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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Within The Enemy's Lines, by Oliver Optic
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Within The Enemy's Lines
+       SERIES: The Blue and the Gray--Afloat
+
+Author: Oliver Optic
+
+Release Date: June 15, 2006 [EBook #18264]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Louise Hope, David Garcia, Juliet Sutherland
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Kentuckiana Digital Libra
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The Blue and the Gray Series
+
+  TAKEN BY THE ENEMY
+  WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES
+  ON THE BLOCKADE  In Press
+
+Lee and Shepard  Publishers  Boston
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration:
+  "He saw Two Men making their way through the Grove."--Page 28.]
+
+
+
+
+                      The
+
+               BLUE AND THE GRAY
+
+                     Series
+
+                 [Illustration]
+
+                By Oliver Optic
+
+            WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES
+
+
+
+
+         _The Blue and the Gray Series_
+
+            WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES
+
+                       by
+                  OLIVER OPTIC
+
+                   Author of
+"The Army and Navy Series," "Young America Abroad,"
+"The Great Western Series," "The Woodville Stories,"
+"The Starry Flag Series," "The Boat Club Stories,"
+"The Onward and Upward Series," "The Yacht-Club Series,"
+"The Lake Shore Series," "The Riverdale Series,"
+"The Boat-Builder Series," "Taken by the Enemy," etc.
+
+
+
+
+                  BOSTON 1890
+           Lee and Shepard Publishers
+10 Milk Street Next "The Old South Meeting House"
+
+         NEW YORK  Chas. T. Dillingham
+              718 and 720 Broadway
+
+
+
+
+                Copyright, 1889,
+               by Lee and Shepard
+             _All rights reserved._
+
+           WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES.
+
+
+
+
+                A MON JEUNE AMI,
+(que je n'ai jamais vu, et que je ne connais pas,)
+
+             Monsieur Lucien Bing,
+               de Paris, France,
+
+    En Reconnaissance de la Bonté de son Père,
+Cette Historiette de la Guerre Civile en Amerique
+           Est affectueusement Dédié.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+"WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES" is the second volume of "The Blue and the
+Gray Series." Like its predecessor, of course, its scenes are connected
+with the war of the Rebellion; and perhaps the writer ought to be
+thankful that he is not required in such a work to rise to the dignity
+of history, but he believes that all his events were possible, and that
+every one of them has had its parallel in the actual occurrences of the
+historic period of which he writes. In fact, some of the experiences of
+the actors in the terrible drama of a quarter of a century ago would
+pass more readily for fiction than for reality, and detailed on the
+pages of a story would be deemed impossible by the conservative reader.
+
+The nation has passed out of its ordeal of fire, and an excellent spirit
+on the part of both parties to the great strife is still growing and
+strengthening, in spite of an occasional exhibition of folly on both
+sides on the part of those who have not outlived the bitterness of the
+past, and who probably will not outlive it. The time will certainly come
+when the memories of the conflict, the repetition of the stories of the
+war, and even the partisan praise bestowed upon the heroes of both
+sides, will excite no more ill feeling than does an allusion to the
+War of the Roses in England.
+
+In this country the advocate of either side will tell his story, relate
+his history, and jingle his verse in his own way, and from his own
+standpoint. Those upon the other side will be magnanimous enough to
+tolerate him, at least in silence. Histories, romances, poems, and plays
+relating to the war, are produced in greater numbers as the gap between
+the days of battle and the days of peace widens; but the old fires are
+not rekindled, the old bitterness still slumbers, and the Great United
+Nation still lives on in perfect peace.
+
+The author hopes he has done nothing on these pages to impair the
+growing harmony between the two sections which have happily become
+one, or to impregnate the minds of those who have been born since the
+strife ended with any of its bitterness. He has endeavored to make
+as high-toned men on the one side as the other, with the same moral
+sentiment in the one party as the other, and to exhibit their only
+difference in the one great question of Union or Disunion.
+
+  Dorchester, May 2, 1889.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+                                              Page
+CHAPTER I.
+An Unexpected Visitor                           15
+
+CHAPTER II.
+A Difference of Opinion                         27
+
+CHAPTER III.
+The dignified Naval Officer                     37
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+Corny Passford plays Another Part               48
+
+CHAPTER V.
+Captain Carboneer and his Party                 59
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+The Cabin of the Florence                       70
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+Midshipman Christy Passford                     81
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+Arranging the Signals                           92
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+The Approach of the Vampire                    103
+
+CHAPTER X.
+A Shot from the Long Gun                       114
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+The Battle alongside the Bellevite             125
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+The Prisoner of War                            136
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+After the Battle                               146
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+The Beginning of a Chase                       157
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+A Chase off the Bermudas                       168
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+The Confederate Steamer Yazoo                  179
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+A Satisfactory Order                           190
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+Lieutenant Passford in Command                 201
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+Some Trouble on Board the Teaser               212
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+Coming to the Point                            223
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+On a Dark and Foggy Night                      234
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+A Variety of Night Signals                     245
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+Another Night Expedition                       256
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+Lieutenant Passford on a Mission               206
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+Christy becomes a Victim                       278
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+The Action on the Deck of the Teaser           289
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+A Visit from Colonel Homer Passford            300
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+An Enterprise for a Dark Night                 311
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+The New Mate of the Cotton Schooner            322
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+The Prize-Master of the Judith                 333
+
+
+
+
+WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR
+
+
+"Cornelius!" exclaimed Captain Passford, as a young man of nineteen was
+shown into the library of the magnificent dwelling of the millionnaire
+at Bonnydale, on the Hudson.
+
+"Cornelius Passford, Uncle Horatio," replied the young man, as the
+captain rushed to him and extended his hand.
+
+"I think there can be no mistake about it; and I should have been no
+more surprised if Mr. Jefferson Davis had been ushered into my library
+at this moment," continued Captain Passford, still retaining the hand of
+his nephew. "I understood that you were a soldier in the Confederate
+army."
+
+"I was a soldier; but I am not one just now," replied the visitor, with
+some embarrassment in his manner, though the circumstances were strange
+enough to account for it.
+
+"How are your father and mother and Miss Gerty, Corny?" asked the uncle
+of the visitor, giving the young man the name by which he was generally
+called both at home and in the family of his uncle.
+
+"They were all very well when I left them," replied Corny, looking on
+the floor, as though he was not altogether satisfied with himself.
+
+"Of course, you brought letters from your father and Gerty?"
+
+"No, sir; I brought no letters," replied Corny, and, more than before,
+he looked as though he was not enjoying his present visit.
+
+"No letters!" exclaimed Captain Passford, evidently surprised beyond
+measure at the apparent want of kindly feeling on the part of members
+of his brother's family in the South.
+
+"Not a letter, Uncle Horatio," answered Corny, bracing himself up, as
+though he realized that he was not presenting a demeanor such as he
+thought the occasion required of him.
+
+"This is very strange," added Captain Passford, with a cloud playing on
+his fine features.
+
+"It is war between the North and the South, Uncle Horatio, and I suppose
+my father did not feel like writing any letters. Gerty never writes any
+letters if she can help it," Corny explained.
+
+"But Gerty used to write to Florry about once a week."
+
+"Did she? I didn't know it. She never would write to me when I was
+away from home," said Corny, who seemed to be very anxious not to say
+anything that was not consistent with the present situation, whatever
+it was.
+
+"When I parted with my brother on board of the Bellevite, both of us
+shed tears as we realized that war made enemies of us; but each of us
+promised to do all he could for the other in case of need. I am very
+sure that there was not the slightest unkind feeling between us. Of
+course, I did not expect him to write me the war news, but I think he
+could have written a few lines without any allusion to the war," said
+Captain Passford, pained at this want of filial affection on the part
+of his brother.
+
+At that moment the bell for tea rang, and the captain invited his nephew
+to the table with him. The host was saddened by the absence of news from
+his brother, of any kindly expression from one who was of the same blood
+as himself. He was not quite satisfied with Corny's manner, or with the
+little he seemed to be willing to say about the rest of the family. It
+was certainly very strange that the young man should be there at all,
+and his awkwardness and confusion made the visit seem still more
+singular.
+
+It was possible that the young man had just arrived and was fatigued
+by the trials and perils of his trip, for he must have come by some
+roundabout way; and very likely he felt nervous and uneasy in the midst
+of people who were loyal to the government and the Union. Captain
+Passford decided to say nothing more to his nephew at present as to
+the occasion and the manner of his visit to Bonnydale, and during the
+evening meal he avoided all allusion to the war, so far as it was
+possible to do so. Mrs. Passford and Florry received him very kindly,
+but following the example of the head of the family, they spoke only of
+domestic affairs, and of the relations of the two families as they had
+been before the war.
+
+Between the brothers Homer and Horatio Passford, even from their early
+boyhood, a remarkably strong fraternal affection had subsisted. Both of
+them were high-toned men, and both of them had always been faithful in
+the discharge of every duty to God and man. Each of them had a wife, a
+son and a daughter, and two happier families could not have been found
+on the face of the earth. They were not only devoted to each other, each
+within its own circle, but the two families were as nearly one as it was
+possible to be.
+
+Captain Horatio had formerly been a shipmaster, and had accumulated
+an immense fortune. Homer was less fortunate in this respect, and his
+tastes were somewhat different from those of his brother. He wanted to
+be a planter, and with the financial assistance of his brother, he went
+into the business of raising cotton near Mobile, in Alabama. But years
+before the war, he had paid off every dollar of his indebtedness to
+Horatio, and had made a comfortable fortune besides. The two families
+had visited each other as much an possible, and the captain, with his
+little family, had been almost to the plantation in the Bellevite, the
+magnificent steam-yacht of the Northerner.
+
+During the preceding winter, Captain Passford, his wife and son, had
+visited most of the islands of the Atlantic; but the health of Miss
+Florry was considerably impaired, and the doctors would not permit her
+to make this sea-voyage, but recommended her to keep quiet in some
+southern locality. She had therefore passed the winter at Glenfield,
+which was the name of Homer Passford's plantation. On his return from
+this long cruise, the owner of the Bellevite obtained his first news
+that war existed between the North and the South from the pilot. The
+three members of the family on board of the steamer were greatly
+distressed over the fact that Florry was still at the home of her
+uncle in Alabama, within the enemy's lines.
+
+Without going on shore, Captain Passford decided to arm his yacht, which
+was large enough for a man-of-war, and hasten to Mobile Bay to bring
+back his daughter. He was in doubt with regard to the political feeling
+of Homer, but believed that he would still adhere to the government and
+the Union. It was a part of his mission to bring his brother and his
+family to his own home at Bonnydale. Mrs. Passford was sent on shore in
+a tug, and Christy, the son, was to go with her; but the young man, just
+entering his seventeenth year, protested against being left at home, and
+as the captain believed that a patriotic citizen ought to be willing to
+give his all, even his sons, to his country, the young man went with his
+father. The mother was as devoted to her country as the father, and
+terrible as was the ordeal, she consented to part with him for such a
+duty.
+
+By an event fortunate for him, Captain Passford succeeded in obtaining
+an armament for his vessel, as well as an abundant supply of ammunition;
+and the vessel was refitted for the perilous service in which she was
+to be engaged. At Nassau, Christy made the acquaintance of a young man
+who proved to be of great service to the expedition, and the Bellevite
+reached her destination in safety, though not without some rather
+exciting incidents.
+
+Captain Passford found that his brother was sincerely and devotedly
+attached to the Southern cause. They discussed the great question for
+hours upon hours, each striving to convert the other to his own views,
+but with no success on the part of either. Homer Passford was a
+religious man, conscientious in the discharge of every duty, and nothing
+less could be said of his Northern brother. In a short time the owner of
+the Bellevite found that he had fallen into a "hornet's nest," for the
+planter did not believe that he ought to allow the steam-yacht to be
+taken to New York to become a part of the navy of the Union. He declared
+his convictions to his brother, who was compelled to regard the planter
+as an enemy in spite of the relations subsisting between them. Both of
+them placed their duty to their own country above every other
+consideration.
+
+Captain Passford was obliged to get his daughter out of his brother's
+house by stealth, and to make his escape with the Bellevite as best he
+could.
+
+Major Lindley Pierson, in command of Fort Gaines, at the entrance to
+Mobile Bay, had permitted the steamer to pass, having been deceived by
+his younger brother. He had been a frequent visitor at the mansion of
+Homer Passford, attracted there, it appeared, by the lovely daughter of
+the planter's brother, remaining there for the winter. Perhaps on her
+account, perhaps with the fear that the Bellevite was not what she had
+appeared to be, he had gone to the vicinity of Glenfield to inquire into
+the mission of the steamer.
+
+Homer Passford, acting upon his convictions, gave information which
+resulted in an attempt to capture the Bellevite. Christy, not informed
+in regard to the plans of his father to depart at once in the steamer,
+was "Taken by the Enemy," and had some very stirring adventures in the
+bay. But the steamer escaped from the numerous enemies that awaited her,
+and Christy got on board of her at the last minute. The Bellevite ran
+the gantlet of the forts in a dense fog, and brought Miss Florry in
+safety to her home at Bonnydale.
+
+Corny Passford, whose unexpected arrival at Bonnydale had excited the
+astonishment of his uncle, was a year older than Christy, and had
+enlisted in the Confederate service at the insistence of Major Pierson.
+Without knowing anything in particular about the matter, his uncle
+believed, at his visit to Glenfield, that Corny was as earnestly devoted
+to the Southern cause as his father, judging entirely from the fact that
+he had enlisted as a soldier.
+
+Corny had a good appetite, and a good supper was set before him. He ate
+like a hungry boy, and the fact that he was within the enemy's lines did
+not seem to have any influence upon him. His aunt helped him till he
+seemed to be filled to repletion, for she thought he must have been
+accustomed of late only to the most indifferent fare. After supper, he
+followed his uncle back to the library; but he seemed less embarrassed
+than before.
+
+"Where is Christy, Uncle Horatio?" asked Corny, as he seated himself in
+the library. "I have not seen him yet; and as I was away at the fort
+when you went to Glenfield, I did not see him then."
+
+"I don't know where he is just now, though he is in or about the house
+most of the time," replied the captain. "Are you still in the army,
+Corny?"
+
+"No, sir, I am here. I did not like the service very well, and I thought
+I should like the navy better. The reason why I did not like it as well
+as at first was because I was no longer in Major Pierson's battalion,"
+replied Corny, looking at his uncle as though he expected a question
+from him.
+
+"Then Major Pierson is no longer in the army?" added the captain.
+
+"Oh, yes, he is; but I think he was the maddest man in the army soon
+after you left."
+
+"Indeed! Why was he so mad?"
+
+"Because he was removed from command of Fort Gaines for letting you pass
+it in your steamer."
+
+"Then he is still in the service?" asked Captain Passford.
+
+"Yes, sir; he is a good officer, and he will make his way, if he was
+guilty of a blunder in letting the Bellevite pass the fort."
+
+"Then you intend to be a sailor, Corny?"
+
+"Yes, sir; in fact, I am a sailor now. I had been in your yacht so
+much that I knew something about the ropes, and I had no difficulty in
+getting transferred, as sailors were wanted more than soldiers," replied
+Corny, who seemed to be studying the figures in the carpet.
+
+"But if you went into the navy, how do you happen to be in New York?"
+asked Captain Passford.
+
+"I suppose you remember the Dauphine, which was fitting out when you
+were in Mobile Bay?" continued Corny.
+
+"I heard the name, and was told that she was one of the vessels that
+tried to prevent the escape of the Bellevite."
+
+"I was sent on board of her; but, in coming out of the bay, she was
+captured by a Federal vessel, and sent to New York. I hid myself when
+the crew were taken off, and came in her here," replied Corny, still
+studying the carpet.
+
+Captain Passford had not heard of the capture of the Dauphine. He was
+not quite satisfied with the story of his nephew. But he was obliged to
+go to the city, and he handed the guest over to his wife and daughter.
+Corny wanted to see Christy, and Mrs. Passford had begun to be uneasy
+that he did not return at dark. Corny went out to find him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION
+
+
+The Bellevite lay in the river, off the estate of Captain Passford,
+though at a little distance below the mansion, from the windows of which
+she could not be seen. Corny walked down the avenue and over the hill,
+in the direction of the anchorage of the steamer. The boat-house was
+near the mansion, and to the float attached to it a variety of small
+craft were made fast. But the water was not deep enough there for the
+Bellevite. Corny had been to Bonnydale, and passed many weeks there,
+so that he was familiar with the localities.
+
+As he passed the boat-house, he noticed that the Florence, which was
+Christy's favorite sailing craft, was not at her moorings, and he
+concluded that his cousin was away in her on some excursion. When he
+reached the boundary line of the estate, he discovered the sailboat with
+her bow on the beach, though her mainsail was still set. A gentle breeze
+was blowing, with which the Florence could make good headway; but there
+seemed to be no one on board of her. Corny watched her for some time,
+waiting for the appearance of Christy. It was not an easy matter to
+climb the high fence which bounded the estate, and the planter's son
+could hail the boat, and be taken on board of her as soon as she got
+under way again.
+
+But Christy did not appear, and it was getting darker and darker every
+minute. Something must have attracted the attention of the skipper on
+shore, and he had doubtless landed. But while Corny was waiting for his
+cousin, he saw two men making their way through the grove on the other
+side of the fence towards the river. One of them he recognized, and gave
+a peculiar whistle, which drew the two men in the direction from which
+it came.
+
+"Is that you, major?" asked Corny, in a low tone.
+
+"Hush! You are a simpleton, Corny!" exclaimed one of the men, as he came
+up to the palisades of the fence. "Didn't I tell you not to call me by
+name?"
+
+"I didn't call you by name," replied Corny, smartly.
+
+"You called me major, and that is about the same thing," added the
+speaker on the other side of the fence.
+
+"The woods are full of majors now, both in the North and the South, and
+no one knows you especially by that name. But I will remember in future,
+Mr. Mulgate," replied Corny.
+
+"That sounds better, Neal. If we lose the game it will be by your
+blundering," continued the major, or Mulgate, as he preferred to be
+called on the present occasion.
+
+"I suppose you have no talent for blundering, Mulgate; and that is the
+reason why you happen to be here at the present moment," retorted Corny,
+not at all pleased with the speech of the other.
+
+"None of your impudence, Neal!" said Mulgate, sharply.
+
+"If you lose the game, you say that it will be by my blundering,
+Mulgate," continued Corny. "That makes it seem as though I was to bear
+the responsibility of a failure; and I don't like the looks of things.
+If I am to be responsible for a failure, I ought to have something to
+say about the manner of conducting the enterprise."
+
+"Shut up, Neal! We have no time to talk nonsense of that sort. I am to
+conduct the enterprise, and you are to obey my orders. That is the whole
+of it," replied Mulgate, impatient at the position taken by the young
+man. "You are still under my command, and you will obey me or take the
+consequences. Now to business: what have you learned?"
+
+"Nothing at all," answered Corny, rather sullenly.
+
+"What have you been about? Haven't you discovered anything?"
+
+"Nothing at all; I have but just arrived here. I took supper with my
+uncle, and told him the fish story you invented for me."
+
+"Did he believe it?"
+
+"I don't know whether he did or not; but he and the rest of the family
+treated me very handsomely, which made me feel meaner than a dead
+catfish."
+
+"Never mind your feelings; you are here to assist in a great enterprise,
+and you are expected to do your duty to your country without regard to
+your own notions. Report what you have done."
+
+"I haven't done anything but introduce myself into the house, and
+explain how I happen to be here," replied Corny, as he proceeded to
+give the details of his meeting with his uncle.
+
+"Is Miss Florry at home?" asked Mulgate, in a more gentle tone, as
+though he had a deeper interest in the direction he had indicated.
+
+"She is at home, and was at the supper table with us."
+
+"How does she seem to be?" asked the stranger.
+
+"First rate; she is as jolly as though no one ever heard of such a thing
+as war," replied Corny, with enthusiasm.
+
+"Did she say anything about her stay at Glenfield?" inquired Mulgate,
+whose interest seemed to mount to the pitch of anxiety.
+
+"Not a word; she did not even hint at Glenfield, or anything connected
+with it," answered Corny; and, after the sharp tones of the other, he
+seemed to take pleasure in thorning him with negative answers.
+
+"Did she say anything about me?"
+
+"Not a word."
+
+"Didn't she mention my name?"
+
+"She did not."
+
+"Didn't she ask about my health, or want to know where I was?"
+
+"Florry did not allude to you in any manner. If she wanted to know where
+you were, she did not say a word about it to me," replied Corny, in the
+most decided tones.
+
+It was still light enough to see that there was something like a frown
+on the brow of Mr. Mulgate. He had evidently believed that the daughter
+of the millionnaire of Bonnydale was interested in him, and his
+inquiries indicated that he expected her to ask about him; but she had
+not made the remotest allusion to him. Besides, she was as jolly as she
+had been at Glenfield, when war was a matter of the future, which few
+believed would ever be realized. She had not grown thin and pale during
+her absence from him, and she did not appear to be wasting her sweetness
+in pining for him.
+
+"What in the world are you talking about, Mulgate?" suddenly demanded
+his companion on his side of the fence. "I thought we were here for
+business, and you are talking about some girl."
+
+"She is the lady of whom I spoke to you; she spent the last winter with
+her uncle at the Glenfield Plantation. I am interested in her," replied
+Mulgate, as though he had given a sufficient excuse for the questions he
+had put to Corny.
+
+"Are we to capture her and take her back to the State of Alabama?"
+demanded the other, who seemed to be a gentleman of forty at least.
+
+"I don't know; that depends; but, Captain Carboneer, I hope you will be
+my friend in this little matter," added Mulgate.
+
+"I don't know any thing about the little matter; but I am not willing
+to jeopardize the enterprise that brings us here to help you out with
+a love affair," replied the older gentleman. "There will be time enough
+for you to look for a wife after the war is over, and you have more time
+to attend to the affair."
+
+"Mr. Mulgate, I should like to know something more about your intentions
+before we go any farther," interposed Corny, in a tone so decided that
+Mulgate had to listen to him, especially as he had obtained so little
+sympathy from the elderly gentleman.
+
+"Speak quick then, for we have no time to spare," added Mulgate.
+
+"Do I understand from what you have said that you intend to take Florry
+Passford back to the South with you?" asked Corny, with his teeth
+closely pressed together, so that it was rather difficult for him to
+speak intelligibly.
+
+"I answer, as I did before, that I don't know what I shall do; that
+depends," replied Mulgate evasively.
+
+"Depends upon what?"
+
+"I have no time to discuss that matter now," added Mulgate, turning to
+his companion.
+
+"But I have time to say that I will ruin the whole enterprise if you
+mean to commit an outrage such as you appear to have in your mind,"
+replied Corny, as vigorously as though he had been the military equal
+of the one he had called "major" by accident.
+
+"Do you mean to be a traitor to your country, Neal?" demanded Mulgate
+angrily.
+
+"Neither to my country nor to my uncle."
+
+"Your uncle is a Yankee, and is doing all he can to subjugate the free
+South. He has no rights which we are bound to respect," said Mulgate
+fiercely.
+
+"This will never do," interposed Captain Carboneer; and this may or may
+not have been his real name. "We are getting into a disagreement at the
+very first step of our enterprise."
+
+"I don't know you, Captain Carboneer, but I wish to be understood as
+meaning every word I have said; and I will wreck this enterprise, if
+I am shot for it, rather than allow my cousin to be carried off in
+connection with it," protested Corny stoutly. "I will do my duty
+faithfully; but I will not assist in robbing my uncle of his daughter."
+
+"You are quite right, young man; and I would rather be sent to the fort
+as a prisoner of war than take part in such an enterprise," added
+Captain Carboneer, in mild but forcible tones.
+
+"You astonish me, captain!" said Mulgate. "Why do you talk about an
+outrage? I claim to be a gentleman, and to be above any such villainy as
+you and Corny suggest. I do not propose to rob Captain Passford of his
+daughter. What I may do depends--depends upon the consent of the lady.
+If she is willing to go with me"--
+
+"She is not willing to go with you; and she never will be willing to go
+with you," Corny interposed. "I don't know what you are thinking about,
+Mr. Mulgate; but Florry cares no more about you than she does about
+Uncle Pedro, my father's house-servant. She saw you both at Glenfield,
+and I can't tell which she likes best."
+
+"We had better drop the subject," added Captain Carboneer.
+
+"Drop it, then," replied Mulgate sullenly. "Get over the fence, Corny.
+Nobody is using that sailboat, and we may as well take it for a while."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE DIGNIFIED NAVAL OFFICER
+
+
+Corny climbed over the high palisade fence, with the assistance of
+Mulgate, and the party walked to the sailboat at the beach below. By
+this time it was dark, though the gloom was not very dense under a clear
+sky.
+
+"Do you know anything about this boat, Corny?" asked Mulgate, as the
+trio approached the handsome craft, for such she was beyond a doubt.
+
+The crusty tones of the speaker indicated that he had not yet recovered
+from the set-back he had plainly received in the late conversation,
+though he denied that he had any evil intentions in regard to Miss
+Florry.
+
+"I do; I know all about her," replied Corny.
+
+"Well, why don't you tell what you know?" demanded Mulgate.
+
+"What do you wish to know about her?" inquired Corny, who was disposed
+to maintain his equality in spite of the military rank of his companion,
+which he had incautiously betrayed in the beginning.
+
+"Whose boat is it?" asked Mulgate.
+
+"She belongs to my cousin, Christy Passford."
+
+"Where is he now?"
+
+"I don't know, sir."
+
+"Was he at the house when you were there?"
+
+"He was not; and his mother had become rather anxious because he did not
+return to supper," replied Corny, becoming a little more pliable.
+
+"This is a rather large boat, Captain Carboneer," added Mulgate, as he
+surveyed the trim sloop. "She is rather too large for our purpose."
+
+"She will answer very well," replied the captain, as he applied his
+shoulder to the stem of the craft to ascertain how heavily she rested
+upon the beach. "Now, do you know whether there is any person on board
+of that steamer?"
+
+"Of course, I don't know anything about it," said Mulgate.
+
+"I am sure I don't," added Corny.
+
+"I sent you up here to ascertain all about the Bellevite," continued
+Mulgate, rather sharply.
+
+"I have not had time to find out anything," Corny explained, with some
+indignation in his tones.
+
+"Corny has done as well as he could in the time he has had to do it in,"
+interposed Captain Carboneer. "I think you are inclined to stir up bad
+blood with this young man, Mulgate. It appears now that you have a
+purpose of your own to accomplish, and that Corny will not allow you
+to carry it out."
+
+"My first purpose is the same as your own," replied Mulgate.
+
+"You admit that you have a second object; and I cannot tell when you
+will decide to make it your principal purpose," added Captain Carboneer.
+"I am not satisfied with the situation. I have done everything I can to
+accomplish our patriotic object. You endanger it by your crusty manner
+to this young man, who seems to be willing to do his duty; and he is in
+a position to be of great service to our enterprise."
+
+"If you think it is necessary, I will take off my cap to this young
+man," said Mulgate, with a sneer in his tones.
+
+"Be reasonable, Mulgate."
+
+"What can I do more than I have done?" demanded the military gentleman,
+as his title indicated that he was.
+
+"The first thing to do on your part is to renounce this idea of taking
+a lady passenger with you in the steamer," replied Captain Carboneer, in
+a very decided tone. "Women are not permitted on board of naval vessels,
+especially in time of war."
+
+"I don't think I have any idea to renounce," muttered Mulgate.
+
+"You certainly hinted that you desired to take a lady on board, and
+convey her to our destination," said the captain, rather earnestly.
+
+"Not against her will, as you and Corny will have it," protested
+Mulgate.
+
+"Do you renounce that plan or that idea, whatever it may be?"
+
+"I do not renounce it. If the lady is willing to go with me, as I
+believe she will be, I know of no reason why she should not go as a
+passenger," argued Mulgate.
+
+"I think we had better abandon the enterprise in the beginning, for I
+think we can be of more service to our country at liberty than within
+the walls of Fort Lafayette," added the captain, with not a little
+disgust mingled with his indignation.
+
+Whatever his object in visiting this locality, he was clearly a
+high-toned gentleman, and the idea of prosecuting a love adventure
+in connection with what he regarded as a highly patriotic duty was
+repulsive to his nature. He found by trial that the Florence was not
+grounded very hard on the beach, for the tide was rising, and he drew
+the boat farther up from the water, as he turned to walk away from the
+spot.
+
+"Am I to understand that you retire from this enterprise, Captain
+Carboneer?" asked Mulgate.
+
+"Am I to understand that you renounce your scheme to carry off a woman
+as a part of the enterprise?" demanded the captain.
+
+"I do not renounce it, though I have no intention to carry off a woman,
+as you put it. The most I have asked is that she be permitted to go as a
+passenger of her own free will," replied Mulgate.
+
+"She never will go with him of her own free will," interposed Corny.
+
+"I will not have a woman on board of the vessel, whether she goes
+willingly or otherwise. Do you renounce that scheme entirely?"
+
+"I think you are driving me into a small corner, Captain Carboneer."
+
+"After what you have said before, I think I am fully justified in what I
+require. With your private affairs, I have nothing to do. If you choose
+to marry this young lady, I have nothing to say about that; but no woman
+can be a passenger in a war vessel under my command. After I have landed
+you at Bermuda or Nassau, I shall not attempt to run the blockade, which
+is now enforced, in order to land you and the lady. Besides, we may be
+in action at any time after we get under way."
+
+"Then if I do not yield the point, you intend to leave me to carry out
+this enterprise alone?" demanded Mulgate.
+
+"In that case, I wish to go with you, Captain Carboneer," added Corny,
+with emphasis. "But I want it understood that I shall not leave
+Bonnydale without telling my uncle to look out for his daughter."
+
+"Then you mean to be a traitor, Corny?" said Mulgate angrily.
+
+"Call it what you like."
+
+"All this is absurd, Mulgate," interposed Captain Carboneer. "Without my
+resources, you can do nothing at all, and it would be foolish for you to
+attempt the capture of the vessel. You are not a sailor or a navigator,
+and you could do nothing with the vessel if you succeeded in getting her
+to sea."
+
+"I have no doubt I could find a hundred men in New York, including
+half a score of navigators, to assist me in this enterprise," replied
+Mulgate.
+
+"I have another steamer in view, though the Bellevite is vastly superior
+to anything I know of in speed and general fitness. Do as you think
+best, Mulgate; and I shall be able to explain in a satisfactory manner
+my failure to obtain this vessel."
+
+"The fault will be mine, I suppose," muttered Mulgate.
+
+"The court-martial will decide that point," replied the captain.
+
+Mulgate seemed to be buried in his own reflections, no doubt suggested
+by the last remark of the other. Possibly he considered that the failure
+of such an important enterprise because he had insisted upon bringing
+a lady into the affair would not sound well at home. Whatever he was
+thinking about, he was greatly agitated, and Captain Carboneer walked in
+the direction of the road, half a mile from the river. He had no time to
+consider the matter: he must yield at once, or abandon the scheme.
+
+"I will do anything you ask, Captain Carboneer!" he shouted, forgetting,
+in his excitement, the demand for secrecy.
+
+The naval officer, as his conversation indicated that he was, turned and
+retraced his steps to the beach. He did not seem to be at all excited
+because his associate had changed his mind, for in his judgment it would
+have been worse than madness for him to persist in his intentions.
+
+"I have stated the case as I understand it, and I have nothing more to
+say, Mulgate," said he.
+
+"I renounce my scheme, and I will not ask that the lady be a passenger
+even to Bermuda or Nassau," replied Mulgate, though not without a
+considerable display of emotion.
+
+"Very well; that is enough. Nothing more need be said about your
+purpose, since you have renounced it. Now we will visit the Bellevite,
+and learn what we can in regard to her," said the naval officer, in his
+usual quiet manner, and whether he was a Confederate or a Unionist, one
+could hardly have failed to be impressed by his dignified deportment.
+
+At the request of Captain Carboneer, Mulgate climbed to the forward deck
+of the Florence. She was twenty-eight feet long, and her deck covered
+more than half of her length. She had a very large cabin for a boat of
+her size, which was fitted up with berths, with a cook-room forward of
+it, for Christy Passford was often absent a week in her.
+
+"I think Corny had better go back to the house, and keep an eye on
+Christy, so as to make sure that he does not disturb us," suggested
+Mulgate, as the planter's son was about to go on board of the yacht.
+
+"I think we shall want him, and he had better be with us," replied the
+captain, as one would speak when he expected to be obeyed.
+
+Corny climbed up the stem of the Florence. He had never seen the captain
+before, and had not even been informed who and what he was; but he
+appeared to be a more important person than Mulgate, and he did not wait
+for the latter to argue his point. He had sailed in the Florence very
+often, and he knew all about her. He took a boathook, and planted its
+point on the beach, in readiness to shove off.
+
+"Not yet, Corny," said the naval officer, as he sprang lightly to the
+deck of the sailboat. "Let us see where we are before we do anything."
+
+Captain Carboneer seated himself on one of the cushioned seats in the
+standing-room, and looked about him. A steamer towing a multitude of
+canal boats was approaching, and he waited for it to pass. Then no
+steamer or other craft was to be seen on the river.
+
+"So far as I have been able to discover, there are only two men on board
+of the Bellevite, and I think we have not a moment to lose," said the
+naval officer, when he saw that the river was clear of everything that
+might interfere with his plans. "But we must go on board of her, and
+make sure of everything before we commit ourselves."
+
+"As you said, Captain Carboneer, I am no sailor; and you don't think of
+taking the steamer out of the river alone?" added Mulgate.
+
+"I have not come here on a fool's errand, Major Pierson," replied the
+captain. "We are alone now, and we may call things by their right
+names."
+
+"But I don't care to have my name used in this vicinity," interposed
+this gentleman, when addressed by his own name.
+
+"Your wish in this respect shall be respected, Mr. Mulgate. I was about
+to say that I had a ship's company all ready to take possession of this
+craft, to handle her at sea, and even to fight a battle if necessary."
+
+"But where are your ship's company?" asked Mulgate, as he wished still
+to be called.
+
+"I will produce them at the right time. Now you may shove her off,
+Corny," added the captain, as he took the wheel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+CORNY PASSFORD PLAYS ANOTHER PART
+
+
+Captain Carboneer brought the Florence about, and headed her across the
+river. The Bellevite was moored a short distance from the estate down
+the stream.
+
+"I have been up here before to-day," said the naval officer, as the boat
+moved away from the shore, assuring him that no one could be near enough
+to hear what he said.
+
+"We only reached New York yesterday, and I don't see how you can have
+picked up a ship's company in that time," replied Mulgate.
+
+"I sent the men before I came myself. I have stationed them in various
+places on the river, where I can get them when I want them; and I shall
+want them before the sun rises to-morrow morning," replied the captain.
+
+"To-night!" exclaimed Mulgate, who seemed to be astounded at the
+revelation.
+
+"Yes, to-night; in a few hours from now. I have obtained all the
+information I could in regard to the steamer, and what we do must be
+done at once. The Bellevite, as they call her now, has not yet been
+handed over to the government, though she has been accepted. They are
+waiting for something, though I don't know what, and she may be sent
+to the navy yard to-morrow; and then it will be too late for us to do
+anything."
+
+"But to-night--that is rather hurried," added Mulgate, musing.
+
+Very likely he was thinking of the beautiful Miss Florry in the elegant
+mansion a short distance up the river. Without a doubt he was Major
+Pierson, since the naval officer had addressed him by this name and
+title. He had often met the young lady at Glenfield Plantation, and
+possibly his sudden visit to the North had not been without some thought
+of her. However it may have been with her, he was at least very much
+interested in Miss Florry.
+
+The fact that she was a "Yankee" did not make her less beautiful, and it
+did not make her any the less the daughter of a millionnaire. No one
+could say that he was mercenary, however, and no one could say why he
+was not as deeply interested in the daughter of the planter, for she
+was hardly less beautiful, though her father was not considered a
+millionnaire, to say nothing of a ten-millionnaire. Major Pierson did
+not tell what he was thinking about; but he was certainly astounded and
+badly set back when the naval officer intimated that the capture of the
+Bellevite might be undertaken that night.
+
+"You can see for yourself that we must strike at once, or there may be
+nothing to strike at," replied Captain Carboneer.
+
+"But we shall have no time to work up the case," suggested the major.
+
+"The case is all worked up, and there is nothing more to work up,"
+replied the captain, as he headed the boat for the steamer.
+
+Major Pierson said no more, but he was as much dissatisfied with the
+promptness of the naval officer as though he had said it in so many
+words. It would be difficult to imagine how he expected to manage his
+case with Miss Florry, since he could not enter the house without
+betraying his identity. Perhaps he intended to lie in wait for her in
+the grounds of the estate, and trust that her interest in him would
+induce her to keep his secret.
+
+"Is that you, Christy?" called a voice from the steamer, as the Florence
+approached the Bellevite.
+
+"Answer him, Corny," said Captain Carboneer, in a low voice. "Say 'yes,'
+and ask who it is that speaks."
+
+"Yes," repeated Corny. "Who are you?"
+
+"Sampson," replied the man on board of the steamer.
+
+"And who is with him," added the captain.
+
+"Are you alone on board?" demanded Corny, varying his speech a little
+from his instructions.
+
+"No; Warping is on board, but he has gone to sleep in the pilot-house.
+Do you want him?"
+
+"No; but you wish to take a couple of friends on board to obtain the
+measure of a gun-carriage," continued Captain Carboneer.
+
+"No; I don't want Warping; I only wanted to know if he was on board,"
+repeated Corny. "I have a couple of friends here who want to measure a
+gun-carriage to-night, for they have to leave in the morning."
+
+"Very well, young man; you understand yourself very well," said the
+captain, in tones of approval.
+
+By this time Captain Carboneer had brought the boat alongside the
+accommodation steps, the lower part of which were hoisted up to prevent
+any water tramps from coming on board without permission. But when Corny
+had delivered the last message, the steps were lowered, and the Florence
+made fast to them. Corny was told to lead the way, and act as though he
+were Christy Passford, and owned the ship in his own right.
+
+The planter's son went up the steps, and the other two followed him,
+though the naval officer had really ascertained all he wished to know.
+There were only two ship-keepers on board, and they would be no obstacle
+in the way of the ship's company to which the captain had alluded. But
+the leader of the enterprise had another object in view, though it was
+only secondary in its nature. He was afraid to overburden the mind of
+Corny, and he said nothing more.
+
+"Is everything all right on board, Sampson?" asked Corny, as he stepped
+down upon the deck of the vessel.
+
+"All right, Christy," replied the man.
+
+"I am glad to hear it. Is there anything new?"
+
+"Nothing at all, Christy. I have been overhauling the boilers a little
+to-day for the want of something to do, and they are in first-rate
+condition. As you told me to-day that we might expect the order to
+report at the navy yard at any minute, I thought I would have everything
+as nearly ready as it could be."
+
+"You have done very well, Sampson," added Corny, approvingly. "We are
+to get under way early in the morning, and if father gets home he will
+start the steamer as soon as he comes. He went to the city this evening,
+and probably he will bring the order with him," continued Corny, making
+use of the information he had obtained in the house.
+
+"Where is this long gun, my man?" asked Captain Carboneer, taking a
+measure from his pocket.
+
+"Forward, sir," replied Sampson, as he led the way.
+
+The captain kept some distance behind the ship-keeper, and took Corny by
+the arm to detain him.
+
+"Tell him to get up steam at once," whispered the leader of the party,
+as he hastened forward to the long midship gun, where he proceeded to
+take his measurements as though he were in real earnest, though it was
+so dark that he could not possibly see the marks on his tape, even if he
+tried to do so.
+
+"You say that everything is ready to start the fires, Sampson?" said
+Corny, as soon as he had a chance to speak to the ship-keeper.
+
+"Everything is ready, Christy, and I have only to touch the match to the
+shavings to make a beginning," replied Sampson. "Is there any news about
+my appointment in the engine-room, Christy?"
+
+"Not yet, Sampson; but the papers will soon come, and I am almost
+willing to guarantee your appointment."
+
+"Mr. Vapoor has already spoken a good word for me."
+
+"All right, Sampson; then you are sure of the position. I am very sure
+that we shall get the order before morning to move the steamer over
+to the navy yard, and I think you had better start the fires at once,
+Sampson," continued Corny, making himself as much at home on board of
+the steamer as though he had really been the person he was supposed
+to be.
+
+"All right, Christy; and if the order don't come as soon as you expect
+it, we can bank the fires, and no harm will be done," replied the oiler,
+for such was his position on board, though he was evidently expecting
+something better.
+
+By this time Captain Carboneer had finished taking the measure of the
+gun-carriage, though he had not been able to see anything. But he had
+been through all the forms, and that answered his purpose just as well.
+He declared that he had no further business on board, and the trio went
+to the accommodation ladder. Sampson had called his sleeping companion,
+and already the black smoke began to pour out of the smokestack.
+
+"That was all very handsomely done," said Major Pierson, as they stepped
+on board of the Florence.
+
+"Everything worked very well; but it was all owing to the fact that the
+ship-keeper thought that Corny was some other person," replied the
+captain.
+
+"I know that he took him for Christy Passford, and I have had some
+experience with Christy," replied the major, recalling his attempts to
+prevent the Bellevite from escaping from Mobile Bay. "He is a smart
+fellow, as the Yankees would say, and it is fortunate that he is not
+here at the present time."
+
+"He can't be very far off," suggested Corny. "He was expected back to
+supper, and I wanted to see him, for he is my cousin. He must be about
+here somewhere."
+
+"Never mind whether he is or not; we have finished our business here,
+and the harvest is ripe for the sickle. We will leave this boat just
+where we found it, for I have a rowboat a little farther down the
+river," continued Captain Carboneer.
+
+"I suppose I ought to return to my uncle's house," suggested Corny.
+"If they miss me they will be looking about here to ascertain what has
+become of me."
+
+"I think you had better not try to relieve their anxiety to-night.
+If they are worried about you, they will get over it in the morning
+when they find the steamer is missing," said Captain Carboneer, with
+something like a chuckle in his tones when he pictured the surprise of
+the "Yankees" in making the discovery that the Bellevite had taken to
+herself wings, and sped on her way to the South.
+
+"I don't think they will worry about me," added Corny, laughing. "I was
+afraid they might think I was here to capture the city of New York, or
+something of that sort."
+
+"I think you had better not undeceive them to-night," replied the
+captain, as he ran the yacht upon the beach near where he had found her.
+
+"Everything looks exceedingly well for our enterprise."
+
+"If you get that steamer into Mobile Bay"--
+
+"I don't intend to get her into the bay; that would be folly, and I
+shall run no risks among the blockaders, for a single shot might give
+her back to her present owners."
+
+"No matter; if you only get her, and she is under the flag of the
+Confederacy, it will put me back where I was when she went into the
+bay by a Yankee trick," added Major Pierson.
+
+"After the war, if you wish to see the young lady, you will have more
+time to attend to the affair, and I shall wish you every success then,"
+said the captain lightly.
+
+"How long do you think the war will last, Captain Carboneer?" asked the
+major, in this connection.
+
+"Possibly it may last a year, though if we can break up that blockade,
+it will not last six months longer."
+
+The trio landed on the beach, and the naval officer made sure that the
+Florence was securely fixed in the gravel. The party walked down stream,
+embarked in the boat of which the captain had spoken. It was pulled by
+two men, and after they had gone about a mile, the captain began to blow
+a boatswain's whistle which he took from his pocket.
+
+But they had hardly jumped down on the beach before Christy Passford
+opened the cabin door of the yacht, and crept out with the utmost care.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CAPTAIN CARBONEER AND HIS PARTY
+
+
+As Captain Carboneer blew his whistle, a mile below the moorings of the
+Bellevite, an occasional response came from the shore. Everything was
+remarkably quiet on the river, though at long intervals a steamer passed
+on its way up or down the stream. The signals made by the naval officer
+were not loud, and the replies, made without the aid of any instrument,
+were quite feeble. One might have taken them for some frolic on the part
+of the boys.
+
+"I don't quite understand this business," said Major Pierson, after he
+had listened a while to the signals. "I suppose from the answers you
+get, that your men are all along the river, and the woods seem to be
+full of them."
+
+"I have no doubt they are all here," replied Captain Carboneer. "I have
+been in this vicinity all day, and I have made good use of my time.
+I believe the Bellevite belongs to the Confederacy, and it shall be
+no fault of mine if the goods are not delivered in good order and
+condition."
+
+"My father was confident that he should obtain her at Nassau, though he
+was mistaken," added the major.
+
+"But when she went within our lines, we were all satisfied that she was
+ours. I have not yet been able to understand why she was permitted to
+escape."
+
+"If you mean by that to cast any blame upon those who did their best
+to prevent her escape, Captain Carboneer, you wrong them grossly,"
+said Major Pierson. "She came on a friendly visit to the plantation of
+Colonel Passford; but this gentleman, though the owner of the steamer
+was his own brother, promptly gave information of her presence in the
+creek, and did all he could to have her captured. No man could have
+sacrificed more to his patriotism than he did."
+
+"I do not reflect on him or on any one; I only wonder how the Bellevite
+contrived to escape when several steamers were sent out to capture her,"
+added the captain.
+
+"The son of the owner of the Bellevite was a prisoner of mine, for when
+I had my brother arrested for desertion, this young man was with him.
+The only mistake I made was in not putting him in irons. The captain of
+my tug proved to be a traitor to the Confederacy, and this fellow, with
+Christy Passford, did the most of the mischief in preventing the capture
+of the steamer."
+
+"I was told that he was a smart boy," added the naval officer.
+
+"He is all of that; and I think it was very fortunate that he did not
+happen to be at home when we visited the Bellevite just now," said Major
+Pierson, who evidently had a proper respect for the abilities of the
+millionnaire's son.
+
+"I do not see that his presence in his father's mansion, if he had been
+there, could have made any difference," added the captain, as he sounded
+his whistle again, and heard a faint response from the shore. "As long
+as he was not actually on board of the steamer, he was harmless."
+
+"Perhaps he was, though I have the feeling that it would have been
+otherwise. There was a whistle from the shore."
+
+"I heard it, and I understand it. Haslett has done his whole duty,
+I judge," replied Captain Carboneer.
+
+"Who is Haslett?" asked the major curiously. "I never heard of him
+before."
+
+"He is to be the first lieutenant of the Bellevite."
+
+"You seem to have a full supply of officers and men, Captain Carboneer,"
+added Major Pierson, apparently a little disconcerted. "I do not see
+that I am of the least use here, for you seem to have done everything
+without consulting me."
+
+"In naval matters I have; but I give you full credit for the planning of
+the enterprise," replied the captain, in his softest tones.
+
+"When I was removed from my command because I allowed the steamer to
+pass the forts, I felt that a great injustice had been done to me. I did
+all I could to effect the capture of the vessel, but the attempt was a
+failure," argued the major. "The shot hole through the bow of the Belle
+utterly wrecked her, and the force on board of her could do nothing, and
+Christy Passford had brought my own tug to bear against me. Why, the
+Bellevite actually saved the force on board of the Belle from drowning.
+A violent gale came up, and that did a great deal to nullify all our
+efforts. But I think I did my whole duty."
+
+"I have no doubt of it, Major Pierson; and for that reason you were sent
+on this mission; and I am confident that the success of the enterprise
+will restore you to your former command, or give you another quite as
+good," said Captain Carboneer, as consolation to the military arm of the
+expedition.
+
+"But I cannot see that I have been of any use to this enterprise, and I
+might as well have staid at home."
+
+"You are too modest by half, major. You planned the expedition, and
+suggested that Corny should take part in it, as he would have the
+_entrée_ to the residence of Captain Passford. But, being a mere boy,
+he could not be sent alone, and your services were likely to be of
+the most important character. It is no fault of yours that we found
+everything made ready for us, as it were. It might have been quite
+different, and the burden of the action might have rested upon you.
+It is all right as it is."
+
+"I am satisfied," added the major, "though I think it was no more than
+right that you should have consulted me in regard to your methods, of
+which I am still profoundly ignorant. In getting up the scheme, I based
+everything on the fact that Corny could go into his uncle's house and
+obtain all the information we needed."
+
+"The scheme was well concocted; and I shall have the pleasure of
+reporting to the government that the military arm of the expedition
+conducted the enterprise to a perfect success, the naval force only
+doing the duty pointed out by the military."
+
+"You are very kind, Captain Carboneer," said Major Pierson, who could
+not well help being entirely satisfied, and even greatly pleased, with
+this happy showing of the final result.
+
+"By daylight in the morning we shall be outside of Sandy Hook, I expect.
+We have no time to waste, and you can see for yourself how the affair of
+the young lady would have complicated our operations."
+
+"How do you intend to convey these men, who seem to be scattered all
+along the shores of the river, to the steamer?"
+
+"They understand my signals, and they will all be ready within an hour
+to take a small steamer which will pick them up."
+
+"But where is the steamer?"
+
+"She is farther down the river. As you seem to be a little sensitive to
+the fact that I have not consulted you in regard to the naval operations
+of this enterprise, I can tell you in a few words all there is of them,"
+continued Captain Carboneer. "As you are aware, as soon as our plan was
+matured by you, I left Mobile with Lieutenant Haslett, though you knew
+nothing about him, for Nassau. We had no difficulty in getting out of
+the bay, for the blockade was not then enforced. At Nassau I engaged a
+couple of English engineers, and a few other officers, with thirty
+seamen, mostly English, who were looking for prize-money. I had to take
+my force to Quebec, for no steamer offered for New York. I sent them all
+here in small parties, and Haslett posted them along the river when I
+told him they would be needed to-night."
+
+"I did not leave Mobile till two weeks later with Corny," added the
+major. "But I got here sooner than you did."
+
+"You were more fortunate in finding a steamer. I believe I have a
+capital crew, though I shall obtain more men at Bermuda, or some other
+port. There are plenty of good English sailors who are willing to fight
+on either side if there is a good showing for prize-money; and I have
+no doubt I shall capture a dozen vessels before we reach the Bermudas,
+which will fully satisfy them, especially as the government will pay
+the value of all vessels we are compelled to burn on the high seas."
+
+"You will have the advantage over everything that floats, for I was told
+that the Bellevite made twenty knots an hour, and had done twenty-two,"
+said Major Pierson. "At what time do you think you will get on board of
+the steamer?"
+
+"By one or two in the morning, I hope; but it will depend upon the
+steamer Haslett engages, though he told me he had bargained for an old
+one with a walking-beam; but that will answer our purpose. I believe he
+had to buy her, though she was of no great value."
+
+At a creek which appeared to be the rendezvous of the conspirators,
+the boat left the river; but there was no steamer, though quite a number
+of men had gathered there. Leaving the party in the boat to follow out
+the remaining details of their enterprise, which, by this time, in the
+absence of anything like an obstacle, they regarded as so many mere
+formalities, it becomes necessary to make another visit to the mansion
+of Captain Passford. This gentleman had gone to the city upon important
+business connected with the fitting out of the Bellevite, and he had not
+returned when the clock in the great hall struck ten, which was at about
+the time Captain Carboneer and his companions went into the creek five
+miles down the river.
+
+"There is no knowing when your father will come home, Florry," said Mrs.
+Passford, as she suspended her work on a stocking she was knitting for
+the soldiers. "But I can't imagine what has become of Christy. He never
+stays out as late as this unless he tells us of it beforehand."
+
+"I am really worried about him, mother," replied the beautiful daughter,
+looking up from the stocking on which she was employed. "He went away in
+the Florence, and something may have happened to him."
+
+"I think not, Florry: there has been no storm, or heavy blow, and
+he thinks he is as safe in his boat as he is on shore," added Mrs.
+Passford, with an effort to control the fears of the daughter. "He may
+have gone down to the city. He is very indignant at the delay in giving
+the order to have the steamer sent to the navy yard, and wherever he is,
+I am confident he is doing something in connection with the steamer."
+
+"I wish I knew whether the Florence was at the boathouse," continued
+Florry. "He said he was going out in the boat; but perhaps he did not.
+Perhaps he is with father."
+
+"There is the front-door bell," added Mrs. Passford, with a start.
+"It cannot be your father or Christy, for both of them have latch-keys.
+Who could come here at this time in the evening?"
+
+"Mr. Paul Vapoor," said the man-servant, who answered the bell.
+
+The gentleman announced walked into the sitting-room without any
+ceremony, for he had long been a familiar visitor. He was dressed in
+the full uniform of a chief engineer of the navy. Removing his cap, he
+politely bowed to the two ladies; and any one who was looking might have
+seen that Miss Florry blushed a little when she saw him; and very likely
+if Major Pierson had witnessed the roses on her fair cheek, he might
+possibly have concluded that it would have been useless to postpone the
+capture of the Bellevite to enable him to fortify his position near her.
+
+"I beg your pardon, ladies, for calling so late," said Mr. Vapoor, as he
+drew a long envelope from his pocket. "But I thought Christy might wish
+to see what is in this envelope before he retired."
+
+"Why, what is in it?" asked Mrs. Passford.
+
+"Christy's commission as a midshipman in the navy."
+
+"But Christy is not at home, and we are somewhat anxious about him,"
+added the mother, stating the facts in regard to her son.
+
+Paul Vapoor volunteered to go in search of him, and left the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE CABIN OF THE FLORENCE
+
+
+If Captain Carboneer had felt any especial interest in the Florence as
+a sailing yacht, he might have desired to see the cabin of the craft,
+which had always been the delight of Christy Passford. He had expended
+a great deal of his pocket-money upon the arrangement and furnishing of
+the cabin of his yacht, not only because he spent a considerable portion
+of his vacation hours in it, but because it had been a perpetual study
+with him to enlarge and improve it.
+
+It is very difficult to get three pints of liquid into a quart measure,
+and it was a conundrum of this sort that Christy was studying upon
+when he tried to make a parlor, bedroom, and dining-saloon of the very
+limited space in the forward part of the Florence. Though he could
+hardly get the three pints into the quart measure, he had done the best
+he could, and succeeded to a rather remarkable degree. But spite of the
+miracle which had been wrought in the cabin, Captain Carboneer did not
+even try the door of the apartment when he and his companions went on
+board of the yacht. He was so absorbed in the enterprise in which he was
+engaged, that his indifference to the miracle of the cabin may be
+excused.
+
+Even the double doors of the cabin were of handsome wood, elaborately
+polished; and they were not secured with the usual appliance of a
+padlock, but were provided with an expensive mortise-lock, which could
+be operated upon either side. If Captain Carboneer had tried to open
+that door, he would have found that it was fastened; but perhaps he
+could not have discovered that it had been secured upon the inside.
+Unless, therefore, he had taken the trouble to break open the door, he
+could not have ascertained that Christy Passford was actually in the
+cabin.
+
+Possibly, if he had opened the door by any means, he would not have
+discovered that the proprietor of the boat was in this dainty apartment,
+for the skipper had taken a great deal of pains to conceal himself so
+that he should not be seen, even if the intruders in the Florence had
+succeeded in opening the doors without the aid of the key in his pocket.
+Though he had two very nice berths in the cabin, miraculously arranged
+as to space, Christy did not occupy one on the present occasion, for in
+that case the unbidden visitors would have seen him if their curiosity
+had led them to force the doors.
+
+When the cook of the Florence, usually the skipper of the craft, was
+engaged in the practice of the culinary art, he seated himself on what
+looked like a box in front of the stove. But the interior of this box
+was really a part of the cabin, for it contained the feet of any one
+occupying the berth on the starboard side. The cookroom had no end of
+bins, lockers and drawers to contain the variety of provisions and
+stores necessary to get up a dinner for the skipper and his guests, when
+he had any. And even all these places could not contain everything that
+was needed on board. Under the two berths were large, though not very
+deep, lockers, one of which contained the jib-topsail of the craft, and
+other spare sails, while the opposite one was the fuel locker of the
+sloop.
+
+As the boat had not been used for a long time in cruising, the fuel
+receptacle was empty, though a spare gaff-topsail had been thrown
+into it. This locker was big enough to admit the body-corporate of
+the skipper. It was not a particularly clean place, for a portion of it
+had been economized for the stowage of the charcoal, which the skipper
+preferred to wood. But he did not rebel at the blackness of the retreat
+he had chosen, for he wore his boating dress, which was hardly stylish
+enough for a dude or a dandy.
+
+But Skipper Passford did not crawl into this black hole for the fun of
+the thing. He had been spending his time in waiting for a movement to be
+made in regard to the Bellevite. He staid in the house all the forenoon,
+and, after lunch, he sailed down the river in the Florence, though with
+no object in doing so beyond passing the time. Not far from the beach
+where he had afterwards left the yacht, he discovered a boat rowed by
+two men with a third in the stern sheets.
+
+The breeze was quite gentle, though the Florence would sail at a very
+tolerable speed when there was the least apology for a wind. She was
+doing so on the present occasion, and Christy had stretched himself out
+on the cushioned seat, with the spokes of the wheel where he could steer
+without any exertion, or next to none. The idleness of his days since
+his return from the eventful cruise of the Bellevite seemed to have
+infected him with an unnatural indolence.
+
+He felt as though he was rather more than half asleep when he saw the
+boat with the two oarsmen. It was going up the river, while he was going
+down. He had to luff a little to keep clear of the oars, but he did not
+move from his half-recumbent posture. When the boat was alongside, he
+glanced idly and carelessly at the person in the stern sheets. Instantly
+he was wide awake, though he did not change his position. The person
+looked like a gentleman, and Christy was sure that he had seen him
+before. A couple of minutes of earnest cudgelling of his brain assured
+him that he had seen the stranger in Nassau; that he was one of the many
+who wanted to purchase the Bellevite, ostensibly for a merchant vessel,
+but really for the Confederate navy.
+
+After he had run a short distance farther down the river, Christy came
+about, the boat being some distance from him, but the gentleman soon
+landed and walked up the river on the shore, or very near it. In a short
+time, he was joined by another person, whose form looked familiar to the
+skipper of the Florence. He could not identify him, for he was not near
+enough to him to see his face. A puff of air came from across the river,
+and the Florence darted ahead, and Christy was soon out of sight of the
+two strangers.
+
+Near the boundary of his father's estate, he ran the yacht on the sandy
+beach, letting her strike the sand hard enough to stick where she was
+for half an hour, though she was not likely to get adrift, for the
+gentle breeze was blowing her farther on the shore as the tide rose.
+
+Christy hauled down the jib of the sloop, and then seated himself, or
+rather reclined upon the cushions, though in such a position that he
+could see the shore, or any persons who came upon it. No one was in
+sight, and he had no one to watch. The swash of a great steamer passing
+in the channel made his boat roll heavily for a moment, with the forward
+part of the bottom resting on the sand. For the want of something better
+to think of, he began to put conundrums to himself in the absence of any
+other person to perplex with them. What was the gentleman that wanted to
+buy a steamer in Nassau doing up the Hudson? This was the principal one:
+he could not answer it. He gave it up; as the French have it, he had to
+"throw his tongue to the dogs," having no use for it in this connection.
+
+But while he was dreaming of the possible mission of the stranger,
+he heard voices on the beach. Not deeming it wise to show himself, he
+rolled off the cushion upon the floor of the standing-room, and then
+fixed himself in a position where he could see and hear what passed
+between the speakers. He could see without being seen. It did not
+require a second look for him to decide that the second person on the
+beach was Major Pierson, though his companion called him Mulgate.
+
+If Christy had been interested before, he was excited now. The two
+speakers were within earshot of the boat, and in the stillness of the
+scene he could hear every word that was said. In a few moments he was in
+full possession of the statements of the captain and the major in regard
+to their intentions; and it appeared that the gentleman he had seen in
+Nassau still desired to obtain a steamer.
+
+Before it was dark, Christy was astonished to behold his cousin Corny on
+the other side of the fence; and he readily understood that he was to
+take part in the enterprise in hand. As yet the listener had obtained
+but little more than the information in regard to the intention of the
+visitors. When he found that they were disposed to take possession of
+the Florence, and make their visit to the Bellevite in her, the skipper
+retired from the standing-room of the boat to the cabin, where he locked
+the door, and put the key in his pocket. When he realized that they
+really meant to come on board, he crawled into the space under the
+starboard berth, and arranged the sail so that it would conceal him
+in case the intruders pushed their investigation into the cabin.
+
+When he had completed his preparations, he was quite satisfied that
+he should not be discovered. The trio came on board, and Christy fixed
+himself so that he could hear every word that was said, for there was a
+small opening under the berth through which the superfluous length of a
+pair of oars could be thrust when not in use.
+
+Christy, without the remotest suspicion on the part of the plotters
+that they could be heard by any living being, and especially not by so
+dangerous a character as Christy had proved himself to be to the peace
+and dignity of the Confederacy, heard all that was said, and he obtained
+a full idea of the intentions of the conspirators. When they went on
+board of the Bellevite, he was so excited that he could no longer remain
+in his prison, but came out, and crept up the accommodation ladder to
+the deck of the steamer. But he was careful not to show himself, and,
+having a key to the cabin, he went into it, locking the door after him.
+Then he had a chance to think.
+
+What should he do? He had no force at hand to beat off such a party as
+Captain Carboneer mentioned. They might carry out their plot that very
+night, as they had talked of doing. Perhaps it would be executed at
+once, even while he was on board, and he would then be a prisoner. This
+idea was too galling to be considered, and he left the cabin to visit
+the wardroom. Going still farther forward, he was surprised to hear the
+roar of the flames in the furnaces below. It looked at that moment as
+though the Bellevite was doomed to sail under a Confederate flag. But if
+he could do nothing more, he could save himself, even if he had to jump
+into the river and swim to the shore.
+
+Christy lost no time in making his way to the main deck of the vessel;
+but he was careful to avoid the visitors. He went back to the cabin, and
+went on deck from it. Then he discovered that the trio were in the act
+of descending the accommodation steps. Mounting the rail he saw them
+embark in the Florence, and sail down the river. Dismounting from the
+rail, he hastened to the engine-room, where he found Sampson getting the
+engine ready to be put in motion.
+
+"Ah, Christy, I thought you had gone," said the oiler.
+
+"Who were those two men who were on board?" asked Christy, not a little
+excited.
+
+"They were two gentlemen you brought on board, Christy," replied
+Sampson, innocently enough.
+
+"That I brought on board!" exclaimed the skipper of the Florence.
+
+"Yes, sir: and I thought you had gone ashore with them," added the
+oiler.
+
+"I brought no men on board, Sampson! What are you talking about?"
+demanded Christy impatiently.
+
+"Didn't you bring two gentlemen on board, and didn't one of them want to
+measure the carriage of the big gun?"
+
+"No! I did not! I have not seen you before now this evening," protested
+Christy.
+
+"Then I have lost my senses. Didn't you tell me to get up steam, because
+the steamer would be moved to the navy yard before daylight in the
+morning?" demanded Sampson, bewildered by the denial of the young man.
+
+"I see now," added Christy. "You mistook Corny for me."
+
+Sampson gave him all the details of the visit of the strangers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+MIDSHIPMAN CHRISTY PASSFORD
+
+
+"In a word, Sampson, an attempt will be made to-night to capture the
+Bellevite, and you have been getting up steam for the conspirators,"
+said Christy, when the ship-keeper had finished his narrative of the
+visit of the trio to the ship.
+
+"Is that so?" exclaimed Sampson, opening his mouth and his eyes very
+wide at the same time. "Why, I had no more doubt that the young man who
+was talking to me was Christy than I have that he is talking to me now."
+
+"You had better look at me again, and be sure that you make no mistake,"
+replied Christy, rather disgusted at the failure of the man to identify
+him.
+
+"I never once thought that it was not you. When the sailboat came
+alongside, I knew it was the Florence, and I supposed you were in her,"
+pleaded Sampson. "But I spoke to you, as I supposed, when the boat came
+alongside."
+
+"Did you? What did you say?" asked Christy.
+
+"I said 'Is that you, Christy?' And you said 'Yes.'"
+
+"Of course I did! What else could I say after you had told the enemy
+just how to proceed. You could not have expected any other answer."
+
+"I suppose I was very stupid; but I hope no harm has been done, for they
+have not got the steamer yet," added Sampson, very much disconcerted at
+the blunder he had made, though an older officer than Christy might have
+had more charity for the ship-keeper.
+
+Seen in broad daylight, there was no striking resemblance between Corny
+and Christy, though they were of about the same size, and had some
+traits in common. As Corny and his companions came in the Florence,
+it was not very strange that Sampson should take it for granted that
+Christy was one of the evening visitors. The voices of the two cousins
+were not unlike, and the sound was all he had to guide his judgment.
+Then he was not in the enemy's country, and he could hardly have been
+on the lookout for an enemy several miles up the river.
+
+"Certainly no harm has been done, Sampson; but it is yet to be decided
+whether or not the Bellevite is to go into the navy of the United States
+or the navy of the Confederate States," added Christy, leaving the
+engine-room.
+
+"If we have snuffed the whole thing, I don't believe this steamer will
+ever wear anything but the Stars and Stripes," said Sampson stoutly; and
+there could be no doubt in regard to his loyalty, judging from his
+speech, though that is not always to be trusted in time of war.
+
+"Bellevite, ahoy!" shouted some one at the foot of the accommodation
+steps.
+
+"Have they come again so soon?" asked Sampson, as he rushed to the rail.
+"It is only a small canoe."
+
+"Is Christy on board?" called the visitor alongside.
+
+"That is Mr. Vapoor: tell him I am on board," added Christy.
+
+"Christy is on board, sir," replied Sampson to the hail. "Will you come
+on board, sir?"
+
+Paul Vapoor would and did come on board, and Christy gave him a hearty
+welcome, for he was more glad to see him than he had ever been before in
+his life.
+
+"Where have you been all day and all the evening, Christy?" asked the
+engineer. "Your mother and sister are very much worried about you, for
+they have not seen you for a long time, and they fear that something has
+happened to you."
+
+"Something is likely to happen to me and all the rest of us who expect
+to go to sea in this steamer," replied Christy, as he proceeded to
+inform his friend as briefly as he could of the great event of the
+evening.
+
+"Well, if we are not in the enemy's country, the enemy are in ours,"
+replied Paul. "What is to be done?"
+
+"That is what I have been thinking of. I listened very attentively to
+all that passed between Major Pierson and Captain Carboneer, and I am
+satisfied that the latter has a considerable force somewhere on the
+river, and their headquarters are at the mouth of a creek five miles
+down the river."
+
+"How many have they?" asked the engineer.
+
+"I don't know; they did not mention the number in figures, but they have
+enough to work the ship, and even to fight her," replied Christy, very
+seriously.
+
+"That means forty or fifty, at least," added Paul. "This looks like a
+heavy matter, and it is quite time that something was done about it."
+
+"But what shall we do is the question," said Christy anxiously. "We have
+two men on board beside ourselves, and we can hardly expect to hold our
+own against fifty."
+
+"Who is this Captain Carboneer?"
+
+"I saw him at Nassau, and he looked like a man of decision and
+character. I don't know anything about him, but I have no doubt he is
+a naval officer, both from the circumstances and from what I heard.
+I should say that he knows what he is about. You said that my father
+has not yet returned from the city?"
+
+"He had not come at ten o'clock, and if he comes at all, the late train
+does not arrive till after twelve."
+
+"It may be too late to do anything at that time," said Christy. "But I
+don't mean to give up the ship."
+
+"Good! I am with you on that point, Christy. I called at your house to
+inform you that you had been appointed a midshipman in the navy, and you
+are likely to have a chance to christen your commission to-night. This
+was all the rank they could give you, though you will really be a passed
+midshipman, and be a master very soon."
+
+Christy was delighted with this news, though he had no time to make a
+demonstration of delight over it. He had narrowly escaped being the
+third officer of the Bellevite the year before, because his father did
+not believe in putting him forward as fast as his abilities would have
+warranted him in doing. Captain Breaker and Paul Vapoor had made the
+application for a position in the navy; for his father would not do it,
+for the reason that he did not wish to ask any favors for a member of
+his own family.
+
+"I thank you and Captain Breaker for all you have done for me, Paul, and
+I hope I shall be able to give a good account of myself. But we have no
+time to talk about that now. Captain Carboneer was waiting for a steamer
+which his naval associate, Lieutenant Haslett, was to charter or buy for
+the use of the party," said Christy, as he led the way to the forward
+deck of the steamer.
+
+He and the engineer mounted the top-gallant forecastle, and looked
+intently down the river. The tide was coming in, so that the vessel, in
+coming up to her cable, pointed in that direction. But they could see
+nothing, not a craft of any description. Then Christy led the way to
+the long gun mounted amidships. He sighted across the piece, and, in a
+moment more, his mind seemed to have settled on the policy to be pursued
+in the present dangerous emergency. Perhaps the capture of a steamer
+under such circumstances was a thing unheard of at that time, but
+doubtless it looked simple enough to those who were engaged in the
+enterprise.
+
+"Do you think of engaging the enemy at long range, Christy?" asked Paul,
+with a smile on his fine face, as seen by the light of the lantern which
+Sampson had brought to the place.
+
+"I think of beating them off in any way we can," replied the middy,
+as his friends all called him from that time. "I have the gun pointing
+to a certain object on the river, which Captain Carboneer's steamer must
+pass. He can't help putting his craft where the muzzle of this piece
+will cover it; and if we pull the lock-string at that instant, the shot
+will knock his steamer all to pieces, and spill the conspirators into
+the river."
+
+"If you hit her," suggested Paul.
+
+"You can't very well help hitting her. Just squint along that gun, and
+see where the shot will bring up."
+
+Paul complied with this request, and took a long look over the great
+gun.
+
+"I should say that it was pointed a little too high," said he.
+
+"Perhaps it is; I have not fixed it just as I mean to have it. We will
+put in the charge before we do that," added Christy, who was now as
+self-possessed as though there was no excitement attending the operation
+he was arranging.
+
+"Do you know what steamer Captain Carbine will have?" asked Paul.
+
+"Not Carbine; Carboneer. No, I don't know what steamer he will have;
+only that she is an old one, and has a walking-beam," replied Christy.
+
+"That is rather indefinite, midshipman," added Paul, with a smile. "You
+can't always tell what a steamer is by looking at her, especially in the
+night; and a walking-beam is not a novelty on a steamer upon this river.
+You may send that shot through the wrong vessel; and if you should
+happen to kill a dozen or two of loyal citizens of the State of New
+York, they might be mean enough to hang you, or send you to the State
+prison for life for it. It won't do to fire off a shotted gun like that
+baby without knowing pretty well what you are shooting at."
+
+"That is a long argument, Paul; and I have not the remotest idea of
+doing any such thing as you describe. I am going to know what we are
+firing at before we pull the lock-string," replied Christy, rather
+impatiently. "But we have no time to dig up mare's nests. We will get
+up the ammunition and load this gun; then we will do the rest of the
+business."
+
+As ship-keeper and a member of the engineer's department for the last
+year, Sampson knew where everything was to be found. With all the usual
+precautions, the magazine was opened, and ammunition enough for three
+charges was conveyed to the deck, Warping having been called in to
+assist in the work. The gun was carefully loaded under the direction of
+Christy, who had been fully instructed and drilled in the duty. It was
+pointed as nearly as practicable to the point in the channel which the
+hostile steamer must pass, though the aim was to be rectified at the
+last moment.
+
+Paul went to his stateroom and took off his handsome uniform, replacing
+it with a suit of his working garments. Then he hastened to the engine,
+examined it, and satisfied himself that it was in good condition for the
+office which was soon to be required of it. He gave Sampson particular
+directions for his duty, and then went down the accommodation steps with
+the midshipman.
+
+"What are you going to do next, Christy?" asked Paul, for the young
+naval officer had been too busy with his preparations to develop his
+plan in full.
+
+"We will go ashore first, and I will take the Florence to the
+boat-house," replied Christy. "The next thing to be done is to make
+a reconnoissance down the river."
+
+"Why not go down in the Florence?" suggested Paul.
+
+"Because that would be too simple and innocent altogether," replied the
+middy; and perhaps he felt some of the dignity of his new rank. "I think
+we had better see without being seen, especially as Captain Carboneer
+has seen and sailed the sloop. I have no doubt he has a sharp, nautical
+eye, and that he will recognize her. He might be rash enough to capture
+her, and thus deprive the United States Navy of two young, but able and
+hopeful officers, to say nothing of bottling them up so that he could
+make short work of the Bellevite."
+
+"You are right, Christy, as you always are. But see your mother before
+you do anything, and I will obey orders. She worries about you."
+
+They landed and hastened to the mansion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+ARRANGING THE SIGNALS
+
+
+Mrs. Passford was astounded at the news brought in by her son, and Miss
+Florry was terrified when informed that Major Pierson was not far from
+the mansion. But Paul Vapoor assured the latter that there was no
+danger, and Christy convinced his mother, who had a great deal of
+confidence in him, that he was fully equal to the occasion.
+
+"But I do not see that you can beat off the assailants if they happen
+to get alongside of the Bellevite," suggested Mrs. Passford. "There are
+only four of you at the most."
+
+"I hope for re-enforcements," replied Christy, as he rang a bell for
+a servant. "Beeks and Thayer, two of the quartermasters, live in the
+village; Mr. Watts, the chief steward, and three others of the old
+ship's company, live near here, and I think we can raise half a dozen
+more, making ten in all."
+
+"I know where to find half a dozen coal-passers," added Paul.
+
+"Then we shall do very well if we succeed in finding all these," added
+Christy, as the man-servant came to the door.
+
+"Call up all the stablemen, and have two horses saddled as quick as
+possible," continued Christy to the man.
+
+"What's that for, Christy?" asked Paul, who had succeeded in quieting
+the fears of Miss Florry.
+
+He was not altogether inexperienced in this duty, for the young lady
+had been alarmed more than once on board of the steam yacht, and he was
+always more successful than any other person at these times.
+
+"I can't stop to talk it all over, Paul; but if you will trust me,
+I will tell you as we go along what I think of doing," replied Christy.
+
+"All right, midshipman; I belong to the engine department, and we always
+obey orders even if the ship goes down," added Paul, laughing.
+
+"I am willing enough to tell you, but I have not the time to spin a long
+yarn, and perhaps answer objections, just now. We will mount the horses
+as soon as they come to the door, and drum up the force we have
+mentioned."
+
+Christy continued by giving Paul the names of those he was to visit and
+summon to the deck of the Bellevite, and then they were to meet at a
+given place. They mounted the two fleet horses which Christy had
+selected for the occasion, and dashed off to the town, a short distance
+from the river. The middy found the two quartermasters, who boarded in
+the same house. They were to go on board of the steamer at once; but
+Beeks was to bring a canoe from the boat-house to the point on the shore
+nearest to the Bellevite before he went on board. Both of these men were
+cautioned not to say anything about any person they might see, and the
+same instruction was given to all the others whose services were
+required.
+
+Mr. Watts had not retired when Christy called at his house, and he was
+duly startled by the information the young officer gave him. He was as
+ready to take part in the enterprise as even the middy himself, and he
+was conducted to the place where Paul was to meet the leader. He had
+more calls to make than Christy, and they had to wait some time for him;
+but when he did come, he reported that he had found and sent on board
+all the firemen and coal-passers he had named, and a few more, besides
+the old sailors who had sailed for years in the yachts of the owner of
+the Bellevite.
+
+The services of about a dozen had been procured, but half of these
+were to do duty in connection with the engine, and the party so hastily
+gathered were not strong enough to beat off the force of the enemy if
+they attempted to board the vessel.
+
+"Now, Paul, I want you to understand the whole affair before we go any
+farther; and I wish you would go on board and take the command there,"
+said the midshipman, as soon as the engineer had reported the result of
+his mission.
+
+"But are you not going to be on board, Christy? I don't pretend to be a
+sailor or a gunner," said Paul.
+
+"I shall go on board as soon as I can," replied Christy. "You will find
+a boat on the shore, near the steamer, and you will go on board in that;
+but have the boat sent back for me."
+
+"All right, Christy; I will obey orders," added Paul, as he dismounted
+from his horse.
+
+"Mr. Watts will take your horse, and ride with me down the shore. We can
+see the river all the way, for we shall not stick to the road when it
+leads us away from it. As soon as we discover the steamer that is to
+bring up the enemy, I will run my horse back to this point, and go on
+board."
+
+"That is all easy enough," added Paul.
+
+"Easy enough; but I can form no idea as to when the steamer will come.
+We may have to wait till morning for it, and perhaps the plan of the
+enemy will fail, and they will not come at all."
+
+"If they don't come to-night, they never will; and there will be time
+enough for the home guard to scour the woods, and arrest all suspicious
+persons."
+
+"I said what I did so that you need not be impatient if you have to
+wait a long time. You will have a watch kept from the moment you get
+on board, and no stranger is to be allowed to put a foot on the deck.
+Captain Carboneer may send some one of his party to see that everything
+is working right on board for his side of the affair."
+
+"I will do that."
+
+"See that the steam is well up, so that we can move off in good time if
+we find it necessary to get under way," continued Christy.
+
+"I thought that was a settled point, and the ship was to be taken down
+the river in any case," said Paul.
+
+"I supposed so myself in the beginning; but if it is not necessary to
+run away, I don't care to do so. Let Boxie see that the cable is buoyed
+and ready to run out at a moment's notice."
+
+"All right, midshipman," replied Paul, as he hastened to the boat.
+
+"Why does he call you midshipman?--that is a new name," said the chief
+steward.
+
+"He brought me the news this evening that I had been appointed in the
+navy with that rank," replied Christy. "Now we will ride down the river.
+Do you happen to know what time it is, Mr. Watts?"
+
+"I don't know, but I think it is about half-past eleven. I am not much
+of an equestrian," replied the steward, as he mounted the horse, "for I
+have been to sea all my life; but I think I can stay on if the beast
+don't run away with me."
+
+"He is perfectly gentle, and he will not run away with you. We have no
+occasion to ride fast, and we may not have to go more than two or three
+miles."
+
+They rode along the river for a few minutes, and then Christy reined in
+his steed and dismounted. He went to the water side, at a point where
+there was a bend, and carefully examined the surroundings, both above
+and below. He could not see the Bellevite in the darkness, for he had
+directed the engineer to allow no light to be shown on board of her.
+He had brought a little mathematics into his calculations, and he had
+pointed the big gun of the steamer so as to cover the craft with the
+walking-beam when she came in sight around this turn of the stream. By
+this plan she was sure to come into the range of the piece, no matter on
+which side of the channel she was moving.
+
+"Now, Mr. Watts, I have a further duty for you to perform," said
+Christy, as he explained his plan to the steward. "We shall go down the
+river till we meet this steamer which conveys the enemy. As you are a
+sailor as well as a caterer, you have a nautical eye, and when you have
+seen this steamer you will know her again."
+
+"Trust me for that. If it is the old tub I think it is, I know her
+already," answered the steward.
+
+"What steamer do you think it is?"
+
+"The old Vampire; and if you give her much of a rap, she will go to the
+bottom without the least difficulty."
+
+"I don't care where she goes to, provided she don't put her passengers
+on board of the Bellevite. But I am taking you down the river with me in
+order that you may see her and know her."
+
+"I shall know her as soon as I see her."
+
+"As I said before, I shall run my horse back and get aboard of the
+Bellevite as soon as I am satisfied that the enemy are moving up the
+river," continued Christy.
+
+"I am afraid I shall not be able to keep up with you if you run your
+horse," suggested the steward.
+
+"I don't want you to keep up with me. You can come along as leisurely as
+you please, though you must not let the enemy get ahead of you."
+
+"If the enemy are in the old Vampire, I could keep ahead of her on
+foot."
+
+"You had better keep ahead of her on your horse about a quarter of a
+mile, or more; but your main duty will be here. I have brought with me
+half a dozen Roman candles, and I am going to fix them in the ground on
+this spot. Here is a bunch of matches," said Christy, handing it to him.
+
+The steward watched the midshipman while he planted the fireworks in the
+sand, and particularly marked the spot where they were located, for his
+companion told him he was to fire them, and he must be ready to do so
+without any delay.
+
+"A boy could do that and like the fun of it," said Mr. Watts, laughing
+at the simple duty he was to perform.
+
+"But it is the time that you are to do it, and the boy might be
+skylarking, or become impatient. This signal of the fireworks is to
+assure us at the right moment that the Vampire, if it should be she,
+is in the place where I expect her to be."
+
+"I understand it perfectly."
+
+"After I leave you, another steamer may come along, and get to this
+point ahead of the Vampire; and I should be very sorry to blow her out
+of the water, or sink her under it. You are to let us know by this
+signal that it is the Vampire, and no other, that is coming round the
+bend. You had better leave your horse a short distance from the river,
+for that gun will make every pane of glass within a mile of it shake
+when it is discharged."
+
+"You may be sure that I will not be on his back at that time."
+
+"Still further: I have planted six candles in the sand. You will light
+only one of them when the steamer begins to round the bend. That will be
+enough to inform us of the fact on board of the Bellevite."
+
+"What are the others for?" asked the steward, taking a memorandum-book
+from his pocket as though he intended to write his instructions.
+
+"It is not necessary to write it. We shall not be able to see what
+effect the shot produces after we fire. If the Vampire, always supposing
+she is the one, is not hurt, light a second candle--only one of them. If
+she should be disabled, you will light two candles."
+
+Christy repeated what he had said, and was careful not to give the
+steward too much to remember. As soon as the matter was fully
+understood, the middy mounted his horse, and they proceeded on their
+mission down the river. After they had ridden about three miles, Mr.
+Watts insisted that the steamer was coming, and that it was the Vampire.
+
+"I don't see anything," added Christy.
+
+"Neither do I; but I know that the Vampire is coming up the river. If
+you listen, you will hear a hoarse puffing; and nothing but that old ark
+could make such a wheezy noise," replied the steward.
+
+The middy heard it and was satisfied.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE APPROACH OF THE VAMPIRE
+
+
+The Vampire, as the steward had no doubt it was, could not be less than
+a mile distant from the spot where the two horsemen had halted in the
+road. Christy was very familiar with this portion of the river, and
+after he had listened a few moments, he was satisfied from the direction
+of the sound he heard, that a mile was very nearly the exact distance.
+The approaching steamer had to come around a small bend, the arc of
+which made just a mile.
+
+"I don't wish to blow up a dozen or twenty loyal citizens, and I must
+make sure in some way that Captain Carboneer's party is on board of that
+steamer," said Christy, as he led his horse into a field, and tied him
+to a tree, the steward following his example.
+
+"That would be a very bad thing to do," added Mr. Watts, as they walked
+back to the river. "But I don't see why it is necessary to blow up even
+any rebels on the present occasion. If that naval officer has forty men,
+as you think he has, a shot from that long gun would make terrible havoc
+among them if you succeeded in hitting her. You might kill half of
+them."
+
+"If we do they, and not we, will be responsible for it," added Christy,
+somewhat appalled by the suggestion of his companion.
+
+"If you have steam up on board of the Bellevite, why not get under way
+and run down the river," continued Mr. Watts.
+
+"Perhaps I am a coward, but I am afraid to do that," replied the
+midshipman, thoughtfully.
+
+"We all know that you are no coward, Christy, and if you don't send a
+shot into the Vampire, it will not be because you are afraid."
+
+"Although I know the river as well as any pilot in this vicinity, I
+should not dare to run the Bellevite at full speed around such a bend
+as the one off this spot," Christy explained. "We have not above half a
+dozen trained sailors who know how to handle a cutlass on board, and all
+the others will be needed in working the steamer. The coal-passers would
+be good for nothing in repelling boarders."
+
+"You think Captain Carboneer would board the steamer, do you?"
+
+"I have no doubt he would. He is a naval officer, and he knows what
+he is about. There are several ways that he might get a hold on the
+Bellevite, and, if he got alongside of her, I am afraid it would be all
+up with us, and we should have a fair chance to see the inside of a
+Confederate prison. I am afraid to run the risk you suggest, Mr. Watts."
+
+"You know best, and I don't mean to interfere; I only thought I would
+suggest the idea," added the steward, as they reached the bank of the
+river again.
+
+After he had secured his horse, Christy had lighted a match and looked
+at his watch. It was a quarter of one, and still the puffing of the
+Vampire came from the same direction. It was plain enough to him that
+the old tub was not a racer. But she showed herself beyond the bend in
+about a quarter of an hour, indicating that her rate of speed, or rather
+of slowness, was not more than four statute miles an hour. But this was
+simply confirmation of what the steward had said on the subject. Yet she
+was coming, though it was too dark on the river to see her in detail.
+Though he strained his eyes to the utmost, Christy could not discover
+any men on her forward deck.
+
+"I think you had better move back where you cannot be seen," said the
+midshipman, in a low tone, to his companion.
+
+"Do you wish me to leave you alone, Christy?" asked the steward,
+surprised at the request.
+
+"That is just what I wish, for I don't care to have any one on board of
+the Vampire see more than one person at this point," replied Christy,
+still gazing through the gloom at the approaching steamer.
+
+"Excuse me, Christy; but what are you going to do? I prefer to be within
+supporting distance of you."
+
+"I don't think I shall need any support. I am going to hail the Vampire,
+and ask if Captain Carboneer is on board," replied the midshipman,
+quietly.
+
+"You are going to hail her!" exclaimed Mr. Watts. "Are you mad, Christy?
+I should say that you were."
+
+"You shall be your own judge on that point."
+
+"But the moment you use the name of Captain Carboneer, they will take
+the alarm, and the next thing will be a bullet through your head."
+
+"I will take the risk of that," answered Christy. "But you need not go
+far from the river on this dark night. There is a clump of bushes this
+side of the road, and you may get behind it."
+
+The steward was not at all satisfied with the situation, but he complied
+with the request of the midshipman, and concealed himself behind the
+bushes. Christy took a position on the very verge of the water. The
+progress of the Vampire was made at the expense of a hideous noise, and
+she was a craft not at all adapted to the purpose of the conspirators.
+The middy watched her with the most intense interest as she approached
+the point where he was stationed. There was no light to be seen on
+board, and there appeared to be no men on her lower deck; but she had a
+cabin and other rooms, in which a force as large as that of the captain
+could be concealed.
+
+"Steamer, ahoy!" shouted Christy, as soon as the Vampire was abreast of
+the spot he occupied.
+
+No answer came to this hail, and the midshipman repeated it, louder than
+before.
+
+"On shore!" replied a voice from the forward deck.
+
+"Come up to the shore, and take me on board, will you?" continued
+Christy, disguising his voice to some extent the better to answer his
+purpose.
+
+"Who is it?" demanded the person on board who acted as speaker; and
+Christy could see his form very distinctly, as he stood at an open
+gangway, and was the only person in sight on the lower deck.
+
+"Brigster," replied Christy, chewing up the word he coined so that the
+man could not possibly make it out.
+
+"Are you alone, Brewster?" demanded the speaker from the steamer.
+
+This was a hard question, and with less information than he had obtained
+while in his cabin on board of the Florence, he would not have dared to
+reply to it. But he knew something of the plan of the conspirators, and
+he felt competent to answer.
+
+"Three more back in the road," replied Christy, promptly; and he said
+three so as to give the idea that the force on board might be increased
+by this number. "Is Captain Carboneer on board of that steamer?" asked
+the midshipman, coming to his main point.
+
+  [Illustration: "Steamer, Ahoy!" shouted Christy.--Page 107.]
+
+"He is, and we are all here but four," replied the speaker on the deck;
+and Christy was satisfied that the captain was the person by this time,
+for his language and his voice indicated that he was an educated man.
+
+"We had no boat, and we could not get across the river to the creek,"
+added Christy, to increase the confidence of the leader of the
+expedition. "But we saw a boat half at mile up the river, and we
+will come off there, if you say so."
+
+"All right; come on board as soon as you can," added Captain Carboneer,
+as he walked away from the gangway.
+
+Mindful of the peril of the situation, Christy walked leisurely back
+from the river, and soon joined Mr. Watts, who had been near enough to
+hear the conversation between the captain and the midshipman.
+
+"That was done very handsomely, Christy," said the steward.
+
+"There was no great difficulty in handling such a matter when one knew
+all about the plot as I did. The fault on the other side was that they
+did not examine the cabin of the Florence before they discussed their
+plans in the standing-room," replied Christy, as he unfastened his
+horse, and sprang upon his back. "I have no time to spare now."
+
+"There is nothing more to be done here, I believe," added Mr. Watts.
+
+"Not a thing. You can ride back to the place where the Roman candles
+are planted, and you need not hurry about it, for the Vampire don't
+make more than four miles an hour. Now be particular to carry out my
+instructions to the letter, Mr. Watts; and you can see that a great deal
+depends upon which signal you may have occasion to give," added the
+midshipman.
+
+"I understand what I am to do perfectly, and I will do my duty
+faithfully, you may be sure," replied the steward, as he mounted
+his horse.
+
+Christy did not wait for him, but put his steed into a dead run on
+the moment. The road was only a cart-path, and it was so soft that the
+horse's hoofs made no noise to betray his movements to the enemy. He
+urged the willing beast to his utmost speed, for he was as much at home
+in the saddle as he was in the rigging of a ship. Before the Vampire had
+made another eighth of a mile, he had reached the place where the boat
+had been left for his use. What to do with his horse was a question, for
+the report of the big gun would set him crazy. But he knew that the men
+must be at the house, and he turned the animal loose, satisfied that he
+would go to the stable without any guidance.
+
+Springing into the boat, he pulled to the Bellevite. At the
+accommodation steps, he was challenged by Sampson, who demanded like
+one in authority who and what he was, for the experience of the evening
+had greatly sharpened his wits.
+
+"Who is it?" he demanded, in a tone which implied his intention to have
+a satisfactory answer. "Advance and give the word."
+
+"Give the word!" exclaimed Christy. "I have no word to give."
+
+"Then you can't come on board," replied Sampson dogmatically.
+
+"I am Christy Passford, and I have not heard about any word," protested
+the midshipman.
+
+"You can't pour molasses down my back again," replied Sampson, with a
+self-satisfied air.
+
+"Don't be a fool, Sampson," added Christy, as he climbed upon the steps,
+the lower part of which had been hoisted up.
+
+"I have been a fool once, and I don't mean to be again," replied the
+sentinel. "On deck, there! Bring a lantern out of the engine-room!"
+
+"Don't bring a lantern in sight!" protested Christy impatiently.
+
+"What's the row there, Sampson?" called Paul Vapoor, mounting the rail,
+and looking through the darkness at the steps, down which the vigilant
+sentinel had descended more than half way to the water.
+
+"This fellow says he is Christy Passford; and I don't know whether it is
+Christy or not," replied Sampson.
+
+"Is that you, Christy?" asked Paul.
+
+"Of course it is," replied the middy. "We are wasting time."
+
+"He hasn't the word," added the sentinel.
+
+"Pass him, Sampson; he is all right," said the engineer; and Christy
+rushed up the steps, and leaped down upon the deck of the steamer.
+
+"I gave out a word for all who had to leave the ship for any purpose
+during the evening," Paul explained.
+
+"Never mind that now," interposed the midshipman in command. "Have you
+plenty of steam on?"
+
+"Enough to give her fifteen knots," replied the engineer. "The cable
+is buoyed, and the long gun loaded. I believe everything is in perfect
+order to carry out your instructions, though we did not point the gun
+when we loaded it, for I thought you would prefer to do that yourself,"
+the engineer reported.
+
+"All right, Paul," added Christy. "The steamer, whose name is the
+Vampire, is on her way up the river, and I should say she would reach
+the bend in about half an hour. Mr. Watts is down there, and I have
+arranged certain signals with him."
+
+The midshipman made a careful examination for himself of the ship.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+A SHOT FROM THE LONG GUN
+
+
+Christy Passford, as soon as he found that all the other preparations
+for the decisive event had been made, turned his attention to the aiming
+of the long gun. He had practised with it somewhat before; and in the
+ambitious spirit of a boy, he had often amused himself by sighting over
+the top of the piece.
+
+There was no sort of duty on board of a vessel, even a war steamer, in
+which he had not done his best to make himself a proficient. He had done
+duty as an engineer, and even as a fireman. He had taken his trick at
+the wheel as a quartermaster, and there was nothing he had not done,
+unless it was to command a vessel, and he had done that on a small
+scale. Doubtless he had no inconsiderable portion of a boy's vanity,
+and he believed that he could do anything that anybody else could do;
+or if he was satisfied that he could not, he studied and practised till
+he did believe it.
+
+Be it vanity or pride, Christy certainly believed in himself to a very
+liberal extent, though his character was fortunately leavened with a
+large lump of modesty. What he believed, he believed for himself, and
+acted upon it for himself; so that he was not inclined to boast of his
+accomplishments, and permitted others to find out what he was rather
+than made it known in words himself. But his father had found it
+necessary to restrain him to some extent, and he had not pushed him
+forward as rapidly as he might have done till the dread notes of war
+were heard on the land and the sea; and then he thought it would be
+wrong to hold him back.
+
+When Christy sighted along the great gun, he believed he could hit the
+Vampire almost to a certainty; but he was not self-sufficient, and did
+not often believe that he knew a thing better than any other person, and
+he was not above taking the advice and instruction of others. It was
+dark, but Christy had fixed upon an object at the bend below, of which
+he intended to make use in firing the gun. It was a tree which painted
+its outline on the horizon, and the decisive moment was to come when
+the Vampire was in range with this tree. He adjusted the gun just as he
+wanted it, and he was satisfied it would do just what he required of it.
+
+He was not inclined to act on his own judgment and skill alone, and he
+called Boxie, the old sheet-anchorman, who had been the captain of a gun
+years before the midshipman was born, and pointed out the tree to him,
+asking him to sight along the gun. He explained his plan to the old
+salt, and then asked his opinion.
+
+"You have aimed it too high, Mr. Passford," said the veteran, after he
+had squinted a long time along the piece.
+
+"How is it otherwise?" asked Christy.
+
+"It is all right, sir; but the shot will pass over the steamer. Drop the
+muzzle a trifle, and the shot will hull her, if you pull the lockstring
+at the right time."
+
+"I shall see that the string is pulled at the right time; thank you,
+Boxie," added Christy, without depressing the gun as the old man
+suggested, for he had a theory of his own which he intended to carry
+out.
+
+"But the ship may change her position a trifle," added Boxie.
+
+"Of course, I mean to sight the gun again at the very moment we fire,"
+replied Christy, looking at his watch, though he was obliged to go into
+the engine-room to see what time it was.
+
+It was after two, and the Vampire had had time enough to make the bend.
+Christy wondered if Captain Carboneer was not looking for the four men
+he had promised to put on board of the old steamer; but some promises
+are better broken than kept, and the midshipman thought this was one of
+them, though he did not consider the present occasion as any excuse for
+lies, or the failure to keep his word, in the indefinite future.
+
+The acting commander of the Bellevite--for such the middy was, and
+no one disputed his authority--began to be very nervous at the
+non-appearance of the enemy. He was afraid that some mishap had befallen
+the Vampire; either that she had gone to the bottom or got aground,
+though he had heard Captain Carboneer say that he was a pilot for this
+part of the river.
+
+Christy had mounted the gun carriage ready to take his final aim, and he
+had been there at least half an hour. He was watching the point where
+the Roman candles had been planted, and he had perfect confidence in
+the judgment and fidelity of Mr. Watts. Boxie was stationed at the
+lock-string, and held it in his hand, ready to speed the great shot
+on its errand of destruction; but he hoped the midshipman would depress
+the muzzle of the gun before he was called upon to pull the string. The
+other sailors who had served on board of the Bellevite, and had been
+drilled in handling the guns, were all in their stations, ready to load
+the piece again as quickly as possible after it had been discharged.
+
+The silence had become intense and painful to all, for apart from
+the messenger of death and devastation which was about to be hurled at
+the Vampire, the Bellevite was in danger of being captured, and had a
+resolute enemy in front of her. The safety of the pet steamer depended
+upon the skill and judgment of a mere boy, though everybody on board had
+entire confidence in him. But the supreme moment came soon enough.
+
+  [Illustration: "Christy sprang to the Gun."--Page 119.]
+
+A hardly perceptible light at the point he was so closely watching,
+first attracted the attention of Christy,--perhaps the lighting of the
+steward's match. An instant later, the fireworks blazed up, and lighted
+up the smooth surface of the sleeping river. No doubt the conspirators,
+who had chosen darkness because their deeds were evil, were astounded to
+see so much light suddenly thrown upon their enterprise.
+
+Christy sprang to the gun, took a hasty sight, which satisfied him that
+the position of the gun had not changed a particle. As the dark outline
+of the Vampire passed in range of the selected tree, the midshipman
+sprang down from the gun-carriage.
+
+"Fire!" shouted he, in a determined though not very loud tone.
+
+It was a tremendous explosion, and the echoes rolled out from the hills
+as though they were armed with heavy guns, and were taking part in the
+conflict. Probably the rattling windows and the shaking frames of the
+houses roused all the sleepers within a mile of the ship.
+
+The Bellevite was enveloped in the smoke from the discharge, and though
+Christy mounted the carriage again to obtain a better view, he could see
+nothing, for there was not wind enough to sweep it away at once. But the
+young commander watched, with almost as much interest and anxiety as
+before, the signal station he had established. But there was no occasion
+for desperate haste, for the gun was ready for use a second time if the
+first shot had failed to do its work. On the other hand, if the Vampire
+was disabled, she would stay where she was, or drift down the river with
+the turn of the tide, and it was just about "full sea" at this time.
+
+The smoke was very aggravating to the midshipman, but he could not help
+himself. The light air swept it away in time, and, with his strained
+eyes, Christy discovered that two Roman candles were burning at the
+signal station.
+
+"Did you hit her, Christy?" asked Paul Vapoor, leaping on the
+gun-carriage.
+
+"I did," replied the midshipman, trying to control a certain feeling of
+exultation that took possession of his mind, for he did not consider
+that some of the party below might have been killed by the shot.
+
+"I suppose you don't know anything about the effect of the shot yet?"
+added Paul.
+
+"I only know that the Vampire is disabled."
+
+"How do you know that, for I can't see anything?"
+
+"Do you see those two blue lights burning at the side of the river?"
+asked Christy, as he pointed to the place.
+
+"I see them, and they light up the river like a flash of lightning."
+
+"They mean that the steamer is disabled; and for that reason she can't
+come any nearer than she is now."
+
+"But those villains will make their way to the shore, and there are
+boats enough about here to enable them to get alongside, and lay us
+aboard. This is not the end of the affair," said the engineer, very
+seriously.
+
+"Decidedly not; but I hope to have further information in the course of
+a few minutes," replied Christy.
+
+"Bellevite, ahoy!" shouted some one on shore.
+
+"That is Mr. Watts; send Sampson on shore after him, and we shall
+soon know the condition of affairs on board of the Vampire," added the
+midshipman. "I told the steward to ride up as fast as he could after he
+had satisfied himself that the steamer was disabled."
+
+Sampson was gone but a few minutes, during which time Christy and
+Paul consulted in regard to the next step to be taken, and the question
+was promptly decided. The boat in which Sampson had gone to the shore
+returned not only with the steward, but also with Mrs. Passford and Miss
+Florry.
+
+"What does this mean, mother?" asked Christy, astonished to see his
+mother and sister come on board.
+
+"It means that we were alarmed, and could not stay in the house any
+longer," said Florry, taking it upon herself to answer.
+
+"Your father has not come home yet, Christy, and I don't think he will
+come to-night, for he said he might not be able to return in the last
+train," added Mrs. Passford. "We came down to the shore with two of the
+men, and saw Mr. Watts when he arrived on the horse."
+
+"And I shall take the responsibility of having advised the ladies to go
+on board of the Bellevite," interposed the steward.
+
+"But you have not reported upon the condition of the enemy after the
+shot hit the Vampire, Mr. Watts," said Christy, impatiently.
+
+"The shot struck her walking-beam, smashed it all to pieces, and cleaned
+it off completely. Of course, that disabled her. Very likely some of the
+party on board of the Vampire are hurt, for the pieces did not all drop
+into the water."
+
+"Now, in regard to the ladies?" suggested the midshipman.
+
+"It is for you to decide, Mr. Passford, whether or not the enemy are
+likely to renew the attempt to capture the steamer. But it seemed to me,
+whether they do anything more or not, it is not quite safe for the
+ladies to be alone in the house with the servants, for these fellows
+will be prowling about here in either case."
+
+"I would not stay in the house for all the world!" protested Miss
+Florry; and probably she thought that one of the prowlers would be Major
+Pierson.
+
+"You are quite right, Mr. Watts; I was not as thoughtful as you were,"
+replied Christy, who took in the situation with this suggestion. "What
+were they doing on board of the Vampire, Mr. Watts?"
+
+"I did not wait to observe their movements, but the boat began to drift
+down the river."
+
+"Beg pardon, Mr. Passford, but the ship is swinging around, and you will
+not be able to use that gun as it points now," said Boxie, touching his
+hat to the young commander.
+
+"Stand by your engine, Paul; we will get under way at once. Boxie, cast
+off the cable, and let it run out. You buoyed it, did you not?" said
+Christy, with a sudden renewal of energy, as he hastened to the
+pilot-house, where Beeks and Thayer had been sent before.
+
+"I buoyed the cable, sir," replied the sheet-anchorman.
+
+"Then cast it off. Sampson, open the cabin for the ladies," added
+Christy, as he disappeared in the pilot-house.
+
+But the ladies preferred to go into the engine-room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE BATTLE ALONGSIDE THE BELLEVITE
+
+
+The signal lights at the bend of the river had burned out, and nothing
+could be seen in that direction. The turn of the tide had carried the
+wreck of the Vampire, if she was a wreck, down the stream, and beyond
+what the steward had reported, nothing was known in regard to her. Mr.
+Watts possessed himself of the single fact that her walking-beam had
+been carried away by the shot, and he had not waited to ascertain
+anything more. She was disabled, and he had been instructed to hasten up
+the river as soon as he had assured himself of this fact, and made the
+signal.
+
+As the extent of the calamity to the enemy was unknown, the young
+commander began to have some painful doubts in regard to the immediate
+future. He had given the order to slip the cable, and he could hear the
+rattle of the chain as it passed out through the hawse-hole. It was
+evident enough to him that he had to run the gantlet of the party on
+board of the Vampire in descending the river. As the shot had hit the
+walking-beam of the steamer, it was not probable that she was seriously
+injured in her hull, if at all.
+
+Some of the enemy had doubtless been hurt by the fall of the pieces of
+machinery, but Christy could not believe that the conspirators were
+disabled, as the vessel was. The enemy might make an attempt to board
+the Bellevite as she passed down the river, for the accident must have
+rendered the party more desperate than before. In the face of a failure
+to capture the Bellevite at her anchorage, which had seemed so easy a
+matter to the leaders of the expedition, they would be ready to take any
+chances of success that came in their way.
+
+"Cable all out, sir," reported Boxie.
+
+Not without some heavy doubts, Christy rang the bell to go ahead. He
+had no one in the pilot-house with whom he could consult except the two
+quartermasters, for Paul was in charge of the engine, and he could no
+more leave it than the midshipman could leave the wheel. The propeller
+began to turn, and the ship gathered headway. To add to the
+responsibility of the young commander, his mother and sister had just
+come on board, and were now seated on the sofa in the engine-room.
+
+The Bellevite was moving down the river, and the only thing Christy
+could do was to brace himself up to meet whatever might happen on the
+trip. He did this at once, and a moment later he rang to go ahead at
+full speed. He was approaching the bend of the river, and in a minute
+or two more he would be able to see the Vampire. But Captain Carboneer
+could no more see through the headland at the bend than he could, and
+he hoped that the leader of the enemy had not yet discovered that the
+Bellevite was under way.
+
+The steamer increased her speed on the instant in response to the
+signal, and she rushed forward at a velocity that would be fatal to the
+Vampire if she happened to be in her path. But Christy was not disposed
+to make an issue with the enemy when they met; he intended to defend the
+Bellevite, if she was attacked, to the extent of his ability and small
+force.
+
+"There she is!" exclaimed Beeks, as the Bellevite began to change her
+course to go around the bend.
+
+Christy saw the Vampire as soon as the quartermaster, and he was glad
+to find that she had drifted to the left bank of the river as far as
+the depth of water would permit. As her engine was disabled, she had
+no means of propulsion with which she could help herself. It was not
+improbable that she was aground. She was not armed with a single heavy
+gun, or with any gun, and she was entirely harmless.
+
+Christy breathed more freely when he realized the situation of the
+Vampire. Probably she was provided with one or more boats, and it was
+possible that Captain Carboneer might attempt to board the Bellevite as
+soon as he discovered her. The deck of the steam-yacht was not very far
+above the water, and if a boat full of desperate men could get alongside
+of the ship, it would not be a very difficult matter for them to mount
+the side.
+
+"Port a little," said Christy to the quartermasters at the wheel. "Keep
+her well over to the west shore. Steady."
+
+A moment later the steamer had her course for passing the Vampire, and
+Christy left the pilot-house to obtain a better view of the situation
+and movements of the enemy. It was not so dark as to prevent him from
+seeing all that was going on upon her deck, for the Bellevite had to
+pass within pistol-shot of her to avoid getting aground on the edge of
+the channel.
+
+Sampson and the rest of the old ship's company gathered near him, where
+they could see over the rail. The oiler, as Paul Vapoor had instructed
+him to do, had armed all these men with a cutlass and a revolver, and
+very likely some or all of them would have been glad to make use of
+them.
+
+"They are loading into a boat on the port side of the Vampire, sir, and
+it looks as though they intended to do something without delay," said
+Sampson; and, as the steamer had come about since she was disabled, this
+was the side nearest to the shore.
+
+"I see that they are hurrying some movement with all their might,"
+replied the midshipman, watching with the most intense interest the
+operations of the enemy. "Sampson, get out half a dozen sixty-pound,
+solid shot, and put them on the plankshear, twenty feet apart. Take all
+hands with you, and hurry up."
+
+The oiler asked no questions, though he might have been excused for
+wondering what the young commander intended to do with shot without
+powder. In a few minutes the shot were in place, as Christy had
+directed. The midshipman was watching with all his eyes the movement of
+the enemy, and, as the Bellevite approached the position of the wreck,
+the boat darted out from the other side of her. It began to be exciting
+for the middy, loaded with the responsibility of the safety of the
+steamer, though he seemed to be as cool as Boxie himself, who had seen
+some sea fights in his day.
