"jack, do you mean to say you would put your own father in prison?" asked dr. mackey reproachfully, after old ben had tied his hands behind him.
"i would—were he such a fraud and villain as you, dr. mackey," was our hero's calm reply. "you will never make me believe that any of your blood flows in my veins."
"then you believe i am an impostor?"
"i do."
the doctor fell back and sank on a bench. jack's firm manner appeared to take his nerve from him.
"what shall you do next?" he asked finally.
"take you straight to our plantation."
"no! no! colonel——" dr. mackey stopped short. "do not take me there, i beg of you!"
"but i shall take you there, and what is more, i am going to find out what colonel stanton has to say concerning you."
at this the surgeon grew as pale as death.
"you—have no right to take me to the plantation. remember, i am a confederate officer. if you keep me a prisoner, you will be liable to heavy punishment."
"we'll risk it." jack turned to columbus washington. "see if the rain is letting up."
the colored man went out and presently reported that the worst of the storm seemed over.
"then we will start," said jack. "now, dr. mackey, if you try to escape, i will order old ben to fire at you."
"you are very hard on your father."
"if you call me your son again, i will knock you down where you stand."
at this curt threat the surgeon relapsed into silence, his brow showing plainly that he was in deep thought. the cabin was soon left behind, and columbus washington showed the most direct route to the ruthven plantation. jack came behind the colored man, with dr. mackey beside him, and old ben brought up the rear, his gun ready to shoot at the first sign of opposition upon the prisoner's part.
the first streaks of dawn were beginning to show themselves when the party of four came in sight of the mansion. as they came closer dr. mackey showed increased alarm over the situation.
"jack, let us come to terms," he said presently.
"what terms?"
"for reasons of my own i do not wish to visit mrs. ruthven's house while colonel stanton is under her roof."
"surely you are not afraid of a sick man, even if he is a yankee spy."
at this the surgeon winced.
"it is not that. i—i——"
"i will not listen to you. march!"
"but, jack——"
"march, i say, or old ben shall fire on you."
with something resembling a groan the surgeon went on, and in a few minutes more the party gained the piazza, and jack was using the big knocker on the door lustily.
"who is there?" came from an upper window, and then mrs. ruthven uttered a cry of joy. "jack!"
"yes, mother; i am back again; safe and sound," he answered.
mrs. ruthven was soon down and let him in. she was naturally startled to behold dr. mackey, especially as a prisoner.
"what can this mean?" she began, and then looked at jack curiously. "jack, do you know the truth?"
"what truth, mother?"
"that this man is an impostor."
"i have thought so all along. but what do you know of this?"
"colonel stanton is here, jack. he knows dr. mackey only too well."
"so i supposed from what this fellow said."
"to you?"
"no, to st. john."
"my dear mrs. ruthven, this is all a dreadful mistake," burst in the surgeon. "i do not know colonel stanton at all. i spoke of a colonel stanwood—quite a different person, i can assure you."
"i do not believe you, dr. mackey," answered mrs. ruthven emphatically.
"you are very hard upon me, madam."
"i think i have a right to be hard upon you, sir. you have tried your best to rob me of my son."
"but he shan't do it, mother," put in jack warmly.
"no, jack, he'll never be able to do that—now," answered mrs. ruthven significantly. and then she added, "see to it, ben, that he does not get away. i wish to speak to jack in private."
"he shan't git away from old ben, nohow," answered the faithful negro.
mrs. ruthven led jack into the parlor and closed the door carefully.
"my boy, i have a great surprise for you," she began. "do you think you can bear it?"
"what surprise, mother?" he asked quickly.
"colonel stanton is here, wounded. he has told me something of his past, and it concerns you."
"me?"
"yes, jack. you are not dr. mackey's son at all, but the son of the colonel."
"i am colonel stanton's son!" gasped our hero, hardly able to frame the words.
"i knew you would be amazed. but it is true, as he has proved beyond the shadow of a doubt."
"but—but——" jack tried to go on, but words failed him. he the son of the colonel—the son of a yankee officer? it was something of which he had never dreamed. yet, even on the instant, he remembered how much the colonel had impressed him, and what a gentleman he had thought the officer.
"i will tell you the story," went on mrs. ruthven, and did so. jack was all attention, and when he learned the true depth of dr. mackey's villainy his eyes flashed fire.
"now i understand why he didn't wish to meet colonel stanton face to face," he said. "no wonder he is afraid."
"your father is sleeping now," continued mrs. ruthven. "he is improved, but still somewhat weak. you can go to him when he awakens. i think it will be best, for the present, to keep the fact of dr. mackey's capture a secret."
"you are right, mother."
the matter was talked over, and dr. mackey was later on taken to a garret room and tied fast to an old four-poster bedstead, a piece of furniture weighing considerably over a hundred pounds. then old ben was placed at the door to watch him.
just before the colonel awoke jack went in to see him. as our hero looked at that handsome face his heart beat rapidly. he bent over and kissed the colonel's forehead, and this awoke the wounded man.
