george chard was somewhat taken back when a small boy, acting as emissary for the pirates, handed him an unclean scrawl next morning. it was written with blue pencil, on a sheet of brown paper. deciphered, it read as follows:—
ultermaterm!
to mister g. chard. whereas it is came to the nollege of us, captain thomas pagdin an’ captain david gibson, pirates, that miss nora creyton, which is the prettiest girl along the river, an’ the best, is ded in luv with u, and you are not treating her fare an’ onerable as a gentleman. in knott telling her so without farther delay that u are ded in luv with her an’ will marri her, captain t. pagdin an’ d. gibson do herebye chalenge you to fight a duel with me, captain t. pagdin an’ d. gibson, pirates, this day behind the post office, at one o’clok. p.s. i captain tom pagdin will ave first shott, and captain d gibson will ave seckond shott.
[201]
n.b.—this is a vendetter, so be wair!
sined captain thomas pagdin an’ captain d gibson.
p.s.—if it is becawse u ain’t got any munney to mary miss nora creyton with me and dave as got sum wich u can ave, wich she give us erself for savin ure life from the german cove.
george read and re-read this epistle several times, and then he despatched the emissary in search of the chief pirates.
tom was closeted with george in his room at the bank for a good half hour, and then he came out with a satisfied and important air.
“what did he say? is he going to fight us?” asked dave, anxiously.
“no,” replied tom, “worse luck. ’e caved in.”
“is he going to marry er then?”
“i’m on a oath not to say anything about it,” replied tom mysteriously. “but it’s goin’ to be all-right.”
and it was.
jean petit got his deserts in due time. the story of how tom gave his evidence at the trial and had his name and a photograph of himself in the papers would make another book. the old man came down the river to claim his progeny and the latter’s share of the reward, but tom had a strong friend in dan creyton. the latter took pagdin, senior, in hand, and reasoned with him, ultimately effecting a compromise.
dan said tom was a clever boy, and had the making of a good man in him, and he bribed the old man to let his son stay down the river and go to school. tom’s[202] share of the reward, minus the bribe, was invested in his own name in such a way that no one, not even tom himself, could draw it out for a number of years.
then the old man got drunk, and went round telling people that he had been done in by tom and his friends. he stayed about constituting himself a general nuisance, until the constable went to him and advised him to get away back home. and as pagdin, senior, had a wholesome respect for the law, and perceived that he had made himself unpopular in wharfdale, he went back to the punt, and left his son down the river to carve out a career for himself.
dave gibson’s stepfather came down on the quiet after pagdin, senior, had gone home and endeavoured to abduct dave; but dave escaped from parental custody and hid in a cave in the bush for three weeks, during which time tom pagdin, by various stratagems, secretly kept him in tucker and necessaries. it was a royal time. so the stepfather accepted a compromise also, and dan creyton was left free to carry out a scheme which he had formed in his mind for the civilising of tom and dave and turning them into useful and law-abiding citizens. dan found that there was any amount of scope for his labour, but whenever he and george lost patience with the boys, nora would remind her brother and her lover that through our younger quixote and his sancho panza one had retained his life and the other gained his happiness. which was a good deal to say. so they continued to have a good time, and tom pagdin shot all the cats in wharfdale with his winchester.