+
+Christy leaped on the rail of the ship, where he could obtain a full
+view of the situation. The boat was approaching with all the speed the
+oarsmen could command, and they seemed to be experienced hands. There
+could be no doubt of the intentions of the enemy, and the midshipman
+drew his heavy naval revolver from his pocket.
+
+"Stand by to repel boarders!" he called to the seamen. "Pass up one of
+those shot, Sampson. Have a hand mount the rail, each with a shot, at
+the points where you have placed them."
+
+"The ladies wish to know what is going on, Christy," said Paul, coming
+from the engine-room.
+
+"I have no time to talk now," replied Christy impatiently, as he saw the
+approaching boat within ten feet of the side of the steamer. "Tell them
+to stay where they are, and not come on deck!"
+
+The boat was not a large one, and it did not contain more than a dozen
+men; but the fine form of Captain Carboneer could be seen, as he stood
+up in the stern sheets. Those who were not pulling the oars began to
+discharge revolvers at the men now mounted on the rail; but the motion
+of the boat and the ship seemed to defeat their aim, and no one was hit
+so far as was known.
+
+"When the boat comes alongside, let the man who is in the right place
+for it drop his shot into it. Be careful of it, and don't waste the
+iron," shouted Christy, when the decisive moment came.
+
+"All ready, sir," responded the men along the rail.
+
+"You are the man, Boxie! You are in the right place for the first shot,"
+added the midshipman.
+
+Boxie was next to him, and it would be Christy's turn next if the old
+man failed to do good work with his shot. The boat came alongside, and
+a bowman fastened his boathook at the side of the ship, and held it in
+place. At the same moment Boxie let drive his sixty-pound shot; but he
+ought to have waited an instant longer, for the missile dropped
+harmlessly into the river.
+
+The bowman had not obtained a good hold, and he lost it, so that the
+boat began to drift astern. Captain Carboneer shouted his orders, and
+the man got a new hold, and this time it was at the painter of the boat
+in which Sampson had brought off Mr. Watts and the ladies. It had been
+forgotten in the excitement of the moment, but the rope afforded a good
+hold to several men who had grasped it.
+
+At this thrilling moment, a man wearing a frock-coat discharged a
+revolver at Christy, who was standing on the rail above him, and then,
+seizing the painter in the hands of the men, he climbed briskly to the
+accommodation steps, which had been hoisted up, but not taken on board.
+
+Christy was in the most dangerous position on board, for he seemed to
+be the target for all who could use their revolvers. But the young
+commander was not asleep, though he had given no order for the last
+minute or two. The boat was directly under him, and he had put his
+pistol in his hip-pocket, in order to take up the solid shot at his
+feet. It was heavy, but he lifted it over his head without any
+difficulty, and launched it into the boat with all the force he could
+give to it.
+
+"On deck, there! Let go that painter!" shouted Christy, as he pitched
+his missile from his hands.
+
+He was in a position so favorable for the operation that he could not
+well miss his aim, and the shot crashed through the bottom of the boat,
+carrying down one of the enemy with it. It did not make a round hole in
+the bottom of the boat, it was afterwards ascertained, as it might if
+it had been fired from one of the broadside guns, but it tore off the
+planking, and made a hole as big as the head of a flour-barrel.
+
+"Lay hold of that man on the accommodation ladder!" shouted Christy,
+without waiting to observe the effect of his shot, for the man who had
+succeeded in mounting the side was armed with a dangerous weapon, which
+he was likely to use as soon as he found the opportunity.
+
+The men forward of the point where the boat had come alongside had been
+ordered aft, and a couple of them dragged the venturesome officer, as
+his frock-coat indicated that he was, to the deck. Christy was almost
+sure this man was Haslett, who had certainly set a bold example to his
+companions in the boat. He was quickly secured, and by no gentle hands.
+His hands were tied behind him, and he was made fast to the rail, where
+he was likely to be harmless during the rest of the trip.
+
+It was no easy matter for a boat to make fast to a steamer going ten
+knots an hour at least, and if the painter of the boat had not been
+carelessly left where it could be of service to the assailants, the
+affair would have ended with Boxie's unsuccessful cast of the shot. But
+as soon as the painter was let go, an order which Sampson hastened to
+execute, the enemy's hold upon the ship was lost, though they were using
+boathooks and other implements to make sure of their grasp. The boat was
+left behind by the ship, though not till the hole had been stove in her
+bottom.
+
+"Beg pardon, Mr. Passford, for missing my heave with the shot," said
+Boxie, on the deck; and the veteran's heart seemed to be almost broken
+by his failure.
+
+"You are very excusable, Boxie; one can't expect to hit every time,
+and you did very well," replied Christy, who had suddenly passed from
+painful doubt and uncertainty to exultation and exaltation at the
+victory achieved. "We are all right now."
+
+"But the enemy are not," added Sampson, who had mounted the rail after
+he had secured the prisoner. "They are all afloat."
+
+"They will get ashore in some way, or back to the Vampire," replied
+Christy, and he descended to the deck, and hastened to the engine-room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE PRISONER OF WAR
+
+
+"What in the world have you been doing, Christy?" asked Mrs. Passford,
+as her son entered the engine-room; and her anxiety was visible in her
+tones and looks as she spoke.
+
+"We have been repelling boarders, mother," replied the middy, his face
+wreathed in smiles.
+
+"What do you mean by that, my son?" inquired his mother.
+
+"Well, mother, you are the daughter of a distinguished naval officer,
+and it seems to me you must understand what repelling boarders means,"
+answered the young commander, laughing merrily; and no one in the
+engine-room could fail to see that he was in the highest state of
+exhilaration, now that the safety of the ship had been assured.
+
+"Of course, I know what it means," added the lady.
+
+"And I don't mean boarders at the hotel, who are repelled by strong
+butter and tough steaks," chuckled Christy.
+
+"I wish you would explain yourself, my son."
+
+"I will, mother mine. The fellows we fired at when we were at anchor
+have just attempted to board the Bellevite, and thus obtain possession
+of her, as they failed to do in Mobile Bay, as well as at our anchorage
+in the Hudson." And he proceeded to explain in detail all that had
+occurred on board and alongside.
+
+"My dear boy, I had no idea that you had been engaged in a battle!"
+exclaimed the fond mother.
+
+"It wasn't much of a battle, though a good many pistol-shots were fired
+at us; but a sixty-pound shot did the business on our side, and we left
+the enemy, or a portion of them, paddling in the river, and trying to
+keep their heads above water. But I must not stay here, for I have to
+look out for the steering of the ship," continued Christy, as he moved
+towards the door.
+
+"You whipped them out, did you, midshipman?" added the engineer.
+
+"We did; and there isn't any doubt of it. I shouldn't wonder if some of
+them had lost the number of their mess. But I think it is settled for
+the present that Captain Carboneer don't go to sea in the Bellevite. By
+the way, I had forgotten that we took a prisoner, and perhaps he will be
+willing to tell us something more about his enterprise."
+
+"Who is the prisoner?" asked Mrs. Passford.
+
+"He is an officer, I judge, for he wore a frock-coat."
+
+"The party could not have had a great many officers. It was not the
+captain, was it?"
+
+"No; I am sure it is not he. I think it must be the naval officer whom
+Captain Carboneer called Haslett; but I have not seen him except as he
+was shinning up the painter of the boat. You can go on deck if you like,
+mother and Florry, or you may come with me into the pilot-house," added
+Christy.
+
+The engineer had to remain on duty, and Miss Florry mildly objected to
+leaving her present comfortable position on the sofa of the engine-room;
+but as her mother wished to go with her brother, she felt obliged to go
+with her.
+
+Christy gave his mother and sister places on the sofa abaft of the
+wheel, and then looked into the position of the steamer. But the two
+quartermasters had so often steered the steamer up and down the river
+that they had done very well, and there was no especial need of the
+midshipman as a pilot. The Bellevite was not going at anything like her
+best speed, or at her usual rate at sea. As she was going, it was about
+a four-hours' run to New York, and Christy was not in a hurry to get to
+his destination.
+
+"Beeks, we have a prisoner, and I should like to take his measure," said
+Christy to the senior quartermaster. "You may go aft and ask Sampson to
+bring him into the pilot-house."
+
+"Bring him into the pilot-house," repeated the man, as he left the
+apartment.
+
+"What are you going to do with your prisoner, Christy?" asked Mrs.
+Passford.
+
+"I shall hand him over to the proper officers, and they can do what they
+please with him," replied the middy. "I don't want him: do you, mother?"
+
+"What should I want of him?"
+
+"Perhaps you want him, Florry?" asked Christy of his sister.
+
+"I am sure I don't," she replied, pouting.
+
+"Perhaps you will want him when you have seen him," added the middy
+roguishly.
+
+At this moment Sampson appeared at the door of the pilot-house,
+conducting his prisoner, whose hands were still tied behind him. Christy
+did not see him at first, for he was looking at his sister; but her
+pretty face suddenly turned crimson, and her brother heard the sound of
+footsteps in the apartment.
+
+As soon as he saw the prisoner, he started back in astonishment, though
+perhaps there was no particular reason to be surprised. It was not Mr.
+Haslett, as he had supposed, and it certainly was not Captain Carboneer.
+But it was Major Lindley Pierson, late commandant of Fort Gaines.
+Christy had not expected to meet him, and that was the only reason why
+he was astonished.
+
+"Major Pierson!" exclaimed the midshipman, as soon as he had in some
+degree recovered from his astonishment. "I believe we have met before
+somewhere."
+
+"Without a doubt we have, Captain Passford," replied the major, who no
+longer belonged to the Mulgate family.
+
+"Not a captain, if you please; but I am none the less glad to see you on
+that account. This is really a very unexpected pleasure."
+
+"And quite as unexpected to me, I assure you, especially to meet the
+ladies," added the prisoner as he bowed low to Mrs. Passford and her
+daughter. "I had hoped I might meet Mrs. and Miss Passford before I
+returned to the South."
+
+"And you had even hoped to take one of them back with you as a passenger
+in the Bellevite," Christy interpolated, with great good nature.
+
+Major Pierson looked at him with a start, and it was his turn to be
+astonished. He was a prisoner, but he had the privilege of wondering how
+Christy knew so much about his affairs.
+
+"Captain Carboneer is a very obstinate man, and did not take kindly to
+the carrying of lady passengers in a man-of-war; but I think he was
+right, though my view may be of no consequence to you," added the young
+officer. "I have the highest opinion of Captain Carboneer, for he is a
+solid, substantial man. By the way. Major Pierson, who is he?"
+
+"He is Captain Carboneer," replied the major discreetly.
+
+"Perhaps he is Captain Carboneer; I don't know: things are not always
+what they seem, and I find that persons are not, either. Hasn't that
+been your experience, Mr. Mulgate--I beg your pardon, Major Pierson?"
+
+The prisoner frowned, and gave a fierce glance at the midshipman, as
+though he felt like annihilating him with a look. But he evidently
+considered just then that he was in the presence of the ladies, and
+perhaps that the flash of his eagle eye would not kill his tormentor,
+as the young man seemed to have become.
+
+"I am your prisoner, or somebody's prisoner, Captain Passford, and the
+tables are turned against me. Of course, you don't expect me to give
+information that will be of use to the enemies of my country."
+
+"Of course not."
+
+"When you were my prisoner, I think I treated you like a gentleman,"
+added Major Pierson.
+
+"I think you did, sir; and that reminds me that your hands are tied
+behind you. You were so kind as to release me from my bonds when I was
+in your power"--
+
+"And it was the stupidest thing I ever did in my life," interposed the
+prisoner, with some bitterness.
+
+"I am not familiar with the events of your life, and I cannot gainsay
+your remark."
+
+"You did not scruple to turn our own guns against us."
+
+"As you would have done if you had succeeded in capturing the
+Bellevite," added Christy, smartly. "This time makes twice that you did
+not capture her."
+
+"The third time may not fail."
+
+"It may not; but I must be as magnanimous as you were. Sampson, release
+the gentleman."
+
+"Thank you, Captain Passford; that is no more than I did for you when
+you were in the same situation."
+
+"But I suppose you will not undertake to capture this ship after I
+have done as well by you as you did by me. I intend to treat you like a
+gentleman, though the fortunes of war are against you. Now, perhaps you
+will not object to answering a question or two, in which there can be no
+treason."
+
+"I must be my own judge of the questions," replied the major, rather
+haughtily.
+
+"Certainly, sir; and I shall not insist upon your answering any
+question. Was any one on board of the Vampire killed in this affair?"
+
+"No one was killed."
+
+"Were any wounded?"
+
+"I am sorry to say that three were injured by the falling of the pieces
+of the walking-beam."
+
+"Seriously?"
+
+"Two slightly, and one severely."
+
+"Thank you, major."
+
+"Of course, I am not informed of the fate of those in the boat when it
+was sunk," added the prisoner.
+
+"I think no one was badly hurt in that part of the affair," said
+Christy.
+
+"Perhaps it will be of interest to you to know that Private Passford,
+formerly of my command, was the one who was severely wounded on board of
+the Vampire."
+
+"Corny!" exclaimed Mrs. Passford.
+
+"I am sorry to say that he was struck on the shoulder by a fragment of
+the machinery," replied the major, very politely, as he bowed low to the
+lady.
+
+"Poor Corny!" ejaculated Miss Florry. "Is he very badly wounded, Major
+Pierson?"
+
+"I do not know how seriously, but I am afraid he cannot use that
+shoulder for a long time." replied the prisoner, fixing a look of
+admiration upon her, as if he were glad to have the privilege of looking
+at her without causing any remark.
+
+"I am so sorry for him. Corny was always real good to me when I have
+been at Glenfield," added the fair girl, and she actually shed some
+sympathetic tears as she thought of his wounded shoulder. "Can we not
+do something for him, mother?"
+
+"I shall be very glad to have him removed to the house, and I will take
+care of him till he gets well. I don't know whether this can be done or
+not. Perhaps Major Pierson can inform me."
+
+"If your kind hearts prompt you to do this for one who is in arms
+against the government, I have no doubt it can be managed. He can
+give his parole, and that will make it all right."
+
+"He is my nephew, and I would do as much for him as I would for my own
+son," replied Mrs. Passford heartily.
+
+"And I as much as I would for my brother," added Miss Florry.
+
+Everything was pleasant so far, though all the Passfords were worried
+about poor Corny, who had been with the ladies only the evening before.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+AFTER THE BATTLE
+
+
+It was six o'clock in the morning when the Bellevite let go her anchor
+off Twentieth Street, as the young commander decided to do after some
+consultation with Paul Vapoor, who was his senior in years if not in
+wisdom. He did not suppose the steamer would be allowed to anchor at the
+Navy Yard without orders to that effect. His father had not returned
+from the city. Though he held no office, Captain Passford was as busy
+with public affairs as though he had been the collector of the port.
+
+No one but the ladies had slept any during the trip; but they had been
+on deck some time when the steamer anchored. Christy had been very much
+in doubt as to what he should do with the Bellevite when he reached his
+destination, and he was glad to see his mother when she came out of the
+cabin. Though he was still hardly more than a boy, he believed in his
+mother, and it had not yet occurred to him that he knew more than she
+did. He stated his difficulty to her, for Paul had been as much in doubt
+as the midshipman.
+
+"I think it is a very easy question to answer, Christy," replied Mrs.
+Passford, with a smile. "Where have you anchored?"
+
+"Off Union Square, or very near it, I should think," replied Christy.
+
+"You know that your father stays at the St. James Hotel when he is in
+the city," she added. "The only thing you can do is to find him, and let
+him decide what is to be done with the Bellevite."
+
+"I did not think of that," added the midshipman. "I will get out a boat
+at once, and go on shore."
+
+"Florry and I will go with you," continued Mrs. Passford. "We have
+nothing to do here, and I should like to return to Bonnydale as soon as
+possible. But what will you do with your prisoner, Christy?"
+
+"I shall do nothing with him. Sampson is in charge of him, and I am sure
+he will not take his eye off the major while he remains on board."
+
+The port-quarter boat was lowered into the water, and a couple of the
+old sailors took their places in her. The ladies were assisted to their
+seats, and Christy, after he had informed the engineer that he was in
+command during his absence, leaped into the boat, and it was pulled to
+the nearest pier. A carriage was called, and the party were driven to
+the hotel. It was half-past six, and Christy was informed that his
+father had not yet come down. Word was sent up to him, and the son went
+to his room, where he found him only half dressed.
+
+"I did not expect to see you at this time in the morning, my son," said
+the owner of the Bellevite. "How did you come down so early?"
+
+"I came in the Bellevite; and she is at anchor in the stream off
+Twentieth Street, father," replied Christy.
+
+"In the Bellevite!" exclaimed Captain Passford, with the nearest thing
+to a frown that ever appeared on his brow in the presence of any member
+of his family. "I don't quite understand how"--
+
+"An attempt was made to capture her last night, father, and I thought it
+best to make sure of her," interposed the midshipman.
+
+"To capture her!" ejaculated Captain Passford, suspending his toilet,
+and gazing into the face of his son. "I think you must have dreamed
+that, Christy."
+
+"Perhaps I did, father; but we captured one prisoner of rank in my
+dream, and he is on board now, closely guarded by Sampson," replied
+Christy, laughing in his excitement. "Mother and Florry were on board,
+and they are down in the parlor waiting to see you."
+
+"Do you mean that an attempt was really made to capture the Bellevite
+last night?" asked the captain, as if unable to credit the astounding
+intelligence.
+
+"Of course I can prove all I say by many witnesses. Mr. Watts is on
+board, and he has been dreaming too if I have. Paul Vapoor is another
+dreamer, to say nothing of eight or ten more on board," added Christy.
+
+Captain Passford completed dressing himself about as quick as he had
+probably ever done since he became a millionnaire, and attended Christy
+down to the parlor, where he gave his wife and daughter an affectionate
+reception.
+
+"But our boy tells me that some one has been trying to obtain possession
+of the Bellevite, Julia; and it seems to me hardly possible that such an
+attempt should be made so far up the river," said Captain Passford, as
+soon as he was able to allude to the subject.
+
+"But it is quite true, Horatio; and our boy has behaved like a hero, if
+he is our son," replied the lady, bestowing a glance of pride upon the
+midshipman.
+
+"He says he has a prisoner on board," added the captain.
+
+"And who do you think that prisoner is, Horatio?" asked Mrs. Passford.
+
+"Is it Jeff Davis?" he inquired, with a smile.
+
+"Not exactly; but it is Major Lindley Pierson."
+
+"Indeed? Then I begin to see through the matter," replied Captain
+Passford. "He failed to obtain the steamer in Mobile Bay, and he came
+up here after her. But I should like to hear the particulars of this
+affair."
+
+"And poor Corny Passford was wounded in the shoulder," said Florry, who
+had hardly spoken before.
+
+"You don't mean that you had a fight, Christy?" demanded the captain,
+looking quite serious.
+
+"Not much of a fight, father; we fired the long gun once, and disabled
+an old steamer, and we sunk a boat that was trying to lay us aboard."
+
+"Then it was a more serious affair than I had supposed."
+
+"But, father, I think we had better be going on board; and I can tell
+you the story on the way just as well as here," suggested Christy.
+
+"But you must have your breakfast before you go, for there is nothing to
+eat on board of the steamer," replied Captain Passford, as he led the
+way down into the restaurant.
+
+While they were waiting for the meal to be served, the captain went to
+the house of a military officer, with whom he was intimately acquainted,
+and requested him to take the prisoner off his hands. After the meagre
+details of the affair he gave, the officer offered to put a company on
+board of the steamer for her protection; but the captain thought this
+was unnecessary.
+
+After the breakfast, the party took a carriage for the pier. On the way
+the captain ordered a supply of cooked provisions to be sent down to the
+boat for the use of the men on board of the Bellevite. With this supply
+the party went on board. On the way Christy had told his story, and by
+the time they went on board Captain Passford had learned all about the
+affair.
+
+He had received the order to deliver the steamer at the Navy Yard on the
+following Monday, and he decided to return to Bonnydale in her. Enough
+of the former members of the ship's company could be obtained in a few
+hours to hold the vessel against any enemy that was likely to appear
+in the river. As the owner was now on board, the engineer put on full
+steam, and she reached her anchorage, as indicated by the buoy of the
+cable which had been slipped. It was hauled in, and the Bellevite was
+replaced in her former position.
+
+The tremendous report of the great gun in the small hours of the morning
+had startled all the people in the vicinity, though it was not till they
+left their beds that the news was conveyed to them. A party in the town
+just below the scene of the disaster to the Vampire had been collected,
+and they had taken a steamer to explore the river in search of the bold
+actors in the affair, as soon as the facts were known in the vicinity.
+The steamer had been running up and down the river since six in the
+morning.
+
+When the Bellevite passed up the river, she was promptly recognized
+by the investigating party on board of the Alert, which followed the
+steamer up to her anchorage. She came alongside some time after the crew
+had fished up the cable; but Captain Passford warned her to keep off as
+soon as he discovered her intention to come alongside. She was a small
+steamer, and had at least twenty men on her deck, so that the captain
+thought it necessary to learn her object before she came any nearer.
+
+A boat with two men was sent from the Alert, and one of them was
+permitted to come on board. This one proved to be Captain Mainhill, with
+whom the owner of the Bellevite was well acquainted. He was a wealthy
+and patriotic man, though rather too old to be engaged in active service
+for his country.
+
+"I thought you might be representatives of the Southern Confederacy, and
+I was rather shy of you," said Captain Passford, as he took the hand of
+his neighbor. "I should not have been so cautious if I had met you last
+evening."
+
+"We have been looking for the gentlemen who were engaged in this attempt
+to capture the Bellevite," added Captain Mainhill.
+
+"I hope you have found them, or some of them," replied the owner.
+
+"Only a single one of them; and he is badly wounded. We have scoured
+the river for miles without finding any trace of the enemy. I think they
+landed on the east shore, and went over to the railroad, where they
+probably took the first train that came along," replied Captain
+Mainhill.
+
+"Of course, they saw the Bellevite going down the river, and perhaps
+they have gone down to New York to finish the job they begun here,"
+suggested Captain Passford. "Do you know if the enemy lost any of their
+number when the boat was smashed?"
+
+But Captain Mainhill knew nothing about the affair on the river beyond
+the fact that an attempt had been made to capture the Bellevite, and he
+had not ascertained that more than one was injured.
+
+"We found the Vampire aground half a mile below where the shot disabled
+her," continued the leader of the expedition. "Her machinery was badly
+smashed. She never was good for much, and she is good for nothing now."
+
+"Did the enemy carry off the one who was wounded?" asked Captain
+Passford, prompted by his wife.
+
+"No; he seems to have been too badly damaged for that; they left him
+at the house of a workingman near the river, and I suppose he is there
+now," replied Captain Mainhill. "I don't know that there is anything
+more that we can do, and we may as well go home to breakfast."
+
+"Do you know where the wounded person is to be found?" asked Captain
+Passford.
+
+"I do; and I have seen him. He is suffering a good deal of pain; but he
+is as plucky as a mad snake, and he would not say a word in answer to my
+questions."
+
+"I shall be greatly obliged to you, Captain Mainhill, if you will land
+me as near as you can to the house where this wounded man is, and show
+me where it is. Mrs. Passford will go with me," said the owner.
+
+"Very glad indeed to do it," replied the leader of the searching party.
+
+Captain Passford instructed some of the men on board to summon all the
+former ship's company of the Bellevite on board at once that could be
+found, and then went on board of the Alert with his wife. They were
+landed in a boat just below the bend, and Captain Mainhill conducted
+them to the house where Corny was said to be.
+
+They found him there, and the poor fellow was glad enough to see them.
+No doctor had been called, and nothing had been done to alleviate his
+pain; but he was immediately removed to the mansion at Bonnydale, with
+his own consent, and Dr. Linscott was sent for.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE BEGINNING OF A CHASE
+
+
+Major Pierson still remained on board of the Bellevite, for no officer
+had been sent on board for him, as expected; and he was under the
+efficient care of Sampson. He was subjected to no restraint, and he took
+his breakfast with the engineer. But he was not a welcome visitor on
+board, and Captain Passford would have been very glad to get rid of him.
+
+The owner sought him the next time he came on board, when he was not so
+busy as he had been before. But he said nothing to him about his mission
+at the North, and treated him as a guest rather than a prisoner. For
+reasons of his own, though not difficult to conjecture, he was very
+anxious to make a good appearance before the father of Miss Florry,
+and he was a gentleman in his manners.
+
+"Major Pierson, I am sorry to do anything that may be unpleasant to
+you, but I have not the means of holding you as a prisoner," said the
+captain, after they had been talking of indifferent subjects for a time.
+
+"I realize that I am a prisoner of war, subject to such restraint as my
+captors impose upon me," replied the major.
+
+"If you will allow yourself to be paroled, it will settle your status
+for the present," added Captain Passford.
+
+"As a guest at your house?" asked the major, his face suddenly
+brightening up. "I shall be very happy to give my parole."
+
+"Not at my house, if you please, Major Pierson; it would not be
+convenient at the present time," replied the owner, astonished at the
+suggestion,
+
+"Then you will excuse me if I decline to accept a parole," replied the
+prisoner, biting his lip as though he was not pleased with the reply.
+"As a guest in your house, I should not wish you to have any solicitude
+in regard to me."
+
+"Very well, major; I cannot object to your decision," added the captain,
+as he touched his hat and left the prisoner to the attentions of
+Sampson.
+
+He was kept on board of the Bellevite, now re-enforced by the return of
+about twenty of her former crew, so that regular watches were kept, and
+there was no chance for the prisoner to escape, and none for Captain
+Carboneer to capture the steamer. Dr. Linscott soon relieved Corny of
+his pain, but it was many weeks before he was fit to leave the house,
+and then he was paroled. Captain Passford could never ascertain what had
+become of the crew intended for the Bellevite, though it was supposed,
+as they separated, that they found their way to some port where they
+could ship for their chosen service.
+
+On the Monday following the attempt to capture her, the Bellevite
+was taken to the Navy Yard, and she was prepared for service. It was
+understood that her former officers and crew would be appointed to her,
+for they were accustomed to the vessel, and could do better with her
+than any other. Paul Vapoor and Christy Passford had already received
+their commissions and orders. Captain Breaker had been restored to his
+former rank, and was to be the commander of the Bellevite.
+
+It was two months before the ship was ready to go into commission.
+Important alterations had been made below, and the armament had been
+taken from her deck, substituting for it a Parrot midship piece, of
+eight-inch bore, and carrying a one hundred and fifty pound shot, two
+sixty-pounders, and two thirty-pounders. This was a heavy armament, but
+the ship was strong enough to bear it.
+
+Joel Dashington and Ethan Blowitt were appointed as masters, and were
+to be the first and second lieutenants, while Christy Passford was the
+third. Leon Bolter was made a first assistant engineer, and Fred Faggs
+the second. Sampson obtained his place as a first-class fireman, with
+the expectation of soon becoming an assistant engineer, for he was well
+qualified for the position.
+
+Captain Passford, though he had offered his services in any capacity in
+which he might be needed, had been induced to withdraw his application
+for the reason that he could be of more service to the cause at home
+than he could in the field or at sea. He was a man of influence, and he
+was needed in civil life. He was even able to do more as an adviser and
+counsellor than in any public office, though he filled several of the
+latter in the earlier part of the war. He furnished no inconsiderable
+part of the money needed at particular times, and he was only less
+valuable on account of his money than he was for his patriotism and
+good judgment.
+
+"Now, Christy, remember that you are an officer of the United States,
+and make yourself worthy of the place you occupy," said his father to
+Christy, on the evening of his last day at home. "Study your duty, and
+then perform it faithfully. Perhaps I can tell you something of more
+value than good advice is generally considered to be."
+
+"I shall try to follow your good advice, father; and I mean to do my
+duty; and it will not be for the want of trying if I fail," replied
+Christy.
+
+"You have sailed with Captain Breaker a great deal when you were in
+a different relation to him. Now I must warn you that he has his duty
+to do, and I hope you will not expect to be favored, or ask him for
+privileges not granted to other officers," continued the late owner
+of the Bellevite.
+
+"I am sure I expect him to be impartial with his officers."
+
+"I meant to have seen Breaker this afternoon before I came home; but I
+had not time to go to the ship. For some of my own affairs I have had
+three agents in England. I wrote them some time ago to obtain all the
+information they could in regard to vessels, especially steamers, that
+cleared for any ports of the British Possessions near the United
+States," continued Captain Passford, taking a letter from his pocket.
+"Two weeks ago an iron steamer sailed from a port in Ireland for the
+Bermudas. This letter will tell you all about it, and you will hand it
+to Captain Breaker, and give him my explanation."
+
+The midshipman put the letter into his pocket without reading it. In his
+chamber he looked it over, and found that it meant business, and he was
+delighted with the idea of having something to do before he reached the
+port for which the ship was bound, for the inactivity of the blockade
+was not wholly to his mind. He slept as soundly as usual, for already he
+had come to regard war as the business in which he was engaged, and he
+had but little sickly sentiment over it.
+
+It was a tearful parting with his mother and sister before he took the
+train with his father, and it was a sad one with his father when he went
+off to the Bellevite in the boat. But neither of them shed any tears,
+for both felt that they were called upon to discharge their duty to
+their country.
+
+Captain Breaker had always trained his officers and seamen to perform
+their duty in conformity with the discipline of the navy so far as it
+was practicable to do so, and consequently his ship's company were very
+nearly at home from the beginning of the voyage. He had received his
+sealed orders, and at noon the Bellevite went down the bay on her
+mission to the South, though no one on board knew where the ship was
+bound. The crew had been re-enforced by as many men as she had usually
+carried, and the first day was a very busy one in putting everything in
+order. Christy had handed the letter his father had given him to the
+captain, and after dinner he spoke of it.
+
+"Did you read this letter, Mr. Passford?" asked the captain.
+
+"I did, sir; my father told me to read it," replied Christy.
+
+"It appears that a very fast steamer loaded with a valuable cargo sailed
+from Belfast eleven days ago, clearing for the Bermudas. We shall all be
+very happy to pay our respects to her; but I can say nothing till I have
+opened my orders to-morrow," said Captain Breaker.
+
+"If she sailed eleven days ago from Belfast, she ought to be well
+up with the Bermudas, if she is as fast as represented, sir," added
+Christy, hoping the orders would permit the Bellevite to look out for
+the Killbright, as she was called.
+
+The next day, as the observations indicated the latitude in which the
+sealed orders were to be opened, the seal of the official envelope was
+broken. Captain Breaker read the letter, and a smile came over his
+bronzed face. The orders were evidently to his satisfaction; and
+Christy, who was on duty near him, remembered what his father had said
+to him, and asked no question, as he would have been likely to do under
+other circumstances. But the commander was kind enough to call his
+officers to him, and inform them of the duty assigned to the ship.
+
+The government had received information which indicated the approach
+to our shores of a considerable fleet of blockade runners, and the
+Bellevite, on account of her reputed fast sailing, was to cruise for
+a given time off the coast in search of these blockade runners.
+
+"I have no doubt these blockade runners will go into the Bermudas,
+especially the Killbright. If we go into St. George, we shall not be
+allowed to sail till twenty-four hours after this fast vessel leaves,"
+said Captain Breaker. "On the other hand, if we are seen off the port,
+she will not come out."
+
+"I don't see, then, that we can do anything about it, Captain Breaker,"
+added Mr. Dashington.
+
+"Captain Passford's correspondent thinks the Killbright is intended for
+the Confederate Navy, and that she is commanded by a naval officer sent
+out for the purpose," continued the captain.
+
+But no satisfactory measures could be devised for overcoming the
+difficulties on both hands, and the steamer sped on her way. In two
+days more she was in sight of the Bermudas. It was almost dark when the
+lookout sighted a steamer coming out from the islands. By the order of
+the captain, the engine was stopped, and the steamer rested silently on
+a calm sea.
+
+"I don't think she has seen us yet," said Captain Breaker. "If she had,
+she would have come about and run back into the harbor."
+
+"She keeps on her course," added Mr. Dashington.
+
+"If she has the reputation of being a very fast vessel, very likely she
+believes that she can run away from us," suggested Mr. Blowitt.
+
+"As I don't believe the vessel floats that can outsail the Bellevite,
+I shall give her time to get well away from the port before the screw
+turns again," said the captain.
+
+"Mr. Passford," called he a little later.
+
+"On duty, sir," replied Christy, touching his cap to the commander.
+
+"You will have the midship gun charged with a solid shot, and have it
+ready for use at once."
+
+As the steamer in the distance still kept on her course, the screw of
+the Bellevite was started. The chief engineer was called upon deck, and
+the situation explained to him.
+
+"We shall want all the speed we can get out of her, Mr. Vapoor," said
+the captain.
+
+"We shall have no trouble in making twenty-two knots, sir, with the sea
+as it is now," replied the engineer.
+
+"That steamer means to go into the Cape Fear River," said Mr. Blowitt,
+when the chase had laid her course. "If she was going in at Savannah,
+or round into the Gulf, she would go more to the south."
+
+"I think you are right; but she has room enough to run away from us if
+she can," added the captain.
+
+It was a busy time in the fireroom, but there was nothing to do on deck
+but watch the steamer. She had actually lighted the green light on the
+starboard, and evidently did not expect to be overhauled, even if her
+commander had noticed the presence of the Bellevite.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+A CHASE OFF THE BERMUDAS
+
+
+All the officers on board of the Bellevite who had never been in the
+navy had spent their long vacation in the study and practice of gunnery
+and naval tactics; and the men had been carefully drilled by a competent
+officer as soon as they reported for duty. But a considerable number of
+the latter had served for years on board of men-of-war, and a few were
+sheet-anchor men. The latter are sailors who have spent the greater part
+of their lives in the national sea-service, and they were competent to
+teach many of the junior officers.
+
+Every day after the ship went into commission, both officers and
+seamen were drilled, and the captain declared that they had all made
+satisfactory proficiency. He was ready to meet an enemy with them;
+but then the ship's company of the steam-yacht were of the very best
+material. They were all intelligent men, and sailors to begin with, so
+that the task of qualifying them for active duty was not very laborious.
+
+Christy was even better fitted for his duties than many of the older
+officers, for he was not only full of enthusiasm, but he was skilful and
+scientific, as a rule. He neither asked nor expected any favors on
+account of former relations with the captain and other officers, and he
+was determined to make his way by merit rather than by favor. Besides,
+he had already been under fire, and he had an idea how it felt. Though
+he was as prudent and careful as circumstances might require, he had
+proved that he was as brave as a lion, and that shot and shell were not
+likely to drive him from the post of duty.
+
+Every man was in his place at the midship gun, seventeen of them,
+including the powder-boy, and Christy gave the orders for loading the
+piece as though he had been in the navy all his life. The other guns,
+the broadsides, were loaded at the same time. But just now Paul Vapoor
+was the most important man on board, and he was rapidly making himself
+felt in the increasing speed of the Bellevite. Captain Breaker estimated
+that the steamer which had just come out of port was all of five miles
+ahead. It was only seven o'clock in the early darkness of this latitude.
+Whether the chase was the Killbright or not, it was impossible to make
+out in the darkness.
+
+If it was the Killbright, Captain Passford's correspondent wrote that
+she was capable of making twenty knots an hour, as she had been built
+more for speed than anything else, though she could hardly be a
+profitable commercial venture. But even accepting this speed as the
+difficulty to be overcome, the Bellevite would probably overhaul her in
+two or three hours. The engineer felt that his reputation and that of
+the ship were at stake, and could not think of such a thing as failure
+in the first actual encounter with the enemy.
+
+"We are gaining on her without the ghost of a doubt, Mr. Passford," said
+Boxie, who was ready for duty at the gun.
+
+"No doubt of that, Tom Boxie," replied the third lieutenant. "But she is
+taking it very coolly. She has not yet even put out her lights."
+
+"I suppose you know why she hasn't, Mr. Passford," added the captain of
+the gun.
+
+"I am sure I don't know," replied Christy. "If I was in command of that
+steamer, and wanted to do just what she does, I should not proceed as
+she does. But I am nothing but a boy."
+
+"But you have got a long head on your shoulders, Mr. Passford, and I
+should like to know, if you please, what you would do."
+
+"I would put her lights out before I winked twice."
+
+"Right, Mr. Passford!" exclaimed the sheet-anchor man. "I am glad to
+hear you say that. The trouble with most of the boys is, when they go to
+sea to fight the battles of their country, they are as reckless as young
+wildcats."
+
+"I think it is possible to use proper caution without being a coward,
+Tom Boxie; and my father gave me a lesson on that subject not long ago."
+
+"Eight bells, sir; and that steamer has had a good hour of running so
+far. I will wager my day's grub that we are two knots nearer to her than
+when she laid her course," added Boxie, delighted with the situation.
+
+"I have no doubt of it. I think they are beginning to see it on board of
+her. There go her lights! She has not a ghost of a glow in sight; and I
+suppose there is going to be some monkeying about it, if she has
+ascertained that she cannot run away from us."
+
+"Most likely, sir; but this is not a good night to play tricks, for we
+have a bright night and a smooth sea."
+
+"As that steamer has such a reputation for speed, I have no doubt they
+put a very valuable cargo on board of her; probably she has a good
+supply of arms in her hold."
+
+"So much the better for us, Mr. Passford. We don't fight for
+prize-money, but when a man gets to be as old as I am, a good round sum
+of money don't come amiss to him. But I am sorry to see that it looks
+like a change of weather," continued the sheet-anchor man, as he hitched
+up his trousers, and took a survey of the heavens.
+
+The wind began to come from the west after it had been almost a dead
+calm since noon. It looked as though a heavy shower was coming up, and
+clouds of mist and fog swept over the ocean. The usual lookouts had been
+doubled, but, in spite of all precautions, the Bellevite lost sight of
+the chase when she could not have been more than a mile from her. But
+this weather was to be expected in this changeable latitude. Captain
+Breaker was as perplexed as any one, however skilful, must have been in
+the same situation. It was impossible to know what the chase would do,
+though it was plain enough, since she put out her lights, that she would
+change her course.
+
+It was over six hundred miles to Cape Hatteras, and she had room enough
+to manoeuvre in any manner she pleased. The change in the weather hardly
+amounted to a storm, and probably it would be all over in a few hours.
+But the chase might turn to any point of the compass, and the Bellevite
+was as likely to pursue in the wrong as the right direction. But the
+first thing the commander ordered the chief engineer to do was to save
+his coal; though he held to his course, and the ship continued at a
+moderate speed till daylight.
+
+As the wise ones had predicted, the shower was of brief duration. As
+soon as it was light enough to see, and the fog banks had been swept
+away, a sharp lookout was kept for the chase. If she was ahead, she had
+outsailed her pursuer; but Captain Breaker was sure she had not done
+this, for she could not have had confidence enough in her heels to adopt
+such a course.
+
+"Sail, ho!" yelled a man on the cross-trees, a few minutes later.
+
+"Where away?" called the officer of the deck.
+
+"On the port beam, sir."
+
+Several officers mounted the rigging to obtain a sight of the reported
+sail. She was at least ten miles off, and no one could make out whether
+or not it was the chase of the night before. The captain ordered the
+ship to be headed to the southward, and, after she had gone on this
+course an hour, there was another hail from the cross-trees.
+
+"Sail is a steamer, sir!" reported the lookout.
+
+With the aid of the spyglasses, a long streak of black smoke could be
+made out of the dark clouds that were retreating in that direction.
+A little later it was demonstrated that she was headed for the coast
+of the United States. Whether it was the chase they sought or not, she
+needed looking after. The course was laid in a direction to intercept
+the steamer, for her inky smoke indicated that she was not American.
+
+In another hour she could be very distinctly made out, though the chase
+had not been so clearly made out the night before as to enable the
+officers to identify her. Paul Vapoor was in his element again, and the
+Bellevite was doing her best. The two vessels were approaching each
+other, and Boxie suggested that there would be "music" in less than an
+hour.
+
+The people on board of the strange steamer must have been as much in the
+dark in regard to the caliber of the naval vessel as those on board of
+the Bellevite were in respect to their confident rival. The chase was a
+long craft, it could be seen now, with two masts and two smokestacks,
+all of which raked in the most dashing style. She was rather low in the
+water, and, if it had been in the days of the pirates, the stranger
+would have been a fair ideal of the freebooter's ship.
+
+"She keeps on just as though she intended to mind her own business, and
+leave the Bellevite to do the same," said Boxie, as Christy took his
+place near the midship gun.
+
+"I have no doubt the Bellevite knows her business in this case, and that
+she will attend to it in due time," added the lieutenant.
+
+"Good!" exclaimed the sheet-anchor man, suddenly.
+
+This exclamation was called forth by a flag, which was run up at the
+peak, and which proved to be that of the Confederacy as soon as it was
+spread out to the breeze.
+
+"She is plucky, anyhow," added Christy.
+
+"There is no lack of pluck in the South. But I wonder what she means by
+setting that rag."
+
+"Beeks, hoist the ensign at the peak," said the captain, and the
+brilliant banner was spread in the morning air.
+
+"I reckon both sides understand the situation now. I don't know the
+captain of that craft, but he is an able fellow, and probably got his
+education in the old navy, and not in the new one, where he is serving
+now," continued Boxie.
+
+"I think it is easy enough to see what he means," replied Christy. "He
+ascertained last night that, fast as his vessel is, he cannot outsail
+the Bellevite; and there is really only one thing he can do, and that is
+to fight."
+
+The lieutenant had hardly spoken the words before there was a puff of
+smoke from one side of the chase, and a heavy report came across the
+water. But the two steamers were still a long distance apart, and the
+shot fell short, to the satisfaction of the captain. The chase had been
+obliged to come to in order to bring her gun to bear, and she had lost
+a little time in doing so. It could be easily seen on board of both
+steamers that the Bellevite was gaining rapidly on the other.
+
+"Mr. Passford, I am as sure of capturing that vessel as though I had
+her now, and I do not wish to injure her any more than is necessary,"
+said Captain Breaker, as he sighted the Parrot, and devoted especial
+attention to her. "She is a very fast steamer, and she will be very
+valuable in our navy in picking up just such vessels as she is herself."
+
+Perhaps it was impudence for him to do so, but Christy could not help
+casting his eye along the gun. All possible precautions were taken to
+secure a correct aim, and then the lieutenant gave the order to "Fire!"
+
+"Hit her, sir!" shouted one of the lookout men aloft, who could see over
+the cloud of smoke.
+
+"Where did it strike her?" demanded the captain.
+
+"Right in the broadside, abreast of the forward smokestack, sir! She has
+stopped her screw!" added the lookout.
+
+"Mr. Dashington, get the ship astern of the chase at once," continued
+the captain to the first lieutenant.
+
+This was the work of at least half an hour; but the Bellevite was
+running for the stern of the other steamer, as though she intended to
+cut her in two lengthwise. The chase lay helpless on the water, unable
+to bring her broadside guns to bear on her enemy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE CONFEDERATE STEAMER YAZOO
+
+
+It was impossible to discover the nature or extent of the injury the
+chase had received from the shot from the midship gun; but she had been
+disabled, though it might be but slightly. The Bellevite dashed on, as
+though impatient to obtain possession of her prey. All the glasses on
+board were brought to bear on the injured vessel, which all hands
+regarded as already a prize.
+
+The glasses did not reveal any considerable havoc in the side of the
+steamer, and the shot hole could easily be plugged when necessary; but
+the commander of the craft did not yet give up the ship, for he seemed
+to be engaged in hoisting her foresail and jibs, evidently with the
+intention of bringing her about so that he could use his guns. The wind
+was very light, and his chances of accomplishing his purpose were not
+very brilliant.
+
+"Mr. Dashington, you will call all hands, and be ready to board the
+prize in three divisions when we run abreast of her," said Captain
+Breaker. "Let Mr. Passford command the forward division; Mr. Blowitt,
+the waist; and Mr. Calvert, the quarter."
+
+The boarders were mustered at once, as there was no occasion to fire
+again at the prize. Each officer arranged his men, and spoke some
+stirring words to them. Men in the tops were supplied with muskets,
+and all with revolvers and cutlasses. It was not believed that all
+this force would be necessary to capture the prize, but there was some
+evidence that she had a fighting crew on board, and the captain prepared
+for the worst.
+
+As the Bellevite came nearer to the prize, the sound of hammers was
+heard, and it appeared that the engineers were engaged in an effort to
+repair the mischief which had been done to the engine. It was still
+impossible to see how many men she had on board, but Captain Breaker did
+not estimate that she had a full ship's company, for vessels intended
+for war purposes, escaping as this one doubtless had, did not usually
+take their force on board at the beginning of the cruise.
+
+  [Illustration: "Christy and Beeks on the Steamer's Deck."--Page 181.]
+
+The three divisions of boarders were all in readiness, and all they
+feared was that there would be little for them to do on board the enemy.
+Captain Breaker was in the fore rigging where he could observe all that
+was done on the decks of both vessels. The Bellevite went ahead with all
+speed till the signal was given to slow down. The sea was not heavy, and
+the captain laid her alongside of the prize.
+
+"Do you surrender?" demanded the commander in a loud tone, but with his
+usual dignity.
+
+"I do not surrender!" replied the captain of the steamer.
+
+"Boarders away!" shouted Captain Breaker.
+
+Christy Passford was the first to leap upon the rail of the other
+vessel, and then he dropped in the same instant upon her deck. At that
+moment he was conscious that the steamer under him was moving, though
+it might be the shaking which the Bellevite gave her when she came
+alongside. On the deck of the prize, as he still taught himself to
+consider her, he saw not more than thirty men; and with nearly three
+times that number on the other side, it did not look as if it could be
+a very hotly contested battle.
+
+As Christy jumped down from the rail, Beeks followed him, and he was not
+a little surprised to find that they were alone. But there was no enemy
+at hand upon whom he could flesh his cutlass, and he sprang upon the
+rail again. He found that his impression had been correct, for the
+vessel was moving. She had already left a gap a dozen feet wide between
+the Bellevite and herself.
+
+It appeared that the machinery had been repaired, and that it was now
+capable of doing all that it had done before. The steamer was the
+Killbright, for the lieutenant saw the name painted in several places
+about her forward deck. She had suddenly shot ahead very unexpectedly
+to the captors, as they supposed they were, alongside of her. A puff
+of wind had been favoring her before, and she darted away towards the
+northwest. As she began to move, the lock-strings of her port battery
+were pulled as rapidly as possible.
+
+It would have been impossible to help hitting the Bellevite, with the
+three guns fired into her at so short a distance. But the cloud of smoke
+that enveloped both vessels prevented the captain from taking in the
+situation. The crew of the Killbright were ordered to reload their guns
+instantly. Whatever was to happen in the near or distant future, it
+was evident that the dangerous steamer had not yet been captured, and
+Christy did not think of her as a prize any more just then.
+
+The Killbright crowded on all the steam she could obtain, and she
+rapidly increased the distance between herself and the Bellevite. She
+fired her three broadside guns continually, but it was clear to Christy
+that the men had not been trained to this business, or they might
+perhaps have sunk the naval vessel by this time.
+
+The Bellevite fired her two broadside guns, and they made terrible havoc
+in the upper works of the Killbright. But the strangest thing of all to
+the young lieutenant, caught on board of the anticipated prize, was that
+the Bellevite did not go ahead, and give the boarding parties a chance
+to get on the deck of the enemy.
+
+"I don't understand it, Beeks," said Christy as he found himself by the
+side of the quartermaster. "Why don't the ship give chase?"
+
+"I think she must be disabled, sir," replied the warrant officer.
+
+"What could have disabled her?"
+
+"I suppose she might be hit as well as this vessel," replied Beets, no
+better pleased with the situation than his companion in trouble. "They
+fired three shots into her while she was alongside."
+
+"She must have been hit in a bad place, or she would have been alongside
+of us before this time. But here we are."
+
+The third lieutenant and quartermaster felt very much like prisoners,
+though they had no evidence that the Killbright was a ship-of-war,
+except that she had hoisted the Confederate flag, and fired upon the
+Bellevite. But the rakish-looking steamer continued on her course, while
+the Bellevite had not moved since the first broadside. She had already
+made a mile, and the shots from her enemy did not seem to disable her.
+
+She continued to run with all her speed, and the lieutenant felt the
+deck quiver as though it was in danger of being shaken out of her. But
+she was not followed by the Bellevite, and things began to look dark
+and somewhat cheerless to Christy. The firing came to an end, for the
+distance was becoming too great for it to be effectual on either side.
+
+"If we had not jumped down from the rail when we boarded, we might have
+escaped this scrape," said Beeks, who was even more disgusted than his
+companion.
+
+"It is no use to growl about it," added Christy, laughing. "Here we are,
+and we can't help ourselves at present."
+
+"I suppose they will let us go, won't they?" inquired the quartermaster.
+
+"Let us go where?"
+
+"Let us go back where we came from," replied Beeks, who seemed to be
+quite muddled by his misfortune.
+
+"You don't expect them to put you on board of the Bellevite again,
+do you?"
+
+"Well, no; not exactly; but this steamer is nothing but a blockade
+runner, and such craft don't take prisoners."
+
+"I hardly know what she is yet; she is a blockade runner, but she
+appeals to be something more than that. She hoisted the Confederate
+flag, and her people stood by their guns like brave men. I count myself
+as a prisoner of war," said Christy, to the increased disgust of his
+companion.
+
+"What do you suppose they will do with us?" asked Beeks, looking as
+though he had not a friend in the world, though he had always been a
+very brave and active fellow when there was anything to do.
+
+"I don't know, but I suppose she will run the blockade into the Cape
+Fear River, and we may be taken up to Wilmington."
+
+While they were talking about it, they saw a group of officers coming to
+the forward deck, where they had remained since they came on board. They
+appeared to be examining the steamer to ascertain what damage she had
+sustained. Her bulwarks had been torn off, and she had suffered not a
+little from shot; but she did not appear to be very seriously damaged.
+At the head of the party was one who had a uniform, and dignity enough
+to be the commander of the ship.
+
+"Who are those two men forward?" asked this gentleman, as he called the
+attention of the others to the two strangers.
+
+No one knew who they were, and the captain continued to advance, looking
+very sharply at Christy, or at his uniform. The lieutenant thought he
+had seen the gentleman before, for it was quite impossible entirely to
+forget one with so much character in his face.
+
+"I am afraid I shall be obliged to call upon you, sir, to explain how
+you and your companion happen to be here, for I was not before aware of
+your presence."
+
+"I shall cheerfully explain, Captain Carboneer," replied Christy,
+recognizing the captain, and bowing politely.
+
+"Ah, you know me? But I have not the pleasure of your acquaintance,
+so far as I can remember," added the captain.
+
+"We met under some disadvantages so far as you are concerned, for I had
+the satisfaction of seeing you, though you did not see me," replied the
+lieutenant, looking very good-natured in spite of his situation as a
+prospective prisoner.
+
+"I must beg you to explain still further, Mr.--I have not the pleasure
+of knowing your name."
+
+"Passford, sir, Christopher Passford, midshipman in the United States
+Navy, and at present third lieutenant of the steamer Bellevite, which
+you can hardly make out at this moment, though I remember that you have
+seen her before," answered Christy, telling the whole story, as indeed
+his uniform had already done, so far as his rank was concerned.
+
+"I am very happy to meet you under present circumstances, Mr. Passford,
+though I am not yet informed where I met you before."
+
+"Perhaps you did not exactly meet me, Captain Carboneer; but, at any
+rate, we were in the same boat together."
+
+"I suppose we met, if at all, on the Hudson, in connection with the
+Bellevite. Your people have not been as fortunate to-day with their
+gunnery practice as on that occasion," suggested the captain.
+
+"Now, Captain Carboneer, will you kindly inform me in regard to the
+status of this vessel? Is she a naval vessel, or simply a blockade
+runner?"
+
+"She is both; and I am sorry for your sake to inform you that you are a
+prisoner of war."
+
+"I supposed I was."
+
+"Perhaps you will be willing to inform me what became of Major Pierson
+and Corny Passford--the latter a cousin of yours, I believe?"
+
+"Like myself, the major is a prisoner of war. Corny was injured in the
+disaster to the Vampire, as you are aware; he is also a prisoner, but on
+parole, remaining at my father's house to be healed."
+
+"I have to regret to-day more than ever before that we failed to capture
+the Bellevite, for I find that she is even faster than the Yazoo," added
+the captain.
+
+"The Yazoo?"
+
+"Formerly the Killbright, but now the Yazoo."
+
+At this moment an officer came up and spoke to Captain Carboneer. As
+both of them looked aft, Christy did the same, and, after studying the
+speck he saw on the ocean, he was satisfied that it was the Bellevite,
+coming down upon the Yazoo with all her speed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+A SATISFACTORY ORDER
+
+
+Whatever had happened to the Bellevite, it was plain enough now to
+Christy that she had repaired the injury, for the speck in the distance
+was assuming the form of a steamer. The discovery was not calculated to
+fan the hopes of Captain Carboneer and his officers, though the two
+Unionists on board of the Yazoo were elated. The chase was continued
+till the middle of the afternoon, when the Bellevite opened fire with
+her heavy midship gun.
+
+"Mr. Passford, your ship has opened fire upon us, and I will not compel
+you to expose yourself to it," said Captain Carboneer, as one of the
+shots from the Bellevite dropped into the water near the Yazoo. "You are
+at liberty to retire to any part of the vessel you desire, with your
+companion."
+
+"Thank you, sir; you are very kind; and as I don't care to be shot by my
+friends, I will go below," replied Christy.
+
+It was hardly safer below than on deck, and it was not likely that the
+resolute commander of the Yazoo would allow her to be captured as long
+as he could make any resistance. Christy got the idea from the decision
+he had observed in the face and expression of Captain Carboneer, that
+the only way to capture the steamer would be to knock her to pieces. He
+expected to be saved from the fate of a prisoner of war, but he was not
+ready to believe that the Yazoo would be sent to the North as a prize.
+She had not half the force of the Bellevite, either in men or guns,
+and it had been proved that her speed could not save her. But all the
+chances of accidents were to be incurred, and no one could predict the
+final result.
+
+Christy and Beeks went below, and seated themselves in the wardroom of
+the ship. It looked as though it had been altered from the dining-saloon
+of a passenger steamer for its present use. But the vessel was an
+elegant affair, and Christy thought it was evident from what he saw
+that she had been built for a steam-yacht by some British magnate. She
+was not more than two-thirds as large as the Bellevite.
+
+The sound of the firing indicated that the Bellevite was gaining on the
+chase even more rapidly than in the morning. At the end of a couple of
+hours more she seemed to be within a mile, or perhaps less. The Yazoo
+was shaking in every fibre of her steel body, and it was plain that
+Captain Carboneer was straining her to the utmost to effect his escape.
+
+"It is beginning to warm up a little," said Beeks, as he tried to look
+out at one of the round ports of the wardroom.
+
+"It will be hotter than this before we see the end of it," replied
+Christy. "Can you see anything?"
+
+"Not a thing; of course the Bellevite is astern of us," added Beeks.
+"But the Yazoo is not using her guns."
+
+"How can she? She has not fired a shot for some time, and she cannot
+without coming to. I should say she might as well do one thing as
+another. She can't run away from the Bellevite, and she may as well
+take her chances in a fight as a run."
+
+"But the Bellevite does not seem to be handling her great gun at a very
+lively rate," suggested Beeks.
+
+"I suppose Captain Breaker wants to save all he can of the Yazoo, and
+he knows that he can knock her all to pieces when he decides that it is
+necessary."
+
+"What is all that racket on deck?" asked Beeks.
+
+"Probably they are getting a couple of stern chasers ready for use,"
+answered Christy; and this explanation was soon proved to be correct by
+the report of a gun at the stern of the Yazoo.
+
+For the next half-hour, the firing from the Bellevite was more rapid,
+and several crashes, produced by the striking of shot, were heard. It
+was soon apparent that one of the stern chasers had been disabled; and
+after a while the other ceased its noise. Beeks was so excited that
+he left the wardroom, and found his way into what proved to be the
+captain's cabin. More than one shot had come into it, and made no little
+havoc. He found a port there through which he obtained a view of the
+Bellevite. Whatever damage had been done to her, her engine was in
+perfect order, for she was driving ahead at her best speed.
+
+The quartermaster reported what he had seen to Christy, though it proved
+nothing except that the Bellevite was all right, but everything began
+to look more hopeful to the occupants of the wardroom. They had only to
+wait, for they could do nothing. The pursuer had ceased to discharge her
+guns, and those of the Yazoo were useless under present circumstances.
+
+The situation was becoming more exciting on the deck of the Yazoo,
+judging by the sounds that came from it. Then it was evident that the
+Bellevite had returned to her former tactics, and was coming alongside
+with the intention of boarding. Loud yells and fierce cries followed,
+and then came the noise of a hand-to-hand struggle on the deck. It was
+of short duration, for the ship's company of the Yazoo were outnumbered
+at least two to one.
+
+"I suppose we may go on deck now," said Beeks.
+
+"I should judge that the fight was over," replied Christy, as he led the
+way out of the wardroom.
+
+At the companion-way they found two sailors assisting Captain Carboneer
+to his cabin. His face was covered with blood, and he looked very pale.
+The surgeon was close by him. Christy felt sincerely sorry for the
+commander, for he was a noble and upright man. His protest had prevented
+Major Pierson from attempting to carry out whatever plan he had in his
+mind for the abduction of Florry Passford, and the young officer felt
+grateful to him.
+
+"Ah, Mr. Passford, the luck is on your side again," said the wounded
+commander, when he saw Christy.
+
+"Of course, I rejoice that it is so, but I am sincerely sorry that you
+are wounded," replied Christy. "I must thank you for your interference
+in behalf of my sister in opposition to the scheme of Major Pierson."
+
+"How could you know anything about that?" asked the commander, bracing
+himself up.
+
+"I heard the whole of it."
+
+"I see; but I did not consider that Major Pierson contemplated any
+ruffianism," added Captain Carboneer, as the surgeon urged him to go
+into his cabin.
+
+Christy hastened on deck, and was warmly received by his fellow-officers
+there. He reported on board to Captain Breaker without any delay, and
+was warmly congratulated on his escape. He returned to his duty at once.
+Paul Vapoor was inclined to hug him when he met him.
+
+"I felt like a prisoner of war," said Christy, when he had told his
+brief story. "The Bellevite was disabled, and I supposed it was all up
+with me."
+
+"A shot from the Killbright damaged our rudder, so that we could not
+steer her; though we repaired the mischief after a considerable delay,"
+replied the engineer. "But we have the prize."
+
+"She was intended for a cruiser, and they call her the Yazoo."
+
+"Whatever her name, she will not be a cruiser on that side."
+
+The captured vessel was carefully surveyed; she had been considerably
+damaged in the contest, but she was still seaworthy, and Mr. Blowitt was
+appointed prize-master to take her to New York. All the arrangements
+were speedily completed, and, when the prize had sailed for her
+destination, Christy became the acting second lieutenant.
+
+For the next month the Bellevite cruised in search of such craft as
+the Killbright, and then she took her place on the blockade off Mobile
+Bay, to which she had been ordered. Mr. Blowitt and the prize-crew had
+returned, and all the damage done by the guns of the Yazoo had been
+repaired, so that the Bellevite was in as good condition as when she
+left the Navy Yard at Brooklyn. She captured several schooners, but no
+very important prize. Many of the officers were disgusted with the
+inactivity of the service.
+
+In a letter from his father, Christy obtained the information that the
+Bellevite was likely to be ordered to duty as a cruiser, for which her
+great speed adapted her better than any other vessel in the navy. This
+was cheering news to the discontented ones. But before any orders to
+this effect was received, the ship was ordered to proceed to Pensacola,
+where a very fast steamer was said to be awaiting an opportunity to get
+to sea.
+
+The position of the steamer was ascertained with no little difficulty;
+but it was protected by the guns of the forts. Captain Breaker desired
+to obtain better information in regard to the Teaser, as the negroes
+said she was called. She was quite small, and carried only a single long
+gun, and it was suspected that she was a privateer. On the evening of
+the Bellevite's arrival, the weather was rainy, foggy, and thick. It was
+just the night for a blockade runner, and the captain believed that an
+attempt would be made to get out at this time.
+
+The Unionists held Fort Pickens, and the Confederates the forts on the
+mainland. The negroes said the Teaser was anchored at the mouth of the
+lagoon, or very near it. This was not very definite, even if it were
+accepted as true. It was very important that the Teaser should not be
+permitted to get out of the bay, for she might do a great deal of
+mischief to the shipping of the nation.
+
+"I don't believe the stories of the negroes," said Captain Breaker, as
+he was discussing the situation with his officers. "I know the port very
+well, and I have no idea where the mouth of the lagoon is, or even if it
+has any mouth in Pensacola Bay."
+
+"Wherever the Teaser may be waiting her chance, this is a good night for
+a start," replied Mr. Dashington.
+
+"Of course the officers of Fort Pickens are on the lookout for the saucy
+little craft," added Mr. Blowitt.
+
+"Captain Westover is still on board, and you are to send him to the
+fort, are you not, Captain Breaker?" asked Christy.
+
+"Yes; as soon as he is ready to go," replied the captain. "He has given
+all the information he has in regard to the Teaser; but he has not seen
+her to-day, and he does not believe she is in the lower bay, but that
+she is somewhere in the vicinity of the Navy Yard."
+
+"If you will excuse me, Captain Breaker, I don't believe she means to
+come out by the main channel, for her people know that the eyes of the
+officers of Fort Pickens are wide open," suggested Christy, with a good
+deal of diffidence.
+
+"How do you think she will come out, Mr. Passford?" asked the captain,
+with a smile.
+
+"By Santa Rosa Sound, sir," replied the third lieutenant.
+
+"Possibly you are right, Mr. Passford, though I do not think you are,"
+added the commander, thoughtfully. "Santa Rosa Sound is about forty
+miles long, and there is hardly water enough in it, up and down, to
+float a raft, to say nothing of a steamer."
+
+But later in the day, the captain called Christy aside, and had a long
+talk with him, the charts open before them. It certainly did not look
+like a very hopeful enterprise to take a steamer through such a sound as
+that described.
+
+"But we have no correct information in regard to the anchorage of the
+Teaser, and I have decided to obtain it if possible. I propose to send
+you to look into the matter, Mr. Passford," added the captain, settling
+the question in that way. "Select your own boat and crew. But if the
+Teaser gets by Fort Pickens, we may have to chase her to sea, and if on
+your return you do not find the Bellevite, you and your men will remain
+at Fort Pickens."
+
+Christy was entirely satisfied with this order.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+LIEUTENANT PASSFORD IN COMMAND
+
+
+Christy felt as much honored by the confidence reposed in him by the
+captain as though he had been appointed to the command of a steamer.
+But he had more than once proved that he could be safely trusted, and
+demonstrated that he had judgment, discretion, and skill beyond his
+years. He was not only brave and resolute, but he was faithful and
+patriotic.
+
+He went about among the ship's company and selected the men he desired
+to assist him in his enterprise, and requested those chosen to say
+nothing about the matter, for the lieutenant was aware that he should
+have more volunteers than he could accommodate in the largest of the
+boats. All would want to go, and the young officer would be teased and
+coaxed, and all sorts of influence brought to bear upon him to permit
+this and that one to be of the party. It was easier to be silent than
+it was to reply to all the applications.
+
+Christy selected a large whaleboat for the service in which he was to
+be employed, and he had his own reasons for the choice he made. He had
+received unlimited authority to adopt his own measures. The only point
+that was strongly impressed upon his mind by the captain was that the
+Teaser must be captured.
+
+After supper the order was given to the third lieutenant to convey
+Captain Westover back to the fort, or to land him at the usual place
+near it. Nothing was thought of the order, though perhaps some of
+the officers considered a dozen seamen, all armed with cutlasses and
+revolvers, a large boat's crew for such a service. It was very thick
+weather, and Captain Westover begged Christy not to land him within the
+enemy's lines, which he promised not to do.
+
+The men gave way, and the boat went off into the gloom of the evening.
+Beeks gave his whole attention to the course of the boat, and Lieutenant
+Passford was engaged in a very earnest conversation with the military
+passenger. The landing-place seemed to be reached too soon, for Christy
+had not finished his business. He landed with him, and together they
+went to the fort, where the young officer had a conversation with the
+commander of the force there.
+
+"I hope you will not get into hot water, Mr. Passford," said Captain
+Westover, as he came to the sallyport with him.
+
+"I cannot say that I shall not," replied Christy, "but I shall do the
+best I can to report on board of the ship with the force intrusted to
+me; and I hope I shall have the Teaser with me."
+
+"I hope you will. There are several small steamers up in the bay; but I
+have not the least idea where you will have to look for the Teaser, for
+we at the fort have not seen any such steamer lately."
+
+"There can be no doubt of her existence, Captain Westover, for the
+Bellevite was sent here to look out for her, as her speed is said to
+be remarkable. But, good-night, captain."
+
+"Good-night, lieutenant; success to you, and a safe return," added the
+captain.
+
+"Thank you," answered Christy, as he hurried down to the landing-place.
+
+Among those whom the lieutenant had selected was a master's mate by the
+name of Flint, who had assisted on board of the Bellevite in the affair
+with the Vampire. He was a modest, quiet man, who made no especial
+figure among his shipmates, though he had strongly attracted the
+attention of his officer. Next to Christy he was the highest in rank,
+and the second in command. Beeks was the next man selected, and he had
+done all that was necessary in the preparation of the boat, including
+putting into it slyly a supply of provisions, and a number of articles
+which the lieutenant had designated.
+
+On his return to the boat, Christy found his crew in excellent order,
+for he had instructed Flint to allow no noise or disorder, as sailors
+and young men generally are somewhat given to skylarking when not under
+the eye of a commissioned officer. Christy took his place with Flint
+in the stern sheets of the boat, and ordered Beeks, who was acting as
+coxswain, to shove off and give way.
+
+"I have no instructions yet, sir," replied Beeks, as he obeyed the
+order, and headed the boat away from the shore.
+
+"We have to make two miles east by south, and that course will carry
+us parallel with the shore of Santa Rosa Island, variation included,"
+replied Christy, who had been a diligent student of the chart, and had
+written down all that it was important for him to remember, though he
+had one of his own charts, or a piece of one, in the boat.
+
+"East by south, sir," replied Beeks, as he put the whaleboat on the
+required course.
+
+Thus far, Christy had kept his own counsel, and not whispered a word
+of his intentions even to the master's mate. He had no motive for such
+heroic concealment of his plan, but he had not had the time to discuss
+it with any person. Besides, though he had decided upon his course
+in the beginning, he was too much in the dark himself to lay down a
+definite plan; and his course must depend largely upon the information
+he obtained from time to time.
+
+He had examined the charts and the Coast Pilot very carefully; and the
+facts he had obtained from the latter rather staggered him in regard to
+the idea he had advanced that the Teaser might go out through Santa Rosa
+Sound. It was not navigable for vessels with a draught of over four
+feet, and it would have to be a very small man-of-war that could float
+in that depth. Though it was now the time of the spring tides, they did
+not add more than six inches to the height of the mean tide, which was
+but a couple of inches over two feet.
+
+Even before he took his place in the boat alongside the ship, he had
+come to the conclusion that the Teaser, if she proved to be anything
+more than a toy boat, could not go to sea through the sound, and she
+was not likely to attempt it. He had said as much as this to Captain
+Breaker, who reminded him that he was to ascertain if possible what the
+craft intended to do, if he succeeded in finding her.
+
+Flint did not manifest any desire to know more than the law allowed,
+and he asked no questions in regard to the enterprise in which he was
+engaged. In fact, one reason why he was chosen was because he had an
+excellent habit of minding his own business. Possibly Christy was more
+particular on this point than an older officer would have been.
+
+"I think we have made two miles, Mr. Passford," said Beeks, when the men
+had pulled about an hour. "Of course, I cannot be sure of the distance
+run, for I can only guess at it."
+
+"Run up to the shore, then, and let us see how far off we are," added
+Christy.
+
+In a few minutes the bottom of the boat struck on the sand, and it was
+forced up far enough to permit the lieutenant to go on shore. Like most
+of the islands in this part of the gulf, Santa Rosa was nothing but
+sand, which in the eastern end is of a peculiar reddish hue. It is
+little more than a sand spit for its whole length, though in some places
+the wind has piled up mounds, or dunes.
+
+"Come with me, if you please, Flint," said Christy, as he leaped to the
+shore.
+
+Flint followed him, as usual asking no questions, and, if he had any
+curiosity in regard to the purposes of his leader, he did not manifest
+it. The lieutenant glanced at the trend of the shore, and then walked at
+right angles with it. No part of the island was inhabited, or even
+occupied, except Fort Pickens and a Union camp. It was a dismal place,
+especially in the fog and darkness.
+
+A short walk brought the explorers to the waters of Pensacola Bay. It
+was in vain that they tried to penetrate the gloom and the mist, and
+nothing could be seen. Flint expressed himself to this effect.
+
+"I did not expect to see anything," replied Christy. "I only came across
+here to find how wide the island was at this point. I am satisfied that
+we are about where I supposed we were. Half a mile to the westward of us
+the island is more than double the breadth it is here."
+
+"I see, sir; if you had found it much wider than it is, you would have
+known that you had not gone far enough in the boat," replied Flint.
+
+"Precisely so; I wanted to find where we were before I changed the
+course in going farther to the eastward," added Christy.
+
+Flint made no further remark, and they returned to the boat, and seated
+themselves in their places. The lieutenant gave the order to shove off.
+
+"We are in no hurry, Beeks; if the men are tired, you can stop longer to
+rest them," continued the commander of the expedition.
+
+The men scouted the idea of being tired after a pull of two miles in a
+comparatively smooth sea. Christy told them that they might have some
+very heavy work to do before they returned to the ship, and he did not
+wish to use up their strength unnecessarily.
+
+"Now, keep her east by north for a couple of miles, Beeks," continued
+Christy. "That will be as far as we have occasion to go in this
+direction. Don't hurry them; take it easy, for it will not be high tide
+till half-past twelve, and we may have more time than we shall know how
+to use."
+
+The crew pulled very leisurely, and it was over an hour before Beeks
+estimated that they had made the two miles. As before, Christy and Flint
+were landed, and they walked across the island. But their walk was not
+even half the length of the last one; and the spit was so narrow at this
+place that the lieutenant was confident he had struck the point he
+intended.
+
+"This is our base of operations," said Christy, as he stood on the shore
+of the bay. "We have got along very well so far, for it is not time yet
+for the music to begin, if it is to begin at all. What are you about,
+Flint?"
+
+The master's mate had lain down on the sand at the water's edge, and
+his companion was very much puzzled by his attitude. He wondered if his
+companion had the stomach-ache, and was not able to stand up.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Lieutenant Passford, but if you will kindly be quiet
+for a moment, I hope to be able to answer your question," replied Flint,
+in a low tone.
+
+Christy complied with the request, and as he did so, he thought he heard
+a noise in the distance, though he was not sure of it. He listened with
+all his ears, and some confused sounds came to him; but he could make
+nothing of them.
+
+"I heard some sort of a noise," said Flint, rising from his recumbent
+position. "But I can make nothing of what I hear. If there was a fresh
+breeze, I should say that it was the surf."
+
+"I heard it, too; but I am bothered to make out what it is. Did you get
+an idea of any kind?" asked Christy.
+
+"It sounded as though something of a gang of men were at work off in
+this direction," replied Flint, pointing east of north. "I am almost
+sure I heard the blows of hammers, or something like them."
+
+"The noise I heard might have been almost anything," added Christy.
+
+"What is there off in that direction?" asked Flint, pointing again.
+
+"About north of us is Town Point, and just beyond it is Old Navy Cove,"
+said the lieutenant, who had been up the bay in the Bellevite on an
+excursion, and who had studied up all the localities.
+
+"Possibly they are repairing a vessel there," suggested Flint.
+
+"They would not do that over there, and certainly not on a dark night,"
+argued Christy. "But we will soon find out all about it."
+
+He led the way back to the boat, which he had ordered Beeks to have
+carried on the shore. Then they proceeded to bear it across the island
+to the bay, where it was put into the water again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+SOME TROUBLE ON BOARD THE TEASER
+
+
+It was not a difficult thing for so many men to carry the whaleboat
+across the island, and they were disposed to make merry over the novelty
+of the task; but they had been instructed not to speak a loud word after
+the party left the south side of the island. The noise to which Christy
+and Flint had listened indicated that something was going on, though
+they could not decide what it was. In the stillness of the night, and
+in the absence of any roar of breakers, sounds could be heard a long
+distance, though whether they came one mile or two, they could not
+determine.
+
+"Get out those cloths, Beeks," said Christy, as soon as the boat had
+been put into the water. "Every oar must be very carefully muffled, and
+you will see that it is properly done."
+
+"I will have it done in a few minutes, sir," replied the acting
+coxswain.
+
+"As I said before, we are in no hurry, and you may take your time to do
+it properly," added the lieutenant.
+
+"Those sounds are still to be heard," said Flint, who had been a short
+distance from the boat to listen for them.
+
+"I hear them," replied Christy, walking away from the boat to continue
+the investigation while they were waiting. "Some kind of a job is in
+progress at no great distance from us. From how far off do you calculate
+that those sounds come?"
+
+"I think they must come a mile; and I don't believe I can guess any
+nearer to it than that, though it is possible they come two miles.
+I know little or nothing of the region about here. Suppose we should go
+a mile north-northeast from this spot, what should we find there, Mr.
+Passford?" asked Flint, apparently greatly interested in the question.
+
+"It would be a point on Pensacola Bay, about half-way between this
+island, where we stand, and Town Point," replied Christy. "I should say
+it would be in the channel leading into Santa Rosa Sound."
+
+"Precisely so!" exclaimed Flint, in an energetic whisper. "That's the
+way they are going to take the Teaser out, and they are doing something
+over there to prepare her for the trip in shallow water."
+
+The master's mate was not aware that Christy had suggested to the
+captain this way of escape for the Teaser, and he had abandoned the idea
+himself. Flint had reached his conclusion from his own premises. They
+discussed the matter for some time, though it was impossible to arrive
+at any conclusion for the want of data on which to base their reasoning.
+
+"All ready, sir," reported Beeks, coming up to them at this moment.
+
+"How far is the entrance to the sound from Fort Pickens, Mr. Passford?"
+asked Flint.
+
+"About four miles."
+
+"Then why should they choose such a night as this for their work?"
+
+"The Bellevite, floating in four fathoms of water on the other side of
+the island, could shell them out if they were seen, as they certainly
+would be from Fort Pickens," replied Christy.
+
+"That makes it plain enough," added Flint, as they walked towards the
+boat.
+
+"But I am not quite willing to believe yet that the Teaser will go out
+through the sound. If she could get through at all, it would only be
+after getting aground no end of times, and if to-morrow should be a
+clear day, she could be seen anywhere on her course," persisted Christy.
+"She cannot expect to make eight or ten knots an hour in that shallow
+water."
+
+The lieutenant ordered the men into the boat, after she was shoved off
+the beach. They worked with such care that not a sound came from her.
+The oars were shipped, and the sailors began to row. As instructed, they
+pulled very slowly, though such work could not be done in perfect
+silence.
+
+"Look out for that binnacle, Beeks," said Christy. "The light from it
+may betray us."
+
+"You have not given me the course, sir," replied the coxswain, as he
+obeyed the order.
+
+"North-northeast," added Christy, as he settled back in the stern
+sheets.
+
+No one was allowed to speak in the boat, and the lieutenant set the
+example of silence. But he kept his ears wide open, though the little
+noise made by the oars and the rippling of the water prevented him from
+hearing anything at first. It was so dark that one could hardly see
+another in the boat. It was in vain that Christy watched in the gloom
+for the glow of a light; for all was nearly total darkness in every
+direction.
+
+In about half an hour they began to hear the sounds which had attracted
+their attention on the island, and they proceeded from directly ahead,
+indicating that the operations, whatever they were, came from the
+entrance to the sound. The workmen were not likely to hear the approach
+of the boat while they were making so much noise themselves. In addition
+to the sounds they had heard before, they recognized the noise of
+escaping steam.
+
+This last discovery made it certain that a steamer was there, though the
+listeners could not know whether it was the Teaser or not. Both of the
+officers of the expedition, in the uselessness of their eyes, made the
+best use they could of their ears. Christy listened to ascertain if
+there was more than one steamer present. In a whisper he asked Flint to
+consider this question. There was no doubling of the sounds to indicate
+more than one steamer.
+
+For ten minutes more Christy listened and was silent; but he was doing
+some very heavy thinking, for by this time the boat was very near the
+scene of operations, if it could be a scene in that dense darkness.
+Every sound, even to the speech of the men, could be distinctly heard.
+Still nothing could be seen, and Christy knew that there was a point of
+nearness where something could be discerned even in any gloom of night.
+He permitted the boat to continue on its course, till he could very
+dimly make out an object ahead.
+
+"Way enough," he whispered to Beeks.
+
+The coxswain raised both hands, and made a gesture with them, which
+was the signal for the men to cease rowing. The sounds were now more
+tangible. Occasionally there were a few raps with a hammer, but the most
+of them were the orders of the person in charge.
+
+"I don't believe there are more than a dozen men there," whispered
+Flint.
+
+"More than that, I should say; but even if there are two dozen, it is
+all the same. Take off the mufflers from the oars, Beeks," continued
+Christy. "Then give way with a will, and run for whatever may come in
+sight."
+
+Beeks obeyed the order, and in a couple of minutes the boat was driving
+into the gloom at her ordinary speed. Something came into view a moment
+later, and it was a small steamer.
+
+"Boat, ahoy!" shouted some one from the steamer.
+
+"On board of the steamer!" replied Christy.
+
+"Are you the pilot?" demanded the speaker from the vessel.
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," responded the lieutenant.
+
+"I shall not want you now," continued the man on the steamer.
+
+"How is that?" demanded Christy, as though this was an entirely
+unexpected reply.
+
+"I have concluded to make my way out through the sound, Gilder."
+
+"Then my name is Gilder," added Christy, in a low tone.
+
+"I have a plan of my own, and I reckon I shall make it go," proceeded
+the captain of the steamer. "The Teaser don't draw much water, and I
+know how to help her over the shoal places."
+
+"When do you expect to get through the sound?" asked Christy.
+
+"I don't know when; but I shall get through."
+
+"But you will find a blockader at the east end of the island; and then
+you will be as badly off as you are now," argued Christy.
+
+"I don't believe there is any blockader there. Who are all those men in
+the boat with you, Gilder?"
+
+"They belong to the water guard," replied Christy, at a venture, and he
+thought that would describe them as well as any terms at his command.
+"They expected you to go out by the main channel to-night."
+
+"No lie in that," chuckled Flint.
+
+"I wish they would come on board of the Teaser and help me out, for my
+men won't work."
+
+"How many men have you?" asked the lieutenant.
+
+"Just fifteen; the rest of my crew were to come on board at midnight,
+half an hour before high tide. But the men I have with me won't work,
+and I shall not be ready for them, I am afraid."
+
+"What is the reason they won't work?"
+
+"They say they shipped to fight the Yankees, and they are not going to
+do such work as lighting up the steamer."
+
+"Perhaps we can bring them to their senses," said Christy, as he ordered
+Beeks to give way again.
+
+A few strokes of the oars enabled the officers in the stern sheets to
+obtain a full view of the Teaser, and she looked like a trim little
+steamer of about two hundred tons. She was rather long, and she had a
+very sharp bow. The reports gave her the reputation of being a very fast
+sailer.
+
+"Let every man have his arms in order," said Christy impressively, in a
+low tone. "Give way with a will, and when you unship your oars have your
+weapons ready, though I hardly think you will have to use them at
+present."
+
+As the boat dashed towards the little steamer, the sounds of an
+altercation came over the water. The angry voice of the captain, if
+the late speaker was the captain, and several others were heard in a
+dispute; and as the boat came alongside the report of a pistol indicated
+that the belligerents were in earnest.
+
+Christy sprang upon the deck of the Teaser, with his revolver in his
+hand. Half a dozen men stood in a group by the side of the engine-room,
+confronting the man who had done the talking with the boat, as Christy
+knew by the sound of his voice.
+
+"We are not held by any papers we signed!" protested one of the men
+forward. "We are willing to do our duty, Captain Folkner, but we did not
+ship to burrow through the sand, and run the risk of being captured by
+the Yankees. We shipped to run the blockade, and that risk is in the
+papers."
+
+"I shall take my vessel out as I think best, Lonley; and my men are not
+to dictate to me what I am to do," replied Captain Folkner angrily.
+
+"I am willing to leave it to Captain Gilder. You know as well as I do
+that the rest of the ship's company would not come on board till the
+Teaser was outside of Santa Rosa Island. We appeal to you, Captain
+Gilder," said Lonley.
+
+"Why do you object to going out through Santa Rosa Sound?" asked
+Christy, willing to do the fair thing, since the mutineers had appealed
+to him.
+
+"The Teaser draws ten feet of water with her coal in, and she cannot get
+through the sound in a week, if ever."
+
+"Are you willing to go to sea by running the blockade, Lonley?"
+
+"Perfectly willing; and so are the whole ship's company."
+
+"But I won't take the risk of running the blockade. They put a fast
+steamer on there to-day, and it is useless," replied Captain Folkner.
+
+The situation was certainly interesting to Christy and his companions.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+COMING TO THE POINT
+
+
+Captain Folkner of the Teaser was evidently somewhat timid, and he had
+heard of the arrival of the Bellevite. Just now the large ships-of-war
+which had been there were absent on their duty, though they were
+expected to return at any time. There was liable to be some
+unpleasantness at any time between Fort Pickens and Fort Barrancas;
+but everything was quiet just now.
+
+Flint had come on board of the Teaser with Christy, but none of the
+boat's crew had attended them. The situation was very novel to the
+lieutenant, and he did not feel competent to arbitrate between the
+contending parties. Besides, he was not willing to believe that he could
+be entirely impartial, for he had a personal and patriotic interest in
+the issue of the quarrel.
+
+The seamen, under the leadership of Lonley, who appeared to be an
+officer, were the more powerful party, and the more to be dreaded. He
+was disposed to decide against them, if he could get them out of the way
+by doing so. They were willing to leave the matter to him, and he began
+at last to see his way through it.
+
+"The captain of a ship is the authority to be respected, Lonley," said
+he, when he had made up his mind what to do.
+
+"We might as well bury ourselves in the sands as try to go through
+there," replied the leader of the mutiny, who seemed to be a very
+intelligent man, and Christy concluded from his language and manner
+that he was not a common sailor.
+
+"That may be; but the captain is supreme on the deck of his own ship,"
+argued Christy.
+
+"We are not on the high seas, and the Teaser has not yet gone into
+commission. It was only this afternoon in Pensacola that Captain Folkner
+told his ship's company that he was going to burrow through the sand in
+Santa Rosa Sound. We all said we would not go with him; but a dozen of
+us came down with him when he told us that he had a way to float the
+steamer through, and he was sure it would work. We did not understand
+that we were to become mud-diggers. When we got here, we were satisfied
+that his plan amounted to nothing, and would not work."
+
+"I am satisfied that it will work," interposed Captain Folkner.
+
+"The agreement in the articles was to run the blockade. If we got
+through the sound, it would take a week of constant drudgery, which
+we did not ship to do."
+
+"Are you ready to do duty on board of the Teaser when she is in deep
+water, Lonley?" asked Christy.
+
+"Every one of us; and every one of the party on shore!" protested the
+leader.
+
+"Will that satisfy you, Captain Folkner?" continued Christy, appealing
+to him.
+
+"It would if I had the steamer in deep water," replied the captain. "But
+how am I to get her into deep water if my crew will not work?"
+
+"Run the blockade, according to the articles!" exclaimed Lonley.
+
+"When are the rest of the ship's company to join you?" asked Christy of
+the leader of the mutineers.
+
+"They are coming down in boats at midnight or later; and we shall join
+them then and wait till the ship is ready to take us on board. They will
+come across from Pensacola to Navy Cove, and then walk till they come to
+the Teaser."
+
+"All right," said the lieutenant. "I will land you at Navy Cove, and you
+can wait there till the rest of the crew come."
+
+"I am perfectly satisfied with that arrangement," replied Lonley.
+
+"But I am not," interposed the captain, angrily. "What can I do without
+any crew to help get the steamer through the sound?"
+
+"I have men enough to take care of you and the Teaser, Captain Folkner;
+and the men in the boat will do everything that is required to be done
+on board of the Teaser."
+
+"That's another thing," replied the captain, appeased by the implied
+promise.
+
+"I can hardly blame your men because they are not willing to go through
+the sound with a steamer drawing ten feet of water when there is not
+more than six feet of water to float her," said Christy. "Besides, if
+you do not get to the other end of the sound before morning, you will
+be seen by some of the blockaders, and they could blow this steamer to
+pieces, and kill half your people in a few minutes."
+
+"It may be dangerous, but so is running the blockade," added the
+captain.
+
+"Going out in a dark night and spending a week in sight of the
+blockaders are two different things. But we need not discuss the matter
+any more. I will put your men on the point yonder, and then I will
+return and help you out of your present difficulty. Am I to take off the
+men in the engine department?" asked Christy, as he went to the side
+where the boat was.
+
+"No; the engineers and firemen are all right, for they were not called
+upon to do any work out of the vessel."
+
+Christy and Flint stepped into the boat, and the crew followed them.
+There were twelve of them, and the lieutenant thought they were all good
+seamen. He did not like to have them reserved for use in the Confederate
+Navy; but he could not help himself then, and he soon landed the party
+on the point. The situation had been explained to the crew of the boat,
+and they had avoided saying anything to commit themselves.
+
+Though it involved a risk to do it, Christy had dressed in an ordinary
+suit of clothes for the occasion, and the party wore nothing by which
+they could be identified as sailors of the navy. As soon as the boat had
+landed its passengers, it returned to the Teaser at the best speed the
+crew could produce.
+
+"I had no idea that you had a plan like this in your head, Mr.
+Passford," said Flint, as soon as the boat was clear of Town Point.
+
+"I did not know it myself, Flint. It has all grown out of the
+circumstances as we found them," replied Christy. "But I did intend, if
+I found the Teaser without a fighting crew on board of her, to capture
+her if the situation warranted such a step."
+
+"But you came prepared for just this thing," suggested Flint.
+
+"I came prepared for anything. I hoped we might be able to capture the
+Teaser, but I did not expect it."
+
+"I suppose you expect to do it now."
+
+"Yes, I do; and I ought to be broken if I don't do it. I am sorry to let
+all those men enter the rebel navy; and that is all that vexes me at the
+present moment."
+
+"Perhaps they can be picked up to-morrow, or later to-night," suggested
+Flint. "From what I heard, I think she was to have a fighting crew of
+about forty men. Of course they will try to join the steamer to-night
+or to-morrow; and why not let them do it?" chuckled Flint.
+
+"We will attend to this affair first, but I like the idea."
+
+They reached the Teaser in due time, and all hands went on board of her.
+Captain Folkner, with a couple of men he had contrived to retain, with
+two firemen, was at work on his apparatus to float a vessel drawing ten
+feet in six feet of water or less. Alongside he had a hundred or more of
+empty barrels which he was sinking under the sides by hauling them down
+with a line under the bottom of the vessel. He did the work partly with
+his windlass worked by steam, and he had lifted the bow of the Teaser at
+least three feet out of water.
+
+Captain Folkner expatiated with enthusiasm on his plan, and explained
+the details to the lieutenant. Christy saw that he had considerable
+mechanical genius, but he certainly lacked a balance-wheel. The officer
+had set him down as a timid man, but this conversation assured him that
+the captain was a brave man. He was carried away with his idea, though
+it was plain that he had not examined the question in all its bearings.
+
+"When I have lifted the steamer four feet, she can go through the sound,
+for I have taken a boat through that drew six feet. With your men to
+help me, I shall get the casks down by midnight, and then all we have
+to do is to go ahead," continued the enthusiast.
+
+"Precisely so; and the Teaser is a screw steamer," added Christy.
+
+"Of course she is; you have known her for two months, Gilder."
+
+"When she has been lifted up four feet, she is to go ahead," repeated
+Christy, in the tone of a musing man.
+
+"That is what I said; she is to go ahead."
+
+"But what is to drive her ahead? Is she expected to go of herself?"
+
+"Go of herself? Of course not. She is to be driven ahead by her engine
+as she always is," replied Captain Folkner, suspending the work upon
+which he was engaged, and trying to see the face of the pilot through
+the darkness. "How do steamers generally go ahead?"
+
+"If they are screw steamers, they are propelled by the pressure of the
+blades of the screw," answered Christy.
+
+"And that is just the way the Teaser will be propelled through the
+sound," replied Captain Folkner. "This steamer is to be a privateer, and
+I own her. She has cost me about all the money I have in the world, and
+I don't want to lose her before I get to sea. If I can get into blue
+water with her, I am not at all concerned but that she will run away
+from anything afloat."
+
+"How many knots can she do in a smooth sea?"
+
+"Eighteen, and perhaps more."
+
+"Then she is not fast enough for that blockader outside. I saw her
+at Mobile when she was a big steam-yacht, and they said she had done
+twenty-two knots more than once."
+
+"I don't believe a word of it; and I am willing to take my chances to
+run away from her in the Teaser, if I can get out."
+
+"If she is good for eighteen knots, it will not take her more than about
+two hours to run through the sound," added Christy, very much amused at
+the talk of the captain and owner.
+
+"I don't expect her to go at full speed in that shallow water," said the
+enthusiast.
+
+"Do you expect her to go at all when she is hoisted four feet out of
+water?" asked Christy, hardly able to keep from laughing.
+
+Captain Folkner was silent for a moment, during which Christy thought
+he must have obtained a new idea, for it looked as though he had not
+thought of the working of the screw after all his flotation schemes had
+been successful.
+
+"I reckon the propeller will have hold enough on the water to make her
+go right along, Gilder. I don't reckon you need make any trouble about
+that," added the man of mechanical ability, rather sheepishly.
+
+Christy had brought his boat's crew on deck, and directed Flint how to
+post them. He thought he had paid proper respect to the talent of the
+enthusiast in listening to his theory, and that it was about time to
+bring the adventure to an issue.
+
+"I shall not make any trouble about the screw, Captain Folkner, for I
+don't think we shall have any difficulty about it. But I believe we had
+better not hoist it any higher out of water," added Christy. "I mean
+that I think we had better go out of the bay by the main channel."
+
+  [Illustration:
+  "He placed one of his men on each side of the Captain."--Page 233.]
+
+"That means to run the blockade?" said the captain.
+
+"That's the idea."
+
+"Gilder, I want you to understand that I command this steamer,"
+continued Captain Folkner, angrily.
+
+"Right, with a little correction: You did command her, and I command her
+now," replied Christy, as he placed one of his men on each side of the
+captain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+ON A DARK AND FOGGY NIGHT
+
+
+"I reckon I don't quite understand you, Gilder," said Captain Folkner,
+very nervously. "I thought I was still in command of the Teaser."
+
+"I shall not blame you for thinking so; but you are utterly mistaken all
+the same," added Christy.
+
+"Did you come here to take the command out of my hands? Is that the
+reason why you sent all my men to Town Point?" demanded the captain,
+getting an idea of the situation.
+
+"If you had been a magician, you could not have come any nearer to the
+truth."
+
+"Who are you? I thought you were Gilder."
+
+"I am not Gilder, though I found it convenient to answer to that name.
+It is reported that the Teaser is a very fast steamer, and I wanted
+her."
+
+"Do you mean to say that you are a pirate?" asked Captain Folkner,
+stepping back as if to emphasize his disgust at such a person. "I have
+told you that the Teaser is a privateer, and it seems that you want her
+more than I do; but I don't believe it."
+
+"Privateers and pirates are about the same in this age of the world.
+I am neither a pirate nor a privateer. Permit me to introduce myself
+more precisely than I have thought it wise to do before. I am Lieutenant
+Passford, of the United States steamer Bellevite; and I take possession
+of the Teaser as a lawful prize. I think we need not discuss the matter
+any longer, especially as the tide is high enough by this time to run
+out of the bay. Disarm him."
+
+"Say, what sort of a joke is this?" demanded the captain.
+
+"If you are good-natured enough to regard it as a joke, I have not the
+least objection," replied Christy. "But I shall be under the painful
+necessity of confining you in your stateroom for the present, and I hope
+you will make yourself as happy as possible, Captain Folkner."
+
+The lieutenant directed Flint to have the prisoner conveyed to his
+stateroom, and to have a man stationed at the door to see that he did
+not escape, or do any mischief. The sentinel was to keep his eye on him
+all the time, and not allow the room to be closed for a moment. The most
+reliable man of the party was selected for this duty, for the captain,
+in a fit of desperation over the loss of his vessel, which was his
+fortune, might attempt some reckless act.
+
+Accompanied by six men, Christy visited the engine-room, where nearly
+all the hands remaining on board were employed. If there was to be
+any trouble at all in completing the capture, it would be in this
+department. Everything was in working order, and an engineer was on
+duty, for the engine had been used in dragging the casks under the
+bottom of the vessel.
+
+Beeks was directed to arrest the men on duty, and the engine was handed
+over to Sampson, who had been brought for such a position if the
+expedition needed him in that capacity. But there was only an assistant
+engineer and several firemen on duty, and these were disposed of without
+any delay. They were all conducted to the wardroom, where they were
+disarmed and a guard placed over them. A couple of sailors were detailed
+to serve as firemen, and the work of taking possession was completed.
+
+For the first time the lieutenant had an opportunity to examine the
+prize, as she would be if he succeeded in getting her out of the bay.
+She was certainly a fine little steamer, and, with the heavy gun mounted
+on a pivot, she would have been capable of doing a great deal of
+mischief among the unprotected merchant ships of the nation.
+
+When he visited the cabin, he found two colored men there, one of whom
+appeared to be a very intelligent fellow. He was very polite to the
+lieutenant, and it was evident that he had no personal interest in the
+success of the Teaser in the business for which she had been fitted out.
+He was the cabin steward, and he had heard everything that had been said
+in regard to the vessel since he came on board of her.
+
+"What is your name, my man?" asked Christy, addressing the steward.
+
+"My name is Davis Talbot; but no one ever calls me anything but Dave,"
+replied the man, with a cheerful smile, as though he was not at all
+disconcerted by the change which had come about in the ownership of the
+Teaser.
+
+"How long have you been on board of this steamer, Dave?" asked the
+officer, much pleased with the intelligent face of the steward.
+
+"About two months, sir."
+
+"Where did this steamer come from?"
+
+"Captain Folkner bought her somewhere in the West Indies, and brought
+her here before the blockade was fairly established."
+
+"Then she is an English-built steamer?"
+
+"I suppose she is, sir; but I don't know anything about it."
+
+"Then she has been here a long while. What has Captain Folkner been
+doing all this time?" asked Christy curiously.
+
+"Inventing, sir," replied Dave, chuckling.
+
+"I see; he has that on the brain."
+
+"The government threatened to take his vessel if he did not fit her out
+and take her to sea. Then he hurried up, and got a crew ready; but they
+had a quarrel last night, and most of the men would not come on board."
+
+"Yes; I know all about that," added Christy, as he looked at his watch
+by the light of the shaded lamp in the cabin. "I suppose you insist upon
+serving the Confederacy, Dave?"
+
+"I don't insist on anything, sir; I go where the ship takes me, and I
+don't mean to quarrel with anybody."
+
+"In other words, will it be necessary to put you under guard?" asked
+Christy.
+
+"I don't think it would do me any good, sir," replied Dave, laughing.
+
+"Which side do you belong on?" demanded the officer, rather impatiently.
+
+"I belong on Dave's side, sir."
+
+"Which is Dave's side?"
+
+"The side of freedom," replied the steward, with some embarrassment.
+"I don't know you, sir; you don't wear the uniform of a Yankee or a
+rebel, and the darkey gets crushed between the upper and the nether
+millstone."
+
+"Then to make the matter plainer to you, I am the third lieutenant of
+the United States steamer Bellevite, and I have captured this vessel as
+an officer of the United States Navy," replied Christy.
+
+"That's all I want to know: the darkey knows where to go, when it is
+safe to go there," replied Dave.
+
+"Then if it is safe for you to go to the pilot-house, you may come with
+me," added the lieutenant, as he led the way to the deck.
+
+Beeks, with the men who had not been assigned to other duty, was cutting
+away the ropes that held the casks in place, and had already turned
+adrift all the raft of them alongside. All the rubbish the nautical
+inventor had collected to carry out his famous scheme of floating the
+vessel through the sound was cleared from the deck, and cut loose from
+the side.
+
+"I think everything is clear, sir," reported Beeks, as Christy appeared
+on deck with Dave.
+
+"Stand by to get up the anchor, then," added the lieutenant.
+
+"No anchor down, sir," interposed Dave. "She is made fast to the buoy."
+
+"So much the better. I suppose Captain Folkner did not trouble himself
+about the forts, Dave, did he?" Christy inquired.
+
+"Yes, sir, he did; Captain Folkner never slept a wink when he did not
+have Fort Pickens on his stomach for a nightmare," replied Dave, with
+a chuckle.
+
+"But Fort Pickens is all of four miles from the entrance to the channel
+of the sound."
+
+"He was in mortal terror of the guns, all the same."
+
+"How was it in regard to Fort Barrancas and Fort McRae?"
+
+"Of course they would not fire on his vessel; if he went out in a fog
+or dark night, he was to burn a blue light; and I reckon you can do the
+same thing, though I don't believe it could be seen to-night from the
+forts," replied Dave, who appeared to be willing to make a good use of
+his knowledge.
+
+"Then I don't think we shall have much trouble in getting out of the
+bay," added Christy, as he went to the pilot-house, attended by Dave.
+
+Since the lieutenant had declared as unequivocally as he desired who and
+what he was, the steward did all he could to assist his new master. He
+had served Captain Folkner for two months, for he said the commander had
+lived on board all this time, and he had heard everything that passed
+between him and his officers and others with whom he had relations.
+He was about as well informed as though he had been an officer of the
+vessel in whom the captain confided all his affairs. He did not wait to
+have his knowledge dragged out of him, but he volunteered such
+information as he saw that the occasion required.
+
+He was a mulatto, and had plenty of good blood in his veins, though it
+was corrupted with that of the hated race. He appeared to be about forty
+years of age, and his knowledge of the affairs of the locality could
+hardly have been better if he had been a white man, with a quick
+perception, a reasoning intellect, and a retentive memory. It was the
+rule with Union officers, soldiers, and sailors to trust the negroes,
+making proper allowance for their general ignorance and stupidity, and
+for particular circumstances. But some of them, even many of them, were
+brighter than might be expected from their situation and antecedents.
+
+The binnacle from the whaleboat had been brought into the pilot-house,
+and Christy compared it with the compass in the Teaser's apparatus,
+after Dave had lighted it. There was no disagreement, and as the tide
+was still coming in, the head of the steamer was pointed to the
+westward, which would be her first course down the bay.
+
+The lieutenant felt that everything depended upon the working of the
+steamer, and he was a total stranger to her peculiarities, if she had
+any, as most vessels have. Taking Beeks with him, he began at the stem
+and followed the rail entirely around the steamer, feeling with a
+boat-hook along the sides. Sundry ropes, fenders, and pieces of lumber
+were dislodged, and everything put in order about the main deck. Then
+he visited the engine-room, and learned from Sampson that he had a full
+head of steam. This careful inspection completed, he ordered the
+quartermaster to cast off the fast at the buoy.
+
+Taking his place in the pilot-house with Beeks, he rang the bell to go
+ahead. The Teaser started on quite a different voyage from what she had
+been intended for. Christy had studied up his courses and distances, and
+had imprinted the chart of the lower part of the bay on his brain. For
+the first part of the run, there was no obstacle, and no difficulty in
+regard to the course.
+
+The fog and the darkness were so dense that not a thing could be seen
+in any direction; but he rang for full speed as soon as the Teaser was
+under way. A leadsman had been stationed on each side of the forecastle,
+though there was no present occasion for their services. Christy thought
+everything was going extremely well, and he was reasonably confident
+that he should succeed in his plan.
+
+"Steamer, ahoy!" shouted a voice, coming out of the dense fog.
+
+"That must be the patrol boat," said Dave, in a low tone.
+
+Christy could not make any reply that would be satisfactory to the
+patrol, and he decided not to answer the hail. He had rather expected
+to be challenged in this way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+A VARIETY OF NIGHT SIGNALS
+
+
+The dip of the oars of the guard-boat could be distinctly heard in
+the pilot-house, and it was probable that the men in it could see the
+Teaser. But Christy was not much concerned about the situation, and he
+was not much disposed to give any attention to the boat.
+
+"Stop her, or we will fire into you!" yelled the officer in charge of
+the guard-boat.
+
+Even this menace did not induce the lieutenant to ring his bell to stop
+the engine. The boat was doubtless full of men, and as he could not give
+straight answers to all the questions that might be put to him, it might
+provoke a fight to attempt to do so, and he decided not to incur the
+risk. His prisoners might make trouble if he reduced the guard in charge
+of them, as he would be obliged to do to beat off the attack of the
+boat.
+
+"What is this boat here for, Dave?" asked Christy, as he peered through
+the gloom to obtain a glance at the craft.
+
+"To keep the people at Fort Pickens from sending out any armed force,"
+replied the intelligent contraband.
+
+"Do they think a boat full of men could do that?"
+
+"No, sir; but they could give the forts on the other side warning."
+
+The sounds from the boat had come from the starboard bow of the steamer,
+and it looked as though the guard-boat had intercepted her by accident,
+since it was impossible that they could have seen the Teaser in the fog
+and gloom. As the steamer dashed ahead at full speed, the sound of the
+oars came from a point on the beam. But the boat seemed to be wasting
+her time, for nothing had been done since the threat to fire into the
+steamer.
+
+"If a vessel is going to run out she has to satisfy this boat that she
+is all right," said Dave.
+
+But he had hardly spoken before a volley of musket-balls passed over the
+Teaser; and perhaps the officer in the boat intended that they should
+pass over her. At any rate no harm was done by them. Then a rocket
+darted from the boat up into the air, which could be dimly seen from
+the pilot-house.
+
+"What steamer is that?" shouted a hoarse voice out of the gloom.
+
+"The Teaser!" yelled Christy, with all the voice he could command.
+
+The boat did not fire again; and if it had done so the steamer was out
+of its reach. But a minute later the boom of a great gun came across the
+bay. Fort Barrancas had evidently opened fire in response to the rocket,
+which had no doubt been sent up as a signal to notify the garrison that
+a vessel was going out or coming in, and that her movements were not
+regular. The first shot was followed by others, and a shot dropped into
+the water near the Teaser.
+
+"Let the leadsmen sound, Beeks," said Christy. The order was repeated,
+and the reports were made known in the pilot-house. Sampson seemed to
+be testing the capacity of the engine, for he was doing his best in the
+matter of speed; but the Teaser behaved under the strain to which he
+subjected her as though she had been very strongly built.
+
+"By the mark eight," chimed the leadsman on the port side.
+
+That was water enough to float a seventy-four, and there was no let-up
+in the speed. In fact, it would not have been convenient to reduce the
+speed while the guard-boat could be at no great distance from the flying
+steamer. This was the report for the next mile at least, and Christy
+felt that the enemy was at a safe distance from him.
+
+"And a half six!" shouted the port leadsman, with energy, as though he
+understood the effect his report would produce.
+
+Christy rang to slow her down. The depth of water was the only directory
+he had in addition to the distance run, which was very indefinite
+without a knowledge of the speed of the vessel.
+
+"By the mark six!" shouted the port leadsman, who was on the side
+nearest to the island of Santa Rosa.
+
+This did not induce the pilot to take any further action, and the Teaser
+continued on her course at less than half speed. Christy looked at his
+watch by the light of the binnacle lamps. It was half-past eleven,
+and the Teaser appeared, as well as he could calculate it, with the
+necessary allowances, to have made at least sixteen knots on the run
+from the sound channel.
+
+"And a quarter five!" cried the leadsman of the land side.
+
+Christy spoke to Sampson through the tube, and the result was a further
+reduction in the speed of the steamer, Beeks, who was at one side of
+the wheel while the lieutenant was at the other, seemed to be a little
+nervous as the depth diminished; and if he had spoken his thought, he
+would have expressed his surprise that his superior officer was running
+the steamer so near the shore, with the apparent intention of going
+still nearer.
+
+"Mark under water three!" yelled the leadsman on the port side, while
+the one on the starboard gave "By the mark four."
+
+"Shoaling fast," said Beeks.
+
+"Yes; but as expected," replied Christy.
+
+"Steamer, ahoy!" shouted a voice on the port side.
+
+"On shore!" replied Christy promptly.
+
+"What steamer is that?" demanded the shore speaker.
+
+"The Teaser, prize to the United States ship Bellevite," answered the
+lieutenant.
+
+"Boga-hobble-good!" continued the man on shore.
+
+"Rabble-gabble-weed!" responded Christy.
+
+"There's a Chinaman on shore there; but I am glad you speak his
+language," said Beeks, trying to repress his laughter.
+
+"You are all right as to position!" shouted the islander.
+
+"The guard-boat must be about a mile astern of me," added Christy.
+
+"We will take care of that," replied the shore speaker.
+
+Christy rang to stop the engine, which was done, though the steamer
+continued to go ahead under the impetus of her former headway. The
+leadsman on the port side reported two fathoms a little later, and then
+there was a ring to back her, for there could not be more than two foot
+of water under the keel. At this moment the peal of a twelve-pounder
+came from the shore, and a little later the bursting of a shell was
+heard astern of the Teaser.
+
+Beeks was very much perplexed by the strange speech which had passed
+between the lieutenant and the shore, and now by the discharge of the
+gun on the island; but he was a well-disciplined quartermaster, and he
+asked no questions.
+
+"I don't think that boat will come any farther this way," said Christy,
+as a second report from the gun reached his ears.
+
+"Then I suppose the shots we hear are directed at the boat," added
+Beeks.
+
+"They can hardly be directed at anything out in that fog and darkness;
+but I don't think the guard will be willing to take the risk of a chance
+shell bursting near them," added Christy.
+
+"On board the Teaser!" shouted a voice quite near the bow of the
+steamer.
+
+"In the boat!" replied Christy. "Sound that bell slowly, Beeks, to let
+him know where we are."
+
+The ripple of oars was presently heard, and a boat came out of the
+gloom, rowed by two soldiers, with an officer in the stern. It came up
+to the forward gangway, and the person in the stern climbed on board.
