CHAPTER XVIII

NORTHWARD WITH THE FLEET

When Alvarez was gone, the five rose and thanked the Governor General.  They, too, did not wish to rejoice over a fallen foe, but it was the moment of their complete triumph.  Success had come better than they had ever hoped and the great three-faced conspiracy was shattered.  It was Spanish cannon that they had dreaded and now they could not thunder against the wooden walls in Kentucky.  They crowded around the priest, too, and shook his hand and were grateful for his timely assistance.  He had come at the most opportune of all moments.

It was Paul who acted as spokesman for them with Bernardo Galvez.

“Your Excellency, we came this vast distance confiding in your justice, and we have found our confidence well placed,” he said.

Bernardo Galvez smiled.  It was a moment of triumph for him, too.  A bold conspiracy against him had been crushed, and the five had been the chief instruments in the crushing of it.  Even without the aid of his good heart, his feelings toward them would have been very kindly.

“If New Orleans has proved inhospitable to you for a time,” he said, “she is now ready to make atonement.  Your good friend, Mr. Pollock, will care for you.”

The five withdrew with the merchant, still elated, still feeling the full sense of victory.  Mr. Pollock had been very quiet but when they reached the open air he burst forth.

“Lads,” he said, “’tis a great task that you have done.  You have saved Kentucky—­and these things are far-reaching—­you may have saved all the colonies beside.  If the Mississippi had been closed to us we could not reach our friends in the east with the supplies that they need so badly.  But I can’t say more.  You were surely inspired when you set out upon this errand, and there is a tremendous debt of gratitude coming to you.”

He shook hands with them all, one by one.  But Long Jim heaved a mighty sigh of relief.

“Is it all over, Paul?” he asked.

“I think so, Jim.  We seem to have destroyed for good and all the great three-cornered conspiracy against us.”

“Then,” said Jim, “ef it’s all done I want to talk sense.  I’m in favor uv our startin’ to Kentucky right away, that is, in about five minutes.  Them big woods keep callin’ to me, I heard ’em callin’ last night in my dreams, an’ I hear ’em callin’ now when I’m awake.  I’ve breathed indoor air long enough.  It’s layin’ heavy on my lungs, an’ I want to put in its place air that’s swep’ clean across from the Pacific Ocean an’ that ain’t hit not bin’ foul on the way.”

“Five minutes is too short notice, Jim,” laughed Paul, “but we’ll surely start soon, though it’s a tremendously long tramp through the woods and even if we had ‘The Galleon’ we’d have to pull and sail against the current.”

Oliver Pollock was watching them as they talked and his eyes gleamed, but he said nothing until they were within his house, where he took them and gave them refreshments.  There he had a proposition to make.