The terrors of the War of the Rebellion had driven the old man to convert his property into gold, which he had concealed3 so effectually that no one could find it. His only son, more patriotic4 than his father, had enlisted5 in the loyal army, and had been severely6 wounded in the brave and faithful discharge of his duty, and returned to the home of his childhood a wreck7 of his former self.
His father died during his absence, and Paul Belgrave, the soldier, was his sole heir. His physical condition improved considerably8, though he never ceased to suffer from the effects of his wound. The homestead of his father, which had not been sold with the rest of his land, afforded the invalid9 a sufficient support; and he married Maud Nashwood, the only daughter of one of the small magnates of Von Blonk Park, which had now become a thriving town, occupied mainly by business men of New York.
Paul Belgrave was a millionaire without any millions; for he was never able to find the large property of his deceased parent. For ten years he dug over the cellar bottom of the old house, and the ground in the vicinity; but the missing million entirely10 eluded11 his search, and he died as soon as he gave up all hope of finding the treasure.
Mrs. Belgrave was left with their son, then eight years old; but the estate of her husband, with the property of her father, supported her comfortably. The widow had been married at sixteen; and she had the reputation of being the prettiest woman in the Park after her husband died. She had many suitors, but she finally married a handsome English horse-trainer, who called himself Wade12 Farrongate, though that was not his real name.
For some reason not then apparent, this man at once became the enemy of Louis Belgrave; and the war between them raged for several years, though the young man did all he could to conciliate his stepfather. The man was a rascal13, a villain14 to the very core of his being, though he had attained15 a position of considerable influence among the sporting gentry16 of New York and New Jersey, mainly for his skill as a jockey, and in the management of the great races.
Louis discovered a plan on the part of Farrongate to appropriate the stakes and other money dependent upon the great race of the season, and escape to England with his wife and stepson. In this scheme Louis, after he had obtained the evidence of the jockey's villany, went on board of the steamer which was to convey them all over the ocean, and succeeded, with no little difficulty, in convincing his mother of the unworthiness of her husband; and she returned with her son to Von Blonk Park. The young man went back to the steamer, and by skilful17 management obtained all the plunder18 of the villain, who sailed for England without his treasure.
Farrongate, or rather John Scoble, which was his real name, was a deserter from the British army. He was arrested on his return, and compelled to serve out the remainder of his term of service. The death of an uncle in India recruited his finances, and he returned to New York. It afterwards appeared that he had some clew to Peter Belgrave's missing million, and he was therefore anxious to recover the possession of the wife who had repudiated19 him.
A successful conspiracy20 enabled him to convey her to Bermuda. At this stage of the drama, Captain Royal Ringgold, an early admirer of the pretty widow, became an active participant in the proceedings21, and from that time he had been the director of all the steps taken to recover Louis's mother.
In the interim22 of Scoble's absence, Louis, assisted by his schoolfellow and devoted23 friend, Felix McGavonty, had accomplished24 what his father had failed to achieve in ten years of incessant25 search: he had found the missing million of his grandfather, and had become a millionaire at sixteen. The young man fancied that yachting would suit him; and he proposed to Squire26 Moses Scarburn, the trustee of all his property, to purchase a cheap vessel27 for his use.
The spiriting away of his mother gave a new importance to the nautical28 fancy of the young man. Captain Ringgold condemned29 the plan to buy a cheap vessel. He had made a part of his ample fortune as a shipmaster, and had been an officer in the navy during the last half of the War of the Rebellion. He advised the young man's mother, who was also his guardian, and the trustee to buy a good-sized steam-yacht.
A New York millionaire had just completed one of the most magnificent steamers ever built, of over six hundred tons' burden; but his sudden death robbed him of the pleasures he anticipated from a voyage around the world in her, and the vessel was for sale at a reasonable price. The shipmaster fixed30 upon this craft as the one for the young millionaire, declaring that she would give the owner an education such as could not be obtained at any college; and that she could be sold for nearly all she cost when she was no longer needed.