+The boat did not wait for him, but pulled directly back to the island.
+
+"I am glad to see you, Captain Westover," said Christy, as the officer
+came into the pilot-house.
+
+"And I am equally glad to see you, lieutenant," replied the captain.
+"You seem to have been successful in your undertaking?"
+
+"Successful so far, and I think the worst of it is over now."
+
+As soon as Beeks heard the name of Captain Westover, he understood all
+that had been dark before. Even the Chinese lingo must have been agreed
+upon. The army and the navy officer had been very busy in talking over
+something when they came in the boat from the Bellevite, and after they
+landed on the island. What they had been talking about was plain enough
+now.
+
+Captain Westover had not much confidence in the expectations of the
+young naval officer when he expressed a hope that he might capture the
+Teaser; but he had promised to render all the assistance in his power.
+He had agreed to be on the shore of the island if the Teaser presented
+herself, and thus assure the lieutenant of his position on the bay. He
+had done more than this, for he had brought out a couple of guns and a
+section of artillerists to beat off the guard-boat if it interfered with
+the operations of the navy.
+
+Christy had taken a course from the entrance of the sound, half way
+between the island and Town Point, west-southwest. He knew that the
+distance was about four miles; but he could not know, except by
+sounding, when he came to the island, and he had bargained with the army
+officer to be on the lookout for him. Captain Westover had heard the
+noise of the Teaser, and had hailed her, thus assuring the lieutenant
+that his calculation had been correct, and that he was in the vicinity
+of Fort Pickens.
+
+"I had no idea that you would accomplish anything, lieutenant," said
+Captain Westover.
+
+"I found everything laid out just as I should have wished it to be,"
+replied Christy. "We had plenty of information that the steamer would
+run out the first favorable night; and nothing could have been more
+favorable for blockade running than this fog and darkness."
+
+"But nothing has been seen of this steamer from the fort."
+
+"Where was she fitted out, Dave?" asked Christy, turning to the steward.
+
+"Up by Emanuel Point, sir, about a mile above the town," replied Dave.
+
+"Then she has not shown herself in the lower bay."
+
+The conversation was interrupted by the roll of a drum on the shore.
+
+"There you are, lieutenant," said the captain with a smile. "When you
+are ready to go ahead, don't wait on my account, for I will go on board
+of the ship."
+
+"But what is the drum for?" asked the lieutenant, who was in the dark in
+his turn.
+
+"I am not much of a sailor, lieutenant, but I have sent a drummer to
+follow the shore to the west end of the island, and you will know by the
+racket he makes where the island is, and how far off it is," replied the
+army officer.
+
+"I am much obliged to you, Captain Westover; that will be a safe guide
+for me," said Christy, as he rang to go ahead.
+
+He gave out the course west by north, and he thought he should be able
+to keep within hail of the island, though, as he could see nothing,
+it would be difficult to tell when he reached the northwest corner of
+it. If he continued on this course too long, he was likely to scrape
+acquaintance with Fort McRae, for there would be nothing in the
+soundings to indicate the approach to this dangerous neighbor.
+
+Nothing more was heard of the guard-boat, though the section of
+artillery continued to discharge shells into the fog for a short time.
+On the other side of the bay Fort Barrancas kept up its fire at long
+intervals, and Fort Pickens could not reply without the danger of
+putting a shot into the Teaser after her recent reformation. The steamer
+kept on her course at half speed; but in ten minutes the sound of the
+drum fell astern of her, when the drummer could go no farther.
+
+"Heave over the wheel, Beeks," said Christy.
+
+Then he rang the bell to go ahead at full speed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+ANOTHER NIGHT EXPEDITION
+
+
+With the drum still beating on the shore, the Teaser rounded the
+northwestern point of the island, when the wheel was heaved over.
+Christy was entirely confident in regard to the navigation, for he had
+steered the Bellevite through the same channel when on an excursion a
+year before. But he had daylight and sunshine at that time instead of
+fog and gloom as on the present occasion.
+
+"Buoy on the starboard, sir!" reported the leadsman on that side.
+
+"Buoy on the port hand!" cried the man on the other side, a minute
+later.
+
+"We are all right," added the lieutenant. "We are between the middle
+ground and the island. The buoy on the port is the southwest point of
+the island."
+
+The Bellevite was not the only man-of-war that lay off Pensacola, for
+the Brooklyn and other vessels were there to assist in the defence of
+Fort Pickens, which the enemy were determined to capture if possible.
+The government had done everything within its means to "hold the fort,"
+though an army of about ten thousand men had been gathered in the
+vicinity to reduce it. The dry-dock which had floated near Warrenton,
+and which the Confederates intended to sink in the channel, had been
+burned, and a force of Unionists, including the Zouaves, called "The Pet
+Lambs," had been quartered on the island of Santa Rosa. It had looked
+for several days as though the enemy were preparing for a movement in
+retaliation for the destruction of the dry-dock, which was a bad
+set-back for them.
+
+The getting to sea of the Teaser had no connection with this movement,
+it appeared afterwards, and if Lieutenant Passford's enterprise had been
+carried out only an hour or two later, he would have found the situation
+quite different. He had sent the most of Captain Folkner's force on
+board ashore, and had it all his own way afterwards. He was sorry to
+leave these men, and the rest of the ship's company of the Teaser, to
+assist in fighting the battles of the Confederacy, and he was filled
+with the hope that they might yet be captured.
+
+As soon as the Teaser was well to the southward of the island, Christy
+gave two short and a long blast on the steam whistle, which was the
+signal he had agreed to make when he approached the Bellevite, though
+Captain Breaker had laughed at him when he suggested that he might
+return in the prize. The same signal was made in reply, and repeated
+several times to aid him in finding the ship. The water was
+comparatively smooth, and the prize came alongside the Bellevite,
+where it was made fast.
+
+The lieutenant's first duty was to report to the captain of the
+Bellevite, and taking Dave with him, he hastened on board. He found
+Captain Breaker on deck, for there was a feeling in the fleet and in the
+fort that some important event was about to transpire in the vicinity.
+
+"I am glad to see you, Mr. Passford," said he; and possibly it
+occurred to him that he had sent the young man on a difficult mission,
+practically within the enemy's lines. "You have brought the prize with
+you, I see; and I was before informed of the fact that you had her by
+the signal whistles."
+
+"Yes, sir; the Teaser is alongside. She is not a vessel of the
+Confederate Navy, but was fitted out on private account. She is a
+privateer," replied Christy.
+
+"So much the better that you have captured her," added the captain.
+"Did you have a severe fight, Mr. Passford?"
+
+"We had no fight at all, sir. I was instructed to avoid a fight if
+possible, and I have done so. Not a blow has been struck or a shot
+fired, sir."
+
+"I will hear your report in detail later, Mr. Passford, when the prize
+is in a better situation than now. Have you any prisoners?" asked
+Captain Breaker.
+
+"Only the captain and the engineers, sir. This man with me is Dave,
+and he was a steward on board of the Teaser. He has given me valuable
+information, and I have not regarded him as a prisoner," replied the
+lieutenant.
+
+"I understand," said the commander, with a smile, as he saw the yellow
+hue of the steward's face. "We will not regard him as a prisoner. But
+you may send the others on board."
+
+Captain Folkner was in no better humor than before, and a berth in the
+steerage was assigned to him. The other prisoners were sent on board,
+and Captain Breaker had ordered Christy to anchor the prize near the
+Bellevite.
+
+"I don't feel as though I had quite finished my work," said Christy,
+as he walked towards the gangway to obey the order.
+
+"What more is there to do?" asked the commander.
+
+"It would take me a little time to tell the story of my trip into the
+bay, sir, and I think you would not understand what more is to be done
+until you have heard it," replied Christy.
+
+"Then I will hear you before you anchor the Teaser," said the captain,
+leading the way to his cabin.
+
+The lieutenant narrated the events of his trip across Santa Rosa Island.
+Captain Breaker was not a little amused at his scheme to get rid of the
+portion of the crew of the privateer before he captured her.
+
+"I never suspected that you were the possessor of so much audacity,
+Christy," said he, when the lieutenant had put him in possession of all
+the facts.
+
+"I did not know that I had more than my fair share, sir, and I don't
+know what I have done that is at all audacious," replied Christy, very
+meekly.
+
+"It is a very dark and foggy night, but I don't believe that I have
+another officer who would have cheek enough to pretend to be a pilot
+in Pensacola Bay, and to be in possession of the guard-boat at the same
+time."
+
+"Captain Folkner put the idea into my head, and I think I should have
+been an idiot not to make use of it, considering the nature of my
+mission on board of the Teaser."
+
+"It is a wonder that no one knew you were not Gilder."
+
+"The men in the guard-boat did not expose me, and admitted by their
+silence that I was the person I claimed to be," replied Christy, with
+a twinkle of the eyes.
+
+"Your scheme would have failed ninety-nine times out of a hundred."
+
+"If it had failed, I had force enough to clean out the enemy on board,
+so that I ran no risk; but I was ordered to avoid a fight, and I did
+so," argued Christy.
+
+"You were exceedingly fortunate; and the next time you try such a trick,
+it may lead you into a rebel prison."
+
+"It was not my fault that the ship's company of the Teaser were at issue
+among themselves, and I should have been an imbecile to fail to profit
+by it."
+
+"I approve all you have done, Mr. Passford."
+
+"Thank you, sir. Though I was of Captain Folkner's opinion that the
+sound was the best way out of the bay in the first place, I abandoned
+that view before I started on the expedition. I was sorry that I could
+not indorse Captain Folkner's opinion, and that I was obliged to take
+sides with his men," said Christy, chuckling.
+
+"I understand your position perfectly. Now, what do you mean by
+finishing your work, Mr. Passford?" asked Captain Breaker, curiously.
+"We have the Teaser, and we ought to be satisfied with your brilliant
+success."
+
+"I am not quite satisfied, sir."
+
+"You ought to be."
+
+"We put twelve men ashore at Town Point rather than have a fight with
+them; and I have the feeling that we have a mortgage on those men,
+to say nothing of thirty more at Pensacola who were to join the Teaser.
+I told them they could get on board of their steamer from the island.
+I shall be sorry to disappoint them, for I suppose the whole forty or
+more are counting on a handsome allowance of prize money to be made for
+them by the Teaser. I should be sorry to disappoint them," continued
+Christy, chuckling all the time.
+
+"Precisely so! I suppose you would be greatly grieved to blast their
+hopes, and you propose to take them on board of the steamer."
+
+"That is the idea, sir. Taking a more patriotic view of the question,
+it would be a great pity to allow forty good sailors to waste their
+energies in the service of the Confederacy."
+
+"Undoubtedly it would," said Captain Breaker, his brow knitting under
+his earnest thought. "What do you propose to do? Explain your plan
+fully, Mr. Passford."
+
+"The principal of the malcontents on board of the Teaser was a man by
+the name of Lonley," Christy explained. "We left them at the point where
+the rest of the Teaser's crew were to join them. They are all anxious
+to get to sea in the Teaser, and I have no doubt they will come down
+to-night."
+
+"I should think they would," the captain assented. "But they will expect
+to find the steamer in the sound, and not outside of the island. If the
+Teaser could get through the sound at all, she would not be where you
+intend to put her."
+
+"I told Lonley to get upon the island, and be on the lookout for the
+Teaser; and as they have to come from Pensacola in a boat, it will be as
+easy for them to go to the island as to land at the point. Very likely
+they will get the Times to bring them off, or some other steamer,"
+Christy argued.
+
+"It is certainly very desirable to capture these men, for it will do so
+much to weaken the enemy; but I am afraid you are a little too audacious
+in some of your movements, Mr. Passford," replied Captain Breaker, with
+a softening smile.
+
+"I beg you will not consider that I am asking for the command of the
+Teaser, Captain Breaker, if she is sent upon this duty," returned the
+lieutenant, somewhat set back at the prudence of the commander.
+
+"I think I had better send Mr. Blowitt in command of the Teaser, and you
+shall go as his first officer," added the captain.
+
+"I have no objection, even in my heart, to this arrangement," replied
+Christy.
+
+"But I shall have to send the prize to New York, and I will appoint you
+prize-master," continued the captain, afraid that he was disappointing
+the ambitious young officer. "You have done exceedingly well, Christy,
+and I shall not fail to mention you favorably in my report; and you will
+write out yours as soon as possible."
+
+Christy would not allow himself to think that he was unappreciated
+because an older officer was appointed to conduct the enterprise he
+suggested. He was ready to do his whole duty either as principal or
+subordinate. Mr. Blowitt was summoned from his stateroom, and forty
+men, including all who had taken part in the capture of the prize,
+were detailed to man the Teaser. The second lieutenant was one of the
+jolliest men on board, but he weighed nearly two hundred pounds, and he
+was not as active on this account in boat service as some others. He was
+an excellent officer, and had been in command of a steamer, though he
+had never before been in the navy.
+
+At three o'clock in the morning the fasts of the Teaser were cast off,
+and she backed away from the Bellevite. She was to proceed to a point
+about six miles to the eastward, which was beyond the camp of the "Pet
+Lambs." Here she was to look out for the Teaser's crew.
+
+She had not made half this distance when all hands heard rapid and
+continued firing on Santa Rosa Island.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+LIEUTENANT PASSFORD ON A MISSION
+
+
+The officers on board of the Teaser could not explain the occasion of
+the firing on the island, though it sounded as though an engagement of
+some sort was in progress. It had been foggy during the preceding day,
+and if any movement on the part of the enemy had been indicated it could
+not have been seen on board of the ships off the entrance to the bay.
+
+"I hope this business we are to do this morning will not take us long,"
+said Mr. Blowitt. "We may be wanted on board, and I should not like to
+be absent from the Bellevite if she is to take part in an engagement of
+any kind."
+
+"And I am sure I should not," added Christy. "I should not be surprised
+if the enemy made an attempt to capture Pickens; but even if they storm
+it in the darkness, I do not see that the ships can do anything until
+they are able to see what they are to do."
+
+"But this affair may keep us away from the ship for a day or two,"
+suggested the second lieutenant.
+
+"I don't think so, sir; I believe you will be on board again before
+seven bells in the morning watch," replied Christy. "The ship's company
+of the Teaser were to be somewhere on the shores of the sound where they
+could be taken on board."
+
+"But the men you landed at the point believed that the Teaser was to
+get out through the sound," replied Mr. Blowitt. "They took you for the
+pilot Gilder, and you did not tell them that you intended to run the
+blockade."
+
+"Of course I did not; if I had, they would have remained on board. But
+the guard-boat attempted to stop us, and the artillery on the island
+fired into it, though it is probable that they did not hit it in the
+dense fog," Christy explained. "Our men may have learned from the
+guard-boat that we took the steamer out through the main channel."
+
+"If they did they probably learned that the Teaser went out with the
+assistance of the garrison at the fort," suggested Mr. Blowitt.
+
+"I am confident that the officer of the guard-boat would have no means
+of knowing that fact," argued Christy. "Of course, he heard the firing
+in the neighborhood of the fort, and he would naturally conclude that
+they were firing upon the steamer to prevent her from running out."
+
+"That may be; but, to tell you the truth, Mr. Passford, I am afraid we
+shall not find these men," added the second lieutenant. "From the firing
+we hear, I should judge that a movement of some kind is in progress, and
+our men may be better informed than you expect."
+
+"Of course, they may be; but I expect to find these men at some point
+along the shore," replied Christy, who thought the second lieutenant was
+just a little obstinate in not accepting his theory in full.
+
+The steamer continued on her course to the eastward, and nothing more
+passed between the two principal officers in regard to the crew from
+Pensacola. But Flint was quite as confident as the third lieutenant that
+the forty men, more or less, would be captured. The noise of the firing
+could no longer be heard, and then Christy suggested that the whistle be
+sounded as a signal to the men if they were in the vicinity.
+
+The depth of water was three or four fathoms close up to this part
+of the island. The soundings indicated that the steamer was as near
+as it was prudent to go in the dense fog. Christy was sure that the
+privateer's crew could not have gone any farther to the eastward by this
+time, and the screw was stopped, while all hands made an anxious use of
+their ears to detect any sounds that came from the shore. But nothing
+could be heard at first, and Mr. Blowitt again intimated that they were
+engaged in a "wild-goose chase." But he had hardly uttered this cooling
+reflection before Beeks came aft to report that a number of pistol
+shots, as he thought they were, had been heard in the distance.
+
+"Nobody can tell what they mean," said the sceptical Mr. Blowitt. "They
+may be a part of the affair we heard going on soon after we left the
+ship."
+
+"In what direction were the shots, Beeks?" asked Christy.
+
+"They sounded as though they were about half a mile or less to the
+westward of us," replied the quartermaster.
+
+"Blow the whistle in short blasts, Beeks," added Mr. Blowitt, who seemed
+to have gathered a little faith from the report of the quartermaster.
+
+The order was obeyed, and Beeks again reported that pistol shots had
+been heard from the westward. The third lieutenant was in a hurry to
+have the business finished, for he felt confident that the Bellevite
+would soon be engaged in an affair of more importance than picking up
+a couple of score of prisoners. He ordered the steamer to come about,
+and move to the westward; but after she had been under way about five
+minutes, he rang to stop her, and then sounded the whistles again.
+Several pistol shots responded to this signal. Again he started the
+screw, and pointed the bow of the Teaser squarely to the north.
+
+The steamer moved very slowly, and two men sounded all the time till
+they reported "by the mark two," when there could not have been more
+than three feet of water under the keel of the vessel. The screw was
+stopped and backed so that she might not run upon any shoal place ahead
+of her, and the officers waited with interest and anxiety for further
+action on the part of the party on shore. By this time no one doubted
+that there were men on this part of the island; but whether they were
+the crew of the privateer or not was yet to be proved.
+
+"Steamer, ahoy!" shouted some one on the shore.
+
+"On the island!" replied Christy, as he was instructed to do by his
+superior.
+
+"What steamer is that?" demanded the speaker on the island.
+
+Whoever he was, he could not help knowing that a steamer was there, for
+the engineer had begun to blow off steam as soon as the screw stopped,
+though neither party could see the other in the fog and darkness.
+
+"The Teaser," replied Christy. "Who are you?"
+
+"We are the ship's company of the Teaser, and we want to get on board,"
+replied the speaker. "Is Captain Folkner on board?"
+
+"He is on board--of the Bellevite," the third lieutenant would have
+finished the sentence if he had told the whole truth, for he uttered
+only the first part of the sentence.
+
+"All right. The first and second lieutenants are with us. Is Gilder on
+board?"
+
+"He is; and he wants to get back to the other side of the inland,"
+answered Christy, who considered it his duty to make his replies as
+suitable to the occasion as possible. "Who is speaking?"
+
+"Lieutenant Lonley," replied the man; and Christy knew him, though he
+did not know his rank before. "He wants to see Gilder before he goes on
+board. Tell him to come on shore in his canoe."
+
+"What is that for?" demanded Christy, rather surprised at the unexpected
+request.
+
+"I want to see him on particular business; I have a message for him,
+which I cannot deliver in presence of any other person," replied Lonley.
+
+"All right; you shall see him soon," answered Christy.
+
+"Get out the boats to take us on board," continued Lonley. "Send them
+about a mile to the eastward, where we have left our bags."
+
+"All right," repeated Christy.
+
+But he said what he did not believe, for everything did not look right
+to him. He could not understand why the bags of the men should be a mile
+to the eastward. He could not imagine what business Lonley could have
+with Gilder or his representative; and if he had any, why it should be
+necessary to meet him on the island.
+
+"Of course you don't expect me to carry on the programme that fellow has
+marked out," said Mr. Blowitt. "I don't quite like the looks of the
+things that we can't see, Mr. Passford."
+
+"Neither do I, Mr. Blowitt," replied the third lieutenant frankly.
+
+"I shall not send a boat from the steamer till I understand this matter
+a great deal better than I do now, and especially I shall not send the
+boats a mile to the eastward," added the second lieutenant.
+
+"Of course it is possible that my plan has miscarried already," added
+Christy.
+
+"I shall do everything I can to carry out your plan, as I am instructed
+to do by the captain; but I have the feeling, in spite of myself, that
+we are crawling into a hornet's nest," added Mr. Blowitt, with some
+anxiety in his tones. "You will call all hands quietly, and be ready to
+repel boarders. It is well to be prepared for whatever may come. The
+firing at the west end of the island indicated that something was going
+on, and perhaps these men on the shore know about it."
+
+Christy obeyed the order promptly, and the next minute, every seaman on
+board was ready with his cutlass and revolver to meet an attack. But no
+sound came from the shore just then, and the officers were in a state of
+uncertainty in regard to the situation which allowed them to do nothing.
+They waited for half an hour, when the leadsman reported that the water
+was shoaling, which indicated that the Teaser was drifting towards the
+island.
+
+"On board the Teaser!" shouted Lonley, so distinctly that he could
+hardly have been more than three hundred feet from the steamer.
+
+"On shore," replied Christy, prompted by Mr. Blowitt.
+
+"I am waiting for Gilder! Why don't he come on shore?" shouted Lonley,
+his impatience apparent in his tones.
+
+"Where are all the men?" demanded Christy, as requested by the second
+lieutenant.
+
+"They have gone a mile to the eastward where they left their bags."
+
+"We will run down in the steamer for them," added Mr. Blowitt, talking
+through Christy.
+
+"Don't do that!" protested the speaker on shore. "There is a Yankee
+steamer off in that direction. We heard her steam an hour ago."
+
+"All right!" replied Christy.
+
+"That settles the matter in my mind," said Mr. Blowitt. "They are trying
+to play what they call a Yankee trick upon us. When we send our boats to
+the eastward, we shall send them into a trap. If the boats are to bring
+off forty men, they will expect them to go with only men enough to pull
+the oars; and when they get possession of them, they expect to retake
+the Teaser."
+
+"I think you are right, Mr. Blowitt," replied Christy, who began to
+believe that his scheme was rapidly approaching a failure, though he did
+not give it up just yet.
+
+"This Lonley is still on the shore near us," said Mr. Blowitt. "I should
+very much like to know what has been going on to-night on the island,
+and it may be that he knows all about it. As you are the representative
+of Gilder, Mr. Passford, you may take the canoe that is astern, and have
+a talk with Lonley at close quarters, if you don't object."
+
+"I should have proposed it myself if I had not feared that the idea
+would be charged to my audacity," replied Christy. "I will take only
+Flint with me, as he was with me before."
+
+The canoe was brought up to the gangway, and Flint took his place at the
+oars. Mr. Blowitt charged the young officer in the most serious manner
+not to run any risks, and the boat was shoved off. It required but a few
+strokes of the oars to bring it into shoal water by the beach. Only a
+single man could be seen on the shore, and this one must be Lonley.
+There seemed to be no risk, and Christy landed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+CHRISTY BECOMES A VICTIM
+
+
+Everything was perfectly still on the island, and only a single man
+was in sight; but Christy put his hand upon his revolver as he went
+on shore. Though he had never been a fighting young man, he had the
+impression that he should not tamely submit to the assault of an enemy,
+or run away from any single man that stood up in front of him. He had
+always been prudent, even while he had been daring, and he hardly needed
+the solemn admonition of the second lieutenant to be extremely cautious.
+
+"Is that you, Captain Gilder?" asked the man on the shore, who stood a
+little way from the waterside.
+
+"Yes; and I take it for granted that you are Lonley," replied Christy,
+advancing towards the other. "You have done all the talking this night,
+and I ought to know you."
+
+"All the talking except what you have done, and I ought to know you,"
+replied Lonley. "I am Lieutenant Lonley, of the Teaser, and our men are
+all ready to go on board."
+
+"And Captain Folkner is all ready to have them go on board," returned
+Christy, who had no doubt of the truth of what he said, though he
+understood that he was telling a "story" all the same.
+
+"I have no doubt he is. But I don't quite understand how you happen to
+be on this side of the island, and so far to the westward at this time
+in the morning. We expected to find the Teaser burrowing through the
+sound, and we had about made up our minds to take possession of her and
+run the blockade, as other Christians do. We did not believe she would
+get through the sound in a week, if she ever did."
+
+"I succeeded in persuading Captain Folkner that he had better come out
+by the main channel; and that is the way we did come out, and that
+explains how we happen to be here at this time in the morning," replied
+Christy, very cheerfully.
+
+"You must have very strong powers of persuasion, Captain Gilder," said
+Lonley, laughing.
+
+"I have in a case such as this was," added the lieutenant, with a
+chuckle, as he thought of the particular kind of persuasion he had
+used upon the captain of the privateer.
+
+"I would give a good deal if I had just such powers, for they are
+sometimes of very great service to an officer."
+
+"You are quite right, Mr. Lonley. I suppose you are the first lieutenant
+of the Teaser."
+
+"No, I am not; kissing goes by favor, and the captain's brother is the
+first; and he is no more fit for his position than the captain is for
+his duty. I was in hope that the government would take possession of
+the steamer, and send her to sea properly officered," added Lonley,
+very good-naturedly.
+
+"Good officers are quite necessary in the service," suggested Christy.
+"I have no doubt you will fill the bill, and be all that could be
+possibly desired."
+
+"Thank you, Captain Gilder. Did you have any trouble in getting out of
+the bay?"
+
+"No, none at all. By the way, Mr. Lonley, we have been hearing firing at
+the west end of the island to-night. Do you know what it means?"
+
+"The first thing was to clean out that regiment of Zouaves; and I have
+no doubt that has been done before now; and our boys may get a hack at
+Pickens. A big force was landed in the fog, and the Yankees will not
+stay on this island much longer," replied Lonley.
+
+His information was entirely correct, though his prediction was not
+equally reliable.
+
+"I was sure there was fighting going on over there," added Christy.
+"You seem to be all alone, Mr. Lonley. Where are all your men?"
+
+"I told you before you came ashore that I had sent them all over to the
+place where they had left their bags, about a mile to the eastward of
+us. I suppose Captain Folkner has sent the boats over there for them
+before this time?"
+
+"He was inclined to run over in the steamer," added Christy.
+
+"I hope he did not do that," said the privateersman, with a good deal
+more energy than the other thought the occasion warranted. "I warned you
+that there was a Yankee gunboat over that way."
+
+"The Teaser has not gone over that way," replied Christy.
+
+"If she has, she will be gobbled up by that gunboat, and all my men with
+her."
+
+"I persuaded Captain Folkner not to do it," added the Bellevite's
+officer, very quietly.
+
+"He ought to have done just what I asked him to do; and that was to send
+his boats over to the place named for the men."
+
+"And I persuaded him to do that also," continued Christy, as
+unblushingly as though he had not been strictly in the habit of
+telling the truth all his lifetime.
+
+"Good for you, Captain Gilder!" exclaimed Lonley, grasping the hand of
+his companion as though he had been his brother. "You beat all the men
+I ever knew on power of persuasion; and when I get the command of the
+Teaser, as I expect to have before this year ends, I shall want you to
+serve as my first lieutenant."
+
+"Thank you, Lieutenant Lonley; you are very kind; and if I ever go into
+the privateering service, I shall certainly go in with you," replied
+Christy.
+
+"An officer with your power of persuasion will be invaluable to me,"
+replied Lonley, still holding the hand of the other. "If I were gifted
+in this respect as you are, Captain Gilder, do you know what I would
+do?"
+
+"I am sure I have not the least idea, unless it would be to persuade
+Jeff Davis to send you a commission as a captain in the regular navy,"
+said Christy, laughing at the idea.
+
+"I am afraid I should have too little cheek to attempt to do that, for
+the president is a rather obstinate man, and I fear he would not see the
+point. Besides, I am a very modest man, though you may not have observed
+this shining trait in my character. No; I am too diffident to ask for a
+place I have not won by service."
+
+"Then what would you do in the way of persuasion?" asked Christy, though
+he wondered why he was prolonging the interview.
+
+"I should use my powers of persuasion upon you, Captain Gilder, in the
+first place."
+
+"I don't think it would be of any use, for I am too well posted in that
+way of doing it to be influenced," replied Christy, trying to withdraw
+his hand from the grasp of the privateersman. "I must go on board of the
+Teaser again when you have delivered your message to me, as that was
+what you wished to see me for."
+
+"I did say I had a message for you, didn't I? Well, upon my life, I have
+quite forgot what it was, but it was from President Jefferson Davis,
+and he was particular that I should deliver it to you to-night or this
+morning. Isn't it very strange that I should forget a message of so much
+importance that it could not be trusted to writing?"
+
+"Passing strange, I should say," answered Christy, who began to
+understand that he had fallen into a trap of some sort. "While you are
+thinking of it, I will go on board, and persuade Captain Folkner not to
+run the Teaser to the eastward if he should take it into his head to do
+so. I had no idea there was a Yankee gunboat in that direction, and I
+don't believe the captain had. Besides, he don't know where he is in
+this fog, and he needs me."
+
+As he spoke, Christy tried to withdraw his hand from the grasp of
+Lonley, as he had not succeeded in doing before when he tried. But the
+privateersman suddenly fell upon him, and both of them went down. A
+tremendous struggle followed, but before it was decided, two men rushed
+out of the gloom, and took part in the affair; and they soon settled the
+matter in favor of the Confederacy, much to the chagrin of the second
+lieutenant of the Bellevite.
+
+  [Illustration: "A tremendous struggle followed."--Page 284.]
+
+Flint had remained in the canoe, which had been partly drawn up on
+the beach; but the moment he sprang out upon the sand to go to the
+assistance of his officer, he was set upon by two men and secured. Both
+of them were deprived of their weapons, and their hands tied behind
+them. Beyond a doubt the lieutenant and the master's mate were prisoners
+before they had any clear idea of the situation.
+
+"Are you there, Mr. Folkner?" called Lonley, as soon as the prisoners
+were secured, speaking now in an energetic tone, as he had not before.
+
+"I am here," replied a man who seemed to be in a boat not far from the
+spot. "You have kept me a long time waiting for you!"
+
+"I wanted to give the Yankee boats time to get at least a mile from
+the Teaser before anything was done. Shove off now, and make things as
+lively as you can," said Lonley. "Go to your places in the boats,"
+he continued to four men who had assisted in the capture of the two
+officers.
+
+By this time Christy had a chance to see that he was a victim of a trick
+which was to eventuate in the recapture of the Teaser; and he was sorry
+that he was not the only victim, as he looked at Flint. He realized too
+that the scheme had been very well planned, though he was really happy
+in the belief that it would be a failure in the end. Lonley seemed to
+be the leading spirit in the affair, and managed the details. He had
+intended that the boats should be sent from the Teaser to a point at
+least a mile off.
+
+He had taken it for granted that the steamer would come to pick them
+up, or in other words, to capture the forty prisoners. If he was weak
+in accepting as the truth Christy's statement that the boats had
+been actually sent away, as desired, he could see no reason why the
+Yankee officer should try to deceive him. It appeared now that the
+privateersmen had two boats, which had been brought across the island
+for the purpose. Lonley had naturally wished that only a few men should
+be on board, and concluded that it would be an easy matter to capture
+the steamer, and then to secure the men in the boats when they returned
+from the eastward.
+
+The four men on shore, who had been put in a place where they could
+assist Lonley, hastened to the boats, and they shoved off, pulling as
+silently as though the oars had been muffled, as probably they had been.
+In a moment more they disappeared in the darkness and fog.
+
+"I think I have improved a great deal in the art of persuasion,"
+said Lonley, as the boats disappeared. "I suppose I persuaded you
+as effectually as you did Captain Folkner."
+
+"You have done very well, Mr. Lonley," replied Christy, in a patronizing
+tone, for he was determined that his companion should derive no
+satisfaction from seeing him cast down by his misfortune.
+
+"You informed me a little while ago that Captain Folkner was on board
+of the Teaser; and I wish to ask if you are uniformly in the habit of
+speaking the truth?" continued Lonley.
+
+"Well, that depends upon circumstances. If I have not done so, you
+cannot expect me to contradict myself."
+
+"You claimed that you were Captain Gilder."
+
+"Hardly, my excellent friend: when Captain Folkner addressed me by that
+name, I did not object to it."
+
+"That was just as much a lie as though you had claimed it in so many
+words," protested Lonley.
+
+"I admit it; and I hardly expect a true patriot to tell the truth to
+the enemy. If I remember rightly, you told me yourself that your men
+had gone to the eastward where they had left their bags. I don't believe
+that your conscience reproached you when they showed themselves in the
+boats."
+
+At this moment pistol shots were heard on the water.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE ACTION ON THE DECK OF THE TEASER
+
+
+As the Teaser was but a short distance from the shore, Christy had no
+doubt that the attempt to board her had been made by this time. Mr.
+Blowitt had quite as many men on board of the steamer as could have been
+contained in the two boats, and he was not much concerned about the
+result of the attack, especially as he knew that the second lieutenant
+was fully prepared and on the lookout for it. The only thing that
+Christy regretted was that he was not on board of the Teaser to take
+part in the affair of repelling boarders.
+
+"There seems to be some music in the air," said Lonley, after he had
+listened for a few moments to the sounds that came from the direction of
+the steamer.
+
+"To return to the subject of the morality of telling stories, your men
+do not seem to be a mile to the eastward, where their bags were left,"
+added Christy good-naturedly.
+
+"You had a glance at them in the boats, though the darkness and fog were
+rather too thick for you to count them," replied Lonley, chuckling over
+the deception he had practised upon the lieutenant of the Bellevite.
+
+"Yes, I saw them, and I concluded that they could not be where their
+bags were."
+
+"All is fair in war."
+
+"That seems to be the generally received maxim, and he is the smartest
+man who the most thoroughly deceives the enemy," added Christy, who
+found himself tolerably well satisfied with the situation, though he was
+a prisoner.
+
+"That is so, and of course I can find no fault with you for deceiving
+me," returned Lonley, chuckling as though he was even better satisfied
+with the situation than his companion.
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Lonley; you are magnanimous, and with equal sincerity
+I can say that I have no fault to find with you," replied the Union
+officer. "But I have my doubts whether, after this, either of us will be
+likely to believe what the other says. But, for my part, I wish to say
+that I don't believe in telling anything but necessary and patriotic
+lies."
+
+"That is my view of the matter exactly; and if there is any man that
+despises a liar, I am that man," said Lonley warmly. "But it seems to
+me they are making a good deal of a racket off there," he added, as the
+noise of pistol shots and the clash of cutlasses came over the smooth
+waters of the gulf.
+
+"They seem to be at it quite earnestly," replied Christy.
+
+"By the way, how many men did you leave on board of the Teaser?" asked
+the privateersman, whose manner seemed to have suddenly become
+considerably changed.
+
+"How many men?" repeated the lieutenant of the Bellevite.
+
+"That is the question I asked," replied the lieutenant of the Teaser.
+
+"I suppose you would not believe me if I should tell you," answered
+Christy.
+
+"I judge that you can speak the truth if you try," added Lonley, with
+more asperity than the occasion seemed to require.
+
+"I know that I could," said Christy, very decidedly; "and I may add that
+I was in the habit of doing so on all occasions before this cruel war
+began."
+
+"Then suppose you try to do so just now, and tell me how many men your
+people had on board of the Teaser."
+
+"You must excuse me for the present, for I do not like to make
+statements to one who will not believe what I say," answered Christy,
+rather facetiously.
+
+"You are a prisoner now."
+
+"I am painfully aware of the fact, but I doubt if the government service
+will suffer very much in my absence from duty."
+
+"You are too modest by half, Mr.--but I have not even the pleasure of
+knowing your name, and conversation is annoying under such
+circumstances."
+
+"I am simply Midshipman Passford, at your service."
+
+"Only a midshipman!" exclaimed Lonley. "Upon my word, you ought to be a
+commodore. Passford? Possibly you are a cousin of Colonel Passford of
+Glenfield."
+
+"Colonel Passford is my uncle. Do you know him?" asked Christy.
+
+"I do know him; and there is not a finer man or a truer patriot in the
+South than Colonel Passford. He is loading a schooner with cotton, and
+he offered me the command of it. Then you are his nephew, I have heard
+of you."
+
+"I hope my uncle is quite well, for I have not heard from him for
+several weeks, or since I left New York."
+
+"I saw him ten days ago, and he was very well then. I am very happy
+to have made a prisoner of his enterprising nephew, who appears to be
+capable of doing our cause a great deal of mischief," replied Lonley,
+looking earnestly in the direction of the Teaser.
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Lonley; I certainly intend to do it all the mischief I
+can in a legitimate way. I am speaking the truth now," said Christy.
+
+"But you have not answered my question in regard to the number of men on
+board of the Teaser when you left her."
+
+"And you will excuse me for the present if I do not answer it," added
+the Union lieutenant.
+
+"Very well, Mr. Passford; I cannot compel you to answer it, though doing
+so would do no harm to your cause, for I should judge that the question
+of the hour is settled."
+
+"What is the question of the hour, Mr. Lonley?"
+
+"The question is which side is in possession of the Teaser, yours or
+mine," replied the privateersman, still gazing out into the gloom.
+
+"Is that question settled?" asked Christy, with interest.
+
+"Of course I don't know, but I should think that it was. We hear no
+more pistol shots and no more clashing of cutlasses," replied Lonley,
+uneasily. "But I expected to hear the triumphal shout of our men when
+they had carried the deck of the Teaser."
+
+"I have not heard anything like a triumphal shout," added Christy, very
+quietly. "It is barely possible that your men have not carried the deck
+of the Teaser."
+
+"Of course, it is possible they have not; but I don't believe they have
+failed," replied Lonley.
+
+The privateersman listened for a few minutes in silence. He appeared
+to be entirely confident that the victory must be with his men. He
+evidently believed that the captors of the Teaser had sent her two boats
+off to a distance of a mile, and thus weakened whatever force she had on
+board of her. He did not seem to have any idea that the party he had
+met in Pensacola Bay had been increased in numbers, or that the officer
+in command had reported to the ship to which they belonged. Christy
+realized what Lonley was thinking about, and he clearly believed that
+the Teaser had been left in charge of not more than a dozen or fifteen
+men, reduced by at least six then on boat duty.
+
+"Help! help!" shouted a man in the water at no great distance from the
+shore.
+
+"What does that mean?" said Lonley, springing to his feet.
+
+"It is a call for help, and, as my hands are tied behind me, I cannot
+respond to it, as I would gladly do, be the man who needs it friend or
+enemy," replied Christy. "There is the canoe in which we came ashore,
+Lieutenant Lonley, and you can use that."
+
+The privateersman sprang into the boat, shoved it off, and pulled in
+the direction from which the appeal came. He disappeared in the fog in a
+moment; but a little later was seen again approaching the shore. He had
+not taken the sufferer into the boat, but he had clung to it. As he got
+upon his feet, Christy saw that there were two of them, for one helped
+the other up the beach.
+
+"What does this mean?" demanded Lonley, very much excited. "Have you run
+away from the others?"
+
+"No, sir; but we were beaten in the fight, our boats captured, and all
+hands taken prisoners except us two," replied the uninjured of the two
+men.
+
+Lieutenant Lonley, whatever his views of the morality of lying to the
+enemy, uttered an exclamation which grated very harshly on the ears of
+Lieutenant Passford. The result, as stated by the man who had swum to
+the shore, was as unwelcome as it was unexpected. He had not deemed a
+defeat even possible. He learned from the guard-boat that the steamer
+had been captured. He had spent the time after he was landed with his
+companions at Town Point, and organized his force for the recapture of
+the Teaser. The failure of the final attack was as severe upon him as
+the loss of his vessel had been upon Captain Folkner.
+
+"Who are you?" demanded Lonley, when he had in some measure recovered
+from the shock which the failure gave him.
+
+"I am Levick, the boatswain; and this is Lieutenant Folkner, who was
+wounded in the shoulder in the first of it," replied the man. "He was
+knocked from the rail into the water when we boarded, and he held on to
+an oar. When the fight was over, and we had lost it, I slipped into the
+water, and helped the lieutenant along on his oar, till I was about used
+up, and then I called for help."
+
+"Are you much hurt, Mr. Folkner?" asked Lonley of the injured officer.
+
+"I don't know; my shoulder feels numb, and I can't use my arm," replied
+Folkner. "But I can use my legs, and I think that is what we had better
+be doing."
+
+"I don't understand it," protested Lonley, very much dissatisfied with
+the result of the action, as may well be supposed. "I was sure you would
+carry her deck at once."
+
+"I was as sure as you were, Lonley; but I believe they had fifty men
+all ready for us. They let us leap on deck without much opposition, and
+then they surrounded us, and took us by surprise, for I did not suppose,
+after what you said, that they had a dozen men," replied the wounded
+lieutenant.
+
+"I did not suppose they had even a dozen men left on board," Lonley
+explained, with humiliation in his tones.
+
+"I staid in the boat till I had seen all my men on deck," continued Mr.
+Folkner. "They surrounded our force, and tumbled them into the hold as
+though they had been pigs, slashing them with their cutlasses if they
+tried to get out. I saw the fat officer in command of the enemy; he was
+very active, and I leaped on deck, determined to cross weapons with him.
+But he hit me in the shoulder with his cutlass, and I lost my hold on
+the rail."
+
+"You ought to have led your men, not followed them," said Lonley
+bitterly.
+
+"That is easy enough for you to say; but I wanted to be where I could
+see my men," retorted the first lieutenant, of whom the second had a
+very mean opinion, perhaps because he got his position on account of
+being the captain's brother.
+
+"Whether I did right or not, I can tell you all one thing; and that is,
+that we shall be prisoners if we stay here any longer. They have got our
+men under the hatches, and they have ordered out a boat to look for an
+officer they sent ashore."
+
+"We can do nothing here, and we may as well put ourselves in safer
+quarters, for we have two prisoners to lose," said Lonley. "Mr.
+Passford, I shall have to trouble you to march to the other side of
+the island."
+
+"I am your prisoner, Mr. Lonley, and I must obey your orders, though
+I am sorry to be away from my ship in the hour of victory," replied
+Christy submissively.
+
+But he felt that his plan had been fully carried out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+A VISIT FROM COLONEL HOMER PASSFORD
+
+
+With his arms securely tied behind him, Christy realized that he could
+make no resistance to his captors. Flint was in the same unfortunate
+situation, and both of them had been deprived of their revolvers. But
+in spite of his unpleasant surroundings, the young lieutenant felt that
+the balance of advantage was on the side of the Union. If the government
+was deprived of the services of a midshipman and a master's mate, a
+dangerous privateer had been captured, and about forty prisoners had
+been taken from the employ of the Confederacy. In the face of this
+decided gain, Christy felt that he had no right to complain.
+
+By this time the light of day had begun to have some effect on the
+darkness and fog, though the gloom seemed to be hardly less. Lonley
+directed his two prisoners to walk side by side behind the wounded
+lieutenant, while he and Levick took their places in the rear. The
+second lieutenant of the Teaser was duly impressed by what the first
+had said about a probable visit to the island in search of the missing
+midshipman, and he directed Folkner to march as rapidly as he could. He
+took the control of the party out of the hands of his superior, and very
+likely he wished he had done so sooner.
+
+Folkner, as he had before suggested, still had the use of his legs, and
+he certainly used them well, for he travelled like a man who was in a
+hurry; but both Christy and Flint were in excellent condition, though
+they had been on active duty all night, and they had no difficulty in
+keeping up with their leader.
+
+Lonley and Levick were both armed, and they kept their weapons in
+readiness for immediate use, for the former recognized the enterprising
+character of the young officer in front of him, and knew that he would
+escape if he could. But Christy did not feel called to take any
+desperate chances in order to restore himself at once to the service of
+his country, and he and his companion in captivity marched along very
+quietly. The two armed men soon dropped several paces to the rear, so
+that the lieutenant could listen to the details of the action on the
+deck of the Teaser. The prisoners could not hear what was said, and they
+started a conversation on their own account.
+
+"We are in a bad box," said Flint. "I did not expect to come out of the
+little end of the horn in this way."
+
+"You must take a broader view of the situation than that," replied
+Christy. "The Teaser is certainly a prize of the Bellevite, with as many
+as forty prisoners. That is the result of our night's work, though we
+are counted out just now in the business of crowing over the success of
+our side. That is the way to look at it; and this view makes me quite
+satisfied with the night's work."
+
+"I did not see it in that light, and I suppose you are right, Mr.
+Passford," replied Flint.
+
+"And you will not lose your share of the prize-money for the Yazoo or
+the Teaser," added Christy, though, as the son of a millionnaire, he
+felt no interest at all in the spoils of war.
+
+"What do you suppose will be done with us, sir?" asked the master's
+mate.
+
+"I have not the least idea, any more than you have; but I have no doubt
+we shall be kept in close confinement, and I don't believe we shall live
+as well in our prison, wherever it may be, as we do on board of the
+Bellevite. But I am rather fond of johnny-cake, and I don't expect to
+starve on bacon."
+
+"Don't you think it was a mistake to send us ashore in the canoe on the
+part of Mr. Blowitt?" asked Flint, rather timidly.
+
+"If it was, it was as much my mistake as it was his. But I don't think
+it was a mistake. I cannot say that we did not succeed in the action on
+the deck of the steamer because we were sent ashore," replied Christy.
+
+"I don't see how that can be," replied Flint.
+
+"In the first place, Lonley wanted me to come on shore, and asked that
+I should do so. On the strength of what I said to him, he believed that
+our boats had been sent to the eastward, and that induced him to make
+the advance he did. After he had told us where to find the men, he had
+good reason to believe that the boats would be sent for them. We did not
+fall into the trap he set for us. I think it is all right as it is; but
+whether it is or not, it's no use to grumble about it."
+
+"I did not mean to grumble; and I am willing to believe that everything
+has been for the best," replied Flint, apparently resolved to be
+satisfied, as his superior officer was, whether he felt so or not.
+
+Folkner led the way in a northwesterly direction, and evidently knew
+where he was going. When they had been marching about half an hour,
+the party heard the report of fire-arms in the rear of them; but the
+discharges were at regular intervals, and did not sound as though they
+came from a battle. A little later, they heard loud shouts.
+
+"That is the party who are out in search of us," said Christy.
+
+"That is so, Mr. Passford; the sounds are only signals, and they are
+intended to notify you that your friends are in search of you," added
+Lonley, hastening up to the advance of the party. "I should be very
+sorry to do such a thing, but if you shout, or do anything to inform
+that party where you are, it will be my duty to shoot you."
+
+"I am not disposed to be rash, Mr. Lonley. If our friends overtake your
+party, it will not be my fault," replied Christy.
+
+"You do not expect me to shoot you in that case, I hope?" added the
+privateersman.
+
+"I did not know but that your revolver might go off by accident."
+
+"You may be assured that it will not; I claim to be a gentleman and a
+Christian, and I intend to be fair even to my enemies."
+
+"I beg your pardon for my thoughtless remark. I have no occasion to
+complain of you. I shall endeavor to be a gentleman and a Christian
+also, though I intend to do my best in fighting my country's battles;
+and I am not disposed to talk politics with you under present
+circumstances."
+
+The march was continued for some time longer, and the signals in
+the rear were repeated till increasing light enabled the prisoners to
+see that they were approaching Pensacola Bay. Not a little to their
+astonishment, the shore seemed to be alive with soldiers, and they
+learned that a battle, or something like one, had been fought on the
+island. The Confederate forces had been sent to attack Wilson's Zouaves,
+in camp to the eastward of the fort. Some very severe fighting had been
+done in the darkness and fog, with heavy losses on both sides.
+
+The Zouaves had been re-enforced from the fort, and with marines from
+the ships. Though the Confederates claimed the victory, it was clear
+enough to the two prisoners from the south side of the island that the
+Southern troops were retreating from the field. A soldier who fought
+with them wrote to a paper in Georgia: "I scarcely know whether we
+achieved a victory, or suffered a defeat." He also said that in the
+fog and darkness: "We shot down our friends in numbers."
+
+A few prisoners had been captured by the enemy, including two officers.
+But Folkner led the way to a point on the bay not very near the steamers
+which had brought over the expedition from the mainland. The Confederate
+troops embarked in the steamers and launches by which they had come; but
+the Union troops followed them to the end. Their steamers were aground,
+and a merciless fire was poured into them by the pursuing companies.
+
+"They are having hot work of it over there," said Lonley, as they came
+to a boat on the shore. "But that is not our affair, and it is quite
+proper for us to keep out of the way of the flying bullets."
+
+Christy and Flint were directed to take seats in the boat, and the
+lieutenant and boatswain manned the oars. They were not out of the
+reach of the bullets of the Federal troops, and the oarsmen pulled with
+all their might for a time. It was five miles to Pensacola, but the
+privateersmen landed their prisoners there. They were committed to a
+sort of guard-house; but in the afternoon they were sent to Mobile with
+about twenty others, who had been captured in the battle of the night
+before.
+
+There was not a great number of prisoners in the city, and it was
+intended to remove them to other quarters arranged for their
+accommodation.
+
+Christy and Flint were confined in an unoccupied warehouse, and were fed
+tolerably well, and they were supplied with some kind of dried grass for
+beds. It was not at all like the luxurious stateroom of the lieutenant
+on board of the Bellevite, or even the quarters of Flint; but they were
+determined to make the best of it. Flint had become reconciled to his
+situation, and Christy was even cheerful.
+
+After he had been in the warehouse a few days, Christy was not a little
+surprised to receive a visit from his uncle, Colonel Passford. He was
+not surprised at the kindness of the planter in making the visit, but
+that he should know so soon that he was a prisoner of war, for he had
+fully decided not to make any appeal to his uncle; and he could not
+imagine how he had discovered his situation.
+
+"I am glad to see you, Christy," said Colonel Passford, extending his
+hand, which Christy took without any hesitation.
+
+"And I suppose you are glad to see me here," added the nephew, with a
+smile.
+
+"While I am glad to see you deprived of the power to injure the cause I
+love, and to which I have pledged all that I have and all that I am, I
+am sorry that you should be in trouble, Christy. I hope I have Christian
+feeling enough to keep me from rejoicing at the misfortunes of any
+person, and especially of my brother's son. I can say sincerely that
+I am sorry you are in trouble," said the colonel solemnly.
+
+"Oh, I am not in trouble, Uncle Homer!" exclaimed Christy, laughing.
+"I have done my duty to my country, my conscience is clean, and I am
+not to be upset by an accident like this. I am really happy in the
+consciousness that I have been faithful to the cause of my country."
+
+  [Illustration: "I am glad to see you, Christy."--Page 308.]
+
+"I wish you had been; but we will not talk about that, for I suppose you
+and your father have the same views," replied the planter, looking very
+sad.
+
+"I don't believe we should agree if we talked about it for a year, and
+we had better give the subject the go-by. But how are Aunt Lydia and
+Gerty?"
+
+"Both are very well. I hope your father is in good health, as well as
+your mother and sister."
+
+"All very well."
+
+"I have not heard a word from any of you for about five months,"
+continued Colonel Passford. "In fact, not since you were here in May."
+
+"We got home all right, and the Bellevite is a man-of-war now. She
+captured one valuable prize off the coast of Carolina, and another at
+Pensacola," replied Christy cheerfully.
+
+"She ought never to have been allowed to leave Mobile Bay," added the
+colonel.
+
+"Your people certainly did everything they could to prevent her from
+leaving, and I hope you don't blame yourselves for letting her go. What
+about Corny, sir?" asked Christy.
+
+"Major Pierson was very much to blame for permitting the Bellevite to
+pass the forts when she came in, and he lost his command. But he has
+devoted all his life to redeem his fault by her recapture. He took Corny
+with him, and a naval officer; I only know that the attempt to recapture
+her failed from the fact that the Bellevite is now on the blockade."
+
+Finding that his uncle knew nothing of the events which had transpired
+at Bonnydale, Christy told him all about them, informing him at the end
+that Corny was a prisoner of war on parole at his father's house,
+recovering from his wound.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+AN ENTERPRISE FOR A DARK NIGHT
+
+
+"Corny wounded!" exclaimed Colonel Passford, rising with no little
+emotion from the box on which he had seated himself.
+
+"Not seriously, Uncle Homer," added Christy.
+
+"But how was he wounded? I have heard of no battle in the vicinity of
+New York till now, though our papers contain some news from outside,"
+continued the planter.
+
+"It was hardly a battle," replied Christy. "Captain Carboneer had
+brought a crew for a steamer through Canada, I believe, for the purpose
+of capturing the Bellevite as she lay at Bonnydale. Major Pierson and
+Corny were to assist him; and the major wished Captain Carboneer to take
+Florry on board of her, and convey her to the South, when he had taken
+possession of the steamer; but the naval officer was too high-toned to
+do anything of the kind."
+
+"I did not suppose Major Pierson could do such a thing," added the
+planter, biting his lips.
+
+"But the major insisted that he did not mean to take her against her
+own will. Captain Carboneer bought an old steamer, put his men on board
+of her, and started up the river to make the capture. I knew they were
+coming, and was ready for them. We fired only one shot at the old
+steamer, which smashed her walking-beam, and disabled her. A piece of
+the machinery struck Corny, and injured him in the shoulder. The doctor
+says he is not permanently injured, though it will be months before he
+is able to use his arm. He was paroled, and mother is taking as good
+care of him as though I had been wounded."
+
+"I am thankful it is not worse," added the colonel, with a sigh of
+relief. "What became of Major Pierson?"
+
+"I don't know, but I suppose he is a prisoner in Fort Lafayette. He
+refused to give his parole when he found he could not be a guest at
+Bonnydale. Captain Carboneer obtained the command of a steamer, but it
+was captured by the Bellevite, and probably he is with the major in the
+fort."
+
+The planter asked a great many questions in regard to the affair on the
+Hudson, and Christy answered them. He gave some of the particulars of
+the capture of the Teaser, and mentioned the name of Lonley, who had
+told him that Colonel Passford had offered him the command of a schooner
+he had loaded with cotton to run the blockade; but the planter said
+nothing to indicate that he had ever heard of the privateersman.
+
+"The Bellevite has been very fortunate so far, and she seems to have a
+charmed existence," added the colonel.
+
+"That is only because she is well handled," replied Christy, laughing.
+
+"And you seem to be equally fortunate, Christy, for you have twice been
+the means of saving your father's steamer. Corny has done nothing, is
+wounded, and practically a prisoner. But, Christy, the tide will turn,
+for Heaven is always on the side of a just cause," added the planter
+solemnly.
+
+"I believe it, uncle; and that will be the reason why the Union will
+prevail in the end. Besides, Napoleon believed that Heaven was always
+on the side of the stronger battalions."
+
+"That was an impious remark; and Heaven, by its own mysterious ways,
+will conduct the just cause of the South to a successful ending, and the
+Confederate States of America will be an honored member of the family of
+nations."
+
+"I think we had better not talk politics, even though we mix in a little
+religion," suggested Christy.
+
+"As your father has been kind to my boy, wounded and a prisoner in the
+midst of enemies, I ought to do something for you, Christy," continued
+Colonel Passford, looking on the floor.
+
+"Not at all, Uncle Homer; I am not wounded as Corny is, and there is
+no need of doing anything for me," interposed Christy, laughing in the
+serious face of the planter.
+
+"I can get you paroled, and then I shall be glad to have you remain at
+Glenfield until you are exchanged," said the planter.
+
+"I shall not accept a parole, Uncle Homer," replied Christy promptly.
+
+"Not accept a parole!" exclaimed the colonel. "Corny did so."
+
+"If I were wounded, as Corny is, I would accept it."
+
+"I hope you don't mean to try to escape, Christy," added his uncle, with
+a look of deep concern on his dignified face, as he looked about the
+apartment in which his nephew was confined.
+
+"I don't say that I shall; if I did say so, you would have our guard
+doubled, and ready to shoot me if they saw my head at a window,"
+answered Christy with earnestness.
+
+"You seem to think I am a heathen; but you forget that you are an active
+enemy of my country," added the planter, with a pained expression.
+
+"I don't forget it, uncle; but I am not half as active as I hope to be
+before this thing ends. I believe you would see me shot or hung by the
+neck till I was dead if it were for the benefit of what you call your
+country."
+
+"I hope and pray that I may never be placed in a situation to see
+anything of that kind."
+
+"I know you are earnest, honest, and sincere, Uncle Homer, and no
+partiality to your own kindred would permit you to shirk what you
+consider to be your duty. I find no fault with you; and I believe my
+father would be equally firm," said Christy warmly.
+
+"I think you understand me, my boy; but do not attempt any rash project.
+I cannot prevent the guard from shooting you if you attempt to escape."
+
+"I prefer to keep my own counsels in a matter of this kind, Uncle Homer.
+Give my love to Aunt Lydia and Gerty, for I suppose I am not likely to
+see them, as I am liable to be sent away any day."
+
+"Oh, yes, you will see them, for they shall call upon you here as soon
+as they return from Montgomery, where they have gone for a few days."
+
+"It will be very kind of them to do so," added Christy, though he did
+not believe he should be "at home" when they came.
+
+"I do not wish you were wounded, my dear boy, but if you were, we would
+do all that your father and mother are doing for poor Corny," replied
+Colonel Passford fervently, "Now, promise me, Christy, that you will not
+attempt to escape."
+
+"I can't make any promises, uncle."
+
+"I will do the best I can to have your condition improved, and see that
+you have a better diet, if I send your food from a hotel."
+
+"You are very kind, uncle, and I know that you will do all that your
+duty will permit you to do for me."
+
+"But I shall live in fear and trembling if I leave you without your
+promise to refrain from daring exploits. Just consider, my dear boy; you
+are in the fourth story of this warehouse, and the guard-room is below
+you. You have really no chance at all of success, and a fall or a shot
+may kill or disable you for life."
+
+"I do not say that I shall try to escape, uncle."
+
+"And you do not say that you will not try to escape."
+
+For half an hour longer Colonel Passford endeavored to induce his nephew
+to give the desired promise; but he remained obstinate to the end;
+and his uncle was compelled to leave him, to enter upon the fear and
+trembling in which he was to live while his enterprising nephew remained
+a prisoner. But he promised to call upon him every day, and to write to
+his wife and daughter to return at once.
+
+"I think I shall not wait for him to call," said Christy to Flint,
+as soon as he had gone.
+
+"Do you expect to get out of this place, Mr. Passford?" asked the
+master's mate, with lively interest.
+
+"This very night!" replied Christy, in an energetic whisper, as he put
+his finger on his lips to indicate that nothing more was to be said on
+the subject.
+
+The second lieutenant of the Bellevite had not been confined in the
+warehouse three days without considering his chances of escape, and
+the means of accomplishing such a purpose. He had looked the building
+over with the greatest care. The room the prisoners occupied was next
+to the roof. The rear windows opened upon a narrow alley, and he had
+ascertained by looking out at them that the warehouse was one of a long
+block. He had been in Mobile a great deal while the family were visiting
+at Glenfield, and he had been careful to notice the location when he was
+conducted to it with the others.
+
+At the end of the loft next to the main street were thirty or forty
+other prisoners, with whom Christy and Flint had been on good terms,
+though they belonged to the army, and seemed to be inclined to keep
+by themselves. They had been exhausted by hard service, and they had
+nothing to do but eat and sleep, though the former occupation did not
+occupy any great amount of their spare time. But as soon as it was
+fairly dark, they stretched themselves on their beds of vines and weeds,
+and most of them were soon asleep.
+
+The evening that followed the day on which Colonel Passford visited his
+nephew was dark, foggy, rainy, and as gloomy as even a blockade runner
+might ask. Christy seated himself under one of the rear windows of the
+loft, which appeared to have been intended only for storage, and was
+only from seven to eight feet between studs. Flint placed himself at the
+side of his companion, as he was requested to do.
+
+"This is just the kind of a night we want," said Christy, in a whisper,
+for he could hear the tramp of a sentinel outside the door of the loft.
+
+"I should as soon think of getting out if we were buried a hundred feet
+under ground as to think of getting out of this place," replied Flint,
+who was hardly as enterprising as his officer, though he was always
+ready to follow when he was well led. "There is a guard at the door,
+Mr. Passford."
+
+"He may stay there; we don't want anything of him," replied Christy.
+
+"I see no other way out of this den, unless we jump down into the
+street; but I will follow you, sir, if I fall a hundred feet in doing
+it," protested the master's mate.
+
+"You shall not fall six inches, and you will have no opportunity to do
+so. But if you are all ready to follow my lead, we may as well begin at
+once," added Christy, who had expected that it would require some
+persuasion to induce his companion to join him.
+
+The first thing the midshipman did was to take off his shoes, and to
+require Flint to do the same. With these in their hands, Christy paced
+off twenty steps, which brought him, according to a calculation he
+had made in the daylight, under a scuttle that led to the roof of the
+warehouse. Stationing the master's mate as a mark, he laid off five
+paces at right angles with the first line from the party-wall. It was as
+dark as Egypt, and the scuttle could not be seen; but the operator had
+located it mathematically, and was confident as to its position. Flint
+was planted under the opening, with the shoes of both at his side.
+
+The master's mate was nearly six feet in his stocking feet as he stood,
+and Christy whispered to him the next thing in his scheme. With the aid
+of his willing assistant, the midshipman was mounted on the shoulders of
+the former, where he stood up like an athlete in the gloom, though he
+almost instantly obtained a hold above with his hands. He unfastened the
+scuttle, and slid it off the aperture with the greatest care. Then he
+drew himself up with his strong hands, and was on the roof. Then Flint
+passed up the shoes, as he reached down for them. Seating himself on one
+side of the frame, he braced his feet against the other side, and
+grasped the hands of the mate. It did not work.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+THE NEW MATE OF THE COTTON SCHOONER
+
+
+Christy had given himself credit for more physical strength, or Flint
+for less weight, than the circumstances warranted, and found that he
+could not draw up his companion as he intended. He made several efforts
+to accomplish his purpose, but he failed every time. The fear of making
+a noise cramped his efforts to some extent.
+
+"Let go, Mr. Passford," whispered Flint, when he realized that his
+avoirdupois was too much for the young officer. "I will get that box,
+and then I can manage it myself."
+
+"All right; but don't make a particle of noise," added Christy.
+
+It required some time for the mate to find the box in the darkness, but
+he had it in position at last, standing upon one end. Mounting it, he
+found that his head was on a level with the roof, and he could easily
+draw himself up; but he did not do so at once.
+
+"What are you waiting for, Flint?" asked Christy, rather impatiently.
+
+"If I leave the box where it is, the guard will see where we have gone
+when they inspect the prison at ten o'clock," replied Flint.
+
+"That's so; I did not have the box in my plan, and that would tell the
+guard where to look for us," replied Christy. "We must make a line, and
+haul it up after you."
+
+"Here are two big handkerchiefs," added Flint, as he removed his
+neck-cloth, and passed up his pocket handkerchief with it.
+
+Christy tied the handkerchiefs together with great care, adding two more
+of his own to the length, which he thought would reach the box, Flint
+made it fast to the broken end of a board on the side, and then, without
+the least difficulty or noise, sprang lightly to the roof of the
+warehouse. With the aid of his companion, Christy drew up the box,
+careful that it should not strike against the frame of the scuttle. The
+door was closed, though of course they were unable to hook it on the
+inside, as they had found it; but the guard were not likely to notice
+that it was not fastened before morning.
+
+"What next, Mr. Passford?" asked the master's mate, after they had
+rested for a few minutes from their labors, though they had not been
+very arduous.
+
+"The next thing is to get down into the street, where we shall be as
+safe as though we were as patriotic, over the left, as my Uncle Homer.
+The burden of the work is done, but I hope we shall be able to kill two
+birds with one stone," replied Christy, though his meaning was
+mysterious to his companion.
+
+"It don't seem to me that we are much better off than we were in the
+loft," suggested the mate.
+
+"I believe we are, though I don't think we had better indulge in any
+long speeches just now. We have a favorable night, and we must make the
+best of it. I don't intend to be seen in this town in the morning, but
+we have the whole night before us."
+
+"There will be a lively time looking for us to-morrow, for I don't think
+they will be willing that you should get off, though it won't make much
+difference to them about me."
+
+"They would not be willing to part with you, my friend."
+
+"But you made yourself rather noted in helping the Bellevite out last
+May, and they will have a history of the loss of the Teaser in the
+newspapers in due time, if they have not had it already; and they will
+not like it a bit when they find that you have stepped out."
+
+"They are welcome to their own reflections," replied the lieutenant.
+
+"And they will send a searching party out to your uncle's estate at
+Glenfield; but of course we shall not go near there," said Flint.
+
+"That is just where I am going," replied Christy, decidedly, "for that
+is where I expect to kill one of the birds with the stone I fire. But we
+had better be moving, for we have a long tramp before us."
+
+The midshipman led the way, and though the roof, which was nearly flat,
+was wet with the falling rain, they walked, still in their stockinged
+feet, to the farther end of the block. Neither of them wore his uniform,
+as they remained as they had dressed for the duty they were to do on
+board of the Teaser. This was a point in their favor in the course they
+were to pursue, for their uniform would have betrayed them as soon as
+they were seen.
+
+Before they reached the end of the block of warehouses, they had found
+and tried all the scuttles on the roof, but they had not discovered one
+which had been left unfastened. At the last one this became a serious
+question. The scuttle at the end warehouse was securely hooked on the
+inside; but neither of the pair felt discouraged at this circumstance.
+Looking about them they found a piece of joist about ten feet long,
+which might have been left there when the building was finished. Christy
+examined the scuttle with the greatest care, to determine on which side
+the hooks were placed.
+
+While he was doing this, Flint detached a couple of bricks from the
+party-wall, which were used as a fulcrum for the lever, made of the
+joist. The building was not inhabited, and there was little to be feared
+at that height above the street from any noise they might make. Flint
+sat down on the end of the lever, and the scuttle flew up at once, the
+staple drawn out of the wood.
+
+The master's mate was the first to enter; and he "hung off" to the floor
+below. Then he assisted Christy to descend, and to close the scuttle
+after him. Acting upon their belief that all the warehouses were
+constructed on the same plan, they easily found the door by which they
+reached the staircase. On the lower floor, they opened a window and
+passed out into the alley in the rear of the building. They were on the
+ground, and Christy soon ascertained where he was. He made his way to a
+wharf where he was fortunate enough to find a boat.
+
+This locality seemed to be entirely deserted, and there was no one to
+challenge them, and no one appeared to take any notice of them on the
+way. It was not yet nine o'clock, and many stores were open, one of
+which they entered and bought a cooked ham and a large supply of bread.
+The woman in charge asked no questions, though Christy talked about a
+fishing trip to blind her. The boat they found was a very good one, and
+as it was the property of the enemy, Christy had no scruples in regard
+to confiscating it. He had money enough in his pocket to pay for it, but
+as the owner did not appear to dispute his taking possession of it, he
+dispensed with this ceremony.
+
+Taking the oars which they found in the boat, they pulled away from the
+wharf without interruption from any source. Christy took his bearings
+as well as he could, and they passed out into the fog and darkness,
+to which experience within a few days had accustomed them both. They
+crossed the Alabama River, and then followed the land to the southward.
+Striking across an inlet they reached the land again, and by midnight
+they reached a point of land where Christy felt entirely at home. He
+recognized it by the dilapidated wharf, from which he had embarked in
+the Leopard.
+
+It was still a long pull to Glenfield, and they went ashore to partake
+of a little refreshment. Flint was a smoker, and he had some dry matches
+which enabled them to make a fire, more for its light than its heat. The
+ham was good and so was the bread to hungry men like the fugitives. At
+the end of an hour by the midshipman's watch, they felt like new men,
+and they resumed their places in the boat, and pulled two hours longer,
+which brought them to the inlet at Glenfield. At the rude pier where the
+Bellevite had been moored lay a topsail schooner.
+
+"I don't find any fault, Mr. Passford, but it seems to me that it is
+rather dangerous for you to come here," said Flint, in a low tone, as
+soon as they had made out the schooner at the wharf. "I can't see what
+you are to make by it; and your uncle would hand you over to the rebel
+officers as readily as he would eat his breakfast."
+
+"I have no doubt he would do so; but I don't intend to give him the
+chance to do so," replied Christy, resting on his oar. "You see this
+schooner. She is loaded with cotton, and she is going to run the
+blockade about this time. I intend to take passage in her."
+
+"Then you knew about this vessel?" asked Flint curiously.
+
+"I did; and that is the particular reason why I came here. Lonley told
+me that my uncle had offered him the command of the schooner; and now
+that he has lost his position on board of the Teaser, I have no doubt
+he has already applied for the berth that was offered to him. I am
+confident that he has seen my uncle, and it must have been he who told
+him that I was a prisoner."
+
+"I begin to understand you now, Mr. Passford," added Flint.
+
+"If you do, we will say no more about it just now, for there may be some
+one within earshot of us," replied Christy.
+
+Nothing more was said, and the boat cautiously approached the schooner.
+No one appeared to be on board of her, and the fugitives found that she
+was loaded with cotton, even carrying a deck-load of this staple of the
+South, the price of which had bounded up to an enormous figure in the
+markets of the world. In the early morning the clouds and the fog were
+swept away, and the sun came out. Christy found a hiding-place on the
+other side of the creek, in a dense mass of bushes, where the boat was
+drawn out of the water.
+
+A spot which commanded a full view of the schooner had been selected,
+the boat was turned upside down so as to afford a shelter, and the weary
+Unionists went to sleep, for they were not likely to be disturbed on
+this side of the creek. It was noon when they woke, and it looked as
+though something was going on at the vessel. About half a dozen negroes
+were to be seen on the deck-load of cotton; and a little later in the
+day, Colonel Passford and Lonley were observed talking together. But
+nothing was done that day, and the night came on. Christy was not
+satisfied with his information, and as soon as it was dark, the boat
+was launched, and the fugitives pulled over to the schooner.
+
+"Who's in dat boat?" shouted a negro, showing himself at the rail of the
+vessel.
+
+"I am," replied Christy, rather indefinitely.
+
+"Be you de new mate, sar?" demanded the man.
+
+"I am," answered Christy, at a venture.
+
+"We done wait free days for you, an' Massa Lonley be mighty glad to see
+you."
+
+"Where is Captain Lonley now?" asked the lieutenant.
+
+"Stoppin' wid Massa colonel. He done tole me to call him if de mate
+come. Dis nigger gwine to do dat," added the man.
+
+"Stop a little," added Christy, as he climbed on board of the vessel,
+followed by Flint. "How many men have you on board?"
+
+"Six men wid de cook."
+
+"Are these men sailors?"
+
+"Dey all done work aboard a vessel, but dey ain't much sailors."
+
+"All free niggers?"
+
+"No, sar; wish dey was."
+
+"Where are the rest of the men?"
+
+"In de fo'castle, sar. De capin specks de mate come to-night, an' I
+reckon we's gwine down de bay right off den."
+
+"Go and call the captain then," added Christy, as confidently as though
+he had stood on his own ground.
+
+The negro hastened away as fast as his legs would carry him, and in
+a few minutes Colonel Passford and Captain Lonley came on board. The
+latter seemed to be hung on wires, he was so active; and even before he
+saluted the new mate, he called all hands and directed them to hoist the
+mainsail.
+
+"I am glad to see you, Fetters," said the captain, extending his hand to
+him. "I expected you yesterday."
+
+"My business was such that I could not leave," replied Christy.
+
+It was very dark, and the captain did not recognize him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+THE PRIZE-MASTER OF THE JUDITH
+
+
+The weather had been clear all day, with quite a fresh breeze, and the
+same conditions prevailed after dark. Colonel Passford seemed to have a
+great deal to say to Captain Lonley, now that the time for sailing had
+come, and he occupied the attention of the latter so that neither of
+them could observe the new mate, if he were disposed to do so. As soon
+as Christy perceived the _rôle_ which circumstances had laid out for
+him, he put his hand into a slush-tub he found in the waist, and
+anointed his face with the filthy stuff. There was just color enough in
+the compound of grease and dirt to change his complexion, if it had been
+light enough to observe his physiognomy. Flint did the same thing.
+
+"You will have to take your chances when you come to the entrance of the
+bay," said Colonel Passford, nervously. "This cargo is worth a fortune,
+and we are in sore need of the supplies which its value will purchase
+for us."
+
+"I think I understand the matter perfectly, colonel," replied Lonley,
+who did not seem to take kindly to any advice from a landsman.
+
+"Do not take any unnecessary risks, Captain Lonley, for more than the
+value of the cotton is at stake," continued the planter.
+
+"I have a plan of my own which I am confident will take me through the
+blockade all right," added the captain.
+
+"You must remember that my brother's steamer is on the blockade, and
+that she makes over twenty knots an hour."
+
+"I shall pretend to be a prize of the Bellevite long enough to distract
+the attention of the fleet," added Lonley, impatiently.
+
+"I don't understand these things, and I shall leave you to manage the
+affair as you think best; but I beg you will use all proper caution,"
+continued Colonel Passford. "Here are the ship's papers. You will give
+the one on the top to the officer from the fort, and he will cause you
+no delay."
+
+Lonley took the papers, and thrust them into his pocket without any
+reply. Christy had taken charge of the hoisting of the mainsail without
+waiting for any special orders, and Flint was doing his best to assist
+him. The negroes, though not expert seamen, knew the ropes of a
+schooner, and they did very well with Flint in their midst.
+
+"We are going to have a fresh breeze, Fetters," said Captain Lonley,
+as the new mate came near him.
+
+"It looks like it now," added Christy, changing his voice as much as he
+could, and as he had done before when he spoke to the captain.
+
+"If things are not favorable when you get to the forte, I think you had
+better anchor inside of the point," suggested the planter, who could not
+be blamed for being deeply interested in the fate of his cotton, and the
+fortune which was locked up in it.
+
+"Of course, I shall have to do that if necessary; but I don't like to do
+that, for every blockader will watch her all the time if I do," replied
+Captain Lonley, still maintaining his respectful demeanor, though it
+seemed to be hard work.
+
+By this time the mainsail was set, and was banging in the lively breeze.
+The negro sailors seemed to have become weary with wasting the day
+in the sailing of the schooner, and they worked with a good deal of
+enthusiasm.
+
+"Now set the foresail, Fetters. I don't think we can carry the
+topsails," said the captain. "Isn't that a white man with the hands?"
+asked he, as the men went to the foremast.
+
+"That's a man I brought along with me," replied Christy. "He is an able
+seaman, and he is very anxious to get to some port outside where he can
+obtain a berth as mate."
+
+"All right; I thought the work was going on exceedingly well, and his
+presence explains it," added the captain.
+
+"He owns the boat in which we came over here, and I think we had better
+hoist it on deck," said the mate.
+
+"All right; do so, Fetters. I suppose you have nothing on your hands?"
+
+"Nothing very particular," replied Christy.
+
+"I am instructed to buy a fast steamer if I can find one, even if I have
+to go to England to obtain her. What do you say to taking the berth of
+first officer in her, Fetters, for I know that you are a sailor, and
+that you have pluck enough to fire a gun?"
+
+"Such a position would suit me first rate," replied Christy, with proper
+enthusiasm.
+
+Still Lonley did not recognize his voice, and he took especial pains
+that he should not. But this state of things could not long continue. If
+the Unionist went into the cabin where there was a light, he could not
+help betraying himself. It was necessary to provide against this or any
+similar emergency very soon. He had already arranged his plan, and it
+was his purpose to carry it into execution as soon as the vessel was
+fully clear of the creek.
+
+The boat was hoisted on the deck; the fore and main sail were set, and
+everything was in readiness for a departure. Colonel Passford, after
+repeating some of his admonition to the captain, shook hands with him,
+and stepped down upon the wharf. Lonley gave the order to stand by the
+jib, and cast off the fasts. The two principal sails filled on the
+starboard tack, the jib went up in the twinkling of an eye under the
+direction of Flint, and the schooner began to gather headway. The
+captain was at the helm, for he would trust no other there, and Christy
+went forward.
+
+"Set the fore topmast staysail," said the mate; but he was willing the
+crew should execute the order in their own way, for he called the
+master's mate to him. "The biggest job is yet to be done," he added,
+in a low tone.
+
+"What is that?" asked Flint.
+
+"To get possession of the vessel," replied Christy, impressively.
+
+"That will be an easy matter, with nothing but niggers on board," added
+Flint.
+
+They talked together for a few minutes, and the plan was arranged. Flint
+saw that the fore topmast staysail was properly set and trimmed. The two
+Unionists on board did not even know the name of the schooner, but she
+gathered headway as she approached the mouth of the creek, and went
+along at a very satisfactory rate. The mate of the vessel and his fellow
+fugitive then went aft to be ready for the decisive action in which they
+were to engage. But they had hardly reached the quarter-deck before the
+schooner was hailed by a boat.
+
+"Schooner, ahoy! On board the Judith!" shouted a man.
+
+"In the boat!" replied the captain. "Who's there?"
+
+"Fetters!" responded the boatman.
+
+"Fetters!" exclaimed Captain Lonley, apparently bewildered by the reply.
+"It seems to me that Fetterses are plenty to-night."
+
+But this was all he was permitted to say, for the stroke of a handspike,
+in the hands of Flint, fell upon his head at this instant, and he
+dropped upon the quarter-deck like a log. At the same moment, Christy
+sprang to the wheel, and the schooner was not allowed to broach to. She
+dashed on her course, increasing her speed every moment, without heeding
+the boat that had hailed her. In the darkness, the genuine Fetters, as
+doubtless he was in the boat, could not have seen in what manner Captain
+Lonley had been disposed of, and all the crew were forward, so that they
+were no wiser.
+
+"Judith, ahoy!" repeated the genuine and only true Fetters, at the top
+of his lungs, as the schooner hurried off on her course. "I am Fetters,
+the mate!"
+
+"All right!" replied Christy. "I will see you in the morning. Come on
+board at six o'clock."
+
+Mr. Fetters said no more, and probably he concluded that the Judith had
+gone to get firewood for the galley, to fill her water-casks, or for
+some similar purpose. The fictitious Mr. Fetters kept his place at the
+wheel. The binnacle had been lighted by the cook, and he knew the exact
+course for the entrance to the bay. He felt that he was in possession of
+the Judith and her valuable cargo; and he had become so hardened in his
+patriotic duty that he felt no compunction of conscience because the
+vessel and cotton had been wrested from his uncle.
+
+As Colonel Passford had not scrupled to attempt to capture the
+magnificent steamer of his own brother, it would be a poor rule that
+would not work both ways. Besides, the proceeds of the sale of the cargo
+were to be expended in the purchase of supplies, and a steamer to carry
+them, for the use of the Confederacy. His uncle, from his elevated
+standpoint of duty, would have an opportunity to consider the
+application of his stringent views on the other side of the question.
+
+"I hope he is not dead," said Christy, as Flint bent over the prostrate
+form of the captain.
+
+"I don't know; but I am going to take him below, and lock him up in his
+stateroom, where the crew will not see him," replied Flint.
+
+"That is right; and I would help you if I could leave the wheel long
+enough," replied Christy.
+
+"I can handle him alone; but see that none of the sailors come aft while
+I am about it," added the master's mate, as he dragged the form to the
+companion-way.
+
+In such a work as he had on his hands, he had the strength of two men.
+Without any great difficulty, he dragged the body to the cabin, and then
+into one of the two staterooms he found, which was lighted. It was a
+more difficult task, for Lonley was a heavy man, but he placed the form
+in the berth. His first duty was to examine very carefully the pockets
+of the captain. He secured the file of papers first, and then drew a
+large naval revolver from each of his hip pockets. Then he took his
+papers from his pocket-book, but left his money, watch, and other
+valuables where he found them.
+
+After a careful examination of the insensible form, he was satisfied
+that he was not dead, though he might yet die from the blow he had
+received. He locked the door of the room, and went on deck. He gave one
+of the revolvers to Christy, and retained the other, handing over to him
+also all the papers he had taken.
+
+"This is the biggest venture we have undertaken yet," said Flint, as he
+seated himself by Christy.
+
+"But everything has gone well so far," replied the lieutenant. "If you
+are not promoted for this and the Teaser affair, Flint, it shall not be
+for the want of any recommendation on my part."
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Passford; you are very kind. I hope your services will
+be recognized in the same manner," returned the master's mate.
+
+"I don't care so much for myself, and I should not cry if I were never
+to become anything more than a midshipman."
+
+"All I have done has been to obey your orders, and follow your lead;
+and if anybody is promoted for the two affairs in which we have been
+engaged, you are surely the one who is entitled to it."
+
+"Well, we will do our duty, whether we are promoted or not," added
+Christy.
+
+It was not more than nine o'clock in the evening when the Judith came
+out of the creek, and in about four hours she was approaching Fort
+Morgan. She was still within the enemy's lines, and her acting captain
+was disposed to do everything in a regular manner, especially as he
+had the means of doing so. He had not the same risk to run in getting
+through the blockading fleet that Captain Lonley would have had, and
+he promptly decided to take his chances without waiting for a dark
+and foggy night. A boat came off from the inner side of the fort, and
+Christy ordered Flint to bring her to.
+
+The permit to pass the forts was in due form, and signed by the proper
+officials. The officer in the boat examined it carefully by the light
+of a lantern, and declared that he was satisfied with it. Then he asked
+some questions, which the acting commander of the Judith answered. The
+toughest inquiry he made was as to how he expected to get through the
+blockaders in a clear night like that. Christy assured him that he had a
+plan which he was confident would carry him through without difficulty.
+
+The schooner filled away again, and passed through the main channel;
+and in another hour she was in the midst of the Union fleet. There was
+a rattling of drums, a hissing of steam, and energetic commands heard as
+soon as the Judith was made out in the darkness, and doubtless a vision
+of prize-money flitted through the brains of officers and seamen. But
+Christy soon impaired the vividness of these fancies by ordering the
+foresail of the schooner to be taken in, and then the fore topmast
+staysail. The expectant ships' companies were not willing to believe
+that the vessel had come out for the purpose of surrendering.
+
+"Schooner, ahoy!" shouted the officer of a boat sent off by the nearest
+blockader. "What vessel is that?"
+
+"The Judith, prize to the United States steamer Bellevite," replied
+Christy, "Kindly inform me where the Bellevite lies."
+
+In another half-hour, Christy had dropped his anchor a cable's length
+from the Bellevite. Instructing Flint to ascertain the condition of
+Lonley, the lieutenant went on board of her to make his report, using
+the boat they had captured at Mobile, pulled by two of the negroes.
+
+"I have come on board, Captain Breaker," said Christy, as he met the
+commander, who had come on deck at the alarm.
+
+"I see you have," replied the captain, grasping him by the hand. "I have
+been terribly worried about you, Christy."
+
+"I am all right, sir; and so is Mr. Flint, who was with me. We have
+brought off a schooner of two hundred tons, loaded with cotton,"
+continued Christy, as modestly as the circumstances would permit.
+
+"I am very anxious to hear your report, Mr. Passford," said the
+commander.
+
+"Excuse me, sir, but the captain of that schooner is badly wounded, and
+needs Dr. Linscott as soon as possible."
+
+The surgeon was sent on board of the Judith. As Paul Vapoor caught a
+sight of the returned third lieutenant, he hugged him as though he had
+been separated from him for years instead of a few days. His welcome
+was quite as cordial, though not as demonstrative, from the rest of the
+officers. Then he went to the cabin with the captain, where he reported
+all that had transpired since he had been separated from his companions
+on board of the Teaser. He was warmly commended for his bravery and
+skill, and Captain Breaker assured him that he should be remembered
+in the reports to the department.
+
+Captain Lonley was conveyed on board of the Bellevite, where he was
+committed to the sick bay. He had recovered his senses, but it was
+likely, the surgeon said, that it would be a month before his health was
+restored. The Teaser had not yet been sent away; but the next day the
+third lieutenant was appointed prize-master of the steamer, and Flint of
+the schooner, for he had been the master of a coaster, and was competent
+for the position.
+
+A considerable crew was put on board of the Teaser, and both vessels
+were sent to New York instead of Key West. The steamer was expected to
+tow the Judith when necessary, and defend her if she was attacked. But
+both arrived at their destination without any mishap, and both were
+condemned; the Teaser was purchased by the government, for she was
+likely to be a very useful vessel on account of her speed and light
+draught.
+
+Christy had a brief leave of absence after he had served as a witness
+against the captured vessels. He had seen his father, mother, and sister
+on his arrival, and they were as proud of him as though he had been
+made a rear-admiral. Captain Breaker had written to his father of his
+disappearance on Santa Rosa Island, and had no doubt he had been made
+a prisoner within the enemy's lines. Christy brought the news of his
+escape himself, which made him even doubly welcome at Bonnydale.
+Certainly the young lieutenant had never been so happy before in his
+life.
+
+Captain Passford was a man of great influence, though he held no
+position in authority. At the first opportunity he obtained to talk with
+him, Christy made a strong plea in favor of the promotion of Flint. The
+late owner of the Bellevite knew him well. The master's mate had been a
+schoolmaster, and was very well educated; but he had a taste for the
+sea. He had made several foreign voyages, and had bought a schooner
+then, of which he went as master. But he had sold his vessel to great
+advantage, and, having nothing to do, he shipped as third officer of the
+Bellevite.
+
+Sampson, who had come home as chief engineer of the Teaser, was also
+remembered by Christy, who interceded for his promotion, or rather
+appointment. The government promptly obtained possession from the court
+of the prize-steamer, and the repairs and alterations upon her were
+begun at once. She had proved herself to be a fast sailer, and had
+logged sixteen knots, so that much was expected of her.
+
+Captain Passford, after his son had pleaded so earnestly for the
+promotion of the master's mate and the fireman, asked Christy what he
+expected in the way of promotion for himself. The young officer did not
+ask for any promotion, he was abundantly satisfied with his present
+rank, and he rather preferred to retain it. His father laughed, and
+declared that he was very glad of it, for he had some delicacy in asking
+favors for a member of his own family.
+
+Corny still remained at the house of his uncle; and he was as
+thoroughbred a rebel as his father, though he said next to nothing
+about his "cause." At a later period both he and Major Pierson were duly
+exchanged; but the gallant officer had come to the conclusion that Miss
+Florry Passford was very far from being infatuated with him.
+
+As the Bronx, which was the name given to the Teaser at the suggestion
+of Captain Passford, was to be ready about as soon as the legal
+proceedings would permit of the departure of the officers and seamen of
+the Bellevite, they were ordered to return to their ship in her. Flint's
+commission as a master, and Sampson's as an assistant engineer, were
+received. Christy's companion in the night expeditions had not expected
+to be anything more than a midshipman, and he was immeasurably delighted
+at his good fortune. Then it appeared that other influences than that of
+Captain Passford had been employed, for Christy, almost in spite of
+himself, was promoted to the rank of master, his commission antedating
+that of Flint.
+
+Mr. Blowitt was appointed to the command of the Bronx, with Master
+Passford as first lieutenant, and Master Flint as second; and Christy
+was to take her to the Gulf. She was to be used at the discretion of the
+flag officer after she had delivered her passengers on board of the
+Bellevite, and received her new commander.
+
+The Bronx was soon ready for sea with her new ship's company, and sailed
+for her destination, where Christy was to make some further inquiries
+into operations ON THE BLOCKADE.
+
+
+
+
+_OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS._
+
+THE BLUE AND THE GRAY
+
+SERIES
+
+Illustrated. With Emblematic Dies. Each volume bound in Blue and Gray.
+Per volume, $1.50.
+
+  TAKEN BY THE ENEMY.
+
+  WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES.
+
+  The opening of a new series of books from the pen of Oliver Optic
+  is bound to arouse the highest anticipation in the minds of boy and
+  girl readers. There never has been a more interesting writer in the
+  field of juvenile literature than Mr. W. T. Adams, who, under his
+  well-known pseudonym, is known and admired by every boy and girl
+  in the country, and by thousands who have long since passed the
+  boundaries of youth, yet who remember with pleasure the genial,
+  interesting pen that did so much to interest, instruct and entertain
+  their younger years. The present volume opens "The Blue and the Gray
+  Series," a title that is sufficiently indicative of the nature and
+  spirit of the series, of which the first volume is now presented,
+  while the name of Oliver Optic is sufficient warrant of the
+  absorbing style of narrative. "Taken by the Enemy," the first book
+  of the series, is as bright and entertaining as any work that Mr.
+  Adams has yet put forth, and will be as eagerly perused as any that
+  has borne his name. It would not be fair to the prospective reader
+  to deprive him of the zest which comes from the unexpected, by
+  entering into a synopsis of the story. A word, however, should be
+  said in regard to the beauty and appropriateness of the binding,
+  which makes it a most attractive volume.--_Boston Budget._
+
+  "Taken by the Enemy" has just come from the press, an announcement
+  that cannot but appeal to every healthy boy from ten to fifteen
+  years of age in the country. "No writer of the present day." says
+  the Boston _Commonwealth_, "whose aim has been to hit the boyish
+  heart, has been as successful as Oliver Optic. There is a period in
+  the life of every youth, just about the time that he is collecting
+  postage-stamps, and before his legs are long enough for a bicycle,
+  when he has the Oliver Optic fever. He catches it by reading a few
+  stray pages somewhere, and then there is nothing for it but to let
+  the matter take its course. Relief comes only when the last page of
+  the last book is read; and then there are relapses whenever a new
+  book appears until one is safely on through the teens. The boys will
+  be delighted to know, therefore, that 'Taken by the Enemy' is but
+  the first of six books to come out in rapid succession, all based on
+  the thrilling incidents of the late war."--_Literary News._
+
+
+_OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS._
+
+THE BOAT-BUILDER SERIES
+
+Completed in Six Volumes. Illustrated.
+Per Vol., $1.25.
+
+1. ALL ADRIFT;
+      Or, The Goldwing Club.
+2. SNUG HARBOR;
+      Or, The Champlain Mechanics.
+3. SQUARE AND COMPASS;
+      Or, Building the House.
+4. STEM TO STERN;
+      Or, Building the Boat.
+5. ALL TAUT;
+      Or, Rigging the Boat.
+6. READY ABOUT;
+      Or, Sailing the Boat.
+
+  The series includes in six successive volumes the whole art of
+  boat-building, boat-rigging, boat-managing, and practical hints to
+  make the ownership of a boat pay. A great deal of useful information
+  will be given in this Boat-Building series, and in each book a very
+  interesting story is sure to be interwoven with the information.
+  Every reader will be interested at once in "Dory," the hero of
+  "All Adrift," and one of the characters to be retained in the future
+  volumes of the series, at least there are already several of his
+  recently made friends who do not want to lose sight of him, and this
+  will be the case of pretty much every boy who makes his acquaintance
+  in "All Adrift."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+           *       *       *       *
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Errata Noted by Transcriber:
+
+En Reconnaissance de la Bonté de son Père,
+  _text reads "Pére" (with acute accent for grave)_
+and to be above any such villainy
+  _text reads "villany"_
+"He is on board--of the Bellevite," the third lieutenant
+  _text reads "lientenant"_
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Within The Enemy's Lines, by Oliver Optic
+
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+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
+<html>
+<head>
+<title>Within Enemy Lines</title>
+<meta http-equiv = "Content-Type" content = "text/html;
+charset=US-ASCII">
+
+<style type = "text/css">
+body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
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+p, div, blockquote {margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: 0em; line-height:
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+
+img {padding: .5em;}
+
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+font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em;
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+margin-bottom: 0em;}
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+
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+margin: 1em 5em; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
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+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Within The Enemy's Lines, by Oliver Optic
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Within The Enemy's Lines
+       SERIES: The Blue and the Gray--Afloat
+
+Author: Oliver Optic
+
+Release Date: June 15, 2006 [EBook #18264]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Louise Hope, David Garcia, Juliet Sutherland
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Kentuckiana Digital Libra
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class = "mynote">
+The Frontispiece ("He saw two men...") has been placed between the
+Preface and the <a href = "#toc">Table of Contents</a>.<br>
+Invisible punctuation&mdash; chiefly quotation marks&mdash; has been
+silently supplied. Other typographical errors are marked in the text
+with <ins class = "correction" title = "like this">mouse-hover
+popups</ins>.
+</div>
+
+<p class = "illustration">
+<img src = "images/cover.jpg" width = "392" height = "597"
+alt = "book cover: The Blue and the Gray by Oliver Optic: Within the Enemy's Lines"
+title = "The Blue and the Gray by Oliver Optic: Within the Enemy's Lines">
+</p>
+
+<div class = "outline chapter">
+<h2 class = "smallcaps">The Blue and the Gray Series</h2>
+
+<hr class = "tiny">
+
+<table>
+<tr><td>
+TAKEN BY THE ENEMY<br>
+WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES<br>
+ON THE BLOCKADE &nbsp; <span class = "smallcaps">In Press</span>
+</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class = "tiny">
+
+<h3 class = "smallcaps">Lee and Shepard Publishers Boston</h3>
+</div>
+
+
+<p class = "illustration chapter">
+<img src = "images/titlepage.png" width = "325" height = "479"
+alt = "title page: The Blue and the Gray Series / by Oliver Optic / Within the Enemy's Lines"
+title = "The Blue and the Gray Series / by Oliver Optic / Within the Enemy's Lines">
+</p>
+
+
+<h4 class = "chapter ital">The Blue and the Gray Series</h4>
+
+<hr class = "tiny">
+
+<h2>WITHIN<br>
+THE ENEMY&rsquo;S LINES</h2>
+
+<h6>BY</h6>
+
+<h4>OLIVER OPTIC</h4>
+
+<h6>AUTHOR OF "THE ARMY AND NAVY SERIES," "YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD,"<br>
+"THE GREAT WESTERN SERIES," "THE WOODVILLE STORIES," "THE<br>
+STARRY FLAG SERIES," "THE BOAT-CLUB STORIES," "THE<br>
+ONWARD AND UPWARD SERIES," "THE YACHT-CLUB<br>
+SERIES," "THE LAKE-SHORE SERIES," "THE<br>
+RIVERDALE SERIES," "THE BOAT-<br>
+BUILDER SERIES," "TAKEN<br>
+BY THE ENEMY," ETC.</h6>
+
+<hr class = "mid">
+
+<h5 class = "extended">BOSTON 1890<br>
+LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS</h5>
+<h6>10 MILK STREET NEXT "THE OLD SOUTH MEETING HOUSE"<br>
+NEW YORK CHAS. T. DILLINGHAM<br>
+718 AND 720 BROADWAY</h6>
+
+
+<h6 class = "chapter smallcaps">Copyright, 1889,<br>
+By Lee and Shepard.</h6>
+
+<hr class = "tiny">
+
+<h5 class = "ital">All rights reserved.</h5>
+
+<hr class = "tiny">
+
+<h6>WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES.</h6>
+
+
+
+
+<h5 class = "chapter">A MON JEUNE AMI,</h5>
+
+<h6>(QUE JE N'AI JAMAIS VU, ET QUE JE NE CONNAIS PAS,)</h6>
+
+<h4 class = "boldf">Monsieur Lucien Bing,</h4>
+
+<h6>DE PARIS, FRANCE,</h6>
+
+<h6 class = "smallcaps">En Reconnaissance de la
+Bont&eacute; de son <ins class = "correction" title =
+"text reads 'P&eacute;re'">P&egrave;re</ins>,<br>
+Cette Historiette de la Guerre Civile en Amerique<br>
+Est affectueusement D&eacute;di&eacute;.</h6>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">7</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter">PREFACE</h4>
+
+
+<p>"<span class = "smallcaps">Within the Enemy's Lines</span>" is the
+second volume of "The Blue and the Gray Series." Like its predecessor,
+of course, its scenes are connected with the war of the Rebellion; and
+perhaps the writer ought to be thankful that he is not required in such
+a work to rise to the dignity of history, but he believes that all his
+events were possible, and that every one of them has had its parallel in
+the actual occurrences of the historic period of which he writes. In
+fact, some of the experiences of the actors in the terrible drama of a
+quarter of a century ago would pass more readily for fiction than for
+reality, and detailed on the pages of a story would be deemed impossible
+by the conservative reader.</p>
+
+<p>The nation has passed out of its ordeal of fire, and an excellent
+spirit on the part of both parties to the great strife is still growing
+and strengthening,
+<span class = "pagenum">8</span>
+in spite of an occasional exhibition of folly on both sides on the part
+of those who have not outlived the bitterness of the past, and who
+probably will not outlive it. The time will certainly come when the
+memories of the conflict, the repetition of the stories of the war, and
+even the partisan praise bestowed upon the heroes of both sides, will
+excite no more ill feeling than does an allusion to the War of the Roses
+in England.</p>
+
+<p>In this country the advocate of either side will tell his story,
+relate his history, and jingle his verse in his own way, and from his
+own standpoint. Those upon the other side will be magnanimous enough to
+tolerate him, at least in silence. Histories, romances, poems, and plays
+relating to the war, are produced in greater numbers as the gap between
+the days of battle and the days of peace widens; but the old fires are
+not rekindled, the old bitterness still slumbers, and the Great United
+Nation still lives on in perfect peace.</p>
+
+<p>The author hopes he has done nothing on these pages to impair the
+growing harmony between the two sections which have happily become one,
+or to impregnate the minds of those who have been born since the strife
+ended with any of its
+<span class = "pagenum">9</span>
+bitterness. He has endeavored to make as high-toned men on the one side
+as the other, with the same moral sentiment in the one party as the
+other, and to exhibit their only difference in the one great question of
+Union or Disunion.</p>
+
+<p class = "inset">
+<span class = "smallcaps">Dorchester</span>, May 2, 1889.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p class = "illustration section">
+<img src = "images/frontis.png" width = "326" height = "508"
+alt = "illustration of quoted scene"><br>
+<span class = "caption">
+"<span class = "smallcaps">He saw Two Men making their way through the
+Grove</span>."&mdash;Page 28.</span>
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">11</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "toc">CONTENTS</a></h4>
+
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td class = "number smallcaps" width = "20%">page</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapI">CHAPTER I.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">An Unexpected Visitor</td>
+<td class = "number">15</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapII">CHAPTER II.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">A Difference of Opinion</td>
+<td class = "number">27</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapIII">CHAPTER III.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">The dignified Naval Officer</td>
+<td class = "number">37</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapIV">CHAPTER IV.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">Corny Passford plays Another Part</td>
+<td class = "number">48</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapV">CHAPTER V.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">Captain Carboneer and his Party</td>
+<td class = "number">59</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapVI">CHAPTER VI.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">The Cabin of the Florence</td>
+<td class = "number">70</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapVII">CHAPTER VII.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">Midshipman Christy Passford</td>
+<td class = "number">81</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapVIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">Arranging the Signals</td>
+<td class = "number">92</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapIX">CHAPTER IX.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">The Approach of the Vampire</td>
+<td class = "number">103</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapX">CHAPTER X.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">
+<span class = "pagenum">12</span>
+A Shot from the Long Gun</td>
+<td class = "number">114</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXI">CHAPTER XI.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">The Battle alongside the Bellevite</td>
+<td class = "number">125</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXII">CHAPTER XII.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">The Prisoner of War</td>
+<td class = "number">136</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">After the Battle</td>
+<td class = "number">146</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">The Beginning of a Chase</td>
+<td class = "number">157</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXV">CHAPTER XV.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">A Chase off the Bermudas</td>
+<td class = "number">168</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">The Confederate Steamer Yazoo</td>
+<td class = "number">179</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">A Satisfactory Order</td>
+<td class = "number">190</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">Lieutenant Passford in Command</td>
+<td class = "number">201</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">Some Trouble on Board the Teaser</td>
+<td class = "number">212</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXX">CHAPTER XX.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">Coming to the Point</td>
+<td class = "number">223</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXXI">CHAPTER XXI.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">
+<span class = "pagenum">13</span>
+On a Dark and Foggy Night</td>
+<td class = "number">234</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXXII">CHAPTER XXII.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">A Variety of Night Signals</td>
+<td class = "number">245</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXXIII">CHAPTER XXIII.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">Another Night Expedition</td>
+<td class = "number">256</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXXIV">CHAPTER XXIV.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">Lieutenant Passford on a Mission</td>
+<td class = "number">206</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXXV">CHAPTER XXV.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">Christy becomes a Victim</td>
+<td class = "number">278</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXXVI">CHAPTER XXVI.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">The Action on the Deck of the Teaser</td>
+<td class = "number">289</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXXVII">CHAPTER XXVII.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">A Visit from Colonel Homer Passford</td>
+<td class = "number">300</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">An Enterprise for a Dark Night</td>
+<td class = "number">311</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXXIX">CHAPTER XXIX.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">The New Mate of the Cotton Schooner</td>
+<td class = "number">322</td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td class = "chapnum" colspan = "2">
+<a class = "plain" href = "#chapXXX">CHAPTER XXX.</a>
+</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class = "chapname">The Prize-Master of the Judith</td>
+<td class = "number">333</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">15</span>
+<h3 class = "chapter">WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES</h3>
+
+<hr class = "mid">
+
+
+<h4 class = "section"><a name = "chapI">CHAPTER I</a></h4>
+
+<h6>AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR</h6>
+
+
+<p><span class = "smallcaps">"Cornelius!"</span> exclaimed Captain
+Passford, as a young man of nineteen was shown into the library of the
+magnificent dwelling of the millionnaire at Bonnydale, on the
+Hudson.</p>
+
+<p>"Cornelius Passford, Uncle Horatio," replied the young man, as the
+captain rushed to him and extended his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I think there can be no mistake about it; and I should have been no
+more surprised if Mr. Jefferson Davis had been ushered into my library
+at this moment," continued Captain Passford, still retaining the hand of
+his nephew. "I understood that you were a soldier in the Confederate
+army."</p>
+
+<p>"I was a soldier; but I am not one just now," replied the visitor,
+with some embarrassment in
+<span class = "pagenum">16</span>
+his manner, though the circumstances were strange enough to account
+for&nbsp;it.</p>
+
+<p>"How are your father and mother and Miss Gerty, Corny?" asked the
+uncle of the visitor, giving the young man the name by which he was
+generally called both at home and in the family of his uncle.</p>
+
+<p>"They were all very well when I left them," replied Corny, looking on
+the floor, as though he was not altogether satisfied with himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, you brought letters from your father and Gerty?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; I brought no letters," replied Corny, and, more than
+before, he looked as though he was not enjoying his present visit.</p>
+
+<p>"No letters!" exclaimed Captain Passford, evidently surprised beyond
+measure at the apparent want of kindly feeling on the part of members of
+his brother's family in the South.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a letter, Uncle Horatio," answered Corny, bracing himself up, as
+though he realized that he was not presenting a demeanor such as he
+thought the occasion required of him.</p>
+
+<p>"This is very strange," added Captain Passford, with a cloud playing
+on his fine features.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">17</span>
+"It is war between the North and the South, Uncle Horatio, and I suppose
+my father did not feel like writing any letters. Gerty never writes any
+letters if she can help it," Corny explained.</p>
+
+<p>"But Gerty used to write to Florry about once a week."</p>
+
+<p>"Did she? I didn't know it. She never would write to me when I was
+away from home," said Corny, who seemed to be very anxious not to say
+anything that was not consistent with the present situation, whatever it
+was.</p>
+
+<p>"When I parted with my brother on board of the Bellevite, both of us
+shed tears as we realized that war made enemies of us; but each of us
+promised to do all he could for the other in case of need. I am very
+sure that there was not the slightest unkind feeling between us. Of
+course, I did not expect him to write me the war news, but I think he
+could have written a few lines without any allusion to the war," said
+Captain Passford, pained at this want of filial affection on the part of
+his brother.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment the bell for tea rang, and the captain invited his
+nephew to the table with him. The host was saddened by the absence of
+news from
+<span class = "pagenum">18</span>
+his brother, of any kindly expression from one who was of the same blood
+as himself. He was not quite satisfied with Corny's manner, or with the
+little he seemed to be willing to say about the rest of the family. It
+was certainly very strange that the young man should be there at all,
+and his awkwardness and confusion made the visit seem still more
+singular.</p>
+
+<p>It was possible that the young man had just arrived and was fatigued
+by the trials and perils of his trip, for he must have come by some
+roundabout way; and very likely he felt nervous and uneasy in the midst
+of people who were loyal to the government and the Union. Captain
+Passford decided to say nothing more to his nephew at present as to the
+occasion and the manner of his visit to Bonnydale, and during the
+evening meal he avoided all allusion to the war, so far as it was
+possible to do so. Mrs. Passford and Florry received him very kindly,
+but following the example of the head of the family, they spoke only of
+domestic affairs, and of the relations of the two families as they had
+been before the war.</p>
+
+<p>Between the brothers Homer and Horatio Passford, even from their
+early boyhood, a remarkably
+<span class = "pagenum">19</span>
+strong fraternal affection had subsisted. Both of them were high-toned
+men, and both of them had always been faithful in the discharge of every
+duty to God and man. Each of them had a wife, a son and a daughter, and
+two happier families could not have been found on the face of the earth.
