George at the Wheel

"I know it is hard to believe," answered Walker, "but, captain, listen to this, and tell us what you think of it."

The second clerk then began and described the incidents that had happened in the office two days before; repeated the conversation which he and Murray had held regarding George's unsuccessful attempt to open the safe; and explained the plans they had laid to catch him, if he were bold enough to make another effort to steal the money. The captain listened in genuine amazement, and after asking a few leading questions, arose to his feet saying:

"This affair must be probed to the bottom and that, too, before we make another landing. Let us go and see if we can find Ackerman. Things look rather black against him, I must confess, but I never will believe that he is the one who broke into this office, until he tells me so."

The captain led the way to the hurricane-deck and into Texas. The boy pilot, having finished his nap, had dressed himself, and was on the point of leaving his room as his visitors entered it. He was about to great them pleasantly, but the words died away on his lips when he saw the way they looked at him.

CHAPTER XVII

THE KEY OF THE SAFE

"George," said the captain, closing the door behind him, "I am sorry to tell you that Murray's safe has been robbed, that the key and three thousand dollars in money are missing, and that you are supposed to know more about it than anybody else."

The effect of these words can be more readily imagined than described. George could scarcely believe that he had heard aright. His eyes opened to their widest extent, his under jaw dropped down, and the expression of his face changed like lightning. Bewilderment, grief, incredulity, almost every emotion of which the human mind is capable, was reflected in his countenance, but he did not look guilty. He tried to speak, but he could not utter a sound.

"We have come here to search your room," said the captain.

These words aroused George. The only feeling that possessed him now was one of intense indignation; but still he spoke calmly.

"Who dares accuse me of such an act?" he demanded. "Show him to me. Let me stand face to face with him and ask him his reasons for suspecting me. Is it you, Walker?"

"It is both of us," answered the second clerk.

"Do you suspect me because you saw me trying to open the safe day before yesterday?" asked George, still speaking very calmly.

"Why, Ackerman, any sane boy would be willing to acknowledge that that was a very suspicious circumstance," replied Walker.

"Didn't you assure me that the thing had been explained to your entire satisfaction? I tell you in Murray's presence, as I told you once before, that he handed me the key, gave me the combination and sat there on his high stool and watched me while I was at work on the safe. Murray is that so or not?"

The chief clerk's face was a sight to behold. He was white to the lips and trembling so violently in every limb that he was obliged to place his hand against the bulkhead for support. He opened his mouth as if he were about to speak, but no words came forth.

"Why don't you deny it to him as you did to me?" demanded Walker, while both he and the captain looked at the chief clerk in astonishment.

"I am too angry to say anything," replied Murray.

George was thunderstruck. "Am I to understand that you deny it?" he cried, as soon as he could speak.

"I do, most emphatically," answered Murray, whose courage began to return to him as soon as he heard the sound of his own voice. "There's not a word of truth in it."

"Didn't you give me the key and tell me to see if I could open the safe?" repeated George, who wondered if he were awake or dreaming.

"I never did. People who handle money are not in the habit" —

He never finished the sentence. All of a sudden George's right arm shot out with the force of a thunderbolt, Murray's head came in violent contact with the door, splitting one of the panels, and Murray himself sank helplessly to the floor. The young pilot, who now began to have a very dim idea that he was the victim of a deeply laid plot, was thoroughly aroused, and he would have handled the schemer roughly indeed if the captain and Walker had not caught him in their arms and held him fast.

"What a desperate wretch he is," thought the second clerk, who did not know which to wonder at the more – the cool assurance of the guilty boy, or the power of the arm that had so quickly and easily made a "spread eagle" of his superior. "He looks as innocent as a lamb."

"There's a bug under that chip, and it's a big one, too," thought the captain, by which he meant to inform himself that there was something back of all this that needed looking into. "No guilty boy ever looked and acted like Ackerman. I shall not allow any more violence," said he sternly. "I promise you that the thing shall be thoroughly investigated and the blame placed right where it belongs; but if you don't behave yourself I'll put the handcuffs on you."

"All right, sir," said George, in reply. "The sooner you get to the bottom of it the better you will suit me. You said something about searching my room. There are my keys. Go through my trunk thoroughly, and if you can find anything in it or in my room to condemn me, I will acknowledge myself guilty."

The captain took the keys, inserted one of them into the lock of George's trunk and hesitated. He knew then, as well as he knew it afterward, that he was on the wrong track. The second clerk being of a different opinion, began an attack upon George's bunk. Picking up the pillow, he caught the case by the corners and gave it a shake, when something that gave out a metallic sound fell to the floor. Walker caught it up and held it aloft with an exclamation of triumph. It was the key of the safe. The young pilot fairly gasped for breath when he saw it. He gave Murray one look and seated himself on Mr. Black's trunk.