This argument, and the pressing necessity of such a steamer for the recovery of Mrs. Belgrave, carried the day with the trustee. The vessel was bought; and as she had not yet been named, Louis called her the Guardian-Mother, in love and reverence31 for her who had watched over him from his birth. After some stirring adventures which befell Louis, the new steam-yacht proceeded to Bermuda, where Scoble had wrecked32 his vessel on the reefs; but the object of the search and all the ship's company were saved.
The Guardian-Mother returned to New York after this successful voyage, though not till Captain Ringgold had obtained a strong hint that Scoble had a wife in England. The educational scheme of the commander was then fully33 considered, and it was decided34 to make a voyage around the world in the Guardian-Mother. She was duly prepared for the purpose by Captain Ringgold. A ship's company of the highest grade was obtained. The last to be shipped was W. Penn Sharp as a quartermaster, the only vacancy35 on board. He had been a skilful detective most of his life, and failing health alone compelled him to go to sea; and he had been a sailor in his early years, attaining36 the position of first officer of a large Indiaman.
The captain made him third officer at Bermuda, the better to have his services as a detective. He had investigated Scoble's record, and eventually found Mrs. Scoble in Cuba, where she had inherited the large fortune of an uncle whom she had nursed in his last sickness. Scoble had come into the possession of the wealth of a brother who had recently died in Bermuda. He had purchased a steam-yacht of four hundred tons, in which he had followed the Guardian-Mother, and had several times attempted to sink her in collisions.
Officers came to Cuba to arrest him for his crimes at the races, and he was sent to the scene of his villany, where the court sentenced him to Sing Sing for a long term. The court in Cuba decreed that his yacht belonged to his wife; and her new owner, at the suggestion of the commander of the Guardian-Mother, made Penn Sharp, to whom she was largely indebted for the fortune to which she had succeeded, the captain of her. The steam-yacht was the Viking, and Mrs. Scoble sailed in her to New York, and then to England, where she obtained a divorce from her recreant38 husband, and became the wife of Captain Sharp, who was now in command of the Blanche, the white steamer that sailed abreast39 of the Guardian-Mother when the wreck in the Arabian Sea was discovered.
From a sailing-yacht sunk in a squall in the harbor of New York, the crew of the steamer had saved two gentlemen. One was a celebrated40 physician and surgeon, suffering from overwork, Dr. Philip Hawkes. He was induced to accept the commander's offer of a passage around the world for his services as the surgeon of the ship. His companion was a learned Frenchman, afflicted41 in the same manner as his friend; and he became the instructor42 on board.
Squire Scarburn, Louis's trustee, who was always called "Uncle Moses," was a passenger. Mrs. Belgrave had taken with her Mrs. Sarah Blossom, as a companion. She had been Uncle Moses's housekeeper43. She was a good-looking woman of thirty-six, and one of the "salt of the earth," though her education, except on Scripture44 subjects, had been greatly neglected. Felix McGavonty, the Milesian crony of Louis, had been brought up by the trustee, and had lived in his family. The good lady wanted to be regarded as the mother of Felix, and the young man did not fully fall in with the idea.
When Louis recovered the stolen treasure of the jockey, he had applied45 to one of the principal losers by the crime, Mr. Lowell Woolridge, then devoted to horse-racing46 and yachting, for advice in regard to the disposal of the plunder. All who had lost any of the money were paid in full; and the gentleman took a fancy to the young man who consulted him. For the benefit of his son he discarded racing from his amusements. He invited Louis and his mother to several excursions in his yacht; and the two families became very intimate, though they were not of the same social rank, for Mr. Woolridge was a millionaire and a magnate of the Fifth Avenue.
The ex-sportsman was the father of a daughter and a son. At fifteen Miss Blanche was remarkably47 beautiful, and Louis could not help recognizing the fact. But he was then a poor boy; and his mother warned him not to get entangled48 in any affair of the heart, which had never entered the head of the subject of the warning. When the missing million came to light, she did not repeat her warning.
After the Guardian-Mother had sailed on her voyage all-over-the-world, Miss Blanche took a severe cold, which threatened serious consequences; and the doctors had advised her father to take her to Orotava, in the Canary Islands, in his yacht. The family had departed on the voyage; but before the Blanche, as the white sailing-yacht was called, reached her destination, she encountered a severe gale49, and had a hole stove in her planking by a mass of wreckage50. Her ship's company were thoroughly51 exhausted52 when the Guardian-Mother, bound to the same islands, discovered her, and after almost incredible exertions53, saved the yacht and the family.