+They were not only devoted to each other, each within its own circle,
+but the two families were as nearly one as it was possible
+to&nbsp;be.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Horatio had formerly been a shipmaster, and had accumulated
+an immense fortune. Homer was less fortunate in this respect, and his
+tastes were somewhat different from those of his brother. He wanted to
+be a planter, and with the financial assistance of his brother, he went
+into the business of raising cotton near Mobile, in Alabama. But years
+before the war, he had paid off every dollar of his indebtedness to
+Horatio, and had made a comfortable fortune besides. The two families
+had visited each other as much an possible, and the captain, with his
+little family, had been almost to the plantation in the Bellevite, the
+magnificent steam-yacht of the Northerner.</p>
+
+<p>During the preceding winter, Captain Passford, his wife and son, had
+visited most of the islands of
+<span class = "pagenum">20</span>
+the Atlantic; but the health of Miss Florry was considerably impaired,
+and the doctors would not permit her to make this sea-voyage, but
+recommended her to keep quiet in some southern locality. She had
+therefore passed the winter at Glenfield, which was the name of Homer
+Passford's plantation. On his return from this long cruise, the owner of
+the Bellevite obtained his first news that war existed between the North
+and the South from the pilot. The three members of the family on board
+of the steamer were greatly distressed over the fact that Florry was
+still at the home of her uncle in Alabama, within the enemy's lines.</p>
+
+<p>Without going on shore, Captain Passford decided to arm his yacht,
+which was large enough for a man-of-war, and hasten to Mobile Bay to
+bring back his daughter. He was in doubt with regard to the political
+feeling of Homer, but believed that he would still adhere to the
+government and the Union. It was a part of his mission to bring his
+brother and his family to his own home at Bonnydale. Mrs. Passford was
+sent on shore in a tug, and Christy, the son, was to go with her; but
+the young man, just entering his
+<span class = "pagenum">21</span>
+seventeenth year, protested against being left at home, and as the
+captain believed that a patriotic citizen ought to be willing to give
+his all, even his sons, to his country, the young man went with his
+father. The mother was as devoted to her country as the father, and
+terrible as was the ordeal, she consented to part with him for such a
+duty.</p>
+
+<p>By an event fortunate for him, Captain Passford succeeded in
+obtaining an armament for his vessel, as well as an abundant supply of
+ammunition; and the vessel was refitted for the perilous service in
+which she was to be engaged. At Nassau, Christy made the acquaintance of
+a young man who proved to be of great service to the expedition, and the
+Bellevite reached her destination in safety, though not without some
+rather exciting incidents.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Passford found that his brother was sincerely and devotedly
+attached to the Southern cause. They discussed the great question for
+hours upon hours, each striving to convert the other to his own views,
+but with no success on the part of either. Homer Passford was a
+religious man, conscientious in the discharge of every duty, and nothing
+less could be said of his Northern brother. In a short time the owner of
+the Bellevite
+<span class = "pagenum">22</span>
+found that he had fallen into a "hornet's nest," for the planter did not
+believe that he ought to allow the steam-yacht to be taken to New York
+to become a part of the navy of the Union. He declared his convictions
+to his brother, who was compelled to regard the planter as an enemy in
+spite of the relations subsisting between them. Both of them placed
+their duty to their own country above every other consideration.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Passford was obliged to get his daughter out of his brother's
+house by stealth, and to make his escape with the Bellevite as best he
+could.</p>
+
+<p>Major Lindley Pierson, in command of Fort Gaines, at the entrance to
+Mobile Bay, had permitted the steamer to pass, having been deceived by
+his younger brother. He had been a frequent visitor at the mansion of
+Homer Passford, attracted there, it appeared, by the lovely daughter of
+the planter's brother, remaining there for the winter. Perhaps on her
+account, perhaps with the fear that the Bellevite was not what she had
+appeared to be, he had gone to the vicinity of Glenfield to inquire into
+the mission of the steamer.</p>
+
+<p>Homer Passford, acting upon his convictions, gave information which
+resulted in an attempt to
+<span class = "pagenum">23</span>
+capture the Bellevite. Christy, not informed in regard to the plans of
+his father to depart at once in the steamer, was "Taken by the Enemy,"
+and had some very stirring adventures in the bay. But the steamer
+escaped from the numerous enemies that awaited her, and Christy got on
+board of her at the last minute. The Bellevite ran the gantlet of the
+forts in a dense fog, and brought Miss Florry in safety to her home at
+Bonnydale.</p>
+
+<p>Corny Passford, whose unexpected arrival at Bonnydale had excited the
+astonishment of his uncle, was a year older than Christy, and had
+enlisted in the Confederate service at the insistence of Major Pierson.
+Without knowing anything in particular about the matter, his uncle
+believed, at his visit to Glenfield, that Corny was as earnestly devoted
+to the Southern cause as his father, judging entirely from the fact that
+he had enlisted as a soldier.</p>
+
+<p>Corny had a good appetite, and a good supper was set before him. He
+ate like a hungry boy, and the fact that he was within the enemy's lines
+did not seem to have any influence upon him. His aunt helped him till he
+seemed to be filled to repletion, for she thought he must have been
+accustomed
+<span class = "pagenum">24</span>
+of late only to the most indifferent fare. After supper, he followed his
+uncle back to the library; but he seemed less embarrassed than
+before.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Christy, Uncle Horatio?" asked Corny, as he seated himself
+in the library. "I have not seen him yet; and as I was away at the fort
+when you went to Glenfield, I did not see him then."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know where he is just now, though he is in or about the
+house most of the time," replied the captain. "Are you still in the
+army, Corny?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir, I am here. I did not like the service very well, and I
+thought I should like the navy better. The reason why I did not like it
+as well as at first was because I was no longer in Major Pierson's
+battalion," replied Corny, looking at his uncle as though he expected a
+question from him.</p>
+
+<p>"Then Major Pierson is no longer in the army?" added the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, he is; but I think he was the maddest man in the army soon
+after you left."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed! Why was he so mad?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because he was removed from command of
+<span class = "pagenum">25</span>
+Fort Gaines for letting you pass it in your steamer."</p>
+
+<p>"Then he is still in the service?" asked Captain Passford.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; he is a good officer, and he will make his way, if he was
+guilty of a blunder in letting the Bellevite pass the fort."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you intend to be a sailor, Corny?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; in fact, I am a sailor now. I had been in your yacht so
+much that I knew something about the ropes, and I had no difficulty in
+getting transferred, as sailors were wanted more than soldiers," replied
+Corny, who seemed to be studying the figures in the carpet.</p>
+
+<p>"But if you went into the navy, how do you happen to be in New York?"
+asked Captain Passford.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you remember the Dauphine, which was fitting out when you
+were in Mobile Bay?" continued Corny.</p>
+
+<p>"I heard the name, and was told that she was one of the vessels that
+tried to prevent the escape of the Bellevite."</p>
+
+<p>"I was sent on board of her; but, in coming out of the bay, she was
+captured by a Federal
+<span class = "pagenum">26</span>
+vessel, and sent to New York. I hid myself when the crew were taken off,
+and came in her here," replied Corny, still studying the carpet.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Passford had not heard of the capture of the Dauphine. He was
+not quite satisfied with the story of his nephew. But he was obliged to
+go to the city, and he handed the guest over to his wife and daughter.
+Corny wanted to see Christy, and Mrs. Passford had begun to be uneasy
+that he did not return at dark. Corny went out to find him.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">27</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapII">CHAPTER II</a></h4>
+
+<h6>A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION</h6>
+
+
+<p>The Bellevite lay in the river, off the estate of Captain Passford,
+though at a little distance below the mansion, from the windows of which
+she could not be seen. Corny walked down the avenue and over the hill,
+in the direction of the anchorage of the steamer. The boat-house was
+near the mansion, and to the float attached to it a variety of small
+craft were made fast. But the water was not deep enough there for the
+Bellevite. Corny had been to Bonnydale, and passed many weeks there, so
+that he was familiar with the localities.</p>
+
+<p>As he passed the boat-house, he noticed that the Florence, which was
+Christy's favorite sailing craft, was not at her moorings, and he
+concluded that his cousin was away in her on some excursion. When he
+reached the boundary line of the estate, he discovered the sailboat with
+her bow on the beach, though her mainsail was still set. A
+<span class = "pagenum">28</span>
+gentle breeze was blowing, with which the Florence could make good
+headway; but there seemed to be no one on board of her. Corny watched
+her for some time, waiting for the appearance of Christy. It was not an
+easy matter to climb the high fence which bounded the estate, and the
+planter's son could hail the boat, and be taken on board of her as soon
+as she got under way again.</p>
+
+<p>But Christy did not appear, and it was getting darker and darker
+every minute. Something must have attracted the attention of the skipper
+on shore, and he had doubtless landed. But while Corny was waiting for
+his cousin, he saw two men making their way through the grove on the
+other side of the fence towards the river. One of them he recognized,
+and gave a peculiar whistle, which drew the two men in the direction
+from which it came.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that you, major?" asked Corny, in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush! You are a simpleton, Corny!" exclaimed one of the men, as he
+came up to the palisades of the fence. "Didn't I tell you not to call me
+by name?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't call you by name," replied Corny, smartly.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">29</span>
+"You called me major, and that is about the same thing," added the
+speaker on the other side of the fence.</p>
+
+<p>"The woods are full of majors now, both in the North and the South,
+and no one knows you especially by that name. But I will remember in
+future, Mr. Mulgate," replied Corny.</p>
+
+<p>"That sounds better, Neal. If we lose the game it will be by your
+blundering," continued the major, or Mulgate, as he preferred to be
+called on the present occasion.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you have no talent for blundering, Mulgate; and that is
+the reason why you happen to be here at the present moment," retorted
+Corny, not at all pleased with the speech of the other.</p>
+
+<p>"None of your impudence, Neal!" said Mulgate, sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"If you lose the game, you say that it will be by my blundering,
+Mulgate," continued Corny. "That makes it seem as though I was to bear
+the responsibility of a failure; and I don't like the looks of things.
+If I am to be responsible for a failure, I ought to have something to
+say about the manner of conducting the enterprise."</p>
+
+<p>"Shut up, Neal! We have no time to talk
+<span class = "pagenum">30</span>
+nonsense of that sort. I am to conduct the enterprise, and you are to
+obey my orders. That is the whole of it," replied Mulgate, impatient at
+the position taken by the young man. "You are still under my command,
+and you will obey me or take the consequences. Now to business: what
+have you learned?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing at all," answered Corny, rather sullenly.</p>
+
+<p>"What have you been about? Haven't you discovered anything?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing at all; I have but just arrived here. I took supper with my
+uncle, and told him the fish story you invented for&nbsp;me."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he believe it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know whether he did or not; but he and the rest of the
+family treated me very handsomely, which made me feel meaner than a dead
+catfish."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind your feelings; you are here to assist in a great
+enterprise, and you are expected to do your duty to your country without
+regard to your own notions. Report what you have done."</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't done anything but introduce myself into the house, and
+explain how I happen to be
+<span class = "pagenum">31</span>
+here," replied Corny, as he proceeded to give the details of his meeting
+with his uncle.</p>
+
+<p>"Is Miss Florry at home?" asked Mulgate, in a more gentle tone, as
+though he had a deeper interest in the direction he had indicated.</p>
+
+<p>"She is at home, and was at the supper table with us."</p>
+
+<p>"How does she seem to be?" asked the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>"First rate; she is as jolly as though no one ever heard of such a
+thing as war," replied Corny, with enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>"Did she say anything about her stay at Glenfield?" inquired Mulgate,
+whose interest seemed to mount to the pitch of anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a word; she did not even hint at Glenfield, or anything
+connected with it," answered Corny; and, after the sharp tones of the
+other, he seemed to take pleasure in thorning him with negative
+answers.</p>
+
+<p>"Did she say anything about me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a word."</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't she mention my name?"</p>
+
+<p>"She did not."</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't she ask about my health, or want to know where I was?"</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">32</span>
+"Florry did not allude to you in any manner. If she wanted to know where
+you were, she did not say a word about it to me," replied Corny, in the
+most decided tones.</p>
+
+<p>It was still light enough to see that there was something like a
+frown on the brow of Mr. Mulgate. He had evidently believed that the
+daughter of the millionnaire of Bonnydale was interested in him, and his
+inquiries indicated that he expected her to ask about him; but she had
+not made the remotest allusion to him. Besides, she was as jolly as she
+had been at Glenfield, when war was a matter of the future, which few
+believed would ever be realized. She had not grown thin and pale during
+her absence from him, and she did not appear to be wasting her sweetness
+in pining for him.</p>
+
+<p>"What in the world are you talking about, Mulgate?" suddenly demanded
+his companion on his side of the fence. "I thought we were here for
+business, and you are talking about some girl."</p>
+
+<p>"She is the lady of whom I spoke to you; she spent the last winter
+with her uncle at the Glenfield Plantation. I am interested in her,"
+replied
+<span class = "pagenum">33</span>
+Mulgate, as though he had given a sufficient excuse for the questions he
+had put to Corny.</p>
+
+<p>"Are we to capture her and take her back to the State of Alabama?"
+demanded the other, who seemed to be a gentleman of forty at least.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; that depends; but, Captain Carboneer, I hope you will
+be my friend in this little matter," added Mulgate.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know any thing about the little matter; but I am not willing
+to jeopardize the enterprise that brings us here to help you out with a
+love affair," replied the older gentleman. "There will be time enough
+for you to look for a wife after the war is over, and you have more time
+to attend to the affair."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Mulgate, I should like to know something more about your
+intentions before we go any farther," interposed Corny, in a tone so
+decided that Mulgate had to listen to him, especially as he had obtained
+so little sympathy from the elderly gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>"Speak quick then, for we have no time to spare," added Mulgate.</p>
+
+<p>"Do I understand from what you have said that you intend to take
+Florry Passford back to
+<span class = "pagenum">34</span>
+the South with you?" asked Corny, with his teeth closely pressed
+together, so that it was rather difficult for him to speak
+intelligibly.</p>
+
+<p>"I answer, as I did before, that I don't know what I shall do; that
+depends," replied Mulgate evasively.</p>
+
+<p>"Depends upon what?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have no time to discuss that matter now," added Mulgate, turning
+to his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"But I have time to say that I will ruin the whole enterprise if you
+mean to commit an outrage such as you appear to have in your mind,"
+replied Corny, as vigorously as though he had been the military equal of
+the one he had called "major" by accident.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to be a traitor to your country, Neal?" demanded Mulgate
+angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"Neither to my country nor to my uncle."</p>
+
+<p>"Your uncle is a Yankee, and is doing all he can to subjugate the
+free South. He has no rights which we are bound to respect," said
+Mulgate fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>"This will never do," interposed Captain Carboneer; and this may or
+may not have been his real name. "We are getting into a disagreement at
+the very first step of our enterprise."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">35</span>
+"I don't know you, Captain Carboneer, but I wish to be understood as
+meaning every word I have said; and I will wreck this enterprise, if I
+am shot for it, rather than allow my cousin to be carried off in
+connection with it," protested Corny stoutly. "I will do my duty
+faithfully; but I will not assist in robbing my uncle of his
+daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"You are quite right, young man; and I would rather be sent to the
+fort as a prisoner of war than take part in such an enterprise," added
+Captain Carboneer, in mild but forcible tones.</p>
+
+<p>"You astonish me, captain!" said Mulgate. "Why do you talk about an
+outrage? I claim to be a gentleman, and to be above any such <ins class
+= "correction" title = "text reads 'villany'">villainy</ins> as you and
+Corny suggest. I do not propose to rob Captain Passford of his daughter.
+What I may do depends&mdash;depends upon the consent of the lady. If she
+is willing to go with me"&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"She is not willing to go with you; and she never will be willing to
+go with you," Corny interposed. "I don't know what you are thinking
+about, Mr. Mulgate; but Florry cares no more about you than she does
+about Uncle Pedro, my father's house-servant. She saw you both at
+Glenfield, and I can't tell which she likes best."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">36</span>
+"We had better drop the subject," added Captain Carboneer.</p>
+
+<p>"Drop it, then," replied Mulgate sullenly. "Get over the fence,
+Corny. Nobody is using that sailboat, and we may as well take it for a
+while."</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">37</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapIII">CHAPTER III</a></h4>
+
+<h6>THE DIGNIFIED NAVAL OFFICER</h6>
+
+
+<p>Corny climbed over the high palisade fence, with the assistance of
+Mulgate, and the party walked to the sailboat at the beach below. By
+this time it was dark, though the gloom was not very dense under a clear
+sky.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know anything about this boat, Corny?" asked Mulgate, as the
+trio approached the handsome craft, for such she was beyond a doubt.</p>
+
+<p>The crusty tones of the speaker indicated that he had not yet
+recovered from the set-back he had plainly received in the late
+conversation, though he denied that he had any evil intentions in regard
+to Miss Florry.</p>
+
+<p>"I do; I know all about her," replied Corny.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, why don't you tell what you know?" demanded Mulgate.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you wish to know about her?" inquired
+<span class = "pagenum">38</span>
+Corny, who was disposed to maintain his equality in spite of the
+military rank of his companion, which he had incautiously betrayed in
+the beginning.</p>
+
+<p>"Whose boat is it?" asked Mulgate.</p>
+
+<p>"She belongs to my cousin, Christy Passford."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he now?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Was he at the house when you were there?"</p>
+
+<p>"He was not; and his mother had become rather anxious because he did
+not return to supper," replied Corny, becoming a little more
+pliable.</p>
+
+<p>"This is a rather large boat, Captain Carboneer," added Mulgate, as
+he surveyed the trim sloop. "She is rather too large for our
+purpose."</p>
+
+<p>"She will answer very well," replied the captain, as he applied his
+shoulder to the stem of the craft to ascertain how heavily she rested
+upon the beach. "Now, do you know whether there is any person on board
+of that steamer?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, I don't know anything about it," said Mulgate.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure I don't," added Corny.</p>
+
+<p>"I sent you up here to ascertain all about the Bellevite," continued
+Mulgate, rather sharply.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">39</span>
+"I have not had time to find out anything," Corny explained, with some
+indignation in his tones.</p>
+
+<p>"Corny has done as well as he could in the time he has had to do it
+in," interposed Captain Carboneer. "I think you are inclined to stir up
+bad blood with this young man, Mulgate. It appears now that you have a
+purpose of your own to accomplish, and that Corny will not allow you to
+carry it out."</p>
+
+<p>"My first purpose is the same as your own," replied Mulgate.</p>
+
+<p>"You admit that you have a second object; and I cannot tell when you
+will decide to make it your principal purpose," added Captain Carboneer.
+"I am not satisfied with the situation. I have done everything I can to
+accomplish our patriotic object. You endanger it by your crusty manner
+to this young man, who seems to be willing to do his duty; and he is in
+a position to be of great service to our enterprise."</p>
+
+<p>"If you think it is necessary, I will take off my cap to this young
+man," said Mulgate, with a sneer in his tones.</p>
+
+<p>"Be reasonable, Mulgate."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">40</span>
+"What can I do more than I have done?" demanded the military gentleman,
+as his title indicated that he was.</p>
+
+<p>"The first thing to do on your part is to renounce this idea of
+taking a lady passenger with you in the steamer," replied Captain
+Carboneer, in a very decided tone. "Women are not permitted on board of
+naval vessels, especially in time of war."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I have any idea to renounce," muttered Mulgate.</p>
+
+<p>"You certainly hinted that you desired to take a lady on board, and
+convey her to our destination," said the captain, rather earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>"Not against her will, as you and Corny will have it," protested
+Mulgate.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you renounce that plan or that idea, whatever it may be?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not renounce it. If the lady is willing to go with me, as I
+believe she will be, I know of no reason why she should not go as a
+passenger," argued Mulgate.</p>
+
+<p>"I think we had better abandon the enterprise in the beginning, for I
+think we can be of more service to our country at liberty than within
+the
+<span class = "pagenum">41</span>
+walls of Fort Lafayette," added the captain, with not a little disgust
+mingled with his indignation.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever his object in visiting this locality, he was clearly a
+high-toned gentleman, and the idea of prosecuting a love adventure in
+connection with what he regarded as a highly patriotic duty was
+repulsive to his nature. He found by trial that the Florence was not
+grounded very hard on the beach, for the tide was rising, and he drew
+the boat farther up from the water, as he turned to walk away from the
+spot.</p>
+
+<p>"Am I to understand that you retire from this enterprise, Captain
+Carboneer?" asked Mulgate.</p>
+
+<p>"Am I to understand that you renounce your scheme to carry off a
+woman as a part of the enterprise?" demanded the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not renounce it, though I have no intention to carry off a
+woman, as you put it. The most I have asked is that she be permitted to
+go as a passenger of her own free will," replied Mulgate.</p>
+
+<p>"She never will go with him of her own free will," interposed
+Corny.</p>
+
+<p>"I will not have a woman on board of the
+<span class = "pagenum">42</span>
+vessel, whether she goes willingly or otherwise. Do you renounce that
+scheme entirely?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think you are driving me into a small corner, Captain
+Carboneer."</p>
+
+<p>"After what you have said before, I think I am fully justified in
+what I require. With your private affairs, I have nothing to do. If you
+choose to marry this young lady, I have nothing to say about that; but
+no woman can be a passenger in a war vessel under my command. After I
+have landed you at Bermuda or Nassau, I shall not attempt to run the
+blockade, which is now enforced, in order to land you and the lady.
+Besides, we may be in action at any time after we get under way."</p>
+
+<p>"Then if I do not yield the point, you intend to leave me to carry
+out this enterprise alone?" demanded Mulgate.</p>
+
+<p>"In that case, I wish to go with you, Captain Carboneer," added
+Corny, with emphasis. "But I want it understood that I shall not leave
+Bonnydale without telling my uncle to look out for his daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you mean to be a traitor, Corny?" said Mulgate angrily.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">43</span>
+"Call it what you like."</p>
+
+<p>"All this is absurd, Mulgate," interposed Captain Carboneer. "Without
+my resources, you can do nothing at all, and it would be foolish for you
+to attempt the capture of the vessel. You are not a sailor or a
+navigator, and you could do nothing with the vessel if you succeeded in
+getting her to sea."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no doubt I could find a hundred men in New York, including
+half a score of navigators, to assist me in this enterprise," replied
+Mulgate.</p>
+
+<p>"I have another steamer in view, though the Bellevite is vastly
+superior to anything I know of in speed and general fitness. Do as you
+think best, Mulgate; and I shall be able to explain in a satisfactory
+manner my failure to obtain this vessel."</p>
+
+<p>"The fault will be mine, I suppose," muttered Mulgate.</p>
+
+<p>"The court-martial will decide that point," replied the captain.</p>
+
+<p>Mulgate seemed to be buried in his own reflections, no doubt
+suggested by the last remark of the other. Possibly he considered that
+the failure of such an important enterprise because he had insisted
+<span class = "pagenum">44</span>
+upon bringing a lady into the affair would not sound well at home.
+Whatever he was thinking about, he was greatly agitated, and Captain
+Carboneer walked in the direction of the road, half a mile from the
+river. He had no time to consider the matter: he must yield at once, or
+abandon the scheme.</p>
+
+<p>"I will do anything you ask, Captain Carboneer!" he shouted,
+forgetting, in his excitement, the demand for secrecy.</p>
+
+<p>The naval officer, as his conversation indicated that he was, turned
+and retraced his steps to the beach. He did not seem to be at all
+excited because his associate had changed his mind, for in his judgment
+it would have been worse than madness for him to persist in his
+intentions.</p>
+
+<p>"I have stated the case as I understand it, and I have nothing more
+to say, Mulgate," said&nbsp;he.</p>
+
+<p>"I renounce my scheme, and I will not ask that the lady be a
+passenger even to Bermuda or Nassau," replied Mulgate, though not
+without a considerable display of emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; that is enough. Nothing more need be said about your
+purpose, since you have renounced it. Now we will visit the Bellevite,
+<span class = "pagenum">45</span>
+and learn what we can in regard to her," said the naval officer, in his
+usual quiet manner, and whether he was a Confederate or a Unionist, one
+could hardly have failed to be impressed by his dignified
+deportment.</p>
+
+<p>At the request of Captain Carboneer, Mulgate climbed to the forward
+deck of the Florence. She was twenty-eight feet long, and her deck
+covered more than half of her length. She had a very large cabin for a
+boat of her size, which was fitted up with berths, with a cook-room
+forward of it, for Christy Passford was often absent a week in her.</p>
+
+<p>"I think Corny had better go back to the house, and keep an eye on
+Christy, so as to make sure that he does not disturb us," suggested
+Mulgate, as the planter's son was about to go on board of the yacht.</p>
+
+<p>"I think we shall want him, and he had better be with us," replied
+the captain, as one would speak when he expected to be obeyed.</p>
+
+<p>Corny climbed up the stem of the Florence. He had never seen the
+captain before, and had not even been informed who and what he was; but
+he appeared to be a more important person than Mulgate,
+<span class = "pagenum">46</span>
+and he did not wait for the latter to argue his point. He had sailed in
+the Florence very often, and he knew all about her. He took a boathook,
+and planted its point on the beach, in readiness to shove off.</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet, Corny," said the naval officer, as he sprang lightly to the
+deck of the sailboat. "Let us see where we are before we do
+anything."</p>
+
+<p>Captain Carboneer seated himself on one of the cushioned seats in the
+standing-room, and looked about him. A steamer towing a multitude of
+canal boats was approaching, and he waited for it to pass. Then no
+steamer or other craft was to be seen on the river.</p>
+
+<p>"So far as I have been able to discover, there are only two men on
+board of the Bellevite, and I think we have not a moment to lose," said
+the naval officer, when he saw that the river was clear of everything
+that might interfere with his plans. "But we must go on board of her,
+and make sure of everything before we commit ourselves."</p>
+
+<p>"As you said, Captain Carboneer, I am no sailor; and you don't think
+of taking the steamer out of the river alone?" added Mulgate.</p>
+
+<p>"I have not come here on a fool's errand, Major
+<span class = "pagenum">47</span>
+Pierson," replied the captain. "We are alone now, and we may call things
+by their right names."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't care to have my name used in this vicinity," interposed
+this gentleman, when addressed by his own name.</p>
+
+<p>"Your wish in this respect shall be respected, Mr. Mulgate. I was
+about to say that I had a ship's company all ready to take possession of
+this craft, to handle her at sea, and even to fight a battle if
+necessary."</p>
+
+<p>"But where are your ship's company?" asked Mulgate, as he wished
+still to be called.</p>
+
+<p>"I will produce them at the right time. Now you may shove her off,
+Corny," added the captain, as he took the wheel.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">48</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapIV">CHAPTER IV</a></h4>
+
+<h6>CORNY PASSFORD PLAYS ANOTHER PART</h6>
+
+
+<p>Captain Carboneer brought the Florence about, and headed her across
+the river. The Bellevite was moored a short distance from the estate
+down the stream.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been up here before to-day," said the naval officer, as the
+boat moved away from the shore, assuring him that no one could be near
+enough to hear what he said.</p>
+
+<p>"We only reached New York yesterday, and I don't see how you can have
+picked up a ship's company in that time," replied Mulgate.</p>
+
+<p>"I sent the men before I came myself. I have stationed them in
+various places on the river, where I can get them when I want them; and
+I shall want them before the sun rises to-morrow morning," replied the
+captain.</p>
+
+<p>"To-night!" exclaimed Mulgate, who seemed to be astounded at the
+revelation.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">49</span>
+"Yes, to-night; in a few hours from now. I have obtained all the
+information I could in regard to the steamer, and what we do must be
+done at once. The Bellevite, as they call her now, has not yet been
+handed over to the government, though she has been accepted. They are
+waiting for something, though I don't know what, and she may be sent to
+the navy yard to-morrow; and then it will be too late for us to do
+anything."</p>
+
+<p>"But to-night&mdash;that is rather hurried," added Mulgate,
+musing.</p>
+
+<p>Very likely he was thinking of the beautiful Miss Florry in the
+elegant mansion a short distance up the river. Without a doubt he was
+Major Pierson, since the naval officer had addressed him by this name
+and title. He had often met the young lady at Glenfield Plantation, and
+possibly his sudden visit to the North had not been without some thought
+of her. However it may have been with her, he was at least very much
+interested in Miss Florry.</p>
+
+<p>The fact that she was a "Yankee" did not make her less beautiful, and
+it did not make her any the less the daughter of a millionnaire. No one
+could say that he was mercenary, however, and no one
+<span class = "pagenum">50</span>
+could say why he was not as deeply interested in the daughter of the
+planter, for she was hardly less beautiful, though her father was not
+considered a millionnaire, to say nothing of a ten-millionnaire. Major
+Pierson did not tell what he was thinking about; but he was certainly
+astounded and badly set back when the naval officer intimated that the
+capture of the Bellevite might be undertaken that night.</p>
+
+<p>"You can see for yourself that we must strike at once, or there may
+be nothing to strike at," replied Captain Carboneer.</p>
+
+<p>"But we shall have no time to work up the case," suggested the
+major.</p>
+
+<p>"The case is all worked up, and there is nothing more to work up,"
+replied the captain, as he headed the boat for the steamer.</p>
+
+<p>Major Pierson said no more, but he was as much dissatisfied with the
+promptness of the naval officer as though he had said it in so many
+words. It would be difficult to imagine how he expected to manage his
+case with Miss Florry, since he could not enter the house without
+betraying his identity. Perhaps he intended to lie in wait for her in
+the grounds of the estate, and trust that her
+<span class = "pagenum">51</span>
+interest in him would induce her to keep his secret.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that you, Christy?" called a voice from the steamer, as the
+Florence approached the Bellevite.</p>
+
+<p>"Answer him, Corny," said Captain Carboneer, in a low voice. "Say
+'yes,' and ask who it is that speaks."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," repeated Corny. "Who are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sampson," replied the man on board of the steamer.</p>
+
+<p>"And who is with him," added the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you alone on board?" demanded Corny, varying his speech a little
+from his instructions.</p>
+
+<p>"No; Warping is on board, but he has gone to sleep in the
+pilot-house. Do you want him?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; but you wish to take a couple of friends on board to obtain the
+measure of a gun-carriage," continued Captain Carboneer.</p>
+
+<p>"No; I don't want Warping; I only wanted to know if he was on board,"
+repeated Corny. "I have a couple of friends here who want to measure a
+gun-carriage to-night, for they have to leave in the morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, young man; you understand yourself
+<span class = "pagenum">52</span>
+very well," said the captain, in tones of approval.</p>
+
+<p>By this time Captain Carboneer had brought the boat alongside the
+accommodation steps, the lower part of which were hoisted up to prevent
+any water tramps from coming on board without permission. But when Corny
+had delivered the last message, the steps were lowered, and the Florence
+made fast to them. Corny was told to lead the way, and act as though he
+were Christy Passford, and owned the ship in his own right.</p>
+
+<p>The planter's son went up the steps, and the other two followed him,
+though the naval officer had really ascertained all he wished to know.
+There were only two ship-keepers on board, and they would be no obstacle
+in the way of the ship's company to which the captain had alluded. But
+the leader of the enterprise had another object in view, though it was
+only secondary in its nature. He was afraid to overburden the mind of
+Corny, and he said nothing more.</p>
+
+<p>"Is everything all right on board, Sampson?" asked Corny, as he
+stepped down upon the deck of the vessel.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, Christy," replied the man.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">53</span>
+"I am glad to hear it. Is there anything new?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing at all, Christy. I have been overhauling the boilers a
+little to-day for the want of something to do, and they are in
+first-rate condition. As you told me to-day that we might expect the
+order to report at the navy yard at any minute, I thought I would have
+everything as nearly ready as it could&nbsp;be."</p>
+
+<p>"You have done very well, Sampson," added Corny, approvingly. "We are
+to get under way early in the morning, and if father gets home he will
+start the steamer as soon as he comes. He went to the city this evening,
+and probably he will bring the order with him," continued Corny, making
+use of the information he had obtained in the house.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is this long gun, my man?" asked Captain Carboneer, taking a
+measure from his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"Forward, sir," replied Sampson, as he led the way.</p>
+
+<p>The captain kept some distance behind the ship-keeper, and took Corny
+by the arm to detain him.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him to get up steam at once," whispered
+<span class = "pagenum">54</span>
+the leader of the party, as he hastened forward to the long midship gun,
+where he proceeded to take his measurements as though he were in real
+earnest, though it was so dark that he could not possibly see the marks
+on his tape, even if he tried to do&nbsp;so.</p>
+
+<p>"You say that everything is ready to start the fires, Sampson?" said
+Corny, as soon as he had a chance to speak to the ship-keeper.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything is ready, Christy, and I have only to touch the match to
+the shavings to make a beginning," replied Sampson. "Is there any news
+about my appointment in the engine-room, Christy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet, Sampson; but the papers will soon come, and I am almost
+willing to guarantee your appointment."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Vapoor has already spoken a good word for me."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, Sampson; then you are sure of the position. I am very
+sure that we shall get the order before morning to move the steamer over
+to the navy yard, and I think you had better start the fires at once,
+Sampson," continued Corny, making himself as much at home on board of
+the
+<span class = "pagenum">55</span>
+steamer as though he had really been the person he was supposed
+to&nbsp;be.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, Christy; and if the order don't come as soon as you
+expect it, we can bank the fires, and no harm will be done," replied the
+oiler, for such was his position on board, though he was evidently
+expecting something better.</p>
+
+<p>By this time Captain Carboneer had finished taking the measure of the
+gun-carriage, though he had not been able to see anything. But he had
+been through all the forms, and that answered his purpose just as well.
+He declared that he had no further business on board, and the trio went
+to the accommodation ladder. Sampson had called his sleeping companion,
+and already the black smoke began to pour out of the smokestack.</p>
+
+<p>"That was all very handsomely done," said Major Pierson, as they
+stepped on board of the Florence.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything worked very well; but it was all owing to the fact that
+the ship-keeper thought that Corny was some other person," replied the
+captain.</p>
+
+<p>"I know that he took him for Christy Passford, and I have had some
+experience with Christy,"
+<span class = "pagenum">56</span>
+replied the major, recalling his attempts to prevent the Bellevite from
+escaping from Mobile Bay. "He is a smart fellow, as the Yankees would
+say, and it is fortunate that he is not here at the present time."</p>
+
+<p>"He can't be very far off," suggested Corny. "He was expected back to
+supper, and I wanted to see him, for he is my cousin. He must be about
+here somewhere."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind whether he is or not; we have finished our business here,
+and the harvest is ripe for the sickle. We will leave this boat just
+where we found it, for I have a rowboat a little farther down the
+river," continued Captain Carboneer.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose I ought to return to my uncle's house," suggested Corny.
+"If they miss me they will be looking about here to ascertain what has
+become of&nbsp;me."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you had better not try to relieve their anxiety to-night. If
+they are worried about you, they will get over it in the morning when
+they find the steamer is missing," said Captain Carboneer, with
+something like a chuckle in his tones when he pictured the surprise of
+the "Yankees" in making the discovery that the Bellevite had
+<span class = "pagenum">57</span>
+taken to herself wings, and sped on her way to the South.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think they will worry about me," added Corny, laughing. "I
+was afraid they might think I was here to capture the city of New York,
+or something of that sort."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you had better not undeceive them to-night," replied the
+captain, as he ran the yacht upon the beach near where he had found
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything looks exceedingly well for our enterprise."</p>
+
+<p>"If you get that steamer into Mobile Bay"&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I don't intend to get her into the bay; that would be folly, and I
+shall run no risks among the blockaders, for a single shot might give
+her back to her present owners."</p>
+
+<p>"No matter; if you only get her, and she is under the flag of the
+Confederacy, it will put me back where I was when she went into the bay
+by a Yankee trick," added Major Pierson.</p>
+
+<p>"After the war, if you wish to see the young lady, you will have more
+time to attend to the affair, and I shall wish you every success then,"
+said the captain lightly.</p>
+
+<p>"How long do you think the war will last,
+<span class = "pagenum">58</span>
+Captain Carboneer?" asked the major, in this connection.</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly it may last a year, though if we can break up that
+blockade, it will not last six months longer."</p>
+
+<p>The trio landed on the beach, and the naval officer made sure that
+the Florence was securely fixed in the gravel. The party walked down
+stream, embarked in the boat of which the captain had spoken. It was
+pulled by two men, and after they had gone about a mile, the captain
+began to blow a boatswain's whistle which he took from his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>But they had hardly jumped down on the beach before Christy Passford
+opened the cabin door of the yacht, and crept out with the utmost
+care.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">59</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapV">CHAPTER V</a></h4>
+
+<h6>CAPTAIN CARBONEER AND HIS PARTY</h6>
+
+
+<p>As Captain Carboneer blew his whistle, a mile below the moorings of
+the Bellevite, an occasional response came from the shore. Everything
+was remarkably quiet on the river, though at long intervals a steamer
+passed on its way up or down the stream. The signals made by the naval
+officer were not loud, and the replies, made without the aid of any
+instrument, were quite feeble. One might have taken them for some frolic
+on the part of the boys.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't quite understand this business," said Major Pierson, after
+he had listened a while to the signals. "I suppose from the answers you
+get, that your men are all along the river, and the woods seem to be
+full of them."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no doubt they are all here," replied Captain Carboneer. "I
+have been in this vicinity all day, and I have made good use of my time.
+I
+<span class = "pagenum">60</span>
+believe the Bellevite belongs to the Confederacy, and it shall be no
+fault of mine if the goods are not delivered in good order and
+condition."</p>
+
+<p>"My father was confident that he should obtain her at Nassau, though
+he was mistaken," added the major.</p>
+
+<p>"But when she went within our lines, we were all satisfied that she
+was ours. I have not yet been able to understand why she was permitted
+to escape."</p>
+
+<p>"If you mean by that to cast any blame upon those who did their best
+to prevent her escape, Captain Carboneer, you wrong them grossly," said
+Major Pierson. "She came on a friendly visit to the plantation of
+Colonel Passford; but this gentleman, though the owner of the steamer
+was his own brother, promptly gave information of her presence in the
+creek, and did all he could to have her captured. No man could have
+sacrificed more to his patriotism than he did."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not reflect on him or on any one; I only wonder how the
+Bellevite contrived to escape when several steamers were sent out to
+capture her," added the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"The son of the owner of the Bellevite was a
+<span class = "pagenum">61</span>
+prisoner of mine, for when I had my brother arrested for desertion, this
+young man was with him. The only mistake I made was in not putting him
+in irons. The captain of my tug proved to be a traitor to the
+Confederacy, and this fellow, with Christy Passford, did the most of the
+mischief in preventing the capture of the steamer."</p>
+
+<p>"I was told that he was a smart boy," added the naval officer.</p>
+
+<p>"He is all of that; and I think it was very fortunate that he did not
+happen to be at home when we visited the Bellevite just now," said Major
+Pierson, who evidently had a proper respect for the abilities of the
+millionnaire's son.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not see that his presence in his father's mansion, if he had
+been there, could have made any difference," added the captain, as he
+sounded his whistle again, and heard a faint response from the shore.
+"As long as he was not actually on board of the steamer, he was
+harmless."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he was, though I have the feeling that it would have been
+otherwise. There was a whistle from the shore."</p>
+
+<p>"I heard it, and I understand it. Haslett has done his whole duty, I
+judge," replied Captain Carboneer.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">62</span>
+"Who is Haslett?" asked the major curiously. "I never heard of him
+before."</p>
+
+<p>"He is to be the first lieutenant of the Bellevite."</p>
+
+<p>"You seem to have a full supply of officers and men, Captain
+Carboneer," added Major Pierson, apparently a little disconcerted. "I do
+not see that I am of the least use here, for you seem to have done
+everything without consulting&nbsp;me."</p>
+
+<p>"In naval matters I have; but I give you full credit for the planning
+of the enterprise," replied the captain, in his softest tones.</p>
+
+<p>"When I was removed from my command because I allowed the steamer to
+pass the forts, I felt that a great injustice had been done to me. I did
+all I could to effect the capture of the vessel, but the attempt was a
+failure," argued the major. "The shot hole through the bow of the Belle
+utterly wrecked her, and the force on board of her could do nothing, and
+Christy Passford had brought my own tug to bear against me. Why, the
+Bellevite actually saved the force on board of the Belle from drowning.
+A violent gale came up, and that did a great deal to nullify all our
+efforts. But I think I did my whole duty."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">63</span>
+"I have no doubt of it, Major Pierson; and for that reason you were sent
+on this mission; and I am confident that the success of the enterprise
+will restore you to your former command, or give you another quite as
+good," said Captain Carboneer, as consolation to the military arm of the
+expedition.</p>
+
+<p>"But I cannot see that I have been of any use to this enterprise, and
+I might as well have staid at home."</p>
+
+<p>"You are too modest by half, major. You planned the expedition, and
+suggested that Corny should take part in it, as he would have the
+<i>entr&eacute;e</i> to the residence of Captain Passford. But, being a
+mere boy, he could not be sent alone, and your services were likely to
+be of the most important character. It is no fault of yours that we
+found everything made ready for us, as it were. It might have been quite
+different, and the burden of the action might have rested upon you. It
+is all right as it&nbsp;is."</p>
+
+<p>"I am satisfied," added the major, "though I think it was no more
+than right that you should have consulted me in regard to your methods,
+of which I am still profoundly ignorant. In getting
+<span class = "pagenum">64</span>
+up the scheme, I based everything on the fact that Corny could go into
+his uncle's house and obtain all the information we needed."</p>
+
+<p>"The scheme was well concocted; and I shall have the pleasure of
+reporting to the government that the military arm of the expedition
+conducted the enterprise to a perfect success, the naval force only
+doing the duty pointed out by the military."</p>
+
+<p>"You are very kind, Captain Carboneer," said Major Pierson, who could
+not well help being entirely satisfied, and even greatly pleased, with
+this happy showing of the final result.</p>
+
+<p>"By daylight in the morning we shall be outside of Sandy Hook, I
+expect. We have no time to waste, and you can see for yourself how the
+affair of the young lady would have complicated our operations."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you intend to convey these men, who seem to be scattered all
+along the shores of the river, to the steamer?"</p>
+
+<p>"They understand my signals, and they will all be ready within an
+hour to take a small steamer which will pick them&nbsp;up."</p>
+
+<p>"But where is the steamer?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is farther down the river. As you seem
+<span class = "pagenum">65</span>
+to be a little sensitive to the fact that I have not consulted you in
+regard to the naval operations of this enterprise, I can tell you in a
+few words all there is of them," continued Captain Carboneer. "As you
+are aware, as soon as our plan was matured by you, I left Mobile with
+Lieutenant Haslett, though you knew nothing about him, for Nassau. We
+had no difficulty in getting out of the bay, for the blockade was not
+then enforced. At Nassau I engaged a couple of English engineers, and a
+few other officers, with thirty seamen, mostly English, who were looking
+for prize-money. I had to take my force to Quebec, for no steamer
+offered for New York. I sent them all here in small parties, and Haslett
+posted them along the river when I told him they would be needed
+to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not leave Mobile till two weeks later with Corny," added the
+major. "But I got here sooner than you did."</p>
+
+<p>"You were more fortunate in finding a steamer. I believe I have a
+capital crew, though I shall obtain more men at Bermuda, or some other
+port. There are plenty of good English sailors who are willing to fight
+on either side if there is a good
+<span class = "pagenum">66</span>
+showing for prize-money; and I have no doubt I shall capture a dozen
+vessels before we reach the Bermudas, which will fully satisfy them,
+especially as the government will pay the value of all vessels we are
+compelled to burn on the high seas."</p>
+
+<p>"You will have the advantage over everything that floats, for I was
+told that the Bellevite made twenty knots an hour, and had done
+twenty-two," said Major Pierson. "At what time do you think you will get
+on board of the steamer?"</p>
+
+<p>"By one or two in the morning, I hope; but it will depend upon the
+steamer Haslett engages, though he told me he had bargained for an old
+one with a walking-beam; but that will answer our purpose. I believe he
+had to buy her, though she was of no great value."</p>
+
+<p>At a creek which appeared to be the rendezvous of the conspirators,
+the boat left the river; but there was no steamer, though quite a number
+of men had gathered there. Leaving the party in the boat to follow out
+the remaining details of their enterprise, which, by this time, in the
+absence of anything like an obstacle, they regarded as so many mere
+formalities, it becomes necessary to make another visit to the mansion
+of Captain
+<span class = "pagenum">67</span>
+Passford. This gentleman had gone to the city upon important business
+connected with the fitting out of the Bellevite, and he had not returned
+when the clock in the great hall struck ten, which was at about the time
+Captain Carboneer and his companions went into the creek five miles down
+the river.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no knowing when your father will come home, Florry," said
+Mrs. Passford, as she suspended her work on a stocking she was knitting
+for the soldiers. "But I can't imagine what has become of Christy. He
+never stays out as late as this unless he tells us of it
+beforehand."</p>
+
+<p>"I am really worried about him, mother," replied the beautiful
+daughter, looking up from the stocking on which she was employed. "He
+went away in the Florence, and something may have happened to him."</p>
+
+<p>"I think not, Florry: there has been no storm, or heavy blow, and he
+thinks he is as safe in his boat as he is on shore," added Mrs.
+Passford, with an effort to control the fears of the daughter. "He may
+have gone down to the city. He is very indignant at the delay in giving
+the order to have the steamer sent to the navy yard, and
+<span class = "pagenum">68</span>
+wherever he is, I am confident he is doing something in connection with
+the steamer."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I knew whether the Florence was at the boathouse," continued
+Florry. "He said he was going out in the boat; but perhaps he did not.
+Perhaps he is with father."</p>
+
+<p>"There is the front-door bell," added Mrs. Passford, with a start.
+"It cannot be your father or Christy, for both of them have latch-keys.
+Who could come here at this time in the evening?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Paul Vapoor," said the man-servant, who answered the bell.</p>
+
+<p>The gentleman announced walked into the sitting-room without any
+ceremony, for he had long been a familiar visitor. He was dressed in the
+full uniform of a chief engineer of the navy. Removing his cap, he
+politely bowed to the two ladies; and any one who was looking might have
+seen that Miss Florry blushed a little when she saw him; and very likely
+if Major Pierson had witnessed the roses on her fair cheek, he might
+possibly have concluded that it would have been useless to postpone the
+capture of the Bellevite to enable him to fortify his position near
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon, ladies, for calling so late,"
+<span class = "pagenum">69</span>
+said Mr. Vapoor, as he drew a long envelope from his pocket. "But I
+thought Christy might wish to see what is in this envelope before he
+retired."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what is in it?" asked Mrs. Passford.</p>
+
+<p>"Christy's commission as a midshipman in the navy."</p>
+
+<p>"But Christy is not at home, and we are somewhat anxious about him,"
+added the mother, stating the facts in regard to her son.</p>
+
+<p>Paul Vapoor volunteered to go in search of him, and left the
+house.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">70</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapVI">CHAPTER VI</a></h4>
+
+<h6>THE CABIN OF THE FLORENCE</h6>
+
+
+<p>If Captain Carboneer had felt any especial interest in the Florence
+as a sailing yacht, he might have desired to see the cabin of the craft,
+which had always been the delight of Christy Passford. He had expended a
+great deal of his pocket-money upon the arrangement and furnishing of
+the cabin of his yacht, not only because he spent a considerable portion
+of his vacation hours in it, but because it had been a perpetual study
+with him to enlarge and improve&nbsp;it.</p>
+
+<p>It is very difficult to get three pints of liquid into a quart
+measure, and it was a conundrum of this sort that Christy was studying
+upon when he tried to make a parlor, bedroom, and dining-saloon of the
+very limited space in the forward part of the Florence. Though he could
+hardly get the three pints into the quart measure, he had done the best
+he could, and succeeded to a rather remarkable
+<span class = "pagenum">71</span>
+degree. But spite of the miracle which had been wrought in the cabin,
+Captain Carboneer did not even try the door of the apartment when he and
+his companions went on board of the yacht. He was so absorbed in the
+enterprise in which he was engaged, that his indifference to the miracle
+of the cabin may be excused.</p>
+
+<p>Even the double doors of the cabin were of handsome wood, elaborately
+polished; and they were not secured with the usual appliance of a
+padlock, but were provided with an expensive mortise-lock, which could
+be operated upon either side. If Captain Carboneer had tried to open
+that door, he would have found that it was fastened; but perhaps he
+could not have discovered that it had been secured upon the inside.
+Unless, therefore, he had taken the trouble to break open the door, he
+could not have ascertained that Christy Passford was actually in the
+cabin.</p>
+
+<p>Possibly, if he had opened the door by any means, he would not have
+discovered that the proprietor of the boat was in this dainty apartment,
+for the skipper had taken a great deal of pains to conceal himself so
+that he should not be seen, even if the intruders in the Florence had
+<span class = "pagenum">72</span>
+succeeded in opening the doors without the aid of the key in his pocket.
+Though he had two very nice berths in the cabin, miraculously arranged
+as to space, Christy did not occupy one on the present occasion, for in
+that case the unbidden visitors would have seen him if their curiosity
+had led them to force the doors.</p>
+
+<p>When the cook of the Florence, usually the skipper of the craft, was
+engaged in the practice of the culinary art, he seated himself on what
+looked like a box in front of the stove. But the interior of this box
+was really a part of the cabin, for it contained the feet of any one
+occupying the berth on the starboard side. The cookroom had no end of
+bins, lockers and drawers to contain the variety of provisions and
+stores necessary to get up a dinner for the skipper and his guests, when
+he had any. And even all these places could not contain everything that
+was needed on board. Under the two berths were large, though not very
+deep, lockers, one of which contained the jib-topsail of the craft, and
+other spare sails, while the opposite one was the fuel locker of the
+sloop.</p>
+
+<p>As the boat had not been used for a long time in cruising, the fuel
+receptacle was empty, though
+<span class = "pagenum">73</span>
+a spare gaff-topsail had been thrown into it. This locker was big enough
+to admit the body-corporate of the skipper. It was not a particularly
+clean place, for a portion of it had been economized for the stowage of
+the charcoal, which the skipper preferred to wood. But he did not rebel
+at the blackness of the retreat he had chosen, for he wore his boating
+dress, which was hardly stylish enough for a dude or a dandy.</p>
+
+<p>But Skipper Passford did not crawl into this black hole for the fun
+of the thing. He had been spending his time in waiting for a movement to
+be made in regard to the Bellevite. He staid in the house all the
+forenoon, and, after lunch, he sailed down the river in the Florence,
+though with no object in doing so beyond passing the time. Not far from
+the beach where he had afterwards left the yacht, he discovered a boat
+rowed by two men with a third in the stern sheets.</p>
+
+<p>The breeze was quite gentle, though the Florence would sail at a very
+tolerable speed when there was the least apology for a wind. She was
+doing so on the present occasion, and Christy had stretched himself out
+on the cushioned seat, with the spokes of the wheel where he could steer
+without
+<span class = "pagenum">74</span>
+any exertion, or next to none. The idleness of his days since his return
+from the eventful cruise of the Bellevite seemed to have infected him
+with an unnatural indolence.</p>
+
+<p>He felt as though he was rather more than half asleep when he saw the
+boat with the two oarsmen. It was going up the river, while he was going
+down. He had to luff a little to keep clear of the oars, but he did not
+move from his half-recumbent posture. When the boat was alongside, he
+glanced idly and carelessly at the person in the stern sheets. Instantly
+he was wide awake, though he did not change his position. The person
+looked like a gentleman, and Christy was sure that he had seen him
+before. A couple of minutes of earnest cudgelling of his brain assured
+him that he had seen the stranger in Nassau; that he was one of the many
+who wanted to purchase the Bellevite, ostensibly for a merchant vessel,
+but really for the Confederate navy.</p>
+
+<p>After he had run a short distance farther down the river, Christy
+came about, the boat being some distance from him, but the gentleman
+soon landed and walked up the river on the shore, or very near it. In a
+short time, he was joined by another
+<span class = "pagenum">75</span>
+person, whose form looked familiar to the skipper of the Florence. He
+could not identify him, for he was not near enough to him to see his
+face. A puff of air came from across the river, and the Florence darted
+ahead, and Christy was soon out of sight of the two strangers.</p>
+
+<p>Near the boundary of his father's estate, he ran the yacht on the
+sandy beach, letting her strike the sand hard enough to stick where she
+was for half an hour, though she was not likely to get adrift, for the
+gentle breeze was blowing her farther on the shore as the tide rose.</p>
+
+<p>Christy hauled down the jib of the sloop, and then seated himself, or
+rather reclined upon the cushions, though in such a position that he
+could see the shore, or any persons who came upon it. No one was in
+sight, and he had no one to watch. The swash of a great steamer passing
+in the channel made his boat roll heavily for a moment, with the forward
+part of the bottom resting on the sand. For the want of something better
+to think of, he began to put conundrums to himself in the absence of any
+other person to perplex with them. What was the gentleman that wanted to
+buy a steamer in Nassau doing up the Hudson? This was the
+<span class = "pagenum">76</span>
+principal one: he could not answer it. He gave it up; as the French have
+it, he had to "throw his tongue to the dogs," having no use for it in
+this connection.</p>
+
+<p>But while he was dreaming of the possible mission of the stranger, he
+heard voices on the beach. Not deeming it wise to show himself, he
+rolled off the cushion upon the floor of the standing-room, and then
+fixed himself in a position where he could see and hear what passed
+between the speakers. He could see without being seen. It did not
+require a second look for him to decide that the second person on the
+beach was Major Pierson, though his companion called him Mulgate.</p>
+
+<p>If Christy had been interested before, he was excited now. The two
+speakers were within earshot of the boat, and in the stillness of the
+scene he could hear every word that was said. In a few moments he was in
+full possession of the statements of the captain and the major in regard
+to their intentions; and it appeared that the gentleman he had seen in
+Nassau still desired to obtain a steamer.</p>
+
+<p>Before it was dark, Christy was astonished to behold his cousin Corny
+on the other side of the
+<span class = "pagenum">77</span>
+fence; and he readily understood that he was to take part in the
+enterprise in hand. As yet the listener had obtained but little more
+than the information in regard to the intention of the visitors. When he
+found that they were disposed to take possession of the Florence, and
+make their visit to the Bellevite in her, the skipper retired from the
+standing-room of the boat to the cabin, where he locked the door, and
+put the key in his pocket. When he realized that they really meant to
+come on board, he crawled into the space under the starboard berth, and
+arranged the sail so that it would conceal him in case the intruders
+pushed their investigation into the cabin.</p>
+
+<p>When he had completed his preparations, he was quite satisfied that
+he should not be discovered. The trio came on board, and Christy fixed
+himself so that he could hear every word that was said, for there was a
+small opening under the berth through which the superfluous length of a
+pair of oars could be thrust when not in use.</p>
+
+<p>Christy, without the remotest suspicion on the part of the plotters
+that they could be heard by any living being, and especially not by so
+dangerous a character as Christy had proved himself
+<span class = "pagenum">78</span>
+to be to the peace and dignity of the Confederacy, heard all that was
+said, and he obtained a full idea of the intentions of the conspirators.
+When they went on board of the Bellevite, he was so excited that he
+could no longer remain in his prison, but came out, and crept up the
+accommodation ladder to the deck of the steamer. But he was careful not
+to show himself, and, having a key to the cabin, he went into it,
+locking the door after him. Then he had a chance to think.</p>
+
+<p>What should he do? He had no force at hand to beat off such a party
+as Captain Carboneer mentioned. They might carry out their plot that
+very night, as they had talked of doing. Perhaps it would be executed at
+once, even while he was on board, and he would then be a prisoner. This
+idea was too galling to be considered, and he left the cabin to visit
+the wardroom. Going still farther forward, he was surprised to hear the
+roar of the flames in the furnaces below. It looked at that moment as
+though the Bellevite was doomed to sail under a Confederate flag. But if
+he could do nothing more, he could save himself, even if he had to jump
+into the river and swim to the shore.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">79</span>
+Christy lost no time in making his way to the main deck of the vessel;
+but he was careful to avoid the visitors. He went back to the cabin, and
+went on deck from it. Then he discovered that the trio were in the act
+of descending the accommodation steps. Mounting the rail he saw them
+embark in the Florence, and sail down the river. Dismounting from the
+rail, he hastened to the engine-room, where he found Sampson getting the
+engine ready to be put in motion.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Christy, I thought you had gone," said the oiler.</p>
+
+<p>"Who were those two men who were on board?" asked Christy, not a
+little excited.</p>
+
+<p>"They were two gentlemen you brought on board, Christy," replied
+Sampson, innocently enough.</p>
+
+<p>"That I brought on board!" exclaimed the skipper of the Florence.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir: and I thought you had gone ashore with them," added the
+oiler.</p>
+
+<p>"I brought no men on board, Sampson! What are you talking about?"
+demanded Christy impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't you bring two gentlemen on board, and
+<span class = "pagenum">80</span>
+didn't one of them want to measure the carriage of the big gun?"</p>
+
+<p>"No! I did not! I have not seen you before now this evening,"
+protested Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I have lost my senses. Didn't you tell me to get up steam,
+because the steamer would be moved to the navy yard before daylight in
+the morning?" demanded Sampson, bewildered by the denial of the young
+man.</p>
+
+<p>"I see now," added Christy. "You mistook Corny for me."</p>
+
+<p>Sampson gave him all the details of the visit of the strangers.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">81</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapVII">CHAPTER VII</a></h4>
+
+<h6>MIDSHIPMAN CHRISTY PASSFORD</h6>
+
+
+<p>"In a word, Sampson, an attempt will be made to-night to capture the
+Bellevite, and you have been getting up steam for the conspirators,"
+said Christy, when the ship-keeper had finished his narrative of the
+visit of the trio to the ship.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that so?" exclaimed Sampson, opening his mouth and his eyes very
+wide at the same time. "Why, I had no more doubt that the young man who
+was talking to me was Christy than I have that he is talking to me
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"You had better look at me again, and be sure that you make no
+mistake," replied Christy, rather disgusted at the failure of the man to
+identify him.</p>
+
+<p>"I never once thought that it was not you. When the sailboat came
+alongside, I knew it was the Florence, and I supposed you were in her,"
+pleaded Sampson. "But I spoke to you, as I supposed, when the boat came
+alongside."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">82</span>
+"Did you? What did you say?" asked Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"I said 'Is that you, Christy?' And you said 'Yes.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I did! What else could I say after you had told the enemy
+just how to proceed. You could not have expected any other answer."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose I was very stupid; but I hope no harm has been done, for
+they have not got the steamer yet," added Sampson, very much
+disconcerted at the blunder he had made, though an older officer than
+Christy might have had more charity for the ship-keeper.</p>
+
+<p>Seen in broad daylight, there was no striking resemblance between
+Corny and Christy, though they were of about the same size, and had some
+traits in common. As Corny and his companions came in the Florence, it
+was not very strange that Sampson should take it for granted that
+Christy was one of the evening visitors. The voices of the two cousins
+were not unlike, and the sound was all he had to guide his judgment.
+Then he was not in the enemy's country, and he could hardly have been on
+the lookout for an enemy several miles up the river.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly no harm has been done, Sampson;
+<span class = "pagenum">83</span>
+but it is yet to be decided whether or not the Bellevite is to go into
+the navy of the United States or the navy of the Confederate States,"
+added Christy, leaving the engine-room.</p>
+
+<p>"If we have snuffed the whole thing, I don't believe this steamer
+will ever wear anything but the Stars and Stripes," said Sampson
+stoutly; and there could be no doubt in regard to his loyalty, judging
+from his speech, though that is not always to be trusted in time of
+war.</p>
+
+<p>"Bellevite, ahoy!" shouted some one at the foot of the accommodation
+steps.</p>
+
+<p>"Have they come again so soon?" asked Sampson, as he rushed to the
+rail. "It is only a small canoe."</p>
+
+<p>"Is Christy on board?" called the visitor alongside.</p>
+
+<p>"That is Mr. Vapoor: tell him I am on board," added Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"Christy is on board, sir," replied Sampson to the hail. "Will you
+come on board, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>Paul Vapoor would and did come on board, and Christy gave him a
+hearty welcome, for he was more glad to see him than he had ever been
+before in his life.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">84</span>
+"Where have you been all day and all the evening, Christy?" asked the
+engineer. "Your mother and sister are very much worried about you, for
+they have not seen you for a long time, and they fear that something has
+happened to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Something is likely to happen to me and all the rest of us who
+expect to go to sea in this steamer," replied Christy, as he proceeded
+to inform his friend as briefly as he could of the great event of the
+evening.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if we are not in the enemy's country, the enemy are in ours,"
+replied Paul. "What is to be done?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is what I have been thinking of. I listened very attentively to
+all that passed between Major Pierson and Captain Carboneer, and I am
+satisfied that the latter has a considerable force somewhere on the
+river, and their headquarters are at the mouth of a creek five miles
+down the river."</p>
+
+<p>"How many have they?" asked the engineer.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; they did not mention the number in figures, but they
+have enough to work the ship, and even to fight her," replied Christy,
+very seriously.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">85</span>
+"That means forty or fifty, at least," added Paul. "This looks like a
+heavy matter, and it is quite time that something was done
+about&nbsp;it."</p>
+
+<p>"But what shall we do is the question," said Christy anxiously. "We
+have two men on board beside ourselves, and we can hardly expect to hold
+our own against fifty."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is this Captain Carboneer?"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw him at Nassau, and he looked like a man of decision and
+character. I don't know anything about him, but I have no doubt he is a
+naval officer, both from the circumstances and from what I heard. I
+should say that he knows what he is about. You said that my father has
+not yet returned from the city?"</p>
+
+<p>"He had not come at ten o'clock, and if he comes at all, the late
+train does not arrive till after twelve."</p>
+
+<p>"It may be too late to do anything at that time," said Christy. "But
+I don't mean to give up the ship."</p>
+
+<p>"Good! I am with you on that point, Christy. I called at your house
+to inform you that you had been appointed a midshipman in the navy, and
+you are likely to have a chance to christen your
+<span class = "pagenum">86</span>
+commission to-night. This was all the rank they could give you, though
+you will really be a passed midshipman, and be a master very soon."</p>
+
+<p>Christy was delighted with this news, though he had no time to make a
+demonstration of delight over it. He had narrowly escaped being the
+third officer of the Bellevite the year before, because his father did
+not believe in putting him forward as fast as his abilities would have
+warranted him in doing. Captain Breaker and Paul Vapoor had made the
+application for a position in the navy; for his father would not do it,
+for the reason that he did not wish to ask any favors for a member of
+his own family.</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you and Captain Breaker for all you have done for me, Paul,
+and I hope I shall be able to give a good account of myself. But we have
+no time to talk about that now. Captain Carboneer was waiting for a
+steamer which his naval associate, Lieutenant Haslett, was to charter or
+buy for the use of the party," said Christy, as he led the way to the
+forward deck of the steamer.</p>
+
+<p>He and the engineer mounted the top-gallant forecastle, and looked
+intently down the river. The tide was coming in, so that the vessel, in
+<span class = "pagenum">87</span>
+coming up to her cable, pointed in that direction. But they could see
+nothing, not a craft of any description. Then Christy led the way to the
+long gun mounted amidships. He sighted across the piece, and, in a
+moment more, his mind seemed to have settled on the policy to be pursued
+in the present dangerous emergency. Perhaps the capture of a steamer
+under such circumstances was a thing unheard of at that time, but
+doubtless it looked simple enough to those who were engaged in the
+enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think of engaging the enemy at long range, Christy?" asked
+Paul, with a smile on his fine face, as seen by the light of the lantern
+which Sampson had brought to the place.</p>
+
+<p>"I think of beating them off in any way we can," replied the middy,
+as his friends all called him from that time. "I have the gun pointing
+to a certain object on the river, which Captain Carboneer's steamer must
+pass. He can't help putting his craft where the muzzle of this piece
+will cover it; and if we pull the lock-string at that instant, the shot
+will knock his steamer all to pieces, and spill the conspirators into
+the river."</p>
+
+<p>"If you hit her," suggested Paul.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">88</span>
+"You can't very well help hitting her. Just squint along that gun, and
+see where the shot will bring&nbsp;up."</p>
+
+<p>Paul complied with this request, and took a long look over the great
+gun.</p>
+
+<p>"I should say that it was pointed a little too high,"
+said&nbsp;he.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it is; I have not fixed it just as I mean to have it. We
+will put in the charge before we do that," added Christy, who was now as
+self-possessed as though there was no excitement attending the operation
+he was arranging.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know what steamer Captain Carbine will have?" asked Paul.</p>
+
+<p>"Not Carbine; Carboneer. No, I don't know what steamer he will have;
+only that she is an old one, and has a walking-beam," replied
+Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"That is rather indefinite, midshipman," added Paul, with a smile.
+"You can't always tell what a steamer is by looking at her, especially
+in the night; and a walking-beam is not a novelty on a steamer upon this
+river. You may send that shot through the wrong vessel; and if you
+should happen to kill a dozen or two of loyal citizens of the State of
+New York, they might be mean enough
+<span class = "pagenum">89</span>
+to hang you, or send you to the State prison for life for it. It won't
+do to fire off a shotted gun like that baby without knowing pretty well
+what you are shooting&nbsp;at."</p>
+
+<p>"That is a long argument, Paul; and I have not the remotest idea of
+doing any such thing as you describe. I am going to know what we are
+firing at before we pull the lock-string," replied Christy, rather
+impatiently. "But we have no time to dig up mare's nests. We will get up
+the ammunition and load this gun; then we will do the rest of the
+business."</p>
+
+<p>As ship-keeper and a member of the engineer's department for the last
+year, Sampson knew where everything was to be found. With all the usual
+precautions, the magazine was opened, and ammunition enough for three
+charges was conveyed to the deck, Warping having been called in to
+assist in the work. The gun was carefully loaded under the direction of
+Christy, who had been fully instructed and drilled in the duty. It was
+pointed as nearly as practicable to the point in the channel which the
+hostile steamer must pass, though the aim was to be rectified at the
+last moment.</p>
+
+<p>Paul went to his stateroom and took off his
+<span class = "pagenum">90</span>
+handsome uniform, replacing it with a suit of his working garments. Then
+he hastened to the engine, examined it, and satisfied himself that it
+was in good condition for the office which was soon to be required of
+it. He gave Sampson particular directions for his duty, and then went
+down the accommodation steps with the midshipman.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you going to do next, Christy?" asked Paul, for the young
+naval officer had been too busy with his preparations to develop his
+plan in full.</p>
+
+<p>"We will go ashore first, and I will take the Florence to the
+boat-house," replied Christy. "The next thing to be done is to make a
+reconnoissance down the river."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not go down in the Florence?" suggested Paul.</p>
+
+<p>"Because that would be too simple and innocent altogether," replied
+the middy; and perhaps he felt some of the dignity of his new rank. "I
+think we had better see without being seen, especially as Captain
+Carboneer has seen and sailed the sloop. I have no doubt he has a sharp,
+nautical eye, and that he will recognize her. He might
+<span class = "pagenum">91</span>
+be rash enough to capture her, and thus deprive the United States Navy
+of two young, but able and hopeful officers, to say nothing of bottling
+them up so that he could make short work of the Bellevite."</p>
+
+<p>"You are right, Christy, as you always are. But see your mother
+before you do anything, and I will obey orders. She worries about
+you."</p>
+
+<p>They landed and hastened to the mansion.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">92</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapVIII">CHAPTER VIII</a></h4>
+
+<h6>ARRANGING THE SIGNALS</h6>
+
+
+<p>Mrs. Passford was astounded at the news brought in by her son, and
+Miss Florry was terrified when informed that Major Pierson was not far
+from the mansion. But Paul Vapoor assured the latter that there was no
+danger, and Christy convinced his mother, who had a great deal of
+confidence in him, that he was fully equal to the occasion.</p>
+
+<p>"But I do not see that you can beat off the assailants if they happen
+to get alongside of the Bellevite," suggested Mrs. Passford. "There are
+only four of you at the most."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope for re-enforcements," replied Christy, as he rang a bell for
+a servant. "Beeks and Thayer, two of the quartermasters, live in the
+village; Mr. Watts, the chief steward, and three others of the old
+ship's company, live near here, and I think we can raise half a dozen
+more, making ten in all."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">93</span>
+"I know where to find half a dozen coal-passers," added Paul.</p>
+
+<p>"Then we shall do very well if we succeed in finding all these,"
+added Christy, as the man-servant came to the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Call up all the stablemen, and have two horses saddled as quick as
+possible," continued Christy to the man.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that for, Christy?" asked Paul, who had succeeded in quieting
+the fears of Miss Florry.</p>
+
+<p>He was not altogether inexperienced in this duty, for the young lady
+had been alarmed more than once on board of the steam yacht, and he was
+always more successful than any other person at these times.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't stop to talk it all over, Paul; but if you will trust me, I
+will tell you as we go along what I think of doing," replied
+Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, midshipman; I belong to the engine department, and we
+always obey orders even if the ship goes down," added Paul,
+laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"I am willing enough to tell you, but I have not the time to spin a
+long yarn, and perhaps answer objections, just now. We will mount the
+<span class = "pagenum">94</span>
+horses as soon as they come to the door, and drum up the force we have
+mentioned."</p>
+
+<p>Christy continued by giving Paul the names of those he was to visit
+and summon to the deck of the Bellevite, and then they were to meet at a
+given place. They mounted the two fleet horses which Christy had
+selected for the occasion, and dashed off to the town, a short distance
+from the river. The middy found the two quartermasters, who boarded in
+the same house. They were to go on board of the steamer at once; but
+Beeks was to bring a canoe from the boat-house to the point on the shore
+nearest to the Bellevite before he went on board. Both of these men were
+cautioned not to say anything about any person they might see, and the
+same instruction was given to all the others whose services were
+required.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Watts had not retired when Christy called at his house, and he
+was duly startled by the information the young officer gave him. He was
+as ready to take part in the enterprise as even the middy himself, and
+he was conducted to the place where Paul was to meet the leader. He had
+more calls to make than Christy, and they had to wait some time for him;
+but when he did come, he
+<span class = "pagenum">95</span>
+reported that he had found and sent on board all the firemen and
+coal-passers he had named, and a few more, besides the old sailors who
+had sailed for years in the yachts of the owner of the Bellevite.</p>
+
+<p>The services of about a dozen had been procured, but half of these
+were to do duty in connection with the engine, and the party so hastily
+gathered were not strong enough to beat off the force of the enemy if
+they attempted to board the vessel.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Paul, I want you to understand the whole affair before we go
+any farther; and I wish you would go on board and take the command
+there," said the midshipman, as soon as the engineer had reported the
+result of his mission.</p>
+
+<p>"But are you not going to be on board, Christy? I don't pretend to be
+a sailor or a gunner," said Paul.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall go on board as soon as I can," replied Christy. "You will
+find a boat on the shore, near the steamer, and you will go on board in
+that; but have the boat sent back for&nbsp;me."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, Christy; I will obey orders," added Paul, as he
+dismounted from his horse.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Watts will take your horse, and ride with
+<span class = "pagenum">96</span>
+me down the shore. We can see the river all the way, for we shall not
+stick to the road when it leads us away from it. As soon as we discover
+the steamer that is to bring up the enemy, I will run my horse back to
+this point, and go on board."</p>
+
+<p>"That is all easy enough," added Paul.</p>
+
+<p>"Easy enough; but I can form no idea as to when the steamer will
+come. We may have to wait till morning for it, and perhaps the plan of
+the enemy will fail, and they will not come at all."</p>
+
+<p>"If they don't come to-night, they never will; and there will be time
+enough for the home guard to scour the woods, and arrest all suspicious
+persons."</p>
+
+<p>"I said what I did so that you need not be impatient if you have to
+wait a long time. You will have a watch kept from the moment you get on
+board, and no stranger is to be allowed to put a foot on the deck.
+Captain Carboneer may send some one of his party to see that everything
+is working right on board for his side of the affair."</p>
+
+<p>"I will do that."</p>
+
+<p>"See that the steam is well up, so that we can move off in good time
+if we find it necessary to get under way," continued Christy.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">97</span>
+"I thought that was a settled point, and the ship was to be taken down
+the river in any case," said Paul.</p>
+
+<p>"I supposed so myself in the beginning; but if it is not necessary to
+run away, I don't care to do so. Let Boxie see that the cable is buoyed
+and ready to run out at a moment's notice."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, midshipman," replied Paul, as he hastened to the
+boat.</p>
+
+<p>"Why does he call you midshipman?&mdash;that is a new name," said the
+chief steward.</p>
+
+<p>"He brought me the news this evening that I had been appointed in the
+navy with that rank," replied Christy. "Now we will ride down the river.
+Do you happen to know what time it is, Mr. Watts?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, but I think it is about half-past eleven. I am not
+much of an equestrian," replied the steward, as he mounted the horse,
+"for I have been to sea all my life; but I think I can stay on if the
+beast don't run away with&nbsp;me."</p>
+
+<p>"He is perfectly gentle, and he will not run away with you. We have
+no occasion to ride fast, and we may not have to go more than two or
+three miles."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">98</span>
+They rode along the river for a few minutes, and then Christy reined in
+his steed and dismounted. He went to the water side, at a point where
+there was a bend, and carefully examined the surroundings, both above
+and below. He could not see the Bellevite in the darkness, for he had
+directed the engineer to allow no light to be shown on board of her. He
+had brought a little mathematics into his calculations, and he had
+pointed the big gun of the steamer so as to cover the craft with the
+walking-beam when she came in sight around this turn of the stream. By
+this plan she was sure to come into the range of the piece, no matter on
+which side of the channel she was moving.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Mr. Watts, I have a further duty for you to perform," said
+Christy, as he explained his plan to the steward. "We shall go down the
+river till we meet this steamer which conveys the enemy. As you are a
+sailor as well as a caterer, you have a nautical eye, and when you have
+seen this steamer you will know her again."</p>
+
+<p>"Trust me for that. If it is the old tub I think it is, I know her
+already," answered the steward.</p>
+
+<p>"What steamer do you think it is?"</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">99</span>
+"The old Vampire; and if you give her much of a rap, she will go to the
+bottom without the least difficulty."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care where she goes to, provided she don't put her
+passengers on board of the Bellevite. But I am taking you down the river
+with me in order that you may see her and know her."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall know her as soon as I see her."</p>
+
+<p>"As I said before, I shall run my horse back and get aboard of the
+Bellevite as soon as I am satisfied that the enemy are moving up the
+river," continued Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid I shall not be able to keep up with you if you run your
+horse," suggested the steward.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want you to keep up with me. You can come along as leisurely
+as you please, though you must not let the enemy get ahead of you."</p>
+
+<p>"If the enemy are in the old Vampire, I could keep ahead of her on
+foot."</p>
+
+<p>"You had better keep ahead of her on your horse about a quarter of a
+mile, or more; but your main duty will be here. I have brought with me
+half a dozen Roman candles, and I am going to fix them in the ground on
+this spot. Here is a
+<span class = "pagenum">100</span>
+bunch of matches," said Christy, handing it to him.</p>
+
+<p>The steward watched the midshipman while he planted the fireworks in
+the sand, and particularly marked the spot where they were located, for
+his companion told him he was to fire them, and he must be ready to do
+so without any delay.</p>
+
+<p>"A boy could do that and like the fun of it," said Mr. Watts,
+laughing at the simple duty he was to perform.</p>
+
+<p>"But it is the time that you are to do it, and the boy might be
+skylarking, or become impatient. This signal of the fireworks is to
+assure us at the right moment that the Vampire, if it should be she, is
+in the place where I expect her to&nbsp;be."</p>
+
+<p>"I understand it perfectly."</p>
+
+<p>"After I leave you, another steamer may come along, and get to this
+point ahead of the Vampire; and I should be very sorry to blow her out
+of the water, or sink her under it. You are to let us know by this
+signal that it is the Vampire, and no other, that is coming round the
+bend. You had better leave your horse a short distance from the river,
+for that gun will make every pane of glass within a mile of it shake
+when it is discharged."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">101</span>
+"You may be sure that I will not be on his back at that time."</p>
+
+<p>"Still further: I have planted six candles in the sand. You will
+light only one of them when the steamer begins to round the bend. That
+will be enough to inform us of the fact on board of the Bellevite."</p>
+
+<p>"What are the others for?" asked the steward, taking a
+memorandum-book from his pocket as though he intended to write his
+instructions.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not necessary to write it. We shall not be able to see what
+effect the shot produces after we fire. If the Vampire, always supposing
+she is the one, is not hurt, light a second candle&mdash;only one of
+them. If she should be disabled, you will light two candles."</p>
+
+<p>Christy repeated what he had said, and was careful not to give the
+steward too much to remember. As soon as the matter was fully
+understood, the middy mounted his horse, and they proceeded on their
+mission down the river. After they had ridden about three miles, Mr.
+Watts insisted that the steamer was coming, and that it was the
+Vampire.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see anything," added Christy.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">102</span>
+"Neither do I; but I know that the Vampire is coming up the river. If
+you listen, you will hear a hoarse puffing; and nothing but that old ark
+could make such a wheezy noise," replied the steward.</p>
+
+<p>The middy heard it and was satisfied.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">103</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapIX">CHAPTER IX</a></h4>
+
+<h6>THE APPROACH OF THE VAMPIRE</h6>
+
+
+<p>The Vampire, as the steward had no doubt it was, could not be less
+than a mile distant from the spot where the two horsemen had halted in
+the road. Christy was very familiar with this portion of the river, and
+after he had listened a few moments, he was satisfied from the direction
+of the sound he heard, that a mile was very nearly the exact distance.
+The approaching steamer had to come around a small bend, the arc of
+which made just a mile.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't wish to blow up a dozen or twenty loyal citizens, and I must
+make sure in some way that Captain Carboneer's party is on board of that
+steamer," said Christy, as he led his horse into a field, and tied him
+to a tree, the steward following his example.</p>
+
+<p>"That would be a very bad thing to do," added Mr. Watts, as they
+walked back to the river.
+<span class = "pagenum">104</span>
+"But I don't see why it is necessary to blow up even any rebels on the
+present occasion. If that naval officer has forty men, as you think he
+has, a shot from that long gun would make terrible havoc among them if
+you succeeded in hitting her. You might kill half of them."</p>
+
+<p>"If we do they, and not we, will be responsible for it," added
+Christy, somewhat appalled by the suggestion of his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"If you have steam up on board of the Bellevite, why not get under
+way and run down the river," continued Mr. Watts.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I am a coward, but I am afraid to do that," replied the
+midshipman, thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"We all know that you are no coward, Christy, and if you don't send a
+shot into the Vampire, it will not be because you are afraid."</p>
+
+<p>"Although I know the river as well as any pilot in this vicinity, I
+should not dare to run the Bellevite at full speed around such a bend as
+the one off this spot," Christy explained. "We have not above half a
+dozen trained sailors who know how to handle a cutlass on board, and all
+the others will be needed in working the steamer. The coal-passers would
+be good for nothing in repelling boarders."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">105</span>
+"You think Captain Carboneer would board the steamer, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have no doubt he would. He is a naval officer, and he knows what
+he is about. There are several ways that he might get a hold on the
+Bellevite, and, if he got alongside of her, I am afraid it would be all
+up with us, and we should have a fair chance to see the inside of a
+Confederate prison. I am afraid to run the risk you suggest, Mr.
+Watts."</p>
+
+<p>"You know best, and I don't mean to interfere; I only thought I would
+suggest the idea," added the steward, as they reached the bank of the
+river again.</p>
+
+<p>After he had secured his horse, Christy had lighted a match and
+looked at his watch. It was a quarter of one, and still the puffing of
+the Vampire came from the same direction. It was plain enough to him
+that the old tub was not a racer. But she showed herself beyond the bend
+in about a quarter of an hour, indicating that her rate of speed, or
+rather of slowness, was not more than four statute miles an hour. But
+this was simply confirmation of what the steward had said on the
+subject. Yet she was coming, though it was too
+<span class = "pagenum">106</span>
+dark on the river to see her in detail. Though he strained his eyes to
+the utmost, Christy could not discover any men on her forward deck.</p>
+
+<p>"I think you had better move back where you cannot be seen," said the
+midshipman, in a low tone, to his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you wish me to leave you alone, Christy?" asked the steward,
+surprised at the request.</p>
+
+<p>"That is just what I wish, for I don't care to have any one on board
+of the Vampire see more than one person at this point," replied Christy,
+still gazing through the gloom at the approaching steamer.</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, Christy; but what are you going to do? I prefer to be
+within supporting distance of you."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I shall need any support. I am going to hail the
+Vampire, and ask if Captain Carboneer is on board," replied the
+midshipman, quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"You are going to hail her!" exclaimed Mr. Watts. "Are you mad,
+Christy? I should say that you were."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall be your own judge on that point."</p>
+
+<p>"But the moment you use the name of Captain
+<span class = "pagenum">107</span>
+Carboneer, they will take the alarm, and the next thing will be a bullet
+through your head."</p>
+
+<p>"I will take the risk of that," answered Christy. "But you need not
+go far from the river on this dark night. There is a clump of bushes
+this side of the road, and you may get behind&nbsp;it."</p>
+
+<p>The steward was not at all satisfied with the situation, but he
+complied with the request of the midshipman, and concealed himself
+behind the bushes. Christy took a position on the very verge of the
+water. The progress of the Vampire was made at the expense of a hideous
+noise, and she was a craft not at all adapted to the purpose of the
+conspirators. The middy watched her with the most intense interest as
+she approached the point where he was stationed. There was no light to
+be seen on board, and there appeared to be no men on her lower deck; but
+she had a cabin and other rooms, in which a force as large as that of
+the captain could be concealed.</p>
+
+<p>"Steamer, ahoy!" shouted Christy, as soon as the Vampire was abreast
+of the spot he occupied.</p>
+
+<p>No answer came to this hail, and the midshipman repeated it, louder
+than before.</p>
+
+<p>"On shore!" replied a voice from the forward deck.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">108</span>
+"Come up to the shore, and take me on board, will you?" continued
+Christy, disguising his voice to some extent the better to answer his
+purpose.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is it?" demanded the person on board who acted as speaker; and
+Christy could see his form very distinctly, as he stood at an open
+gangway, and was the only person in sight on the lower deck.</p>
+
+<p>"Brigster," replied Christy, chewing up the word he coined so that
+the man could not possibly make it out.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you alone, Brewster?" demanded the speaker from the steamer.</p>
+
+<p>This was a hard question, and with less information than he had
+obtained while in his cabin on board of the Florence, he would not have
+dared to reply to it. But he knew something of the plan of the
+conspirators, and he felt competent to answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Three more back in the road," replied Christy, promptly; and he said
+three so as to give the idea that the force on board might be increased
+by this number. "Is Captain Carboneer on board of that steamer?" asked
+the midshipman, coming to his main point.</p>
+
+<p class = "illustration">
+<img src = "images/pic108.png" width = "321" height = "500"
+alt = "illustration of quoted scene"><br>
+<span class = "caption">
+"<span class = "smallcaps">Steamer, Ahoy!" shouted
+Christy</span>.&mdash;Page 107.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">109</span>
+"He is, and we are all here but four," replied the speaker on the deck;
+and Christy was satisfied that the captain was the person by this time,
+for his language and his voice indicated that he was an educated
+man.</p>
+
+<p>"We had no boat, and we could not get across the river to the creek,"
+added Christy, to increase the confidence of the leader of the
+expedition. "But we saw a boat half at mile up the river, and we will
+come off there, if you say&nbsp;so."</p>
+
+<p>"All right; come on board as soon as you can," added Captain
+Carboneer, as he walked away from the gangway.</p>
+
+<p>Mindful of the peril of the situation, Christy walked leisurely back
+from the river, and soon joined Mr. Watts, who had been near enough to
+hear the conversation between the captain and the midshipman.</p>
+
+<p>"That was done very handsomely, Christy," said the steward.</p>
+
+<p>"There was no great difficulty in handling such a matter when one
+knew all about the plot as I did. The fault on the other side was that
+they did not examine the cabin of the Florence before they discussed
+their plans in the standing-room," replied
+<span class = "pagenum">110</span>
+Christy, as he unfastened his horse, and sprang upon his back. "I have
+no time to spare now."</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing more to be done here, I believe," added Mr.
+Watts.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a thing. You can ride back to the place where the Roman candles
+are planted, and you need not hurry about it, for the Vampire don't make
+more than four miles an hour. Now be particular to carry out my
+instructions to the letter, Mr. Watts; and you can see that a great deal
+depends upon which signal you may have occasion to give," added the
+midshipman.</p>
+
+<p>"I understand what I am to do perfectly, and I will do my duty
+faithfully, you may be sure," replied the steward, as he mounted his
+horse.</p>
+
+<p>Christy did not wait for him, but put his steed into a dead run on
+the moment. The road was only a cart-path, and it was so soft that the
+horse's hoofs made no noise to betray his movements to the enemy. He
+urged the willing beast to his utmost speed, for he was as much at home
+in the saddle as he was in the rigging of a ship. Before the Vampire had
+made another eighth of a mile, he had reached the place where
+<span class = "pagenum">111</span>
+the boat had been left for his use. What to do with his horse was a
+question, for the report of the big gun would set him crazy. But he knew
+that the men must be at the house, and he turned the animal loose,
+satisfied that he would go to the stable without any guidance.</p>
+
+<p>Springing into the boat, he pulled to the Bellevite. At the
+accommodation steps, he was challenged by Sampson, who demanded like one
+in authority who and what he was, for the experience of the evening had
+greatly sharpened his wits.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is it?" he demanded, in a tone which implied his intention to
+have a satisfactory answer. "Advance and give the word."</p>
+
+<p>"Give the word!" exclaimed Christy. "I have no word to give."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you can't come on board," replied Sampson dogmatically.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Christy Passford, and I have not heard about any word,"
+protested the midshipman.</p>
+
+<p>"You can't pour molasses down my back again," replied Sampson, with a
+self-satisfied air.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be a fool, Sampson," added Christy, as he climbed upon the
+steps, the lower part of which had been hoisted&nbsp;up.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">112</span>
+"I have been a fool once, and I don't mean to be again," replied the
+sentinel. "On deck, there! Bring a lantern out of the engine-room!"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't bring a lantern in sight!" protested Christy impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the row there, Sampson?" called Paul Vapoor, mounting the
+rail, and looking through the darkness at the steps, down which the
+vigilant sentinel had descended more than half way to the water.</p>
+
+<p>"This fellow says he is Christy Passford; and I don't know whether it
+is Christy or not," replied Sampson.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that you, Christy?" asked Paul.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it is," replied the middy. "We are wasting time."</p>
+
+<p>"He hasn't the word," added the sentinel.</p>
+
+<p>"Pass him, Sampson; he is all right," said the engineer; and Christy
+rushed up the steps, and leaped down upon the deck of the steamer.</p>
+
+<p>"I gave out a word for all who had to leave the ship for any purpose
+during the evening," Paul explained.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind that now," interposed the midshipman in command. "Have
+you plenty of steam&nbsp;on?"</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">113</span>
+"Enough to give her fifteen knots," replied the engineer. "The cable is
+buoyed, and the long gun loaded. I believe everything is in perfect
+order to carry out your instructions, though we did not point the gun
+when we loaded it, for I thought you would prefer to do that yourself,"
+the engineer reported.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, Paul," added Christy. "The steamer, whose name is the
+Vampire, is on her way up the river, and I should say she would reach
+the bend in about half an hour. Mr. Watts is down there, and I have
+arranged certain signals with him."</p>
+
+<p>The midshipman made a careful examination for himself of the
+ship.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">114</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapX">CHAPTER X</a></h4>
+
+<h6>A SHOT FROM THE LONG GUN</h6>
+
+
+<p>Christy Passford, as soon as he found that all the other preparations
+for the decisive event had been made, turned his attention to the aiming
+of the long gun. He had practised with it somewhat before; and in the
+ambitious spirit of a boy, he had often amused himself by sighting over
+the top of the piece.</p>
+
+<p>There was no sort of duty on board of a vessel, even a war steamer,
+in which he had not done his best to make himself a proficient. He had
+done duty as an engineer, and even as a fireman. He had taken his trick
+at the wheel as a quartermaster, and there was nothing he had not done,
+unless it was to command a vessel, and he had done that on a small
+scale. Doubtless he had no inconsiderable portion of a boy's vanity, and
+he believed that he could do anything that anybody else could do; or if
+he was satisfied that he
+<span class = "pagenum">115</span>
+could not, he studied and practised till he did believe it.</p>
+
+<p>Be it vanity or pride, Christy certainly believed in himself to a
+very liberal extent, though his character was fortunately leavened with
+a large lump of modesty. What he believed, he believed for himself, and
+acted upon it for himself; so that he was not inclined to boast of his
+accomplishments, and permitted others to find out what he was rather
+than made it known in words himself. But his father had found it
+necessary to restrain him to some extent, and he had not pushed him
+forward as rapidly as he might have done till the dread notes of war
+were heard on the land and the sea; and then he thought it would be
+wrong to hold him back.</p>
+
+<p>When Christy sighted along the great gun, he believed he could hit
+the Vampire almost to a certainty; but he was not self-sufficient, and
+did not often believe that he knew a thing better than any other person,
+and he was not above taking the advice and instruction of others. It was
+dark, but Christy had fixed upon an object at the bend below, of which
+he intended to make use in firing the gun. It was a tree which painted
+its outline
+<span class = "pagenum">116</span>
+on the horizon, and the decisive moment was to come when the Vampire was
+in range with this tree. He adjusted the gun just as he wanted it, and
+he was satisfied it would do just what he required of&nbsp;it.</p>
+
+<p>He was not inclined to act on his own judgment and skill alone, and
+he called Boxie, the old sheet-anchorman, who had been the captain of a
+gun years before the midshipman was born, and pointed out the tree to
+him, asking him to sight along the gun. He explained his plan to the old
+salt, and then asked his opinion.</p>
+
+<p>"You have aimed it too high, Mr. Passford," said the veteran, after
+he had squinted a long time along the piece.</p>
+
+<p>"How is it otherwise?" asked Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"It is all right, sir; but the shot will pass over the steamer. Drop
+the muzzle a trifle, and the shot will hull her, if you pull the
+lockstring at the right time."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall see that the string is pulled at the right time; thank you,
+Boxie," added Christy, without depressing the gun as the old man
+suggested, for he had a theory of his own which he intended to carry
+out.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">117</span>
+"But the ship may change her position a trifle," added Boxie.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, I mean to sight the gun again at the very moment we
+fire," replied Christy, looking at his watch, though he was obliged to
+go into the engine-room to see what time it was.</p>
+
+<p>It was after two, and the Vampire had had time enough to make the
+bend. Christy wondered if Captain Carboneer was not looking for the four
+men he had promised to put on board of the old steamer; but some
+promises are better broken than kept, and the midshipman thought this
+was one of them, though he did not consider the present occasion as any
+excuse for lies, or the failure to keep his word, in the indefinite
+future.</p>
+
+<p>The acting commander of the Bellevite&mdash;for such the middy was,
+and no one disputed his authority&mdash;began to be very nervous at the
+non-appearance of the enemy. He was afraid that some mishap had befallen
+the Vampire; either that she had gone to the bottom or got aground,
+though he had heard Captain Carboneer say that he was a pilot for this
+part of the river.</p>
+
+<p>Christy had mounted the gun carriage ready to take his final aim, and
+he had been there at least
+<span class = "pagenum">118</span>
+half an hour. He was watching the point where the Roman candles had been
+planted, and he had perfect confidence in the judgment and fidelity of
+Mr. Watts. Boxie was stationed at the lock-string, and held it in his
+hand, ready to speed the great shot on its errand of destruction; but he
+hoped the midshipman would depress the muzzle of the gun before he was
+called upon to pull the string. The other sailors who had served on
+board of the Bellevite, and had been drilled in handling the guns, were
+all in their stations, ready to load the piece again as quickly as
+possible after it had been discharged.</p>
+
+<p>The silence had become intense and painful to all, for apart from the
+messenger of death and devastation which was about to be hurled at the
+Vampire, the Bellevite was in danger of being captured, and had a
+resolute enemy in front of her. The safety of the pet steamer depended
+upon the skill and judgment of a mere boy, though everybody on board had
+entire confidence in him. But the supreme moment came soon enough.</p>
+
+<p class = "illustration">
+<img src = "images/pic118.png" width = "322" height = "498"
+alt = "illustration of quoted scene"><br>
+<span class = "caption">
+"<span class = "smallcaps">Christy sprang to the Gun</span>."&mdash;Page
+119.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>A hardly perceptible light at the point he was so closely watching,
+first attracted the attention of Christy,&mdash;perhaps the lighting of
+the steward's
+<span class = "pagenum">119</span>
+match. An instant later, the fireworks blazed up, and lighted up the
+smooth surface of the sleeping river. No doubt the conspirators, who had
+chosen darkness because their deeds were evil, were astounded to see so
+much light suddenly thrown upon their enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>Christy sprang to the gun, took a hasty sight, which satisfied him
+that the position of the gun had not changed a particle. As the dark
+outline of the Vampire passed in range of the selected tree, the
+midshipman sprang down from the gun-carriage.</p>
+
+<p>"Fire!" shouted he, in a determined though not very loud tone.</p>
+
+<p>It was a tremendous explosion, and the echoes rolled out from the
+hills as though they were armed with heavy guns, and were taking part in
+the conflict. Probably the rattling windows and the shaking frames of
+the houses roused all the sleepers within a mile of the ship.</p>
+
+<p>The Bellevite was enveloped in the smoke from the discharge, and
+though Christy mounted the carriage again to obtain a better view, he
+could see nothing, for there was not wind enough to sweep it away at
+once. But the young commander
+<span class = "pagenum">120</span>
+watched, with almost as much interest and anxiety as before, the signal
+station he had established. But there was no occasion for desperate
+haste, for the gun was ready for use a second time if the first shot had
+failed to do its work. On the other hand, if the Vampire was disabled,
+she would stay where she was, or drift down the river with the turn of
+the tide, and it was just about "full sea" at this time.</p>
+
+<p>The smoke was very aggravating to the midshipman, but he could not
+help himself. The light air swept it away in time, and, with his
+strained eyes, Christy discovered that two Roman candles were burning at
+the signal station.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you hit her, Christy?" asked Paul Vapoor, leaping on the
+gun-carriage.</p>
+
+<p>"I did," replied the midshipman, trying to control a certain feeling
+of exultation that took possession of his mind, for he did not consider
+that some of the party below might have been killed by the shot.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you don't know anything about the effect of the shot yet?"
+added Paul.</p>
+
+<p>"I only know that the Vampire is disabled."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know that, for I can't see anything?"</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">121</span>
+"Do you see those two blue lights burning at the side of the river?"
+asked Christy, as he pointed to the place.</p>
+
+<p>"I see them, and they light up the river like a flash of
+lightning."</p>
+
+<p>"They mean that the steamer is disabled; and for that reason she
+can't come any nearer than she is now."</p>
+
+<p>"But those villains will make their way to the shore, and there are
+boats enough about here to enable them to get alongside, and lay us
+aboard. This is not the end of the affair," said the engineer, very
+seriously.</p>
+
+<p>"Decidedly not; but I hope to have further information in the course
+of a few minutes," replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"Bellevite, ahoy!" shouted some one on shore.</p>
+
+<p>"That is Mr. Watts; send Sampson on shore after him, and we shall
+soon know the condition of affairs on board of the Vampire," added the
+midshipman. "I told the steward to ride up as fast as he could after he
+had satisfied himself that the steamer was disabled."</p>
+
+<p>Sampson was gone but a few minutes, during which time Christy and
+Paul consulted in regard
+<span class = "pagenum">122</span>
+to the next step to be taken, and the question was promptly decided. The
+boat in which Sampson had gone to the shore returned not only with the
+steward, but also with Mrs. Passford and Miss Florry.</p>
+
+<p>"What does this mean, mother?" asked Christy, astonished to see his
+mother and sister come on board.</p>
+
+<p>"It means that we were alarmed, and could not stay in the house any
+longer," said Florry, taking it upon herself to answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Your father has not come home yet, Christy, and I don't think he
+will come to-night, for he said he might not be able to return in the
+last train," added Mrs. Passford. "We came down to the shore with two of
+the men, and saw Mr. Watts when he arrived on the horse."</p>
+
+<p>"And I shall take the responsibility of having advised the ladies to
+go on board of the Bellevite," interposed the steward.</p>
+
+<p>"But you have not reported upon the condition of the enemy after the
+shot hit the Vampire, Mr. Watts," said Christy, impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"The shot struck her walking-beam, smashed it all to pieces, and
+cleaned it off completely. Of
+<span class = "pagenum">123</span>
+course, that disabled her. Very likely some of the party on board of the
+Vampire are hurt, for the pieces did not all drop into the water."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, in regard to the ladies?" suggested the midshipman.</p>
+
+<p>"It is for you to decide, Mr. Passford, whether or not the enemy are
+likely to renew the attempt to capture the steamer. But it seemed to me,
+whether they do anything more or not, it is not quite safe for the
+ladies to be alone in the house with the servants, for these fellows
+will be prowling about here in either case."</p>
+
+<p>"I would not stay in the house for all the world!" protested Miss
+Florry; and probably she thought that one of the prowlers would be Major
+Pierson.</p>
+
+<p>"You are quite right, Mr. Watts; I was not as thoughtful as you
+were," replied Christy, who took in the situation with this suggestion.
+"What were they doing on board of the Vampire, Mr. Watts?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did not wait to observe their movements, but the boat began to
+drift down the river."</p>
+
+<p>"Beg pardon, Mr. Passford, but the ship is swinging around, and you
+will not be able to use
+<span class = "pagenum">124</span>
+that gun as it points now," said Boxie, touching his hat to the young
+commander.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand by your engine, Paul; we will get under way at once. Boxie,
+cast off the cable, and let it run out. You buoyed it, did you not?"
+said Christy, with a sudden renewal of energy, as he hastened to the
+pilot-house, where Beeks and Thayer had been sent before.</p>
+
+<p>"I buoyed the cable, sir," replied the sheet-anchorman.</p>
+
+<p>"Then cast it off. Sampson, open the cabin for the ladies," added
+Christy, as he disappeared in the pilot-house.</p>
+
+<p>But the ladies preferred to go into the engine-room.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">125</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXI">CHAPTER XI</a></h4>
+
+<h6>THE BATTLE ALONGSIDE THE BELLEVITE</h6>
+
+
+<p>The signal lights at the bend of the river had burned out, and
+nothing could be seen in that direction. The turn of the tide had
+carried the wreck of the Vampire, if she was a wreck, down the stream,
+and beyond what the steward had reported, nothing was known in regard to
+her. Mr. Watts possessed himself of the single fact that her
+walking-beam had been carried away by the shot, and he had not waited to
+ascertain anything more. She was disabled, and he had been instructed to
+hasten up the river as soon as he had assured himself of this fact, and
+made the signal.</p>
+
+<p>As the extent of the calamity to the enemy was unknown, the young
+commander began to have some painful doubts in regard to the immediate
+future. He had given the order to slip the cable, and he could hear the
+rattle of the chain as it passed out through the hawse-hole. It was
+evident
+<span class = "pagenum">126</span>
+enough to him that he had to run the gantlet of the party on board of
+the Vampire in descending the river. As the shot had hit the
+walking-beam of the steamer, it was not probable that she was seriously
+injured in her hull, if at all.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the enemy had doubtless been hurt by the fall of the pieces
+of machinery, but Christy could not believe that the conspirators were
+disabled, as the vessel was. The enemy might make an attempt to board
+the Bellevite as she passed down the river, for the accident must have
+rendered the party more desperate than before. In the face of a failure
+to capture the Bellevite at her anchorage, which had seemed so easy a
+matter to the leaders of the expedition, they would be ready to take any
+chances of success that came in their way.</p>
+
+<p>"Cable all out, sir," reported Boxie.</p>
+
+<p>Not without some heavy doubts, Christy rang the bell to go ahead. He
+had no one in the pilot-house with whom he could consult except the two
+quartermasters, for Paul was in charge of the engine, and he could no
+more leave it than the midshipman could leave the wheel. The propeller
+<span class = "pagenum">127</span>
+began to turn, and the ship gathered headway. To add to the
+responsibility of the young commander, his mother and sister had just
+come on board, and were now seated on the sofa in the engine-room.</p>
+
+<p>The Bellevite was moving down the river, and the only thing Christy
+could do was to brace himself up to meet whatever might happen on the
+trip. He did this at once, and a moment later he rang to go ahead at
+full speed. He was approaching the bend of the river, and in a minute or
+two more he would be able to see the Vampire. But Captain Carboneer
+could no more see through the headland at the bend than he could, and he
+hoped that the leader of the enemy had not yet discovered that the
+Bellevite was under way.</p>
+
+<p>The steamer increased her speed on the instant in response to the
+signal, and she rushed forward at a velocity that would be fatal to the
+Vampire if she happened to be in her path. But Christy was not disposed
+to make an issue with the enemy when they met; he intended to defend the
+Bellevite, if she was attacked, to the extent of his ability and small
+force.</p>
+
+<p>"There she is!" exclaimed Beeks, as the Bellevite
+<span class = "pagenum">128</span>
+began to change her course to go around the bend.</p>
+
+<p>Christy saw the Vampire as soon as the quartermaster, and he was glad
+to find that she had drifted to the left bank of the river as far as the
+depth of water would permit. As her engine was disabled, she had no
+means of propulsion with which she could help herself. It was not
+improbable that she was aground. She was not armed with a single heavy
+gun, or with any gun, and she was entirely harmless.</p>
+
+<p>Christy breathed more freely when he realized the situation of the
+Vampire. Probably she was provided with one or more boats, and it was
+possible that Captain Carboneer might attempt to board the Bellevite as
+soon as he discovered her. The deck of the steam-yacht was not very far
+above the water, and if a boat full of desperate men could get alongside
+of the ship, it would not be a very difficult matter for them to mount
+the side.</p>
+
+<p>"Port a little," said Christy to the quartermasters at the wheel.
+"Keep her well over to the west shore. Steady."</p>
+
+<p>A moment later the steamer had her course for passing the Vampire,
+and Christy left the pilot-house
+<span class = "pagenum">129</span>
+to obtain a better view of the situation and movements of the enemy. It
+was not so dark as to prevent him from seeing all that was going on upon
+her deck, for the Bellevite had to pass within pistol-shot of her to
+avoid getting aground on the edge of the channel.</p>
+
+<p>Sampson and the rest of the old ship's company gathered near him,
+where they could see over the rail. The oiler, as Paul Vapoor had
+instructed him to do, had armed all these men with a cutlass and a
+revolver, and very likely some or all of them would have been glad to
+make use of them.</p>
+
+<p>"They are loading into a boat on the port side of the Vampire, sir,
+and it looks as though they intended to do something without delay,"
+said Sampson; and, as the steamer had come about since she was disabled,
+this was the side nearest to the shore.</p>
+
+<p>"I see that they are hurrying some movement with all their might,"
+replied the midshipman, watching with the most intense interest the
+operations of the enemy. "Sampson, get out half a dozen sixty-pound,
+solid shot, and put them on the plankshear, twenty feet apart. Take all
+hands with you, and hurry&nbsp;up."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">130</span>
+The oiler asked no questions, though he might have been excused for
+wondering what the young commander intended to do with shot without
+powder. In a few minutes the shot were in place, as Christy had
+directed. The midshipman was watching with all his eyes the movement of
+the enemy, and, as the Bellevite approached the position of the wreck,
+the boat darted out from the other side of her. It began to be exciting
+for the middy, loaded with the responsibility of the safety of the
+steamer, though he seemed to be as cool as Boxie himself, who had seen
+some sea fights in his day.</p>
+
+<p>Christy leaped on the rail of the ship, where he could obtain a full
+view of the situation. The boat was approaching with all the speed the
+oarsmen could command, and they seemed to be experienced hands. There
+could be no doubt of the intentions of the enemy, and the midshipman
+drew his heavy naval revolver from his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand by to repel boarders!" he called to the seamen. "Pass up one
+of those shot, Sampson. Have a hand mount the rail, each with a shot, at
+the points where you have placed them."</p>
+
+<p>"The ladies wish to know what is going on, Christy," said Paul,
+coming from the engine-room.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">131</span>
+"I have no time to talk now," replied Christy impatiently, as he saw the
+approaching boat within ten feet of the side of the steamer. "Tell them
+to stay where they are, and not come on deck!"</p>
+
+<p>The boat was not a large one, and it did not contain more than a
+dozen men; but the fine form of Captain Carboneer could be seen, as he
+stood up in the stern sheets. Those who were not pulling the oars began
+to discharge revolvers at the men now mounted on the rail; but the
+motion of the boat and the ship seemed to defeat their aim, and no one
+was hit so far as was known.</p>
+
+<p>"When the boat comes alongside, let the man who is in the right place
+for it drop his shot into it. Be careful of it, and don't waste the
+iron," shouted Christy, when the decisive moment came.</p>
+
+<p>"All ready, sir," responded the men along the rail.</p>
+
+<p>"You are the man, Boxie! You are in the right place for the first
+shot," added the midshipman.</p>
+
+<p>Boxie was next to him, and it would be Christy's turn next if the old
+man failed to do good work with his shot. The boat came alongside,
+<span class = "pagenum">132</span>
+and a bowman fastened his boathook at the side of the ship, and held it
+in place. At the same moment Boxie let drive his sixty-pound shot; but
+he ought to have waited an instant longer, for the missile dropped
+harmlessly into the river.</p>
+
+<p>The bowman had not obtained a good hold, and he lost it, so that the
+boat began to drift astern. Captain Carboneer shouted his orders, and
+the man got a new hold, and this time it was at the painter of the boat
+in which Sampson had brought off Mr. Watts and the ladies. It had been
+forgotten in the excitement of the moment, but the rope afforded a good
+hold to several men who had grasped&nbsp;it.</p>
+
+<p>At this thrilling moment, a man wearing a frock-coat discharged a
+revolver at Christy, who was standing on the rail above him, and then,
+seizing the painter in the hands of the men, he climbed briskly to the
+accommodation steps, which had been hoisted up, but not taken on
+board.</p>
+
+<p>Christy was in the most dangerous position on board, for he seemed to
+be the target for all who could use their revolvers. But the young
+commander was not asleep, though he had given no order for the last
+minute or two. The boat was
+<span class = "pagenum">133</span>
+directly under him, and he had put his pistol in his hip-pocket, in
+order to take up the solid shot at his feet. It was heavy, but he lifted
+it over his head without any difficulty, and launched it into the boat
+with all the force he could give to&nbsp;it.</p>
+
+<p>"On deck, there! Let go that painter!" shouted Christy, as he pitched
+his missile from his hands.</p>
+
+<p>He was in a position so favorable for the operation that he could not
+well miss his aim, and the shot crashed through the bottom of the boat,
+carrying down one of the enemy with it. It did not make a round hole in
+the bottom of the boat, it was afterwards ascertained, as it might if it
+had been fired from one of the broadside guns, but it tore off the
+planking, and made a hole as big as the head of a flour-barrel.</p>
+
+<p>"Lay hold of that man on the accommodation ladder!" shouted Christy,
+without waiting to observe the effect of his shot, for the man who had
+succeeded in mounting the side was armed with a dangerous weapon, which
+he was likely to use as soon as he found the opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>The men forward of the point where the boat had come alongside had
+been ordered aft, and a
+<span class = "pagenum">134</span>
+couple of them dragged the venturesome officer, as his frock-coat
+indicated that he was, to the deck. Christy was almost sure this man was
+Haslett, who had certainly set a bold example to his companions in the
+boat. He was quickly secured, and by no gentle hands. His hands were
+tied behind him, and he was made fast to the rail, where he was likely
+to be harmless during the rest of the trip.</p>
+
+<p>It was no easy matter for a boat to make fast to a steamer going ten
+knots an hour at least, and if the painter of the boat had not been
+carelessly left where it could be of service to the assailants, the
+affair would have ended with Boxie's unsuccessful cast of the shot. But
+as soon as the painter was let go, an order which Sampson hastened to
+execute, the enemy's hold upon the ship was lost, though they were using
+boathooks and other implements to make sure of their grasp. The boat was
+left behind by the ship, though not till the hole had been stove in her
+bottom.</p>
+
+<p>"Beg pardon, Mr. Passford, for missing my heave with the shot," said
+Boxie, on the deck; and the veteran's heart seemed to be almost broken
+by his failure.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">135</span>
+"You are very excusable, Boxie; one can't expect to hit every time, and
+you did very well," replied Christy, who had suddenly passed from
+painful doubt and uncertainty to exultation and exaltation at the
+victory achieved. "We are all right now."</p>
+
+<p>"But the enemy are not," added Sampson, who had mounted the rail
+after he had secured the prisoner. "They are all afloat."</p>
+
+<p>"They will get ashore in some way, or back to the Vampire," replied
+Christy, and he descended to the deck, and hastened to the
+engine-room.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">136</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXII">CHAPTER XII</a></h4>
+
+<h6>THE PRISONER OF WAR</h6>
+
+
+<p>"What in the world have you been doing, Christy?" asked Mrs.