"jack, my son!" murmured the colonel, as his eyes rested on the face of the youth. "my son, at last!"
"father!" was the only word jack could utter, but, oh, how much it meant! then he caught his parent by both hands, and for a moment there was utter silence.
"i was so afraid something had happened to you," went on the colonel. "oh, jack! you do not know how glad i am that we have found one another!"
"and i am glad, too," replied our hero. "do you know i was drawn to you from the first time i saw you?" he added.
"and i was drawn to you—even though you were a little confederate," and the colonel smiled.
"and you are a yankee!" cried jack. "but i don't care what you are, father," he continued hastily. "blood is thicker than water; isn't it?"
"yes, jack; and what is more, i trust this cruel war will soon be over, and we will have no north and no south, but just one country."
jack remained with his parent for over an hour, then went off to see what could be done with dr. mackey.
it was the middle of the forenoon when marion discovered st. john coming, accompanied by several confederate soldiers.
"he has come to arrest my father," said jack. "but he shan't do it."
"he will be surprised when we show him dr. mackey as a prisoner," returned marion.
she went to let her cousin in, and st. john began at once to speak of colonel stanton.
"he is a spy," said the spendthrift. "you should be ashamed to harbor him in your house. these men will place him under arrest."
"i don't think they will," put in jack, as he came forward. "so you are here to do dr. mackey's dirty work, are you," he added.
"eh? what—er—do you mean?" stammered st. john.
"you are found out, st. john," said mrs. ruthven, coming on the scene. "and let me tell you that hereafter it will be best for you to remain away from this place. you schemed to steal some of my things, but you shall not do it."
"why, aunt alice——" he began.
"it is true. do you know that dr. mackey is a prisoner?"
at these words st. john fell back and grew very pale.
"a prisoner, did you say?" he faltered.
"yes. he has plotted against not only jack and myself, but also against the federal officer who is under my roof, badly wounded."
"you mean colonel stanton?"
"i do."
"he is a spy, aunt."
"he is nothing of the sort. he is a brave officer, and as such deserves the best of treatment. st. john, the less you mix up in this affair the better it will be for you."
a stormy scene followed, and st. john came out of it considerably frightened, especially when he was told that the colonel was jack's father and that dr. mackey was proved to be a thorough villain.
"i—i won't ask for this arrest just now," he said, to the men he had brought along. "we will let the matter drop for the present. the man is too sick to be moved, anyway." and soon after he hurried away, and his companions with him. he never showed himself at his aunt's door again.
"and we are well rid of him," said marion. "he is as cowardly as he is unprincipled."
on the day following jack's return home there was a long-drawn battle in the mountains between the federal troops and the guerrillas, which resulted in the killing off of a number of the outlaws, including those who had held our hero a prisoner. in this contest gendron was also killed, and he died without revealing what he knew of dr. mackey's past.
the outlaws' camp was thoroughly searched, and here were found the goods stolen from the trader who had been attacked in the storm, and also a number of other things of value, including the tin box taken from the wreck of the nautilus. later on this box, with its contents, was turned over to colonel stanton.
"my precious papers!" said the officer to jack, as he looked them over. "my son, nothing now stands between us and our fortune."
a few words more and we will bring this tale to a close.
colonel stanton's recovery was slow, and by the time he got around again the great civil war was a thing of the past. for this the colonel was truly thankful, and so were jack, mrs. ruthven, and marion.
as soon as it was possible to do so, the colonel resigned from the army. this done, he set to work to prosecute dr. mackey and recover the fortune due himself and jack. as a result of these movements dr. mackey received a term of ten years in prison, and inside of a year the stantons, father and son, came into possession of a fortune worth a hundred and fifteen thousand dollars.
colonel stanton had thought at first to go back to the north and settle down, but mrs. ruthven hated to part with jack, and it was decided that all should remain at the plantation. a year later the colonel married the widow, so that mrs. ruthven, now mrs. stanton, became once more jack's mother.
"and that is just what i wanted," said jack, after the wedding.
the ceremony at the plantation was a double one, for at the time mrs. ruthven married the colonel marion gave her heart into the keeping of dr. harry powell, who had now set up a lucrative practice for himself in philadelphia. the double wedding was a grand affair, and was the talk of the neighborhood for a long time afterward. the ruthvens from the other plantation were invited, but while mrs. mary ruthven came, st. john was conspicuous by his absence.
st. john was now a worse spendthrift than ever, and it was not long before the plantation went under the hammer, and mrs. mary ruthven was compelled to live upon her sister-in-law's charity. st. john drifted to new orleans and finally to the west, and that was the last heard of him. let us trust that he saw the error of his ways and turned over a new leaf.
as for jack, he proved to be indeed the son of a soldier, for some years later he entered west point military academy, and graduated with high honors. from the academy he, too, went west, but as an officer at one of the well-known forts. his career here was full of daring and honor, and he speedily rose to the position of colonel, which he filled with all of his old-time bravery and loyalty.