The beautiful young lady entirely recovered her health during the voyage, and Dr. Hawkes declared that she was in no danger whatever. The Blanche proceeded with the steamer to Mogadore, on the north-west coast of Africa, in Morocco. Here the ship was visited by a high officer of the army of Morocco, who was the possessor of almost unbounded wealth. He was fascinated by the beauty of Miss Blanche, and his marked attentions excited the alarm of her father and mother, as well as of the commander. He had promised to visit the ship again, and take the party to all the noted54 places in the city.
The parents and the captain regarded such a visit as a calamity55, and the steamer made her way out of the harbor very early the next morning, towing the yacht. The Guardian-Mother sailed for Madeira, accommodating her speed to that of the Blanche. The party had been there only long enough to see the sights, before the high official, Ali-Noury Pacha, in his steam-yacht come into the harbor of Funchal.
The commander immediately beat another retreat; but the Fatimé, as the Moroccan steamer was called, followed her to Gibraltar. Here the Pacha desired an interview with Captain Ringgold, who refused to receive him on board, for he had learned in Funchal that his character was very bad, and he told him so to his face. When the commander went on shore he was attacked in the street by the Pacha and some of his followers56; but the stalwart captain knocked him with a blow of his fist in a gutter57 filled with mud. Ali-Noury was fined by the court for the assault, and, thirsting for revenge, he had followed the Guardian-Mother to Constantinople, and through the Archipelago, seeking the vengeance58 his evil nature demanded. He employed a man named Mazagan to capture Miss Blanche or Louis, or both of them.
Captain Sharp, who was cruising in the Viking with his wife, while at Messina found the Pacha beset59 by robbers, and badly wounded. The ex-detective took him on board of his steamer, procured60 a surgeon, and saved the life of the Moor61, not only in beating off the robbers that beset him, but in the care of him after he was wounded. They became strong friends; and both the captain and Mrs. Sharp, who had been the most devoted of nurses to him, spoke62 their minds to him very plainly.
The Pacha was repentant63, for his vices37 were as contrary to the religion of Mohammed as to that of the New Testament64. Captain Sharp was confident that his guest was thoroughly reformed, though he did not become a Christian65, as his nurse hoped he would. Then his preserver learned that the Pacha had settled his accounts with Captain Mazagan, and sold him the Fatimé.
It appeared when Captain Sharp told his story to the commander of the Guardian-Mother at Aden, that Mazagan had been operating on his own hook in Egypt and elsewhere to "blackmail66" the trustee of Louis. The Pacha had ordered a new steamer to be built for him in England; and when she arrived at Gibraltar, he had given the command of her to Captain Sharp, to whom he owed his life and reformation.
At Aden, Captain Ringgold discovered the white steamer, and fearing she was the one built for the Pacha, as Mazagan had informed him in regard to her, he paid her a visit, and found Captain Sharp in command of her. The Moor was known as General Noury here, and he made an abject67 apology to the visitor. Convinced that the Moor had really reformed his life, they were reconciled, and General Noury was received with favor by all the party.
The Blanche was sailing in company of the Guardian-Mother for Bombay when the wreck with several men on it was discovered. And now having reviewed the incidents of the past, fully related in the preceding volumes of the series, it is quite time to attend to the imperilled persons on the wreck.
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1
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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eluded
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| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的过去式和过去分词 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
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wade
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| v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉 | |
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rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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gentry
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| n.绅士阶级，上层阶级 | |
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skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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repudiated
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| v.（正式地）否认( repudiate的过去式和过去分词 )；拒绝接受；拒绝与…往来；拒不履行（法律义务） | |
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conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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interim
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| adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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nautical
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| adj.海上的，航海的，船员的 | |
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condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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attaining
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的现在分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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recreant
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| n.懦夫；adj.胆怯的 | |
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abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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scripture
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| n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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wreckage
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| n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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gutter
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| n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟 | |
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vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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moor
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| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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repentant
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| adj.对…感到悔恨的 | |
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testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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blackmail
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| n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓 | |
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abject
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| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
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