+Passford, as her son entered the engine-room; and her anxiety was
+visible in her tones and looks as she spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"We have been repelling boarders, mother," replied the middy, his
+face wreathed in smiles.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by that, my son?" inquired his mother.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, mother, you are the daughter of a distinguished naval officer,
+and it seems to me you must understand what repelling boarders means,"
+answered the young commander, laughing merrily; and no one in the
+engine-room could fail to see that he was in the highest state of
+exhilaration, now that the safety of the ship had been assured.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, I know what it means," added the lady.</p>
+
+<p>"And I don't mean boarders at the hotel, who
+<span class = "pagenum">137</span>
+are repelled by strong butter and tough steaks," chuckled Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would explain yourself, my son."</p>
+
+<p>"I will, mother mine. The fellows we fired at when we were at anchor
+have just attempted to board the Bellevite, and thus obtain possession
+of her, as they failed to do in Mobile Bay, as well as at our anchorage
+in the Hudson." And he proceeded to explain in detail all that had
+occurred on board and alongside.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear boy, I had no idea that you had been engaged in a battle!"
+exclaimed the fond mother.</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't much of a battle, though a good many pistol-shots were
+fired at us; but a sixty-pound shot did the business on our side, and we
+left the enemy, or a portion of them, paddling in the river, and trying
+to keep their heads above water. But I must not stay here, for I have to
+look out for the steering of the ship," continued Christy, as he moved
+towards the door.</p>
+
+<p>"You whipped them out, did you, midshipman?" added the engineer.</p>
+
+<p>"We did; and there isn't any doubt of it. I shouldn't wonder if some
+of them had lost the number of their mess. But I think it is settled
+<span class = "pagenum">138</span>
+for the present that Captain Carboneer don't go to sea in the Bellevite.
+By the way, I had forgotten that we took a prisoner, and perhaps he will
+be willing to tell us something more about his enterprise."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is the prisoner?" asked Mrs. Passford.</p>
+
+<p>"He is an officer, I judge, for he wore a frock-coat."</p>
+
+<p>"The party could not have had a great many officers. It was not the
+captain, was&nbsp;it?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; I am sure it is not he. I think it must be the naval officer
+whom Captain Carboneer called Haslett; but I have not seen him except as
+he was shinning up the painter of the boat. You can go on deck if you
+like, mother and Florry, or you may come with me into the pilot-house,"
+added Christy.</p>
+
+<p>The engineer had to remain on duty, and Miss Florry mildly objected
+to leaving her present comfortable position on the sofa of the
+engine-room; but as her mother wished to go with her brother, she felt
+obliged to go with her.</p>
+
+<p>Christy gave his mother and sister places on the sofa abaft of the
+wheel, and then looked into the position of the steamer. But the two
+quartermasters
+<span class = "pagenum">139</span>
+had so often steered the steamer up and down the river that they had
+done very well, and there was no especial need of the midshipman as a
+pilot. The Bellevite was not going at anything like her best speed, or
+at her usual rate at sea. As she was going, it was about a four-hours'
+run to New York, and Christy was not in a hurry to get to his
+destination.</p>
+
+<p>"Beeks, we have a prisoner, and I should like to take his measure,"
+said Christy to the senior quartermaster. "You may go aft and ask
+Sampson to bring him into the pilot-house."</p>
+
+<p>"Bring him into the pilot-house," repeated the man, as he left the
+apartment.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you going to do with your prisoner, Christy?" asked Mrs.
+Passford.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall hand him over to the proper officers, and they can do what
+they please with him," replied the middy. "I don't want him: do you,
+mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"What should I want of him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you want him, Florry?" asked Christy of his sister.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure I don't," she replied, pouting.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you will want him when you have seen him," added the middy
+roguishly.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">140</span>
+At this moment Sampson appeared at the door of the pilot-house,
+conducting his prisoner, whose hands were still tied behind him. Christy
+did not see him at first, for he was looking at his sister; but her
+pretty face suddenly turned crimson, and her brother heard the sound of
+footsteps in the apartment.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he saw the prisoner, he started back in astonishment,
+though perhaps there was no particular reason to be surprised. It was
+not Mr. Haslett, as he had supposed, and it certainly was not Captain
+Carboneer. But it was Major Lindley Pierson, late commandant of Fort
+Gaines. Christy had not expected to meet him, and that was the only
+reason why he was astonished.</p>
+
+<p>"Major Pierson!" exclaimed the midshipman, as soon as he had in some
+degree recovered from his astonishment. "I believe we have met before
+somewhere."</p>
+
+<p>"Without a doubt we have, Captain Passford," replied the major, who
+no longer belonged to the Mulgate family.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a captain, if you please; but I am none the less glad to see you
+on that account. This is really a very unexpected pleasure."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">141</span>
+"And quite as unexpected to me, I assure you, especially to meet the
+ladies," added the prisoner as he bowed low to Mrs. Passford and her
+daughter. "I had hoped I might meet Mrs. and Miss Passford before I
+returned to the South."</p>
+
+<p>"And you had even hoped to take one of them back with you as a
+passenger in the Bellevite," Christy interpolated, with great good
+nature.</p>
+
+<p>Major Pierson looked at him with a start, and it was his turn to be
+astonished. He was a prisoner, but he had the privilege of wondering how
+Christy knew so much about his affairs.</p>
+
+<p>"Captain Carboneer is a very obstinate man, and did not take kindly
+to the carrying of lady passengers in a man-of-war; but I think he was
+right, though my view may be of no consequence to you," added the young
+officer. "I have the highest opinion of Captain Carboneer, for he is a
+solid, substantial man. By the way. Major Pierson, who is&nbsp;he?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is Captain Carboneer," replied the major discreetly.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps he is Captain Carboneer; I don't know: things are not always
+what they seem, and
+<span class = "pagenum">142</span>
+I find that persons are not, either. Hasn't that been your experience,
+Mr. Mulgate&mdash;I beg your pardon, Major Pierson?"</p>
+
+<p>The prisoner frowned, and gave a fierce glance at the midshipman, as
+though he felt like annihilating him with a look. But he evidently
+considered just then that he was in the presence of the ladies, and
+perhaps that the flash of his eagle eye would not kill his tormentor, as
+the young man seemed to have become.</p>
+
+<p>"I am your prisoner, or somebody's prisoner, Captain Passford, and
+the tables are turned against me. Of course, you don't expect me to give
+information that will be of use to the enemies of my country."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not."</p>
+
+<p>"When you were my prisoner, I think I treated you like a gentleman,"
+added Major Pierson.</p>
+
+<p>"I think you did, sir; and that reminds me that your hands are tied
+behind you. You were so kind as to release me from my bonds when I was
+in your power"&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"And it was the stupidest thing I ever did in my life," interposed
+the prisoner, with some bitterness.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">143</span>
+"I am not familiar with the events of your life, and I cannot gainsay
+your remark."</p>
+
+<p>"You did not scruple to turn our own guns against us."</p>
+
+<p>"As you would have done if you had succeeded in capturing the
+Bellevite," added Christy, smartly. "This time makes twice that you did
+not capture her."</p>
+
+<p>"The third time may not fail."</p>
+
+<p>"It may not; but I must be as magnanimous as you were. Sampson,
+release the gentleman."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Captain Passford; that is no more than I did for you when
+you were in the same situation."</p>
+
+<p>"But I suppose you will not undertake to capture this ship after I
+have done as well by you as you did by me. I intend to treat you like a
+gentleman, though the fortunes of war are against you. Now, perhaps you
+will not object to answering a question or two, in which there can be no
+treason."</p>
+
+<p>"I must be my own judge of the questions," replied the major, rather
+haughtily.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, sir; and I shall not insist upon your answering any
+question. Was any one on board of the Vampire killed in this
+affair?"</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">144</span>
+"No one was killed."</p>
+
+<p>"Were any wounded?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry to say that three were injured by the falling of the
+pieces of the walking-beam."</p>
+
+<p>"Seriously?"</p>
+
+<p>"Two slightly, and one severely."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, major."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, I am not informed of the fate of those in the boat when
+it was sunk," added the prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>"I think no one was badly hurt in that part of the affair," said
+Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it will be of interest to you to know that Private Passford,
+formerly of my command, was the one who was severely wounded on board of
+the Vampire."</p>
+
+<p>"Corny!" exclaimed Mrs. Passford.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry to say that he was struck on the shoulder by a fragment
+of the machinery," replied the major, very politely, as he bowed low to
+the lady.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Corny!" ejaculated Miss Florry. "Is he very badly wounded,
+Major Pierson?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know how seriously, but I am afraid he cannot use that
+shoulder for a long time."
+<span class = "pagenum">145</span>
+replied the prisoner, fixing a look of admiration upon her, as if he
+were glad to have the privilege of looking at her without causing any
+remark.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so sorry for him. Corny was always real good to me when I have
+been at Glenfield," added the fair girl, and she actually shed some
+sympathetic tears as she thought of his wounded shoulder. "Can we not do
+something for him, mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be very glad to have him removed to the house, and I will
+take care of him till he gets well. I don't know whether this can be
+done or not. Perhaps Major Pierson can inform&nbsp;me."</p>
+
+<p>"If your kind hearts prompt you to do this for one who is in arms
+against the government, I have no doubt it can be managed. He can give
+his parole, and that will make it all right."</p>
+
+<p>"He is my nephew, and I would do as much for him as I would for my
+own son," replied Mrs. Passford heartily.</p>
+
+<p>"And I as much as I would for my brother," added Miss Florry.</p>
+
+<p>Everything was pleasant so far, though all the Passfords were worried
+about poor Corny, who had been with the ladies only the evening
+before.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">146</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXIII">CHAPTER XIII</a></h4>
+
+<h6>AFTER THE BATTLE</h6>
+
+
+<p>It was six o'clock in the morning when the Bellevite let go her
+anchor off Twentieth Street, as the young commander decided to do after
+some consultation with Paul Vapoor, who was his senior in years if not
+in wisdom. He did not suppose the steamer would be allowed to anchor at
+the Navy Yard without orders to that effect. His father had not returned
+from the city. Though he held no office, Captain Passford was as busy
+with public affairs as though he had been the collector of the port.</p>
+
+<p>No one but the ladies had slept any during the trip; but they had
+been on deck some time when the steamer anchored. Christy had been very
+much in doubt as to what he should do with the Bellevite when he reached
+his destination, and he was glad to see his mother when she came out of
+the cabin. Though he was still hardly more than
+<span class = "pagenum">147</span>
+a boy, he believed in his mother, and it had not yet occurred to him
+that he knew more than she did. He stated his difficulty to her, for
+Paul had been as much in doubt as the midshipman.</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is a very easy question to answer, Christy," replied Mrs.
+Passford, with a smile. "Where have you anchored?"</p>
+
+<p>"Off Union Square, or very near it, I should think," replied
+Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"You know that your father stays at the St. James Hotel when he is in
+the city," she added. "The only thing you can do is to find him, and let
+him decide what is to be done with the Bellevite."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not think of that," added the midshipman. "I will get out a
+boat at once, and go on shore."</p>
+
+<p>"Florry and I will go with you," continued Mrs. Passford. "We have
+nothing to do here, and I should like to return to Bonnydale as soon as
+possible. But what will you do with your prisoner, Christy?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall do nothing with him. Sampson is in charge of him, and I am
+sure he will not take his eye off the major while he remains on
+board."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">148</span>
+The port-quarter boat was lowered into the water, and a couple of the
+old sailors took their places in her. The ladies were assisted to their
+seats, and Christy, after he had informed the engineer that he was in
+command during his absence, leaped into the boat, and it was pulled to
+the nearest pier. A carriage was called, and the party were driven to
+the hotel. It was half-past six, and Christy was informed that his
+father had not yet come down. Word was sent up to him, and the son went
+to his room, where he found him only half dressed.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not expect to see you at this time in the morning, my son,"
+said the owner of the Bellevite. "How did you come down so early?"</p>
+
+<p>"I came in the Bellevite; and she is at anchor in the stream off
+Twentieth Street, father," replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"In the Bellevite!" exclaimed Captain Passford, with the nearest
+thing to a frown that ever appeared on his brow in the presence of any
+member of his family. "I don't quite understand how"&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"An attempt was made to capture her last night, father, and I thought
+it best to make sure of her," interposed the midshipman.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">149</span>
+"To capture her!" ejaculated Captain Passford, suspending his toilet,
+and gazing into the face of his son. "I think you must have dreamed
+that, Christy."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I did, father; but we captured one prisoner of rank in my
+dream, and he is on board now, closely guarded by Sampson," replied
+Christy, laughing in his excitement. "Mother and Florry were on board,
+and they are down in the parlor waiting to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean that an attempt was really made to capture the Bellevite
+last night?" asked the captain, as if unable to credit the astounding
+intelligence.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I can prove all I say by many witnesses. Mr. Watts is on
+board, and he has been dreaming too if I have. Paul Vapoor is another
+dreamer, to say nothing of eight or ten more on board," added
+Christy.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Passford completed dressing himself about as quick as he had
+probably ever done since he became a millionnaire, and attended Christy
+down to the parlor, where he gave his wife and daughter an affectionate
+reception.</p>
+
+<p>"But our boy tells me that some one has been
+<span class = "pagenum">150</span>
+trying to obtain possession of the Bellevite, Julia; and it seems to me
+hardly possible that such an attempt should be made so far up the
+river," said Captain Passford, as soon as he was able to allude to the
+subject.</p>
+
+<p>"But it is quite true, Horatio; and our boy has behaved like a hero,
+if he is our son," replied the lady, bestowing a glance of pride upon
+the midshipman.</p>
+
+<p>"He says he has a prisoner on board," added the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"And who do you think that prisoner is, Horatio?" asked Mrs.
+Passford.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it Jeff Davis?" he inquired, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Not exactly; but it is Major Lindley Pierson."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed? Then I begin to see through the matter," replied Captain
+Passford. "He failed to obtain the steamer in Mobile Bay, and he came up
+here after her. But I should like to hear the particulars of this
+affair."</p>
+
+<p>"And poor Corny Passford was wounded in the shoulder," said Florry,
+who had hardly spoken before.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't mean that you had a fight,
+<span class = "pagenum">151</span>
+Christy?" demanded the captain, looking quite serious.</p>
+
+<p>"Not much of a fight, father; we fired the long gun once, and
+disabled an old steamer, and we sunk a boat that was trying to lay us
+aboard."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it was a more serious affair than I had supposed."</p>
+
+<p>"But, father, I think we had better be going on board; and I can tell
+you the story on the way just as well as here," suggested Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"But you must have your breakfast before you go, for there is nothing
+to eat on board of the steamer," replied Captain Passford, as he led the
+way down into the restaurant.</p>
+
+<p>While they were waiting for the meal to be served, the captain went
+to the house of a military officer, with whom he was intimately
+acquainted, and requested him to take the prisoner off his hands. After
+the meagre details of the affair he gave, the officer offered to put a
+company on board of the steamer for her protection; but the captain
+thought this was unnecessary.</p>
+
+<p>After the breakfast, the party took a carriage for the pier. On the
+way the captain ordered a supply of cooked provisions to be sent down to
+the
+<span class = "pagenum">152</span>
+boat for the use of the men on board of the Bellevite. With this supply
+the party went on board. On the way Christy had told his story, and by
+the time they went on board Captain Passford had learned all about the
+affair.</p>
+
+<p>He had received the order to deliver the steamer at the Navy Yard on
+the following Monday, and he decided to return to Bonnydale in her.
+Enough of the former members of the ship's company could be obtained in
+a few hours to hold the vessel against any enemy that was likely to
+appear in the river. As the owner was now on board, the engineer put on
+full steam, and she reached her anchorage, as indicated by the buoy of
+the cable which had been slipped. It was hauled in, and the Bellevite
+was replaced in her former position.</p>
+
+<p>The tremendous report of the great gun in the small hours of the
+morning had startled all the people in the vicinity, though it was not
+till they left their beds that the news was conveyed to them. A party in
+the town just below the scene of the disaster to the Vampire had been
+collected, and they had taken a steamer to explore the river in search
+of the bold actors in the affair, as soon
+<span class = "pagenum">153</span>
+as the facts were known in the vicinity. The steamer had been running up
+and down the river since six in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>When the Bellevite passed up the river, she was promptly recognized
+by the investigating party on board of the Alert, which followed the
+steamer up to her anchorage. She came alongside some time after the crew
+had fished up the cable; but Captain Passford warned her to keep off as
+soon as he discovered her intention to come alongside. She was a small
+steamer, and had at least twenty men on her deck, so that the captain
+thought it necessary to learn her object before she came any nearer.</p>
+
+<p>A boat with two men was sent from the Alert, and one of them was
+permitted to come on board. This one proved to be Captain Mainhill, with
+whom the owner of the Bellevite was well acquainted. He was a wealthy
+and patriotic man, though rather too old to be engaged in active service
+for his country.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you might be representatives of the Southern Confederacy,
+and I was rather shy of you," said Captain Passford, as he took the hand
+of his neighbor. "I should not have been so cautious if I had met you
+last evening."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">154</span>
+"We have been looking for the gentlemen who were engaged in this attempt
+to capture the Bellevite," added Captain Mainhill.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you have found them, or some of them," replied the owner.</p>
+
+<p>"Only a single one of them; and he is badly wounded. We have scoured
+the river for miles without finding any trace of the enemy. I think they
+landed on the east shore, and went over to the railroad, where they
+probably took the first train that came along," replied Captain
+Mainhill.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, they saw the Bellevite going down the river, and perhaps
+they have gone down to New York to finish the job they begun here,"
+suggested Captain Passford. "Do you know if the enemy lost any of their
+number when the boat was smashed?"</p>
+
+<p>But Captain Mainhill knew nothing about the affair on the river
+beyond the fact that an attempt had been made to capture the Bellevite,
+and he had not ascertained that more than one was injured.</p>
+
+<p>"We found the Vampire aground half a mile below where the shot
+disabled her," continued the leader of the expedition. "Her machinery
+was
+<span class = "pagenum">155</span>
+badly smashed. She never was good for much, and she is good for nothing
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"Did the enemy carry off the one who was wounded?" asked Captain
+Passford, prompted by his wife.</p>
+
+<p>"No; he seems to have been too badly damaged for that; they left him
+at the house of a workingman near the river, and I suppose he is there
+now," replied Captain Mainhill. "I don't know that there is anything
+more that we can do, and we may as well go home to breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know where the wounded person is to be found?" asked Captain
+Passford.</p>
+
+<p>"I do; and I have seen him. He is suffering a good deal of pain; but
+he is as plucky as a mad snake, and he would not say a word in answer to
+my questions."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be greatly obliged to you, Captain Mainhill, if you will
+land me as near as you can to the house where this wounded man is, and
+show me where it is. Mrs. Passford will go with me," said the owner.</p>
+
+<p>"Very glad indeed to do it," replied the leader of the searching
+party.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Passford instructed some of the men
+<span class = "pagenum">156</span>
+on board to summon all the former ship's company of the Bellevite on
+board at once that could be found, and then went on board of the Alert
+with his wife. They were landed in a boat just below the bend, and
+Captain Mainhill conducted them to the house where Corny was said
+to&nbsp;be.</p>
+
+<p>They found him there, and the poor fellow was glad enough to see
+them. No doctor had been called, and nothing had been done to alleviate
+his pain; but he was immediately removed to the mansion at Bonnydale,
+with his own consent, and Dr. Linscott was sent for.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">157</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXIV">CHAPTER XIV</a></h4>
+
+<h6>THE BEGINNING OF A CHASE</h6>
+
+
+<p>Major Pierson still remained on board of the Bellevite, for no
+officer had been sent on board for him, as expected; and he was under
+the efficient care of Sampson. He was subjected to no restraint, and he
+took his breakfast with the engineer. But he was not a welcome visitor
+on board, and Captain Passford would have been very glad to get rid of
+him.</p>
+
+<p>The owner sought him the next time he came on board, when he was not
+so busy as he had been before. But he said nothing to him about his
+mission at the North, and treated him as a guest rather than a prisoner.
+For reasons of his own, though not difficult to conjecture, he was very
+anxious to make a good appearance before the father of Miss Florry, and
+he was a gentleman in his manners.</p>
+
+<p>"Major Pierson, I am sorry to do anything that
+<span class = "pagenum">158</span>
+may be unpleasant to you, but I have not the means of holding you as a
+prisoner," said the captain, after they had been talking of indifferent
+subjects for a time.</p>
+
+<p>"I realize that I am a prisoner of war, subject to such restraint as
+my captors impose upon me," replied the major.</p>
+
+<p>"If you will allow yourself to be paroled, it will settle your status
+for the present," added Captain Passford.</p>
+
+<p>"As a guest at your house?" asked the major, his face suddenly
+brightening up. "I shall be very happy to give my parole."</p>
+
+<p>"Not at my house, if you please, Major Pierson; it would not be
+convenient at the present time," replied the owner, astonished at the
+suggestion,</p>
+
+<p>"Then you will excuse me if I decline to accept a parole," replied
+the prisoner, biting his lip as though he was not pleased with the
+reply. "As a guest in your house, I should not wish you to have any
+solicitude in regard to&nbsp;me."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, major; I cannot object to your decision," added the
+captain, as he touched his hat and left the prisoner to the attentions
+of Sampson.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">159</span>
+He was kept on board of the Bellevite, now re-enforced by the return of
+about twenty of her former crew, so that regular watches were kept, and
+there was no chance for the prisoner to escape, and none for Captain
+Carboneer to capture the steamer. Dr. Linscott soon relieved Corny of
+his pain, but it was many weeks before he was fit to leave the house,
+and then he was paroled. Captain Passford could never ascertain what had
+become of the crew intended for the Bellevite, though it was supposed,
+as they separated, that they found their way to some port where they
+could ship for their chosen service.</p>
+
+<p>On the Monday following the attempt to capture her, the Bellevite was
+taken to the Navy Yard, and she was prepared for service. It was
+understood that her former officers and crew would be appointed to her,
+for they were accustomed to the vessel, and could do better with her
+than any other. Paul Vapoor and Christy Passford had already received
+their commissions and orders. Captain Breaker had been restored to his
+former rank, and was to be the commander of the Bellevite.</p>
+
+<p>It was two months before the ship was ready to
+<span class = "pagenum">160</span>
+go into commission. Important alterations had been made below, and the
+armament had been taken from her deck, substituting for it a Parrot
+midship piece, of eight-inch bore, and carrying a one hundred and fifty
+pound shot, two sixty-pounders, and two thirty-pounders. This was a
+heavy armament, but the ship was strong enough to bear&nbsp;it.</p>
+
+<p>Joel Dashington and Ethan Blowitt were appointed as masters, and were
+to be the first and second lieutenants, while Christy Passford was the
+third. Leon Bolter was made a first assistant engineer, and Fred Faggs
+the second. Sampson obtained his place as a first-class fireman, with
+the expectation of soon becoming an assistant engineer, for he was well
+qualified for the position.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Passford, though he had offered his services in any capacity
+in which he might be needed, had been induced to withdraw his
+application for the reason that he could be of more service to the cause
+at home than he could in the field or at sea. He was a man of influence,
+and he was needed in civil life. He was even able to do more as an
+adviser and counsellor than in any public office, though he filled
+several of the latter in the earlier part of the war. He furnished no
+inconsiderable
+<span class = "pagenum">161</span>
+part of the money needed at particular times, and he was only less
+valuable on account of his money than he was for his patriotism and good
+judgment.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Christy, remember that you are an officer of the United States,
+and make yourself worthy of the place you occupy," said his father to
+Christy, on the evening of his last day at home. "Study your duty, and
+then perform it faithfully. Perhaps I can tell you something of more
+value than good advice is generally considered to&nbsp;be."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall try to follow your good advice, father; and I mean to do my
+duty; and it will not be for the want of trying if I fail," replied
+Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"You have sailed with Captain Breaker a great deal when you were in a
+different relation to him. Now I must warn you that he has his duty to
+do, and I hope you will not expect to be favored, or ask him for
+privileges not granted to other officers," continued the late owner of
+the Bellevite.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure I expect him to be impartial with his officers."</p>
+
+<p>"I meant to have seen Breaker this afternoon before I came home; but
+I had not time to go to the ship. For some of my own affairs I have had
+three agents in England. I wrote them some time
+<span class = "pagenum">162</span>
+ago to obtain all the information they could in regard to vessels,
+especially steamers, that cleared for any ports of the British
+Possessions near the United States," continued Captain Passford, taking
+a letter from his pocket. "Two weeks ago an iron steamer sailed from a
+port in Ireland for the Bermudas. This letter will tell you all about
+it, and you will hand it to Captain Breaker, and give him my
+explanation."</p>
+
+<p>The midshipman put the letter into his pocket without reading it. In
+his chamber he looked it over, and found that it meant business, and he
+was delighted with the idea of having something to do before he reached
+the port for which the ship was bound, for the inactivity of the
+blockade was not wholly to his mind. He slept as soundly as usual, for
+already he had come to regard war as the business in which he was
+engaged, and he had but little sickly sentiment over&nbsp;it.</p>
+
+<p>It was a tearful parting with his mother and sister before he took
+the train with his father, and it was a sad one with his father when he
+went off to the Bellevite in the boat. But neither of them shed any
+tears, for both felt that they were called upon to discharge their duty
+to their country.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">163</span>
+Captain Breaker had always trained his officers and seamen to perform
+their duty in conformity with the discipline of the navy so far as it
+was practicable to do so, and consequently his ship's company were very
+nearly at home from the beginning of the voyage. He had received his
+sealed orders, and at noon the Bellevite went down the bay on her
+mission to the South, though no one on board knew where the ship was
+bound. The crew had been re-enforced by as many men as she had usually
+carried, and the first day was a very busy one in putting everything in
+order. Christy had handed the letter his father had given him to the
+captain, and after dinner he spoke of&nbsp;it.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you read this letter, Mr. Passford?" asked the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"I did, sir; my father told me to read it," replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"It appears that a very fast steamer loaded with a valuable cargo
+sailed from Belfast eleven days ago, clearing for the Bermudas. We shall
+all be very happy to pay our respects to her; but I can say nothing till
+I have opened my orders to-morrow," said Captain Breaker.</p>
+
+<p>"If she sailed eleven days ago from Belfast, she
+<span class = "pagenum">164</span>
+ought to be well up with the Bermudas, if she is as fast as represented,
+sir," added Christy, hoping the orders would permit the Bellevite to
+look out for the Killbright, as she was called.</p>
+
+<p>The next day, as the observations indicated the latitude in which the
+sealed orders were to be opened, the seal of the official envelope was
+broken. Captain Breaker read the letter, and a smile came over his
+bronzed face. The orders were evidently to his satisfaction; and
+Christy, who was on duty near him, remembered what his father had said
+to him, and asked no question, as he would have been likely to do under
+other circumstances. But the commander was kind enough to call his
+officers to him, and inform them of the duty assigned to the ship.</p>
+
+<p>The government had received information which indicated the approach
+to our shores of a considerable fleet of blockade runners, and the
+Bellevite, on account of her reputed fast sailing, was to cruise for a
+given time off the coast in search of these blockade runners.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no doubt these blockade runners will go into the Bermudas,
+especially the Killbright. If we go into St. George, we shall not be
+allowed
+<span class = "pagenum">165</span>
+to sail till twenty-four hours after this fast vessel leaves," said
+Captain Breaker. "On the other hand, if we are seen off the port, she
+will not come out."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see, then, that we can do anything about it, Captain
+Breaker," added Mr. Dashington.</p>
+
+<p>"Captain Passford's correspondent thinks the Killbright is intended
+for the Confederate Navy, and that she is commanded by a naval officer
+sent out for the purpose," continued the captain.</p>
+
+<p>But no satisfactory measures could be devised for overcoming the
+difficulties on both hands, and the steamer sped on her way. In two days
+more she was in sight of the Bermudas. It was almost dark when the
+lookout sighted a steamer coming out from the islands. By the order of
+the captain, the engine was stopped, and the steamer rested silently on
+a calm sea.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think she has seen us yet," said Captain Breaker. "If she
+had, she would have come about and run back into the harbor."</p>
+
+<p>"She keeps on her course," added Mr. Dashington.</p>
+
+<p>"If she has the reputation of being a very fast
+<span class = "pagenum">166</span>
+vessel, very likely she believes that she can run away from us,"
+suggested Mr. Blowitt.</p>
+
+<p>"As I don't believe the vessel floats that can outsail the Bellevite,
+I shall give her time to get well away from the port before the screw
+turns again," said the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Passford," called he a little later.</p>
+
+<p>"On duty, sir," replied Christy, touching his cap to the
+commander.</p>
+
+<p>"You will have the midship gun charged with a solid shot, and have it
+ready for use at once."</p>
+
+<p>As the steamer in the distance still kept on her course, the screw of
+the Bellevite was started. The chief engineer was called upon deck, and
+the situation explained to him.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall want all the speed we can get out of her, Mr. Vapoor," said
+the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall have no trouble in making twenty-two knots, sir, with the
+sea as it is now," replied the engineer.</p>
+
+<p>"That steamer means to go into the Cape Fear River," said Mr.
+Blowitt, when the chase had laid her course. "If she was going in at
+Savannah, or round into the Gulf, she would go more to the south."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">167</span>
+"I think you are right; but she has room enough to run away from us if
+she can," added the captain.</p>
+
+<p>It was a busy time in the fireroom, but there was nothing to do on
+deck but watch the steamer. She had actually lighted the green light on
+the starboard, and evidently did not expect to be overhauled, even if
+her commander had noticed the presence of the Bellevite.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">168</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXV">CHAPTER XV</a></h4>
+
+<h6>A CHASE OFF THE BERMUDAS</h6>
+
+
+<p>All the officers on board of the Bellevite who had never been in the
+navy had spent their long vacation in the study and practice of gunnery
+and naval tactics; and the men had been carefully drilled by a competent
+officer as soon as they reported for duty. But a considerable number of
+the latter had served for years on board of men-of-war, and a few were
+sheet-anchor men. The latter are sailors who have spent the greater part
+of their lives in the national sea-service, and they were competent to
+teach many of the junior officers.</p>
+
+<p>Every day after the ship went into commission, both officers and
+seamen were drilled, and the captain declared that they had all made
+satisfactory proficiency. He was ready to meet an enemy with them; but
+then the ship's company of the steam-yacht were of the very best
+material. They were all intelligent men, and sailors to begin with, so
+<span class = "pagenum">169</span>
+that the task of qualifying them for active duty was not very
+laborious.</p>
+
+<p>Christy was even better fitted for his duties than many of the older
+officers, for he was not only full of enthusiasm, but he was skilful and
+scientific, as a rule. He neither asked nor expected any favors on
+account of former relations with the captain and other officers, and he
+was determined to make his way by merit rather than by favor. Besides,
+he had already been under fire, and he had an idea how it felt. Though
+he was as prudent and careful as circumstances might require, he had
+proved that he was as brave as a lion, and that shot and shell were not
+likely to drive him from the post of duty.</p>
+
+<p>Every man was in his place at the midship gun, seventeen of them,
+including the powder-boy, and Christy gave the orders for loading the
+piece as though he had been in the navy all his life. The other guns,
+the broadsides, were loaded at the same time. But just now Paul Vapoor
+was the most important man on board, and he was rapidly making himself
+felt in the increasing speed of the Bellevite. Captain Breaker estimated
+that the steamer which had just come out of port was
+<span class = "pagenum">170</span>
+all of five miles ahead. It was only seven o'clock in the early darkness
+of this latitude. Whether the chase was the Killbright or not, it was
+impossible to make out in the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>If it was the Killbright, Captain Passford's correspondent wrote that
+she was capable of making twenty knots an hour, as she had been built
+more for speed than anything else, though she could hardly be a
+profitable commercial venture. But even accepting this speed as the
+difficulty to be overcome, the Bellevite would probably overhaul her in
+two or three hours. The engineer felt that his reputation and that of
+the ship were at stake, and could not think of such a thing as failure
+in the first actual encounter with the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>"We are gaining on her without the ghost of a doubt, Mr. Passford,"
+said Boxie, who was ready for duty at the gun.</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt of that, Tom Boxie," replied the third lieutenant. "But she
+is taking it very coolly. She has not yet even put out her lights."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you know why she hasn't, Mr. Passford," added the captain
+of the gun.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure I don't know," replied Christy. "If I was in command of
+that steamer, and wanted
+<span class = "pagenum">171</span>
+to do just what she does, I should not proceed as she does. But I am
+nothing but a boy."</p>
+
+<p>"But you have got a long head on your shoulders, Mr. Passford, and I
+should like to know, if you please, what you would&nbsp;do."</p>
+
+<p>"I would put her lights out before I winked twice."</p>
+
+<p>"Right, Mr. Passford!" exclaimed the sheet-anchor man. "I am glad to
+hear you say that. The trouble with most of the boys is, when they go to
+sea to fight the battles of their country, they are as reckless as young
+wildcats."</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is possible to use proper caution without being a coward,
+Tom Boxie; and my father gave me a lesson on that subject not long
+ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Eight bells, sir; and that steamer has had a good hour of running so
+far. I will wager my day's grub that we are two knots nearer to her than
+when she laid her course," added Boxie, delighted with the
+situation.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no doubt of it. I think they are beginning to see it on board
+of her. There go her lights! She has not a ghost of a glow in sight; and
+I suppose there is going to be some monkeying
+<span class = "pagenum">172</span>
+about it, if she has ascertained that she cannot run away
+from&nbsp;us."</p>
+
+<p>"Most likely, sir; but this is not a good night to play tricks, for
+we have a bright night and a smooth sea."</p>
+
+<p>"As that steamer has such a reputation for speed, I have no doubt
+they put a very valuable cargo on board of her; probably she has a good
+supply of arms in her hold."</p>
+
+<p>"So much the better for us, Mr. Passford. We don't fight for
+prize-money, but when a man gets to be as old as I am, a good round sum
+of money don't come amiss to him. But I am sorry to see that it looks
+like a change of weather," continued the sheet-anchor man, as he hitched
+up his trousers, and took a survey of the heavens.</p>
+
+<p>The wind began to come from the west after it had been almost a dead
+calm since noon. It looked as though a heavy shower was coming up, and
+clouds of mist and fog swept over the ocean. The usual lookouts had been
+doubled, but, in spite of all precautions, the Bellevite lost sight of
+the chase when she could not have been more than a mile from her. But
+this weather was to be expected in this changeable latitude. Captain
+<span class = "pagenum">173</span>
+Breaker was as perplexed as any one, however skilful, must have been in
+the same situation. It was impossible to know what the chase would do,
+though it was plain enough, since she put out her lights, that she would
+change her course.</p>
+
+<p>It was over six hundred miles to Cape Hatteras, and she had room
+enough to man&oelig;uvre in any manner she pleased. The change in the
+weather hardly amounted to a storm, and probably it would be all over in
+a few hours. But the chase might turn to any point of the compass, and
+the Bellevite was as likely to pursue in the wrong as the right
+direction. But the first thing the commander ordered the chief engineer
+to do was to save his coal; though he held to his course, and the ship
+continued at a moderate speed till daylight.</p>
+
+<p>As the wise ones had predicted, the shower was of brief duration. As
+soon as it was light enough to see, and the fog banks had been swept
+away, a sharp lookout was kept for the chase. If she was ahead, she had
+outsailed her pursuer; but Captain Breaker was sure she had not done
+this, for she could not have had confidence enough in her heels to adopt
+such a course.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">174</span>
+"Sail, ho!" yelled a man on the cross-trees, a few minutes later.</p>
+
+<p>"Where away?" called the officer of the deck.</p>
+
+<p>"On the port beam, sir."</p>
+
+<p>Several officers mounted the rigging to obtain a sight of the
+reported sail. She was at least ten miles off, and no one could make out
+whether or not it was the chase of the night before. The captain ordered
+the ship to be headed to the southward, and, after she had gone on this
+course an hour, there was another hail from the cross-trees.</p>
+
+<p>"Sail is a steamer, sir!" reported the lookout.</p>
+
+<p>With the aid of the spyglasses, a long streak of black smoke could be
+made out of the dark clouds that were retreating in that direction. A
+little later it was demonstrated that she was headed for the coast of
+the United States. Whether it was the chase they sought or not, she
+needed looking after. The course was laid in a direction to intercept
+the steamer, for her inky smoke indicated that she was not American.</p>
+
+<p>In another hour she could be very distinctly made out, though the
+chase had not been so clearly made out the night before as to enable the
+officers to identify her. Paul Vapoor was in his element
+<span class = "pagenum">175</span>
+again, and the Bellevite was doing her best. The two vessels were
+approaching each other, and Boxie suggested that there would be "music"
+in less than an hour.</p>
+
+<p>The people on board of the strange steamer must have been as much in
+the dark in regard to the caliber of the naval vessel as those on board
+of the Bellevite were in respect to their confident rival. The chase was
+a long craft, it could be seen now, with two masts and two smokestacks,
+all of which raked in the most dashing style. She was rather low in the
+water, and, if it had been in the days of the pirates, the stranger
+would have been a fair ideal of the freebooter's ship.</p>
+
+<p>"She keeps on just as though she intended to mind her own business,
+and leave the Bellevite to do the same," said Boxie, as Christy took his
+place near the midship gun.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no doubt the Bellevite knows her business in this case, and
+that she will attend to it in due time," added the lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"Good!" exclaimed the sheet-anchor man, suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>This exclamation was called forth by a flag, which was run up at the
+peak, and which proved
+<span class = "pagenum">176</span>
+to be that of the Confederacy as soon as it was spread out to the
+breeze.</p>
+
+<p>"She is plucky, anyhow," added Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no lack of pluck in the South. But I wonder what she means
+by setting that rag."</p>
+
+<p>"Beeks, hoist the ensign at the peak," said the captain, and the
+brilliant banner was spread in the morning air.</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon both sides understand the situation now. I don't know the
+captain of that craft, but he is an able fellow, and probably got his
+education in the old navy, and not in the new one, where he is serving
+now," continued Boxie.</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is easy enough to see what he means," replied Christy.
+"He ascertained last night that, fast as his vessel is, he cannot
+outsail the Bellevite; and there is really only one thing he can do, and
+that is to fight."</p>
+
+<p>The lieutenant had hardly spoken the words before there was a puff of
+smoke from one side of the chase, and a heavy report came across the
+water. But the two steamers were still a long distance apart, and the
+shot fell short, to the satisfaction of the captain. The chase had been
+obliged to come to in order to bring her gun to
+<span class = "pagenum">177</span>
+bear, and she had lost a little time in doing so. It could be easily
+seen on board of both steamers that the Bellevite was gaining rapidly on
+the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Passford, I am as sure of capturing that vessel as though I had
+her now, and I do not wish to injure her any more than is necessary,"
+said Captain Breaker, as he sighted the Parrot, and devoted especial
+attention to her. "She is a very fast steamer, and she will be very
+valuable in our navy in picking up just such vessels as she is
+herself."</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it was impudence for him to do so, but Christy could not help
+casting his eye along the gun. All possible precautions were taken to
+secure a correct aim, and then the lieutenant gave the order to
+"Fire!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hit her, sir!" shouted one of the lookout men aloft, who could see
+over the cloud of smoke.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did it strike her?" demanded the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"Right in the broadside, abreast of the forward smokestack, sir! She
+has stopped her screw!" added the lookout.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Dashington, get the ship astern of the
+<span class = "pagenum">178</span>
+chase at once," continued the captain to the first lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>This was the work of at least half an hour; but the Bellevite was
+running for the stern of the other steamer, as though she intended to
+cut her in two lengthwise. The chase lay helpless on the water, unable
+to bring her broadside guns to bear on her enemy.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">179</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXVI">CHAPTER XVI</a></h4>
+
+<h6>THE CONFEDERATE STEAMER YAZOO</h6>
+
+
+<p>It was impossible to discover the nature or extent of the injury the
+chase had received from the shot from the midship gun; but she had been
+disabled, though it might be but slightly. The Bellevite dashed on, as
+though impatient to obtain possession of her prey. All the glasses on
+board were brought to bear on the injured vessel, which all hands
+regarded as already a prize.</p>
+
+<p>The glasses did not reveal any considerable havoc in the side of the
+steamer, and the shot hole could easily be plugged when necessary; but
+the commander of the craft did not yet give up the ship, for he seemed
+to be engaged in hoisting her foresail and jibs, evidently with the
+intention of bringing her about so that he could use his guns. The wind
+was very light, and his chances of accomplishing his purpose were not
+very brilliant.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">180</span>
+"Mr. Dashington, you will call all hands, and be ready to board the
+prize in three divisions when we run abreast of her," said Captain
+Breaker. "Let Mr. Passford command the forward division; Mr. Blowitt,
+the waist; and Mr. Calvert, the quarter."</p>
+
+<p>The boarders were mustered at once, as there was no occasion to fire
+again at the prize. Each officer arranged his men, and spoke some
+stirring words to them. Men in the tops were supplied with muskets, and
+all with revolvers and cutlasses. It was not believed that all this
+force would be necessary to capture the prize, but there was some
+evidence that she had a fighting crew on board, and the captain prepared
+for the worst.</p>
+
+<p>As the Bellevite came nearer to the prize, the sound of hammers was
+heard, and it appeared that the engineers were engaged in an effort to
+repair the mischief which had been done to the engine. It was still
+impossible to see how many men she had on board, but Captain Breaker did
+not estimate that she had a full ship's company, for vessels intended
+for war purposes, escaping as this one doubtless had, did not usually
+take their force on board at the beginning of the cruise.</p>
+
+<p class = "illustration">
+<img src = "images/pic180.png" width = "323" height = "502"
+alt = "illustration of quoted scene"><br>
+<span class = "caption">
+"<span class = "smallcaps">Christy and Beeks on the Steamer's
+Deck</span>."&mdash;Page 181.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>The three divisions of boarders were all in readiness,
+<span class = "pagenum">181</span>
+and all they feared was that there would be little for them to do on
+board the enemy. Captain Breaker was in the fore rigging where he could
+observe all that was done on the decks of both vessels. The Bellevite
+went ahead with all speed till the signal was given to slow down. The
+sea was not heavy, and the captain laid her alongside of the prize.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you surrender?" demanded the commander in a loud tone, but with
+his usual dignity.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not surrender!" replied the captain of the steamer.</p>
+
+<p>"Boarders away!" shouted Captain Breaker.</p>
+
+<p>Christy Passford was the first to leap upon the rail of the other
+vessel, and then he dropped in the same instant upon her deck. At that
+moment he was conscious that the steamer under him was moving, though it
+might be the shaking which the Bellevite gave her when she came
+alongside. On the deck of the prize, as he still taught himself to
+consider her, he saw not more than thirty men; and with nearly three
+times that number on the other side, it did not look as if it could be a
+very hotly contested battle.</p>
+
+<p>As Christy jumped down from the rail, Beeks
+<span class = "pagenum">182</span>
+followed him, and he was not a little surprised to find that they were
+alone. But there was no enemy at hand upon whom he could flesh his
+cutlass, and he sprang upon the rail again. He found that his impression
+had been correct, for the vessel was moving. She had already left a gap
+a dozen feet wide between the Bellevite and herself.</p>
+
+<p>It appeared that the machinery had been repaired, and that it was now
+capable of doing all that it had done before. The steamer was the
+Killbright, for the lieutenant saw the name painted in several places
+about her forward deck. She had suddenly shot ahead very unexpectedly to
+the captors, as they supposed they were, alongside of her. A puff of
+wind had been favoring her before, and she darted away towards the
+northwest. As she began to move, the lock-strings of her port battery
+were pulled as rapidly as possible.</p>
+
+<p>It would have been impossible to help hitting the Bellevite, with the
+three guns fired into her at so short a distance. But the cloud of smoke
+that enveloped both vessels prevented the captain from taking in the
+situation. The crew of the Killbright were ordered to reload their guns
+instantly. Whatever was to happen in the near
+<span class = "pagenum">183</span>
+or distant future, it was evident that the dangerous steamer had not yet
+been captured, and Christy did not think of her as a prize any more just
+then.</p>
+
+<p>The Killbright crowded on all the steam she could obtain, and she
+rapidly increased the distance between herself and the Bellevite. She
+fired her three broadside guns continually, but it was clear to Christy
+that the men had not been trained to this business, or they might
+perhaps have sunk the naval vessel by this time.</p>
+
+<p>The Bellevite fired her two broadside guns, and they made terrible
+havoc in the upper works of the Killbright. But the strangest thing of
+all to the young lieutenant, caught on board of the anticipated prize,
+was that the Bellevite did not go ahead, and give the boarding parties a
+chance to get on the deck of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't understand it, Beeks," said Christy as he found himself by
+the side of the quartermaster. "Why don't the ship give chase?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think she must be disabled, sir," replied the warrant officer.</p>
+
+<p>"What could have disabled her?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose she might be hit as well as this
+<span class = "pagenum">184</span>
+vessel," replied Beets, no better pleased with the situation than his
+companion in trouble. "They fired three shots into her while she was
+alongside."</p>
+
+<p>"She must have been hit in a bad place, or she would have been
+alongside of us before this time. But here we are."</p>
+
+<p>The third lieutenant and quartermaster felt very much like prisoners,
+though they had no evidence that the Killbright was a ship-of-war,
+except that she had hoisted the Confederate flag, and fired upon the
+Bellevite. But the rakish-looking steamer continued on her course, while
+the Bellevite had not moved since the first broadside. She had already
+made a mile, and the shots from her enemy did not seem to disable
+her.</p>
+
+<p>She continued to run with all her speed, and the lieutenant felt the
+deck quiver as though it was in danger of being shaken out of her. But
+she was not followed by the Bellevite, and things began to look dark and
+somewhat cheerless to Christy. The firing came to an end, for the
+distance was becoming too great for it to be effectual on either
+side.</p>
+
+<p>"If we had not jumped down from the rail when we boarded, we might
+have escaped this
+<span class = "pagenum">185</span>
+scrape," said Beeks, who was even more disgusted than his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"It is no use to growl about it," added Christy, laughing. "Here we
+are, and we can't help ourselves at present."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose they will let us go, won't they?" inquired the
+quartermaster.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us go where?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let us go back where we came from," replied Beeks, who seemed to be
+quite muddled by his misfortune.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't expect them to put you on board of the Bellevite again, do
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no; not exactly; but this steamer is nothing but a blockade
+runner, and such craft don't take prisoners."</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly know what she is yet; she is a blockade runner, but she
+appeals to be something more than that. She hoisted the Confederate
+flag, and her people stood by their guns like brave men. I count myself
+as a prisoner of war," said Christy, to the increased disgust of his
+companion.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you suppose they will do with us?" asked Beeks, looking as
+though he had not a friend in the world, though he had always been a
+very
+<span class = "pagenum">186</span>
+brave and active fellow when there was anything to do.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, but I suppose she will run the blockade into the Cape
+Fear River, and we may be taken up to Wilmington."</p>
+
+<p>While they were talking about it, they saw a group of officers coming
+to the forward deck, where they had remained since they came on board.
+They appeared to be examining the steamer to ascertain what damage she
+had sustained. Her bulwarks had been torn off, and she had suffered not
+a little from shot; but she did not appear to be very seriously damaged.
+At the head of the party was one who had a uniform, and dignity enough
+to be the commander of the ship.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are those two men forward?" asked this gentleman, as he called
+the attention of the others to the two strangers.</p>
+
+<p>No one knew who they were, and the captain continued to advance,
+looking very sharply at Christy, or at his uniform. The lieutenant
+thought he had seen the gentleman before, for it was quite impossible
+entirely to forget one with so much character in his face.</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid I shall be obliged to call upon
+<span class = "pagenum">187</span>
+you, sir, to explain how you and your companion happen to be here, for I
+was not before aware of your presence."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall cheerfully explain, Captain Carboneer," replied Christy,
+recognizing the captain, and bowing politely.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, you know me? But I have not the pleasure of your acquaintance,
+so far as I can remember," added the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"We met under some disadvantages so far as you are concerned, for I
+had the satisfaction of seeing you, though you did not see me," replied
+the lieutenant, looking very good-natured in spite of his situation as a
+prospective prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>"I must beg you to explain still further, Mr.&mdash;I have not the
+pleasure of knowing your name."</p>
+
+<p>"Passford, sir, Christopher Passford, midshipman in the United States
+Navy, and at present third lieutenant of the steamer Bellevite, which
+you can hardly make out at this moment, though I remember that you have
+seen her before," answered Christy, telling the whole story, as indeed
+his uniform had already done, so far as his rank was concerned.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very happy to meet you under present
+<span class = "pagenum">188</span>
+circumstances, Mr. Passford, though I am not yet informed where I met
+you before."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you did not exactly meet me, Captain Carboneer; but, at any
+rate, we were in the same boat together."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose we met, if at all, on the Hudson, in connection with the
+Bellevite. Your people have not been as fortunate to-day with their
+gunnery practice as on that occasion," suggested the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Captain Carboneer, will you kindly inform me in regard to the
+status of this vessel? Is she a naval vessel, or simply a blockade
+runner?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is both; and I am sorry for your sake to inform you that you are
+a prisoner of war."</p>
+
+<p>"I supposed I was."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you will be willing to inform me what became of Major
+Pierson and Corny Passford&mdash;the latter a cousin of yours, I
+believe?"</p>
+
+<p>"Like myself, the major is a prisoner of war. Corny was injured in
+the disaster to the Vampire, as you are aware; he is also a prisoner,
+but on parole, remaining at my father's house to be healed."</p>
+
+<p>"I have to regret to-day more than ever before
+<span class = "pagenum">189</span>
+that we failed to capture the Bellevite, for I find that she is even
+faster than the Yazoo," added the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"The Yazoo?"</p>
+
+<p>"Formerly the Killbright, but now the Yazoo."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment an officer came up and spoke to Captain Carboneer. As
+both of them looked aft, Christy did the same, and, after studying the
+speck he saw on the ocean, he was satisfied that it was the Bellevite,
+coming down upon the Yazoo with all her speed.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">190</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXVII">CHAPTER XVII</a></h4>
+
+<h6>A SATISFACTORY ORDER</h6>
+
+
+<p>Whatever had happened to the Bellevite, it was plain enough now to
+Christy that she had repaired the injury, for the speck in the distance
+was assuming the form of a steamer. The discovery was not calculated to
+fan the hopes of Captain Carboneer and his officers, though the two
+Unionists on board of the Yazoo were elated. The chase was continued
+till the middle of the afternoon, when the Bellevite opened fire with
+her heavy midship gun.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Passford, your ship has opened fire upon us, and I will not
+compel you to expose yourself to it," said Captain Carboneer, as one of
+the shots from the Bellevite dropped into the water near the Yazoo. "You
+are at liberty to retire to any part of the vessel you desire, with your
+companion."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, sir; you are very kind; and as I don't care to be shot by
+my friends, I will go below," replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">191</span>
+It was hardly safer below than on deck, and it was not likely that the
+resolute commander of the Yazoo would allow her to be captured as long
+as he could make any resistance. Christy got the idea from the decision
+he had observed in the face and expression of Captain Carboneer, that
+the only way to capture the steamer would be to knock her to pieces. He
+expected to be saved from the fate of a prisoner of war, but he was not
+ready to believe that the Yazoo would be sent to the North as a prize.
+She had not half the force of the Bellevite, either in men or guns, and
+it had been proved that her speed could not save her. But all the
+chances of accidents were to be incurred, and no one could predict the
+final result.</p>
+
+<p>Christy and Beeks went below, and seated themselves in the wardroom
+of the ship. It looked as though it had been altered from the
+dining-saloon of a passenger steamer for its present use. But the vessel
+was an elegant affair, and Christy thought it was evident from what he
+saw that she had been built for a steam-yacht by some British magnate.
+She was not more than two-thirds as large as the Bellevite.</p>
+
+<p>The sound of the firing indicated that the Bellevite
+<span class = "pagenum">192</span>
+was gaining on the chase even more rapidly than in the morning. At the
+end of a couple of hours more she seemed to be within a mile, or perhaps
+less. The Yazoo was shaking in every fibre of her steel body, and it was
+plain that Captain Carboneer was straining her to the utmost to effect
+his escape.</p>
+
+<p>"It is beginning to warm up a little," said Beeks, as he tried to
+look out at one of the round ports of the wardroom.</p>
+
+<p>"It will be hotter than this before we see the end of it," replied
+Christy. "Can you see anything?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a thing; of course the Bellevite is astern of us," added Beeks.
+"But the Yazoo is not using her guns."</p>
+
+<p>"How can she? She has not fired a shot for some time, and she cannot
+without coming to. I should say she might as well do one thing as
+another. She can't run away from the Bellevite, and she may as well take
+her chances in a fight as a run."</p>
+
+<p>"But the Bellevite does not seem to be handling her great gun at a
+very lively rate," suggested Beeks.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">193</span>
+"I suppose Captain Breaker wants to save all he can of the Yazoo, and he
+knows that he can knock her all to pieces when he decides that it is
+necessary."</p>
+
+<p>"What is all that racket on deck?" asked Beeks.</p>
+
+<p>"Probably they are getting a couple of stern chasers ready for use,"
+answered Christy; and this explanation was soon proved to be correct by
+the report of a gun at the stern of the Yazoo.</p>
+
+<p>For the next half-hour, the firing from the Bellevite was more rapid,
+and several crashes, produced by the striking of shot, were heard. It
+was soon apparent that one of the stern chasers had been disabled; and
+after a while the other ceased its noise. Beeks was so excited that he
+left the wardroom, and found his way into what proved to be the
+captain's cabin. More than one shot had come into it, and made no little
+havoc. He found a port there through which he obtained a view of the
+Bellevite. Whatever damage had been done to her, her engine was in
+perfect order, for she was driving ahead at her best speed.</p>
+
+<p>The quartermaster reported what he had seen to Christy, though it
+proved nothing except that the
+<span class = "pagenum">194</span>
+Bellevite was all right, but everything began to look more hopeful to
+the occupants of the wardroom. They had only to wait, for they could do
+nothing. The pursuer had ceased to discharge her guns, and those of the
+Yazoo were useless under present circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>The situation was becoming more exciting on the deck of the Yazoo,
+judging by the sounds that came from it. Then it was evident that the
+Bellevite had returned to her former tactics, and was coming alongside
+with the intention of boarding. Loud yells and fierce cries followed,
+and then came the noise of a hand-to-hand struggle on the deck. It was
+of short duration, for the ship's company of the Yazoo were outnumbered
+at least two to one.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose we may go on deck now," said Beeks.</p>
+
+<p>"I should judge that the fight was over," replied Christy, as he led
+the way out of the wardroom.</p>
+
+<p>At the companion-way they found two sailors assisting Captain
+Carboneer to his cabin. His face was covered with blood, and he looked
+very pale. The surgeon was close by him. Christy felt sincerely sorry
+for the commander, for he was a noble and upright man. His protest had
+prevented
+<span class = "pagenum">195</span>
+Major Pierson from attempting to carry out whatever plan he had in his
+mind for the abduction of Florry Passford, and the young officer felt
+grateful to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Mr. Passford, the luck is on your side again," said the wounded
+commander, when he saw Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, I rejoice that it is so, but I am sincerely sorry that
+you are wounded," replied Christy. "I must thank you for your
+interference in behalf of my sister in opposition to the scheme of Major
+Pierson."</p>
+
+<p>"How could you know anything about that?" asked the commander,
+bracing himself&nbsp;up.</p>
+
+<p>"I heard the whole of it."</p>
+
+<p>"I see; but I did not consider that Major Pierson contemplated any
+ruffianism," added Captain Carboneer, as the surgeon urged him to go
+into his cabin.</p>
+
+<p>Christy hastened on deck, and was warmly received by his
+fellow-officers there. He reported on board to Captain Breaker without
+any delay, and was warmly congratulated on his escape. He returned to
+his duty at once. Paul Vapoor was inclined to hug him when he met
+him.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">196</span>
+"I felt like a prisoner of war," said Christy, when he had told his
+brief story. "The Bellevite was disabled, and I supposed it was all up
+with&nbsp;me."</p>
+
+<p>"A shot from the Killbright damaged our rudder, so that we could not
+steer her; though we repaired the mischief after a considerable delay,"
+replied the engineer. "But we have the prize."</p>
+
+<p>"She was intended for a cruiser, and they call her the Yazoo."</p>
+
+<p>"Whatever her name, she will not be a cruiser on that side."</p>
+
+<p>The captured vessel was carefully surveyed; she had been considerably
+damaged in the contest, but she was still seaworthy, and Mr. Blowitt was
+appointed prize-master to take her to New York. All the arrangements
+were speedily completed, and, when the prize had sailed for her
+destination, Christy became the acting second lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>For the next month the Bellevite cruised in search of such craft as
+the Killbright, and then she took her place on the blockade off Mobile
+Bay, to which she had been ordered. Mr. Blowitt and the prize-crew had
+returned, and all the damage done by the guns of the Yazoo had been
+repaired, so
+<span class = "pagenum">197</span>
+that the Bellevite was in as good condition as when she left the Navy
+Yard at Brooklyn. She captured several schooners, but no very important
+prize. Many of the officers were disgusted with the inactivity of the
+service.</p>
+
+<p>In a letter from his father, Christy obtained the information that
+the Bellevite was likely to be ordered to duty as a cruiser, for which
+her great speed adapted her better than any other vessel in the navy.
+This was cheering news to the discontented ones. But before any orders
+to this effect was received, the ship was ordered to proceed to
+Pensacola, where a very fast steamer was said to be awaiting an
+opportunity to get to sea.</p>
+
+<p>The position of the steamer was ascertained with no little
+difficulty; but it was protected by the guns of the forts. Captain
+Breaker desired to obtain better information in regard to the Teaser, as
+the negroes said she was called. She was quite small, and carried only a
+single long gun, and it was suspected that she was a privateer. On the
+evening of the Bellevite's arrival, the weather was rainy, foggy, and
+thick. It was just the night for a blockade runner, and the captain
+believed that an attempt would be made to get out at this time.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">198</span>
+The Unionists held Fort Pickens, and the Confederates the forts on the
+mainland. The negroes said the Teaser was anchored at the mouth of the
+lagoon, or very near it. This was not very definite, even if it were
+accepted as true. It was very important that the Teaser should not be
+permitted to get out of the bay, for she might do a great deal of
+mischief to the shipping of the nation.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe the stories of the negroes," said Captain Breaker,
+as he was discussing the situation with his officers. "I know the port
+very well, and I have no idea where the mouth of the lagoon is, or even
+if it has any mouth in Pensacola Bay."</p>
+
+<p>"Wherever the Teaser may be waiting her chance, this is a good night
+for a start," replied Mr. Dashington.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course the officers of Fort Pickens are on the lookout for the
+saucy little craft," added Mr. Blowitt.</p>
+
+<p>"Captain Westover is still on board, and you are to send him to the
+fort, are you not, Captain Breaker?" asked Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; as soon as he is ready to go," replied the captain. "He has
+given all the information he has in regard to the Teaser; but he has not
+seen
+<span class = "pagenum">199</span>
+her to-day, and he does not believe she is in the lower bay, but that
+she is somewhere in the vicinity of the Navy Yard."</p>
+
+<p>"If you will excuse me, Captain Breaker, I don't believe she means to
+come out by the main channel, for her people know that the eyes of the
+officers of Fort Pickens are wide open," suggested Christy, with a good
+deal of diffidence.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you think she will come out, Mr. Passford?" asked the
+captain, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"By Santa Rosa Sound, sir," replied the third lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly you are right, Mr. Passford, though I do not think you
+are," added the commander, thoughtfully. "Santa Rosa Sound is about
+forty miles long, and there is hardly water enough in it, up and down,
+to float a raft, to say nothing of a steamer."</p>
+
+<p>But later in the day, the captain called Christy aside, and had a
+long talk with him, the charts open before them. It certainly did not
+look like a very hopeful enterprise to take a steamer through such a
+sound as that described.</p>
+
+<p>"But we have no correct information in regard to the anchorage of the
+Teaser, and I have decided
+<span class = "pagenum">200</span>
+to obtain it if possible. I propose to send you to look into the matter,
+Mr. Passford," added the captain, settling the question in that way.
+"Select your own boat and crew. But if the Teaser gets by Fort Pickens,
+we may have to chase her to sea, and if on your return you do not find
+the Bellevite, you and your men will remain at Fort Pickens."</p>
+
+<p>Christy was entirely satisfied with this order.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">201</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXVIII">CHAPTER XVIII</a></h4>
+
+<h6>LIEUTENANT PASSFORD IN COMMAND</h6>
+
+
+<p>Christy felt as much honored by the confidence reposed in him by the
+captain as though he had been appointed to the command of a steamer. But
+he had more than once proved that he could be safely trusted, and
+demonstrated that he had judgment, discretion, and skill beyond his
+years. He was not only brave and resolute, but he was faithful and
+patriotic.</p>
+
+<p>He went about among the ship's company and selected the men he
+desired to assist him in his enterprise, and requested those chosen to
+say nothing about the matter, for the lieutenant was aware that he
+should have more volunteers than he could accommodate in the largest of
+the boats. All would want to go, and the young officer would be teased
+and coaxed, and all sorts of influence brought to bear upon him to
+permit this and that one to be of
+<span class = "pagenum">202</span>
+the party. It was easier to be silent than it was to reply to all the
+applications.</p>
+
+<p>Christy selected a large whaleboat for the service in which he was to
+be employed, and he had his own reasons for the choice he made. He had
+received unlimited authority to adopt his own measures. The only point
+that was strongly impressed upon his mind by the captain was that the
+Teaser must be captured.</p>
+
+<p>After supper the order was given to the third lieutenant to convey
+Captain Westover back to the fort, or to land him at the usual place
+near it. Nothing was thought of the order, though perhaps some of the
+officers considered a dozen seamen, all armed with cutlasses and
+revolvers, a large boat's crew for such a service. It was very thick
+weather, and Captain Westover begged Christy not to land him within the
+enemy's lines, which he promised not to&nbsp;do.</p>
+
+<p>The men gave way, and the boat went off into the gloom of the
+evening. Beeks gave his whole attention to the course of the boat, and
+Lieutenant Passford was engaged in a very earnest conversation with the
+military passenger. The landing-place seemed to be reached too soon, for
+Christy
+<span class = "pagenum">203</span>
+had not finished his business. He landed with him, and together they
+went to the fort, where the young officer had a conversation with the
+commander of the force there.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will not get into hot water, Mr. Passford," said Captain
+Westover, as he came to the sallyport with him.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot say that I shall not," replied Christy, "but I shall do the
+best I can to report on board of the ship with the force intrusted to
+me; and I hope I shall have the Teaser with&nbsp;me."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will. There are several small steamers up in the bay; but
+I have not the least idea where you will have to look for the Teaser,
+for we at the fort have not seen any such steamer lately."</p>
+
+<p>"There can be no doubt of her existence, Captain Westover, for the
+Bellevite was sent here to look out for her, as her speed is said to be
+remarkable. But, good-night, captain."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night, lieutenant; success to you, and a safe return," added
+the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," answered Christy, as he hurried down to the
+landing-place.</p>
+
+<p>Among those whom the lieutenant had selected
+<span class = "pagenum">204</span>
+was a master's mate by the name of Flint, who had assisted on board of
+the Bellevite in the affair with the Vampire. He was a modest, quiet
+man, who made no especial figure among his shipmates, though he had
+strongly attracted the attention of his officer. Next to Christy he was
+the highest in rank, and the second in command. Beeks was the next man
+selected, and he had done all that was necessary in the preparation of
+the boat, including putting into it slyly a supply of provisions, and a
+number of articles which the lieutenant had designated.</p>
+
+<p>On his return to the boat, Christy found his crew in excellent order,
+for he had instructed Flint to allow no noise or disorder, as sailors
+and young men generally are somewhat given to skylarking when not under
+the eye of a commissioned officer. Christy took his place with Flint in
+the stern sheets of the boat, and ordered Beeks, who was acting as
+coxswain, to shove off and give way.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no instructions yet, sir," replied Beeks, as he obeyed the
+order, and headed the boat away from the shore.</p>
+
+<p>"We have to make two miles east by south, and that course will carry
+us parallel with the shore of
+<span class = "pagenum">205</span>
+Santa Rosa Island, variation included," replied Christy, who had been a
+diligent student of the chart, and had written down all that it was
+important for him to remember, though he had one of his own charts, or a
+piece of one, in the boat.</p>
+
+<p>"East by south, sir," replied Beeks, as he put the whaleboat on the
+required course.</p>
+
+<p>Thus far, Christy had kept his own counsel, and not whispered a word
+of his intentions even to the master's mate. He had no motive for such
+heroic concealment of his plan, but he had not had the time to discuss
+it with any person. Besides, though he had decided upon his course in
+the beginning, he was too much in the dark himself to lay down a
+definite plan; and his course must depend largely upon the information
+he obtained from time to time.</p>
+
+<p>He had examined the charts and the Coast Pilot very carefully; and
+the facts he had obtained from the latter rather staggered him in regard
+to the idea he had advanced that the Teaser might go out through Santa
+Rosa Sound. It was not navigable for vessels with a draught of over four
+feet, and it would have to be a very small man-of-war that could float
+in that depth. Though it was now
+<span class = "pagenum">206</span>
+the time of the spring tides, they did not add more than six inches to
+the height of the mean tide, which was but a couple of inches over two
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>Even before he took his place in the boat alongside the ship, he had
+come to the conclusion that the Teaser, if she proved to be anything
+more than a toy boat, could not go to sea through the sound, and she was
+not likely to attempt it. He had said as much as this to Captain
+Breaker, who reminded him that he was to ascertain if possible what the
+craft intended to do, if he succeeded in finding her.</p>
+
+<p>Flint did not manifest any desire to know more than the law allowed,
+and he asked no questions in regard to the enterprise in which he was
+engaged. In fact, one reason why he was chosen was because he had an
+excellent habit of minding his own business. Possibly Christy was more
+particular on this point than an older officer would have been.</p>
+
+<p>"I think we have made two miles, Mr. Passford," said Beeks, when the
+men had pulled about an hour. "Of course, I cannot be sure of the
+distance run, for I can only guess at&nbsp;it."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">207</span>
+"Run up to the shore, then, and let us see how far off we are," added
+Christy.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes the bottom of the boat struck on the sand, and it
+was forced up far enough to permit the lieutenant to go on shore. Like
+most of the islands in this part of the gulf, Santa Rosa was nothing but
+sand, which in the eastern end is of a peculiar reddish hue. It is
+little more than a sand spit for its whole length, though in some places
+the wind has piled up mounds, or dunes.</p>
+
+<p>"Come with me, if you please, Flint," said Christy, as he leaped to
+the shore.</p>
+
+<p>Flint followed him, as usual asking no questions, and, if he had any
+curiosity in regard to the purposes of his leader, he did not manifest
+it. The lieutenant glanced at the trend of the shore, and then walked at
+right angles with it. No part of the island was inhabited, or even
+occupied, except Fort Pickens and a Union camp. It was a dismal place,
+especially in the fog and darkness.</p>
+
+<p>A short walk brought the explorers to the waters of Pensacola Bay. It
+was in vain that they tried to penetrate the gloom and the mist, and
+nothing could be seen. Flint expressed himself to this effect.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">208</span>
+"I did not expect to see anything," replied Christy. "I only came across
+here to find how wide the island was at this point. I am satisfied that
+we are about where I supposed we were. Half a mile to the westward of us
+the island is more than double the breadth it is here."</p>
+
+<p>"I see, sir; if you had found it much wider than it is, you would
+have known that you had not gone far enough in the boat," replied
+Flint.</p>
+
+<p>"Precisely so; I wanted to find where we were before I changed the
+course in going farther to the eastward," added Christy.</p>
+
+<p>Flint made no further remark, and they returned to the boat, and
+seated themselves in their places. The lieutenant gave the order to
+shove off.</p>
+
+<p>"We are in no hurry, Beeks; if the men are tired, you can stop longer
+to rest them," continued the commander of the expedition.</p>
+
+<p>The men scouted the idea of being tired after a pull of two miles in
+a comparatively smooth sea. Christy told them that they might have some
+very heavy work to do before they returned to the ship, and he did not
+wish to use up their strength unnecessarily.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, keep her east by north for a couple of
+<span class = "pagenum">209</span>
+miles, Beeks," continued Christy. "That will be as far as we have
+occasion to go in this direction. Don't hurry them; take it easy, for it
+will not be high tide till half-past twelve, and we may have more time
+than we shall know how to use."</p>
+
+<p>The crew pulled very leisurely, and it was over an hour before Beeks
+estimated that they had made the two miles. As before, Christy and Flint
+were landed, and they walked across the island. But their walk was not
+even half the length of the last one; and the spit was so narrow at this
+place that the lieutenant was confident he had struck the point he
+intended.</p>
+
+<p>"This is our base of operations," said Christy, as he stood on the
+shore of the bay. "We have got along very well so far, for it is not
+time yet for the music to begin, if it is to begin at all. What are you
+about, Flint?"</p>
+
+<p>The master's mate had lain down on the sand at the water's edge, and
+his companion was very much puzzled by his attitude. He wondered if his
+companion had the stomach-ache, and was not able to stand&nbsp;up.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon, Lieutenant Passford, but if you will kindly be
+quiet for a moment, I hope to
+<span class = "pagenum">210</span>
+be able to answer your question," replied Flint, in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p>Christy complied with the request, and as he did so, he thought he
+heard a noise in the distance, though he was not sure of it. He listened
+with all his ears, and some confused sounds came to him; but he could
+make nothing of them.</p>
+
+<p>"I heard some sort of a noise," said Flint, rising from his recumbent
+position. "But I can make nothing of what I hear. If there was a fresh
+breeze, I should say that it was the surf."</p>
+
+<p>"I heard it, too; but I am bothered to make out what it is. Did you
+get an idea of any kind?" asked Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"It sounded as though something of a gang of men were at work off in
+this direction," replied Flint, pointing east of north. "I am almost
+sure I heard the blows of hammers, or something like them."</p>
+
+<p>"The noise I heard might have been almost anything," added
+Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"What is there off in that direction?" asked Flint, pointing
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"About north of us is Town Point, and just beyond it is Old Navy
+Cove," said the lieutenant,
+<span class = "pagenum">211</span>
+who had been up the bay in the Bellevite on an excursion, and who had
+studied up all the localities.</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly they are repairing a vessel there," suggested Flint.</p>
+
+<p>"They would not do that over there, and certainly not on a dark
+night," argued Christy. "But we will soon find out all
+about&nbsp;it."</p>
+
+<p>He led the way back to the boat, which he had ordered Beeks to have
+carried on the shore. Then they proceeded to bear it across the island
+to the bay, where it was put into the water again.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">212</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXIX">CHAPTER XIX</a></h4>
+
+<h6>SOME TROUBLE ON BOARD THE TEASER</h6>
+
+
+<p>It was not a difficult thing for so many men to carry the whaleboat
+across the island, and they were disposed to make merry over the novelty
+of the task; but they had been instructed not to speak a loud word after
+the party left the south side of the island. The noise to which Christy
+and Flint had listened indicated that something was going on, though
+they could not decide what it was. In the stillness of the night, and in
+the absence of any roar of breakers, sounds could be heard a long
+distance, though whether they came one mile or two, they could not
+determine.</p>
+
+<p>"Get out those cloths, Beeks," said Christy, as soon as the boat had
+been put into the water. "Every oar must be very carefully muffled, and
+you will see that it is properly done."</p>
+
+<p>"I will have it done in a few minutes, sir," replied the acting
+coxswain.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">213</span>
+"As I said before, we are in no hurry, and you may take your time to do
+it properly," added the lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"Those sounds are still to be heard," said Flint, who had been a
+short distance from the boat to listen for them.</p>
+
+<p>"I hear them," replied Christy, walking away from the boat to
+continue the investigation while they were waiting. "Some kind of a job
+is in progress at no great distance from us. From how far off do you
+calculate that those sounds come?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think they must come a mile; and I don't believe I can guess any
+nearer to it than that, though it is possible they come two miles. I
+know little or nothing of the region about here. Suppose we should go a
+mile north-northeast from this spot, what should we find there, Mr.
+Passford?" asked Flint, apparently greatly interested in the
+question.</p>
+
+<p>"It would be a point on Pensacola Bay, about half-way between this
+island, where we stand, and Town Point," replied Christy. "I should say
+it would be in the channel leading into Santa Rosa Sound."</p>
+
+<p>"Precisely so!" exclaimed Flint, in an energetic
+<span class = "pagenum">214</span>
+whisper. "That's the way they are going to take the Teaser out, and they
+are doing something over there to prepare her for the trip in shallow
+water."</p>
+
+<p>The master's mate was not aware that Christy had suggested to the
+captain this way of escape for the Teaser, and he had abandoned the idea
+himself. Flint had reached his conclusion from his own premises. They
+discussed the matter for some time, though it was impossible to arrive
+at any conclusion for the want of data on which to base their
+reasoning.</p>
+
+<p>"All ready, sir," reported Beeks, coming up to them at this
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>"How far is the entrance to the sound from Fort Pickens, Mr.
+Passford?" asked Flint.</p>
+
+<p>"About four miles."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why should they choose such a night as this for their
+work?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Bellevite, floating in four fathoms of water on the other side
+of the island, could shell them out if they were seen, as they certainly
+would be from Fort Pickens," replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"That makes it plain enough," added Flint, as they walked towards the
+boat.</p>
+
+<p>"But I am not quite willing to believe yet that
+<span class = "pagenum">215</span>
+the Teaser will go out through the sound. If she could get through at
+all, it would only be after getting aground no end of times, and if
+to-morrow should be a clear day, she could be seen anywhere on her
+course," persisted Christy. "She cannot expect to make eight or ten
+knots an hour in that shallow water."</p>
+
+<p>The lieutenant ordered the men into the boat, after she was shoved
+off the beach. They worked with such care that not a sound came from
+her. The oars were shipped, and the sailors began to row. As instructed,
+they pulled very slowly, though such work could not be done in perfect
+silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out for that binnacle, Beeks," said Christy. "The light from it
+may betray&nbsp;us."</p>
+
+<p>"You have not given me the course, sir," replied the coxswain, as he
+obeyed the order.</p>
+
+<p>"North-northeast," added Christy, as he settled back in the stern
+sheets.</p>
+
+<p>No one was allowed to speak in the boat, and the lieutenant set the
+example of silence. But he kept his ears wide open, though the little
+noise made by the oars and the rippling of the water prevented him from
+hearing anything at first. It
+<span class = "pagenum">216</span>
+was so dark that one could hardly see another in the boat. It was in
+vain that Christy watched in the gloom for the glow of a light; for all
+was nearly total darkness in every direction.</p>
+
+<p>In about half an hour they began to hear the sounds which had
+attracted their attention on the island, and they proceeded from
+directly ahead, indicating that the operations, whatever they were, came
+from the entrance to the sound. The workmen were not likely to hear the
+approach of the boat while they were making so much noise themselves. In
+addition to the sounds they had heard before, they recognized the noise
+of escaping steam.</p>
+
+<p>This last discovery made it certain that a steamer was there, though
+the listeners could not know whether it was the Teaser or not. Both of
+the officers of the expedition, in the uselessness of their eyes, made
+the best use they could of their ears. Christy listened to ascertain if
+there was more than one steamer present. In a whisper he asked Flint to
+consider this question. There was no doubling of the sounds to indicate
+more than one steamer.</p>
+
+<p>For ten minutes more Christy listened and was silent; but he was
+doing some very heavy thinking,
+<span class = "pagenum">217</span>
+for by this time the boat was very near the scene of operations, if it
+could be a scene in that dense darkness. Every sound, even to the speech
+of the men, could be distinctly heard. Still nothing could be seen, and
+Christy knew that there was a point of nearness where something could be
+discerned even in any gloom of night. He permitted the boat to continue
+on its course, till he could very dimly make out an object ahead.</p>
+
+<p>"Way enough," he whispered to Beeks.</p>
+
+<p>The coxswain raised both hands, and made a gesture with them, which
+was the signal for the men to cease rowing. The sounds were now more
+tangible. Occasionally there were a few raps with a hammer, but the most
+of them were the orders of the person in charge.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe there are more than a dozen men there," whispered
+Flint.</p>
+
+<p>"More than that, I should say; but even if there are two dozen, it is
+all the same. Take off the mufflers from the oars, Beeks," continued
+Christy. "Then give way with a will, and run for whatever may come in
+sight."</p>
+
+<p>Beeks obeyed the order, and in a couple of minutes the boat was
+driving into the gloom at her
+<span class = "pagenum">218</span>
+ordinary speed. Something came into view a moment later, and it was a
+small steamer.</p>
+
+<p>"Boat, ahoy!" shouted some one from the steamer.</p>
+
+<p>"On board of the steamer!" replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you the pilot?" demanded the speaker from the vessel.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, ay, sir," responded the lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not want you now," continued the man on the steamer.</p>
+
+<p>"How is that?" demanded Christy, as though this was an entirely
+unexpected reply.</p>
+
+<p>"I have concluded to make my way out through the sound, Gilder."</p>
+
+<p>"Then my name is Gilder," added Christy, in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a plan of my own, and I reckon I shall make it go," proceeded
+the captain of the steamer. "The Teaser don't draw much water, and I
+know how to help her over the shoal places."</p>
+
+<p>"When do you expect to get through the sound?" asked Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know when; but I shall get through."</p>
+
+<p>"But you will find a blockader at the east end of the island; and
+then you will be as badly off as you are now," argued Christy.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">219</span>
+"I don't believe there is any blockader there. Who are all those men in
+the boat with you, Gilder?"</p>
+
+<p>"They belong to the water guard," replied Christy, at a venture, and
+he thought that would describe them as well as any terms at his command.
+"They expected you to go out by the main channel to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"No lie in that," chuckled Flint.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish they would come on board of the Teaser and help me out, for
+my men won't work."</p>
+
+<p>"How many men have you?" asked the lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"Just fifteen; the rest of my crew were to come on board at midnight,
+half an hour before high tide. But the men I have with me won't work,
+and I shall not be ready for them, I am afraid."</p>
+
+<p>"What is the reason they won't work?"</p>
+
+<p>"They say they shipped to fight the Yankees, and they are not going
+to do such work as lighting up the steamer."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps we can bring them to their senses," said Christy, as he
+ordered Beeks to give way again.</p>
+
+<p>A few strokes of the oars enabled the officers in
+<span class = "pagenum">220</span>
+the stern sheets to obtain a full view of the Teaser, and she looked
+like a trim little steamer of about two hundred tons. She was rather
+long, and she had a very sharp bow. The reports gave her the reputation
+of being a very fast sailer.</p>
+
+<p>"Let every man have his arms in order," said Christy impressively, in
+a low tone. "Give way with a will, and when you unship your oars have
+your weapons ready, though I hardly think you will have to use them at
+present."</p>
+
+<p>As the boat dashed towards the little steamer, the sounds of an
+altercation came over the water. The angry voice of the captain, if the
+late speaker was the captain, and several others were heard in a
+dispute; and as the boat came alongside the report of a pistol indicated
+that the belligerents were in earnest.</p>
+
+<p>Christy sprang upon the deck of the Teaser, with his revolver in his
+hand. Half a dozen men stood in a group by the side of the engine-room,
+confronting the man who had done the talking with the boat, as Christy
+knew by the sound of his voice.</p>
+
+<p>"We are not held by any papers we signed!" protested one of the men
+forward. "We are willing
+<span class = "pagenum">221</span>
+to do our duty, Captain Folkner, but we did not ship to burrow through
+the sand, and run the risk of being captured by the Yankees. We shipped
+to run the blockade, and that risk is in the papers."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall take my vessel out as I think best, Lonley; and my men are
+not to dictate to me what I am to do," replied Captain Folkner
+angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"I am willing to leave it to Captain Gilder. You know as well as I do
+that the rest of the ship's company would not come on board till the
+Teaser was outside of Santa Rosa Island. We appeal to you, Captain
+Gilder," said Lonley.</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you object to going out through Santa Rosa Sound?" asked
+Christy, willing to do the fair thing, since the mutineers had appealed
+to him.</p>
+
+<p>"The Teaser draws ten feet of water with her coal in, and she cannot
+get through the sound in a week, if ever."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you willing to go to sea by running the blockade, Lonley?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perfectly willing; and so are the whole ship's company."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">222</span>
+"But I won't take the risk of running the blockade. They put a fast
+steamer on there to-day, and it is useless," replied Captain
+Folkner.</p>
+
+<p>The situation was certainly interesting to Christy and his
+companions.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">223</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXX">CHAPTER XX</a></h4>
+
+<h6>COMING TO THE POINT</h6>
+
+
+<p>Captain Folkner of the Teaser was evidently somewhat timid, and he
+had heard of the arrival of the Bellevite. Just now the large
+ships-of-war which had been there were absent on their duty, though they
+were expected to return at any time. There was liable to be some
+unpleasantness at any time between Fort Pickens and Fort Barrancas; but
+everything was quiet just now.</p>
+
+<p>Flint had come on board of the Teaser with Christy, but none of the
+boat's crew had attended them. The situation was very novel to the
+lieutenant, and he did not feel competent to arbitrate between the
+contending parties. Besides, he was not willing to believe that he could
+be entirely impartial, for he had a personal and patriotic interest in
+the issue of the quarrel.</p>
+
+<p>The seamen, under the leadership of Lonley, who appeared to be an
+officer, were the more powerful
+<span class = "pagenum">224</span>
+party, and the more to be dreaded. He was disposed to decide against
+them, if he could get them out of the way by doing so. They were willing
+to leave the matter to him, and he began at last to see his way
+through&nbsp;it.</p>
+
+<p>"The captain of a ship is the authority to be respected, Lonley,"
+said he, when he had made up his mind what to&nbsp;do.</p>
+
+<p>"We might as well bury ourselves in the sands as try to go through
+there," replied the leader of the mutiny, who seemed to be a very
+intelligent man, and Christy concluded from his language and manner that
+he was not a common sailor.</p>
+
+<p>"That may be; but the captain is supreme on the deck of his own
+ship," argued Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"We are not on the high seas, and the Teaser has not yet gone into
+commission. It was only this afternoon in Pensacola that Captain Folkner
+told his ship's company that he was going to burrow through the sand in
+Santa Rosa Sound. We all said we would not go with him; but a dozen of
+us came down with him when he told us that he had a way to float the
+steamer through, and he was sure it would work. We did not understand
+that we were to become mud-diggers. When we got
+<span class = "pagenum">225</span>
+here, we were satisfied that his plan amounted to nothing, and would not
+work."</p>
+
+<p>"I am satisfied that it will work," interposed Captain Folkner.</p>
+
+<p>"The agreement in the articles was to run the blockade. If we got
+through the sound, it would take a week of constant drudgery, which we
+did not ship to&nbsp;do."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you ready to do duty on board of the Teaser when she is in deep
+water, Lonley?" asked Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"Every one of us; and every one of the party on shore!" protested the
+leader.</p>
+
+<p>"Will that satisfy you, Captain Folkner?" continued Christy,
+appealing to him.</p>
+
+<p>"It would if I had the steamer in deep water," replied the captain.
+"But how am I to get her into deep water if my crew will not work?"</p>
+
+<p>"Run the blockade, according to the articles!" exclaimed Lonley.</p>
+
+<p>"When are the rest of the ship's company to join you?" asked Christy
+of the leader of the mutineers.</p>
+
+<p>"They are coming down in boats at midnight or later; and we shall
+join them then and wait till the ship is ready to take us on board. They
+will
+<span class = "pagenum">226</span>
+come across from Pensacola to Navy Cove, and then walk till they come to
+the Teaser."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said the lieutenant. "I will land you at Navy Cove, and
+you can wait there till the rest of the crew come."</p>
+
+<p>"I am perfectly satisfied with that arrangement," replied Lonley.</p>
+
+<p>"But I am not," interposed the captain, angrily. "What can I do
+without any crew to help get the steamer through the sound?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have men enough to take care of you and the Teaser, Captain
+Folkner; and the men in the boat will do everything that is required to
+be done on board of the Teaser."</p>
+
+<p>"That's another thing," replied the captain, appeased by the implied
+promise.</p>
+
+<p>"I can hardly blame your men because they are not willing to go
+through the sound with a steamer drawing ten feet of water when there is
+not more than six feet of water to float her," said Christy. "Besides,
+if you do not get to the other end of the sound before morning, you will
+be seen by some of the blockaders, and they could blow this steamer to
+pieces, and kill half your people in a few minutes."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">227</span>
+"It may be dangerous, but so is running the blockade," added the
+captain.</p>
+
+<p>"Going out in a dark night and spending a week in sight of the
+blockaders are two different things. But we need not discuss the matter
+any more. I will put your men on the point yonder, and then I will
+return and help you out of your present difficulty. Am I to take off the
+men in the engine department?" asked Christy, as he went to the side
+where the boat was.</p>
+
+<p>"No; the engineers and firemen are all right, for they were not
+called upon to do any work out of the vessel."</p>
+
+<p>Christy and Flint stepped into the boat, and the crew followed them.
+There were twelve of them, and the lieutenant thought they were all good
+seamen. He did not like to have them reserved for use in the Confederate
+Navy; but he could not help himself then, and he soon landed the party
+on the point. The situation had been explained to the crew of the boat,
+and they had avoided saying anything to commit themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Though it involved a risk to do it, Christy had dressed in an
+ordinary suit of clothes for the occasion, and the party wore nothing by
+which they
+<span class = "pagenum">228</span>
+could be identified as sailors of the navy. As soon as the boat had
+landed its passengers, it returned to the Teaser at the best speed the
+crew could produce.</p>
+
+<p>"I had no idea that you had a plan like this in your head, Mr.
+Passford," said Flint, as soon as the boat was clear of Town Point.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not know it myself, Flint. It has all grown out of the
+circumstances as we found them," replied Christy. "But I did intend, if
+I found the Teaser without a fighting crew on board of her, to capture
+her if the situation warranted such a step."</p>
+
+<p>"But you came prepared for just this thing," suggested Flint.</p>
+
+<p>"I came prepared for anything. I hoped we might be able to capture
+the Teaser, but I did not expect&nbsp;it."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you expect to do it now."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do; and I ought to be broken if I don't do it. I am sorry to
+let all those men enter the rebel navy; and that is all that vexes me at
+the present moment."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps they can be picked up to-morrow, or later to-night,"
+suggested Flint. "From what I
+<span class = "pagenum">229</span>
+heard, I think she was to have a fighting crew of about forty men. Of
+course they will try to join the steamer to-night or to-morrow; and why
+not let them do it?" chuckled Flint.</p>
+
+<p>"We will attend to this affair first, but I like the idea."</p>
+
+<p>They reached the Teaser in due time, and all hands went on board of
+her. Captain Folkner, with a couple of men he had contrived to retain,
+with two firemen, was at work on his apparatus to float a vessel drawing
+ten feet in six feet of water or less. Alongside he had a hundred or
+more of empty barrels which he was sinking under the sides by hauling
+them down with a line under the bottom of the vessel. He did the work
+partly with his windlass worked by steam, and he had lifted the bow of
+the Teaser at least three feet out of water.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Folkner expatiated with enthusiasm on his plan, and explained
+the details to the lieutenant. Christy saw that he had considerable
+mechanical genius, but he certainly lacked a balance-wheel. The officer
+had set him down as a timid man, but this conversation assured him that
+the captain was a brave man. He was carried away with his idea,
+<span class = "pagenum">230</span>
+though it was plain that he had not examined the question in all its
+bearings.</p>
+
+<p>"When I have lifted the steamer four feet, she can go through the
+sound, for I have taken a boat through that drew six feet. With your men
+to help me, I shall get the casks down by midnight, and then all we have
+to do is to go ahead," continued the enthusiast.</p>
+
+<p>"Precisely so; and the Teaser is a screw steamer," added Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course she is; you have known her for two months, Gilder."</p>
+
+<p>"When she has been lifted up four feet, she is to go ahead," repeated
+Christy, in the tone of a musing man.</p>
+
+<p>"That is what I said; she is to go ahead."</p>
+
+<p>"But what is to drive her ahead? Is she expected to go of
+herself?"</p>
+
+<p>"Go of herself? Of course not. She is to be driven ahead by her
+engine as she always is," replied Captain Folkner, suspending the work
+upon which he was engaged, and trying to see the face of the pilot
+through the darkness. "How do steamers generally go ahead?"</p>
+
+<p>"If they are screw steamers, they are propelled
+<span class = "pagenum">231</span>
+by the pressure of the blades of the screw," answered Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"And that is just the way the Teaser will be propelled through the
+sound," replied Captain Folkner. "This steamer is to be a privateer, and
+I own her. She has cost me about all the money I have in the world, and
+I don't want to lose her before I get to sea. If I can get into blue
+water with her, I am not at all concerned but that she will run away
+from anything afloat."</p>
+
+<p>"How many knots can she do in a smooth sea?"</p>
+
+<p>"Eighteen, and perhaps more."</p>
+
+<p>"Then she is not fast enough for that blockader outside. I saw her at
+Mobile when she was a big steam-yacht, and they said she had done
+twenty-two knots more than once."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe a word of it; and I am willing to take my chances to
+run away from her in the Teaser, if I can get out."</p>
+
+<p>"If she is good for eighteen knots, it will not take her more than
+about two hours to run through the sound," added Christy, very much
+amused at the talk of the captain and owner.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't expect her to go at full speed in that shallow water," said
+the enthusiast.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">232</span>
+"Do you expect her to go at all when she is hoisted four feet out of
+water?" asked Christy, hardly able to keep from laughing.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Folkner was silent for a moment, during which Christy thought
+he must have obtained a new idea, for it looked as though he had not
+thought of the working of the screw after all his flotation schemes had
+been successful.</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon the propeller will have hold enough on the water to make
+her go right along, Gilder. I don't reckon you need make any trouble
+about that," added the man of mechanical ability, rather sheepishly.</p>
+
+<p>Christy had brought his boat's crew on deck, and directed Flint how
+to post them. He thought he had paid proper respect to the talent of the
+enthusiast in listening to his theory, and that it was about time to
+bring the adventure to an issue.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not make any trouble about the screw, Captain Folkner, for I
+don't think we shall have any difficulty about it. But I believe we had
+better not hoist it any higher out of water," added Christy. "I mean
+that I think we had better go out of the bay by the main channel."</p>
+
+<p class = "illustration">
+<img src = "images/pic232.png" width = "322" height = "503"
+alt = "illustration of quoted scene"><br>
+<span class = "caption">
+"<span class = "smallcaps">He placed one of his men on each side of the
+Captain</span>."&mdash;Page 233.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">233</span>
+"That means to run the blockade?" said the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the idea."</p>
+
+<p>"Gilder, I want you to understand that I command this steamer,"
+continued Captain Folkner, angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"Right, with a little correction: You did command her, and I command
+her now," replied Christy, as he placed one of his men on each side of
+the captain.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">234</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXXI">CHAPTER XXI</a></h4>
+
+<h6>ON A DARK AND FOGGY NIGHT</h6>
+
+
+<p>"I reckon I don't quite understand you, Gilder," said Captain
+Folkner, very nervously. "I thought I was still in command of the
+Teaser."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not blame you for thinking so; but you are utterly mistaken
+all the same," added Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you come here to take the command out of my hands? Is that the
+reason why you sent all my men to Town Point?" demanded the captain,
+getting an idea of the situation.</p>
+
+<p>"If you had been a magician, you could not have come any nearer to
+the truth."</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you? I thought you were Gilder."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not Gilder, though I found it convenient to answer to that
+name. It is reported that the Teaser is a very fast steamer, and I
+wanted her."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to say that you are a pirate?" asked Captain Folkner,
+stepping back as if to emphasize
+<span class = "pagenum">235</span>
+his disgust at such a person. "I have told you that the Teaser is a
+privateer, and it seems that you want her more than I do; but I don't
+believe&nbsp;it."</p>
+
+<p>"Privateers and pirates are about the same in this age of the world.
+I am neither a pirate nor a privateer. Permit me to introduce myself
+more precisely than I have thought it wise to do before. I am Lieutenant
+Passford, of the United States steamer Bellevite; and I take possession
+of the Teaser as a lawful prize. I think we need not discuss the matter
+any longer, especially as the tide is high enough by this time to run
+out of the bay. Disarm him."</p>
+
+<p>"Say, what sort of a joke is this?" demanded the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"If you are good-natured enough to regard it as a joke, I have not
+the least objection," replied Christy. "But I shall be under the painful
+necessity of confining you in your stateroom for the present, and I hope
+you will make yourself as happy as possible, Captain Folkner."</p>
+
+<p>The lieutenant directed Flint to have the prisoner conveyed to his
+stateroom, and to have a man stationed at the door to see that he did
+not escape,
+<span class = "pagenum">236</span>
+or do any mischief. The sentinel was to keep his eye on him all the
+time, and not allow the room to be closed for a moment. The most
+reliable man of the party was selected for this duty, for the captain,
+in a fit of desperation over the loss of his vessel, which was his
+fortune, might attempt some reckless act.</p>
+
+<p>Accompanied by six men, Christy visited the engine-room, where nearly
+all the hands remaining on board were employed. If there was to be any
+trouble at all in completing the capture, it would be in this
+department. Everything was in working order, and an engineer was on
+duty, for the engine had been used in dragging the casks under the
+bottom of the vessel.</p>
+
+<p>Beeks was directed to arrest the men on duty, and the engine was
+handed over to Sampson, who had been brought for such a position if the
+expedition needed him in that capacity. But there was only an assistant
+engineer and several firemen on duty, and these were disposed of without
+any delay. They were all conducted to the wardroom, where they were
+disarmed and a guard placed over them. A couple of sailors were detailed
+to serve as firemen, and the work of taking possession was
+completed.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">237</span>
+For the first time the lieutenant had an opportunity to examine the
+prize, as she would be if he succeeded in getting her out of the bay.
+She was certainly a fine little steamer, and, with the heavy gun mounted
+on a pivot, she would have been capable of doing a great deal of
+mischief among the unprotected merchant ships of the nation.</p>
+
+<p>When he visited the cabin, he found two colored men there, one of
+whom appeared to be a very intelligent fellow. He was very polite to the
+lieutenant, and it was evident that he had no personal interest in the
+success of the Teaser in the business for which she had been fitted out.
+He was the cabin steward, and he had heard everything that had been said
+in regard to the vessel since he came on board of her.</p>
+
+<p>"What is your name, my man?" asked Christy, addressing the
+steward.</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Davis Talbot; but no one ever calls me anything but
+Dave," replied the man, with a cheerful smile, as though he was not at
+all disconcerted by the change which had come about in the ownership of
+the Teaser.</p>
+
+<p>"How long have you been on board of this
+<span class = "pagenum">238</span>
+steamer, Dave?" asked the officer, much pleased with the intelligent
+face of the steward.</p>
+
+<p>"About two months, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Where did this steamer come from?"</p>
+
+<p>"Captain Folkner bought her somewhere in the West Indies, and brought
+her here before the blockade was fairly established."</p>
+
+<p>"Then she is an English-built steamer?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose she is, sir; but I don't know anything about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Then she has been here a long while. What has Captain Folkner been
+doing all this time?" asked Christy curiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Inventing, sir," replied Dave, chuckling.</p>
+
+<p>"I see; he has that on the brain."</p>
+
+<p>"The government threatened to take his vessel if he did not fit her
+out and take her to sea. Then he hurried up, and got a crew ready; but
+they had a quarrel last night, and most of the men would not come on
+board."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I know all about that," added Christy, as he looked at his
+watch by the light of the shaded lamp in the cabin. "I suppose you
+insist upon serving the Confederacy, Dave?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't insist on anything, sir; I go where
+<span class = "pagenum">239</span>
+the ship takes me, and I don't mean to quarrel with anybody."</p>
+
+<p>"In other words, will it be necessary to put you under guard?" asked
+Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think it would do me any good, sir," replied Dave,
+laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Which side do you belong on?" demanded the officer, rather
+impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"I belong on Dave's side, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Which is Dave's side?"</p>
+
+<p>"The side of freedom," replied the steward, with some embarrassment.
+"I don't know you, sir; you don't wear the uniform of a Yankee or a
+rebel, and the darkey gets crushed between the upper and the nether
+millstone."</p>
+
+<p>"Then to make the matter plainer to you, I am the third lieutenant of
+the United States steamer Bellevite, and I have captured this vessel as
+an officer of the United States Navy," replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"That's all I want to know: the darkey knows where to go, when it is
+safe to go there," replied Dave.</p>
+
+<p>"Then if it is safe for you to go to the pilot-house, you may come
+with me," added the lieutenant, as he led the way to the deck.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">240</span>
+Beeks, with the men who had not been assigned to other duty, was cutting
+away the ropes that held the casks in place, and had already turned
+adrift all the raft of them alongside. All the rubbish the nautical
+inventor had collected to carry out his famous scheme of floating the
+vessel through the sound was cleared from the deck, and cut loose from
+the side.</p>
+
+<p>"I think everything is clear, sir," reported Beeks, as Christy
+appeared on deck with Dave.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand by to get up the anchor, then," added the lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"No anchor down, sir," interposed Dave. "She is made fast to the
+buoy."</p>
+
+<p>"So much the better. I suppose Captain Folkner did not trouble
+himself about the forts, Dave, did he?" Christy inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, he did; Captain Folkner never slept a wink when he did not
+have Fort Pickens on his stomach for a nightmare," replied Dave, with a
+chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>"But Fort Pickens is all of four miles from the entrance to the
+channel of the sound."</p>
+
+<p>"He was in mortal terror of the guns, all the same."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">241</span>
+"How was it in regard to Fort Barrancas and Fort McRae?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course they would not fire on his vessel; if he went out in a fog
+or dark night, he was to burn a blue light; and I reckon you can do the
+same thing, though I don't believe it could be seen to-night from the
+forts," replied Dave, who appeared to be willing to make a good use of
+his knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I don't think we shall have much trouble in getting out of the
+bay," added Christy, as he went to the pilot-house, attended by
+Dave.</p>
+
+<p>Since the lieutenant had declared as unequivocally as he desired who
+and what he was, the steward did all he could to assist his new master.
+He had served Captain Folkner for two months, for he said the commander
+had lived on board all this time, and he had heard everything that
+passed between him and his officers and others with whom he had
+relations. He was about as well informed as though he had been an
+officer of the vessel in whom the captain confided all his affairs. He
+did not wait to have his knowledge dragged out of him, but he
+volunteered such information as he saw that the occasion required.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">242</span>
+He was a mulatto, and had plenty of good blood in his veins, though it
+was corrupted with that of the hated race. He appeared to be about forty
+years of age, and his knowledge of the affairs of the locality could
+hardly have been better if he had been a white man, with a quick
+perception, a reasoning intellect, and a retentive memory. It was the
+rule with Union officers, soldiers, and sailors to trust the negroes,
+making proper allowance for their general ignorance and stupidity, and
+for particular circumstances. But some of them, even many of them, were
+brighter than might be expected from their situation and
+antecedents.</p>
+
+<p>The binnacle from the whaleboat had been brought into the
+pilot-house, and Christy compared it with the compass in the Teaser's
+apparatus, after Dave had lighted it. There was no disagreement, and as
+the tide was still coming in, the head of the steamer was pointed to the
+westward, which would be her first course down the bay.</p>
+
+<p>The lieutenant felt that everything depended upon the working of the
+steamer, and he was a total stranger to her peculiarities, if she had
+any, as most vessels have. Taking Beeks with him, he began at the stem
+and followed the rail entirely
+<span class = "pagenum">243</span>
+around the steamer, feeling with a boat-hook along the sides. Sundry
+ropes, fenders, and pieces of lumber were dislodged, and everything put
+in order about the main deck. Then he visited the engine-room, and
+learned from Sampson that he had a full head of steam. This careful
+inspection completed, he ordered the quartermaster to cast off the fast
+at the buoy.</p>
+
+<p>Taking his place in the pilot-house with Beeks, he rang the bell to
+go ahead. The Teaser started on quite a different voyage from what she
+had been intended for. Christy had studied up his courses and distances,
+and had imprinted the chart of the lower part of the bay on his brain.
+For the first part of the run, there was no obstacle, and no difficulty
+in regard to the course.</p>
+
+<p>The fog and the darkness were so dense that not a thing could be seen
+in any direction; but he rang for full speed as soon as the Teaser was
+under way. A leadsman had been stationed on each side of the forecastle,
+though there was no present occasion for their services. Christy thought
+everything was going extremely well, and he was reasonably confident
+that he should succeed in his plan.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">244</span>
+"Steamer, ahoy!" shouted a voice, coming out of the dense fog.</p>
+
+<p>"That must be the patrol boat," said Dave, in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p>Christy could not make any reply that would be satisfactory to the
+patrol, and he decided not to answer the hail. He had rather expected to
+be challenged in this way.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">245</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXXII">CHAPTER XXII</a></h4>
+
+<h6>A VARIETY OF NIGHT SIGNALS</h6>
+
+
+<p>The dip of the oars of the guard-boat could be distinctly heard in
+the pilot-house, and it was probable that the men in it could see the
+Teaser. But Christy was not much concerned about the situation, and he
+was not much disposed to give any attention to the boat.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop her, or we will fire into you!" yelled the officer in charge of
+the guard-boat.</p>
+
+<p>Even this menace did not induce the lieutenant to ring his bell to
+stop the engine. The boat was doubtless full of men, and as he could not
+give straight answers to all the questions that might be put to him, it
+might provoke a fight to attempt to do so, and he decided not to incur
+the risk. His prisoners might make trouble if he reduced the guard in
+charge of them, as he would be obliged to do to beat off the attack of
+the boat.</p>
+
+<p>"What is this boat here for, Dave?" asked
+<span class = "pagenum">246</span>
+Christy, as he peered through the gloom to obtain a glance at the
+craft.</p>
+
+<p>"To keep the people at Fort Pickens from sending out any armed
+force," replied the intelligent contraband.</p>
+
+<p>"Do they think a boat full of men could do that?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; but they could give the forts on the other side
+warning."</p>
+
+<p>The sounds from the boat had come from the starboard bow of the
+steamer, and it looked as though the guard-boat had intercepted her by
+accident, since it was impossible that they could have seen the Teaser
+in the fog and gloom. As the steamer dashed ahead at full speed, the
+sound of the oars came from a point on the beam. But the boat seemed to
+be wasting her time, for nothing had been done since the threat to fire
+into the steamer.</p>
+
+<p>"If a vessel is going to run out she has to satisfy this boat that
+she is all right," said Dave.</p>
+
+<p>But he had hardly spoken before a volley of musket-balls passed over
+the Teaser; and perhaps the officer in the boat intended that they
+should pass over her. At any rate no harm was done by
+<span class = "pagenum">247</span>
+them. Then a rocket darted from the boat up into the air, which could be
+dimly seen from the pilot-house.</p>
+
+<p>"What steamer is that?" shouted a hoarse voice out of the gloom.</p>
+
+<p>"The Teaser!" yelled Christy, with all the voice he could
+command.</p>
+
+<p>The boat did not fire again; and if it had done so the steamer was
+out of its reach. But a minute later the boom of a great gun came across
+the bay. Fort Barrancas had evidently opened fire in response to the
+rocket, which had no doubt been sent up as a signal to notify the
+garrison that a vessel was going out or coming in, and that her
+movements were not regular. The first shot was followed by others, and a
+shot dropped into the water near the Teaser.</p>
+
+<p>"Let the leadsmen sound, Beeks," said Christy. The order was
+repeated, and the reports were made known in the pilot-house. Sampson
+seemed to be testing the capacity of the engine, for he was doing his
+best in the matter of speed; but the Teaser behaved under the strain to
+which he subjected her as though she had been very strongly built.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">248</span>
+"By the mark eight," chimed the leadsman on the port side.</p>
+
+<p>That was water enough to float a seventy-four, and there was no
+let-up in the speed. In fact, it would not have been convenient to
+reduce the speed while the guard-boat could be at no great distance from
+the flying steamer. This was the report for the next mile at least, and
+Christy felt that the enemy was at a safe distance from him.</p>
+
+<p>"And a half six!" shouted the port leadsman, with energy, as though
+he understood the effect his report would produce.</p>
+
+<p>Christy rang to slow her down. The depth of water was the only
+directory he had in addition to the distance run, which was very
+indefinite without a knowledge of the speed of the vessel.</p>
+
+<p>"By the mark six!" shouted the port leadsman, who was on the side
+nearest to the island of Santa Rosa.</p>
+
+<p>This did not induce the pilot to take any further action, and the
+Teaser continued on her course at less than half speed. Christy looked
+at his watch by the light of the binnacle lamps. It was half-past
+eleven, and the Teaser appeared, as
+<span class = "pagenum">249</span>
+well as he could calculate it, with the necessary allowances, to have
+made at least sixteen knots on the run from the sound channel.</p>
+
+<p>"And a quarter five!" cried the leadsman of the land side.</p>
+
+<p>Christy spoke to Sampson through the tube, and the result was a
+further reduction in the speed of the steamer, Beeks, who was at one
+side of the wheel while the lieutenant was at the other, seemed to be a
+little nervous as the depth diminished; and if he had spoken his
+thought, he would have expressed his surprise that his superior officer
+was running the steamer so near the shore, with the apparent intention
+of going still nearer.</p>
+
+<p>"Mark under water three!" yelled the leadsman on the port side, while
+the one on the starboard gave "By the mark four."</p>
+
+<p>"Shoaling fast," said Beeks.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but as expected," replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"Steamer, ahoy!" shouted a voice on the port side.</p>
+
+<p>"On shore!" replied Christy promptly.</p>
+
+<p>"What steamer is that?" demanded the shore speaker.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">250</span>
+"The Teaser, prize to the United States ship Bellevite," answered the
+lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"Boga-hobble-good!" continued the man on shore.</p>
+
+<p>"Rabble-gabble-weed!" responded Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"There's a Chinaman on shore there; but I am glad you speak his
+language," said Beeks, trying to repress his laughter.</p>
+
+<p>"You are all right as to position!" shouted the islander.</p>
+
+<p>"The guard-boat must be about a mile astern of me," added
+Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"We will take care of that," replied the shore speaker.</p>
+
+<p>Christy rang to stop the engine, which was done, though the steamer
+continued to go ahead under the impetus of her former headway. The
+leadsman on the port side reported two fathoms a little later, and then
+there was a ring to back her, for there could not be more than two foot
+of water under the keel. At this moment the peal of a twelve-pounder
+came from the shore, and a little later the bursting of a shell was
+heard astern of the Teaser.</p>
+
+<p>Beeks was very much perplexed by the strange
+<span class = "pagenum">251</span>
+speech which had passed between the lieutenant and the shore, and now by
+the discharge of the gun on the island; but he was a well-disciplined
+quartermaster, and he asked no questions.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think that boat will come any farther this way," said
+Christy, as a second report from the gun reached his ears.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I suppose the shots we hear are directed at the boat," added
+Beeks.</p>
+
+<p>"They can hardly be directed at anything out in that fog and
+darkness; but I don't think the guard will be willing to take the risk
+of a chance shell bursting near them," added Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"On board the Teaser!" shouted a voice quite near the bow of the
+steamer.</p>
+
+<p>"In the boat!" replied Christy. "Sound that bell slowly, Beeks, to
+let him know where we are."</p>
+
+<p>The ripple of oars was presently heard, and a boat came out of the
+gloom, rowed by two soldiers, with an officer in the stern. It came up
+to the forward gangway, and the person in the stern climbed on board.
