Adventure stories; Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Sailing -- Juvenile fiction; Ship captains -- Juvenile fiction
After they had talked a while about the trip, they expressed a desire to
see the boat; and Dory went with them to the wharf. They were pleased
with the Goldwing, and directed Dory to procure the provisions and other
supplies for the cruise. They gave him a list of what they wanted, and
Dory could not help thinking of what his uncle said when he found "one
gallon of best Bourbon whiskey" among the articles to be procured.
On the other side of the wharf was the Sylph. The young men from New
York manifested a great deal of interest in the magnificent craft, and
wanted to see more of her. But visitors were not allowed on board, for
her owner said he should as soon think of strangers coming into his
house as into his yacht without an invitation. While the young men were
regretting that they could not see more of the beautiful craft, Captain
Gildrock, with Dory's mother and sister, came down. At his nephew's
request he invited the New Yorkers on board.
Dory had never put his foot on board of the Sylph before, and he was
quite as much interested as his passengers. Mr. Jepson was directed to
show them through the yacht; but, after they had looked into the
engine-room, Mr. Hawlinshed came down the wharf in search of Dory, who
was obliged to postpone his examination until another time.
Mr. Hawlinshed took Dory's hand, but he appeared to be very sad. His
son's trouble caused him a great deal of sorrow: in fact, the bad
conduct of Pearl was the bane of his life. He told Dory that he had sold
his farm in order to get his son away from his evil associates near
Plattsburgh. He had come to the conclusion that Pearl was worse than his
companions. He had done all he could to save him, and had failed. He
was going into a new and sparsely settled region himself, and he had
hoped to take his son there; but Pearl would not go.
"He wanted to buy the boat I have," said Dory. "He thinks you furnished
the money, or at least induced me to buy her, to prevent him from
getting her."
"I knew he wanted to buy the Goldwing; for he had a long talk with me
about her the evening I first saw you, just as I was starting for
Plattsburgh," continued Mr. Hawlinshed. "I think boating has been the
ruin of him. He used to go off with young men of dissolute habits, and I
think this was what first led him astray. He insisted that I should give
him fifty dollars to buy the Goldwing. I refused to do it, and after
much violent talk he rushed away from me. You were present the next time
we met, Dory," said Mr. Hawlinshed.
"Perhaps it would have been better if you had given him the money,"
suggested Dory. "He took one hundred and fifty dollars from Mr. Moody's
room, and I suppose he did it so that he could buy the boat."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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