your time about it,"
replied the Count d'Artigas.

"The passes of Pamlico Sound will be under observation," observed
Engineer Serko, "and no vessel will be able to get out without
receiving a visit from gentlemen as inquisitive as they will be
indiscreet."

"Never mind, get under way all the same," ordered the Count. "When the
officers of the cruiser or the Custom-House officers have been over
the _Ebba_ the embargo will be raised. I shall be indeed surprised if
we are not allowed to go about our business."

"With a thousand pardons for the liberty taken, and best wishes for a
good voyage and speedy return," chuckled Engineer Serko, following the
phrase with a loud and prolonged laugh.

When the news was received at New-Berne, the authorities at first were
puzzled to know whether the missing inventor and his keeper had fled
or been carried off. As, however, Roch's flight could not have taken
place without the connivance of Gaydon, this supposition was speedily
abandoned. In the opinion of the director and management of Healthful
House the warder was absolutely above suspicion. They must both, then,
have been kidnapped.

It can easily be imagined what a sensation the news caused in the
town. What! the French inventor who had been so closely guarded had
disappeared, and with him the secret of the wonderful fulgurator that
nobody had been able to worm out of him? Might not the most serious
consequences follow? Might not the discovery of the new engine be lost
to America forever? If the daring act had been perpetrated on behalf
of another nation, might not that nation, having Thomas Roch in
its power, be eventually able to extract from him what the Federal
Government had vainly endeavored to obtain? And was it reasonable, was
it permissible, to suppose for an instant that he had been carried off
for the benefit of a private individual?

Certainly not, was the emphatic reply to the latter question, which
was too ridiculous to be entertained. Therefore the whole power of
the State was employed in an effort to recover the inventor. In every
county of North Carolina a special surveillance was organized on
every road and at every railroad station, and every house in town
and country was searched. Every port from Wilmington to Norfolk was
closed, and no craft of any description could leave without being
thoroughly overhauled. Not only the cruiser _Falcon_, but every
available cutter and launch was sent out with orders to patrol
Pamlico Sound and board yachts, merchant vessels and fishing smacks
indiscriminately whether anchored or not and search them down to the
keelson.

Still the crew of the _Ebba_ prepared calmly to weigh anchor, and the
Count d'Artigas did not appear to be in the least concerned at the
orders of the authorities and at the consequences that would ensue, if
Thomas Roch and his keeper, Gaydon, were found on board.

At last all was ready, the crew manned the capstan bars, the sails
were hoisted, and the schooner glided gracefully through the water
towards the Sound.

Twenty miles from New-Berne the estuary curves abruptly and shoots off
towards the northwest for about the same distance, gradually widening
until it empties itself into Pamlico Sound.

The latter is a vast expanse about seventy miles across from Sivan
Island to Roanoke. On the seaward side stretches a chain of long and
narrow islands, forming a natural breakwater north and south from
Cape Lookout to Cape Hatteras and from the latter to Cape Henry, near
Norfolk City, in Virginia.

Numerous beacons on the islands and islets form an easy guide for
vessels at night seeking refuge from the Atlantic gales, and once
inside the chain they are certain of finding plenty of good anchoring
grounds.

Several passes afford an outlet from the Sound to the sea. Beyond
Sivan Island lighthouse is Ocracoke inlet, and next is the inlet of
Hatteras. There are also three others known as Logger Head inlet, New
inlet, and Oregon inlet. The Ocracoke was the one nearest the _Ebba_,
and she could make it without tacking, but the _Falcon_ was searching
all vessels that passed through. This did not, however, make any
particular difference, for by this time all the passes, upon which
the guns of the forts had been trained, were guarded by government
vessels.

The _Ebba_, therefore, kept on her way, neither trying to avoid
nor offering to approach the searchers. She seemed to be merely a
pleasure-yacht out for a morning sail.

No attempt had up to that time been made to accost her. Was she, then,
specially privileged, and to be spared the bother of being searched?
Was the Count d'Artigas considered too high and mighty a personage to
be thus molested, and delayed even for an hour? It was unlikely, for
though he was regarded as a distinguished foreigner who lived the life
of luxury enjoyed by the favored of fortune, no one, as a matter of
fact, knew who he was, nor whence he came, nor whither he was going.

The schooner sped gracefully over the calm waters of the sound, her
flag--a gold crescent in the angle of a red field--streaming proudly
in the breeze. Count d'Artigas was cosily ensconced in a basket-work
chair on the after-deck, conversing with Engineer Serko and Captain
Spade.

"They don't seem in a hurry to board us," remarked Serko.

"They can come whenever they think proper," said the Count in a tone
of supreme indifference.

"No doubt they are waiting for us at the entrance to the inlet,"
suggested Captain Spade.

"Let them wait," grunted the wealthy nobleman.

Then he relapsed into his customary unconcerned impassibility.