+The boat did not wait for him, but pulled directly back to the
+island.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to see you, Captain Westover," said Christy, as the
+officer came into the pilot-house.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">252</span>
+"And I am equally glad to see you, lieutenant," replied the captain.
+"You seem to have been successful in your undertaking?"</p>
+
+<p>"Successful so far, and I think the worst of it is over now."</p>
+
+<p>As soon as Beeks heard the name of Captain Westover, he understood
+all that had been dark before. Even the Chinese lingo must have been
+agreed upon. The army and the navy officer had been very busy in talking
+over something when they came in the boat from the Bellevite, and after
+they landed on the island. What they had been talking about was plain
+enough now.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Westover had not much confidence in the expectations of the
+young naval officer when he expressed a hope that he might capture the
+Teaser; but he had promised to render all the assistance in his power.
+He had agreed to be on the shore of the island if the Teaser presented
+herself, and thus assure the lieutenant of his position on the bay. He
+had done more than this, for he had brought out a couple of guns and a
+section of artillerists to beat off the guard-boat if it interfered with
+the operations of the navy.</p>
+
+<p>Christy had taken a course from the entrance of
+<span class = "pagenum">253</span>
+the sound, half way between the island and Town Point, west-southwest.
+He knew that the distance was about four miles; but he could not know,
+except by sounding, when he came to the island, and he had bargained
+with the army officer to be on the lookout for him. Captain Westover had
+heard the noise of the Teaser, and had hailed her, thus assuring the
+lieutenant that his calculation had been correct, and that he was in the
+vicinity of Fort Pickens.</p>
+
+<p>"I had no idea that you would accomplish anything, lieutenant," said
+Captain Westover.</p>
+
+<p>"I found everything laid out just as I should have wished it to be,"
+replied Christy. "We had plenty of information that the steamer would
+run out the first favorable night; and nothing could have been more
+favorable for blockade running than this fog and darkness."</p>
+
+<p>"But nothing has been seen of this steamer from the fort."</p>
+
+<p>"Where was she fitted out, Dave?" asked Christy, turning to the
+steward.</p>
+
+<p>"Up by Emanuel Point, sir, about a mile above the town," replied
+Dave.</p>
+
+<p>"Then she has not shown herself in the lower bay."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">254</span>
+The conversation was interrupted by the roll of a drum on the shore.</p>
+
+<p>"There you are, lieutenant," said the captain with a smile. "When you
+are ready to go ahead, don't wait on my account, for I will go on board
+of the ship."</p>
+
+<p>"But what is the drum for?" asked the lieutenant, who was in the dark
+in his turn.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not much of a sailor, lieutenant, but I have sent a drummer to
+follow the shore to the west end of the island, and you will know by the
+racket he makes where the island is, and how far off it is," replied the
+army officer.</p>
+
+<p>"I am much obliged to you, Captain Westover; that will be a safe
+guide for me," said Christy, as he rang to go ahead.</p>
+
+<p>He gave out the course west by north, and he thought he should be
+able to keep within hail of the island, though, as he could see nothing,
+it would be difficult to tell when he reached the northwest corner of
+it. If he continued on this course too long, he was likely to scrape
+acquaintance with Fort McRae, for there would be nothing in the
+soundings to indicate the approach to this dangerous neighbor.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">255</span>
+Nothing more was heard of the guard-boat, though the section of
+artillery continued to discharge shells into the fog for a short time.
+On the other side of the bay Fort Barrancas kept up its fire at long
+intervals, and Fort Pickens could not reply without the danger of
+putting a shot into the Teaser after her recent reformation. The steamer
+kept on her course at half speed; but in ten minutes the sound of the
+drum fell astern of her, when the drummer could go no farther.</p>
+
+<p>"Heave over the wheel, Beeks," said Christy.</p>
+
+<p>Then he rang the bell to go ahead at full speed.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">256</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXXIII">CHAPTER XXIII</a></h4>
+
+<h6>ANOTHER NIGHT EXPEDITION</h6>
+
+
+<p>With the drum still beating on the shore, the Teaser rounded the
+northwestern point of the island, when the wheel was heaved over.
+Christy was entirely confident in regard to the navigation, for he had
+steered the Bellevite through the same channel when on an excursion a
+year before. But he had daylight and sunshine at that time instead of
+fog and gloom as on the present occasion.</p>
+
+<p>"Buoy on the starboard, sir!" reported the leadsman on that side.</p>
+
+<p>"Buoy on the port hand!" cried the man on the other side, a minute
+later.</p>
+
+<p>"We are all right," added the lieutenant. "We are between the middle
+ground and the island. The buoy on the port is the southwest point of
+the island."</p>
+
+<p>The Bellevite was not the only man-of-war that lay off Pensacola, for
+the Brooklyn and other vessels
+<span class = "pagenum">257</span>
+were there to assist in the defence of Fort Pickens, which the enemy
+were determined to capture if possible. The government had done
+everything within its means to "hold the fort," though an army of about
+ten thousand men had been gathered in the vicinity to reduce it. The
+dry-dock which had floated near Warrenton, and which the Confederates
+intended to sink in the channel, had been burned, and a force of
+Unionists, including the Zouaves, called "The Pet Lambs," had been
+quartered on the island of Santa Rosa. It had looked for several days as
+though the enemy were preparing for a movement in retaliation for the
+destruction of the dry-dock, which was a bad set-back for them.</p>
+
+<p>The getting to sea of the Teaser had no connection with this
+movement, it appeared afterwards, and if Lieutenant Passford's
+enterprise had been carried out only an hour or two later, he would have
+found the situation quite different. He had sent the most of Captain
+Folkner's force on board ashore, and had it all his own way afterwards.
+He was sorry to leave these men, and the rest of the ship's company of
+the Teaser, to assist in fighting the battles of the Confederacy, and he
+was
+<span class = "pagenum">258</span>
+filled with the hope that they might yet be captured.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the Teaser was well to the southward of the island,
+Christy gave two short and a long blast on the steam whistle, which was
+the signal he had agreed to make when he approached the Bellevite,
+though Captain Breaker had laughed at him when he suggested that he
+might return in the prize. The same signal was made in reply, and
+repeated several times to aid him in finding the ship. The water was
+comparatively smooth, and the prize came alongside the Bellevite, where
+it was made fast.</p>
+
+<p>The lieutenant's first duty was to report to the captain of the
+Bellevite, and taking Dave with him, he hastened on board. He found
+Captain Breaker on deck, for there was a feeling in the fleet and in the
+fort that some important event was about to transpire in the
+vicinity.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to see you, Mr. Passford," said he; and possibly it
+occurred to him that he had sent the young man on a difficult mission,
+practically within the enemy's lines. "You have brought the prize with
+you, I see; and I was before informed of the fact that you had her by
+the signal whistles."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">259</span>
+"Yes, sir; the Teaser is alongside. She is not a vessel of the
+Confederate Navy, but was fitted out on private account. She is a
+privateer," replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"So much the better that you have captured her," added the captain.
+"Did you have a severe fight, Mr. Passford?"</p>
+
+<p>"We had no fight at all, sir. I was instructed to avoid a fight if
+possible, and I have done so. Not a blow has been struck or a shot
+fired, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"I will hear your report in detail later, Mr. Passford, when the
+prize is in a better situation than now. Have you any prisoners?" asked
+Captain Breaker.</p>
+
+<p>"Only the captain and the engineers, sir. This man with me is Dave,
+and he was a steward on board of the Teaser. He has given me valuable
+information, and I have not regarded him as a prisoner," replied the
+lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"I understand," said the commander, with a smile, as he saw the
+yellow hue of the steward's face. "We will not regard him as a prisoner.
+But you may send the others on board."</p>
+
+<p>Captain Folkner was in no better humor than before, and a berth in
+the steerage was assigned to
+<span class = "pagenum">260</span>
+him. The other prisoners were sent on board, and Captain Breaker had
+ordered Christy to anchor the prize near the Bellevite.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't feel as though I had quite finished my work," said Christy,
+as he walked towards the gangway to obey the order.</p>
+
+<p>"What more is there to do?" asked the commander.</p>
+
+<p>"It would take me a little time to tell the story of my trip into the
+bay, sir, and I think you would not understand what more is to be done
+until you have heard it," replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will hear you before you anchor the Teaser," said the
+captain, leading the way to his cabin.</p>
+
+<p>The lieutenant narrated the events of his trip across Santa Rosa
+Island. Captain Breaker was not a little amused at his scheme to get rid
+of the portion of the crew of the privateer before he captured her.</p>
+
+<p>"I never suspected that you were the possessor of so much audacity,
+Christy," said he, when the lieutenant had put him in possession of all
+the facts.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not know that I had more than my fair
+<span class = "pagenum">261</span>
+share, sir, and I don't know what I have done that is at all audacious,"
+replied Christy, very meekly.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a very dark and foggy night, but I don't believe that I have
+another officer who would have cheek enough to pretend to be a pilot in
+Pensacola Bay, and to be in possession of the guard-boat at the same
+time."</p>
+
+<p>"Captain Folkner put the idea into my head, and I think I should have
+been an idiot not to make use of it, considering the nature of my
+mission on board of the Teaser."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a wonder that no one knew you were not Gilder."</p>
+
+<p>"The men in the guard-boat did not expose me, and admitted by their
+silence that I was the person I claimed to be," replied Christy, with a
+twinkle of the eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Your scheme would have failed ninety-nine times out of a
+hundred."</p>
+
+<p>"If it had failed, I had force enough to clean out the enemy on
+board, so that I ran no risk; but I was ordered to avoid a fight, and I
+did so," argued Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"You were exceedingly fortunate; and the next
+<span class = "pagenum">262</span>
+time you try such a trick, it may lead you into a rebel prison."</p>
+
+<p>"It was not my fault that the ship's company of the Teaser were at
+issue among themselves, and I should have been an imbecile to fail to
+profit by&nbsp;it."</p>
+
+<p>"I approve all you have done, Mr. Passford."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, sir. Though I was of Captain Folkner's opinion that the
+sound was the best way out of the bay in the first place, I abandoned
+that view before I started on the expedition. I was sorry that I could
+not indorse Captain Folkner's opinion, and that I was obliged to take
+sides with his men," said Christy, chuckling.</p>
+
+<p>"I understand your position perfectly. Now, what do you mean by
+finishing your work, Mr. Passford?" asked Captain Breaker, curiously.
+"We have the Teaser, and we ought to be satisfied with your brilliant
+success."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not quite satisfied, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to be."</p>
+
+<p>"We put twelve men ashore at Town Point rather than have a fight with
+them; and I have the feeling that we have a mortgage on those men, to
+say nothing of thirty more at Pensacola who
+<span class = "pagenum">263</span>
+were to join the Teaser. I told them they could get on board of their
+steamer from the island. I shall be sorry to disappoint them, for I
+suppose the whole forty or more are counting on a handsome allowance of
+prize money to be made for them by the Teaser. I should be sorry to
+disappoint them," continued Christy, chuckling all the time.</p>
+
+<p>"Precisely so! I suppose you would be greatly grieved to blast their
+hopes, and you propose to take them on board of the steamer."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the idea, sir. Taking a more patriotic view of the question,
+it would be a great pity to allow forty good sailors to waste their
+energies in the service of the Confederacy."</p>
+
+<p>"Undoubtedly it would," said Captain Breaker, his brow knitting under
+his earnest thought. "What do you propose to do? Explain your plan
+fully, Mr. Passford."</p>
+
+<p>"The principal of the malcontents on board of the Teaser was a man by
+the name of Lonley," Christy explained. "We left them at the point where
+the rest of the Teaser's crew were to join them. They are all anxious to
+get to sea in the Teaser, and I have no doubt they will come down
+to-night."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">264</span>
+"I should think they would," the captain assented. "But they will expect
+to find the steamer in the sound, and not outside of the island. If the
+Teaser could get through the sound at all, she would not be where you
+intend to put her."</p>
+
+<p>"I told Lonley to get upon the island, and be on the lookout for the
+Teaser; and as they have to come from Pensacola in a boat, it will be as
+easy for them to go to the island as to land at the point. Very likely
+they will get the Times to bring them off, or some other steamer,"
+Christy argued.</p>
+
+<p>"It is certainly very desirable to capture these men, for it will do
+so much to weaken the enemy; but I am afraid you are a little too
+audacious in some of your movements, Mr. Passford," replied Captain
+Breaker, with a softening smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg you will not consider that I am asking for the command of the
+Teaser, Captain Breaker, if she is sent upon this duty," returned the
+lieutenant, somewhat set back at the prudence of the commander.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I had better send Mr. Blowitt in command of the Teaser, and
+you shall go as his first officer," added the captain.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">265</span>
+"I have no objection, even in my heart, to this arrangement," replied
+Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"But I shall have to send the prize to New York, and I will appoint
+you prize-master," continued the captain, afraid that he was
+disappointing the ambitious young officer. "You have done exceedingly
+well, Christy, and I shall not fail to mention you favorably in my
+report; and you will write out yours as soon as possible."</p>
+
+<p>Christy would not allow himself to think that he was unappreciated
+because an older officer was appointed to conduct the enterprise he
+suggested. He was ready to do his whole duty either as principal or
+subordinate. Mr. Blowitt was summoned from his stateroom, and forty men,
+including all who had taken part in the capture of the prize, were
+detailed to man the Teaser. The second lieutenant was one of the
+jolliest men on board, but he weighed nearly two hundred pounds, and he
+was not as active on this account in boat service as some others. He was
+an excellent officer, and had been in command of a steamer, though he
+had never before been in the navy.</p>
+
+<p>At three o'clock in the morning the fasts of the Teaser were cast
+off, and she backed away from
+<span class = "pagenum">266</span>
+the Bellevite. She was to proceed to a point about six miles to the
+eastward, which was beyond the camp of the "Pet Lambs." Here she was to
+look out for the Teaser's crew.</p>
+
+<p>She had not made half this distance when all hands heard rapid and
+continued firing on Santa Rosa Island.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">267</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXXIV">CHAPTER XXIV</a></h4>
+
+<h6>LIEUTENANT PASSFORD ON A MISSION</h6>
+
+
+<p>The officers on board of the Teaser could not explain the occasion of
+the firing on the island, though it sounded as though an engagement of
+some sort was in progress. It had been foggy during the preceding day,
+and if any movement on the part of the enemy had been indicated it could
+not have been seen on board of the ships off the entrance to the
+bay.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope this business we are to do this morning will not take us
+long," said Mr. Blowitt. "We may be wanted on board, and I should not
+like to be absent from the Bellevite if she is to take part in an
+engagement of any kind."</p>
+
+<p>"And I am sure I should not," added Christy. "I should not be
+surprised if the enemy made an attempt to capture Pickens; but even if
+they storm it in the darkness, I do not see that the ships can do
+anything until they are able to see what they are to&nbsp;do."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">268</span>
+"But this affair may keep us away from the ship for a day or two,"
+suggested the second lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think so, sir; I believe you will be on board again before
+seven bells in the morning watch," replied Christy. "The ship's company
+of the Teaser were to be somewhere on the shores of the sound where they
+could be taken on board."</p>
+
+<p>"But the men you landed at the point believed that the Teaser was to
+get out through the sound," replied Mr. Blowitt. "They took you for the
+pilot Gilder, and you did not tell them that you intended to run the
+blockade."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I did not; if I had, they would have remained on board.
+But the guard-boat attempted to stop us, and the artillery on the island
+fired into it, though it is probable that they did not hit it in the
+dense fog," Christy explained. "Our men may have learned from the
+guard-boat that we took the steamer out through the main channel."</p>
+
+<p>"If they did they probably learned that the Teaser went out with the
+assistance of the garrison at the fort," suggested Mr. Blowitt.</p>
+
+<p>"I am confident that the officer of the guard-boat
+<span class = "pagenum">269</span>
+would have no means of knowing that fact," argued Christy. "Of course,
+he heard the firing in the neighborhood of the fort, and he would
+naturally conclude that they were firing upon the steamer to prevent her
+from running out."</p>
+
+<p>"That may be; but, to tell you the truth, Mr. Passford, I am afraid
+we shall not find these men," added the second lieutenant. "From the
+firing we hear, I should judge that a movement of some kind is in
+progress, and our men may be better informed than you expect."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, they may be; but I expect to find these men at some point
+along the shore," replied Christy, who thought the second lieutenant was
+just a little obstinate in not accepting his theory in full.</p>
+
+<p>The steamer continued on her course to the eastward, and nothing more
+passed between the two principal officers in regard to the crew from
+Pensacola. But Flint was quite as confident as the third lieutenant that
+the forty men, more or less, would be captured. The noise of the firing
+could no longer be heard, and then Christy suggested that the whistle be
+sounded as a signal to the men if they were in the vicinity.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">270</span>
+The depth of water was three or four fathoms close up to this part of
+the island. The soundings indicated that the steamer was as near as it
+was prudent to go in the dense fog. Christy was sure that the
+privateer's crew could not have gone any farther to the eastward by this
+time, and the screw was stopped, while all hands made an anxious use of
+their ears to detect any sounds that came from the shore. But nothing
+could be heard at first, and Mr. Blowitt again intimated that they were
+engaged in a "wild-goose chase." But he had hardly uttered this cooling
+reflection before Beeks came aft to report that a number of pistol
+shots, as he thought they were, had been heard in the distance.</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody can tell what they mean," said the sceptical Mr. Blowitt.
+"They may be a part of the affair we heard going on soon after we left
+the ship."</p>
+
+<p>"In what direction were the shots, Beeks?" asked Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"They sounded as though they were about half a mile or less to the
+westward of us," replied the quartermaster.</p>
+
+<p>"Blow the whistle in short blasts, Beeks,"
+<span class = "pagenum">271</span>
+added Mr. Blowitt, who seemed to have gathered a little faith from the
+report of the quartermaster.</p>
+
+<p>The order was obeyed, and Beeks again reported that pistol shots had
+been heard from the westward. The third lieutenant was in a hurry to
+have the business finished, for he felt confident that the Bellevite
+would soon be engaged in an affair of more importance than picking up a
+couple of score of prisoners. He ordered the steamer to come about, and
+move to the westward; but after she had been under way about five
+minutes, he rang to stop her, and then sounded the whistles again.
+Several pistol shots responded to this signal. Again he started the
+screw, and pointed the bow of the Teaser squarely to the north.</p>
+
+<p>The steamer moved very slowly, and two men sounded all the time till
+they reported "by the mark two," when there could not have been more
+than three feet of water under the keel of the vessel. The screw was
+stopped and backed so that she might not run upon any shoal place ahead
+of her, and the officers waited with interest and anxiety for further
+action on the part of the party on shore. By this time no one doubted
+that there were men on this part of the island; but whether
+<span class = "pagenum">272</span>
+they were the crew of the privateer or not was yet to be proved.</p>
+
+<p>"Steamer, ahoy!" shouted some one on the shore.</p>
+
+<p>"On the island!" replied Christy, as he was instructed to do by his
+superior.</p>
+
+<p>"What steamer is that?" demanded the speaker on the island.</p>
+
+<p>Whoever he was, he could not help knowing that a steamer was there,
+for the engineer had begun to blow off steam as soon as the screw
+stopped, though neither party could see the other in the fog and
+darkness.</p>
+
+<p>"The Teaser," replied Christy. "Who are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"We are the ship's company of the Teaser, and we want to get on
+board," replied the speaker. "Is Captain Folkner on board?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is on board&mdash;of the Bellevite," the third <ins class =
+"correction" title = "text reads 'lientenant'">lieutenant</ins> would
+have finished the sentence if he had told the whole truth, for he
+uttered only the first part of the sentence.</p>
+
+<p>"All right. The first and second lieutenants are with us. Is Gilder
+on board?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is; and he wants to get back to the other
+<span class = "pagenum">273</span>
+side of the inland," answered Christy, who considered it his duty to
+make his replies as suitable to the occasion as possible. "Who is
+speaking?"</p>
+
+<p>"Lieutenant Lonley," replied the man; and Christy knew him, though he
+did not know his rank before. "He wants to see Gilder before he goes on
+board. Tell him to come on shore in his canoe."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that for?" demanded Christy, rather surprised at the
+unexpected request.</p>
+
+<p>"I want to see him on particular business; I have a message for him,
+which I cannot deliver in presence of any other person," replied
+Lonley.</p>
+
+<p>"All right; you shall see him soon," answered Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"Get out the boats to take us on board," continued Lonley. "Send them
+about a mile to the eastward, where we have left our bags."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," repeated Christy.</p>
+
+<p>But he said what he did not believe, for everything did not look
+right to him. He could not understand why the bags of the men should be
+a mile to the eastward. He could not imagine what business Lonley could
+have with Gilder or his representative;
+<span class = "pagenum">274</span>
+and if he had any, why it should be necessary to meet him on the
+island.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you don't expect me to carry on the programme that fellow
+has marked out," said Mr. Blowitt. "I don't quite like the looks of the
+things that we can't see, Mr. Passford."</p>
+
+<p>"Neither do I, Mr. Blowitt," replied the third lieutenant
+frankly.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not send a boat from the steamer till I understand this
+matter a great deal better than I do now, and especially I shall not
+send the boats a mile to the eastward," added the second lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it is possible that my plan has miscarried already," added
+Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall do everything I can to carry out your plan, as I am
+instructed to do by the captain; but I have the feeling, in spite of
+myself, that we are crawling into a hornet's nest," added Mr. Blowitt,
+with some anxiety in his tones. "You will call all hands quietly, and be
+ready to repel boarders. It is well to be prepared for whatever may
+come. The firing at the west end of the island indicated that something
+was going on, and perhaps these men on the shore know
+about&nbsp;it."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">275</span>
+Christy obeyed the order promptly, and the next minute, every seaman on
+board was ready with his cutlass and revolver to meet an attack. But no
+sound came from the shore just then, and the officers were in a state of
+uncertainty in regard to the situation which allowed them to do nothing.
+They waited for half an hour, when the leadsman reported that the water
+was shoaling, which indicated that the Teaser was drifting towards the
+island.</p>
+
+<p>"On board the Teaser!" shouted Lonley, so distinctly that he could
+hardly have been more than three hundred feet from the steamer.</p>
+
+<p>"On shore," replied Christy, prompted by Mr. Blowitt.</p>
+
+<p>"I am waiting for Gilder! Why don't he come on shore?" shouted
+Lonley, his impatience apparent in his tones.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are all the men?" demanded Christy, as requested by the second
+lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"They have gone a mile to the eastward where they left their
+bags."</p>
+
+<p>"We will run down in the steamer for them," added Mr. Blowitt,
+talking through Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't do that!" protested the speaker on
+<span class = "pagenum">276</span>
+shore. "There is a Yankee steamer off in that direction. We heard her
+steam an hour ago."</p>
+
+<p>"All right!" replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"That settles the matter in my mind," said Mr. Blowitt. "They are
+trying to play what they call a Yankee trick upon us. When we send our
+boats to the eastward, we shall send them into a trap. If the boats are
+to bring off forty men, they will expect them to go with only men enough
+to pull the oars; and when they get possession of them, they expect to
+retake the Teaser."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you are right, Mr. Blowitt," replied Christy, who began to
+believe that his scheme was rapidly approaching a failure, though he did
+not give it up just yet.</p>
+
+<p>"This Lonley is still on the shore near us," said Mr. Blowitt. "I
+should very much like to know what has been going on to-night on the
+island, and it may be that he knows all about it. As you are the
+representative of Gilder, Mr. Passford, you may take the canoe that is
+astern, and have a talk with Lonley at close quarters, if you don't
+object."</p>
+
+<p>"I should have proposed it myself if I had not feared that the idea
+would be charged to my
+<span class = "pagenum">277</span>
+audacity," replied Christy. "I will take only Flint with me, as he was
+with me before."</p>
+
+<p>The canoe was brought up to the gangway, and Flint took his place at
+the oars. Mr. Blowitt charged the young officer in the most serious
+manner not to run any risks, and the boat was shoved off. It required
+but a few strokes of the oars to bring it into shoal water by the beach.
+Only a single man could be seen on the shore, and this one must be
+Lonley. There seemed to be no risk, and Christy landed.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">278</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXXV">CHAPTER XXV</a></h4>
+
+<h6>CHRISTY BECOMES A VICTIM</h6>
+
+
+<p>Everything was perfectly still on the island, and only a single man
+was in sight; but Christy put his hand upon his revolver as he went on
+shore. Though he had never been a fighting young man, he had the
+impression that he should not tamely submit to the assault of an enemy,
+or run away from any single man that stood up in front of him. He had
+always been prudent, even while he had been daring, and he hardly needed
+the solemn admonition of the second lieutenant to be extremely
+cautious.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that you, Captain Gilder?" asked the man on the shore, who stood
+a little way from the waterside.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; and I take it for granted that you are Lonley," replied
+Christy, advancing towards the other. "You have done all the talking
+this night, and I ought to know you."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">279</span>
+"All the talking except what you have done, and I ought to know you,"
+replied Lonley. "I am Lieutenant Lonley, of the Teaser, and our men are
+all ready to go on board."</p>
+
+<p>"And Captain Folkner is all ready to have them go on board," returned
+Christy, who had no doubt of the truth of what he said, though he
+understood that he was telling a "story" all the same.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no doubt he is. But I don't quite understand how you happen
+to be on this side of the island, and so far to the westward at this
+time in the morning. We expected to find the Teaser burrowing through
+the sound, and we had about made up our minds to take possession of her
+and run the blockade, as other Christians do. We did not believe she
+would get through the sound in a week, if she ever did."</p>
+
+<p>"I succeeded in persuading Captain Folkner that he had better come
+out by the main channel; and that is the way we did come out, and that
+explains how we happen to be here at this time in the morning," replied
+Christy, very cheerfully.</p>
+
+<p>"You must have very strong powers of persuasion, Captain Gilder,"
+said Lonley, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"I have in a case such as this was," added the
+<span class = "pagenum">280</span>
+lieutenant, with a chuckle, as he thought of the particular kind of
+persuasion he had used upon the captain of the privateer.</p>
+
+<p>"I would give a good deal if I had just such powers, for they are
+sometimes of very great service to an officer."</p>
+
+<p>"You are quite right, Mr. Lonley. I suppose you are the first
+lieutenant of the Teaser."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am not; kissing goes by favor, and the captain's brother is
+the first; and he is no more fit for his position than the captain is
+for his duty. I was in hope that the government would take possession of
+the steamer, and send her to sea properly officered," added Lonley, very
+good-naturedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Good officers are quite necessary in the service," suggested
+Christy. "I have no doubt you will fill the bill, and be all that could
+be possibly desired."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Captain Gilder. Did you have any trouble in getting out
+of the bay?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, none at all. By the way, Mr. Lonley, we have been hearing firing
+at the west end of the island to-night. Do you know what it means?"</p>
+
+<p>"The first thing was to clean out that regiment
+<span class = "pagenum">281</span>
+of Zouaves; and I have no doubt that has been done before now; and our
+boys may get a hack at Pickens. A big force was landed in the fog, and
+the Yankees will not stay on this island much longer," replied
+Lonley.</p>
+
+<p>His information was entirely correct, though his prediction was not
+equally reliable.</p>
+
+<p>"I was sure there was fighting going on over there," added Christy.
+"You seem to be all alone, Mr. Lonley. Where are all your men?"</p>
+
+<p>"I told you before you came ashore that I had sent them all over to
+the place where they had left their bags, about a mile to the eastward
+of us. I suppose Captain Folkner has sent the boats over there for them
+before this time?"</p>
+
+<p>"He was inclined to run over in the steamer," added Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope he did not do that," said the privateersman, with a good deal
+more energy than the other thought the occasion warranted. "I warned you
+that there was a Yankee gunboat over that way."</p>
+
+<p>"The Teaser has not gone over that way," replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"If she has, she will be gobbled up by that gunboat, and all my men
+with her."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">282</span>
+"I persuaded Captain Folkner not to do it," added the Bellevite's
+officer, very quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"He ought to have done just what I asked him to do; and that was to
+send his boats over to the place named for the men."</p>
+
+<p>"And I persuaded him to do that also," continued Christy, as
+unblushingly as though he had not been strictly in the habit of telling
+the truth all his lifetime.</p>
+
+<p>"Good for you, Captain Gilder!" exclaimed Lonley, grasping the hand
+of his companion as though he had been his brother. "You beat all the
+men I ever knew on power of persuasion; and when I get the command of
+the Teaser, as I expect to have before this year ends, I shall want you
+to serve as my first lieutenant."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Lieutenant Lonley; you are very kind; and if I ever go
+into the privateering service, I shall certainly go in with you,"
+replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"An officer with your power of persuasion will be invaluable to me,"
+replied Lonley, still holding the hand of the other. "If I were gifted
+in this respect as you are, Captain Gilder, do you know what I
+would&nbsp;do?"</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">283</span>
+"I am sure I have not the least idea, unless it would be to persuade
+Jeff Davis to send you a commission as a captain in the regular navy,"
+said Christy, laughing at the idea.</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid I should have too little cheek to attempt to do that,
+for the president is a rather obstinate man, and I fear he would not see
+the point. Besides, I am a very modest man, though you may not have
+observed this shining trait in my character. No; I am too diffident to
+ask for a place I have not won by service."</p>
+
+<p>"Then what would you do in the way of persuasion?" asked Christy,
+though he wondered why he was prolonging the interview.</p>
+
+<p>"I should use my powers of persuasion upon you, Captain Gilder, in
+the first place."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think it would be of any use, for I am too well posted in
+that way of doing it to be influenced," replied Christy, trying to
+withdraw his hand from the grasp of the privateersman. "I must go on
+board of the Teaser again when you have delivered your message to me, as
+that was what you wished to see me for."</p>
+
+<p>"I did say I had a message for you, didn't I? Well, upon my life, I
+have quite forgot what it
+<span class = "pagenum">284</span>
+was, but it was from President Jefferson Davis, and he was particular
+that I should deliver it to you to-night or this morning. Isn't it very
+strange that I should forget a message of so much importance that it
+could not be trusted to writing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Passing strange, I should say," answered Christy, who began to
+understand that he had fallen into a trap of some sort. "While you are
+thinking of it, I will go on board, and persuade Captain Folkner not to
+run the Teaser to the eastward if he should take it into his head to do
+so. I had no idea there was a Yankee gunboat in that direction, and I
+don't believe the captain had. Besides, he don't know where he is in
+this fog, and he needs&nbsp;me."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, Christy tried to withdraw his hand from the grasp of
+Lonley, as he had not succeeded in doing before when he tried. But the
+privateersman suddenly fell upon him, and both of them went down. A
+tremendous struggle followed, but before it was decided, two men rushed
+out of the gloom, and took part in the affair; and they soon settled the
+matter in favor of the Confederacy, much to the chagrin of the second
+lieutenant of the Bellevite.</p>
+
+<p class = "illustration">
+<img src = "images/pic284.png" width = "325" height = "504"
+alt = "illustration of quoted scene"><br>
+<span class = "caption">
+"<span class = "smallcaps">A tremendous struggle
+followed</span>."&mdash;Page 284.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">285</span>
+Flint had remained in the canoe, which had been partly drawn up on the
+beach; but the moment he sprang out upon the sand to go to the
+assistance of his officer, he was set upon by two men and secured. Both
+of them were deprived of their weapons, and their hands tied behind
+them. Beyond a doubt the lieutenant and the master's mate were prisoners
+before they had any clear idea of the situation.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you there, Mr. Folkner?" called Lonley, as soon as the prisoners
+were secured, speaking now in an energetic tone, as he had not
+before.</p>
+
+<p>"I am here," replied a man who seemed to be in a boat not far from
+the spot. "You have kept me a long time waiting for you!"</p>
+
+<p>"I wanted to give the Yankee boats time to get at least a mile from
+the Teaser before anything was done. Shove off now, and make things as
+lively as you can," said Lonley. "Go to your places in the boats," he
+continued to four men who had assisted in the capture of the two
+officers.</p>
+
+<p>By this time Christy had a chance to see that he was a victim of a
+trick which was to eventuate in the recapture of the Teaser; and he was
+sorry that
+<span class = "pagenum">286</span>
+he was not the only victim, as he looked at Flint. He realized too that
+the scheme had been very well planned, though he was really happy in the
+belief that it would be a failure in the end. Lonley seemed to be the
+leading spirit in the affair, and managed the details. He had intended
+that the boats should be sent from the Teaser to a point at least a mile
+off.</p>
+
+<p>He had taken it for granted that the steamer would come to pick them
+up, or in other words, to capture the forty prisoners. If he was weak in
+accepting as the truth Christy's statement that the boats had been
+actually sent away, as desired, he could see no reason why the Yankee
+officer should try to deceive him. It appeared now that the
+privateersmen had two boats, which had been brought across the island
+for the purpose. Lonley had naturally wished that only a few men should
+be on board, and concluded that it would be an easy matter to capture
+the steamer, and then to secure the men in the boats when they returned
+from the eastward.</p>
+
+<p>The four men on shore, who had been put in a place where they could
+assist Lonley, hastened to the boats, and they shoved off, pulling as
+silently
+<span class = "pagenum">287</span>
+as though the oars had been muffled, as probably they had been. In a
+moment more they disappeared in the darkness and fog.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I have improved a great deal in the art of persuasion," said
+Lonley, as the boats disappeared. "I suppose I persuaded you as
+effectually as you did Captain Folkner."</p>
+
+<p>"You have done very well, Mr. Lonley," replied Christy, in a
+patronizing tone, for he was determined that his companion should derive
+no satisfaction from seeing him cast down by his misfortune.</p>
+
+<p>"You informed me a little while ago that Captain Folkner was on board
+of the Teaser; and I wish to ask if you are uniformly in the habit of
+speaking the truth?" continued Lonley.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that depends upon circumstances. If I have not done so, you
+cannot expect me to contradict myself."</p>
+
+<p>"You claimed that you were Captain Gilder."</p>
+
+<p>"Hardly, my excellent friend: when Captain Folkner addressed me by
+that name, I did not object to&nbsp;it."</p>
+
+<p>"That was just as much a lie as though you had claimed it in so many
+words," protested Lonley.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">288</span>
+"I admit it; and I hardly expect a true patriot to tell the truth to the
+enemy. If I remember rightly, you told me yourself that your men had
+gone to the eastward where they had left their bags. I don't believe
+that your conscience reproached you when they showed themselves in the
+boats."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment pistol shots were heard on the water.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">289</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXXVI">CHAPTER XXVI</a></h4>
+
+<h6>THE ACTION ON THE DECK OF THE TEASER</h6>
+
+
+<p>As the Teaser was but a short distance from the shore, Christy had no
+doubt that the attempt to board her had been made by this time. Mr.
+Blowitt had quite as many men on board of the steamer as could have been
+contained in the two boats, and he was not much concerned about the
+result of the attack, especially as he knew that the second lieutenant
+was fully prepared and on the lookout for it. The only thing that
+Christy regretted was that he was not on board of the Teaser to take
+part in the affair of repelling boarders.</p>
+
+<p>"There seems to be some music in the air," said Lonley, after he had
+listened for a few moments to the sounds that came from the direction of
+the steamer.</p>
+
+<p>"To return to the subject of the morality of telling stories, your
+men do not seem to be a mile
+<span class = "pagenum">290</span>
+to the eastward, where their bags were left," added Christy
+good-naturedly.</p>
+
+<p>"You had a glance at them in the boats, though the darkness and fog
+were rather too thick for you to count them," replied Lonley, chuckling
+over the deception he had practised upon the lieutenant of the
+Bellevite.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I saw them, and I concluded that they could not be where their
+bags were."</p>
+
+<p>"All is fair in war."</p>
+
+<p>"That seems to be the generally received maxim, and he is the
+smartest man who the most thoroughly deceives the enemy," added Christy,
+who found himself tolerably well satisfied with the situation, though he
+was a prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>"That is so, and of course I can find no fault with you for deceiving
+me," returned Lonley, chuckling as though he was even better satisfied
+with the situation than his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Mr. Lonley; you are magnanimous, and with equal sincerity
+I can say that I have no fault to find with you," replied the Union
+officer. "But I have my doubts whether, after this, either of us will be
+likely to believe what the other says. But, for my part, I wish to say
+that
+<span class = "pagenum">291</span>
+I don't believe in telling anything but necessary and patriotic
+lies."</p>
+
+<p>"That is my view of the matter exactly; and if there is any man that
+despises a liar, I am that man," said Lonley warmly. "But it seems to me
+they are making a good deal of a racket off there," he added, as the
+noise of pistol shots and the clash of cutlasses came over the smooth
+waters of the gulf.</p>
+
+<p>"They seem to be at it quite earnestly," replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"By the way, how many men did you leave on board of the Teaser?"
+asked the privateersman, whose manner seemed to have suddenly become
+considerably changed.</p>
+
+<p>"How many men?" repeated the lieutenant of the Bellevite.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the question I asked," replied the lieutenant of the
+Teaser.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you would not believe me if I should tell you," answered
+Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"I judge that you can speak the truth if you try," added Lonley, with
+more asperity than the occasion seemed to require.</p>
+
+<p>"I know that I could," said Christy, very
+<span class = "pagenum">292</span>
+decidedly; "and I may add that I was in the habit of doing so on all
+occasions before this cruel war began."</p>
+
+<p>"Then suppose you try to do so just now, and tell me how many men
+your people had on board of the Teaser."</p>
+
+<p>"You must excuse me for the present, for I do not like to make
+statements to one who will not believe what I say," answered Christy,
+rather facetiously.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a prisoner now."</p>
+
+<p>"I am painfully aware of the fact, but I doubt if the government
+service will suffer very much in my absence from duty."</p>
+
+<p>"You are too modest by half, Mr.&mdash;but I have not even the
+pleasure of knowing your name, and conversation is annoying under such
+circumstances."</p>
+
+<p>"I am simply Midshipman Passford, at your service."</p>
+
+<p>"Only a midshipman!" exclaimed Lonley. "Upon my word, you ought to be
+a commodore. Passford? Possibly you are a cousin of Colonel Passford of
+Glenfield."</p>
+
+<p>"Colonel Passford is my uncle. Do you know him?" asked Christy.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">293</span>
+"I do know him; and there is not a finer man or a truer patriot in the
+South than Colonel Passford. He is loading a schooner with cotton, and
+he offered me the command of it. Then you are his nephew, I have heard
+of you."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope my uncle is quite well, for I have not heard from him for
+several weeks, or since I left New York."</p>
+
+<p>"I saw him ten days ago, and he was very well then. I am very happy
+to have made a prisoner of his enterprising nephew, who appears to be
+capable of doing our cause a great deal of mischief," replied Lonley,
+looking earnestly in the direction of the Teaser.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Mr. Lonley; I certainly intend to do it all the mischief
+I can in a legitimate way. I am speaking the truth now," said
+Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"But you have not answered my question in regard to the number of men
+on board of the Teaser when you left her."</p>
+
+<p>"And you will excuse me for the present if I do not answer it," added
+the Union lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Mr. Passford; I cannot compel you to answer it, though
+doing so would do no harm to
+<span class = "pagenum">294</span>
+your cause, for I should judge that the question of the hour is
+settled."</p>
+
+<p>"What is the question of the hour, Mr. Lonley?"</p>
+
+<p>"The question is which side is in possession of the Teaser, yours or
+mine," replied the privateersman, still gazing out into the gloom.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that question settled?" asked Christy, with interest.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I don't know, but I should think that it was. We hear no
+more pistol shots and no more clashing of cutlasses," replied Lonley,
+uneasily. "But I expected to hear the triumphal shout of our men when
+they had carried the deck of the Teaser."</p>
+
+<p>"I have not heard anything like a triumphal shout," added Christy,
+very quietly. "It is barely possible that your men have not carried the
+deck of the Teaser."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, it is possible they have not; but I don't believe they
+have failed," replied Lonley.</p>
+
+<p>The privateersman listened for a few minutes in silence. He appeared
+to be entirely confident that the victory must be with his men. He
+evidently believed that the captors of the Teaser had sent
+<span class = "pagenum">295</span>
+her two boats off to a distance of a mile, and thus weakened whatever
+force she had on board of her. He did not seem to have any idea that the
+party he had met in Pensacola Bay had been increased in numbers, or that
+the officer in command had reported to the ship to which they belonged.
+Christy realized what Lonley was thinking about, and he clearly believed
+that the Teaser had been left in charge of not more than a dozen or
+fifteen men, reduced by at least six then on boat duty.</p>
+
+<p>"Help! help!" shouted a man in the water at no great distance from
+the shore.</p>
+
+<p>"What does that mean?" said Lonley, springing to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a call for help, and, as my hands are tied behind me, I cannot
+respond to it, as I would gladly do, be the man who needs it friend or
+enemy," replied Christy. "There is the canoe in which we came ashore,
+Lieutenant Lonley, and you can use that."</p>
+
+<p>The privateersman sprang into the boat, shoved it off, and pulled in
+the direction from which the appeal came. He disappeared in the fog in a
+moment; but a little later was seen again approaching the shore. He had
+not taken the sufferer into
+<span class = "pagenum">296</span>
+the boat, but he had clung to it. As he got upon his feet, Christy saw
+that there were two of them, for one helped the other up the beach.</p>
+
+<p>"What does this mean?" demanded Lonley, very much excited. "Have you
+run away from the others?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; but we were beaten in the fight, our boats captured, and
+all hands taken prisoners except us two," replied the uninjured of the
+two men.</p>
+
+<p>Lieutenant Lonley, whatever his views of the morality of lying to the
+enemy, uttered an exclamation which grated very harshly on the ears of
+Lieutenant Passford. The result, as stated by the man who had swum to
+the shore, was as unwelcome as it was unexpected. He had not deemed a
+defeat even possible. He learned from the guard-boat that the steamer
+had been captured. He had spent the time after he was landed with his
+companions at Town Point, and organized his force for the recapture of
+the Teaser. The failure of the final attack was as severe upon him as
+the loss of his vessel had been upon Captain Folkner.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?" demanded Lonley, when he had
+<span class = "pagenum">297</span>
+in some measure recovered from the shock which the failure gave him.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Levick, the boatswain; and this is Lieutenant Folkner, who was
+wounded in the shoulder in the first of it," replied the man. "He was
+knocked from the rail into the water when we boarded, and he held on to
+an oar. When the fight was over, and we had lost it, I slipped into the
+water, and helped the lieutenant along on his oar, till I was about used
+up, and then I called for help."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you much hurt, Mr. Folkner?" asked Lonley of the injured
+officer.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; my shoulder feels numb, and I can't use my arm,"
+replied Folkner. "But I can use my legs, and I think that is what we had
+better be doing."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't understand it," protested Lonley, very much dissatisfied
+with the result of the action, as may well be supposed. "I was sure you
+would carry her deck at once."</p>
+
+<p>"I was as sure as you were, Lonley; but I believe they had fifty men
+all ready for us. They let us leap on deck without much opposition, and
+then they surrounded us, and took us by surprise,
+<span class = "pagenum">298</span>
+for I did not suppose, after what you said, that they had a dozen men,"
+replied the wounded lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not suppose they had even a dozen men left on board," Lonley
+explained, with humiliation in his tones.</p>
+
+<p>"I staid in the boat till I had seen all my men on deck," continued
+Mr. Folkner. "They surrounded our force, and tumbled them into the hold
+as though they had been pigs, slashing them with their cutlasses if they
+tried to get out. I saw the fat officer in command of the enemy; he was
+very active, and I leaped on deck, determined to cross weapons with him.
+But he hit me in the shoulder with his cutlass, and I lost my hold on
+the rail."</p>
+
+<p>"You ought to have led your men, not followed them," said Lonley
+bitterly.</p>
+
+<p>"That is easy enough for you to say; but I wanted to be where I could
+see my men," retorted the first lieutenant, of whom the second had a
+very mean opinion, perhaps because he got his position on account of
+being the captain's brother.</p>
+
+<p>"Whether I did right or not, I can tell you all one thing; and that
+is, that we shall be prisoners if
+<span class = "pagenum">299</span>
+we stay here any longer. They have got our men under the hatches, and
+they have ordered out a boat to look for an officer they sent
+ashore."</p>
+
+<p>"We can do nothing here, and we may as well put ourselves in safer
+quarters, for we have two prisoners to lose," said Lonley. "Mr.
+Passford, I shall have to trouble you to march to the other side of the
+island."</p>
+
+<p>"I am your prisoner, Mr. Lonley, and I must obey your orders, though
+I am sorry to be away from my ship in the hour of victory," replied
+Christy submissively.</p>
+
+<p>But he felt that his plan had been fully carried out.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">300</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXXVII">CHAPTER XXVII</a></h4>
+
+<h6>A VISIT FROM COLONEL HOMER PASSFORD</h6>
+
+
+<p>With his arms securely tied behind him, Christy realized that he
+could make no resistance to his captors. Flint was in the same
+unfortunate situation, and both of them had been deprived of their
+revolvers. But in spite of his unpleasant surroundings, the young
+lieutenant felt that the balance of advantage was on the side of the
+Union. If the government was deprived of the services of a midshipman
+and a master's mate, a dangerous privateer had been captured, and about
+forty prisoners had been taken from the employ of the Confederacy. In
+the face of this decided gain, Christy felt that he had no right to
+complain.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the light of day had begun to have some effect on the
+darkness and fog, though the gloom seemed to be hardly less. Lonley
+directed his two prisoners to walk side by side behind the wounded
+lieutenant, while he and Levick took
+<span class = "pagenum">301</span>
+their places in the rear. The second lieutenant of the Teaser was duly
+impressed by what the first had said about a probable visit to the
+island in search of the missing midshipman, and he directed Folkner to
+march as rapidly as he could. He took the control of the party out of
+the hands of his superior, and very likely he wished he had done so
+sooner.</p>
+
+<p>Folkner, as he had before suggested, still had the use of his legs,
+and he certainly used them well, for he travelled like a man who was in
+a hurry; but both Christy and Flint were in excellent condition, though
+they had been on active duty all night, and they had no difficulty in
+keeping up with their leader.</p>
+
+<p>Lonley and Levick were both armed, and they kept their weapons in
+readiness for immediate use, for the former recognized the enterprising
+character of the young officer in front of him, and knew that he would
+escape if he could. But Christy did not feel called to take any
+desperate chances in order to restore himself at once to the service of
+his country, and he and his companion in captivity marched along very
+quietly. The two armed men soon dropped several paces to the rear, so
+that the
+<span class = "pagenum">302</span>
+lieutenant could listen to the details of the action on the deck of the
+Teaser. The prisoners could not hear what was said, and they started a
+conversation on their own account.</p>
+
+<p>"We are in a bad box," said Flint. "I did not expect to come out of
+the little end of the horn in this way."</p>
+
+<p>"You must take a broader view of the situation than that," replied
+Christy. "The Teaser is certainly a prize of the Bellevite, with as many
+as forty prisoners. That is the result of our night's work, though we
+are counted out just now in the business of crowing over the success of
+our side. That is the way to look at it; and this view makes me quite
+satisfied with the night's work."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not see it in that light, and I suppose you are right, Mr.
+Passford," replied Flint.</p>
+
+<p>"And you will not lose your share of the prize-money for the Yazoo or
+the Teaser," added Christy, though, as the son of a millionnaire, he
+felt no interest at all in the spoils of war.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you suppose will be done with us, sir?" asked the master's
+mate.</p>
+
+<p>"I have not the least idea, any more than you have; but I have no
+doubt we shall be kept in
+<span class = "pagenum">303</span>
+close confinement, and I don't believe we shall live as well in our
+prison, wherever it may be, as we do on board of the Bellevite. But I am
+rather fond of johnny-cake, and I don't expect to starve on bacon."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you think it was a mistake to send us ashore in the canoe on
+the part of Mr. Blowitt?" asked Flint, rather timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"If it was, it was as much my mistake as it was his. But I don't
+think it was a mistake. I cannot say that we did not succeed in the
+action on the deck of the steamer because we were sent ashore," replied
+Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see how that can be," replied Flint.</p>
+
+<p>"In the first place, Lonley wanted me to come on shore, and asked
+that I should do so. On the strength of what I said to him, he believed
+that our boats had been sent to the eastward, and that induced him to
+make the advance he did. After he had told us where to find the men, he
+had good reason to believe that the boats would be sent for them. We did
+not fall into the trap he set for us. I think it is all right as it is;
+but whether it is or not, it's no use to grumble about&nbsp;it."</p>
+
+<p>"I did not mean to grumble; and I am willing
+<span class = "pagenum">304</span>
+to believe that everything has been for the best," replied Flint,
+apparently resolved to be satisfied, as his superior officer was,
+whether he felt so or not.</p>
+
+<p>Folkner led the way in a northwesterly direction, and evidently knew
+where he was going. When they had been marching about half an hour, the
+party heard the report of fire-arms in the rear of them; but the
+discharges were at regular intervals, and did not sound as though they
+came from a battle. A little later, they heard loud shouts.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the party who are out in search of us," said Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"That is so, Mr. Passford; the sounds are only signals, and they are
+intended to notify you that your friends are in search of you," added
+Lonley, hastening up to the advance of the party. "I should be very
+sorry to do such a thing, but if you shout, or do anything to inform
+that party where you are, it will be my duty to shoot you."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not disposed to be rash, Mr. Lonley. If our friends overtake
+your party, it will not be my fault," replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"You do not expect me to shoot you in that case, I hope?" added the
+privateersman.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">305</span>
+"I did not know but that your revolver might go off by accident."</p>
+
+<p>"You may be assured that it will not; I claim to be a gentleman and a
+Christian, and I intend to be fair even to my enemies."</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon for my thoughtless remark. I have no occasion to
+complain of you. I shall endeavor to be a gentleman and a Christian
+also, though I intend to do my best in fighting my country's battles;
+and I am not disposed to talk politics with you under present
+circumstances."</p>
+
+<p>The march was continued for some time longer, and the signals in the
+rear were repeated till increasing light enabled the prisoners to see
+that they were approaching Pensacola Bay. Not a little to their
+astonishment, the shore seemed to be alive with soldiers, and they
+learned that a battle, or something like one, had been fought on the
+island. The Confederate forces had been sent to attack Wilson's Zouaves,
+in camp to the eastward of the fort. Some very severe fighting had been
+done in the darkness and fog, with heavy losses on both sides.</p>
+
+<p>The Zouaves had been re-enforced from the fort, and with marines from
+the ships. Though the
+<span class = "pagenum">306</span>
+Confederates claimed the victory, it was clear enough to the two
+prisoners from the south side of the island that the Southern troops
+were retreating from the field. A soldier who fought with them wrote to
+a paper in Georgia: "I scarcely know whether we achieved a victory, or
+suffered a defeat." He also said that in the fog and darkness: "We shot
+down our friends in numbers."</p>
+
+<p>A few prisoners had been captured by the enemy, including two
+officers. But Folkner led the way to a point on the bay not very near
+the steamers which had brought over the expedition from the mainland.
+The Confederate troops embarked in the steamers and launches by which
+they had come; but the Union troops followed them to the end. Their
+steamers were aground, and a merciless fire was poured into them by the
+pursuing companies.</p>
+
+<p>"They are having hot work of it over there," said Lonley, as they
+came to a boat on the shore. "But that is not our affair, and it is
+quite proper for us to keep out of the way of the flying bullets."</p>
+
+<p>Christy and Flint were directed to take seats in the boat, and the
+lieutenant and boatswain manned
+<span class = "pagenum">307</span>
+the oars. They were not out of the reach of the bullets of the Federal
+troops, and the oarsmen pulled with all their might for a time. It was
+five miles to Pensacola, but the privateersmen landed their prisoners
+there. They were committed to a sort of guard-house; but in the
+afternoon they were sent to Mobile with about twenty others, who had
+been captured in the battle of the night before.</p>
+
+<p>There was not a great number of prisoners in the city, and it was
+intended to remove them to other quarters arranged for their
+accommodation.</p>
+
+<p>Christy and Flint were confined in an unoccupied warehouse, and were
+fed tolerably well, and they were supplied with some kind of dried grass
+for beds. It was not at all like the luxurious stateroom of the
+lieutenant on board of the Bellevite, or even the quarters of Flint; but
+they were determined to make the best of it. Flint had become reconciled
+to his situation, and Christy was even cheerful.</p>
+
+<p>After he had been in the warehouse a few days, Christy was not a
+little surprised to receive a visit from his uncle, Colonel Passford. He
+was not surprised at the kindness of the planter in making
+<span class = "pagenum">308</span>
+the visit, but that he should know so soon that he was a prisoner of
+war, for he had fully decided not to make any appeal to his uncle; and
+he could not imagine how he had discovered his situation.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to see you, Christy," said Colonel Passford, extending his
+hand, which Christy took without any hesitation.</p>
+
+<p>"And I suppose you are glad to see me here," added the nephew, with a
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>"While I am glad to see you deprived of the power to injure the cause
+I love, and to which I have pledged all that I have and all that I am, I
+am sorry that you should be in trouble, Christy. I hope I have Christian
+feeling enough to keep me from rejoicing at the misfortunes of any
+person, and especially of my brother's son. I can say sincerely that I
+am sorry you are in trouble," said the colonel solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I am not in trouble, Uncle Homer!" exclaimed Christy, laughing.
+"I have done my duty to my country, my conscience is clean, and I am not
+to be upset by an accident like this. I am really happy in the
+consciousness that I have been faithful to the cause of my country."</p>
+
+<p class = "illustration">
+<img src = "images/pic308.png" width = "319" height = "504"
+alt = "illustration of quoted scene"><br>
+<span class = "caption">
+"<span class = "smallcaps">I am glad to see you,
+Christy</span>."&mdash;Page 308.</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you had been; but we will not talk
+<span class = "pagenum">309</span>
+about that, for I suppose you and your father have the same views,"
+replied the planter, looking very sad.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe we should agree if we talked about it for a year,
+and we had better give the subject the go-by. But how are Aunt Lydia and
+Gerty?"</p>
+
+<p>"Both are very well. I hope your father is in good health, as well as
+your mother and sister."</p>
+
+<p>"All very well."</p>
+
+<p>"I have not heard a word from any of you for about five months,"
+continued Colonel Passford. "In fact, not since you were here in
+May."</p>
+
+<p>"We got home all right, and the Bellevite is a man-of-war now. She
+captured one valuable prize off the coast of Carolina, and another at
+Pensacola," replied Christy cheerfully.</p>
+
+<p>"She ought never to have been allowed to leave Mobile Bay," added the
+colonel.</p>
+
+<p>"Your people certainly did everything they could to prevent her from
+leaving, and I hope you don't blame yourselves for letting her go. What
+about Corny, sir?" asked Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"Major Pierson was very much to blame for permitting the Bellevite to
+pass the forts when she
+<span class = "pagenum">310</span>
+came in, and he lost his command. But he has devoted all his life to
+redeem his fault by her recapture. He took Corny with him, and a naval
+officer; I only know that the attempt to recapture her failed from the
+fact that the Bellevite is now on the blockade."</p>
+
+<p>Finding that his uncle knew nothing of the events which had
+transpired at Bonnydale, Christy told him all about them, informing him
+at the end that Corny was a prisoner of war on parole at his father's
+house, recovering from his wound.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">311</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII</a></h4>
+
+<h6>AN ENTERPRISE FOR A DARK NIGHT</h6>
+
+
+<p>"Corny wounded!" exclaimed Colonel Passford, rising with no little
+emotion from the box on which he had seated himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Not seriously, Uncle Homer," added Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"But how was he wounded? I have heard of no battle in the vicinity of
+New York till now, though our papers contain some news from outside,"
+continued the planter.</p>
+
+<p>"It was hardly a battle," replied Christy. "Captain Carboneer had
+brought a crew for a steamer through Canada, I believe, for the purpose
+of capturing the Bellevite as she lay at Bonnydale. Major Pierson and
+Corny were to assist him; and the major wished Captain Carboneer to take
+Florry on board of her, and convey her to the South, when he had taken
+possession of the steamer; but the naval officer was too high-toned to
+do anything of the kind."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">312</span>
+"I did not suppose Major Pierson could do such a thing," added the
+planter, biting his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"But the major insisted that he did not mean to take her against her
+own will. Captain Carboneer bought an old steamer, put his men on board
+of her, and started up the river to make the capture. I knew they were
+coming, and was ready for them. We fired only one shot at the old
+steamer, which smashed her walking-beam, and disabled her. A piece of
+the machinery struck Corny, and injured him in the shoulder. The doctor
+says he is not permanently injured, though it will be months before he
+is able to use his arm. He was paroled, and mother is taking as good
+care of him as though I had been wounded."</p>
+
+<p>"I am thankful it is not worse," added the colonel, with a sigh of
+relief. "What became of Major Pierson?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, but I suppose he is a prisoner in Fort Lafayette. He
+refused to give his parole when he found he could not be a guest at
+Bonnydale. Captain Carboneer obtained the command of a steamer, but it
+was captured by the Bellevite, and probably he is with the major in the
+fort."</p>
+
+<p>The planter asked a great many questions in
+<span class = "pagenum">313</span>
+regard to the affair on the Hudson, and Christy answered them. He gave
+some of the particulars of the capture of the Teaser, and mentioned the
+name of Lonley, who had told him that Colonel Passford had offered him
+the command of a schooner he had loaded with cotton to run the blockade;
+but the planter said nothing to indicate that he had ever heard of the
+privateersman.</p>
+
+<p>"The Bellevite has been very fortunate so far, and she seems to have
+a charmed existence," added the colonel.</p>
+
+<p>"That is only because she is well handled," replied Christy,
+laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"And you seem to be equally fortunate, Christy, for you have twice
+been the means of saving your father's steamer. Corny has done nothing,
+is wounded, and practically a prisoner. But, Christy, the tide will
+turn, for Heaven is always on the side of a just cause," added the
+planter solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe it, uncle; and that will be the reason why the Union will
+prevail in the end. Besides, Napoleon believed that Heaven was always on
+the side of the stronger battalions."</p>
+
+<p>"That was an impious remark; and Heaven, by its own mysterious ways,
+will conduct the just
+<span class = "pagenum">314</span>
+cause of the South to a successful ending, and the Confederate States of
+America will be an honored member of the family of nations."</p>
+
+<p>"I think we had better not talk politics, even though we mix in a
+little religion," suggested Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"As your father has been kind to my boy, wounded and a prisoner in
+the midst of enemies, I ought to do something for you, Christy,"
+continued Colonel Passford, looking on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all, Uncle Homer; I am not wounded as Corny is, and there is
+no need of doing anything for me," interposed Christy, laughing in the
+serious face of the planter.</p>
+
+<p>"I can get you paroled, and then I shall be glad to have you remain
+at Glenfield until you are exchanged," said the planter.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not accept a parole, Uncle Homer," replied Christy
+promptly.</p>
+
+<p>"Not accept a parole!" exclaimed the colonel. "Corny did so."</p>
+
+<p>"If I were wounded, as Corny is, I would accept it."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you don't mean to try to escape, Christy," added his uncle,
+with a look of deep
+<span class = "pagenum">315</span>
+concern on his dignified face, as he looked about the apartment in which
+his nephew was confined.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't say that I shall; if I did say so, you would have our guard
+doubled, and ready to shoot me if they saw my head at a window,"
+answered Christy with earnestness.</p>
+
+<p>"You seem to think I am a heathen; but you forget that you are an
+active enemy of my country," added the planter, with a pained
+expression.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't forget it, uncle; but I am not half as active as I hope to
+be before this thing ends. I believe you would see me shot or hung by
+the neck till I was dead if it were for the benefit of what you call
+your country."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope and pray that I may never be placed in a situation to see
+anything of that kind."</p>
+
+<p>"I know you are earnest, honest, and sincere, Uncle Homer, and no
+partiality to your own kindred would permit you to shirk what you
+consider to be your duty. I find no fault with you; and I believe my
+father would be equally firm," said Christy warmly.</p>
+
+<p>"I think you understand me, my boy; but do not attempt any rash
+project. I cannot prevent the guard from shooting you if you attempt to
+escape."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">316</span>
+"I prefer to keep my own counsels in a matter of this kind, Uncle Homer.
+Give my love to Aunt Lydia and Gerty, for I suppose I am not likely to
+see them, as I am liable to be sent away any day."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, you will see them, for they shall call upon you here as
+soon as they return from Montgomery, where they have gone for a few
+days."</p>
+
+<p>"It will be very kind of them to do so," added Christy, though he did
+not believe he should be "at home" when they came.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not wish you were wounded, my dear boy, but if you were, we
+would do all that your father and mother are doing for poor Corny,"
+replied Colonel Passford fervently, "Now, promise me, Christy, that you
+will not attempt to escape."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't make any promises, uncle."</p>
+
+<p>"I will do the best I can to have your condition improved, and see
+that you have a better diet, if I send your food from a hotel."</p>
+
+<p>"You are very kind, uncle, and I know that you will do all that your
+duty will permit you to do for&nbsp;me."</p>
+
+<p>"But I shall live in fear and trembling if I leave you without your
+promise to refrain from daring exploits. Just consider, my dear boy; you
+<span class = "pagenum">317</span>
+are in the fourth story of this warehouse, and the guard-room is below
+you. You have really no chance at all of success, and a fall or a shot
+may kill or disable you for life."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not say that I shall try to escape, uncle."</p>
+
+<p>"And you do not say that you will not try to escape."</p>
+
+<p>For half an hour longer Colonel Passford endeavored to induce his
+nephew to give the desired promise; but he remained obstinate to the
+end; and his uncle was compelled to leave him, to enter upon the fear
+and trembling in which he was to live while his enterprising nephew
+remained a prisoner. But he promised to call upon him every day, and to
+write to his wife and daughter to return at once.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I shall not wait for him to call," said Christy to Flint, as
+soon as he had gone.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you expect to get out of this place, Mr. Passford?" asked the
+master's mate, with lively interest.</p>
+
+<p>"This very night!" replied Christy, in an energetic whisper, as he
+put his finger on his lips to indicate that nothing more was to be said
+on the subject.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">318</span>
+The second lieutenant of the Bellevite had not been confined in the
+warehouse three days without considering his chances of escape, and the
+means of accomplishing such a purpose. He had looked the building over
+with the greatest care. The room the prisoners occupied was next to the
+roof. The rear windows opened upon a narrow alley, and he had
+ascertained by looking out at them that the warehouse was one of a long
+block. He had been in Mobile a great deal while the family were visiting
+at Glenfield, and he had been careful to notice the location when he was
+conducted to it with the others.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the loft next to the main street were thirty or forty
+other prisoners, with whom Christy and Flint had been on good terms,
+though they belonged to the army, and seemed to be inclined to keep by
+themselves. They had been exhausted by hard service, and they had
+nothing to do but eat and sleep, though the former occupation did not
+occupy any great amount of their spare time. But as soon as it was
+fairly dark, they stretched themselves on their beds of vines and weeds,
+and most of them were soon asleep.</p>
+
+<p>The evening that followed the day on which
+<span class = "pagenum">319</span>
+Colonel Passford visited his nephew was dark, foggy, rainy, and as
+gloomy as even a blockade runner might ask. Christy seated himself under
+one of the rear windows of the loft, which appeared to have been
+intended only for storage, and was only from seven to eight feet between
+studs. Flint placed himself at the side of his companion, as he was
+requested to&nbsp;do.</p>
+
+<p>"This is just the kind of a night we want," said Christy, in a
+whisper, for he could hear the tramp of a sentinel outside the door of
+the loft.</p>
+
+<p>"I should as soon think of getting out if we were buried a hundred
+feet under ground as to think of getting out of this place," replied
+Flint, who was hardly as enterprising as his officer, though he was
+always ready to follow when he was well led. "There is a guard at the
+door, Mr. Passford."</p>
+
+<p>"He may stay there; we don't want anything of him," replied
+Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"I see no other way out of this den, unless we jump down into the
+street; but I will follow you, sir, if I fall a hundred feet in doing
+it," protested the master's mate.</p>
+
+<p>"You shall not fall six inches, and you will
+<span class = "pagenum">320</span>
+have no opportunity to do so. But if you are all ready to follow my
+lead, we may as well begin at once," added Christy, who had expected
+that it would require some persuasion to induce his companion to join
+him.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing the midshipman did was to take off his shoes, and to
+require Flint to do the same. With these in their hands, Christy paced
+off twenty steps, which brought him, according to a calculation he had
+made in the daylight, under a scuttle that led to the roof of the
+warehouse. Stationing the master's mate as a mark, he laid off five
+paces at right angles with the first line from the party-wall. It was as
+dark as Egypt, and the scuttle could not be seen; but the operator had
+located it mathematically, and was confident as to its position. Flint
+was planted under the opening, with the shoes of both at his side.</p>
+
+<p>The master's mate was nearly six feet in his stocking feet as he
+stood, and Christy whispered to him the next thing in his scheme. With
+the aid of his willing assistant, the midshipman was mounted on the
+shoulders of the former, where he stood up like an athlete in the gloom,
+though he almost instantly obtained a hold above with his
+<span class = "pagenum">321</span>
+hands. He unfastened the scuttle, and slid it off the aperture with the
+greatest care. Then he drew himself up with his strong hands, and was on
+the roof. Then Flint passed up the shoes, as he reached down for them.
+Seating himself on one side of the frame, he braced his feet against the
+other side, and grasped the hands of the mate. It did not work.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">322</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXXIX">CHAPTER XXIX</a></h4>
+
+<h6>THE NEW MATE OF THE COTTON SCHOONER</h6>
+
+
+<p>Christy had given himself credit for more physical strength, or Flint
+for less weight, than the circumstances warranted, and found that he
+could not draw up his companion as he intended. He made several efforts
+to accomplish his purpose, but he failed every time. The fear of making
+a noise cramped his efforts to some extent.</p>
+
+<p>"Let go, Mr. Passford," whispered Flint, when he realized that his
+avoirdupois was too much for the young officer. "I will get that box,
+and then I can manage it myself."</p>
+
+<p>"All right; but don't make a particle of noise," added Christy.</p>
+
+<p>It required some time for the mate to find the box in the darkness,
+but he had it in position at last, standing upon one end. Mounting it,
+he found that his head was on a level with the roof, and he could easily
+draw himself up; but he did not do so at once.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">323</span>
+"What are you waiting for, Flint?" asked Christy, rather
+impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"If I leave the box where it is, the guard will see where we have
+gone when they inspect the prison at ten o'clock," replied Flint.</p>
+
+<p>"That's so; I did not have the box in my plan, and that would tell
+the guard where to look for us," replied Christy. "We must make a line,
+and haul it up after you."</p>
+
+<p>"Here are two big handkerchiefs," added Flint, as he removed his
+neck-cloth, and passed up his pocket handkerchief with&nbsp;it.</p>
+
+<p>Christy tied the handkerchiefs together with great care, adding two
+more of his own to the length, which he thought would reach the box,
+Flint made it fast to the broken end of a board on the side, and then,
+without the least difficulty or noise, sprang lightly to the roof of the
+warehouse. With the aid of his companion, Christy drew up the box,
+careful that it should not strike against the frame of the scuttle. The
+door was closed, though of course they were unable to hook it on the
+inside, as they had found it; but the guard were not likely to notice
+that it was not fastened before morning.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">324</span>
+"What next, Mr. Passford?" asked the master's mate, after they had
+rested for a few minutes from their labors, though they had not been
+very arduous.</p>
+
+<p>"The next thing is to get down into the street, where we shall be as
+safe as though we were as patriotic, over the left, as my Uncle Homer.
+The burden of the work is done, but I hope we shall be able to kill two
+birds with one stone," replied Christy, though his meaning was
+mysterious to his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"It don't seem to me that we are much better off than we were in the
+loft," suggested the mate.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe we are, though I don't think we had better indulge in any
+long speeches just now. We have a favorable night, and we must make the
+best of it. I don't intend to be seen in this town in the morning, but
+we have the whole night before&nbsp;us."</p>
+
+<p>"There will be a lively time looking for us to-morrow, for I don't
+think they will be willing that you should get off, though it won't make
+much difference to them about&nbsp;me."</p>
+
+<p>"They would not be willing to part with you, my friend."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">325</span>
+"But you made yourself rather noted in helping the Bellevite out last
+May, and they will have a history of the loss of the Teaser in the
+newspapers in due time, if they have not had it already; and they will
+not like it a bit when they find that you have stepped out."</p>
+
+<p>"They are welcome to their own reflections," replied the
+lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"And they will send a searching party out to your uncle's estate at
+Glenfield; but of course we shall not go near there," said Flint.</p>
+
+<p>"That is just where I am going," replied Christy, decidedly, "for
+that is where I expect to kill one of the birds with the stone I fire.
+But we had better be moving, for we have a long tramp
+before&nbsp;us."</p>
+
+<p>The midshipman led the way, and though the roof, which was nearly
+flat, was wet with the falling rain, they walked, still in their
+stockinged feet, to the farther end of the block. Neither of them wore
+his uniform, as they remained as they had dressed for the duty they were
+to do on board of the Teaser. This was a point in their favor in the
+course they were to pursue, for their uniform would have betrayed them
+as soon as they were seen.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">326</span>
+Before they reached the end of the block of warehouses, they had found
+and tried all the scuttles on the roof, but they had not discovered one
+which had been left unfastened. At the last one this became a serious
+question. The scuttle at the end warehouse was securely hooked on the
+inside; but neither of the pair felt discouraged at this circumstance.
+Looking about them they found a piece of joist about ten feet long,
+which might have been left there when the building was finished. Christy
+examined the scuttle with the greatest care, to determine on which side
+the hooks were placed.</p>
+
+<p>While he was doing this, Flint detached a couple of bricks from the
+party-wall, which were used as a fulcrum for the lever, made of the
+joist. The building was not inhabited, and there was little to be feared
+at that height above the street from any noise they might make. Flint
+sat down on the end of the lever, and the scuttle flew up at once, the
+staple drawn out of the wood.</p>
+
+<p>The master's mate was the first to enter; and he "hung off" to the
+floor below. Then he assisted Christy to descend, and to close the
+scuttle after him. Acting upon their belief that all the warehouses
+<span class = "pagenum">327</span>
+were constructed on the same plan, they easily found the door by which
+they reached the staircase. On the lower floor, they opened a window and
+passed out into the alley in the rear of the building. They were on the
+ground, and Christy soon ascertained where he was. He made his way to a
+wharf where he was fortunate enough to find a boat.</p>
+
+<p>This locality seemed to be entirely deserted, and there was no one to
+challenge them, and no one appeared to take any notice of them on the
+way. It was not yet nine o'clock, and many stores were open, one of
+which they entered and bought a cooked ham and a large supply of bread.
+The woman in charge asked no questions, though Christy talked about a
+fishing trip to blind her. The boat they found was a very good one, and
+as it was the property of the enemy, Christy had no scruples in regard
+to confiscating it. He had money enough in his pocket to pay for it, but
+as the owner did not appear to dispute his taking possession of it, he
+dispensed with this ceremony.</p>
+
+<p>Taking the oars which they found in the boat, they pulled away from
+the wharf without interruption from any source. Christy took his
+bearings
+<span class = "pagenum">328</span>
+as well as he could, and they passed out into the fog and darkness, to
+which experience within a few days had accustomed them both. They
+crossed the Alabama River, and then followed the land to the southward.
+Striking across an inlet they reached the land again, and by midnight
+they reached a point of land where Christy felt entirely at home. He
+recognized it by the dilapidated wharf, from which he had embarked in
+the Leopard.</p>
+
+<p>It was still a long pull to Glenfield, and they went ashore to
+partake of a little refreshment. Flint was a smoker, and he had some dry
+matches which enabled them to make a fire, more for its light than its
+heat. The ham was good and so was the bread to hungry men like the
+fugitives. At the end of an hour by the midshipman's watch, they felt
+like new men, and they resumed their places in the boat, and pulled two
+hours longer, which brought them to the inlet at Glenfield. At the rude
+pier where the Bellevite had been moored lay a topsail schooner.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't find any fault, Mr. Passford, but it seems to me that it is
+rather dangerous for you to come here," said Flint, in a low tone, as
+soon as
+<span class = "pagenum">329</span>
+they had made out the schooner at the wharf. "I can't see what you are
+to make by it; and your uncle would hand you over to the rebel officers
+as readily as he would eat his breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no doubt he would do so; but I don't intend to give him the
+chance to do so," replied Christy, resting on his oar. "You see this
+schooner. She is loaded with cotton, and she is going to run the
+blockade about this time. I intend to take passage in her."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you knew about this vessel?" asked Flint curiously.</p>
+
+<p>"I did; and that is the particular reason why I came here. Lonley
+told me that my uncle had offered him the command of the schooner; and
+now that he has lost his position on board of the Teaser, I have no
+doubt he has already applied for the berth that was offered to him. I am
+confident that he has seen my uncle, and it must have been he who told
+him that I was a prisoner."</p>
+
+<p>"I begin to understand you now, Mr. Passford," added Flint.</p>
+
+<p>"If you do, we will say no more about it just now, for there may be
+some one within earshot of us," replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">330</span>
+Nothing more was said, and the boat cautiously approached the schooner.
+No one appeared to be on board of her, and the fugitives found that she
+was loaded with cotton, even carrying a deck-load of this staple of the
+South, the price of which had bounded up to an enormous figure in the
+markets of the world. In the early morning the clouds and the fog were
+swept away, and the sun came out. Christy found a hiding-place on the
+other side of the creek, in a dense mass of bushes, where the boat was
+drawn out of the water.</p>
+
+<p>A spot which commanded a full view of the schooner had been selected,
+the boat was turned upside down so as to afford a shelter, and the weary
+Unionists went to sleep, for they were not likely to be disturbed on
+this side of the creek. It was noon when they woke, and it looked as
+though something was going on at the vessel. About half a dozen negroes
+were to be seen on the deck-load of cotton; and a little later in the
+day, Colonel Passford and Lonley were observed talking together. But
+nothing was done that day, and the night came on. Christy was not
+satisfied with his information, and as soon as it was dark, the boat was
+launched, and the fugitives pulled over to the schooner.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">331</span>
+"Who's in dat boat?" shouted a negro, showing himself at the rail of the
+vessel.</p>
+
+<p>"I am," replied Christy, rather indefinitely.</p>
+
+<p>"Be you de new mate, sar?" demanded the man.</p>
+
+<p>"I am," answered Christy, at a venture.</p>
+
+<p>"We done wait free days for you, an' Massa Lonley be mighty glad to
+see you."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Captain Lonley now?" asked the lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>"Stoppin' wid Massa colonel. He done tole me to call him if de mate
+come. Dis nigger gwine to do dat," added the man.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop a little," added Christy, as he climbed on board of the vessel,
+followed by Flint. "How many men have you on board?"</p>
+
+<p>"Six men wid de cook."</p>
+
+<p>"Are these men sailors?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dey all done work aboard a vessel, but dey ain't much sailors."</p>
+
+<p>"All free niggers?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sar; wish dey was."</p>
+
+<p>"Where are the rest of the men?"</p>
+
+<p>"In de fo'castle, sar. De capin specks de mate come to-night, an' I
+reckon we's gwine down de bay right off den."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">332</span>
+"Go and call the captain then," added Christy, as confidently as though
+he had stood on his own ground.</p>
+
+<p>The negro hastened away as fast as his legs would carry him, and in a
+few minutes Colonel Passford and Captain Lonley came on board. The
+latter seemed to be hung on wires, he was so active; and even before he
+saluted the new mate, he called all hands and directed them to hoist the
+mainsail.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to see you, Fetters," said the captain, extending his hand
+to him. "I expected you yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"My business was such that I could not leave," replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p>It was very dark, and the captain did not recognize him.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<span class = "pagenum">333</span>
+<h4 class = "chapter"><a name = "chapXXX">CHAPTER XXX</a></h4>
+
+<h6>THE PRIZE-MASTER OF THE JUDITH</h6>
+
+
+<p>The weather had been clear all day, with quite a fresh breeze, and
+the same conditions prevailed after dark. Colonel Passford seemed to
+have a great deal to say to Captain Lonley, now that the time for
+sailing had come, and he occupied the attention of the latter so that
+neither of them could observe the new mate, if he were disposed to do
+so. As soon as Christy perceived the <i>r&ocirc;le</i> which
+circumstances had laid out for him, he put his hand into a slush-tub he
+found in the waist, and anointed his face with the filthy stuff. There
+was just color enough in the compound of grease and dirt to change his
+complexion, if it had been light enough to observe his physiognomy.
+Flint did the same thing.</p>
+
+<p>"You will have to take your chances when you come to the entrance of
+the bay," said Colonel Passford, nervously. "This cargo is worth a
+fortune,
+<span class = "pagenum">334</span>
+and we are in sore need of the supplies which its value will purchase
+for&nbsp;us."</p>
+
+<p>"I think I understand the matter perfectly, colonel," replied Lonley,
+who did not seem to take kindly to any advice from a landsman.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not take any unnecessary risks, Captain Lonley, for more than the
+value of the cotton is at stake," continued the planter.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a plan of my own which I am confident will take me through
+the blockade all right," added the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"You must remember that my brother's steamer is on the blockade, and
+that she makes over twenty knots an hour."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall pretend to be a prize of the Bellevite long enough to
+distract the attention of the fleet," added Lonley, impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't understand these things, and I shall leave you to manage the
+affair as you think best; but I beg you will use all proper caution,"
+continued Colonel Passford. "Here are the ship's papers. You will give
+the one on the top to the officer from the fort, and he will cause you
+no delay."</p>
+
+<p>Lonley took the papers, and thrust them into
+<span class = "pagenum">335</span>
+his pocket without any reply. Christy had taken charge of the hoisting
+of the mainsail without waiting for any special orders, and Flint was
+doing his best to assist him. The negroes, though not expert seamen,
+knew the ropes of a schooner, and they did very well with Flint in their
+midst.</p>
+
+<p>"We are going to have a fresh breeze, Fetters," said Captain Lonley,
+as the new mate came near him.</p>
+
+<p>"It looks like it now," added Christy, changing his voice as much as
+he could, and as he had done before when he spoke to the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"If things are not favorable when you get to the forte, I think you
+had better anchor inside of the point," suggested the planter, who could
+not be blamed for being deeply interested in the fate of his cotton, and
+the fortune which was locked up in&nbsp;it.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, I shall have to do that if necessary; but I don't like to
+do that, for every blockader will watch her all the time if I do,"
+replied Captain Lonley, still maintaining his respectful demeanor,
+though it seemed to be hard work.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the mainsail was set, and was banging in the lively
+breeze. The negro sailors seemed
+<span class = "pagenum">336</span>
+to have become weary with wasting the day in the sailing of the
+schooner, and they worked with a good deal of enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>"Now set the foresail, Fetters. I don't think we can carry the
+topsails," said the captain. "Isn't that a white man with the hands?"
+asked he, as the men went to the foremast.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a man I brought along with me," replied Christy. "He is an
+able seaman, and he is very anxious to get to some port outside where he
+can obtain a berth as mate."</p>
+
+<p>"All right; I thought the work was going on exceedingly well, and his
+presence explains it," added the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"He owns the boat in which we came over here, and I think we had
+better hoist it on deck," said the mate.</p>
+
+<p>"All right; do so, Fetters. I suppose you have nothing on your
+hands?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing very particular," replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"I am instructed to buy a fast steamer if I can find one, even if I
+have to go to England to obtain her. What do you say to taking the berth
+of first officer in her, Fetters, for I know that you are a sailor, and
+that you have pluck enough to fire a gun?"</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">337</span>
+"Such a position would suit me first rate," replied Christy, with proper
+enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>Still Lonley did not recognize his voice, and he took especial pains
+that he should not. But this state of things could not long continue. If
+the Unionist went into the cabin where there was a light, he could not
+help betraying himself. It was necessary to provide against this or any
+similar emergency very soon. He had already arranged his plan, and it
+was his purpose to carry it into execution as soon as the vessel was
+fully clear of the creek.</p>
+
+<p>The boat was hoisted on the deck; the fore and main sail were set,
+and everything was in readiness for a departure. Colonel Passford, after
+repeating some of his admonition to the captain, shook hands with him,
+and stepped down upon the wharf. Lonley gave the order to stand by the
+jib, and cast off the fasts. The two principal sails filled on the
+starboard tack, the jib went up in the twinkling of an eye under the
+direction of Flint, and the schooner began to gather headway. The
+captain was at the helm, for he would trust no other there, and Christy
+went forward.</p>
+
+<p>"Set the fore topmast staysail," said the mate;
+<span class = "pagenum">338</span>
+but he was willing the crew should execute the order in their own way,
+for he called the master's mate to him. "The biggest job is yet to be
+done," he added, in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p>"What is that?" asked Flint.</p>
+
+<p>"To get possession of the vessel," replied Christy, impressively.</p>
+
+<p>"That will be an easy matter, with nothing but niggers on board,"
+added Flint.</p>
+
+<p>They talked together for a few minutes, and the plan was arranged.
+Flint saw that the fore topmast staysail was properly set and trimmed.
+The two Unionists on board did not even know the name of the schooner,
+but she gathered headway as she approached the mouth of the creek, and
+went along at a very satisfactory rate. The mate of the vessel and his
+fellow fugitive then went aft to be ready for the decisive action in
+which they were to engage. But they had hardly reached the quarter-deck
+before the schooner was hailed by a boat.</p>
+
+<p>"Schooner, ahoy! On board the Judith!" shouted a man.</p>
+
+<p>"In the boat!" replied the captain. "Who's there?"</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">339</span>
+"Fetters!" responded the boatman.</p>
+
+<p>"Fetters!" exclaimed Captain Lonley, apparently bewildered by the
+reply. "It seems to me that Fetterses are plenty to-night."</p>
+
+<p>But this was all he was permitted to say, for the stroke of a
+handspike, in the hands of Flint, fell upon his head at this instant,
+and he dropped upon the quarter-deck like a log. At the same moment,
+Christy sprang to the wheel, and the schooner was not allowed to broach
+to. She dashed on her course, increasing her speed every moment, without
+heeding the boat that had hailed her. In the darkness, the genuine
+Fetters, as doubtless he was in the boat, could not have seen in what
+manner Captain Lonley had been disposed of, and all the crew were
+forward, so that they were no wiser.</p>
+
+<p>"Judith, ahoy!" repeated the genuine and only true Fetters, at the
+top of his lungs, as the schooner hurried off on her course. "I am
+Fetters, the mate!"</p>
+
+<p>"All right!" replied Christy. "I will see you in the morning. Come on
+board at six o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Fetters said no more, and probably he concluded that the Judith
+had gone to get firewood
+<span class = "pagenum">340</span>
+for the galley, to fill her water-casks, or for some similar purpose.
+The fictitious Mr. Fetters kept his place at the wheel. The binnacle had
+been lighted by the cook, and he knew the exact course for the entrance
+to the bay. He felt that he was in possession of the Judith and her
+valuable cargo; and he had become so hardened in his patriotic duty that
+he felt no compunction of conscience because the vessel and cotton had
+been wrested from his uncle.</p>
+
+<p>As Colonel Passford had not scrupled to attempt to capture the
+magnificent steamer of his own brother, it would be a poor rule that
+would not work both ways. Besides, the proceeds of the sale of the cargo
+were to be expended in the purchase of supplies, and a steamer to carry
+them, for the use of the Confederacy. His uncle, from his elevated
+standpoint of duty, would have an opportunity to consider the
+application of his stringent views on the other side of the
+question.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope he is not dead," said Christy, as Flint bent over the
+prostrate form of the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; but I am going to take him below, and lock him up in
+his stateroom, where the crew will not see him," replied Flint.</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">341</span>
+"That is right; and I would help you if I could leave the wheel long
+enough," replied Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"I can handle him alone; but see that none of the sailors come aft
+while I am about it," added the master's mate, as he dragged the form to
+the companion-way.</p>
+
+<p>In such a work as he had on his hands, he had the strength of two
+men. Without any great difficulty, he dragged the body to the cabin, and
+then into one of the two staterooms he found, which was lighted. It was
+a more difficult task, for Lonley was a heavy man, but he placed the
+form in the berth. His first duty was to examine very carefully the
+pockets of the captain. He secured the file of papers first, and then
+drew a large naval revolver from each of his hip pockets. Then he took
+his papers from his pocket-book, but left his money, watch, and other
+valuables where he found them.</p>
+
+<p>After a careful examination of the insensible form, he was satisfied
+that he was not dead, though he might yet die from the blow he had
+received. He locked the door of the room, and went on deck. He gave one
+of the revolvers to Christy, and
+<span class = "pagenum">342</span>
+retained the other, handing over to him also all the papers he had
+taken.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the biggest venture we have undertaken yet," said Flint, as
+he seated himself by Christy.</p>
+
+<p>"But everything has gone well so far," replied the lieutenant. "If
+you are not promoted for this and the Teaser affair, Flint, it shall not
+be for the want of any recommendation on my part."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Mr. Passford; you are very kind. I hope your services
+will be recognized in the same manner," returned the master's mate.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care so much for myself, and I should not cry if I were
+never to become anything more than a midshipman."</p>
+
+<p>"All I have done has been to obey your orders, and follow your lead;
+and if anybody is promoted for the two affairs in which we have been
+engaged, you are surely the one who is entitled to&nbsp;it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we will do our duty, whether we are promoted or not," added
+Christy.</p>
+
+<p>It was not more than nine o'clock in the evening when the Judith came
+out of the creek, and in about four hours she was approaching Fort
+Morgan. She was still within the enemy's lines,
+<span class = "pagenum">343</span>
+and her acting captain was disposed to do everything in a regular
+manner, especially as he had the means of doing so. He had not the same
+risk to run in getting through the blockading fleet that Captain Lonley
+would have had, and he promptly decided to take his chances without
+waiting for a dark and foggy night. A boat came off from the inner side
+of the fort, and Christy ordered Flint to bring her&nbsp;to.</p>
+
+<p>The permit to pass the forts was in due form, and signed by the
+proper officials. The officer in the boat examined it carefully by the
+light of a lantern, and declared that he was satisfied with it. Then he
+asked some questions, which the acting commander of the Judith answered.
+The toughest inquiry he made was as to how he expected to get through
+the blockaders in a clear night like that. Christy assured him that he
+had a plan which he was confident would carry him through without
+difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>The schooner filled away again, and passed through the main channel;
+and in another hour she was in the midst of the Union fleet. There was a
+rattling of drums, a hissing of steam, and energetic commands heard as
+soon as the Judith
+<span class = "pagenum">344</span>
+was made out in the darkness, and doubtless a vision of prize-money
+flitted through the brains of officers and seamen. But Christy soon
+impaired the vividness of these fancies by ordering the foresail of the
+schooner to be taken in, and then the fore topmast staysail. The
+expectant ships' companies were not willing to believe that the vessel
+had come out for the purpose of surrendering.</p>
+
+<p>"Schooner, ahoy!" shouted the officer of a boat sent off by the
+nearest blockader. "What vessel is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Judith, prize to the United States steamer Bellevite," replied
+Christy, "Kindly inform me where the Bellevite lies."</p>
+
+<p>In another half-hour, Christy had dropped his anchor a cable's length
+from the Bellevite. Instructing Flint to ascertain the condition of
+Lonley, the lieutenant went on board of her to make his report, using
+the boat they had captured at Mobile, pulled by two of the negroes.</p>
+
+<p>"I have come on board, Captain Breaker," said Christy, as he met the
+commander, who had come on deck at the alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"I see you have," replied the captain, grasping him by the hand. "I
+have been terribly worried about you, Christy."</p>
+
+<p><span class = "pagenum">345</span>
+"I am all right, sir; and so is Mr. Flint, who was with me. We have
+brought off a schooner of two hundred tons, loaded with cotton,"
+continued Christy, as modestly as the circumstances would permit.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very anxious to hear your report, Mr. Passford," said the
+commander.</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, sir, but the captain of that schooner is badly wounded,
+and needs Dr. Linscott as soon as possible."</p>
+
+<p>The surgeon was sent on board of the Judith. As Paul Vapoor caught a
+sight of the returned third lieutenant, he hugged him as though he had
+been separated from him for years instead of a few days. His welcome was
+quite as cordial, though not as demonstrative, from the rest of the
+officers. Then he went to the cabin with the captain, where he reported
+all that had transpired since he had been separated from his companions
+on board of the Teaser. He was warmly commended for his bravery and
+skill, and Captain Breaker assured him that he should be remembered in
+the reports to the department.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Lonley was conveyed on board of the Bellevite, where he was
+committed to the sick bay.
+<span class = "pagenum">346</span>
+He had recovered his senses, but it was likely, the surgeon said, that
+it would be a month before his health was restored. The Teaser had not
+yet been sent away; but the next day the third lieutenant was appointed
+prize-master of the steamer, and Flint of the schooner, for he had been
+the master of a coaster, and was competent for the position.</p>
+
+<p>A considerable crew was put on board of the Teaser, and both vessels
+were sent to New York instead of Key West. The steamer was expected to
+tow the Judith when necessary, and defend her if she was attacked. But
+both arrived at their destination without any mishap, and both were
+condemned; the Teaser was purchased by the government, for she was
+likely to be a very useful vessel on account of her speed and light
+draught.</p>
+
+<p>Christy had a brief leave of absence after he had served as a witness
+against the captured vessels. He had seen his father, mother, and sister
+on his arrival, and they were as proud of him as though he had been made
+a rear-admiral. Captain Breaker had written to his father of his
+disappearance on Santa Rosa Island, and had no doubt he had been made a
+prisoner within the enemy's lines. Christy brought the news of his
+escape
+<span class = "pagenum">347</span>
+himself, which made him even doubly welcome at Bonnydale. Certainly the
+young lieutenant had never been so happy before in his life.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Passford was a man of great influence, though he held no
+position in authority. At the first opportunity he obtained to talk with
+him, Christy made a strong plea in favor of the promotion of Flint. The
+late owner of the Bellevite knew him well. The master's mate had been a
+schoolmaster, and was very well educated; but he had a taste for the
+sea. He had made several foreign voyages, and had bought a schooner
+then, of which he went as master. But he had sold his vessel to great
+advantage, and, having nothing to do, he shipped as third officer of the
+Bellevite.</p>
+
+<p>Sampson, who had come home as chief engineer of the Teaser, was also
+remembered by Christy, who interceded for his promotion, or rather
+appointment. The government promptly obtained possession from the court
+of the prize-steamer, and the repairs and alterations upon her were
+begun at once. She had proved herself to be a fast sailer, and had
+logged sixteen knots, so that much was expected of her.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Passford, after his son had pleaded so
+<span class = "pagenum">348</span>
+earnestly for the promotion of the master's mate and the fireman, asked
+Christy what he expected in the way of promotion for himself. The young
+officer did not ask for any promotion, he was abundantly satisfied with
+his present rank, and he rather preferred to retain it. His father
+laughed, and declared that he was very glad of it, for he had some
+delicacy in asking favors for a member of his own family.</p>
+
+<p>Corny still remained at the house of his uncle; and he was as
+thoroughbred a rebel as his father, though he said next to nothing about
+his "cause." At a later period both he and Major Pierson were duly
+exchanged; but the gallant officer had come to the conclusion that Miss
+Florry Passford was very far from being infatuated with him.</p>
+
+<p>As the Bronx, which was the name given to the Teaser at the
+suggestion of Captain Passford, was to be ready about as soon as the
+legal proceedings would permit of the departure of the officers and
+seamen of the Bellevite, they were ordered to return to their ship in
+her. Flint's commission as a master, and Sampson's as an assistant
+engineer, were received. Christy's companion in the night expeditions
+had not expected to be anything more
+<span class = "pagenum">349</span>
+than a midshipman, and he was immeasurably delighted at his good
+fortune. Then it appeared that other influences than that of Captain
+Passford had been employed, for Christy, almost in spite of himself, was
+promoted to the rank of master, his commission antedating that of
+Flint.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Blowitt was appointed to the command of the Bronx, with Master
+Passford as first lieutenant, and Master Flint as second; and Christy
+was to take her to the Gulf. She was to be used at the discretion of the
+flag officer after she had delivered her passengers on board of the
+Bellevite, and received her new commander.</p>
+
+<p>The Bronx was soon ready for sea with her new ship's company, and
+sailed for her destination, where Christy was to make some further
+inquiries into operations <span class = "smallcaps">On the
+Blockade</span>.</p>
+
+
+<hr class = "chapter">
+
+<h5 class = "ital">OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS.</h5>
+
+<h2>THE BLUE AND THE GRAY</h2>
+
+<h4>SERIES</h4>
+
+<h6>Illustrated. With Emblematic Dies. Each volume bound in Blue and
+Gray. Per volume, $1.50.</h6>
+
+<p class = "booktitle">
+TAKEN BY THE ENEMY.</p>
+
+<p class = "booktitle">
+WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES.</p>
+
+<hr class = "mid">
+
+<p class = "advert">
+The opening of a new series of books from the pen of Oliver Optic is
+bound to arouse the highest anticipation in the minds of boy and girl
+readers. There never has been a more interesting writer in the field of
+juvenile literature than Mr. W.&nbsp;T. Adams, who, under his well-known
+pseudonym, is known and admired by every boy and girl in the country,
+and by thousands who have long since passed the boundaries of youth, yet
+who remember with pleasure the genial, interesting pen that did so much
+to interest, instruct and entertain their younger years. The present
+volume opens "The Blue and the Gray Series," a title that is
+sufficiently indicative of the nature and spirit of the series, of which
+the first volume is now presented, while the name of Oliver Optic is
+sufficient warrant of the absorbing style of narrative. "Taken by the
+Enemy," the first book of the series, is as bright and entertaining as
+any work that Mr. Adams has yet put forth, and will be as eagerly
+perused as any that has borne his name. It would not be fair to the
+prospective reader to deprive him of the zest which comes from the
+unexpected, by entering into a synopsis of the story. A word, however,
+should be said in regard to the beauty and appropriateness of the
+binding, which makes it a most attractive volume.&mdash;<i>Boston
+Budget.</i></p>
+
+<p class = "advert">
+"Taken by the Enemy" has just come from the press, an announcement that
+cannot but appeal to every healthy boy from ten to fifteen years of age
+in the country. "No writer of the present day." says the Boston
+<i>Commonwealth</i>, "whose aim has been to hit the boyish heart, has
+been as successful as Oliver Optic. There is a period in the life of
+every youth, just about the time that he is collecting postage-stamps,
+and before his legs are long enough for a bicycle, when he has the
+Oliver Optic fever. He catches it by reading a few stray pages
+somewhere, and then there is nothing for it but to let the matter take
+its course. Relief comes only when the last page of the last book is
+read; and then there are relapses whenever a new book appears until one
+is safely on through the teens. The boys will be delighted to know,
+therefore, that 'Taken by the Enemy' is but the first of six books to
+come out in rapid succession, all based on the thrilling incidents of
+the late war."&mdash;<i>Literary News.</i></p>
+
+
+<hr class = "section">
+
+<h5 class = "ital">OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS.</h5>
+
+<h3>THE BOAT-BUILDER SERIES</h3>
+
+<h6>Completed in Six Volumes. Illustrated.<br>
+Per Vol., $1.25.</h6>
+
+<hr class = "mid">
+
+<p class = "booktitle">
+1. ALL ADRIFT;</p>
+<p class = "booksub">
+Or, The Goldwing Club.</p>
+<p class = "booktitle">
+2. SNUG HARBOR;</p>
+<p class = "booksub">
+Or, The Champlain Mechanics.</p>
+<p class = "booktitle">
+3. SQUARE AND COMPASS;</p>
+<p class = "booksub">
+Or, Building the House.</p>
+<p class = "booktitle">
+4. STEM TO STERN;</p>
+<p class = "booksub">
+Or, Building the Boat.</p>
+<p class = "booktitle">
+5. ALL TAUT;</p>
+<p class = "booksub">
+Or, Rigging the Boat.</p>
+<p class = "booktitle">
+6. READY ABOUT;</p>
+<p class = "booksub">
+Or, Sailing the Boat.</p>
+
+<hr class = "mid">
+
+<p class = "advert">
+The series includes in six successive volumes the whole art of
+boat-building, boat-rigging, boat-managing, and practical hints to make
+the ownership of a boat pay. A great deal of useful information will be
+given in this Boat-Building series, and in each book a very interesting
+story is sure to be interwoven with the information. Every reader will
+be interested at once in "Dory," the hero of "All Adrift," and one of
+the characters to be retained in the future volumes of the series, at
+least there are already several of his recently made friends who do not
+want to lose sight of him, and this will be the case of pretty much
+every boy who makes his acquaintance in "All Adrift."</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Within The Enemy's Lines, by Oliver Optic
+
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+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Within The Enemy's Lines, by Oliver Optic
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Within The Enemy's Lines
+       SERIES: The Blue and the Gray--Afloat
+
+Author: Oliver Optic
+
+Release Date: June 15, 2006 [EBook #18264]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Louise Hope, David Garcia, Juliet Sutherland
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Kentuckiana Digital Libra
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The Blue and the Gray Series
+
+  TAKEN BY THE ENEMY
+  WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES
+  ON THE BLOCKADE  In Press
+
+Lee and Shepard  Publishers  Boston
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration:
+  "He saw Two Men making their way through the Grove."--Page 28.]
+
+
+
+
+                      The
+
+               BLUE AND THE GRAY
+
+                     Series
+
+                 [Illustration]
+
+                By Oliver Optic
+
+            WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES
+
+
+
+
+         _The Blue and the Gray Series_
+
+            WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES
+
+                       by
+                  OLIVER OPTIC
+
+                   Author of
+"The Army and Navy Series," "Young America Abroad,"
+"The Great Western Series," "The Woodville Stories,"
+"The Starry Flag Series," "The Boat Club Stories,"
+"The Onward and Upward Series," "The Yacht-Club Series,"
+"The Lake Shore Series," "The Riverdale Series,"
+"The Boat-Builder Series," "Taken by the Enemy," etc.
+
+
+
+
+                  BOSTON 1890
+           Lee and Shepard Publishers
+10 Milk Street Next "The Old South Meeting House"
+
+         NEW YORK  Chas. T. Dillingham
+              718 and 720 Broadway
+
+
+
+
+                Copyright, 1889,
+               by Lee and Shepard
+             _All rights reserved._
+
+           WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES.
+
+
+
+
+                A MON JEUNE AMI,
+(que je n'ai jamais vu, et que je ne connais pas,)
+
+             Monsieur Lucien Bing,
+               de Paris, France,
+
+    En Reconnaissance de la Bonte de son Pere,
+Cette Historiette de la Guerre Civile en Amerique
+           Est affectueusement Dedie.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+"WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES" is the second volume of "The Blue and the
+Gray Series." Like its predecessor, of course, its scenes are connected
+with the war of the Rebellion; and perhaps the writer ought to be
+thankful that he is not required in such a work to rise to the dignity
+of history, but he believes that all his events were possible, and that
+every one of them has had its parallel in the actual occurrences of the
+historic period of which he writes. In fact, some of the experiences of
+the actors in the terrible drama of a quarter of a century ago would
+pass more readily for fiction than for reality, and detailed on the
+pages of a story would be deemed impossible by the conservative reader.
+
+The nation has passed out of its ordeal of fire, and an excellent spirit
+on the part of both parties to the great strife is still growing and
+strengthening, in spite of an occasional exhibition of folly on both
+sides on the part of those who have not outlived the bitterness of the
+past, and who probably will not outlive it. The time will certainly come
+when the memories of the conflict, the repetition of the stories of the
+war, and even the partisan praise bestowed upon the heroes of both
+sides, will excite no more ill feeling than does an allusion to the
+War of the Roses in England.
+
+In this country the advocate of either side will tell his story, relate
+his history, and jingle his verse in his own way, and from his own
+standpoint. Those upon the other side will be magnanimous enough to
+tolerate him, at least in silence. Histories, romances, poems, and plays
+relating to the war, are produced in greater numbers as the gap between
+the days of battle and the days of peace widens; but the old fires are
+not rekindled, the old bitterness still slumbers, and the Great United
+Nation still lives on in perfect peace.
+
+The author hopes he has done nothing on these pages to impair the
+growing harmony between the two sections which have happily become
+one, or to impregnate the minds of those who have been born since the
+strife ended with any of its bitterness. He has endeavored to make
+as high-toned men on the one side as the other, with the same moral
+sentiment in the one party as the other, and to exhibit their only
+difference in the one great question of Union or Disunion.
+
+  Dorchester, May 2, 1889.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+                                              Page
+CHAPTER I.
+An Unexpected Visitor                           15
+
+CHAPTER II.
+A Difference of Opinion                         27
+
+CHAPTER III.
+The dignified Naval Officer                     37
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+Corny Passford plays Another Part               48
+
+CHAPTER V.
+Captain Carboneer and his Party                 59
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+The Cabin of the Florence                       70
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+Midshipman Christy Passford                     81
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+Arranging the Signals                           92
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+The Approach of the Vampire                    103
+
+CHAPTER X.
+A Shot from the Long Gun                       114
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+The Battle alongside the Bellevite             125
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+The Prisoner of War                            136
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+After the Battle                               146
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+The Beginning of a Chase                       157
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+A Chase off the Bermudas                       168
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+The Confederate Steamer Yazoo                  179
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+A Satisfactory Order                           190
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+Lieutenant Passford in Command                 201
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+Some Trouble on Board the Teaser               212
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+Coming to the Point                            223
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+On a Dark and Foggy Night                      234
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+A Variety of Night Signals                     245
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+Another Night Expedition                       256
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+Lieutenant Passford on a Mission               206
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+Christy becomes a Victim                       278
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+The Action on the Deck of the Teaser           289
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+A Visit from Colonel Homer Passford            300
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+An Enterprise for a Dark Night                 311
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+The New Mate of the Cotton Schooner            322
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+The Prize-Master of the Judith                 333
+
+
+
+
+WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR
+
+
+"Cornelius!" exclaimed Captain Passford, as a young man of nineteen was
+shown into the library of the magnificent dwelling of the millionnaire
+at Bonnydale, on the Hudson.
+
+"Cornelius Passford, Uncle Horatio," replied the young man, as the
+captain rushed to him and extended his hand.
+
+"I think there can be no mistake about it; and I should have been no
+more surprised if Mr. Jefferson Davis had been ushered into my library
+at this moment," continued Captain Passford, still retaining the hand of
+his nephew. "I understood that you were a soldier in the Confederate
+army."
+
+"I was a soldier; but I am not one just now," replied the visitor, with
+some embarrassment in his manner, though the circumstances were strange
+enough to account for it.
+
+"How are your father and mother and Miss Gerty, Corny?" asked the uncle
+of the visitor, giving the young man the name by which he was generally
+called both at home and in the family of his uncle.
+
+"They were all very well when I left them," replied Corny, looking on
+the floor, as though he was not altogether satisfied with himself.
+
+"Of course, you brought letters from your father and Gerty?"
+
+"No, sir; I brought no letters," replied Corny, and, more than before,
+he looked as though he was not enjoying his present visit.
+
+"No letters!" exclaimed Captain Passford, evidently surprised beyond
+measure at the apparent want of kindly feeling on the part of members
+of his brother's family in the South.
+
+"Not a letter, Uncle Horatio," answered Corny, bracing himself up, as
+though he realized that he was not presenting a demeanor such as he
+thought the occasion required of him.
+
+"This is very strange," added Captain Passford, with a cloud playing on
+his fine features.
+
+"It is war between the North and the South, Uncle Horatio, and I suppose
+my father did not feel like writing any letters. Gerty never writes any
+letters if she can help it," Corny explained.
+
+"But Gerty used to write to Florry about once a week."
+
+"Did she? I didn't know it. She never would write to me when I was
+away from home," said Corny, who seemed to be very anxious not to say
+anything that was not consistent with the present situation, whatever
+it was.
+
+"When I parted with my brother on board of the Bellevite, both of us
+shed tears as we realized that war made enemies of us; but each of us
+promised to do all he could for the other in case of need. I am very
+sure that there was not the slightest unkind feeling between us. Of
+course, I did not expect him to write me the war news, but I think he
+could have written a few lines without any allusion to the war," said
+Captain Passford, pained at this want of filial affection on the part
+of his brother.
+
+At that moment the bell for tea rang, and the captain invited his nephew
+to the table with him. The host was saddened by the absence of news from
+his brother, of any kindly expression from one who was of the same blood
+as himself. He was not quite satisfied with Corny's manner, or with the
+little he seemed to be willing to say about the rest of the family. It
+was certainly very strange that the young man should be there at all,
+and his awkwardness and confusion made the visit seem still more
+singular.