"George, George!" exclaimed the old captain, sorrowfully. "How do you account for that?"

"I can't account for it, sir," replied the boy; "I never put that key there."

The captain placed his hands behind his back, and looking down into the clear, honest eyes that were gazing straight into his own, told himself that the boy was no more a thief than he was. "Do you know where the money is?" he asked.

"I do not, sir; I have never seen it. The one who put that key there can tell you where he put the money. You have made a good beginning, and you had better go on with your search."

"Pull off the pillow-case, Walker," said Murray, who had backed up into one corner of the room, and stood holding his handkerchief over his wounded eye. "I don't see why that money didn't fall out," he added, mentally.

The second clerk acted upon the suggestion, but found nothing. Murray, who closely watched all his movements, grew a shade whiter than ever, and his heart sank within him. This was the second hitch in his programme. The first was the captain's unshaken faith in George's innocence. That was something that Murray had not look for, and perhaps it was one reason why he did not play his part better.

"It was a well-laid scheme, and I cannot yet see where I made a mistake in it," soliloquized the chief clerk, whose suspense and alarm were so great that he scarcely knew how he was acting. He was almost ready to thank George for giving him that blow, because it furnished him with an excuse for keeping his face covered. "I can't imagine where that money has gone. I put three hundred dollars in that pillow-case at the same time I put the key there, and how it has disappeared so suddenly beats me. If anybody saw me put it there – "

Murray could not bear to dwell upon this thought. It suggested too many dreadful things to him.

As he was in duty bound to do, the captain made a searching investigation, but the money he was looking for could not be found. He questioned George very closely, but could learn nothing from him, for the simple reason that he did not know anything about it.

"This is a sad affair," said the captain, at length, "and the law will have to look into it. George, I have known you but a short time, but somehow I have great confidence in you."

The accents of kindness touched the boy's heart, and his eyes filled with tears. "Thank you, sir," said he, heartily. "I assure you that I shall never abuse that confidence."

"Consequently, if you will promise that you will not leave the boat until we reach St. Louis, I shall put no restraint upon you," added the captain.

"I promise; I am as anxious to have this matter looked into as you are; more so, for I have more at stake."

"Very well. Now, gentlemen, we will go below," said the captain, addressing himself to the clerks. "I shall consult with some of the officers, and be governed by their advice."

George's visitors went out, and the boy set to work to repack his trunk and make up the bunks. When this was done, he walked leisurely up the steps that led into the pilot-house, and found the captain and the chief engineer in consultation with Mr. Black and his partner.

"George!" exclaimed Mr. Black, seizing the boy's hand in both his own and shaking it heartily; "these fellows mean to ruin you, don't they?"

"I am afraid they have done it already," replied George, with a sickly smile.

"Not by a long shot," said the other pilot, who stood at the wheel. "I know that the evidence is against you, but your friends have not all turned their backs on you. Has Murray any reason to be down on you?"

"Well, I'll tell you something, and then you can answer that question for yourself," answered George, who then went on to describe how Murray had acted when he saw him pick up Mr. Black's lost pocket-book. His auditors opened their eyes and looked significantly at one another when George explained how it came that he had been so intimate with the chief clerk ever since the Telegraph left St. Louis.

"It's a put-up job," said the chief engineer, decidedly. "I heard that Murray lost a good deal of Clayton's money at cards when he came up on the Quitman a few months ago, and that Clayton discharged him for it. That shows that he is not honest. You asked my advice, captain; I should say, let the matter rest until we reach the city, and then set the law at work. I'll promise that George will not run away," added the engineer, poking the young pilot in the ribs with his finger. "If you want to watch anybody, watch Bill Murray."

This was the captain's idea too, and after some discussion it was decided that the engineer's advice should be followed.

Bad news flies like wild-fire, and it was not long before it was known all over the boat that George Ackerman had broken into the office and robbed the safe of three thousand dollars, and that the captain had virtually placed him under arrest The chief clerk, who was obliged to explain how he got that black eye, industriously circulated this story. He saw the necessity of creating a popular opinion in his favor, for he was literally alone. All the officers who heard his version of the affair looked incredulous, and even Walker acted as though he had his suspicions. Murray, of course, had known all along that when the denouement came a rigid investigation would be held, but he relied upon the overwhelming evidence he could produce to crush George and turn all his friends against him. But the young pilot positively refused to be crushed. Feeling strong in his innocence he was determined to make a fight of it, while his friends – and it looked now as though every man on board the boat was his friend – rallied to his support.

"There's something about this business that doesn't look just right to me," said Walker, as he and Murray went back to the office and began to put things in order there; "but I can't for the life of me tell what it is. I can tell you this much, however, if there had been a stranger with us when we went up to Ackerman's room, he would have declared that you looked and acted more like a guilty man than George did."