Captain Spade's hypothesis was doubtless correct. The _Falcon_ had as
yet made no move towards the schooner, but would almost certainly do
so as soon as the latter reached the inlet, and the Count would have
to submit to a search of his vessel if he wished to reach the open
sea.

How was it then that he manifested such extraordinary unconcern? Were
Thomas Roch and Gaydon so safely hidden that their hiding-place could
not possibly be discovered?

The thing was possible, but perhaps the Count d'Artigas would not have
been quite so confident had he been aware that the _Ebba_ had been
specially signalled to the warship and revenue cutters as a suspect.

The Count's visit to Healthful House on the previous day had now
attracted particular attention to him and his schooner. Evidently, at
the time, the director could have had no reason to suspect the motive
of his visit. But a few hours later, Thomas Roch and his keeper had
been carried off. No one else from outside had been near the pavilion
that day. It was admitted that it would have been an easy matter for
the Count's companion, while the former distracted the director's
attention, to push back the bolts of the door in the wall and steal
the key. Then the fact that the _Ebba_ was anchored in rear of, and
only a few hundred yards from, the estate, was in itself suspicious.
Nothing would have been easier for the desperadoes than to enter by
the door, surprise their victims, and carry them off to the schooner.

These suspicions, neither the director nor the _personnel_ of the
establishment had at first liked to give expression to, but when
the _Ebba_ was seen to weigh anchor and head for the open sea, they
appeared to be confirmed.

They were communicated to the authorities of New-Berne, who
immediately ordered the commander of the _Falcon_ to intercept the
schooner, to search her minutely high and low, and from stem to stern,
and on no account to let her proceed, unless he was absolutely certain
that Roch and Gaydon were not on board.

Assuredly the Count d'Artigas could have had no idea that his vessel
was the object of such stringent orders; but even if he had, it is
questionable whether this superbly haughty and disdainful nobleman
would hove manifested any particular anxiety.

Towards three o'clock, the warship which was cruising before the
inlet, after having sent search parties aboard a few fishing-smacks,
suddenly manoeuvred to the entrance of the pass, and awaited the
approaching schooner. The latter surely did not imagine that she could
force a passage in spite of the cruiser, or escape from a vessel
propelled by steam. Besides, had she attempted such a foolhardy
trick, a couple of shots from the _Falcon's_ guns would speedily have
constrained her to lay to.

Presently a boat, manned by two officers and ten sailors, put off from
the cruiser and rowed towards the _Ebba_. When they were only about
half a cable's length off, one of the men rose and waved a flag.

"That's a signal to stop," said Engineer Serko.

"Precisely," remarked the Count d'Artigas.

"We shall have to lay to."

"Then lay to."

Captain Spade went forward and gave the necessary orders, and in a few
minutes the vessel slackened speed, and was soon merely drifting with
the tide.

The _Falcon's_ boat pulled alongside, and a man in the bows held on to
her with a boat-hook. The gangway was lowered by a couple of hands on
the schooner, and the two officers, followed by eight of their men,
climbed on deck.

They found the crew of the _Ebba_ drawn up in line on the forecastle.

The officer in command of the boarding-party--a first
lieutenant--advanced towards the owner of the schooner, and the
following questions and answers were exchanged:

"This schooner belongs to the Count d'Artigas, to whom, I presume, I
have the honor of speaking?"

"Yes, sir."

"What is her name?"

"The _Ebba_."

"She is commanded by?--"

"Captain Spade."

"What is his nationality?"

"Hindo-Malay."

The officer scrutinized the schooner's flag, while the Count d'Artigas
added:

"Will you be good enough to tell me, sir, to what circumstance I owe
the pleasure of your visit on board my vessel?"

"Orders have been received," replied the officer, "to search every
vessel now anchored in Pamlico Sound, or which attempts to leave it."

He did not deem it necessary to insist upon this point since the
_Ebba_, above every other, was to be subjected to the bother of a
rigorous examination.

"You, of course, sir, have no intention of refusing me permission to
go over your schooner?"

"Assuredly not, sir. My vessel is at your disposal from peaks to
bilges. Only I should like to know why all the vessels which happen to
be in Pamlico Sound to-day are being subjected to this formality."

"I see no reason why you should not be informed, Monsieur the Count,"
replied the officer. "The governor of North Carolina has been apprised
that Healthful House has been broken into and two persons kidnapped,
and the authorities merely wish to satisfy themselves that the persons
carried off have not been embarked during the night."

"Is it possible?" exclaimed the Count, feigning surprise. "And who are
the persons who have thus disappeared from Healthful House?"

"An inventor--a madman--and his keeper."

"A madman, sir? Do you, may I ask, refer to the Frenchman, Thomas
Roch?"

"The same."

"The Thomas Roch whom I saw yesterday during my visit to the
establishment--whom I questioned in presence of the director--who
was seized with a violent paroxysm just as Captain Spade and I were
leaving?"