+
+It was possible that the young man had just arrived and was fatigued
+by the trials and perils of his trip, for he must have come by some
+roundabout way; and very likely he felt nervous and uneasy in the midst
+of people who were loyal to the government and the Union. Captain
+Passford decided to say nothing more to his nephew at present as to
+the occasion and the manner of his visit to Bonnydale, and during the
+evening meal he avoided all allusion to the war, so far as it was
+possible to do so. Mrs. Passford and Florry received him very kindly,
+but following the example of the head of the family, they spoke only of
+domestic affairs, and of the relations of the two families as they had
+been before the war.
+
+Between the brothers Homer and Horatio Passford, even from their early
+boyhood, a remarkably strong fraternal affection had subsisted. Both of
+them were high-toned men, and both of them had always been faithful in
+the discharge of every duty to God and man. Each of them had a wife, a
+son and a daughter, and two happier families could not have been found
+on the face of the earth. They were not only devoted to each other, each
+within its own circle, but the two families were as nearly one as it was
+possible to be.
+
+Captain Horatio had formerly been a shipmaster, and had accumulated
+an immense fortune. Homer was less fortunate in this respect, and his
+tastes were somewhat different from those of his brother. He wanted to
+be a planter, and with the financial assistance of his brother, he went
+into the business of raising cotton near Mobile, in Alabama. But years
+before the war, he had paid off every dollar of his indebtedness to
+Horatio, and had made a comfortable fortune besides. The two families
+had visited each other as much an possible, and the captain, with his
+little family, had been almost to the plantation in the Bellevite, the
+magnificent steam-yacht of the Northerner.
+
+During the preceding winter, Captain Passford, his wife and son, had
+visited most of the islands of the Atlantic; but the health of Miss
+Florry was considerably impaired, and the doctors would not permit her
+to make this sea-voyage, but recommended her to keep quiet in some
+southern locality. She had therefore passed the winter at Glenfield,
+which was the name of Homer Passford's plantation. On his return from
+this long cruise, the owner of the Bellevite obtained his first news
+that war existed between the North and the South from the pilot. The
+three members of the family on board of the steamer were greatly
+distressed over the fact that Florry was still at the home of her
+uncle in Alabama, within the enemy's lines.
+
+Without going on shore, Captain Passford decided to arm his yacht, which
+was large enough for a man-of-war, and hasten to Mobile Bay to bring
+back his daughter. He was in doubt with regard to the political feeling
+of Homer, but believed that he would still adhere to the government and
+the Union. It was a part of his mission to bring his brother and his
+family to his own home at Bonnydale. Mrs. Passford was sent on shore in
+a tug, and Christy, the son, was to go with her; but the young man, just
+entering his seventeenth year, protested against being left at home, and
+as the captain believed that a patriotic citizen ought to be willing to
+give his all, even his sons, to his country, the young man went with his
+father. The mother was as devoted to her country as the father, and
+terrible as was the ordeal, she consented to part with him for such a
+duty.
+
+By an event fortunate for him, Captain Passford succeeded in obtaining
+an armament for his vessel, as well as an abundant supply of ammunition;
+and the vessel was refitted for the perilous service in which she was
+to be engaged. At Nassau, Christy made the acquaintance of a young man
+who proved to be of great service to the expedition, and the Bellevite
+reached her destination in safety, though not without some rather
+exciting incidents.
+
+Captain Passford found that his brother was sincerely and devotedly
+attached to the Southern cause. They discussed the great question for
+hours upon hours, each striving to convert the other to his own views,
+but with no success on the part of either. Homer Passford was a
+religious man, conscientious in the discharge of every duty, and nothing
+less could be said of his Northern brother. In a short time the owner of
+the Bellevite found that he had fallen into a "hornet's nest," for the
+planter did not believe that he ought to allow the steam-yacht to be
+taken to New York to become a part of the navy of the Union. He declared
+his convictions to his brother, who was compelled to regard the planter
+as an enemy in spite of the relations subsisting between them. Both of
+them placed their duty to their own country above every other
+consideration.
+
+Captain Passford was obliged to get his daughter out of his brother's
+house by stealth, and to make his escape with the Bellevite as best he
+could.
+
+Major Lindley Pierson, in command of Fort Gaines, at the entrance to
+Mobile Bay, had permitted the steamer to pass, having been deceived by
+his younger brother. He had been a frequent visitor at the mansion of
+Homer Passford, attracted there, it appeared, by the lovely daughter of
+the planter's brother, remaining there for the winter. Perhaps on her
+account, perhaps with the fear that the Bellevite was not what she had
+appeared to be, he had gone to the vicinity of Glenfield to inquire into
+the mission of the steamer.
+
+Homer Passford, acting upon his convictions, gave information which
+resulted in an attempt to capture the Bellevite. Christy, not informed
+in regard to the plans of his father to depart at once in the steamer,
+was "Taken by the Enemy," and had some very stirring adventures in the
+bay. But the steamer escaped from the numerous enemies that awaited her,
+and Christy got on board of her at the last minute. The Bellevite ran
+the gantlet of the forts in a dense fog, and brought Miss Florry in
+safety to her home at Bonnydale.
+
+Corny Passford, whose unexpected arrival at Bonnydale had excited the
+astonishment of his uncle, was a year older than Christy, and had
+enlisted in the Confederate service at the insistence of Major Pierson.
+Without knowing anything in particular about the matter, his uncle
+believed, at his visit to Glenfield, that Corny was as earnestly devoted
+to the Southern cause as his father, judging entirely from the fact that
+he had enlisted as a soldier.
+
+Corny had a good appetite, and a good supper was set before him. He ate
+like a hungry boy, and the fact that he was within the enemy's lines did
+not seem to have any influence upon him. His aunt helped him till he
+seemed to be filled to repletion, for she thought he must have been
+accustomed of late only to the most indifferent fare. After supper, he
+followed his uncle back to the library; but he seemed less embarrassed
+than before.
+
+"Where is Christy, Uncle Horatio?" asked Corny, as he seated himself in
+the library. "I have not seen him yet; and as I was away at the fort
+when you went to Glenfield, I did not see him then."
+
+"I don't know where he is just now, though he is in or about the house
+most of the time," replied the captain. "Are you still in the army,
+Corny?"
+
+"No, sir, I am here. I did not like the service very well, and I thought
+I should like the navy better. The reason why I did not like it as well
+as at first was because I was no longer in Major Pierson's battalion,"
+replied Corny, looking at his uncle as though he expected a question
+from him.
+
+"Then Major Pierson is no longer in the army?" added the captain.
+
+"Oh, yes, he is; but I think he was the maddest man in the army soon
+after you left."
+
+"Indeed! Why was he so mad?"
+
+"Because he was removed from command of Fort Gaines for letting you pass
+it in your steamer."
+
+"Then he is still in the service?" asked Captain Passford.
+
+"Yes, sir; he is a good officer, and he will make his way, if he was
+guilty of a blunder in letting the Bellevite pass the fort."
+
+"Then you intend to be a sailor, Corny?"
+
+"Yes, sir; in fact, I am a sailor now. I had been in your yacht so
+much that I knew something about the ropes, and I had no difficulty in
+getting transferred, as sailors were wanted more than soldiers," replied
+Corny, who seemed to be studying the figures in the carpet.
+
+"But if you went into the navy, how do you happen to be in New York?"
+asked Captain Passford.
+
+"I suppose you remember the Dauphine, which was fitting out when you
+were in Mobile Bay?" continued Corny.
+
+"I heard the name, and was told that she was one of the vessels that
+tried to prevent the escape of the Bellevite."
+
+"I was sent on board of her; but, in coming out of the bay, she was
+captured by a Federal vessel, and sent to New York. I hid myself when
+the crew were taken off, and came in her here," replied Corny, still
+studying the carpet.
+
+Captain Passford had not heard of the capture of the Dauphine. He was
+not quite satisfied with the story of his nephew. But he was obliged to
+go to the city, and he handed the guest over to his wife and daughter.
+Corny wanted to see Christy, and Mrs. Passford had begun to be uneasy
+that he did not return at dark. Corny went out to find him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION
+
+
+The Bellevite lay in the river, off the estate of Captain Passford,
+though at a little distance below the mansion, from the windows of which
+she could not be seen. Corny walked down the avenue and over the hill,
+in the direction of the anchorage of the steamer. The boat-house was
+near the mansion, and to the float attached to it a variety of small
+craft were made fast. But the water was not deep enough there for the
+Bellevite. Corny had been to Bonnydale, and passed many weeks there,
+so that he was familiar with the localities.
+
+As he passed the boat-house, he noticed that the Florence, which was
+Christy's favorite sailing craft, was not at her moorings, and he
+concluded that his cousin was away in her on some excursion. When he
+reached the boundary line of the estate, he discovered the sailboat with
+her bow on the beach, though her mainsail was still set. A gentle breeze
+was blowing, with which the Florence could make good headway; but there
+seemed to be no one on board of her. Corny watched her for some time,
+waiting for the appearance of Christy. It was not an easy matter to
+climb the high fence which bounded the estate, and the planter's son
+could hail the boat, and be taken on board of her as soon as she got
+under way again.
+
+But Christy did not appear, and it was getting darker and darker every
+minute. Something must have attracted the attention of the skipper on
+shore, and he had doubtless landed. But while Corny was waiting for his
+cousin, he saw two men making their way through the grove on the other
+side of the fence towards the river. One of them he recognized, and gave
+a peculiar whistle, which drew the two men in the direction from which
+it came.
+
+"Is that you, major?" asked Corny, in a low tone.
+
+"Hush! You are a simpleton, Corny!" exclaimed one of the men, as he came
+up to the palisades of the fence. "Didn't I tell you not to call me by
+name?"
+
+"I didn't call you by name," replied Corny, smartly.
+
+"You called me major, and that is about the same thing," added the
+speaker on the other side of the fence.
+
+"The woods are full of majors now, both in the North and the South, and
+no one knows you especially by that name. But I will remember in future,
+Mr. Mulgate," replied Corny.
+
+"That sounds better, Neal. If we lose the game it will be by your
+blundering," continued the major, or Mulgate, as he preferred to be
+called on the present occasion.
+
+"I suppose you have no talent for blundering, Mulgate; and that is the
+reason why you happen to be here at the present moment," retorted Corny,
+not at all pleased with the speech of the other.
+
+"None of your impudence, Neal!" said Mulgate, sharply.
+
+"If you lose the game, you say that it will be by my blundering,
+Mulgate," continued Corny. "That makes it seem as though I was to bear
+the responsibility of a failure; and I don't like the looks of things.
+If I am to be responsible for a failure, I ought to have something to
+say about the manner of conducting the enterprise."
+
+"Shut up, Neal! We have no time to talk nonsense of that sort. I am to
+conduct the enterprise, and you are to obey my orders. That is the whole
+of it," replied Mulgate, impatient at the position taken by the young
+man. "You are still under my command, and you will obey me or take the
+consequences. Now to business: what have you learned?"
+
+"Nothing at all," answered Corny, rather sullenly.
+
+"What have you been about? Haven't you discovered anything?"
+
+"Nothing at all; I have but just arrived here. I took supper with my
+uncle, and told him the fish story you invented for me."
+
+"Did he believe it?"
+
+"I don't know whether he did or not; but he and the rest of the family
+treated me very handsomely, which made me feel meaner than a dead
+catfish."
+
+"Never mind your feelings; you are here to assist in a great enterprise,
+and you are expected to do your duty to your country without regard to
+your own notions. Report what you have done."
+
+"I haven't done anything but introduce myself into the house, and
+explain how I happen to be here," replied Corny, as he proceeded to
+give the details of his meeting with his uncle.
+
+"Is Miss Florry at home?" asked Mulgate, in a more gentle tone, as
+though he had a deeper interest in the direction he had indicated.
+
+"She is at home, and was at the supper table with us."
+
+"How does she seem to be?" asked the stranger.
+
+"First rate; she is as jolly as though no one ever heard of such a thing
+as war," replied Corny, with enthusiasm.
+
+"Did she say anything about her stay at Glenfield?" inquired Mulgate,
+whose interest seemed to mount to the pitch of anxiety.
+
+"Not a word; she did not even hint at Glenfield, or anything connected
+with it," answered Corny; and, after the sharp tones of the other, he
+seemed to take pleasure in thorning him with negative answers.
+
+"Did she say anything about me?"
+
+"Not a word."
+
+"Didn't she mention my name?"
+
+"She did not."
+
+"Didn't she ask about my health, or want to know where I was?"
+
+"Florry did not allude to you in any manner. If she wanted to know where
+you were, she did not say a word about it to me," replied Corny, in the
+most decided tones.
+
+It was still light enough to see that there was something like a frown
+on the brow of Mr. Mulgate. He had evidently believed that the daughter
+of the millionnaire of Bonnydale was interested in him, and his
+inquiries indicated that he expected her to ask about him; but she had
+not made the remotest allusion to him. Besides, she was as jolly as she
+had been at Glenfield, when war was a matter of the future, which few
+believed would ever be realized. She had not grown thin and pale during
+her absence from him, and she did not appear to be wasting her sweetness
+in pining for him.
+
+"What in the world are you talking about, Mulgate?" suddenly demanded
+his companion on his side of the fence. "I thought we were here for
+business, and you are talking about some girl."
+
+"She is the lady of whom I spoke to you; she spent the last winter with
+her uncle at the Glenfield Plantation. I am interested in her," replied
+Mulgate, as though he had given a sufficient excuse for the questions he
+had put to Corny.
+
+"Are we to capture her and take her back to the State of Alabama?"
+demanded the other, who seemed to be a gentleman of forty at least.
+
+"I don't know; that depends; but, Captain Carboneer, I hope you will be
+my friend in this little matter," added Mulgate.
+
+"I don't know any thing about the little matter; but I am not willing
+to jeopardize the enterprise that brings us here to help you out with
+a love affair," replied the older gentleman. "There will be time enough
+for you to look for a wife after the war is over, and you have more time
+to attend to the affair."
+
+"Mr. Mulgate, I should like to know something more about your intentions
+before we go any farther," interposed Corny, in a tone so decided that
+Mulgate had to listen to him, especially as he had obtained so little
+sympathy from the elderly gentleman.
+
+"Speak quick then, for we have no time to spare," added Mulgate.
+
+"Do I understand from what you have said that you intend to take Florry
+Passford back to the South with you?" asked Corny, with his teeth
+closely pressed together, so that it was rather difficult for him to
+speak intelligibly.
+
+"I answer, as I did before, that I don't know what I shall do; that
+depends," replied Mulgate evasively.
+
+"Depends upon what?"
+
+"I have no time to discuss that matter now," added Mulgate, turning to
+his companion.
+
+"But I have time to say that I will ruin the whole enterprise if you
+mean to commit an outrage such as you appear to have in your mind,"
+replied Corny, as vigorously as though he had been the military equal
+of the one he had called "major" by accident.
+
+"Do you mean to be a traitor to your country, Neal?" demanded Mulgate
+angrily.
+
+"Neither to my country nor to my uncle."
+
+"Your uncle is a Yankee, and is doing all he can to subjugate the free
+South. He has no rights which we are bound to respect," said Mulgate
+fiercely.
+
+"This will never do," interposed Captain Carboneer; and this may or may
+not have been his real name. "We are getting into a disagreement at the
+very first step of our enterprise."
+
+"I don't know you, Captain Carboneer, but I wish to be understood as
+meaning every word I have said; and I will wreck this enterprise, if
+I am shot for it, rather than allow my cousin to be carried off in
+connection with it," protested Corny stoutly. "I will do my duty
+faithfully; but I will not assist in robbing my uncle of his daughter."
+
+"You are quite right, young man; and I would rather be sent to the fort
+as a prisoner of war than take part in such an enterprise," added
+Captain Carboneer, in mild but forcible tones.
+
+"You astonish me, captain!" said Mulgate. "Why do you talk about an
+outrage? I claim to be a gentleman, and to be above any such villainy as
+you and Corny suggest. I do not propose to rob Captain Passford of his
+daughter. What I may do depends--depends upon the consent of the lady.
+If she is willing to go with me"--
+
+"She is not willing to go with you; and she never will be willing to go
+with you," Corny interposed. "I don't know what you are thinking about,
+Mr. Mulgate; but Florry cares no more about you than she does about
+Uncle Pedro, my father's house-servant. She saw you both at Glenfield,
+and I can't tell which she likes best."
+
+"We had better drop the subject," added Captain Carboneer.
+
+"Drop it, then," replied Mulgate sullenly. "Get over the fence, Corny.
+Nobody is using that sailboat, and we may as well take it for a while."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE DIGNIFIED NAVAL OFFICER
+
+
+Corny climbed over the high palisade fence, with the assistance of
+Mulgate, and the party walked to the sailboat at the beach below. By
+this time it was dark, though the gloom was not very dense under a clear
+sky.
+
+"Do you know anything about this boat, Corny?" asked Mulgate, as the
+trio approached the handsome craft, for such she was beyond a doubt.
+
+The crusty tones of the speaker indicated that he had not yet recovered
+from the set-back he had plainly received in the late conversation,
+though he denied that he had any evil intentions in regard to Miss
+Florry.
+
+"I do; I know all about her," replied Corny.
+
+"Well, why don't you tell what you know?" demanded Mulgate.
+
+"What do you wish to know about her?" inquired Corny, who was disposed
+to maintain his equality in spite of the military rank of his companion,
+which he had incautiously betrayed in the beginning.
+
+"Whose boat is it?" asked Mulgate.
+
+"She belongs to my cousin, Christy Passford."
+
+"Where is he now?"
+
+"I don't know, sir."
+
+"Was he at the house when you were there?"
+
+"He was not; and his mother had become rather anxious because he did not
+return to supper," replied Corny, becoming a little more pliable.
+
+"This is a rather large boat, Captain Carboneer," added Mulgate, as he
+surveyed the trim sloop. "She is rather too large for our purpose."
+
+"She will answer very well," replied the captain, as he applied his
+shoulder to the stem of the craft to ascertain how heavily she rested
+upon the beach. "Now, do you know whether there is any person on board
+of that steamer?"
+
+"Of course, I don't know anything about it," said Mulgate.
+
+"I am sure I don't," added Corny.
+
+"I sent you up here to ascertain all about the Bellevite," continued
+Mulgate, rather sharply.
+
+"I have not had time to find out anything," Corny explained, with some
+indignation in his tones.
+
+"Corny has done as well as he could in the time he has had to do it in,"
+interposed Captain Carboneer. "I think you are inclined to stir up bad
+blood with this young man, Mulgate. It appears now that you have a
+purpose of your own to accomplish, and that Corny will not allow you
+to carry it out."
+
+"My first purpose is the same as your own," replied Mulgate.
+
+"You admit that you have a second object; and I cannot tell when you
+will decide to make it your principal purpose," added Captain Carboneer.
+"I am not satisfied with the situation. I have done everything I can to
+accomplish our patriotic object. You endanger it by your crusty manner
+to this young man, who seems to be willing to do his duty; and he is in
+a position to be of great service to our enterprise."
+
+"If you think it is necessary, I will take off my cap to this young
+man," said Mulgate, with a sneer in his tones.
+
+"Be reasonable, Mulgate."
+
+"What can I do more than I have done?" demanded the military gentleman,
+as his title indicated that he was.
+
+"The first thing to do on your part is to renounce this idea of taking
+a lady passenger with you in the steamer," replied Captain Carboneer, in
+a very decided tone. "Women are not permitted on board of naval vessels,
+especially in time of war."
+
+"I don't think I have any idea to renounce," muttered Mulgate.
+
+"You certainly hinted that you desired to take a lady on board, and
+convey her to our destination," said the captain, rather earnestly.
+
+"Not against her will, as you and Corny will have it," protested
+Mulgate.
+
+"Do you renounce that plan or that idea, whatever it may be?"
+
+"I do not renounce it. If the lady is willing to go with me, as I
+believe she will be, I know of no reason why she should not go as a
+passenger," argued Mulgate.
+
+"I think we had better abandon the enterprise in the beginning, for I
+think we can be of more service to our country at liberty than within
+the walls of Fort Lafayette," added the captain, with not a little
+disgust mingled with his indignation.
+
+Whatever his object in visiting this locality, he was clearly a
+high-toned gentleman, and the idea of prosecuting a love adventure
+in connection with what he regarded as a highly patriotic duty was
+repulsive to his nature. He found by trial that the Florence was not
+grounded very hard on the beach, for the tide was rising, and he drew
+the boat farther up from the water, as he turned to walk away from the
+spot.
+
+"Am I to understand that you retire from this enterprise, Captain
+Carboneer?" asked Mulgate.
+
+"Am I to understand that you renounce your scheme to carry off a woman
+as a part of the enterprise?" demanded the captain.
+
+"I do not renounce it, though I have no intention to carry off a woman,
+as you put it. The most I have asked is that she be permitted to go as a
+passenger of her own free will," replied Mulgate.
+
+"She never will go with him of her own free will," interposed Corny.
+
+"I will not have a woman on board of the vessel, whether she goes
+willingly or otherwise. Do you renounce that scheme entirely?"
+
+"I think you are driving me into a small corner, Captain Carboneer."
+
+"After what you have said before, I think I am fully justified in what I
+require. With your private affairs, I have nothing to do. If you choose
+to marry this young lady, I have nothing to say about that; but no woman
+can be a passenger in a war vessel under my command. After I have landed
+you at Bermuda or Nassau, I shall not attempt to run the blockade, which
+is now enforced, in order to land you and the lady. Besides, we may be
+in action at any time after we get under way."
+
+"Then if I do not yield the point, you intend to leave me to carry out
+this enterprise alone?" demanded Mulgate.
+
+"In that case, I wish to go with you, Captain Carboneer," added Corny,
+with emphasis. "But I want it understood that I shall not leave
+Bonnydale without telling my uncle to look out for his daughter."
+
+"Then you mean to be a traitor, Corny?" said Mulgate angrily.
+
+"Call it what you like."
+
+"All this is absurd, Mulgate," interposed Captain Carboneer. "Without my
+resources, you can do nothing at all, and it would be foolish for you to
+attempt the capture of the vessel. You are not a sailor or a navigator,
+and you could do nothing with the vessel if you succeeded in getting her
+to sea."
+
+"I have no doubt I could find a hundred men in New York, including
+half a score of navigators, to assist me in this enterprise," replied
+Mulgate.
+
+"I have another steamer in view, though the Bellevite is vastly superior
+to anything I know of in speed and general fitness. Do as you think
+best, Mulgate; and I shall be able to explain in a satisfactory manner
+my failure to obtain this vessel."
+
+"The fault will be mine, I suppose," muttered Mulgate.
+
+"The court-martial will decide that point," replied the captain.
+
+Mulgate seemed to be buried in his own reflections, no doubt suggested
+by the last remark of the other. Possibly he considered that the failure
+of such an important enterprise because he had insisted upon bringing
+a lady into the affair would not sound well at home. Whatever he was
+thinking about, he was greatly agitated, and Captain Carboneer walked in
+the direction of the road, half a mile from the river. He had no time to
+consider the matter: he must yield at once, or abandon the scheme.
+
+"I will do anything you ask, Captain Carboneer!" he shouted, forgetting,
+in his excitement, the demand for secrecy.
+
+The naval officer, as his conversation indicated that he was, turned and
+retraced his steps to the beach. He did not seem to be at all excited
+because his associate had changed his mind, for in his judgment it would
+have been worse than madness for him to persist in his intentions.
+
+"I have stated the case as I understand it, and I have nothing more to
+say, Mulgate," said he.
+
+"I renounce my scheme, and I will not ask that the lady be a passenger
+even to Bermuda or Nassau," replied Mulgate, though not without a
+considerable display of emotion.
+
+"Very well; that is enough. Nothing more need be said about your
+purpose, since you have renounced it. Now we will visit the Bellevite,
+and learn what we can in regard to her," said the naval officer, in his
+usual quiet manner, and whether he was a Confederate or a Unionist, one
+could hardly have failed to be impressed by his dignified deportment.
+
+At the request of Captain Carboneer, Mulgate climbed to the forward deck
+of the Florence. She was twenty-eight feet long, and her deck covered
+more than half of her length. She had a very large cabin for a boat of
+her size, which was fitted up with berths, with a cook-room forward of
+it, for Christy Passford was often absent a week in her.
+
+"I think Corny had better go back to the house, and keep an eye on
+Christy, so as to make sure that he does not disturb us," suggested
+Mulgate, as the planter's son was about to go on board of the yacht.
+
+"I think we shall want him, and he had better be with us," replied the
+captain, as one would speak when he expected to be obeyed.
+
+Corny climbed up the stem of the Florence. He had never seen the captain
+before, and had not even been informed who and what he was; but he
+appeared to be a more important person than Mulgate, and he did not wait
+for the latter to argue his point. He had sailed in the Florence very
+often, and he knew all about her. He took a boathook, and planted its
+point on the beach, in readiness to shove off.
+
+"Not yet, Corny," said the naval officer, as he sprang lightly to the
+deck of the sailboat. "Let us see where we are before we do anything."
+
+Captain Carboneer seated himself on one of the cushioned seats in the
+standing-room, and looked about him. A steamer towing a multitude of
+canal boats was approaching, and he waited for it to pass. Then no
+steamer or other craft was to be seen on the river.
+
+"So far as I have been able to discover, there are only two men on board
+of the Bellevite, and I think we have not a moment to lose," said the
+naval officer, when he saw that the river was clear of everything that
+might interfere with his plans. "But we must go on board of her, and
+make sure of everything before we commit ourselves."
+
+"As you said, Captain Carboneer, I am no sailor; and you don't think of
+taking the steamer out of the river alone?" added Mulgate.
+
+"I have not come here on a fool's errand, Major Pierson," replied the
+captain. "We are alone now, and we may call things by their right
+names."
+
+"But I don't care to have my name used in this vicinity," interposed
+this gentleman, when addressed by his own name.
+
+"Your wish in this respect shall be respected, Mr. Mulgate. I was about
+to say that I had a ship's company all ready to take possession of this
+craft, to handle her at sea, and even to fight a battle if necessary."
+
+"But where are your ship's company?" asked Mulgate, as he wished still
+to be called.
+
+"I will produce them at the right time. Now you may shove her off,
+Corny," added the captain, as he took the wheel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+CORNY PASSFORD PLAYS ANOTHER PART
+
+
+Captain Carboneer brought the Florence about, and headed her across the
+river. The Bellevite was moored a short distance from the estate down
+the stream.
+
+"I have been up here before to-day," said the naval officer, as the boat
+moved away from the shore, assuring him that no one could be near enough
+to hear what he said.
+
+"We only reached New York yesterday, and I don't see how you can have
+picked up a ship's company in that time," replied Mulgate.
+
+"I sent the men before I came myself. I have stationed them in various
+places on the river, where I can get them when I want them; and I shall
+want them before the sun rises to-morrow morning," replied the captain.
+
+"To-night!" exclaimed Mulgate, who seemed to be astounded at the
+revelation.
+
+"Yes, to-night; in a few hours from now. I have obtained all the
+information I could in regard to the steamer, and what we do must be
+done at once. The Bellevite, as they call her now, has not yet been
+handed over to the government, though she has been accepted. They are
+waiting for something, though I don't know what, and she may be sent
+to the navy yard to-morrow; and then it will be too late for us to do
+anything."
+
+"But to-night--that is rather hurried," added Mulgate, musing.
+
+Very likely he was thinking of the beautiful Miss Florry in the elegant
+mansion a short distance up the river. Without a doubt he was Major
+Pierson, since the naval officer had addressed him by this name and
+title. He had often met the young lady at Glenfield Plantation, and
+possibly his sudden visit to the North had not been without some thought
+of her. However it may have been with her, he was at least very much
+interested in Miss Florry.
+
+The fact that she was a "Yankee" did not make her less beautiful, and it
+did not make her any the less the daughter of a millionnaire. No one
+could say that he was mercenary, however, and no one could say why he
+was not as deeply interested in the daughter of the planter, for she
+was hardly less beautiful, though her father was not considered a
+millionnaire, to say nothing of a ten-millionnaire. Major Pierson did
+not tell what he was thinking about; but he was certainly astounded and
+badly set back when the naval officer intimated that the capture of the
+Bellevite might be undertaken that night.
+
+"You can see for yourself that we must strike at once, or there may be
+nothing to strike at," replied Captain Carboneer.
+
+"But we shall have no time to work up the case," suggested the major.
+
+"The case is all worked up, and there is nothing more to work up,"
+replied the captain, as he headed the boat for the steamer.
+
+Major Pierson said no more, but he was as much dissatisfied with the
+promptness of the naval officer as though he had said it in so many
+words. It would be difficult to imagine how he expected to manage his
+case with Miss Florry, since he could not enter the house without
+betraying his identity. Perhaps he intended to lie in wait for her in
+the grounds of the estate, and trust that her interest in him would
+induce her to keep his secret.
+
+"Is that you, Christy?" called a voice from the steamer, as the Florence
+approached the Bellevite.
+
+"Answer him, Corny," said Captain Carboneer, in a low voice. "Say 'yes,'
+and ask who it is that speaks."
+
+"Yes," repeated Corny. "Who are you?"
+
+"Sampson," replied the man on board of the steamer.
+
+"And who is with him," added the captain.
+
+"Are you alone on board?" demanded Corny, varying his speech a little
+from his instructions.
+
+"No; Warping is on board, but he has gone to sleep in the pilot-house.
+Do you want him?"
+
+"No; but you wish to take a couple of friends on board to obtain the
+measure of a gun-carriage," continued Captain Carboneer.
+
+"No; I don't want Warping; I only wanted to know if he was on board,"
+repeated Corny. "I have a couple of friends here who want to measure a
+gun-carriage to-night, for they have to leave in the morning."
+
+"Very well, young man; you understand yourself very well," said the
+captain, in tones of approval.
+
+By this time Captain Carboneer had brought the boat alongside the
+accommodation steps, the lower part of which were hoisted up to prevent
+any water tramps from coming on board without permission. But when Corny
+had delivered the last message, the steps were lowered, and the Florence
+made fast to them. Corny was told to lead the way, and act as though he
+were Christy Passford, and owned the ship in his own right.
+
+The planter's son went up the steps, and the other two followed him,
+though the naval officer had really ascertained all he wished to know.
+There were only two ship-keepers on board, and they would be no obstacle
+in the way of the ship's company to which the captain had alluded. But
+the leader of the enterprise had another object in view, though it was
+only secondary in its nature. He was afraid to overburden the mind of
+Corny, and he said nothing more.
+
+"Is everything all right on board, Sampson?" asked Corny, as he stepped
+down upon the deck of the vessel.
+
+"All right, Christy," replied the man.
+
+"I am glad to hear it. Is there anything new?"
+
+"Nothing at all, Christy. I have been overhauling the boilers a little
+to-day for the want of something to do, and they are in first-rate
+condition. As you told me to-day that we might expect the order to
+report at the navy yard at any minute, I thought I would have everything
+as nearly ready as it could be."
+
+"You have done very well, Sampson," added Corny, approvingly. "We are
+to get under way early in the morning, and if father gets home he will
+start the steamer as soon as he comes. He went to the city this evening,
+and probably he will bring the order with him," continued Corny, making
+use of the information he had obtained in the house.
+
+"Where is this long gun, my man?" asked Captain Carboneer, taking a
+measure from his pocket.
+
+"Forward, sir," replied Sampson, as he led the way.
+
+The captain kept some distance behind the ship-keeper, and took Corny by
+the arm to detain him.
+
+"Tell him to get up steam at once," whispered the leader of the party,
+as he hastened forward to the long midship gun, where he proceeded to
+take his measurements as though he were in real earnest, though it was
+so dark that he could not possibly see the marks on his tape, even if he
+tried to do so.
+
+"You say that everything is ready to start the fires, Sampson?" said
+Corny, as soon as he had a chance to speak to the ship-keeper.
+
+"Everything is ready, Christy, and I have only to touch the match to the
+shavings to make a beginning," replied Sampson. "Is there any news about
+my appointment in the engine-room, Christy?"
+
+"Not yet, Sampson; but the papers will soon come, and I am almost
+willing to guarantee your appointment."
+
+"Mr. Vapoor has already spoken a good word for me."
+
+"All right, Sampson; then you are sure of the position. I am very sure
+that we shall get the order before morning to move the steamer over
+to the navy yard, and I think you had better start the fires at once,
+Sampson," continued Corny, making himself as much at home on board of
+the steamer as though he had really been the person he was supposed
+to be.
+
+"All right, Christy; and if the order don't come as soon as you expect
+it, we can bank the fires, and no harm will be done," replied the oiler,
+for such was his position on board, though he was evidently expecting
+something better.
+
+By this time Captain Carboneer had finished taking the measure of the
+gun-carriage, though he had not been able to see anything. But he had
+been through all the forms, and that answered his purpose just as well.
+He declared that he had no further business on board, and the trio went
+to the accommodation ladder. Sampson had called his sleeping companion,
+and already the black smoke began to pour out of the smokestack.
+
+"That was all very handsomely done," said Major Pierson, as they stepped
+on board of the Florence.
+
+"Everything worked very well; but it was all owing to the fact that the
+ship-keeper thought that Corny was some other person," replied the
+captain.
+
+"I know that he took him for Christy Passford, and I have had some
+experience with Christy," replied the major, recalling his attempts to
+prevent the Bellevite from escaping from Mobile Bay. "He is a smart
+fellow, as the Yankees would say, and it is fortunate that he is not
+here at the present time."
+
+"He can't be very far off," suggested Corny. "He was expected back to
+supper, and I wanted to see him, for he is my cousin. He must be about
+here somewhere."
+
+"Never mind whether he is or not; we have finished our business here,
+and the harvest is ripe for the sickle. We will leave this boat just
+where we found it, for I have a rowboat a little farther down the
+river," continued Captain Carboneer.
+
+"I suppose I ought to return to my uncle's house," suggested Corny.
+"If they miss me they will be looking about here to ascertain what has
+become of me."
+
+"I think you had better not try to relieve their anxiety to-night.
+If they are worried about you, they will get over it in the morning
+when they find the steamer is missing," said Captain Carboneer, with
+something like a chuckle in his tones when he pictured the surprise of
+the "Yankees" in making the discovery that the Bellevite had taken to
+herself wings, and sped on her way to the South.
+
+"I don't think they will worry about me," added Corny, laughing. "I was
+afraid they might think I was here to capture the city of New York, or
+something of that sort."
+
+"I think you had better not undeceive them to-night," replied the
+captain, as he ran the yacht upon the beach near where he had found her.
+
+"Everything looks exceedingly well for our enterprise."
+
+"If you get that steamer into Mobile Bay"--
+
+"I don't intend to get her into the bay; that would be folly, and I
+shall run no risks among the blockaders, for a single shot might give
+her back to her present owners."
+
+"No matter; if you only get her, and she is under the flag of the
+Confederacy, it will put me back where I was when she went into the
+bay by a Yankee trick," added Major Pierson.
+
+"After the war, if you wish to see the young lady, you will have more
+time to attend to the affair, and I shall wish you every success then,"
+said the captain lightly.
+
+"How long do you think the war will last, Captain Carboneer?" asked the
+major, in this connection.
+
+"Possibly it may last a year, though if we can break up that blockade,
+it will not last six months longer."
+
+The trio landed on the beach, and the naval officer made sure that the
+Florence was securely fixed in the gravel. The party walked down stream,
+embarked in the boat of which the captain had spoken. It was pulled by
+two men, and after they had gone about a mile, the captain began to blow
+a boatswain's whistle which he took from his pocket.
+
+But they had hardly jumped down on the beach before Christy Passford
+opened the cabin door of the yacht, and crept out with the utmost care.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CAPTAIN CARBONEER AND HIS PARTY
+
+
+As Captain Carboneer blew his whistle, a mile below the moorings of the
+Bellevite, an occasional response came from the shore. Everything was
+remarkably quiet on the river, though at long intervals a steamer passed
+on its way up or down the stream. The signals made by the naval officer
+were not loud, and the replies, made without the aid of any instrument,
+were quite feeble. One might have taken them for some frolic on the part
+of the boys.
+
+"I don't quite understand this business," said Major Pierson, after he
+had listened a while to the signals. "I suppose from the answers you
+get, that your men are all along the river, and the woods seem to be
+full of them."
+
+"I have no doubt they are all here," replied Captain Carboneer. "I have
+been in this vicinity all day, and I have made good use of my time.
+I believe the Bellevite belongs to the Confederacy, and it shall be
+no fault of mine if the goods are not delivered in good order and
+condition."
+
+"My father was confident that he should obtain her at Nassau, though he
+was mistaken," added the major.
+
+"But when she went within our lines, we were all satisfied that she was
+ours. I have not yet been able to understand why she was permitted to
+escape."
+
+"If you mean by that to cast any blame upon those who did their best
+to prevent her escape, Captain Carboneer, you wrong them grossly,"
+said Major Pierson. "She came on a friendly visit to the plantation of
+Colonel Passford; but this gentleman, though the owner of the steamer
+was his own brother, promptly gave information of her presence in the
+creek, and did all he could to have her captured. No man could have
+sacrificed more to his patriotism than he did."
+
+"I do not reflect on him or on any one; I only wonder how the Bellevite
+contrived to escape when several steamers were sent out to capture her,"
+added the captain.
+
+"The son of the owner of the Bellevite was a prisoner of mine, for when
+I had my brother arrested for desertion, this young man was with him.
+The only mistake I made was in not putting him in irons. The captain of
+my tug proved to be a traitor to the Confederacy, and this fellow, with
+Christy Passford, did the most of the mischief in preventing the capture
+of the steamer."
+
+"I was told that he was a smart boy," added the naval officer.
+
+"He is all of that; and I think it was very fortunate that he did not
+happen to be at home when we visited the Bellevite just now," said Major
+Pierson, who evidently had a proper respect for the abilities of the
+millionnaire's son.
+
+"I do not see that his presence in his father's mansion, if he had been
+there, could have made any difference," added the captain, as he sounded
+his whistle again, and heard a faint response from the shore. "As long
+as he was not actually on board of the steamer, he was harmless."
+
+"Perhaps he was, though I have the feeling that it would have been
+otherwise. There was a whistle from the shore."
+
+"I heard it, and I understand it. Haslett has done his whole duty,
+I judge," replied Captain Carboneer.
+
+"Who is Haslett?" asked the major curiously. "I never heard of him
+before."
+
+"He is to be the first lieutenant of the Bellevite."
+
+"You seem to have a full supply of officers and men, Captain Carboneer,"
+added Major Pierson, apparently a little disconcerted. "I do not see
+that I am of the least use here, for you seem to have done everything
+without consulting me."
+
+"In naval matters I have; but I give you full credit for the planning of
+the enterprise," replied the captain, in his softest tones.
+
+"When I was removed from my command because I allowed the steamer to
+pass the forts, I felt that a great injustice had been done to me. I did
+all I could to effect the capture of the vessel, but the attempt was a
+failure," argued the major. "The shot hole through the bow of the Belle
+utterly wrecked her, and the force on board of her could do nothing, and
+Christy Passford had brought my own tug to bear against me. Why, the
+Bellevite actually saved the force on board of the Belle from drowning.
+A violent gale came up, and that did a great deal to nullify all our
+efforts. But I think I did my whole duty."
+
+"I have no doubt of it, Major Pierson; and for that reason you were sent
+on this mission; and I am confident that the success of the enterprise
+will restore you to your former command, or give you another quite as
+good," said Captain Carboneer, as consolation to the military arm of the
+expedition.
+
+"But I cannot see that I have been of any use to this enterprise, and I
+might as well have staid at home."
+
+"You are too modest by half, major. You planned the expedition, and
+suggested that Corny should take part in it, as he would have the
+_entree_ to the residence of Captain Passford. But, being a mere boy,
+he could not be sent alone, and your services were likely to be of
+the most important character. It is no fault of yours that we found
+everything made ready for us, as it were. It might have been quite
+different, and the burden of the action might have rested upon you.
+It is all right as it is."
+
+"I am satisfied," added the major, "though I think it was no more than
+right that you should have consulted me in regard to your methods, of
+which I am still profoundly ignorant. In getting up the scheme, I based
+everything on the fact that Corny could go into his uncle's house and
+obtain all the information we needed."
+
+"The scheme was well concocted; and I shall have the pleasure of
+reporting to the government that the military arm of the expedition
+conducted the enterprise to a perfect success, the naval force only
+doing the duty pointed out by the military."
+
+"You are very kind, Captain Carboneer," said Major Pierson, who could
+not well help being entirely satisfied, and even greatly pleased, with
+this happy showing of the final result.
+
+"By daylight in the morning we shall be outside of Sandy Hook, I expect.
+We have no time to waste, and you can see for yourself how the affair of
+the young lady would have complicated our operations."
+
+"How do you intend to convey these men, who seem to be scattered all
+along the shores of the river, to the steamer?"
+
+"They understand my signals, and they will all be ready within an hour
+to take a small steamer which will pick them up."
+
+"But where is the steamer?"
+
+"She is farther down the river. As you seem to be a little sensitive to
+the fact that I have not consulted you in regard to the naval operations
+of this enterprise, I can tell you in a few words all there is of them,"
+continued Captain Carboneer. "As you are aware, as soon as our plan was
+matured by you, I left Mobile with Lieutenant Haslett, though you knew
+nothing about him, for Nassau. We had no difficulty in getting out of
+the bay, for the blockade was not then enforced. At Nassau I engaged a
+couple of English engineers, and a few other officers, with thirty
+seamen, mostly English, who were looking for prize-money. I had to take
+my force to Quebec, for no steamer offered for New York. I sent them all
+here in small parties, and Haslett posted them along the river when I
+told him they would be needed to-night."
+
+"I did not leave Mobile till two weeks later with Corny," added the
+major. "But I got here sooner than you did."
+
+"You were more fortunate in finding a steamer. I believe I have a
+capital crew, though I shall obtain more men at Bermuda, or some other
+port. There are plenty of good English sailors who are willing to fight
+on either side if there is a good showing for prize-money; and I have
+no doubt I shall capture a dozen vessels before we reach the Bermudas,
+which will fully satisfy them, especially as the government will pay
+the value of all vessels we are compelled to burn on the high seas."
+
+"You will have the advantage over everything that floats, for I was told
+that the Bellevite made twenty knots an hour, and had done twenty-two,"
+said Major Pierson. "At what time do you think you will get on board of
+the steamer?"
+
+"By one or two in the morning, I hope; but it will depend upon the
+steamer Haslett engages, though he told me he had bargained for an old
+one with a walking-beam; but that will answer our purpose. I believe he
+had to buy her, though she was of no great value."
+
+At a creek which appeared to be the rendezvous of the conspirators,
+the boat left the river; but there was no steamer, though quite a number
+of men had gathered there. Leaving the party in the boat to follow out
+the remaining details of their enterprise, which, by this time, in the
+absence of anything like an obstacle, they regarded as so many mere
+formalities, it becomes necessary to make another visit to the mansion
+of Captain Passford. This gentleman had gone to the city upon important
+business connected with the fitting out of the Bellevite, and he had not
+returned when the clock in the great hall struck ten, which was at about
+the time Captain Carboneer and his companions went into the creek five
+miles down the river.
+
+"There is no knowing when your father will come home, Florry," said Mrs.
+Passford, as she suspended her work on a stocking she was knitting for
+the soldiers. "But I can't imagine what has become of Christy. He never
+stays out as late as this unless he tells us of it beforehand."
+
+"I am really worried about him, mother," replied the beautiful daughter,
+looking up from the stocking on which she was employed. "He went away in
+the Florence, and something may have happened to him."
+
+"I think not, Florry: there has been no storm, or heavy blow, and
+he thinks he is as safe in his boat as he is on shore," added Mrs.
+Passford, with an effort to control the fears of the daughter. "He may
+have gone down to the city. He is very indignant at the delay in giving
+the order to have the steamer sent to the navy yard, and wherever he is,
+I am confident he is doing something in connection with the steamer."
+
+"I wish I knew whether the Florence was at the boathouse," continued
+Florry. "He said he was going out in the boat; but perhaps he did not.
+Perhaps he is with father."
+
+"There is the front-door bell," added Mrs. Passford, with a start.
+"It cannot be your father or Christy, for both of them have latch-keys.
+Who could come here at this time in the evening?"
+
+"Mr. Paul Vapoor," said the man-servant, who answered the bell.
+
+The gentleman announced walked into the sitting-room without any
+ceremony, for he had long been a familiar visitor. He was dressed in
+the full uniform of a chief engineer of the navy. Removing his cap, he
+politely bowed to the two ladies; and any one who was looking might have
+seen that Miss Florry blushed a little when she saw him; and very likely
+if Major Pierson had witnessed the roses on her fair cheek, he might
+possibly have concluded that it would have been useless to postpone the
+capture of the Bellevite to enable him to fortify his position near her.
+
+"I beg your pardon, ladies, for calling so late," said Mr. Vapoor, as he
+drew a long envelope from his pocket. "But I thought Christy might wish
+to see what is in this envelope before he retired."
+
+"Why, what is in it?" asked Mrs. Passford.
+
+"Christy's commission as a midshipman in the navy."
+
+"But Christy is not at home, and we are somewhat anxious about him,"
+added the mother, stating the facts in regard to her son.
+
+Paul Vapoor volunteered to go in search of him, and left the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE CABIN OF THE FLORENCE
+
+
+If Captain Carboneer had felt any especial interest in the Florence as
+a sailing yacht, he might have desired to see the cabin of the craft,
+which had always been the delight of Christy Passford. He had expended
+a great deal of his pocket-money upon the arrangement and furnishing of
+the cabin of his yacht, not only because he spent a considerable portion
+of his vacation hours in it, but because it had been a perpetual study
+with him to enlarge and improve it.
+
+It is very difficult to get three pints of liquid into a quart measure,
+and it was a conundrum of this sort that Christy was studying upon
+when he tried to make a parlor, bedroom, and dining-saloon of the very
+limited space in the forward part of the Florence. Though he could
+hardly get the three pints into the quart measure, he had done the best
+he could, and succeeded to a rather remarkable degree. But spite of the
+miracle which had been wrought in the cabin, Captain Carboneer did not
+even try the door of the apartment when he and his companions went on
+board of the yacht. He was so absorbed in the enterprise in which he was
+engaged, that his indifference to the miracle of the cabin may be
+excused.
+
+Even the double doors of the cabin were of handsome wood, elaborately
+polished; and they were not secured with the usual appliance of a
+padlock, but were provided with an expensive mortise-lock, which could
+be operated upon either side. If Captain Carboneer had tried to open
+that door, he would have found that it was fastened; but perhaps he
+could not have discovered that it had been secured upon the inside.
+Unless, therefore, he had taken the trouble to break open the door, he
+could not have ascertained that Christy Passford was actually in the
+cabin.
+
+Possibly, if he had opened the door by any means, he would not have
+discovered that the proprietor of the boat was in this dainty apartment,
+for the skipper had taken a great deal of pains to conceal himself so
+that he should not be seen, even if the intruders in the Florence had
+succeeded in opening the doors without the aid of the key in his pocket.
+Though he had two very nice berths in the cabin, miraculously arranged
+as to space, Christy did not occupy one on the present occasion, for in
+that case the unbidden visitors would have seen him if their curiosity
+had led them to force the doors.
+
+When the cook of the Florence, usually the skipper of the craft, was
+engaged in the practice of the culinary art, he seated himself on what
+looked like a box in front of the stove. But the interior of this box
+was really a part of the cabin, for it contained the feet of any one
+occupying the berth on the starboard side. The cookroom had no end of
+bins, lockers and drawers to contain the variety of provisions and
+stores necessary to get up a dinner for the skipper and his guests, when
+he had any. And even all these places could not contain everything that
+was needed on board. Under the two berths were large, though not very
+deep, lockers, one of which contained the jib-topsail of the craft, and
+other spare sails, while the opposite one was the fuel locker of the
+sloop.
+
+As the boat had not been used for a long time in cruising, the fuel
+receptacle was empty, though a spare gaff-topsail had been thrown
+into it. This locker was big enough to admit the body-corporate of
+the skipper. It was not a particularly clean place, for a portion of it
+had been economized for the stowage of the charcoal, which the skipper
+preferred to wood. But he did not rebel at the blackness of the retreat
+he had chosen, for he wore his boating dress, which was hardly stylish
+enough for a dude or a dandy.
+
+But Skipper Passford did not crawl into this black hole for the fun of
+the thing. He had been spending his time in waiting for a movement to be
+made in regard to the Bellevite. He staid in the house all the forenoon,
+and, after lunch, he sailed down the river in the Florence, though with
+no object in doing so beyond passing the time. Not far from the beach
+where he had afterwards left the yacht, he discovered a boat rowed by
+two men with a third in the stern sheets.
+
+The breeze was quite gentle, though the Florence would sail at a very
+tolerable speed when there was the least apology for a wind. She was
+doing so on the present occasion, and Christy had stretched himself out
+on the cushioned seat, with the spokes of the wheel where he could steer
+without any exertion, or next to none. The idleness of his days since
+his return from the eventful cruise of the Bellevite seemed to have
+infected him with an unnatural indolence.
+
+He felt as though he was rather more than half asleep when he saw the
+boat with the two oarsmen. It was going up the river, while he was going
+down. He had to luff a little to keep clear of the oars, but he did not
+move from his half-recumbent posture. When the boat was alongside, he
+glanced idly and carelessly at the person in the stern sheets. Instantly
+he was wide awake, though he did not change his position. The person
+looked like a gentleman, and Christy was sure that he had seen him
+before. A couple of minutes of earnest cudgelling of his brain assured
+him that he had seen the stranger in Nassau; that he was one of the many
+who wanted to purchase the Bellevite, ostensibly for a merchant vessel,
+but really for the Confederate navy.
+
+After he had run a short distance farther down the river, Christy came
+about, the boat being some distance from him, but the gentleman soon
+landed and walked up the river on the shore, or very near it. In a short
+time, he was joined by another person, whose form looked familiar to the
+skipper of the Florence. He could not identify him, for he was not near
+enough to him to see his face. A puff of air came from across the river,
+and the Florence darted ahead, and Christy was soon out of sight of the
+two strangers.
+
+Near the boundary of his father's estate, he ran the yacht on the sandy
+beach, letting her strike the sand hard enough to stick where she was
+for half an hour, though she was not likely to get adrift, for the
+gentle breeze was blowing her farther on the shore as the tide rose.
+
+Christy hauled down the jib of the sloop, and then seated himself, or
+rather reclined upon the cushions, though in such a position that he
+could see the shore, or any persons who came upon it. No one was in
+sight, and he had no one to watch. The swash of a great steamer passing
+in the channel made his boat roll heavily for a moment, with the forward
+part of the bottom resting on the sand. For the want of something better
+to think of, he began to put conundrums to himself in the absence of any
+other person to perplex with them. What was the gentleman that wanted to
+buy a steamer in Nassau doing up the Hudson? This was the principal one:
+he could not answer it. He gave it up; as the French have it, he had to
+"throw his tongue to the dogs," having no use for it in this connection.
+
+But while he was dreaming of the possible mission of the stranger,
+he heard voices on the beach. Not deeming it wise to show himself, he
+rolled off the cushion upon the floor of the standing-room, and then
+fixed himself in a position where he could see and hear what passed
+between the speakers. He could see without being seen. It did not
+require a second look for him to decide that the second person on the
+beach was Major Pierson, though his companion called him Mulgate.
+
+If Christy had been interested before, he was excited now. The two
+speakers were within earshot of the boat, and in the stillness of the
+scene he could hear every word that was said. In a few moments he was in
+full possession of the statements of the captain and the major in regard
+to their intentions; and it appeared that the gentleman he had seen in
+Nassau still desired to obtain a steamer.
+
+Before it was dark, Christy was astonished to behold his cousin Corny on
+the other side of the fence; and he readily understood that he was to
+take part in the enterprise in hand. As yet the listener had obtained
+but little more than the information in regard to the intention of the
+visitors. When he found that they were disposed to take possession of
+the Florence, and make their visit to the Bellevite in her, the skipper
+retired from the standing-room of the boat to the cabin, where he locked
+the door, and put the key in his pocket. When he realized that they
+really meant to come on board, he crawled into the space under the
+starboard berth, and arranged the sail so that it would conceal him
+in case the intruders pushed their investigation into the cabin.
+
+When he had completed his preparations, he was quite satisfied that
+he should not be discovered. The trio came on board, and Christy fixed
+himself so that he could hear every word that was said, for there was a
+small opening under the berth through which the superfluous length of a
+pair of oars could be thrust when not in use.
+
+Christy, without the remotest suspicion on the part of the plotters
+that they could be heard by any living being, and especially not by so
+dangerous a character as Christy had proved himself to be to the peace
+and dignity of the Confederacy, heard all that was said, and he obtained
+a full idea of the intentions of the conspirators. When they went on
+board of the Bellevite, he was so excited that he could no longer remain
+in his prison, but came out, and crept up the accommodation ladder to
+the deck of the steamer. But he was careful not to show himself, and,
+having a key to the cabin, he went into it, locking the door after him.
+Then he had a chance to think.
+
+What should he do? He had no force at hand to beat off such a party as
+Captain Carboneer mentioned. They might carry out their plot that very
+night, as they had talked of doing. Perhaps it would be executed at
+once, even while he was on board, and he would then be a prisoner. This
+idea was too galling to be considered, and he left the cabin to visit
+the wardroom. Going still farther forward, he was surprised to hear the
+roar of the flames in the furnaces below. It looked at that moment as
+though the Bellevite was doomed to sail under a Confederate flag. But if
+he could do nothing more, he could save himself, even if he had to jump
+into the river and swim to the shore.
+
+Christy lost no time in making his way to the main deck of the vessel;
+but he was careful to avoid the visitors. He went back to the cabin, and
+went on deck from it. Then he discovered that the trio were in the act
+of descending the accommodation steps. Mounting the rail he saw them
+embark in the Florence, and sail down the river. Dismounting from the
+rail, he hastened to the engine-room, where he found Sampson getting the
+engine ready to be put in motion.
+
+"Ah, Christy, I thought you had gone," said the oiler.
+
+"Who were those two men who were on board?" asked Christy, not a little
+excited.
+
+"They were two gentlemen you brought on board, Christy," replied
+Sampson, innocently enough.
+
+"That I brought on board!" exclaimed the skipper of the Florence.
+
+"Yes, sir: and I thought you had gone ashore with them," added the
+oiler.
+
+"I brought no men on board, Sampson! What are you talking about?"
+demanded Christy impatiently.
+
+"Didn't you bring two gentlemen on board, and didn't one of them want to
+measure the carriage of the big gun?"
+
+"No! I did not! I have not seen you before now this evening," protested
+Christy.
+
+"Then I have lost my senses. Didn't you tell me to get up steam, because
+the steamer would be moved to the navy yard before daylight in the
+morning?" demanded Sampson, bewildered by the denial of the young man.
+
+"I see now," added Christy. "You mistook Corny for me."
+
+Sampson gave him all the details of the visit of the strangers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+MIDSHIPMAN CHRISTY PASSFORD
+
+
+"In a word, Sampson, an attempt will be made to-night to capture the
+Bellevite, and you have been getting up steam for the conspirators,"
+said Christy, when the ship-keeper had finished his narrative of the
+visit of the trio to the ship.
+
+"Is that so?" exclaimed Sampson, opening his mouth and his eyes very
+wide at the same time. "Why, I had no more doubt that the young man who
+was talking to me was Christy than I have that he is talking to me now."
+
+"You had better look at me again, and be sure that you make no mistake,"
+replied Christy, rather disgusted at the failure of the man to identify
+him.
+
+"I never once thought that it was not you. When the sailboat came
+alongside, I knew it was the Florence, and I supposed you were in her,"
+pleaded Sampson. "But I spoke to you, as I supposed, when the boat came
+alongside."
+
+"Did you? What did you say?" asked Christy.
+
+"I said 'Is that you, Christy?' And you said 'Yes.'"
+
+"Of course I did! What else could I say after you had told the enemy
+just how to proceed. You could not have expected any other answer."
+
+"I suppose I was very stupid; but I hope no harm has been done, for they
+have not got the steamer yet," added Sampson, very much disconcerted at
+the blunder he had made, though an older officer than Christy might have
+had more charity for the ship-keeper.
+
+Seen in broad daylight, there was no striking resemblance between Corny
+and Christy, though they were of about the same size, and had some
+traits in common. As Corny and his companions came in the Florence,
+it was not very strange that Sampson should take it for granted that
+Christy was one of the evening visitors. The voices of the two cousins
+were not unlike, and the sound was all he had to guide his judgment.
+Then he was not in the enemy's country, and he could hardly have been
+on the lookout for an enemy several miles up the river.
+
+"Certainly no harm has been done, Sampson; but it is yet to be decided
+whether or not the Bellevite is to go into the navy of the United States
+or the navy of the Confederate States," added Christy, leaving the
+engine-room.
+
+"If we have snuffed the whole thing, I don't believe this steamer will
+ever wear anything but the Stars and Stripes," said Sampson stoutly; and
+there could be no doubt in regard to his loyalty, judging from his
+speech, though that is not always to be trusted in time of war.
+
+"Bellevite, ahoy!" shouted some one at the foot of the accommodation
+steps.
+
+"Have they come again so soon?" asked Sampson, as he rushed to the rail.
+"It is only a small canoe."
+
+"Is Christy on board?" called the visitor alongside.
+
+"That is Mr. Vapoor: tell him I am on board," added Christy.
+
+"Christy is on board, sir," replied Sampson to the hail. "Will you come
+on board, sir?"
+
+Paul Vapoor would and did come on board, and Christy gave him a hearty
+welcome, for he was more glad to see him than he had ever been before in
+his life.
+
+"Where have you been all day and all the evening, Christy?" asked the
+engineer. "Your mother and sister are very much worried about you, for
+they have not seen you for a long time, and they fear that something has
+happened to you."
+
+"Something is likely to happen to me and all the rest of us who expect
+to go to sea in this steamer," replied Christy, as he proceeded to
+inform his friend as briefly as he could of the great event of the
+evening.
+
+"Well, if we are not in the enemy's country, the enemy are in ours,"
+replied Paul. "What is to be done?"
+
+"That is what I have been thinking of. I listened very attentively to
+all that passed between Major Pierson and Captain Carboneer, and I am
+satisfied that the latter has a considerable force somewhere on the
+river, and their headquarters are at the mouth of a creek five miles
+down the river."
+
+"How many have they?" asked the engineer.
+
+"I don't know; they did not mention the number in figures, but they have
+enough to work the ship, and even to fight her," replied Christy, very
+seriously.
+
+"That means forty or fifty, at least," added Paul. "This looks like a
+heavy matter, and it is quite time that something was done about it."
+
+"But what shall we do is the question," said Christy anxiously. "We have
+two men on board beside ourselves, and we can hardly expect to hold our
+own against fifty."
+
+"Who is this Captain Carboneer?"
+
+"I saw him at Nassau, and he looked like a man of decision and
+character. I don't know anything about him, but I have no doubt he is
+a naval officer, both from the circumstances and from what I heard.
+I should say that he knows what he is about. You said that my father
+has not yet returned from the city?"
+
+"He had not come at ten o'clock, and if he comes at all, the late train
+does not arrive till after twelve."
+
+"It may be too late to do anything at that time," said Christy. "But I
+don't mean to give up the ship."
+
+"Good! I am with you on that point, Christy. I called at your house to
+inform you that you had been appointed a midshipman in the navy, and you
+are likely to have a chance to christen your commission to-night. This
+was all the rank they could give you, though you will really be a passed
+midshipman, and be a master very soon."
+
+Christy was delighted with this news, though he had no time to make a
+demonstration of delight over it. He had narrowly escaped being the
+third officer of the Bellevite the year before, because his father did
+not believe in putting him forward as fast as his abilities would have
+warranted him in doing. Captain Breaker and Paul Vapoor had made the
+application for a position in the navy; for his father would not do it,
+for the reason that he did not wish to ask any favors for a member of
+his own family.
+
+"I thank you and Captain Breaker for all you have done for me, Paul, and
+I hope I shall be able to give a good account of myself. But we have no
+time to talk about that now. Captain Carboneer was waiting for a steamer
+which his naval associate, Lieutenant Haslett, was to charter or buy for
+the use of the party," said Christy, as he led the way to the forward
+deck of the steamer.
+
+He and the engineer mounted the top-gallant forecastle, and looked
+intently down the river. The tide was coming in, so that the vessel, in
+coming up to her cable, pointed in that direction. But they could see
+nothing, not a craft of any description. Then Christy led the way to
+the long gun mounted amidships. He sighted across the piece, and, in a
+moment more, his mind seemed to have settled on the policy to be pursued
+in the present dangerous emergency. Perhaps the capture of a steamer
+under such circumstances was a thing unheard of at that time, but
+doubtless it looked simple enough to those who were engaged in the
+enterprise.
+
+"Do you think of engaging the enemy at long range, Christy?" asked Paul,
+with a smile on his fine face, as seen by the light of the lantern which
+Sampson had brought to the place.
+
+"I think of beating them off in any way we can," replied the middy,
+as his friends all called him from that time. "I have the gun pointing
+to a certain object on the river, which Captain Carboneer's steamer must
+pass. He can't help putting his craft where the muzzle of this piece
+will cover it; and if we pull the lock-string at that instant, the shot
+will knock his steamer all to pieces, and spill the conspirators into
+the river."
+
+"If you hit her," suggested Paul.
+
+"You can't very well help hitting her. Just squint along that gun, and
+see where the shot will bring up."
+
+Paul complied with this request, and took a long look over the great
+gun.
+
+"I should say that it was pointed a little too high," said he.
+
+"Perhaps it is; I have not fixed it just as I mean to have it. We will
+put in the charge before we do that," added Christy, who was now as
+self-possessed as though there was no excitement attending the operation
+he was arranging.
+
+"Do you know what steamer Captain Carbine will have?" asked Paul.
+
+"Not Carbine; Carboneer. No, I don't know what steamer he will have;
+only that she is an old one, and has a walking-beam," replied Christy.
+
+"That is rather indefinite, midshipman," added Paul, with a smile. "You
+can't always tell what a steamer is by looking at her, especially in the
+night; and a walking-beam is not a novelty on a steamer upon this river.
+You may send that shot through the wrong vessel; and if you should
+happen to kill a dozen or two of loyal citizens of the State of New
+York, they might be mean enough to hang you, or send you to the State
+prison for life for it. It won't do to fire off a shotted gun like that
+baby without knowing pretty well what you are shooting at."
+
+"That is a long argument, Paul; and I have not the remotest idea of
+doing any such thing as you describe. I am going to know what we are
+firing at before we pull the lock-string," replied Christy, rather
+impatiently. "But we have no time to dig up mare's nests. We will get
+up the ammunition and load this gun; then we will do the rest of the
+business."
+
+As ship-keeper and a member of the engineer's department for the last
+year, Sampson knew where everything was to be found. With all the usual
+precautions, the magazine was opened, and ammunition enough for three
+charges was conveyed to the deck, Warping having been called in to
+assist in the work. The gun was carefully loaded under the direction of
+Christy, who had been fully instructed and drilled in the duty. It was
+pointed as nearly as practicable to the point in the channel which the
+hostile steamer must pass, though the aim was to be rectified at the
+last moment.
+
+Paul went to his stateroom and took off his handsome uniform, replacing
+it with a suit of his working garments. Then he hastened to the engine,
+examined it, and satisfied himself that it was in good condition for the
+office which was soon to be required of it. He gave Sampson particular
+directions for his duty, and then went down the accommodation steps with
+the midshipman.
+
+"What are you going to do next, Christy?" asked Paul, for the young
+naval officer had been too busy with his preparations to develop his
+plan in full.
+
+"We will go ashore first, and I will take the Florence to the
+boat-house," replied Christy. "The next thing to be done is to make
+a reconnoissance down the river."
+
+"Why not go down in the Florence?" suggested Paul.
+
+"Because that would be too simple and innocent altogether," replied the
+middy; and perhaps he felt some of the dignity of his new rank. "I think
+we had better see without being seen, especially as Captain Carboneer
+has seen and sailed the sloop. I have no doubt he has a sharp, nautical
+eye, and that he will recognize her. He might be rash enough to capture
+her, and thus deprive the United States Navy of two young, but able and
+hopeful officers, to say nothing of bottling them up so that he could
+make short work of the Bellevite."
+
+"You are right, Christy, as you always are. But see your mother before
+you do anything, and I will obey orders. She worries about you."
+
+They landed and hastened to the mansion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+ARRANGING THE SIGNALS
+
+
+Mrs. Passford was astounded at the news brought in by her son, and Miss
+Florry was terrified when informed that Major Pierson was not far from
+the mansion. But Paul Vapoor assured the latter that there was no
+danger, and Christy convinced his mother, who had a great deal of
+confidence in him, that he was fully equal to the occasion.
+
+"But I do not see that you can beat off the assailants if they happen
+to get alongside of the Bellevite," suggested Mrs. Passford. "There are
+only four of you at the most."
+
+"I hope for re-enforcements," replied Christy, as he rang a bell for
+a servant. "Beeks and Thayer, two of the quartermasters, live in the
+village; Mr. Watts, the chief steward, and three others of the old
+ship's company, live near here, and I think we can raise half a dozen
+more, making ten in all."
+
+"I know where to find half a dozen coal-passers," added Paul.
+
+"Then we shall do very well if we succeed in finding all these," added
+Christy, as the man-servant came to the door.
+
+"Call up all the stablemen, and have two horses saddled as quick as
+possible," continued Christy to the man.
+
+"What's that for, Christy?" asked Paul, who had succeeded in quieting
+the fears of Miss Florry.
+
+He was not altogether inexperienced in this duty, for the young lady
+had been alarmed more than once on board of the steam yacht, and he was
+always more successful than any other person at these times.
+
+"I can't stop to talk it all over, Paul; but if you will trust me,
+I will tell you as we go along what I think of doing," replied Christy.
+
+"All right, midshipman; I belong to the engine department, and we always
+obey orders even if the ship goes down," added Paul, laughing.
+
+"I am willing enough to tell you, but I have not the time to spin a long
+yarn, and perhaps answer objections, just now. We will mount the horses
+as soon as they come to the door, and drum up the force we have
+mentioned."
+
+Christy continued by giving Paul the names of those he was to visit and
+summon to the deck of the Bellevite, and then they were to meet at a
+given place. They mounted the two fleet horses which Christy had
+selected for the occasion, and dashed off to the town, a short distance
+from the river. The middy found the two quartermasters, who boarded in
+the same house. They were to go on board of the steamer at once; but
+Beeks was to bring a canoe from the boat-house to the point on the shore
+nearest to the Bellevite before he went on board. Both of these men were
+cautioned not to say anything about any person they might see, and the
+same instruction was given to all the others whose services were
+required.
+
+Mr. Watts had not retired when Christy called at his house, and he was
+duly startled by the information the young officer gave him. He was as
+ready to take part in the enterprise as even the middy himself, and he
+was conducted to the place where Paul was to meet the leader. He had
+more calls to make than Christy, and they had to wait some time for him;
+but when he did come, he reported that he had found and sent on board
+all the firemen and coal-passers he had named, and a few more, besides
+the old sailors who had sailed for years in the yachts of the owner of
+the Bellevite.
+
+The services of about a dozen had been procured, but half of these
+were to do duty in connection with the engine, and the party so hastily
+gathered were not strong enough to beat off the force of the enemy if
+they attempted to board the vessel.
+
+"Now, Paul, I want you to understand the whole affair before we go any
+farther; and I wish you would go on board and take the command there,"
+said the midshipman, as soon as the engineer had reported the result of
+his mission.
+
+"But are you not going to be on board, Christy? I don't pretend to be a
+sailor or a gunner," said Paul.
+
+"I shall go on board as soon as I can," replied Christy. "You will find
+a boat on the shore, near the steamer, and you will go on board in that;
+but have the boat sent back for me."
+
+"All right, Christy; I will obey orders," added Paul, as he dismounted
+from his horse.
+
+"Mr. Watts will take your horse, and ride with me down the shore. We can
+see the river all the way, for we shall not stick to the road when it
+leads us away from it. As soon as we discover the steamer that is to
+bring up the enemy, I will run my horse back to this point, and go on
+board."
+
+"That is all easy enough," added Paul.
+
+"Easy enough; but I can form no idea as to when the steamer will come.
+We may have to wait till morning for it, and perhaps the plan of the
+enemy will fail, and they will not come at all."
+
+"If they don't come to-night, they never will; and there will be time
+enough for the home guard to scour the woods, and arrest all suspicious
+persons."
+
+"I said what I did so that you need not be impatient if you have to
+wait a long time. You will have a watch kept from the moment you get
+on board, and no stranger is to be allowed to put a foot on the deck.
+Captain Carboneer may send some one of his party to see that everything
+is working right on board for his side of the affair."
+
+"I will do that."
+
+"See that the steam is well up, so that we can move off in good time if
+we find it necessary to get under way," continued Christy.
+
+"I thought that was a settled point, and the ship was to be taken down
+the river in any case," said Paul.
+
+"I supposed so myself in the beginning; but if it is not necessary to
+run away, I don't care to do so. Let Boxie see that the cable is buoyed
+and ready to run out at a moment's notice."
+
+"All right, midshipman," replied Paul, as he hastened to the boat.
+
+"Why does he call you midshipman?--that is a new name," said the chief
+steward.
+
+"He brought me the news this evening that I had been appointed in the
+navy with that rank," replied Christy. "Now we will ride down the river.
+Do you happen to know what time it is, Mr. Watts?"
+
+"I don't know, but I think it is about half-past eleven. I am not much
+of an equestrian," replied the steward, as he mounted the horse, "for I
+have been to sea all my life; but I think I can stay on if the beast
+don't run away with me."
+
+"He is perfectly gentle, and he will not run away with you. We have no
+occasion to ride fast, and we may not have to go more than two or three
+miles."
+
+They rode along the river for a few minutes, and then Christy reined in
+his steed and dismounted. He went to the water side, at a point where
+there was a bend, and carefully examined the surroundings, both above
+and below. He could not see the Bellevite in the darkness, for he had
+directed the engineer to allow no light to be shown on board of her.
+He had brought a little mathematics into his calculations, and he had
+pointed the big gun of the steamer so as to cover the craft with the
+walking-beam when she came in sight around this turn of the stream. By
+this plan she was sure to come into the range of the piece, no matter on
+which side of the channel she was moving.
+
+"Now, Mr. Watts, I have a further duty for you to perform," said
+Christy, as he explained his plan to the steward. "We shall go down the
+river till we meet this steamer which conveys the enemy. As you are a
+sailor as well as a caterer, you have a nautical eye, and when you have
+seen this steamer you will know her again."
+
+"Trust me for that. If it is the old tub I think it is, I know her
+already," answered the steward.
+
+"What steamer do you think it is?"
+
+"The old Vampire; and if you give her much of a rap, she will go to the
+bottom without the least difficulty."
+
+"I don't care where she goes to, provided she don't put her passengers
+on board of the Bellevite. But I am taking you down the river with me in
+order that you may see her and know her."
+
+"I shall know her as soon as I see her."
+
+"As I said before, I shall run my horse back and get aboard of the
+Bellevite as soon as I am satisfied that the enemy are moving up the
+river," continued Christy.
+
+"I am afraid I shall not be able to keep up with you if you run your
+horse," suggested the steward.
+
+"I don't want you to keep up with me. You can come along as leisurely as
+you please, though you must not let the enemy get ahead of you."
+
+"If the enemy are in the old Vampire, I could keep ahead of her on
+foot."
+
+"You had better keep ahead of her on your horse about a quarter of a
+mile, or more; but your main duty will be here. I have brought with me
+half a dozen Roman candles, and I am going to fix them in the ground on
+this spot. Here is a bunch of matches," said Christy, handing it to him.
+
+The steward watched the midshipman while he planted the fireworks in the
+sand, and particularly marked the spot where they were located, for his
+companion told him he was to fire them, and he must be ready to do so
+without any delay.
+
+"A boy could do that and like the fun of it," said Mr. Watts, laughing
+at the simple duty he was to perform.
+
+"But it is the time that you are to do it, and the boy might be
+skylarking, or become impatient. This signal of the fireworks is to
+assure us at the right moment that the Vampire, if it should be she,
+is in the place where I expect her to be."
+
+"I understand it perfectly."
+
+"After I leave you, another steamer may come along, and get to this
+point ahead of the Vampire; and I should be very sorry to blow her out
+of the water, or sink her under it. You are to let us know by this
+signal that it is the Vampire, and no other, that is coming round the
+bend. You had better leave your horse a short distance from the river,
+for that gun will make every pane of glass within a mile of it shake
+when it is discharged."
+
+"You may be sure that I will not be on his back at that time."
+
+"Still further: I have planted six candles in the sand. You will light
+only one of them when the steamer begins to round the bend. That will be
+enough to inform us of the fact on board of the Bellevite."
+
+"What are the others for?" asked the steward, taking a memorandum-book
+from his pocket as though he intended to write his instructions.
+
+"It is not necessary to write it. We shall not be able to see what
+effect the shot produces after we fire. If the Vampire, always supposing
+she is the one, is not hurt, light a second candle--only one of them. If
+she should be disabled, you will light two candles."
+
+Christy repeated what he had said, and was careful not to give the
+steward too much to remember. As soon as the matter was fully
+understood, the middy mounted his horse, and they proceeded on their
+mission down the river. After they had ridden about three miles, Mr.
+Watts insisted that the steamer was coming, and that it was the Vampire.
+
+"I don't see anything," added Christy.
+
+"Neither do I; but I know that the Vampire is coming up the river. If
+you listen, you will hear a hoarse puffing; and nothing but that old ark
+could make such a wheezy noise," replied the steward.
+
+The middy heard it and was satisfied.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE APPROACH OF THE VAMPIRE
+
+
+The Vampire, as the steward had no doubt it was, could not be less than
+a mile distant from the spot where the two horsemen had halted in the
+road. Christy was very familiar with this portion of the river, and
+after he had listened a few moments, he was satisfied from the direction
+of the sound he heard, that a mile was very nearly the exact distance.
+The approaching steamer had to come around a small bend, the arc of
+which made just a mile.
+
+"I don't wish to blow up a dozen or twenty loyal citizens, and I must
+make sure in some way that Captain Carboneer's party is on board of that
+steamer," said Christy, as he led his horse into a field, and tied him
+to a tree, the steward following his example.
+
+"That would be a very bad thing to do," added Mr. Watts, as they walked
+back to the river. "But I don't see why it is necessary to blow up even
+any rebels on the present occasion. If that naval officer has forty men,
+as you think he has, a shot from that long gun would make terrible havoc
+among them if you succeeded in hitting her. You might kill half of
+them."
+
+"If we do they, and not we, will be responsible for it," added Christy,
+somewhat appalled by the suggestion of his companion.
+
+"If you have steam up on board of the Bellevite, why not get under way
+and run down the river," continued Mr. Watts.
+
+"Perhaps I am a coward, but I am afraid to do that," replied the
+midshipman, thoughtfully.
+
+"We all know that you are no coward, Christy, and if you don't send a
+shot into the Vampire, it will not be because you are afraid."
+
+"Although I know the river as well as any pilot in this vicinity, I
+should not dare to run the Bellevite at full speed around such a bend
+as the one off this spot," Christy explained. "We have not above half a
+dozen trained sailors who know how to handle a cutlass on board, and all
+the others will be needed in working the steamer. The coal-passers would
+be good for nothing in repelling boarders."
+
+"You think Captain Carboneer would board the steamer, do you?"
+
+"I have no doubt he would. He is a naval officer, and he knows what
+he is about. There are several ways that he might get a hold on the
+Bellevite, and, if he got alongside of her, I am afraid it would be all
+up with us, and we should have a fair chance to see the inside of a
+Confederate prison. I am afraid to run the risk you suggest, Mr. Watts."
+
+"You know best, and I don't mean to interfere; I only thought I would
+suggest the idea," added the steward, as they reached the bank of the
+river again.
+
+After he had secured his horse, Christy had lighted a match and looked
+at his watch. It was a quarter of one, and still the puffing of the
+Vampire came from the same direction. It was plain enough to him that
+the old tub was not a racer. But she showed herself beyond the bend in
+about a quarter of an hour, indicating that her rate of speed, or rather
+of slowness, was not more than four statute miles an hour. But this was
+simply confirmation of what the steward had said on the subject. Yet she
+was coming, though it was too dark on the river to see her in detail.
+Though he strained his eyes to the utmost, Christy could not discover
+any men on her forward deck.
+
+"I think you had better move back where you cannot be seen," said the
+midshipman, in a low tone, to his companion.
+
+"Do you wish me to leave you alone, Christy?" asked the steward,
+surprised at the request.
+
+"That is just what I wish, for I don't care to have any one on board of
+the Vampire see more than one person at this point," replied Christy,
+still gazing through the gloom at the approaching steamer.
+
+"Excuse me, Christy; but what are you going to do? I prefer to be within
+supporting distance of you."
+
+"I don't think I shall need any support. I am going to hail the Vampire,
+and ask if Captain Carboneer is on board," replied the midshipman,
+quietly.
+
+"You are going to hail her!" exclaimed Mr. Watts. "Are you mad, Christy?
+I should say that you were."
+
+"You shall be your own judge on that point."
+
+"But the moment you use the name of Captain Carboneer, they will take
+the alarm, and the next thing will be a bullet through your head."
+
+"I will take the risk of that," answered Christy. "But you need not go
+far from the river on this dark night. There is a clump of bushes this
+side of the road, and you may get behind it."
+
+The steward was not at all satisfied with the situation, but he complied
+with the request of the midshipman, and concealed himself behind the
+bushes. Christy took a position on the very verge of the water. The
+progress of the Vampire was made at the expense of a hideous noise, and
+she was a craft not at all adapted to the purpose of the conspirators.
+The middy watched her with the most intense interest as she approached
+the point where he was stationed. There was no light to be seen on
+board, and there appeared to be no men on her lower deck; but she had a
+cabin and other rooms, in which a force as large as that of the captain
+could be concealed.
+
+"Steamer, ahoy!" shouted Christy, as soon as the Vampire was abreast of
+the spot he occupied.
+
+No answer came to this hail, and the midshipman repeated it, louder than
+before.
+
+"On shore!" replied a voice from the forward deck.
+
+"Come up to the shore, and take me on board, will you?" continued
+Christy, disguising his voice to some extent the better to answer his
+purpose.
+
+"Who is it?" demanded the person on board who acted as speaker; and
+Christy could see his form very distinctly, as he stood at an open
+gangway, and was the only person in sight on the lower deck.
+
+"Brigster," replied Christy, chewing up the word he coined so that the
+man could not possibly make it out.
+
+"Are you alone, Brewster?" demanded the speaker from the steamer.
+
+This was a hard question, and with less information than he had obtained
+while in his cabin on board of the Florence, he would not have dared to
+reply to it. But he knew something of the plan of the conspirators, and
+he felt competent to answer.
+
+"Three more back in the road," replied Christy, promptly; and he said
+three so as to give the idea that the force on board might be increased
+by this number. "Is Captain Carboneer on board of that steamer?" asked
+the midshipman, coming to his main point.
+
+  [Illustration: "Steamer, Ahoy!" shouted Christy.--Page 107.]
+
+"He is, and we are all here but four," replied the speaker on the deck;
+and Christy was satisfied that the captain was the person by this time,
+for his language and his voice indicated that he was an educated man.
+
+"We had no boat, and we could not get across the river to the creek,"
+added Christy, to increase the confidence of the leader of the
+expedition. "But we saw a boat half at mile up the river, and we
+will come off there, if you say so."
+
+"All right; come on board as soon as you can," added Captain Carboneer,
+as he walked away from the gangway.
+
+Mindful of the peril of the situation, Christy walked leisurely back
+from the river, and soon joined Mr. Watts, who had been near enough to
+hear the conversation between the captain and the midshipman.
+
+"That was done very handsomely, Christy," said the steward.
+
+"There was no great difficulty in handling such a matter when one knew
+all about the plot as I did. The fault on the other side was that they
+did not examine the cabin of the Florence before they discussed their
+plans in the standing-room," replied Christy, as he unfastened his
+horse, and sprang upon his back. "I have no time to spare now."
+
+"There is nothing more to be done here, I believe," added Mr. Watts.
+
+"Not a thing. You can ride back to the place where the Roman candles
+are planted, and you need not hurry about it, for the Vampire don't
+make more than four miles an hour. Now be particular to carry out my
+instructions to the letter, Mr. Watts; and you can see that a great deal
+depends upon which signal you may have occasion to give," added the
+midshipman.
+
+"I understand what I am to do perfectly, and I will do my duty
+faithfully, you may be sure," replied the steward, as he mounted
+his horse.
+
+Christy did not wait for him, but put his steed into a dead run on
+the moment. The road was only a cart-path, and it was so soft that the
+horse's hoofs made no noise to betray his movements to the enemy. He
+urged the willing beast to his utmost speed, for he was as much at home
+in the saddle as he was in the rigging of a ship. Before the Vampire had
+made another eighth of a mile, he had reached the place where the boat
+had been left for his use. What to do with his horse was a question, for
+the report of the big gun would set him crazy. But he knew that the men
+must be at the house, and he turned the animal loose, satisfied that he
+would go to the stable without any guidance.
+
+Springing into the boat, he pulled to the Bellevite. At the
+accommodation steps, he was challenged by Sampson, who demanded like
+one in authority who and what he was, for the experience of the evening
+had greatly sharpened his wits.
+
+"Who is it?" he demanded, in a tone which implied his intention to have
+a satisfactory answer. "Advance and give the word."
+
+"Give the word!" exclaimed Christy. "I have no word to give."
+
+"Then you can't come on board," replied Sampson dogmatically.
+
+"I am Christy Passford, and I have not heard about any word," protested
+the midshipman.
+
+"You can't pour molasses down my back again," replied Sampson, with a
+self-satisfied air.
+
+"Don't be a fool, Sampson," added Christy, as he climbed upon the steps,
+the lower part of which had been hoisted up.
+
+"I have been a fool once, and I don't mean to be again," replied the
+sentinel. "On deck, there! Bring a lantern out of the engine-room!"
+
+"Don't bring a lantern in sight!" protested Christy impatiently.
+
+"What's the row there, Sampson?" called Paul Vapoor, mounting the rail,
+and looking through the darkness at the steps, down which the vigilant
+sentinel had descended more than half way to the water.
+
+"This fellow says he is Christy Passford; and I don't know whether it is
+Christy or not," replied Sampson.
+
+"Is that you, Christy?" asked Paul.
+
+"Of course it is," replied the middy. "We are wasting time."
+
+"He hasn't the word," added the sentinel.
+
+"Pass him, Sampson; he is all right," said the engineer; and Christy
+rushed up the steps, and leaped down upon the deck of the steamer.
+
+"I gave out a word for all who had to leave the ship for any purpose
+during the evening," Paul explained.
+
+"Never mind that now," interposed the midshipman in command. "Have you
+plenty of steam on?"
+
+"Enough to give her fifteen knots," replied the engineer. "The cable
+is buoyed, and the long gun loaded. I believe everything is in perfect
+order to carry out your instructions, though we did not point the gun
+when we loaded it, for I thought you would prefer to do that yourself,"
+the engineer reported.
+
+"All right, Paul," added Christy. "The steamer, whose name is the
+Vampire, is on her way up the river, and I should say she would reach
+the bend in about half an hour. Mr. Watts is down there, and I have
+arranged certain signals with him."
+
+The midshipman made a careful examination for himself of the ship.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+A SHOT FROM THE LONG GUN
+
+
+Christy Passford, as soon as he found that all the other preparations
+for the decisive event had been made, turned his attention to the aiming
+of the long gun. He had practised with it somewhat before; and in the
+ambitious spirit of a boy, he had often amused himself by sighting over
+the top of the piece.
+
+There was no sort of duty on board of a vessel, even a war steamer, in
+which he had not done his best to make himself a proficient. He had done
+duty as an engineer, and even as a fireman. He had taken his trick at
+the wheel as a quartermaster, and there was nothing he had not done,
+unless it was to command a vessel, and he had done that on a small
+scale. Doubtless he had no inconsiderable portion of a boy's vanity,
+and he believed that he could do anything that anybody else could do;
+or if he was satisfied that he could not, he studied and practised till
+he did believe it.
+
+Be it vanity or pride, Christy certainly believed in himself to a very
+liberal extent, though his character was fortunately leavened with a
+large lump of modesty. What he believed, he believed for himself, and
+acted upon it for himself; so that he was not inclined to boast of his
+accomplishments, and permitted others to find out what he was rather
+than made it known in words himself. But his father had found it
+necessary to restrain him to some extent, and he had not pushed him
+forward as rapidly as he might have done till the dread notes of war
+were heard on the land and the sea; and then he thought it would be
+wrong to hold him back.
+
+When Christy sighted along the great gun, he believed he could hit the
+Vampire almost to a certainty; but he was not self-sufficient, and did
+not often believe that he knew a thing better than any other person, and
+he was not above taking the advice and instruction of others. It was
+dark, but Christy had fixed upon an object at the bend below, of which
+he intended to make use in firing the gun. It was a tree which painted
+its outline on the horizon, and the decisive moment was to come when
+the Vampire was in range with this tree. He adjusted the gun just as he
+wanted it, and he was satisfied it would do just what he required of it.
+
+He was not inclined to act on his own judgment and skill alone, and he
+called Boxie, the old sheet-anchorman, who had been the captain of a gun
+years before the midshipman was born, and pointed out the tree to him,
+asking him to sight along the gun. He explained his plan to the old
+salt, and then asked his opinion.
+
+"You have aimed it too high, Mr. Passford," said the veteran, after he
+had squinted a long time along the piece.
+
+"How is it otherwise?" asked Christy.
+
+"It is all right, sir; but the shot will pass over the steamer. Drop the
+muzzle a trifle, and the shot will hull her, if you pull the lockstring
+at the right time."
+
+"I shall see that the string is pulled at the right time; thank you,
+Boxie," added Christy, without depressing the gun as the old man
+suggested, for he had a theory of his own which he intended to carry
+out.
+
+"But the ship may change her position a trifle," added Boxie.
+
+"Of course, I mean to sight the gun again at the very moment we fire,"
+replied Christy, looking at his watch, though he was obliged to go into
+the engine-room to see what time it was.
+
+It was after two, and the Vampire had had time enough to make the bend.
+Christy wondered if Captain Carboneer was not looking for the four men
+he had promised to put on board of the old steamer; but some promises
+are better broken than kept, and the midshipman thought this was one of
+them, though he did not consider the present occasion as any excuse for
+lies, or the failure to keep his word, in the indefinite future.
+
+The acting commander of the Bellevite--for such the middy was, and
+no one disputed his authority--began to be very nervous at the
+non-appearance of the enemy. He was afraid that some mishap had befallen
+the Vampire; either that she had gone to the bottom or got aground,
+though he had heard Captain Carboneer say that he was a pilot for this
+part of the river.
+
+Christy had mounted the gun carriage ready to take his final aim, and he
+had been there at least half an hour. He was watching the point where
+the Roman candles had been planted, and he had perfect confidence in
+the judgment and fidelity of Mr. Watts. Boxie was stationed at the
+lock-string, and held it in his hand, ready to speed the great shot
+on its errand of destruction; but he hoped the midshipman would depress
+the muzzle of the gun before he was called upon to pull the string. The
+other sailors who had served on board of the Bellevite, and had been
+drilled in handling the guns, were all in their stations, ready to load
+the piece again as quickly as possible after it had been discharged.
+
+The silence had become intense and painful to all, for apart from
+the messenger of death and devastation which was about to be hurled at
+the Vampire, the Bellevite was in danger of being captured, and had a
+resolute enemy in front of her. The safety of the pet steamer depended
+upon the skill and judgment of a mere boy, though everybody on board had
+entire confidence in him. But the supreme moment came soon enough.
+
+  [Illustration: "Christy sprang to the Gun."--Page 119.]
+
+A hardly perceptible light at the point he was so closely watching,
+first attracted the attention of Christy,--perhaps the lighting of the
+steward's match. An instant later, the fireworks blazed up, and lighted
+up the smooth surface of the sleeping river. No doubt the conspirators,
+who had chosen darkness because their deeds were evil, were astounded to
+see so much light suddenly thrown upon their enterprise.
+
+Christy sprang to the gun, took a hasty sight, which satisfied him that
+the position of the gun had not changed a particle. As the dark outline
+of the Vampire passed in range of the selected tree, the midshipman
+sprang down from the gun-carriage.
+
+"Fire!" shouted he, in a determined though not very loud tone.
+
+It was a tremendous explosion, and the echoes rolled out from the hills
+as though they were armed with heavy guns, and were taking part in the
+conflict. Probably the rattling windows and the shaking frames of the
+houses roused all the sleepers within a mile of the ship.
+
+The Bellevite was enveloped in the smoke from the discharge, and though
+Christy mounted the carriage again to obtain a better view, he could see
+nothing, for there was not wind enough to sweep it away at once. But the
+young commander watched, with almost as much interest and anxiety as
+before, the signal station he had established. But there was no occasion
+for desperate haste, for the gun was ready for use a second time if the
+first shot had failed to do its work. On the other hand, if the Vampire
+was disabled, she would stay where she was, or drift down the river with
+the turn of the tide, and it was just about "full sea" at this time.
+
+The smoke was very aggravating to the midshipman, but he could not help
+himself. The light air swept it away in time, and, with his strained
+eyes, Christy discovered that two Roman candles were burning at the
+signal station.
+
+"Did you hit her, Christy?" asked Paul Vapoor, leaping on the
+gun-carriage.
+
+"I did," replied the midshipman, trying to control a certain feeling of
+exultation that took possession of his mind, for he did not consider
+that some of the party below might have been killed by the shot.
+
+"I suppose you don't know anything about the effect of the shot yet?"
+added Paul.
+
+"I only know that the Vampire is disabled."
+
+"How do you know that, for I can't see anything?"
+
+"Do you see those two blue lights burning at the side of the river?"
+asked Christy, as he pointed to the place.
+
+"I see them, and they light up the river like a flash of lightning."
+
+"They mean that the steamer is disabled; and for that reason she can't
+come any nearer than she is now."
+
+"But those villains will make their way to the shore, and there are
+boats enough about here to enable them to get alongside, and lay us
+aboard. This is not the end of the affair," said the engineer, very
+seriously.
+
+"Decidedly not; but I hope to have further information in the course of
+a few minutes," replied Christy.
+
+"Bellevite, ahoy!" shouted some one on shore.
+
+"That is Mr. Watts; send Sampson on shore after him, and we shall
+soon know the condition of affairs on board of the Vampire," added the
+midshipman. "I told the steward to ride up as fast as he could after he
+had satisfied himself that the steamer was disabled."
+
+Sampson was gone but a few minutes, during which time Christy and
+Paul consulted in regard to the next step to be taken, and the question
+was promptly decided. The boat in which Sampson had gone to the shore
+returned not only with the steward, but also with Mrs. Passford and Miss
+Florry.
+
+"What does this mean, mother?" asked Christy, astonished to see his
+mother and sister come on board.
+
+"It means that we were alarmed, and could not stay in the house any
+longer," said Florry, taking it upon herself to answer.
+
+"Your father has not come home yet, Christy, and I don't think he will
+come to-night, for he said he might not be able to return in the last
+train," added Mrs. Passford. "We came down to the shore with two of the
+men, and saw Mr. Watts when he arrived on the horse."
+
+"And I shall take the responsibility of having advised the ladies to go
+on board of the Bellevite," interposed the steward.
+
+"But you have not reported upon the condition of the enemy after the
+shot hit the Vampire, Mr. Watts," said Christy, impatiently.
+
+"The shot struck her walking-beam, smashed it all to pieces, and cleaned
+it off completely. Of course, that disabled her. Very likely some of the
+party on board of the Vampire are hurt, for the pieces did not all drop
+into the water."
+
+"Now, in regard to the ladies?" suggested the midshipman.
+
+"It is for you to decide, Mr. Passford, whether or not the enemy are
+likely to renew the attempt to capture the steamer. But it seemed to me,
+whether they do anything more or not, it is not quite safe for the
+ladies to be alone in the house with the servants, for these fellows
+will be prowling about here in either case."
+
+"I would not stay in the house for all the world!" protested Miss
+Florry; and probably she thought that one of the prowlers would be Major
+Pierson.
+
+"You are quite right, Mr. Watts; I was not as thoughtful as you were,"
+replied Christy, who took in the situation with this suggestion. "What
+were they doing on board of the Vampire, Mr. Watts?"
+
+"I did not wait to observe their movements, but the boat began to drift
+down the river."
+
+"Beg pardon, Mr. Passford, but the ship is swinging around, and you will
+not be able to use that gun as it points now," said Boxie, touching his
+hat to the young commander.
+
+"Stand by your engine, Paul; we will get under way at once. Boxie, cast
+off the cable, and let it run out. You buoyed it, did you not?" said
+Christy, with a sudden renewal of energy, as he hastened to the
+pilot-house, where Beeks and Thayer had been sent before.
+
+"I buoyed the cable, sir," replied the sheet-anchorman.
+
+"Then cast it off. Sampson, open the cabin for the ladies," added
+Christy, as he disappeared in the pilot-house.
+
+But the ladies preferred to go into the engine-room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE BATTLE ALONGSIDE THE BELLEVITE
+
+
+The signal lights at the bend of the river had burned out, and nothing
+could be seen in that direction. The turn of the tide had carried the
+wreck of the Vampire, if she was a wreck, down the stream, and beyond
+what the steward had reported, nothing was known in regard to her. Mr.
+Watts possessed himself of the single fact that her walking-beam had
+been carried away by the shot, and he had not waited to ascertain
+anything more. She was disabled, and he had been instructed to hasten up
+the river as soon as he had assured himself of this fact, and made the
+signal.
+
+As the extent of the calamity to the enemy was unknown, the young
+commander began to have some painful doubts in regard to the immediate
+future. He had given the order to slip the cable, and he could hear the
+rattle of the chain as it passed out through the hawse-hole. It was
+evident enough to him that he had to run the gantlet of the party on
+board of the Vampire in descending the river. As the shot had hit the
+walking-beam of the steamer, it was not probable that she was seriously
+injured in her hull, if at all.
+
+Some of the enemy had doubtless been hurt by the fall of the pieces of
+machinery, but Christy could not believe that the conspirators were
+disabled, as the vessel was. The enemy might make an attempt to board
+the Bellevite as she passed down the river, for the accident must have
+rendered the party more desperate than before. In the face of a failure
+to capture the Bellevite at her anchorage, which had seemed so easy a
+matter to the leaders of the expedition, they would be ready to take any
+chances of success that came in their way.
+
+"Cable all out, sir," reported Boxie.
+
+Not without some heavy doubts, Christy rang the bell to go ahead. He
+had no one in the pilot-house with whom he could consult except the two
+quartermasters, for Paul was in charge of the engine, and he could no
+more leave it than the midshipman could leave the wheel. The propeller
+began to turn, and the ship gathered headway. To add to the
+responsibility of the young commander, his mother and sister had just
+come on board, and were now seated on the sofa in the engine-room.
+
+The Bellevite was moving down the river, and the only thing Christy
+could do was to brace himself up to meet whatever might happen on the
+trip. He did this at once, and a moment later he rang to go ahead at
+full speed. He was approaching the bend of the river, and in a minute
+or two more he would be able to see the Vampire. But Captain Carboneer
+could no more see through the headland at the bend than he could, and
+he hoped that the leader of the enemy had not yet discovered that the
+Bellevite was under way.
+
+The steamer increased her speed on the instant in response to the
+signal, and she rushed forward at a velocity that would be fatal to the
+Vampire if she happened to be in her path. But Christy was not disposed
+to make an issue with the enemy when they met; he intended to defend the
+Bellevite, if she was attacked, to the extent of his ability and small
+force.
+
+"There she is!" exclaimed Beeks, as the Bellevite began to change her
+course to go around the bend.
+
+Christy saw the Vampire as soon as the quartermaster, and he was glad
+to find that she had drifted to the left bank of the river as far as
+the depth of water would permit. As her engine was disabled, she had
+no means of propulsion with which she could help herself. It was not
+improbable that she was aground. She was not armed with a single heavy
+gun, or with any gun, and she was entirely harmless.
+
+Christy breathed more freely when he realized the situation of the
+Vampire. Probably she was provided with one or more boats, and it was
+possible that Captain Carboneer might attempt to board the Bellevite as
+soon as he discovered her. The deck of the steam-yacht was not very far
+above the water, and if a boat full of desperate men could get alongside
+of the ship, it would not be a very difficult matter for them to mount
+the side.
+
+"Port a little," said Christy to the quartermasters at the wheel. "Keep
+her well over to the west shore. Steady."
+
+A moment later the steamer had her course for passing the Vampire, and
+Christy left the pilot-house to obtain a better view of the situation
+and movements of the enemy. It was not so dark as to prevent him from
+seeing all that was going on upon her deck, for the Bellevite had to
+pass within pistol-shot of her to avoid getting aground on the edge of
+the channel.
+
+Sampson and the rest of the old ship's company gathered near him, where
+they could see over the rail. The oiler, as Paul Vapoor had instructed
+him to do, had armed all these men with a cutlass and a revolver, and
+very likely some or all of them would have been glad to make use of
+them.
+
+"They are loading into a boat on the port side of the Vampire, sir, and
+it looks as though they intended to do something without delay," said
+Sampson; and, as the steamer had come about since she was disabled, this
+was the side nearest to the shore.
+
+"I see that they are hurrying some movement with all their might,"
+replied the midshipman, watching with the most intense interest the
+operations of the enemy. "Sampson, get out half a dozen sixty-pound,
+solid shot, and put them on the plankshear, twenty feet apart. Take all
+hands with you, and hurry up."
+
+The oiler asked no questions, though he might have been excused for
+wondering what the young commander intended to do with shot without
+powder. In a few minutes the shot were in place, as Christy had
+directed. The midshipman was watching with all his eyes the movement of
+the enemy, and, as the Bellevite approached the position of the wreck,
+the boat darted out from the other side of her. It began to be exciting
+for the middy, loaded with the responsibility of the safety of the
+steamer, though he seemed to be as cool as Boxie himself, who had seen
+some sea fights in his day.
+
+Christy leaped on the rail of the ship, where he could obtain a full
+view of the situation. The boat was approaching with all the speed the
+oarsmen could command, and they seemed to be experienced hands. There
+could be no doubt of the intentions of the enemy, and the midshipman
+drew his heavy naval revolver from his pocket.
+
+"Stand by to repel boarders!" he called to the seamen. "Pass up one of
+those shot, Sampson. Have a hand mount the rail, each with a shot, at
+the points where you have placed them."
+
+"The ladies wish to know what is going on, Christy," said Paul, coming
+from the engine-room.
+
+"I have no time to talk now," replied Christy impatiently, as he saw the
+approaching boat within ten feet of the side of the steamer. "Tell them
+to stay where they are, and not come on deck!"
+
+The boat was not a large one, and it did not contain more than a dozen
+men; but the fine form of Captain Carboneer could be seen, as he stood
+up in the stern sheets. Those who were not pulling the oars began to
+discharge revolvers at the men now mounted on the rail; but the motion
+of the boat and the ship seemed to defeat their aim, and no one was hit
+so far as was known.
+
+"When the boat comes alongside, let the man who is in the right place
+for it drop his shot into it. Be careful of it, and don't waste the
+iron," shouted Christy, when the decisive moment came.
+
+"All ready, sir," responded the men along the rail.
+
+"You are the man, Boxie! You are in the right place for the first shot,"
+added the midshipman.
+
+Boxie was next to him, and it would be Christy's turn next if the old
+man failed to do good work with his shot. The boat came alongside, and
+a bowman fastened his boathook at the side of the ship, and held it in
+place. At the same moment Boxie let drive his sixty-pound shot; but he
+ought to have waited an instant longer, for the missile dropped
+harmlessly into the river.
+
+The bowman had not obtained a good hold, and he lost it, so that the
+boat began to drift astern. Captain Carboneer shouted his orders, and
+the man got a new hold, and this time it was at the painter of the boat
+in which Sampson had brought off Mr. Watts and the ladies. It had been
+forgotten in the excitement of the moment, but the rope afforded a good
+hold to several men who had grasped it.
+
+At this thrilling moment, a man wearing a frock-coat discharged a
+revolver at Christy, who was standing on the rail above him, and then,
+seizing the painter in the hands of the men, he climbed briskly to the
+accommodation steps, which had been hoisted up, but not taken on board.
+
+Christy was in the most dangerous position on board, for he seemed to
+be the target for all who could use their revolvers. But the young
+commander was not asleep, though he had given no order for the last
+minute or two. The boat was directly under him, and he had put his
+pistol in his hip-pocket, in order to take up the solid shot at his
+feet. It was heavy, but he lifted it over his head without any
+difficulty, and launched it into the boat with all the force he could
+give to it.
+
+"On deck, there! Let go that painter!" shouted Christy, as he pitched
+his missile from his hands.
+
+He was in a position so favorable for the operation that he could not
+well miss his aim, and the shot crashed through the bottom of the boat,
+carrying down one of the enemy with it. It did not make a round hole in
+the bottom of the boat, it was afterwards ascertained, as it might if
+it had been fired from one of the broadside guns, but it tore off the
+planking, and made a hole as big as the head of a flour-barrel.
+
+"Lay hold of that man on the accommodation ladder!" shouted Christy,
+without waiting to observe the effect of his shot, for the man who had
+succeeded in mounting the side was armed with a dangerous weapon, which
+he was likely to use as soon as he found the opportunity.
+
+The men forward of the point where the boat had come alongside had been
+ordered aft, and a couple of them dragged the venturesome officer, as
+his frock-coat indicated that he was, to the deck. Christy was almost
+sure this man was Haslett, who had certainly set a bold example to his
+companions in the boat. He was quickly secured, and by no gentle hands.
+His hands were tied behind him, and he was made fast to the rail, where
+he was likely to be harmless during the rest of the trip.
+
+It was no easy matter for a boat to make fast to a steamer going ten
+knots an hour at least, and if the painter of the boat had not been
+carelessly left where it could be of service to the assailants, the
+affair would have ended with Boxie's unsuccessful cast of the shot. But
+as soon as the painter was let go, an order which Sampson hastened to
+execute, the enemy's hold upon the ship was lost, though they were using
+boathooks and other implements to make sure of their grasp. The boat was
+left behind by the ship, though not till the hole had been stove in her
+bottom.
+
+"Beg pardon, Mr. Passford, for missing my heave with the shot," said
+Boxie, on the deck; and the veteran's heart seemed to be almost broken
+by his failure.
+
+"You are very excusable, Boxie; one can't expect to hit every time,
+and you did very well," replied Christy, who had suddenly passed from
+painful doubt and uncertainty to exultation and exaltation at the
+victory achieved. "We are all right now."
+
+"But the enemy are not," added Sampson, who had mounted the rail after
+he had secured the prisoner. "They are all afloat."
+
+"They will get ashore in some way, or back to the Vampire," replied
+Christy, and he descended to the deck, and hastened to the engine-room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE PRISONER OF WAR
+
+
+"What in the world have you been doing, Christy?" asked Mrs. Passford,
+as her son entered the engine-room; and her anxiety was visible in her
+tones and looks as she spoke.
+
+"We have been repelling boarders, mother," replied the middy, his face
+wreathed in smiles.
+
+"What do you mean by that, my son?" inquired his mother.
+
+"Well, mother, you are the daughter of a distinguished naval officer,
+and it seems to me you must understand what repelling boarders means,"
+answered the young commander, laughing merrily; and no one in the
+engine-room could fail to see that he was in the highest state of
+exhilaration, now that the safety of the ship had been assured.
+
+"Of course, I know what it means," added the lady.
+
+"And I don't mean boarders at the hotel, who are repelled by strong
+butter and tough steaks," chuckled Christy.
+
+"I wish you would explain yourself, my son."
+
+"I will, mother mine. The fellows we fired at when we were at anchor
+have just attempted to board the Bellevite, and thus obtain possession
+of her, as they failed to do in Mobile Bay, as well as at our anchorage
+in the Hudson." And he proceeded to explain in detail all that had
+occurred on board and alongside.
+
+"My dear boy, I had no idea that you had been engaged in a battle!"
+exclaimed the fond mother.
+
+"It wasn't much of a battle, though a good many pistol-shots were fired
+at us; but a sixty-pound shot did the business on our side, and we left
+the enemy, or a portion of them, paddling in the river, and trying to
+keep their heads above water. But I must not stay here, for I have to
+look out for the steering of the ship," continued Christy, as he moved
+towards the door.
+
+"You whipped them out, did you, midshipman?" added the engineer.
+
+"We did; and there isn't any doubt of it. I shouldn't wonder if some of
+them had lost the number of their mess. But I think it is settled for
+the present that Captain Carboneer don't go to sea in the Bellevite. By
+the way, I had forgotten that we took a prisoner, and perhaps he will be
+willing to tell us something more about his enterprise."
+
+"Who is the prisoner?" asked Mrs. Passford.
+
+"He is an officer, I judge, for he wore a frock-coat."
+
+"The party could not have had a great many officers. It was not the
+captain, was it?"
+
+"No; I am sure it is not he. I think it must be the naval officer whom
+Captain Carboneer called Haslett; but I have not seen him except as he
+was shinning up the painter of the boat. You can go on deck if you like,
+mother and Florry, or you may come with me into the pilot-house," added
+Christy.
+
+The engineer had to remain on duty, and Miss Florry mildly objected to
+leaving her present comfortable position on the sofa of the engine-room;
+but as her mother wished to go with her brother, she felt obliged to go
+with her.
+
+Christy gave his mother and sister places on the sofa abaft of the
+wheel, and then looked into the position of the steamer. But the two
+quartermasters had so often steered the steamer up and down the river
+that they had done very well, and there was no especial need of the
+midshipman as a pilot. The Bellevite was not going at anything like her
+best speed, or at her usual rate at sea. As she was going, it was about
+a four-hours' run to New York, and Christy was not in a hurry to get to
+his destination.
