CHAPTER IX
GILBERT REACHES A CONCLUSION
"If that fellow has been playing me for a fool, he had better look out for himself!"
Such was the conclusion which Nuggy Polk reached, after thinking over what he had learned and what had taken place between himself and Gilbert since the two had met on the road outside of Manila. The young man was thoroughly out of humor, and was aching to "pitch into" the young lieutenant.
"Well, Nuggy, you look as black as a thunder-cloud," said Jerry Nickerson, as he strolled up. "Don't take what I said so much to heart. I only wanted to give you a friendly bit of advice."
"I know you did; and it's too bad that you didn't give it to me before," answered the young man, bitterly, and before he had a chance to think twice.
"Why, what do you mean? Has something happened?"
"It has and it hasn't. That lieutenant's name is Pennington—Gilbert Pennington—instead of just Gilbert. He deceived me when he introduced himself."
"Perhaps you didn't catch his full name."
"I am sure I caught what he said. Don't you suppose, if he had said Pennington, I should have remembered it?"
"Possibly not. A fellow doesn't remember all the names he hears."
"But this case is different, Jerry. The name Pennington is one I shall remember, no matter where I hear it."
Jerry Nickerson looked puzzled for a moment, and then emitted a low whistle. "By Jove! I had forgotten. It was a Jefferson Pennington who started the Richmond Importing Company, and whose widow gave your father so much trouble."
"Exactly; and, for all I know, this lieutenant may be some relative of that man. He comes from Virginia."
"That is rather far-fetched. Still, it may be; and, if I were you, I'd be for finding out."
"I will find out—and pretty quick, too."
"Hold on! You mustn't let him know you are suspicious, Nuggy. Go to somebody else, and find out."
"I am not afraid of him; and, if he has been playing the sneak, I'll give him a bit of my mind, I can tell you that."
"You must remember that he is an officer, and that his colonel is in control here. If you do anything rash, the young officer may have you put in the brig for it."
"Do you think they would dare to go as far as that?" questioned Nuggy, looking much disturbed.
"They would dare do almost anything. On an expedition like this, private citizens are counted as being in the way, at the best."
"Then, of course, I'll have to pull in my horns, Jerry. But it makes me mad to think he may have been imposing on me."
"If I were you, I'd try to find out something about him from the other soldiers; and, if he really is a relative to Jefferson Pennington, and is trying to pump you in order to get money out of your father, then I'd run a game up his back."
"How?"
"I wouldn't let him know what I had learned, and I'd continue to treat him as a friend; and at the same time I'd let drop that I was doing things on the square, and that the Penningtons had got all that was coming to them out of the Importing Company."
This advice seemed to strike Nuggy Polk's fancy, and he said that he would follow it. For the rest of the day he avoided Gilbert, and spent the time in trying to find somebody who could give him something of the young lieutenant's history.
By chance he struck Carl Stummer, whom he had seen in conversation vdth Gilbert a number of times. Stummer had taken greatly to the young lieutenant ever since the pair had been thrown together, and knew a good deal of the young officer's past.
"Your first lieutenant seems to be a popular man," said Nuggy Polk, by way of an opening.
"Lieutenant Pennington vos von goot fellow," answered Stummer. "Of all dere officers vos so goot, der army vould been a baradise, almost."
"I understand he is a Southerner, like myself."
"Dot vos so; but he vos in New York ven he got der var fever, und enlisted mit der Rough Riders for Cuba. You neffer enlisted, eh?"
"No. I—er—couldn't get away from business."
"Vot you vos do on der dransport, den? Maype you vos von newsbaber man?"
"That's a little in my line. Here, have a cigar."
Nuggy Polk passed over a weed. "I am interested in the lieutenant. Did you ever hear of what business he was in?"
"I dink he vos a pook-keeper ven der var proke out."
"I used to know some Penningtons down South," went on Nuggy Polk, boldly. "They were in an importing company at Richmond."
"Der lieutenant's fadder vos vonce in an imborting company in Richmond. I heard him tell mine friend Captain Russell so von tay."
"Indeed!" Nuggy Polk paused a moment. "Well, it doesn't matter particularly," he went on; and then asked Carl Stummer about his life in the army, and spoke of what might be expected in China, thus trying to put the German soldier "off the track," as he afterward told Nickerson.
Nuggy Polk had learned enough to convince him that Gilbert was either the son of Jefferson Pennington or closely related to the dead man; and the news disturbed him a good deal.
"For all I know, he may have been spying on me in Manila," he said to Nickerson.
"I don't see how he can possibly hurt you," was the reply. "Perhaps he knows little or nothing of the past."
"Then what was his object in introducing himself as Lieutenant Gilbert? I half believe he followed us from Manila. The clerk at the hotel said something about his being there earlier in the day, although I didn't pay any attention to it at the time."
"As an officer in the army, he has got to attend to his official duties. If I were you, I'd leave him severely alone; and I believe the whole thing will drop then and there. Even if he is Jefferson Pennington's son, he can't rake up that old claim, can he?"
"I don't know but that he can. Your father was the lawyer who passed on the papers in the case, and you have had all his records since he died. You ought to know more about it than I do."
At this, Jerry Nickerson's face took on a cunning look. "I do know a good deal, and don't deny it. But I reckon your father is safe—if he keeps his mouth shut."