The officer observed the stranger with the keenest attention, in an
effort to surprise anything suspicious in his attitude or remarks.

"It is incredible!" added the Count, as though he had just heard about
the outrage for the first time.

"I can easily understand, sir, how uneasy the authorities must be,"
he went on, "in view of Thomas Roch's personality, and I cannot but
approve of the measures taken. I need hardly say that neither the
French inventor nor his keeper is on board the _Ebba_. However, you
can assure yourself of the fact by examining the schooner as minutely
as you desire. Captain Spade, show these gentlemen over the vessel."

Then saluting the lieutenant of the _Falcon_ coldly, the Count
d'Artigas sank into his deck-chair again and replaced his cigar
between his lips, while the two officers and eight sailors, conducted
by Captain Spade, began their search.

In the first place they descended the main hatchway to the after
saloon--a luxuriously-appointed place, filled with art objects of
great value, hung with rich tapestries and hangings, and wainscotted
with costly woods.

It goes without saying that this and the adjoining cabins were
searched with a care that could not have been surpassed by the most
experienced detectives. Moreover, Captain Spade assisted them by every
means in his power, obviously anxious that they should not preserve
the slightest suspicion of the _Ebba's_ owner.

After the grand saloon and cabins, the elegant dining-saloon was
visited. Then the cook's galley, Captain Spade's cabin, and the
quarters of the crew in the forecastle were overhauled, but no sign of
Thomas Roch or Gaydon was to be seen.

Next, every inch of the hold, etc., was examined, with the aid of a
couple of lanterns. Water-kegs, wine, brandy, whisky and beer barrels,
biscuit-boxes, in fact, all the provision boxes and everything the
hold contained, including the stock of coal, was moved and probed, and
even the bilges were scrutinized, but all in vain.

Evidently the suspicion that the Count d'Artigas had carried off
the missing men was unfounded and unjust. Even a rat could not have
escaped the notice of the vigilant searchers, leave alone two men.

When they returned on deck, however, the officers, as a matter of
precaution looked into the boats hanging on the davits, and punched
the lowered sails, with the same result.

It only remained for them, therefore, to take leave of the Count
d'Artigas.

"You must pardon us for having disturbed you, Monsieur the Count,"
said the lieutenant.

"You were compelled to obey your orders, gentlemen."

"It was merely a formality, of course," ventured the officer.

By a slight inclination of the head the Count signified that he was
quite willing to accept this euphemism.

"I assure you, gentlemen, that I have had no hand in this kidnapping."

"We can no longer believe so, Monsieur the Count, and will withdraw."

"As you please. Is the _Ebba_ now free to proceed?"

"Certainly."

"Then _au revoir_, gentlemen, _au revoir_, for I am an _habitu�_ of
this coast and shall soon be back again. I hope that ere my return you
will have discovered the author of the outrage, and have Thomas Roch
safely back in Healthful House. It is a consummation devoutly to be
wished in the interest of the United States--I might even say of the
whole world."

The two officers courteously saluted the Count, who responded with a
nod. Captain Spade accompanied them to the gangway, and they were soon
making for the cruiser, which had steamed near to pick them up.

Meanwhile the breeze had freshened considerably, and when, at a sign
from d'Artigas, Captain Spade set sail again, the _Ebba_ skimmed
swiftly through the inlet, and half an hour after was standing out to
sea.

For an hour she continued steering east-northeast, and then, the wind,
being merely a land breeze, dropped, and the schooner lay becalmed,
her sails limp, and her flag drooping like a wet rag. It seemed that
it would be impossible for the vessel to continue her voyage that
night unless a breeze sprang up, and of this there was no sign.

Since the schooner had cleared the inlet Captain Spade had stood in
the bows gazing into the water, now to port, now to starboard, as if
on the lookout for something. Presently he shouted in a stentorian
voice:

"Furl sail!"

The sailors rushed to their posts, and in an instant the sails came
rattling down and were furled.

Was it Count d'Artigas' intention to wait there till daybreak brought
a breeze with it? Presumably, or the sails would have remained hoisted
to catch the faintest puff.

A boat was lowered and Captain Spade jumped into it, accompanied by
a sailor, who paddled it towards an object that was floating on the
water a few yards away.

This object was a small buoy, similar to that which had floated on the
bosom of the Neuse when the _Ebba_ lay off Healthful House.

The buoy, with a towline affixed to it, was lifted into the boat that
was then paddled to the bow of the _Ella_, from the deck of which
another hawser was cast to the captain, who made it fast to the
towline of the buoy. Having dropped the latter overboard again, the
captain and the sailor returned to the ship and the boat was hoisted
in.

Almost immediately the hawser tautened, and the _Elba_, though not a
stitch of canvas had been set, sped off in an easterly direction at a
speed that could not have been less than ten knots an hour.

Night was falling fast, and soon the rapidly receding lights along the
American coast were lost in the mist on the horizon.

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