Captain Chap; or, The Rolling StonesStockton, Frank R.
General
Captain Chap; or, The Rolling Stones
Stockton, Frank R.
Florida -- Juvenile fiction; Teenage boys -- Juvenile fiction
“I am afraid there is not much hope in that direction,” said the agent
of the company, “for the tug and the disabled schooner do not appear
to have had anything to do with each other. Our belief is that the
tug-boat was driven out to sea by the storm, on account of some of her
machinery getting out of order, and that the persons on board were
probably picked up by some passing vessel, from which we may hear at
any day.”
“But I think,” persisted Helen, “that we ought not to wait for that.
I believe that we ought to go to Norfolk and meet that one-masted
schooner. If Chap and the other boys are on board, I’d like to be there
when they come in.”
Mr. Berkeley had been quietly thinking about the matter, and although
he was very much afraid that there was little reason for supposing that
his dear Phil and the other boys were on board the Cygnet, still he
felt that nothing should be left undone, and that even this little ray
of hope should not be abandoned, and he therefore determined to go to
Norfolk, and as Helen plead so earnestly to go with him, he agreed to
take her.
She asserted that her valise contained everything she needed, and
he assumed the responsibility of taking her upon this trip, feeling
sure that nothing would satisfy Mrs. Webster so much as to know that
something was still being done. He therefore telegraphed to Boontown,
and he and Helen set off for Norfolk as soon as possible.
When they reached Norfolk, the Cygnet had not yet come in. Her passage
down the coast had probably been very slow, and she might have been
also delayed by additional accidents to her sailing-gear, which, from
all accounts, must have been in a very bad condition.
Mr. Godfrey and the young girl walked about the piers and wharves all
the afternoon, and as night approached, and no Cygnet had come in,
Helen went back to the hotel with a fear that the boys had suffered a
second shipwreck.
But early in the morning, word was brought to Mr. Berkeley that the
disabled Cygnet lay in the Roads, and it was not long before he and
Helen were being rapidly rowed out to the schooner.
But when they went on board, they saw no Chap, no Phil, no Phœnix. The
boys had never been on the vessel.
Poor Helen sank down on something, she knew not what it was, and
covered her face with her hands, but in a few minutes afterward Mr.
Godfrey stood before her, and put his hand on her head.
“Helen!” he cried, “look up. I have splendid news!”
Helen gave a start, and looking at Mr. Berkeley, she saw that his eyes
were sparkling, and that his face was glowing with delight.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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