"This Pennington may combine with Amos Bartlett. I was foolish enough to name Bartlett to him."
"Yes, that was a bad move, Nuggy. After this you must be as mum as an oyster."
Nuggy Polk agreed to this, yet he felt very much as if he was locking the stable door after the horse was stolen. It is said that "a guilty conscience is its own accuser," and it was largely so in the present instance.
On the third day out, the island of Formosa was sighted far in the west; and the course was now north-north-east, past numerous small islands and rocks, straight for Nagasaki, which lies, as many of my young readers must know, close to the entrance to the Yellow Sea. The weather continued to be all that was desired, and many a soldier, tired out with his campaigning in the Philippines, wished that the voyage might last a long time.
"Sure, an' it almost makes me wisht I was a sailor," observed Dan Casey. "A loife on the rollin' dape seems jest to suit me."
"You have your sea legs now, Dan," replied Gilbert, who stood by. "But you didn't have them when we came to the Philippines."
"Mine cracious, dot's so!" laughed Carl Stummer. "Ton't you rememper how ve rolled und pitched around like ve vos rupper palls?" he added to Casey.
"Sure, an' I do that," responded the Irishman. "An' do yez remimber the hurricane, an' how it thundered an' lightninged?"
"Excuse me, put I ton't vont no sthorm," said Carl. "Dot vos enough to last a whole life und two veeks more, py chiminy!" And he shook his head gravely.
A moment later he saw Nuggy Polk pass, in company with Nickerson, and called Gilbert's attention to the pair.
"Dot man on der outside vos ask me apout you, lieutenant," he said. "He seemed to pe anxious to know you."
"Indeed?" said Gilbert. "What did he ask you?"
As well as he could, Stummer repeated the conversation he had had with Nuggy Polk. The reader can well imagine that the young lieutenant listened with interest.
"I am much obliged, Carl," he said at the conclusion. "I'll have a talk with the fellow later on."
And then he walked away, to think the matter over. He was much perplexed, and hardly knew what to do next. Would it be possible to corner Polk, and, if so, would the game be worth the candle?
"The thing happened so many years ago, and at the best the matter would drag through the courts, perhaps for years," he reasoned. "And to prosecute the Polks would take a lot of money, which I haven't got. It looks like a wild-goose chase."
Major Morris found him seated on a camp-chair in a corner of the deck, deep in thought. The sun had set far over the land in the west; and the stars were peeping forth one by one, dotting the flowing and rolling ocean with innumerable tiny lights. At the bow of the transport a dozen soldiers were singing,—one old favorite of home after another,—and at the stern somebody was strumming a banjo, and two privates were doing a "buck and wing" dance to the delight of the onlookers.
"You look serious, lieutenant," observed the major, as he dropped in a chair beside Gilbert.
"I feel a bit serious," was the answer, with a quiet smile. "Major, I should like your advice."
"You are welcome to it. Do you want to know what I think of that young man you pointed out to me?"
"Yes."
"I think he is an equal compound of conceit and slyness,—a fellow who is to be trusted as far as you can see him, and no more."
"He has taken the pains to find out who I am."
"I don't wonder at it. I am surprised he didn't do so before."
"As he now knows who I am, he must know that I am interested in the case which my mother brought against the Richmond Importing Company."
"Undoubtedly, and he will do all he can to head you off—providing you make any movement he thinks detrimental to his or his father's interests."
"That is what I have been thinking, and I'm wondering if it would be worth while to fight the thing."
"Not unless you can get direct evidence against the elder Polk. If I were you, I'd try to hunt up this Amos Bartlett the first chance I got."
"I'll do that."
"He may know something, or be able to put you on the track of something."
"I hope he proves a friend."
"Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad plan to write to some first-class lawyer in Richmond, asking him to look the matter up for you. Very often you can get a lawyer to take up a case on shares, if he thinks there is money in it."
"That's an idea!" cried Gilbert. "I know a lawyer, a good fellow, named Branders, whom I met in Cuba. He was from Richmond, and I know he'll do all he can for me."
"Then write to him by all means, stating your case in detail, and tell him that you are going to hunt up Amos Bartlett, if you can."
"I suppose I can mail the letter at Nagasaki."
"To be sure, and it will go quicker than if you had mailed it at Manila."
"This Polk seems to be very thick with Nickerson. I wonder if they have talked me over between them."
"If they talk your case over, it is a pity that you can't hear what is said," returned the major, pointedly. "I believe I would watch every move they make, so far as was in my power."
"I will."
"Polk is no doubt your enemy; and you have a perfect right to get the better of him, if you can."
By this time others were coming up, Captain Banner and two under officers; and the talk became general, the coming campaign in China being, however, the chief topic of conversation.
Gilbert was sitting with his back to a window opening into the upper cabin of the transport. As the topic of conversation shifted, a form arose from a settee standing in the cabin, close to the window, the sash of which had been lowered to let in the air. The form was that of Jerry Nickerson, and the young man had taken in all that had been said.
"So he is going to write to Ralph Branders, eh?" he muttered, as he strode off. "And he is going to sound Amos Bartlett, too. I reckon this will make interesting news for Nuggy. I'll have to hunt him up at once, and see what he has to say about it."