+
+"Beeks, we have a prisoner, and I should like to take his measure," said
+Christy to the senior quartermaster. "You may go aft and ask Sampson to
+bring him into the pilot-house."
+
+"Bring him into the pilot-house," repeated the man, as he left the
+apartment.
+
+"What are you going to do with your prisoner, Christy?" asked Mrs.
+Passford.
+
+"I shall hand him over to the proper officers, and they can do what they
+please with him," replied the middy. "I don't want him: do you, mother?"
+
+"What should I want of him?"
+
+"Perhaps you want him, Florry?" asked Christy of his sister.
+
+"I am sure I don't," she replied, pouting.
+
+"Perhaps you will want him when you have seen him," added the middy
+roguishly.
+
+At this moment Sampson appeared at the door of the pilot-house,
+conducting his prisoner, whose hands were still tied behind him. Christy
+did not see him at first, for he was looking at his sister; but her
+pretty face suddenly turned crimson, and her brother heard the sound of
+footsteps in the apartment.
+
+As soon as he saw the prisoner, he started back in astonishment, though
+perhaps there was no particular reason to be surprised. It was not Mr.
+Haslett, as he had supposed, and it certainly was not Captain Carboneer.
+But it was Major Lindley Pierson, late commandant of Fort Gaines.
+Christy had not expected to meet him, and that was the only reason why
+he was astonished.
+
+"Major Pierson!" exclaimed the midshipman, as soon as he had in some
+degree recovered from his astonishment. "I believe we have met before
+somewhere."
+
+"Without a doubt we have, Captain Passford," replied the major, who no
+longer belonged to the Mulgate family.
+
+"Not a captain, if you please; but I am none the less glad to see you on
+that account. This is really a very unexpected pleasure."
+
+"And quite as unexpected to me, I assure you, especially to meet the
+ladies," added the prisoner as he bowed low to Mrs. Passford and her
+daughter. "I had hoped I might meet Mrs. and Miss Passford before I
+returned to the South."
+
+"And you had even hoped to take one of them back with you as a passenger
+in the Bellevite," Christy interpolated, with great good nature.
+
+Major Pierson looked at him with a start, and it was his turn to be
+astonished. He was a prisoner, but he had the privilege of wondering how
+Christy knew so much about his affairs.
+
+"Captain Carboneer is a very obstinate man, and did not take kindly to
+the carrying of lady passengers in a man-of-war; but I think he was
+right, though my view may be of no consequence to you," added the young
+officer. "I have the highest opinion of Captain Carboneer, for he is a
+solid, substantial man. By the way. Major Pierson, who is he?"
+
+"He is Captain Carboneer," replied the major discreetly.
+
+"Perhaps he is Captain Carboneer; I don't know: things are not always
+what they seem, and I find that persons are not, either. Hasn't that
+been your experience, Mr. Mulgate--I beg your pardon, Major Pierson?"
+
+The prisoner frowned, and gave a fierce glance at the midshipman, as
+though he felt like annihilating him with a look. But he evidently
+considered just then that he was in the presence of the ladies, and
+perhaps that the flash of his eagle eye would not kill his tormentor,
+as the young man seemed to have become.
+
+"I am your prisoner, or somebody's prisoner, Captain Passford, and the
+tables are turned against me. Of course, you don't expect me to give
+information that will be of use to the enemies of my country."
+
+"Of course not."
+
+"When you were my prisoner, I think I treated you like a gentleman,"
+added Major Pierson.
+
+"I think you did, sir; and that reminds me that your hands are tied
+behind you. You were so kind as to release me from my bonds when I was
+in your power"--
+
+"And it was the stupidest thing I ever did in my life," interposed the
+prisoner, with some bitterness.
+
+"I am not familiar with the events of your life, and I cannot gainsay
+your remark."
+
+"You did not scruple to turn our own guns against us."
+
+"As you would have done if you had succeeded in capturing the
+Bellevite," added Christy, smartly. "This time makes twice that you did
+not capture her."
+
+"The third time may not fail."
+
+"It may not; but I must be as magnanimous as you were. Sampson, release
+the gentleman."
+
+"Thank you, Captain Passford; that is no more than I did for you when
+you were in the same situation."
+
+"But I suppose you will not undertake to capture this ship after I
+have done as well by you as you did by me. I intend to treat you like a
+gentleman, though the fortunes of war are against you. Now, perhaps you
+will not object to answering a question or two, in which there can be no
+treason."
+
+"I must be my own judge of the questions," replied the major, rather
+haughtily.
+
+"Certainly, sir; and I shall not insist upon your answering any
+question. Was any one on board of the Vampire killed in this affair?"
+
+"No one was killed."
+
+"Were any wounded?"
+
+"I am sorry to say that three were injured by the falling of the pieces
+of the walking-beam."
+
+"Seriously?"
+
+"Two slightly, and one severely."
+
+"Thank you, major."
+
+"Of course, I am not informed of the fate of those in the boat when it
+was sunk," added the prisoner.
+
+"I think no one was badly hurt in that part of the affair," said
+Christy.
+
+"Perhaps it will be of interest to you to know that Private Passford,
+formerly of my command, was the one who was severely wounded on board of
+the Vampire."
+
+"Corny!" exclaimed Mrs. Passford.
+
+"I am sorry to say that he was struck on the shoulder by a fragment of
+the machinery," replied the major, very politely, as he bowed low to the
+lady.
+
+"Poor Corny!" ejaculated Miss Florry. "Is he very badly wounded, Major
+Pierson?"
+
+"I do not know how seriously, but I am afraid he cannot use that
+shoulder for a long time." replied the prisoner, fixing a look of
+admiration upon her, as if he were glad to have the privilege of looking
+at her without causing any remark.
+
+"I am so sorry for him. Corny was always real good to me when I have
+been at Glenfield," added the fair girl, and she actually shed some
+sympathetic tears as she thought of his wounded shoulder. "Can we not
+do something for him, mother?"
+
+"I shall be very glad to have him removed to the house, and I will take
+care of him till he gets well. I don't know whether this can be done or
+not. Perhaps Major Pierson can inform me."
+
+"If your kind hearts prompt you to do this for one who is in arms
+against the government, I have no doubt it can be managed. He can
+give his parole, and that will make it all right."
+
+"He is my nephew, and I would do as much for him as I would for my own
+son," replied Mrs. Passford heartily.
+
+"And I as much as I would for my brother," added Miss Florry.
+
+Everything was pleasant so far, though all the Passfords were worried
+about poor Corny, who had been with the ladies only the evening before.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+AFTER THE BATTLE
+
+
+It was six o'clock in the morning when the Bellevite let go her anchor
+off Twentieth Street, as the young commander decided to do after some
+consultation with Paul Vapoor, who was his senior in years if not in
+wisdom. He did not suppose the steamer would be allowed to anchor at the
+Navy Yard without orders to that effect. His father had not returned
+from the city. Though he held no office, Captain Passford was as busy
+with public affairs as though he had been the collector of the port.
+
+No one but the ladies had slept any during the trip; but they had been
+on deck some time when the steamer anchored. Christy had been very much
+in doubt as to what he should do with the Bellevite when he reached his
+destination, and he was glad to see his mother when she came out of the
+cabin. Though he was still hardly more than a boy, he believed in his
+mother, and it had not yet occurred to him that he knew more than she
+did. He stated his difficulty to her, for Paul had been as much in doubt
+as the midshipman.
+
+"I think it is a very easy question to answer, Christy," replied Mrs.
+Passford, with a smile. "Where have you anchored?"
+
+"Off Union Square, or very near it, I should think," replied Christy.
+
+"You know that your father stays at the St. James Hotel when he is in
+the city," she added. "The only thing you can do is to find him, and let
+him decide what is to be done with the Bellevite."
+
+"I did not think of that," added the midshipman. "I will get out a boat
+at once, and go on shore."
+
+"Florry and I will go with you," continued Mrs. Passford. "We have
+nothing to do here, and I should like to return to Bonnydale as soon as
+possible. But what will you do with your prisoner, Christy?"
+
+"I shall do nothing with him. Sampson is in charge of him, and I am sure
+he will not take his eye off the major while he remains on board."
+
+The port-quarter boat was lowered into the water, and a couple of the
+old sailors took their places in her. The ladies were assisted to their
+seats, and Christy, after he had informed the engineer that he was in
+command during his absence, leaped into the boat, and it was pulled to
+the nearest pier. A carriage was called, and the party were driven to
+the hotel. It was half-past six, and Christy was informed that his
+father had not yet come down. Word was sent up to him, and the son went
+to his room, where he found him only half dressed.
+
+"I did not expect to see you at this time in the morning, my son," said
+the owner of the Bellevite. "How did you come down so early?"
+
+"I came in the Bellevite; and she is at anchor in the stream off
+Twentieth Street, father," replied Christy.
+
+"In the Bellevite!" exclaimed Captain Passford, with the nearest thing
+to a frown that ever appeared on his brow in the presence of any member
+of his family. "I don't quite understand how"--
+
+"An attempt was made to capture her last night, father, and I thought it
+best to make sure of her," interposed the midshipman.
+
+"To capture her!" ejaculated Captain Passford, suspending his toilet,
+and gazing into the face of his son. "I think you must have dreamed
+that, Christy."
+
+"Perhaps I did, father; but we captured one prisoner of rank in my
+dream, and he is on board now, closely guarded by Sampson," replied
+Christy, laughing in his excitement. "Mother and Florry were on board,
+and they are down in the parlor waiting to see you."
+
+"Do you mean that an attempt was really made to capture the Bellevite
+last night?" asked the captain, as if unable to credit the astounding
+intelligence.
+
+"Of course I can prove all I say by many witnesses. Mr. Watts is on
+board, and he has been dreaming too if I have. Paul Vapoor is another
+dreamer, to say nothing of eight or ten more on board," added Christy.
+
+Captain Passford completed dressing himself about as quick as he had
+probably ever done since he became a millionnaire, and attended Christy
+down to the parlor, where he gave his wife and daughter an affectionate
+reception.
+
+"But our boy tells me that some one has been trying to obtain possession
+of the Bellevite, Julia; and it seems to me hardly possible that such an
+attempt should be made so far up the river," said Captain Passford, as
+soon as he was able to allude to the subject.
+
+"But it is quite true, Horatio; and our boy has behaved like a hero, if
+he is our son," replied the lady, bestowing a glance of pride upon the
+midshipman.
+
+"He says he has a prisoner on board," added the captain.
+
+"And who do you think that prisoner is, Horatio?" asked Mrs. Passford.
+
+"Is it Jeff Davis?" he inquired, with a smile.
+
+"Not exactly; but it is Major Lindley Pierson."
+
+"Indeed? Then I begin to see through the matter," replied Captain
+Passford. "He failed to obtain the steamer in Mobile Bay, and he came
+up here after her. But I should like to hear the particulars of this
+affair."
+
+"And poor Corny Passford was wounded in the shoulder," said Florry, who
+had hardly spoken before.
+
+"You don't mean that you had a fight, Christy?" demanded the captain,
+looking quite serious.
+
+"Not much of a fight, father; we fired the long gun once, and disabled
+an old steamer, and we sunk a boat that was trying to lay us aboard."
+
+"Then it was a more serious affair than I had supposed."
+
+"But, father, I think we had better be going on board; and I can tell
+you the story on the way just as well as here," suggested Christy.
+
+"But you must have your breakfast before you go, for there is nothing to
+eat on board of the steamer," replied Captain Passford, as he led the
+way down into the restaurant.
+
+While they were waiting for the meal to be served, the captain went to
+the house of a military officer, with whom he was intimately acquainted,
+and requested him to take the prisoner off his hands. After the meagre
+details of the affair he gave, the officer offered to put a company on
+board of the steamer for her protection; but the captain thought this
+was unnecessary.
+
+After the breakfast, the party took a carriage for the pier. On the way
+the captain ordered a supply of cooked provisions to be sent down to the
+boat for the use of the men on board of the Bellevite. With this supply
+the party went on board. On the way Christy had told his story, and by
+the time they went on board Captain Passford had learned all about the
+affair.
+
+He had received the order to deliver the steamer at the Navy Yard on the
+following Monday, and he decided to return to Bonnydale in her. Enough
+of the former members of the ship's company could be obtained in a few
+hours to hold the vessel against any enemy that was likely to appear
+in the river. As the owner was now on board, the engineer put on full
+steam, and she reached her anchorage, as indicated by the buoy of the
+cable which had been slipped. It was hauled in, and the Bellevite was
+replaced in her former position.
+
+The tremendous report of the great gun in the small hours of the morning
+had startled all the people in the vicinity, though it was not till they
+left their beds that the news was conveyed to them. A party in the town
+just below the scene of the disaster to the Vampire had been collected,
+and they had taken a steamer to explore the river in search of the bold
+actors in the affair, as soon as the facts were known in the vicinity.
+The steamer had been running up and down the river since six in the
+morning.
+
+When the Bellevite passed up the river, she was promptly recognized
+by the investigating party on board of the Alert, which followed the
+steamer up to her anchorage. She came alongside some time after the crew
+had fished up the cable; but Captain Passford warned her to keep off as
+soon as he discovered her intention to come alongside. She was a small
+steamer, and had at least twenty men on her deck, so that the captain
+thought it necessary to learn her object before she came any nearer.
+
+A boat with two men was sent from the Alert, and one of them was
+permitted to come on board. This one proved to be Captain Mainhill, with
+whom the owner of the Bellevite was well acquainted. He was a wealthy
+and patriotic man, though rather too old to be engaged in active service
+for his country.
+
+"I thought you might be representatives of the Southern Confederacy, and
+I was rather shy of you," said Captain Passford, as he took the hand of
+his neighbor. "I should not have been so cautious if I had met you last
+evening."
+
+"We have been looking for the gentlemen who were engaged in this attempt
+to capture the Bellevite," added Captain Mainhill.
+
+"I hope you have found them, or some of them," replied the owner.
+
+"Only a single one of them; and he is badly wounded. We have scoured
+the river for miles without finding any trace of the enemy. I think they
+landed on the east shore, and went over to the railroad, where they
+probably took the first train that came along," replied Captain
+Mainhill.
+
+"Of course, they saw the Bellevite going down the river, and perhaps
+they have gone down to New York to finish the job they begun here,"
+suggested Captain Passford. "Do you know if the enemy lost any of their
+number when the boat was smashed?"
+
+But Captain Mainhill knew nothing about the affair on the river beyond
+the fact that an attempt had been made to capture the Bellevite, and he
+had not ascertained that more than one was injured.
+
+"We found the Vampire aground half a mile below where the shot disabled
+her," continued the leader of the expedition. "Her machinery was badly
+smashed. She never was good for much, and she is good for nothing now."
+
+"Did the enemy carry off the one who was wounded?" asked Captain
+Passford, prompted by his wife.
+
+"No; he seems to have been too badly damaged for that; they left him
+at the house of a workingman near the river, and I suppose he is there
+now," replied Captain Mainhill. "I don't know that there is anything
+more that we can do, and we may as well go home to breakfast."
+
+"Do you know where the wounded person is to be found?" asked Captain
+Passford.
+
+"I do; and I have seen him. He is suffering a good deal of pain; but he
+is as plucky as a mad snake, and he would not say a word in answer to my
+questions."
+
+"I shall be greatly obliged to you, Captain Mainhill, if you will land
+me as near as you can to the house where this wounded man is, and show
+me where it is. Mrs. Passford will go with me," said the owner.
+
+"Very glad indeed to do it," replied the leader of the searching party.
+
+Captain Passford instructed some of the men on board to summon all the
+former ship's company of the Bellevite on board at once that could be
+found, and then went on board of the Alert with his wife. They were
+landed in a boat just below the bend, and Captain Mainhill conducted
+them to the house where Corny was said to be.
+
+They found him there, and the poor fellow was glad enough to see them.
+No doctor had been called, and nothing had been done to alleviate his
+pain; but he was immediately removed to the mansion at Bonnydale, with
+his own consent, and Dr. Linscott was sent for.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE BEGINNING OF A CHASE
+
+
+Major Pierson still remained on board of the Bellevite, for no officer
+had been sent on board for him, as expected; and he was under the
+efficient care of Sampson. He was subjected to no restraint, and he took
+his breakfast with the engineer. But he was not a welcome visitor on
+board, and Captain Passford would have been very glad to get rid of him.
+
+The owner sought him the next time he came on board, when he was not so
+busy as he had been before. But he said nothing to him about his mission
+at the North, and treated him as a guest rather than a prisoner. For
+reasons of his own, though not difficult to conjecture, he was very
+anxious to make a good appearance before the father of Miss Florry,
+and he was a gentleman in his manners.
+
+"Major Pierson, I am sorry to do anything that may be unpleasant to
+you, but I have not the means of holding you as a prisoner," said the
+captain, after they had been talking of indifferent subjects for a time.
+
+"I realize that I am a prisoner of war, subject to such restraint as my
+captors impose upon me," replied the major.
+
+"If you will allow yourself to be paroled, it will settle your status
+for the present," added Captain Passford.
+
+"As a guest at your house?" asked the major, his face suddenly
+brightening up. "I shall be very happy to give my parole."
+
+"Not at my house, if you please, Major Pierson; it would not be
+convenient at the present time," replied the owner, astonished at the
+suggestion,
+
+"Then you will excuse me if I decline to accept a parole," replied the
+prisoner, biting his lip as though he was not pleased with the reply.
+"As a guest in your house, I should not wish you to have any solicitude
+in regard to me."
+
+"Very well, major; I cannot object to your decision," added the captain,
+as he touched his hat and left the prisoner to the attentions of
+Sampson.
+
+He was kept on board of the Bellevite, now re-enforced by the return of
+about twenty of her former crew, so that regular watches were kept, and
+there was no chance for the prisoner to escape, and none for Captain
+Carboneer to capture the steamer. Dr. Linscott soon relieved Corny of
+his pain, but it was many weeks before he was fit to leave the house,
+and then he was paroled. Captain Passford could never ascertain what had
+become of the crew intended for the Bellevite, though it was supposed,
+as they separated, that they found their way to some port where they
+could ship for their chosen service.
+
+On the Monday following the attempt to capture her, the Bellevite
+was taken to the Navy Yard, and she was prepared for service. It was
+understood that her former officers and crew would be appointed to her,
+for they were accustomed to the vessel, and could do better with her
+than any other. Paul Vapoor and Christy Passford had already received
+their commissions and orders. Captain Breaker had been restored to his
+former rank, and was to be the commander of the Bellevite.
+
+It was two months before the ship was ready to go into commission.
+Important alterations had been made below, and the armament had been
+taken from her deck, substituting for it a Parrot midship piece, of
+eight-inch bore, and carrying a one hundred and fifty pound shot, two
+sixty-pounders, and two thirty-pounders. This was a heavy armament, but
+the ship was strong enough to bear it.
+
+Joel Dashington and Ethan Blowitt were appointed as masters, and were
+to be the first and second lieutenants, while Christy Passford was the
+third. Leon Bolter was made a first assistant engineer, and Fred Faggs
+the second. Sampson obtained his place as a first-class fireman, with
+the expectation of soon becoming an assistant engineer, for he was well
+qualified for the position.
+
+Captain Passford, though he had offered his services in any capacity in
+which he might be needed, had been induced to withdraw his application
+for the reason that he could be of more service to the cause at home
+than he could in the field or at sea. He was a man of influence, and he
+was needed in civil life. He was even able to do more as an adviser and
+counsellor than in any public office, though he filled several of the
+latter in the earlier part of the war. He furnished no inconsiderable
+part of the money needed at particular times, and he was only less
+valuable on account of his money than he was for his patriotism and
+good judgment.
+
+"Now, Christy, remember that you are an officer of the United States,
+and make yourself worthy of the place you occupy," said his father to
+Christy, on the evening of his last day at home. "Study your duty, and
+then perform it faithfully. Perhaps I can tell you something of more
+value than good advice is generally considered to be."
+
+"I shall try to follow your good advice, father; and I mean to do my
+duty; and it will not be for the want of trying if I fail," replied
+Christy.
+
+"You have sailed with Captain Breaker a great deal when you were in
+a different relation to him. Now I must warn you that he has his duty
+to do, and I hope you will not expect to be favored, or ask him for
+privileges not granted to other officers," continued the late owner
+of the Bellevite.
+
+"I am sure I expect him to be impartial with his officers."
+
+"I meant to have seen Breaker this afternoon before I came home; but I
+had not time to go to the ship. For some of my own affairs I have had
+three agents in England. I wrote them some time ago to obtain all the
+information they could in regard to vessels, especially steamers, that
+cleared for any ports of the British Possessions near the United
+States," continued Captain Passford, taking a letter from his pocket.
+"Two weeks ago an iron steamer sailed from a port in Ireland for the
+Bermudas. This letter will tell you all about it, and you will hand it
+to Captain Breaker, and give him my explanation."
+
+The midshipman put the letter into his pocket without reading it. In his
+chamber he looked it over, and found that it meant business, and he was
+delighted with the idea of having something to do before he reached the
+port for which the ship was bound, for the inactivity of the blockade
+was not wholly to his mind. He slept as soundly as usual, for already he
+had come to regard war as the business in which he was engaged, and he
+had but little sickly sentiment over it.
+
+It was a tearful parting with his mother and sister before he took the
+train with his father, and it was a sad one with his father when he went
+off to the Bellevite in the boat. But neither of them shed any tears,
+for both felt that they were called upon to discharge their duty to
+their country.
+
+Captain Breaker had always trained his officers and seamen to perform
+their duty in conformity with the discipline of the navy so far as it
+was practicable to do so, and consequently his ship's company were very
+nearly at home from the beginning of the voyage. He had received his
+sealed orders, and at noon the Bellevite went down the bay on her
+mission to the South, though no one on board knew where the ship was
+bound. The crew had been re-enforced by as many men as she had usually
+carried, and the first day was a very busy one in putting everything in
+order. Christy had handed the letter his father had given him to the
+captain, and after dinner he spoke of it.
+
+"Did you read this letter, Mr. Passford?" asked the captain.
+
+"I did, sir; my father told me to read it," replied Christy.
+
+"It appears that a very fast steamer loaded with a valuable cargo sailed
+from Belfast eleven days ago, clearing for the Bermudas. We shall all be
+very happy to pay our respects to her; but I can say nothing till I have
+opened my orders to-morrow," said Captain Breaker.
+
+"If she sailed eleven days ago from Belfast, she ought to be well
+up with the Bermudas, if she is as fast as represented, sir," added
+Christy, hoping the orders would permit the Bellevite to look out for
+the Killbright, as she was called.
+
+The next day, as the observations indicated the latitude in which the
+sealed orders were to be opened, the seal of the official envelope was
+broken. Captain Breaker read the letter, and a smile came over his
+bronzed face. The orders were evidently to his satisfaction; and
+Christy, who was on duty near him, remembered what his father had said
+to him, and asked no question, as he would have been likely to do under
+other circumstances. But the commander was kind enough to call his
+officers to him, and inform them of the duty assigned to the ship.
+
+The government had received information which indicated the approach
+to our shores of a considerable fleet of blockade runners, and the
+Bellevite, on account of her reputed fast sailing, was to cruise for
+a given time off the coast in search of these blockade runners.
+
+"I have no doubt these blockade runners will go into the Bermudas,
+especially the Killbright. If we go into St. George, we shall not be
+allowed to sail till twenty-four hours after this fast vessel leaves,"
+said Captain Breaker. "On the other hand, if we are seen off the port,
+she will not come out."
+
+"I don't see, then, that we can do anything about it, Captain Breaker,"
+added Mr. Dashington.
+
+"Captain Passford's correspondent thinks the Killbright is intended for
+the Confederate Navy, and that she is commanded by a naval officer sent
+out for the purpose," continued the captain.
+
+But no satisfactory measures could be devised for overcoming the
+difficulties on both hands, and the steamer sped on her way. In two
+days more she was in sight of the Bermudas. It was almost dark when the
+lookout sighted a steamer coming out from the islands. By the order of
+the captain, the engine was stopped, and the steamer rested silently on
+a calm sea.
+
+"I don't think she has seen us yet," said Captain Breaker. "If she had,
+she would have come about and run back into the harbor."
+
+"She keeps on her course," added Mr. Dashington.
+
+"If she has the reputation of being a very fast vessel, very likely she
+believes that she can run away from us," suggested Mr. Blowitt.
+
+"As I don't believe the vessel floats that can outsail the Bellevite,
+I shall give her time to get well away from the port before the screw
+turns again," said the captain.
+
+"Mr. Passford," called he a little later.
+
+"On duty, sir," replied Christy, touching his cap to the commander.
+
+"You will have the midship gun charged with a solid shot, and have it
+ready for use at once."
+
+As the steamer in the distance still kept on her course, the screw of
+the Bellevite was started. The chief engineer was called upon deck, and
+the situation explained to him.
+
+"We shall want all the speed we can get out of her, Mr. Vapoor," said
+the captain.
+
+"We shall have no trouble in making twenty-two knots, sir, with the sea
+as it is now," replied the engineer.
+
+"That steamer means to go into the Cape Fear River," said Mr. Blowitt,
+when the chase had laid her course. "If she was going in at Savannah,
+or round into the Gulf, she would go more to the south."
+
+"I think you are right; but she has room enough to run away from us if
+she can," added the captain.
+
+It was a busy time in the fireroom, but there was nothing to do on deck
+but watch the steamer. She had actually lighted the green light on the
+starboard, and evidently did not expect to be overhauled, even if her
+commander had noticed the presence of the Bellevite.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+A CHASE OFF THE BERMUDAS
+
+
+All the officers on board of the Bellevite who had never been in the
+navy had spent their long vacation in the study and practice of gunnery
+and naval tactics; and the men had been carefully drilled by a competent
+officer as soon as they reported for duty. But a considerable number of
+the latter had served for years on board of men-of-war, and a few were
+sheet-anchor men. The latter are sailors who have spent the greater part
+of their lives in the national sea-service, and they were competent to
+teach many of the junior officers.
+
+Every day after the ship went into commission, both officers and
+seamen were drilled, and the captain declared that they had all made
+satisfactory proficiency. He was ready to meet an enemy with them;
+but then the ship's company of the steam-yacht were of the very best
+material. They were all intelligent men, and sailors to begin with, so
+that the task of qualifying them for active duty was not very laborious.
+
+Christy was even better fitted for his duties than many of the older
+officers, for he was not only full of enthusiasm, but he was skilful and
+scientific, as a rule. He neither asked nor expected any favors on
+account of former relations with the captain and other officers, and he
+was determined to make his way by merit rather than by favor. Besides,
+he had already been under fire, and he had an idea how it felt. Though
+he was as prudent and careful as circumstances might require, he had
+proved that he was as brave as a lion, and that shot and shell were not
+likely to drive him from the post of duty.
+
+Every man was in his place at the midship gun, seventeen of them,
+including the powder-boy, and Christy gave the orders for loading the
+piece as though he had been in the navy all his life. The other guns,
+the broadsides, were loaded at the same time. But just now Paul Vapoor
+was the most important man on board, and he was rapidly making himself
+felt in the increasing speed of the Bellevite. Captain Breaker estimated
+that the steamer which had just come out of port was all of five miles
+ahead. It was only seven o'clock in the early darkness of this latitude.
+Whether the chase was the Killbright or not, it was impossible to make
+out in the darkness.
+
+If it was the Killbright, Captain Passford's correspondent wrote that
+she was capable of making twenty knots an hour, as she had been built
+more for speed than anything else, though she could hardly be a
+profitable commercial venture. But even accepting this speed as the
+difficulty to be overcome, the Bellevite would probably overhaul her in
+two or three hours. The engineer felt that his reputation and that of
+the ship were at stake, and could not think of such a thing as failure
+in the first actual encounter with the enemy.
+
+"We are gaining on her without the ghost of a doubt, Mr. Passford," said
+Boxie, who was ready for duty at the gun.
+
+"No doubt of that, Tom Boxie," replied the third lieutenant. "But she is
+taking it very coolly. She has not yet even put out her lights."
+
+"I suppose you know why she hasn't, Mr. Passford," added the captain of
+the gun.
+
+"I am sure I don't know," replied Christy. "If I was in command of that
+steamer, and wanted to do just what she does, I should not proceed as
+she does. But I am nothing but a boy."
+
+"But you have got a long head on your shoulders, Mr. Passford, and I
+should like to know, if you please, what you would do."
+
+"I would put her lights out before I winked twice."
+
+"Right, Mr. Passford!" exclaimed the sheet-anchor man. "I am glad to
+hear you say that. The trouble with most of the boys is, when they go to
+sea to fight the battles of their country, they are as reckless as young
+wildcats."
+
+"I think it is possible to use proper caution without being a coward,
+Tom Boxie; and my father gave me a lesson on that subject not long ago."
+
+"Eight bells, sir; and that steamer has had a good hour of running so
+far. I will wager my day's grub that we are two knots nearer to her than
+when she laid her course," added Boxie, delighted with the situation.
+
+"I have no doubt of it. I think they are beginning to see it on board of
+her. There go her lights! She has not a ghost of a glow in sight; and I
+suppose there is going to be some monkeying about it, if she has
+ascertained that she cannot run away from us."
+
+"Most likely, sir; but this is not a good night to play tricks, for we
+have a bright night and a smooth sea."
+
+"As that steamer has such a reputation for speed, I have no doubt they
+put a very valuable cargo on board of her; probably she has a good
+supply of arms in her hold."
+
+"So much the better for us, Mr. Passford. We don't fight for
+prize-money, but when a man gets to be as old as I am, a good round sum
+of money don't come amiss to him. But I am sorry to see that it looks
+like a change of weather," continued the sheet-anchor man, as he hitched
+up his trousers, and took a survey of the heavens.
+
+The wind began to come from the west after it had been almost a dead
+calm since noon. It looked as though a heavy shower was coming up, and
+clouds of mist and fog swept over the ocean. The usual lookouts had been
+doubled, but, in spite of all precautions, the Bellevite lost sight of
+the chase when she could not have been more than a mile from her. But
+this weather was to be expected in this changeable latitude. Captain
+Breaker was as perplexed as any one, however skilful, must have been in
+the same situation. It was impossible to know what the chase would do,
+though it was plain enough, since she put out her lights, that she would
+change her course.
+
+It was over six hundred miles to Cape Hatteras, and she had room enough
+to manoeuvre in any manner she pleased. The change in the weather hardly
+amounted to a storm, and probably it would be all over in a few hours.
+But the chase might turn to any point of the compass, and the Bellevite
+was as likely to pursue in the wrong as the right direction. But the
+first thing the commander ordered the chief engineer to do was to save
+his coal; though he held to his course, and the ship continued at a
+moderate speed till daylight.
+
+As the wise ones had predicted, the shower was of brief duration. As
+soon as it was light enough to see, and the fog banks had been swept
+away, a sharp lookout was kept for the chase. If she was ahead, she had
+outsailed her pursuer; but Captain Breaker was sure she had not done
+this, for she could not have had confidence enough in her heels to adopt
+such a course.
+
+"Sail, ho!" yelled a man on the cross-trees, a few minutes later.
+
+"Where away?" called the officer of the deck.
+
+"On the port beam, sir."
+
+Several officers mounted the rigging to obtain a sight of the reported
+sail. She was at least ten miles off, and no one could make out whether
+or not it was the chase of the night before. The captain ordered the
+ship to be headed to the southward, and, after she had gone on this
+course an hour, there was another hail from the cross-trees.
+
+"Sail is a steamer, sir!" reported the lookout.
+
+With the aid of the spyglasses, a long streak of black smoke could be
+made out of the dark clouds that were retreating in that direction.
+A little later it was demonstrated that she was headed for the coast
+of the United States. Whether it was the chase they sought or not, she
+needed looking after. The course was laid in a direction to intercept
+the steamer, for her inky smoke indicated that she was not American.
+
+In another hour she could be very distinctly made out, though the chase
+had not been so clearly made out the night before as to enable the
+officers to identify her. Paul Vapoor was in his element again, and the
+Bellevite was doing her best. The two vessels were approaching each
+other, and Boxie suggested that there would be "music" in less than an
+hour.
+
+The people on board of the strange steamer must have been as much in the
+dark in regard to the caliber of the naval vessel as those on board of
+the Bellevite were in respect to their confident rival. The chase was a
+long craft, it could be seen now, with two masts and two smokestacks,
+all of which raked in the most dashing style. She was rather low in the
+water, and, if it had been in the days of the pirates, the stranger
+would have been a fair ideal of the freebooter's ship.
+
+"She keeps on just as though she intended to mind her own business, and
+leave the Bellevite to do the same," said Boxie, as Christy took his
+place near the midship gun.
+
+"I have no doubt the Bellevite knows her business in this case, and that
+she will attend to it in due time," added the lieutenant.
+
+"Good!" exclaimed the sheet-anchor man, suddenly.
+
+This exclamation was called forth by a flag, which was run up at the
+peak, and which proved to be that of the Confederacy as soon as it was
+spread out to the breeze.
+
+"She is plucky, anyhow," added Christy.
+
+"There is no lack of pluck in the South. But I wonder what she means by
+setting that rag."
+
+"Beeks, hoist the ensign at the peak," said the captain, and the
+brilliant banner was spread in the morning air.
+
+"I reckon both sides understand the situation now. I don't know the
+captain of that craft, but he is an able fellow, and probably got his
+education in the old navy, and not in the new one, where he is serving
+now," continued Boxie.
+
+"I think it is easy enough to see what he means," replied Christy. "He
+ascertained last night that, fast as his vessel is, he cannot outsail
+the Bellevite; and there is really only one thing he can do, and that is
+to fight."
+
+The lieutenant had hardly spoken the words before there was a puff of
+smoke from one side of the chase, and a heavy report came across the
+water. But the two steamers were still a long distance apart, and the
+shot fell short, to the satisfaction of the captain. The chase had been
+obliged to come to in order to bring her gun to bear, and she had lost
+a little time in doing so. It could be easily seen on board of both
+steamers that the Bellevite was gaining rapidly on the other.
+
+"Mr. Passford, I am as sure of capturing that vessel as though I had
+her now, and I do not wish to injure her any more than is necessary,"
+said Captain Breaker, as he sighted the Parrot, and devoted especial
+attention to her. "She is a very fast steamer, and she will be very
+valuable in our navy in picking up just such vessels as she is herself."
+
+Perhaps it was impudence for him to do so, but Christy could not help
+casting his eye along the gun. All possible precautions were taken to
+secure a correct aim, and then the lieutenant gave the order to "Fire!"
+
+"Hit her, sir!" shouted one of the lookout men aloft, who could see over
+the cloud of smoke.
+
+"Where did it strike her?" demanded the captain.
+
+"Right in the broadside, abreast of the forward smokestack, sir! She has
+stopped her screw!" added the lookout.
+
+"Mr. Dashington, get the ship astern of the chase at once," continued
+the captain to the first lieutenant.
+
+This was the work of at least half an hour; but the Bellevite was
+running for the stern of the other steamer, as though she intended to
+cut her in two lengthwise. The chase lay helpless on the water, unable
+to bring her broadside guns to bear on her enemy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE CONFEDERATE STEAMER YAZOO
+
+
+It was impossible to discover the nature or extent of the injury the
+chase had received from the shot from the midship gun; but she had been
+disabled, though it might be but slightly. The Bellevite dashed on, as
+though impatient to obtain possession of her prey. All the glasses on
+board were brought to bear on the injured vessel, which all hands
+regarded as already a prize.
+
+The glasses did not reveal any considerable havoc in the side of the
+steamer, and the shot hole could easily be plugged when necessary; but
+the commander of the craft did not yet give up the ship, for he seemed
+to be engaged in hoisting her foresail and jibs, evidently with the
+intention of bringing her about so that he could use his guns. The wind
+was very light, and his chances of accomplishing his purpose were not
+very brilliant.
+
+"Mr. Dashington, you will call all hands, and be ready to board the
+prize in three divisions when we run abreast of her," said Captain
+Breaker. "Let Mr. Passford command the forward division; Mr. Blowitt,
+the waist; and Mr. Calvert, the quarter."
+
+The boarders were mustered at once, as there was no occasion to fire
+again at the prize. Each officer arranged his men, and spoke some
+stirring words to them. Men in the tops were supplied with muskets,
+and all with revolvers and cutlasses. It was not believed that all
+this force would be necessary to capture the prize, but there was some
+evidence that she had a fighting crew on board, and the captain prepared
+for the worst.
+
+As the Bellevite came nearer to the prize, the sound of hammers was
+heard, and it appeared that the engineers were engaged in an effort to
+repair the mischief which had been done to the engine. It was still
+impossible to see how many men she had on board, but Captain Breaker did
+not estimate that she had a full ship's company, for vessels intended
+for war purposes, escaping as this one doubtless had, did not usually
+take their force on board at the beginning of the cruise.
+
+  [Illustration: "Christy and Beeks on the Steamer's Deck."--Page 181.]
+
+The three divisions of boarders were all in readiness, and all they
+feared was that there would be little for them to do on board the enemy.
+Captain Breaker was in the fore rigging where he could observe all that
+was done on the decks of both vessels. The Bellevite went ahead with all
+speed till the signal was given to slow down. The sea was not heavy, and
+the captain laid her alongside of the prize.
+
+"Do you surrender?" demanded the commander in a loud tone, but with his
+usual dignity.
+
+"I do not surrender!" replied the captain of the steamer.
+
+"Boarders away!" shouted Captain Breaker.
+
+Christy Passford was the first to leap upon the rail of the other
+vessel, and then he dropped in the same instant upon her deck. At that
+moment he was conscious that the steamer under him was moving, though
+it might be the shaking which the Bellevite gave her when she came
+alongside. On the deck of the prize, as he still taught himself to
+consider her, he saw not more than thirty men; and with nearly three
+times that number on the other side, it did not look as if it could be
+a very hotly contested battle.
+
+As Christy jumped down from the rail, Beeks followed him, and he was not
+a little surprised to find that they were alone. But there was no enemy
+at hand upon whom he could flesh his cutlass, and he sprang upon the
+rail again. He found that his impression had been correct, for the
+vessel was moving. She had already left a gap a dozen feet wide between
+the Bellevite and herself.
+
+It appeared that the machinery had been repaired, and that it was now
+capable of doing all that it had done before. The steamer was the
+Killbright, for the lieutenant saw the name painted in several places
+about her forward deck. She had suddenly shot ahead very unexpectedly
+to the captors, as they supposed they were, alongside of her. A puff
+of wind had been favoring her before, and she darted away towards the
+northwest. As she began to move, the lock-strings of her port battery
+were pulled as rapidly as possible.
+
+It would have been impossible to help hitting the Bellevite, with the
+three guns fired into her at so short a distance. But the cloud of smoke
+that enveloped both vessels prevented the captain from taking in the
+situation. The crew of the Killbright were ordered to reload their guns
+instantly. Whatever was to happen in the near or distant future, it
+was evident that the dangerous steamer had not yet been captured, and
+Christy did not think of her as a prize any more just then.
+
+The Killbright crowded on all the steam she could obtain, and she
+rapidly increased the distance between herself and the Bellevite. She
+fired her three broadside guns continually, but it was clear to Christy
+that the men had not been trained to this business, or they might
+perhaps have sunk the naval vessel by this time.
+
+The Bellevite fired her two broadside guns, and they made terrible havoc
+in the upper works of the Killbright. But the strangest thing of all to
+the young lieutenant, caught on board of the anticipated prize, was that
+the Bellevite did not go ahead, and give the boarding parties a chance
+to get on the deck of the enemy.
+
+"I don't understand it, Beeks," said Christy as he found himself by the
+side of the quartermaster. "Why don't the ship give chase?"
+
+"I think she must be disabled, sir," replied the warrant officer.
+
+"What could have disabled her?"
+
+"I suppose she might be hit as well as this vessel," replied Beets, no
+better pleased with the situation than his companion in trouble. "They
+fired three shots into her while she was alongside."
+
+"She must have been hit in a bad place, or she would have been alongside
+of us before this time. But here we are."
+
+The third lieutenant and quartermaster felt very much like prisoners,
+though they had no evidence that the Killbright was a ship-of-war,
+except that she had hoisted the Confederate flag, and fired upon the
+Bellevite. But the rakish-looking steamer continued on her course, while
+the Bellevite had not moved since the first broadside. She had already
+made a mile, and the shots from her enemy did not seem to disable her.
+
+She continued to run with all her speed, and the lieutenant felt the
+deck quiver as though it was in danger of being shaken out of her. But
+she was not followed by the Bellevite, and things began to look dark
+and somewhat cheerless to Christy. The firing came to an end, for the
+distance was becoming too great for it to be effectual on either side.
+
+"If we had not jumped down from the rail when we boarded, we might have
+escaped this scrape," said Beeks, who was even more disgusted than his
+companion.
+
+"It is no use to growl about it," added Christy, laughing. "Here we are,
+and we can't help ourselves at present."
+
+"I suppose they will let us go, won't they?" inquired the quartermaster.
+
+"Let us go where?"
+
+"Let us go back where we came from," replied Beeks, who seemed to be
+quite muddled by his misfortune.
+
+"You don't expect them to put you on board of the Bellevite again,
+do you?"
+
+"Well, no; not exactly; but this steamer is nothing but a blockade
+runner, and such craft don't take prisoners."
+
+"I hardly know what she is yet; she is a blockade runner, but she
+appeals to be something more than that. She hoisted the Confederate
+flag, and her people stood by their guns like brave men. I count myself
+as a prisoner of war," said Christy, to the increased disgust of his
+companion.
+
+"What do you suppose they will do with us?" asked Beeks, looking as
+though he had not a friend in the world, though he had always been a
+very brave and active fellow when there was anything to do.
+
+"I don't know, but I suppose she will run the blockade into the Cape
+Fear River, and we may be taken up to Wilmington."
+
+While they were talking about it, they saw a group of officers coming to
+the forward deck, where they had remained since they came on board. They
+appeared to be examining the steamer to ascertain what damage she had
+sustained. Her bulwarks had been torn off, and she had suffered not a
+little from shot; but she did not appear to be very seriously damaged.
+At the head of the party was one who had a uniform, and dignity enough
+to be the commander of the ship.
+
+"Who are those two men forward?" asked this gentleman, as he called the
+attention of the others to the two strangers.
+
+No one knew who they were, and the captain continued to advance, looking
+very sharply at Christy, or at his uniform. The lieutenant thought he
+had seen the gentleman before, for it was quite impossible entirely to
+forget one with so much character in his face.
+
+"I am afraid I shall be obliged to call upon you, sir, to explain how
+you and your companion happen to be here, for I was not before aware of
+your presence."
+
+"I shall cheerfully explain, Captain Carboneer," replied Christy,
+recognizing the captain, and bowing politely.
+
+"Ah, you know me? But I have not the pleasure of your acquaintance,
+so far as I can remember," added the captain.
+
+"We met under some disadvantages so far as you are concerned, for I had
+the satisfaction of seeing you, though you did not see me," replied the
+lieutenant, looking very good-natured in spite of his situation as a
+prospective prisoner.
+
+"I must beg you to explain still further, Mr.--I have not the pleasure
+of knowing your name."
+
+"Passford, sir, Christopher Passford, midshipman in the United States
+Navy, and at present third lieutenant of the steamer Bellevite, which
+you can hardly make out at this moment, though I remember that you have
+seen her before," answered Christy, telling the whole story, as indeed
+his uniform had already done, so far as his rank was concerned.
+
+"I am very happy to meet you under present circumstances, Mr. Passford,
+though I am not yet informed where I met you before."
+
+"Perhaps you did not exactly meet me, Captain Carboneer; but, at any
+rate, we were in the same boat together."
+
+"I suppose we met, if at all, on the Hudson, in connection with the
+Bellevite. Your people have not been as fortunate to-day with their
+gunnery practice as on that occasion," suggested the captain.
+
+"Now, Captain Carboneer, will you kindly inform me in regard to the
+status of this vessel? Is she a naval vessel, or simply a blockade
+runner?"
+
+"She is both; and I am sorry for your sake to inform you that you are a
+prisoner of war."
+
+"I supposed I was."
+
+"Perhaps you will be willing to inform me what became of Major Pierson
+and Corny Passford--the latter a cousin of yours, I believe?"
+
+"Like myself, the major is a prisoner of war. Corny was injured in the
+disaster to the Vampire, as you are aware; he is also a prisoner, but on
+parole, remaining at my father's house to be healed."
+
+"I have to regret to-day more than ever before that we failed to capture
+the Bellevite, for I find that she is even faster than the Yazoo," added
+the captain.
+
+"The Yazoo?"
+
+"Formerly the Killbright, but now the Yazoo."
+
+At this moment an officer came up and spoke to Captain Carboneer. As
+both of them looked aft, Christy did the same, and, after studying the
+speck he saw on the ocean, he was satisfied that it was the Bellevite,
+coming down upon the Yazoo with all her speed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+A SATISFACTORY ORDER
+
+
+Whatever had happened to the Bellevite, it was plain enough now to
+Christy that she had repaired the injury, for the speck in the distance
+was assuming the form of a steamer. The discovery was not calculated to
+fan the hopes of Captain Carboneer and his officers, though the two
+Unionists on board of the Yazoo were elated. The chase was continued
+till the middle of the afternoon, when the Bellevite opened fire with
+her heavy midship gun.
+
+"Mr. Passford, your ship has opened fire upon us, and I will not compel
+you to expose yourself to it," said Captain Carboneer, as one of the
+shots from the Bellevite dropped into the water near the Yazoo. "You are
+at liberty to retire to any part of the vessel you desire, with your
+companion."
+
+"Thank you, sir; you are very kind; and as I don't care to be shot by my
+friends, I will go below," replied Christy.
+
+It was hardly safer below than on deck, and it was not likely that the
+resolute commander of the Yazoo would allow her to be captured as long
+as he could make any resistance. Christy got the idea from the decision
+he had observed in the face and expression of Captain Carboneer, that
+the only way to capture the steamer would be to knock her to pieces. He
+expected to be saved from the fate of a prisoner of war, but he was not
+ready to believe that the Yazoo would be sent to the North as a prize.
+She had not half the force of the Bellevite, either in men or guns,
+and it had been proved that her speed could not save her. But all the
+chances of accidents were to be incurred, and no one could predict the
+final result.
+
+Christy and Beeks went below, and seated themselves in the wardroom of
+the ship. It looked as though it had been altered from the dining-saloon
+of a passenger steamer for its present use. But the vessel was an
+elegant affair, and Christy thought it was evident from what he saw
+that she had been built for a steam-yacht by some British magnate. She
+was not more than two-thirds as large as the Bellevite.
+
+The sound of the firing indicated that the Bellevite was gaining on the
+chase even more rapidly than in the morning. At the end of a couple of
+hours more she seemed to be within a mile, or perhaps less. The Yazoo
+was shaking in every fibre of her steel body, and it was plain that
+Captain Carboneer was straining her to the utmost to effect his escape.
+
+"It is beginning to warm up a little," said Beeks, as he tried to look
+out at one of the round ports of the wardroom.
+
+"It will be hotter than this before we see the end of it," replied
+Christy. "Can you see anything?"
+
+"Not a thing; of course the Bellevite is astern of us," added Beeks.
+"But the Yazoo is not using her guns."
+
+"How can she? She has not fired a shot for some time, and she cannot
+without coming to. I should say she might as well do one thing as
+another. She can't run away from the Bellevite, and she may as well
+take her chances in a fight as a run."
+
+"But the Bellevite does not seem to be handling her great gun at a very
+lively rate," suggested Beeks.
+
+"I suppose Captain Breaker wants to save all he can of the Yazoo, and
+he knows that he can knock her all to pieces when he decides that it is
+necessary."
+
+"What is all that racket on deck?" asked Beeks.
+
+"Probably they are getting a couple of stern chasers ready for use,"
+answered Christy; and this explanation was soon proved to be correct by
+the report of a gun at the stern of the Yazoo.
+
+For the next half-hour, the firing from the Bellevite was more rapid,
+and several crashes, produced by the striking of shot, were heard. It
+was soon apparent that one of the stern chasers had been disabled; and
+after a while the other ceased its noise. Beeks was so excited that
+he left the wardroom, and found his way into what proved to be the
+captain's cabin. More than one shot had come into it, and made no little
+havoc. He found a port there through which he obtained a view of the
+Bellevite. Whatever damage had been done to her, her engine was in
+perfect order, for she was driving ahead at her best speed.
+
+The quartermaster reported what he had seen to Christy, though it proved
+nothing except that the Bellevite was all right, but everything began
+to look more hopeful to the occupants of the wardroom. They had only to
+wait, for they could do nothing. The pursuer had ceased to discharge her
+guns, and those of the Yazoo were useless under present circumstances.
+
+The situation was becoming more exciting on the deck of the Yazoo,
+judging by the sounds that came from it. Then it was evident that the
+Bellevite had returned to her former tactics, and was coming alongside
+with the intention of boarding. Loud yells and fierce cries followed,
+and then came the noise of a hand-to-hand struggle on the deck. It was
+of short duration, for the ship's company of the Yazoo were outnumbered
+at least two to one.
+
+"I suppose we may go on deck now," said Beeks.
+
+"I should judge that the fight was over," replied Christy, as he led the
+way out of the wardroom.
+
+At the companion-way they found two sailors assisting Captain Carboneer
+to his cabin. His face was covered with blood, and he looked very pale.
+The surgeon was close by him. Christy felt sincerely sorry for the
+commander, for he was a noble and upright man. His protest had prevented
+Major Pierson from attempting to carry out whatever plan he had in his
+mind for the abduction of Florry Passford, and the young officer felt
+grateful to him.
+
+"Ah, Mr. Passford, the luck is on your side again," said the wounded
+commander, when he saw Christy.
+
+"Of course, I rejoice that it is so, but I am sincerely sorry that you
+are wounded," replied Christy. "I must thank you for your interference
+in behalf of my sister in opposition to the scheme of Major Pierson."
+
+"How could you know anything about that?" asked the commander, bracing
+himself up.
+
+"I heard the whole of it."
+
+"I see; but I did not consider that Major Pierson contemplated any
+ruffianism," added Captain Carboneer, as the surgeon urged him to go
+into his cabin.
+
+Christy hastened on deck, and was warmly received by his fellow-officers
+there. He reported on board to Captain Breaker without any delay, and
+was warmly congratulated on his escape. He returned to his duty at once.
+Paul Vapoor was inclined to hug him when he met him.
+
+"I felt like a prisoner of war," said Christy, when he had told his
+brief story. "The Bellevite was disabled, and I supposed it was all up
+with me."
+
+"A shot from the Killbright damaged our rudder, so that we could not
+steer her; though we repaired the mischief after a considerable delay,"
+replied the engineer. "But we have the prize."
+
+"She was intended for a cruiser, and they call her the Yazoo."
+
+"Whatever her name, she will not be a cruiser on that side."
+
+The captured vessel was carefully surveyed; she had been considerably
+damaged in the contest, but she was still seaworthy, and Mr. Blowitt was
+appointed prize-master to take her to New York. All the arrangements
+were speedily completed, and, when the prize had sailed for her
+destination, Christy became the acting second lieutenant.
+
+For the next month the Bellevite cruised in search of such craft as
+the Killbright, and then she took her place on the blockade off Mobile
+Bay, to which she had been ordered. Mr. Blowitt and the prize-crew had
+returned, and all the damage done by the guns of the Yazoo had been
+repaired, so that the Bellevite was in as good condition as when she
+left the Navy Yard at Brooklyn. She captured several schooners, but no
+very important prize. Many of the officers were disgusted with the
+inactivity of the service.
+
+In a letter from his father, Christy obtained the information that the
+Bellevite was likely to be ordered to duty as a cruiser, for which her
+great speed adapted her better than any other vessel in the navy. This
+was cheering news to the discontented ones. But before any orders to
+this effect was received, the ship was ordered to proceed to Pensacola,
+where a very fast steamer was said to be awaiting an opportunity to get
+to sea.
+
+The position of the steamer was ascertained with no little difficulty;
+but it was protected by the guns of the forts. Captain Breaker desired
+to obtain better information in regard to the Teaser, as the negroes
+said she was called. She was quite small, and carried only a single long
+gun, and it was suspected that she was a privateer. On the evening of
+the Bellevite's arrival, the weather was rainy, foggy, and thick. It was
+just the night for a blockade runner, and the captain believed that an
+attempt would be made to get out at this time.
+
+The Unionists held Fort Pickens, and the Confederates the forts on the
+mainland. The negroes said the Teaser was anchored at the mouth of the
+lagoon, or very near it. This was not very definite, even if it were
+accepted as true. It was very important that the Teaser should not be
+permitted to get out of the bay, for she might do a great deal of
+mischief to the shipping of the nation.
+
+"I don't believe the stories of the negroes," said Captain Breaker, as
+he was discussing the situation with his officers. "I know the port very
+well, and I have no idea where the mouth of the lagoon is, or even if it
+has any mouth in Pensacola Bay."
+
+"Wherever the Teaser may be waiting her chance, this is a good night for
+a start," replied Mr. Dashington.
+
+"Of course the officers of Fort Pickens are on the lookout for the saucy
+little craft," added Mr. Blowitt.
+
+"Captain Westover is still on board, and you are to send him to the
+fort, are you not, Captain Breaker?" asked Christy.
+
+"Yes; as soon as he is ready to go," replied the captain. "He has given
+all the information he has in regard to the Teaser; but he has not seen
+her to-day, and he does not believe she is in the lower bay, but that
+she is somewhere in the vicinity of the Navy Yard."
+
+"If you will excuse me, Captain Breaker, I don't believe she means to
+come out by the main channel, for her people know that the eyes of the
+officers of Fort Pickens are wide open," suggested Christy, with a good
+deal of diffidence.
+
+"How do you think she will come out, Mr. Passford?" asked the captain,
+with a smile.
+
+"By Santa Rosa Sound, sir," replied the third lieutenant.
+
+"Possibly you are right, Mr. Passford, though I do not think you are,"
+added the commander, thoughtfully. "Santa Rosa Sound is about forty
+miles long, and there is hardly water enough in it, up and down, to
+float a raft, to say nothing of a steamer."
+
+But later in the day, the captain called Christy aside, and had a long
+talk with him, the charts open before them. It certainly did not look
+like a very hopeful enterprise to take a steamer through such a sound as
+that described.
+
+"But we have no correct information in regard to the anchorage of the
+Teaser, and I have decided to obtain it if possible. I propose to send
+you to look into the matter, Mr. Passford," added the captain, settling
+the question in that way. "Select your own boat and crew. But if the
+Teaser gets by Fort Pickens, we may have to chase her to sea, and if on
+your return you do not find the Bellevite, you and your men will remain
+at Fort Pickens."
+
+Christy was entirely satisfied with this order.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+LIEUTENANT PASSFORD IN COMMAND
+
+
+Christy felt as much honored by the confidence reposed in him by the
+captain as though he had been appointed to the command of a steamer.
+But he had more than once proved that he could be safely trusted, and
+demonstrated that he had judgment, discretion, and skill beyond his
+years. He was not only brave and resolute, but he was faithful and
+patriotic.
+
+He went about among the ship's company and selected the men he desired
+to assist him in his enterprise, and requested those chosen to say
+nothing about the matter, for the lieutenant was aware that he should
+have more volunteers than he could accommodate in the largest of the
+boats. All would want to go, and the young officer would be teased and
+coaxed, and all sorts of influence brought to bear upon him to permit
+this and that one to be of the party. It was easier to be silent than
+it was to reply to all the applications.
+
+Christy selected a large whaleboat for the service in which he was to
+be employed, and he had his own reasons for the choice he made. He had
+received unlimited authority to adopt his own measures. The only point
+that was strongly impressed upon his mind by the captain was that the
+Teaser must be captured.
+
+After supper the order was given to the third lieutenant to convey
+Captain Westover back to the fort, or to land him at the usual place
+near it. Nothing was thought of the order, though perhaps some of
+the officers considered a dozen seamen, all armed with cutlasses and
+revolvers, a large boat's crew for such a service. It was very thick
+weather, and Captain Westover begged Christy not to land him within the
+enemy's lines, which he promised not to do.
+
+The men gave way, and the boat went off into the gloom of the evening.
+Beeks gave his whole attention to the course of the boat, and Lieutenant
+Passford was engaged in a very earnest conversation with the military
+passenger. The landing-place seemed to be reached too soon, for Christy
+had not finished his business. He landed with him, and together they
+went to the fort, where the young officer had a conversation with the
+commander of the force there.
+
+"I hope you will not get into hot water, Mr. Passford," said Captain
+Westover, as he came to the sallyport with him.
+
+"I cannot say that I shall not," replied Christy, "but I shall do the
+best I can to report on board of the ship with the force intrusted to
+me; and I hope I shall have the Teaser with me."
+
+"I hope you will. There are several small steamers up in the bay; but I
+have not the least idea where you will have to look for the Teaser, for
+we at the fort have not seen any such steamer lately."
+
+"There can be no doubt of her existence, Captain Westover, for the
+Bellevite was sent here to look out for her, as her speed is said to
+be remarkable. But, good-night, captain."
+
+"Good-night, lieutenant; success to you, and a safe return," added the
+captain.
+
+"Thank you," answered Christy, as he hurried down to the landing-place.
+
+Among those whom the lieutenant had selected was a master's mate by the
+name of Flint, who had assisted on board of the Bellevite in the affair
+with the Vampire. He was a modest, quiet man, who made no especial
+figure among his shipmates, though he had strongly attracted the
+attention of his officer. Next to Christy he was the highest in rank,
+and the second in command. Beeks was the next man selected, and he had
+done all that was necessary in the preparation of the boat, including
+putting into it slyly a supply of provisions, and a number of articles
+which the lieutenant had designated.
+
+On his return to the boat, Christy found his crew in excellent order,
+for he had instructed Flint to allow no noise or disorder, as sailors
+and young men generally are somewhat given to skylarking when not under
+the eye of a commissioned officer. Christy took his place with Flint
+in the stern sheets of the boat, and ordered Beeks, who was acting as
+coxswain, to shove off and give way.
+
+"I have no instructions yet, sir," replied Beeks, as he obeyed the
+order, and headed the boat away from the shore.
+
+"We have to make two miles east by south, and that course will carry
+us parallel with the shore of Santa Rosa Island, variation included,"
+replied Christy, who had been a diligent student of the chart, and had
+written down all that it was important for him to remember, though he
+had one of his own charts, or a piece of one, in the boat.
+
+"East by south, sir," replied Beeks, as he put the whaleboat on the
+required course.
+
+Thus far, Christy had kept his own counsel, and not whispered a word
+of his intentions even to the master's mate. He had no motive for such
+heroic concealment of his plan, but he had not had the time to discuss
+it with any person. Besides, though he had decided upon his course
+in the beginning, he was too much in the dark himself to lay down a
+definite plan; and his course must depend largely upon the information
+he obtained from time to time.
+
+He had examined the charts and the Coast Pilot very carefully; and the
+facts he had obtained from the latter rather staggered him in regard to
+the idea he had advanced that the Teaser might go out through Santa Rosa
+Sound. It was not navigable for vessels with a draught of over four
+feet, and it would have to be a very small man-of-war that could float
+in that depth. Though it was now the time of the spring tides, they did
+not add more than six inches to the height of the mean tide, which was
+but a couple of inches over two feet.
+
+Even before he took his place in the boat alongside the ship, he had
+come to the conclusion that the Teaser, if she proved to be anything
+more than a toy boat, could not go to sea through the sound, and she
+was not likely to attempt it. He had said as much as this to Captain
+Breaker, who reminded him that he was to ascertain if possible what the
+craft intended to do, if he succeeded in finding her.
+
+Flint did not manifest any desire to know more than the law allowed,
+and he asked no questions in regard to the enterprise in which he was
+engaged. In fact, one reason why he was chosen was because he had an
+excellent habit of minding his own business. Possibly Christy was more
+particular on this point than an older officer would have been.
+
+"I think we have made two miles, Mr. Passford," said Beeks, when the men
+had pulled about an hour. "Of course, I cannot be sure of the distance
+run, for I can only guess at it."
+
+"Run up to the shore, then, and let us see how far off we are," added
+Christy.
+
+In a few minutes the bottom of the boat struck on the sand, and it was
+forced up far enough to permit the lieutenant to go on shore. Like most
+of the islands in this part of the gulf, Santa Rosa was nothing but
+sand, which in the eastern end is of a peculiar reddish hue. It is
+little more than a sand spit for its whole length, though in some places
+the wind has piled up mounds, or dunes.
+
+"Come with me, if you please, Flint," said Christy, as he leaped to the
+shore.
+
+Flint followed him, as usual asking no questions, and, if he had any
+curiosity in regard to the purposes of his leader, he did not manifest
+it. The lieutenant glanced at the trend of the shore, and then walked at
+right angles with it. No part of the island was inhabited, or even
+occupied, except Fort Pickens and a Union camp. It was a dismal place,
+especially in the fog and darkness.
+
+A short walk brought the explorers to the waters of Pensacola Bay. It
+was in vain that they tried to penetrate the gloom and the mist, and
+nothing could be seen. Flint expressed himself to this effect.
+
+"I did not expect to see anything," replied Christy. "I only came across
+here to find how wide the island was at this point. I am satisfied that
+we are about where I supposed we were. Half a mile to the westward of us
+the island is more than double the breadth it is here."
+
+"I see, sir; if you had found it much wider than it is, you would have
+known that you had not gone far enough in the boat," replied Flint.
+
+"Precisely so; I wanted to find where we were before I changed the
+course in going farther to the eastward," added Christy.
+
+Flint made no further remark, and they returned to the boat, and seated
+themselves in their places. The lieutenant gave the order to shove off.
+
+"We are in no hurry, Beeks; if the men are tired, you can stop longer to
+rest them," continued the commander of the expedition.
+
+The men scouted the idea of being tired after a pull of two miles in a
+comparatively smooth sea. Christy told them that they might have some
+very heavy work to do before they returned to the ship, and he did not
+wish to use up their strength unnecessarily.
+
+"Now, keep her east by north for a couple of miles, Beeks," continued
+Christy. "That will be as far as we have occasion to go in this
+direction. Don't hurry them; take it easy, for it will not be high tide
+till half-past twelve, and we may have more time than we shall know how
+to use."
+
+The crew pulled very leisurely, and it was over an hour before Beeks
+estimated that they had made the two miles. As before, Christy and Flint
+were landed, and they walked across the island. But their walk was not
+even half the length of the last one; and the spit was so narrow at this
+place that the lieutenant was confident he had struck the point he
+intended.
+
+"This is our base of operations," said Christy, as he stood on the shore
+of the bay. "We have got along very well so far, for it is not time yet
+for the music to begin, if it is to begin at all. What are you about,
+Flint?"
+
+The master's mate had lain down on the sand at the water's edge, and
+his companion was very much puzzled by his attitude. He wondered if his
+companion had the stomach-ache, and was not able to stand up.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Lieutenant Passford, but if you will kindly be quiet
+for a moment, I hope to be able to answer your question," replied Flint,
+in a low tone.
+
+Christy complied with the request, and as he did so, he thought he heard
+a noise in the distance, though he was not sure of it. He listened with
+all his ears, and some confused sounds came to him; but he could make
+nothing of them.
+
+"I heard some sort of a noise," said Flint, rising from his recumbent
+position. "But I can make nothing of what I hear. If there was a fresh
+breeze, I should say that it was the surf."
+
+"I heard it, too; but I am bothered to make out what it is. Did you get
+an idea of any kind?" asked Christy.
+
+"It sounded as though something of a gang of men were at work off in
+this direction," replied Flint, pointing east of north. "I am almost
+sure I heard the blows of hammers, or something like them."
+
+"The noise I heard might have been almost anything," added Christy.
+
+"What is there off in that direction?" asked Flint, pointing again.
+
+"About north of us is Town Point, and just beyond it is Old Navy Cove,"
+said the lieutenant, who had been up the bay in the Bellevite on an
+excursion, and who had studied up all the localities.
+
+"Possibly they are repairing a vessel there," suggested Flint.
+
+"They would not do that over there, and certainly not on a dark night,"
+argued Christy. "But we will soon find out all about it."
+
+He led the way back to the boat, which he had ordered Beeks to have
+carried on the shore. Then they proceeded to bear it across the island
+to the bay, where it was put into the water again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+SOME TROUBLE ON BOARD THE TEASER
+
+
+It was not a difficult thing for so many men to carry the whaleboat
+across the island, and they were disposed to make merry over the novelty
+of the task; but they had been instructed not to speak a loud word after
+the party left the south side of the island. The noise to which Christy
+and Flint had listened indicated that something was going on, though
+they could not decide what it was. In the stillness of the night, and
+in the absence of any roar of breakers, sounds could be heard a long
+distance, though whether they came one mile or two, they could not
+determine.
+
+"Get out those cloths, Beeks," said Christy, as soon as the boat had
+been put into the water. "Every oar must be very carefully muffled, and
+you will see that it is properly done."
+
+"I will have it done in a few minutes, sir," replied the acting
+coxswain.
+
+"As I said before, we are in no hurry, and you may take your time to do
+it properly," added the lieutenant.
+
+"Those sounds are still to be heard," said Flint, who had been a short
+distance from the boat to listen for them.
+
+"I hear them," replied Christy, walking away from the boat to continue
+the investigation while they were waiting. "Some kind of a job is in
+progress at no great distance from us. From how far off do you calculate
+that those sounds come?"
+
+"I think they must come a mile; and I don't believe I can guess any
+nearer to it than that, though it is possible they come two miles.
+I know little or nothing of the region about here. Suppose we should go
+a mile north-northeast from this spot, what should we find there, Mr.
+Passford?" asked Flint, apparently greatly interested in the question.
+
+"It would be a point on Pensacola Bay, about half-way between this
+island, where we stand, and Town Point," replied Christy. "I should say
+it would be in the channel leading into Santa Rosa Sound."
+
+"Precisely so!" exclaimed Flint, in an energetic whisper. "That's the
+way they are going to take the Teaser out, and they are doing something
+over there to prepare her for the trip in shallow water."
+
+The master's mate was not aware that Christy had suggested to the
+captain this way of escape for the Teaser, and he had abandoned the idea
+himself. Flint had reached his conclusion from his own premises. They
+discussed the matter for some time, though it was impossible to arrive
+at any conclusion for the want of data on which to base their reasoning.
+
+"All ready, sir," reported Beeks, coming up to them at this moment.
+
+"How far is the entrance to the sound from Fort Pickens, Mr. Passford?"
+asked Flint.
+
+"About four miles."
+
+"Then why should they choose such a night as this for their work?"
+
+"The Bellevite, floating in four fathoms of water on the other side of
+the island, could shell them out if they were seen, as they certainly
+would be from Fort Pickens," replied Christy.
+
+"That makes it plain enough," added Flint, as they walked towards the
+boat.
+
+"But I am not quite willing to believe yet that the Teaser will go out
+through the sound. If she could get through at all, it would only be
+after getting aground no end of times, and if to-morrow should be a
+clear day, she could be seen anywhere on her course," persisted Christy.
+"She cannot expect to make eight or ten knots an hour in that shallow
+water."
+
+The lieutenant ordered the men into the boat, after she was shoved off
+the beach. They worked with such care that not a sound came from her.
+The oars were shipped, and the sailors began to row. As instructed, they
+pulled very slowly, though such work could not be done in perfect
+silence.
+
+"Look out for that binnacle, Beeks," said Christy. "The light from it
+may betray us."
+
+"You have not given me the course, sir," replied the coxswain, as he
+obeyed the order.
+
+"North-northeast," added Christy, as he settled back in the stern
+sheets.
+
+No one was allowed to speak in the boat, and the lieutenant set the
+example of silence. But he kept his ears wide open, though the little
+noise made by the oars and the rippling of the water prevented him from
+hearing anything at first. It was so dark that one could hardly see
+another in the boat. It was in vain that Christy watched in the gloom
+for the glow of a light; for all was nearly total darkness in every
+direction.
+
+In about half an hour they began to hear the sounds which had attracted
+their attention on the island, and they proceeded from directly ahead,
+indicating that the operations, whatever they were, came from the
+entrance to the sound. The workmen were not likely to hear the approach
+of the boat while they were making so much noise themselves. In addition
+to the sounds they had heard before, they recognized the noise of
+escaping steam.
+
+This last discovery made it certain that a steamer was there, though the
+listeners could not know whether it was the Teaser or not. Both of the
+officers of the expedition, in the uselessness of their eyes, made the
+best use they could of their ears. Christy listened to ascertain if
+there was more than one steamer present. In a whisper he asked Flint to
+consider this question. There was no doubling of the sounds to indicate
+more than one steamer.
+
+For ten minutes more Christy listened and was silent; but he was doing
+some very heavy thinking, for by this time the boat was very near the
+scene of operations, if it could be a scene in that dense darkness.
+Every sound, even to the speech of the men, could be distinctly heard.
+Still nothing could be seen, and Christy knew that there was a point of
+nearness where something could be discerned even in any gloom of night.
+He permitted the boat to continue on its course, till he could very
+dimly make out an object ahead.
+
+"Way enough," he whispered to Beeks.
+
+The coxswain raised both hands, and made a gesture with them, which
+was the signal for the men to cease rowing. The sounds were now more
+tangible. Occasionally there were a few raps with a hammer, but the most
+of them were the orders of the person in charge.
+
+"I don't believe there are more than a dozen men there," whispered
+Flint.
+
+"More than that, I should say; but even if there are two dozen, it is
+all the same. Take off the mufflers from the oars, Beeks," continued
+Christy. "Then give way with a will, and run for whatever may come in
+sight."
+
+Beeks obeyed the order, and in a couple of minutes the boat was driving
+into the gloom at her ordinary speed. Something came into view a moment
+later, and it was a small steamer.
+
+"Boat, ahoy!" shouted some one from the steamer.
+
+"On board of the steamer!" replied Christy.
+
+"Are you the pilot?" demanded the speaker from the vessel.
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," responded the lieutenant.
+
+"I shall not want you now," continued the man on the steamer.
+
+"How is that?" demanded Christy, as though this was an entirely
+unexpected reply.
+
+"I have concluded to make my way out through the sound, Gilder."
+
+"Then my name is Gilder," added Christy, in a low tone.
+
+"I have a plan of my own, and I reckon I shall make it go," proceeded
+the captain of the steamer. "The Teaser don't draw much water, and I
+know how to help her over the shoal places."
+
+"When do you expect to get through the sound?" asked Christy.
+
+"I don't know when; but I shall get through."
+
+"But you will find a blockader at the east end of the island; and then
+you will be as badly off as you are now," argued Christy.
+
+"I don't believe there is any blockader there. Who are all those men in
+the boat with you, Gilder?"
+
+"They belong to the water guard," replied Christy, at a venture, and he
+thought that would describe them as well as any terms at his command.
+"They expected you to go out by the main channel to-night."
+
+"No lie in that," chuckled Flint.
+
+"I wish they would come on board of the Teaser and help me out, for my
+men won't work."
+
+"How many men have you?" asked the lieutenant.
+
+"Just fifteen; the rest of my crew were to come on board at midnight,
+half an hour before high tide. But the men I have with me won't work,
+and I shall not be ready for them, I am afraid."
+
+"What is the reason they won't work?"
+
+"They say they shipped to fight the Yankees, and they are not going to
+do such work as lighting up the steamer."
+
+"Perhaps we can bring them to their senses," said Christy, as he ordered
+Beeks to give way again.
+
+A few strokes of the oars enabled the officers in the stern sheets to
+obtain a full view of the Teaser, and she looked like a trim little
+steamer of about two hundred tons. She was rather long, and she had a
+very sharp bow. The reports gave her the reputation of being a very fast
+sailer.
+
+"Let every man have his arms in order," said Christy impressively, in a
+low tone. "Give way with a will, and when you unship your oars have your
+weapons ready, though I hardly think you will have to use them at
+present."
+
+As the boat dashed towards the little steamer, the sounds of an
+altercation came over the water. The angry voice of the captain, if
+the late speaker was the captain, and several others were heard in a
+dispute; and as the boat came alongside the report of a pistol indicated
+that the belligerents were in earnest.
+
+Christy sprang upon the deck of the Teaser, with his revolver in his
+hand. Half a dozen men stood in a group by the side of the engine-room,
+confronting the man who had done the talking with the boat, as Christy
+knew by the sound of his voice.
+
+"We are not held by any papers we signed!" protested one of the men
+forward. "We are willing to do our duty, Captain Folkner, but we did not
+ship to burrow through the sand, and run the risk of being captured by
+the Yankees. We shipped to run the blockade, and that risk is in the
+papers."
+
+"I shall take my vessel out as I think best, Lonley; and my men are not
+to dictate to me what I am to do," replied Captain Folkner angrily.
+
+"I am willing to leave it to Captain Gilder. You know as well as I do
+that the rest of the ship's company would not come on board till the
+Teaser was outside of Santa Rosa Island. We appeal to you, Captain
+Gilder," said Lonley.
+
+"Why do you object to going out through Santa Rosa Sound?" asked
+Christy, willing to do the fair thing, since the mutineers had appealed
+to him.
+
+"The Teaser draws ten feet of water with her coal in, and she cannot get
+through the sound in a week, if ever."
+
+"Are you willing to go to sea by running the blockade, Lonley?"
+
+"Perfectly willing; and so are the whole ship's company."
+
+"But I won't take the risk of running the blockade. They put a fast
+steamer on there to-day, and it is useless," replied Captain Folkner.
+
+The situation was certainly interesting to Christy and his companions.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+COMING TO THE POINT
+
+
+Captain Folkner of the Teaser was evidently somewhat timid, and he had
+heard of the arrival of the Bellevite. Just now the large ships-of-war
+which had been there were absent on their duty, though they were
+expected to return at any time. There was liable to be some
+unpleasantness at any time between Fort Pickens and Fort Barrancas;
+but everything was quiet just now.
+
+Flint had come on board of the Teaser with Christy, but none of the
+boat's crew had attended them. The situation was very novel to the
+lieutenant, and he did not feel competent to arbitrate between the
+contending parties. Besides, he was not willing to believe that he could
+be entirely impartial, for he had a personal and patriotic interest in
+the issue of the quarrel.
+
+The seamen, under the leadership of Lonley, who appeared to be an
+officer, were the more powerful party, and the more to be dreaded. He
+was disposed to decide against them, if he could get them out of the way
+by doing so. They were willing to leave the matter to him, and he began
+at last to see his way through it.
+
+"The captain of a ship is the authority to be respected, Lonley," said
+he, when he had made up his mind what to do.
+
+"We might as well bury ourselves in the sands as try to go through
+there," replied the leader of the mutiny, who seemed to be a very
+intelligent man, and Christy concluded from his language and manner
+that he was not a common sailor.
+
+"That may be; but the captain is supreme on the deck of his own ship,"
+argued Christy.
+
+"We are not on the high seas, and the Teaser has not yet gone into
+commission. It was only this afternoon in Pensacola that Captain Folkner
+told his ship's company that he was going to burrow through the sand in
+Santa Rosa Sound. We all said we would not go with him; but a dozen of
+us came down with him when he told us that he had a way to float the
+steamer through, and he was sure it would work. We did not understand
+that we were to become mud-diggers. When we got here, we were satisfied
+that his plan amounted to nothing, and would not work."
+
+"I am satisfied that it will work," interposed Captain Folkner.
+
+"The agreement in the articles was to run the blockade. If we got
+through the sound, it would take a week of constant drudgery, which
+we did not ship to do."
+
+"Are you ready to do duty on board of the Teaser when she is in deep
+water, Lonley?" asked Christy.
+
+"Every one of us; and every one of the party on shore!" protested the
+leader.
+
+"Will that satisfy you, Captain Folkner?" continued Christy, appealing
+to him.
+
+"It would if I had the steamer in deep water," replied the captain. "But
+how am I to get her into deep water if my crew will not work?"
+
+"Run the blockade, according to the articles!" exclaimed Lonley.
+
+"When are the rest of the ship's company to join you?" asked Christy of
+the leader of the mutineers.
+
+"They are coming down in boats at midnight or later; and we shall join
+them then and wait till the ship is ready to take us on board. They will
+come across from Pensacola to Navy Cove, and then walk till they come to
+the Teaser."
+
+"All right," said the lieutenant. "I will land you at Navy Cove, and you
+can wait there till the rest of the crew come."
+
+"I am perfectly satisfied with that arrangement," replied Lonley.
+
+"But I am not," interposed the captain, angrily. "What can I do without
+any crew to help get the steamer through the sound?"
+
+"I have men enough to take care of you and the Teaser, Captain Folkner;
+and the men in the boat will do everything that is required to be done
+on board of the Teaser."
+
+"That's another thing," replied the captain, appeased by the implied
+promise.
+
+"I can hardly blame your men because they are not willing to go through
+the sound with a steamer drawing ten feet of water when there is not
+more than six feet of water to float her," said Christy. "Besides, if
+you do not get to the other end of the sound before morning, you will
+be seen by some of the blockaders, and they could blow this steamer to
+pieces, and kill half your people in a few minutes."
+
+"It may be dangerous, but so is running the blockade," added the
+captain.
+
+"Going out in a dark night and spending a week in sight of the
+blockaders are two different things. But we need not discuss the matter
+any more. I will put your men on the point yonder, and then I will
+return and help you out of your present difficulty. Am I to take off the
+men in the engine department?" asked Christy, as he went to the side
+where the boat was.
+
+"No; the engineers and firemen are all right, for they were not called
+upon to do any work out of the vessel."
+
+Christy and Flint stepped into the boat, and the crew followed them.
+There were twelve of them, and the lieutenant thought they were all good
+seamen. He did not like to have them reserved for use in the Confederate
+Navy; but he could not help himself then, and he soon landed the party
+on the point. The situation had been explained to the crew of the boat,
+and they had avoided saying anything to commit themselves.
+
+Though it involved a risk to do it, Christy had dressed in an ordinary
+suit of clothes for the occasion, and the party wore nothing by which
+they could be identified as sailors of the navy. As soon as the boat had
+landed its passengers, it returned to the Teaser at the best speed the
+crew could produce.
+
+"I had no idea that you had a plan like this in your head, Mr.
+Passford," said Flint, as soon as the boat was clear of Town Point.
+
+"I did not know it myself, Flint. It has all grown out of the
+circumstances as we found them," replied Christy. "But I did intend, if
+I found the Teaser without a fighting crew on board of her, to capture
+her if the situation warranted such a step."
+
+"But you came prepared for just this thing," suggested Flint.
+
+"I came prepared for anything. I hoped we might be able to capture the
+Teaser, but I did not expect it."
+
+"I suppose you expect to do it now."
+
+"Yes, I do; and I ought to be broken if I don't do it. I am sorry to let
+all those men enter the rebel navy; and that is all that vexes me at the
+present moment."
+
+"Perhaps they can be picked up to-morrow, or later to-night," suggested
+Flint. "From what I heard, I think she was to have a fighting crew of
+about forty men. Of course they will try to join the steamer to-night
+or to-morrow; and why not let them do it?" chuckled Flint.
+
+"We will attend to this affair first, but I like the idea."
+
+They reached the Teaser in due time, and all hands went on board of her.
+Captain Folkner, with a couple of men he had contrived to retain, with
+two firemen, was at work on his apparatus to float a vessel drawing ten
+feet in six feet of water or less. Alongside he had a hundred or more of
+empty barrels which he was sinking under the sides by hauling them down
+with a line under the bottom of the vessel. He did the work partly with
+his windlass worked by steam, and he had lifted the bow of the Teaser at
+least three feet out of water.
+
+Captain Folkner expatiated with enthusiasm on his plan, and explained
+the details to the lieutenant. Christy saw that he had considerable
+mechanical genius, but he certainly lacked a balance-wheel. The officer
+had set him down as a timid man, but this conversation assured him that
+the captain was a brave man. He was carried away with his idea, though
+it was plain that he had not examined the question in all its bearings.
+
+"When I have lifted the steamer four feet, she can go through the sound,
+for I have taken a boat through that drew six feet. With your men to
+help me, I shall get the casks down by midnight, and then all we have
+to do is to go ahead," continued the enthusiast.
+
+"Precisely so; and the Teaser is a screw steamer," added Christy.
+
+"Of course she is; you have known her for two months, Gilder."
+
+"When she has been lifted up four feet, she is to go ahead," repeated
+Christy, in the tone of a musing man.
+
+"That is what I said; she is to go ahead."
+
+"But what is to drive her ahead? Is she expected to go of herself?"
+
+"Go of herself? Of course not. She is to be driven ahead by her engine
+as she always is," replied Captain Folkner, suspending the work upon
+which he was engaged, and trying to see the face of the pilot through
+the darkness. "How do steamers generally go ahead?"
+
+"If they are screw steamers, they are propelled by the pressure of the
+blades of the screw," answered Christy.
+
+"And that is just the way the Teaser will be propelled through the
+sound," replied Captain Folkner. "This steamer is to be a privateer, and
+I own her. She has cost me about all the money I have in the world, and
+I don't want to lose her before I get to sea. If I can get into blue
+water with her, I am not at all concerned but that she will run away
+from anything afloat."
+
+"How many knots can she do in a smooth sea?"
+
+"Eighteen, and perhaps more."
+
+"Then she is not fast enough for that blockader outside. I saw her
+at Mobile when she was a big steam-yacht, and they said she had done
+twenty-two knots more than once."
+
+"I don't believe a word of it; and I am willing to take my chances to
+run away from her in the Teaser, if I can get out."
+
+"If she is good for eighteen knots, it will not take her more than about
+two hours to run through the sound," added Christy, very much amused at
+the talk of the captain and owner.
+
+"I don't expect her to go at full speed in that shallow water," said the
+enthusiast.
+
+"Do you expect her to go at all when she is hoisted four feet out of
+water?" asked Christy, hardly able to keep from laughing.
+
+Captain Folkner was silent for a moment, during which Christy thought
+he must have obtained a new idea, for it looked as though he had not
+thought of the working of the screw after all his flotation schemes had
+been successful.
+
+"I reckon the propeller will have hold enough on the water to make her
+go right along, Gilder. I don't reckon you need make any trouble about
+that," added the man of mechanical ability, rather sheepishly.
+
+Christy had brought his boat's crew on deck, and directed Flint how to
+post them. He thought he had paid proper respect to the talent of the
+enthusiast in listening to his theory, and that it was about time to
+bring the adventure to an issue.
+
+"I shall not make any trouble about the screw, Captain Folkner, for I
+don't think we shall have any difficulty about it. But I believe we had
+better not hoist it any higher out of water," added Christy. "I mean
+that I think we had better go out of the bay by the main channel."
+
+  [Illustration:
+  "He placed one of his men on each side of the Captain."--Page 233.]
+
+"That means to run the blockade?" said the captain.
+
+"That's the idea."
+
+"Gilder, I want you to understand that I command this steamer,"
+continued Captain Folkner, angrily.
+
+"Right, with a little correction: You did command her, and I command her
+now," replied Christy, as he placed one of his men on each side of the
+captain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+ON A DARK AND FOGGY NIGHT
+
+
+"I reckon I don't quite understand you, Gilder," said Captain Folkner,
+very nervously. "I thought I was still in command of the Teaser."
+
+"I shall not blame you for thinking so; but you are utterly mistaken all
+the same," added Christy.
+
+"Did you come here to take the command out of my hands? Is that the
+reason why you sent all my men to Town Point?" demanded the captain,
+getting an idea of the situation.
+
+"If you had been a magician, you could not have come any nearer to the
+truth."
+
+"Who are you? I thought you were Gilder."
+
+"I am not Gilder, though I found it convenient to answer to that name.
+It is reported that the Teaser is a very fast steamer, and I wanted
+her."
+
+"Do you mean to say that you are a pirate?" asked Captain Folkner,
+stepping back as if to emphasize his disgust at such a person. "I have
+told you that the Teaser is a privateer, and it seems that you want her
+more than I do; but I don't believe it."
+
+"Privateers and pirates are about the same in this age of the world.
+I am neither a pirate nor a privateer. Permit me to introduce myself
+more precisely than I have thought it wise to do before. I am Lieutenant
+Passford, of the United States steamer Bellevite; and I take possession
+of the Teaser as a lawful prize. I think we need not discuss the matter
+any longer, especially as the tide is high enough by this time to run
+out of the bay. Disarm him."
+
+"Say, what sort of a joke is this?" demanded the captain.
+
+"If you are good-natured enough to regard it as a joke, I have not the
+least objection," replied Christy. "But I shall be under the painful
+necessity of confining you in your stateroom for the present, and I hope
+you will make yourself as happy as possible, Captain Folkner."
+
+The lieutenant directed Flint to have the prisoner conveyed to his
+stateroom, and to have a man stationed at the door to see that he did
+not escape, or do any mischief. The sentinel was to keep his eye on him
+all the time, and not allow the room to be closed for a moment. The most
+reliable man of the party was selected for this duty, for the captain,
+in a fit of desperation over the loss of his vessel, which was his
+fortune, might attempt some reckless act.
+
+Accompanied by six men, Christy visited the engine-room, where nearly
+all the hands remaining on board were employed. If there was to be
+any trouble at all in completing the capture, it would be in this
+department. Everything was in working order, and an engineer was on
+duty, for the engine had been used in dragging the casks under the
+bottom of the vessel.
+
+Beeks was directed to arrest the men on duty, and the engine was handed
+over to Sampson, who had been brought for such a position if the
+expedition needed him in that capacity. But there was only an assistant
+engineer and several firemen on duty, and these were disposed of without
+any delay. They were all conducted to the wardroom, where they were
+disarmed and a guard placed over them. A couple of sailors were detailed
+to serve as firemen, and the work of taking possession was completed.
+
+For the first time the lieutenant had an opportunity to examine the
+prize, as she would be if he succeeded in getting her out of the bay.
+She was certainly a fine little steamer, and, with the heavy gun mounted
+on a pivot, she would have been capable of doing a great deal of
+mischief among the unprotected merchant ships of the nation.
+
+When he visited the cabin, he found two colored men there, one of whom
+appeared to be a very intelligent fellow. He was very polite to the
+lieutenant, and it was evident that he had no personal interest in the
+success of the Teaser in the business for which she had been fitted out.
+He was the cabin steward, and he had heard everything that had been said
+in regard to the vessel since he came on board of her.
+
+"What is your name, my man?" asked Christy, addressing the steward.
+
+"My name is Davis Talbot; but no one ever calls me anything but Dave,"
+replied the man, with a cheerful smile, as though he was not at all
+disconcerted by the change which had come about in the ownership of the
+Teaser.
+
+"How long have you been on board of this steamer, Dave?" asked the
+officer, much pleased with the intelligent face of the steward.
+
+"About two months, sir."
+
+"Where did this steamer come from?"
+
+"Captain Folkner bought her somewhere in the West Indies, and brought
+her here before the blockade was fairly established."
+
+"Then she is an English-built steamer?"
+
+"I suppose she is, sir; but I don't know anything about it."
+
+"Then she has been here a long while. What has Captain Folkner been
+doing all this time?" asked Christy curiously.
+
+"Inventing, sir," replied Dave, chuckling.
+
+"I see; he has that on the brain."
+
+"The government threatened to take his vessel if he did not fit her out
+and take her to sea. Then he hurried up, and got a crew ready; but they
+had a quarrel last night, and most of the men would not come on board."
+
+"Yes; I know all about that," added Christy, as he looked at his watch
+by the light of the shaded lamp in the cabin. "I suppose you insist upon
+serving the Confederacy, Dave?"
+
+"I don't insist on anything, sir; I go where the ship takes me, and I
+don't mean to quarrel with anybody."
+
+"In other words, will it be necessary to put you under guard?" asked
+Christy.
+
+"I don't think it would do me any good, sir," replied Dave, laughing.
+
+"Which side do you belong on?" demanded the officer, rather impatiently.
+
+"I belong on Dave's side, sir."
+
+"Which is Dave's side?"
+
+"The side of freedom," replied the steward, with some embarrassment.
+"I don't know you, sir; you don't wear the uniform of a Yankee or a
+rebel, and the darkey gets crushed between the upper and the nether
+millstone."
+
+"Then to make the matter plainer to you, I am the third lieutenant of
+the United States steamer Bellevite, and I have captured this vessel as
+an officer of the United States Navy," replied Christy.
+
+"That's all I want to know: the darkey knows where to go, when it is
+safe to go there," replied Dave.
+
+"Then if it is safe for you to go to the pilot-house, you may come with
+me," added the lieutenant, as he led the way to the deck.
+
+Beeks, with the men who had not been assigned to other duty, was cutting
+away the ropes that held the casks in place, and had already turned
+adrift all the raft of them alongside. All the rubbish the nautical
+inventor had collected to carry out his famous scheme of floating the
+vessel through the sound was cleared from the deck, and cut loose from
+the side.
+
+"I think everything is clear, sir," reported Beeks, as Christy appeared
+on deck with Dave.
+
+"Stand by to get up the anchor, then," added the lieutenant.
+
+"No anchor down, sir," interposed Dave. "She is made fast to the buoy."
+
+"So much the better. I suppose Captain Folkner did not trouble himself
+about the forts, Dave, did he?" Christy inquired.
+
+"Yes, sir, he did; Captain Folkner never slept a wink when he did not
+have Fort Pickens on his stomach for a nightmare," replied Dave, with
+a chuckle.
+
+"But Fort Pickens is all of four miles from the entrance to the channel
+of the sound."
+
+"He was in mortal terror of the guns, all the same."
+
+"How was it in regard to Fort Barrancas and Fort McRae?"
+
+"Of course they would not fire on his vessel; if he went out in a fog
+or dark night, he was to burn a blue light; and I reckon you can do the
+same thing, though I don't believe it could be seen to-night from the
+forts," replied Dave, who appeared to be willing to make a good use of
+his knowledge.
+
+"Then I don't think we shall have much trouble in getting out of the
+bay," added Christy, as he went to the pilot-house, attended by Dave.
+
+Since the lieutenant had declared as unequivocally as he desired who and
+what he was, the steward did all he could to assist his new master. He
+had served Captain Folkner for two months, for he said the commander had
+lived on board all this time, and he had heard everything that passed
+between him and his officers and others with whom he had relations.
+He was about as well informed as though he had been an officer of the
+vessel in whom the captain confided all his affairs. He did not wait to
+have his knowledge dragged out of him, but he volunteered such
+information as he saw that the occasion required.
+
+He was a mulatto, and had plenty of good blood in his veins, though it
+was corrupted with that of the hated race. He appeared to be about forty
+years of age, and his knowledge of the affairs of the locality could
+hardly have been better if he had been a white man, with a quick
+perception, a reasoning intellect, and a retentive memory. It was the
+rule with Union officers, soldiers, and sailors to trust the negroes,
+making proper allowance for their general ignorance and stupidity, and
+for particular circumstances. But some of them, even many of them, were
+brighter than might be expected from their situation and antecedents.
+
+The binnacle from the whaleboat had been brought into the pilot-house,
+and Christy compared it with the compass in the Teaser's apparatus,
+after Dave had lighted it. There was no disagreement, and as the tide
+was still coming in, the head of the steamer was pointed to the
+westward, which would be her first course down the bay.
+
+The lieutenant felt that everything depended upon the working of the
+steamer, and he was a total stranger to her peculiarities, if she had
+any, as most vessels have. Taking Beeks with him, he began at the stem
+and followed the rail entirely around the steamer, feeling with a
+boat-hook along the sides. Sundry ropes, fenders, and pieces of lumber
+were dislodged, and everything put in order about the main deck. Then
+he visited the engine-room, and learned from Sampson that he had a full
+head of steam. This careful inspection completed, he ordered the
+quartermaster to cast off the fast at the buoy.
+
+Taking his place in the pilot-house with Beeks, he rang the bell to go
+ahead. The Teaser started on quite a different voyage from what she had
+been intended for. Christy had studied up his courses and distances, and
+had imprinted the chart of the lower part of the bay on his brain. For
+the first part of the run, there was no obstacle, and no difficulty in
+regard to the course.
+
+The fog and the darkness were so dense that not a thing could be seen
+in any direction; but he rang for full speed as soon as the Teaser was
+under way. A leadsman had been stationed on each side of the forecastle,
+though there was no present occasion for their services. Christy thought
+everything was going extremely well, and he was reasonably confident
+that he should succeed in his plan.
+
+"Steamer, ahoy!" shouted a voice, coming out of the dense fog.
+
+"That must be the patrol boat," said Dave, in a low tone.
+
+Christy could not make any reply that would be satisfactory to the
+patrol, and he decided not to answer the hail. He had rather expected
+to be challenged in this way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+A VARIETY OF NIGHT SIGNALS
+
+
+The dip of the oars of the guard-boat could be distinctly heard in
+the pilot-house, and it was probable that the men in it could see the
+Teaser. But Christy was not much concerned about the situation, and he
+was not much disposed to give any attention to the boat.
+
+"Stop her, or we will fire into you!" yelled the officer in charge of
+the guard-boat.
+
+Even this menace did not induce the lieutenant to ring his bell to stop
+the engine. The boat was doubtless full of men, and as he could not give
+straight answers to all the questions that might be put to him, it might
+provoke a fight to attempt to do so, and he decided not to incur the
+risk. His prisoners might make trouble if he reduced the guard in charge
+of them, as he would be obliged to do to beat off the attack of the
+boat.
+
+"What is this boat here for, Dave?" asked Christy, as he peered through
+the gloom to obtain a glance at the craft.
+
+"To keep the people at Fort Pickens from sending out any armed force,"
+replied the intelligent contraband.
+
+"Do they think a boat full of men could do that?"
+
+"No, sir; but they could give the forts on the other side warning."
+
+The sounds from the boat had come from the starboard bow of the steamer,
+and it looked as though the guard-boat had intercepted her by accident,
+since it was impossible that they could have seen the Teaser in the fog
+and gloom. As the steamer dashed ahead at full speed, the sound of the
+oars came from a point on the beam. But the boat seemed to be wasting
+her time, for nothing had been done since the threat to fire into the
+steamer.
+
+"If a vessel is going to run out she has to satisfy this boat that she
+is all right," said Dave.
+
+But he had hardly spoken before a volley of musket-balls passed over the
+Teaser; and perhaps the officer in the boat intended that they should
+pass over her. At any rate no harm was done by them. Then a rocket
+darted from the boat up into the air, which could be dimly seen from
+the pilot-house.
+
+"What steamer is that?" shouted a hoarse voice out of the gloom.
+
+"The Teaser!" yelled Christy, with all the voice he could command.
+
+The boat did not fire again; and if it had done so the steamer was out
+of its reach. But a minute later the boom of a great gun came across the
+bay. Fort Barrancas had evidently opened fire in response to the rocket,
+which had no doubt been sent up as a signal to notify the garrison that
+a vessel was going out or coming in, and that her movements were not
+regular. The first shot was followed by others, and a shot dropped into
+the water near the Teaser.
+
+"Let the leadsmen sound, Beeks," said Christy. The order was repeated,
+and the reports were made known in the pilot-house. Sampson seemed to
+be testing the capacity of the engine, for he was doing his best in the
+matter of speed; but the Teaser behaved under the strain to which he
+subjected her as though she had been very strongly built.
+
+"By the mark eight," chimed the leadsman on the port side.
+
+That was water enough to float a seventy-four, and there was no let-up
+in the speed. In fact, it would not have been convenient to reduce the
+speed while the guard-boat could be at no great distance from the flying
+steamer. This was the report for the next mile at least, and Christy
+felt that the enemy was at a safe distance from him.
+
+"And a half six!" shouted the port leadsman, with energy, as though he
+understood the effect his report would produce.
+
+Christy rang to slow her down. The depth of water was the only directory
+he had in addition to the distance run, which was very indefinite
+without a knowledge of the speed of the vessel.
+
+"By the mark six!" shouted the port leadsman, who was on the side
+nearest to the island of Santa Rosa.
+
+This did not induce the pilot to take any further action, and the Teaser
+continued on her course at less than half speed. Christy looked at his
+watch by the light of the binnacle lamps. It was half-past eleven,
+and the Teaser appeared, as well as he could calculate it, with the
+necessary allowances, to have made at least sixteen knots on the run
+from the sound channel.
+
+"And a quarter five!" cried the leadsman of the land side.
+
+Christy spoke to Sampson through the tube, and the result was a further
+reduction in the speed of the steamer, Beeks, who was at one side of
+the wheel while the lieutenant was at the other, seemed to be a little
+nervous as the depth diminished; and if he had spoken his thought, he
+would have expressed his surprise that his superior officer was running
+the steamer so near the shore, with the apparent intention of going
+still nearer.
+
+"Mark under water three!" yelled the leadsman on the port side, while
+the one on the starboard gave "By the mark four."
+
+"Shoaling fast," said Beeks.
+
+"Yes; but as expected," replied Christy.
+
+"Steamer, ahoy!" shouted a voice on the port side.
+
+"On shore!" replied Christy promptly.
+
+"What steamer is that?" demanded the shore speaker.
+
+"The Teaser, prize to the United States ship Bellevite," answered the
+lieutenant.
+
+"Boga-hobble-good!" continued the man on shore.
+
+"Rabble-gabble-weed!" responded Christy.
+
+"There's a Chinaman on shore there; but I am glad you speak his
+language," said Beeks, trying to repress his laughter.
+
+"You are all right as to position!" shouted the islander.
+
+"The guard-boat must be about a mile astern of me," added Christy.
+
+"We will take care of that," replied the shore speaker.
+
+Christy rang to stop the engine, which was done, though the steamer
+continued to go ahead under the impetus of her former headway. The
+leadsman on the port side reported two fathoms a little later, and then
+there was a ring to back her, for there could not be more than two foot
+of water under the keel. At this moment the peal of a twelve-pounder
+came from the shore, and a little later the bursting of a shell was
+heard astern of the Teaser.
+
+Beeks was very much perplexed by the strange speech which had passed
+between the lieutenant and the shore, and now by the discharge of the
+gun on the island; but he was a well-disciplined quartermaster, and he
+asked no questions.
+
+"I don't think that boat will come any farther this way," said Christy,
+as a second report from the gun reached his ears.
+
+"Then I suppose the shots we hear are directed at the boat," added
+Beeks.
+
+"They can hardly be directed at anything out in that fog and darkness;
+but I don't think the guard will be willing to take the risk of a chance
+shell bursting near them," added Christy.
+
+"On board the Teaser!" shouted a voice quite near the bow of the
+steamer.
+
+"In the boat!" replied Christy. "Sound that bell slowly, Beeks, to let
+him know where we are."
+
+The ripple of oars was presently heard, and a boat came out of the
+gloom, rowed by two soldiers, with an officer in the stern. It came up
+to the forward gangway, and the person in the stern climbed on board.
+The boat did not wait for him, but pulled directly back to the island.
+
+"I am glad to see you, Captain Westover," said Christy, as the officer
+came into the pilot-house.
+
+"And I am equally glad to see you, lieutenant," replied the captain.
+"You seem to have been successful in your undertaking?"
+
+"Successful so far, and I think the worst of it is over now."
+
+As soon as Beeks heard the name of Captain Westover, he understood all
+that had been dark before. Even the Chinese lingo must have been agreed
+upon. The army and the navy officer had been very busy in talking over
+something when they came in the boat from the Bellevite, and after they
+landed on the island. What they had been talking about was plain enough
+now.
+
+Captain Westover had not much confidence in the expectations of the
+young naval officer when he expressed a hope that he might capture the
+Teaser; but he had promised to render all the assistance in his power.
+He had agreed to be on the shore of the island if the Teaser presented
+herself, and thus assure the lieutenant of his position on the bay. He
+had done more than this, for he had brought out a couple of guns and a
+section of artillerists to beat off the guard-boat if it interfered with
+the operations of the navy.
+
+Christy had taken a course from the entrance of the sound, half way
+between the island and Town Point, west-southwest. He knew that the
+distance was about four miles; but he could not know, except by
+sounding, when he came to the island, and he had bargained with the army
+officer to be on the lookout for him. Captain Westover had heard the
+noise of the Teaser, and had hailed her, thus assuring the lieutenant
+that his calculation had been correct, and that he was in the vicinity
+of Fort Pickens.
+
+"I had no idea that you would accomplish anything, lieutenant," said
+Captain Westover.
+
+"I found everything laid out just as I should have wished it to be,"
+replied Christy. "We had plenty of information that the steamer would
+run out the first favorable night; and nothing could have been more
+favorable for blockade running than this fog and darkness."
+
+"But nothing has been seen of this steamer from the fort."
+
+"Where was she fitted out, Dave?" asked Christy, turning to the steward.
+
+"Up by Emanuel Point, sir, about a mile above the town," replied Dave.
+
+"Then she has not shown herself in the lower bay."
+
+The conversation was interrupted by the roll of a drum on the shore.
+
+"There you are, lieutenant," said the captain with a smile. "When you
+are ready to go ahead, don't wait on my account, for I will go on board
+of the ship."
+
+"But what is the drum for?" asked the lieutenant, who was in the dark in
+his turn.
+
+"I am not much of a sailor, lieutenant, but I have sent a drummer to
+follow the shore to the west end of the island, and you will know by the
+racket he makes where the island is, and how far off it is," replied the
+army officer.
+
+"I am much obliged to you, Captain Westover; that will be a safe guide
+for me," said Christy, as he rang to go ahead.
+
+He gave out the course west by north, and he thought he should be able
+to keep within hail of the island, though, as he could see nothing,
+it would be difficult to tell when he reached the northwest corner of
+it. If he continued on this course too long, he was likely to scrape
+acquaintance with Fort McRae, for there would be nothing in the
+soundings to indicate the approach to this dangerous neighbor.
+
+Nothing more was heard of the guard-boat, though the section of
+artillery continued to discharge shells into the fog for a short time.
+On the other side of the bay Fort Barrancas kept up its fire at long
+intervals, and Fort Pickens could not reply without the danger of
+putting a shot into the Teaser after her recent reformation. The steamer
+kept on her course at half speed; but in ten minutes the sound of the
+drum fell astern of her, when the drummer could go no farther.
+
+"Heave over the wheel, Beeks," said Christy.
+
+Then he rang the bell to go ahead at full speed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+ANOTHER NIGHT EXPEDITION
+
+
+With the drum still beating on the shore, the Teaser rounded the
+northwestern point of the island, when the wheel was heaved over.
+Christy was entirely confident in regard to the navigation, for he had
+steered the Bellevite through the same channel when on an excursion a
+year before. But he had daylight and sunshine at that time instead of
+fog and gloom as on the present occasion.
+
+"Buoy on the starboard, sir!" reported the leadsman on that side.
+
+"Buoy on the port hand!" cried the man on the other side, a minute
+later.
+
+"We are all right," added the lieutenant. "We are between the middle
+ground and the island. The buoy on the port is the southwest point of
+the island."
+
+The Bellevite was not the only man-of-war that lay off Pensacola, for
+the Brooklyn and other vessels were there to assist in the defence of
+Fort Pickens, which the enemy were determined to capture if possible.
+The government had done everything within its means to "hold the fort,"
+though an army of about ten thousand men had been gathered in the
+vicinity to reduce it. The dry-dock which had floated near Warrenton,
+and which the Confederates intended to sink in the channel, had been
+burned, and a force of Unionists, including the Zouaves, called "The Pet
+Lambs," had been quartered on the island of Santa Rosa. It had looked
+for several days as though the enemy were preparing for a movement in
+retaliation for the destruction of the dry-dock, which was a bad
+set-back for them.
+
+The getting to sea of the Teaser had no connection with this movement,
+it appeared afterwards, and if Lieutenant Passford's enterprise had been
+carried out only an hour or two later, he would have found the situation
+quite different. He had sent the most of Captain Folkner's force on
+board ashore, and had it all his own way afterwards. He was sorry to
+leave these men, and the rest of the ship's company of the Teaser, to
+assist in fighting the battles of the Confederacy, and he was filled
+with the hope that they might yet be captured.
+
+As soon as the Teaser was well to the southward of the island, Christy
+gave two short and a long blast on the steam whistle, which was the
+signal he had agreed to make when he approached the Bellevite, though
+Captain Breaker had laughed at him when he suggested that he might
+return in the prize. The same signal was made in reply, and repeated
+several times to aid him in finding the ship. The water was
+comparatively smooth, and the prize came alongside the Bellevite,
+where it was made fast.
+
+The lieutenant's first duty was to report to the captain of the
+Bellevite, and taking Dave with him, he hastened on board. He found
+Captain Breaker on deck, for there was a feeling in the fleet and in the
+fort that some important event was about to transpire in the vicinity.
+
+"I am glad to see you, Mr. Passford," said he; and possibly it
+occurred to him that he had sent the young man on a difficult mission,
+practically within the enemy's lines. "You have brought the prize with
+you, I see; and I was before informed of the fact that you had her by
+the signal whistles."
+
+"Yes, sir; the Teaser is alongside. She is not a vessel of the
+Confederate Navy, but was fitted out on private account. She is a
+privateer," replied Christy.
+
+"So much the better that you have captured her," added the captain.
+"Did you have a severe fight, Mr. Passford?"
+
+"We had no fight at all, sir. I was instructed to avoid a fight if
+possible, and I have done so. Not a blow has been struck or a shot
+fired, sir."
+
+"I will hear your report in detail later, Mr. Passford, when the prize
+is in a better situation than now. Have you any prisoners?" asked
+Captain Breaker.
+
+"Only the captain and the engineers, sir. This man with me is Dave,
+and he was a steward on board of the Teaser. He has given me valuable
+information, and I have not regarded him as a prisoner," replied the
+lieutenant.
+
+"I understand," said the commander, with a smile, as he saw the yellow
+hue of the steward's face. "We will not regard him as a prisoner. But
+you may send the others on board."
+
+Captain Folkner was in no better humor than before, and a berth in the
+steerage was assigned to him. The other prisoners were sent on board,
+and Captain Breaker had ordered Christy to anchor the prize near the
+Bellevite.
+
+"I don't feel as though I had quite finished my work," said Christy,
+as he walked towards the gangway to obey the order.
+
+"What more is there to do?" asked the commander.
+
+"It would take me a little time to tell the story of my trip into the
+bay, sir, and I think you would not understand what more is to be done
+until you have heard it," replied Christy.
+
+"Then I will hear you before you anchor the Teaser," said the captain,
+leading the way to his cabin.
+
+The lieutenant narrated the events of his trip across Santa Rosa Island.
+Captain Breaker was not a little amused at his scheme to get rid of the
+portion of the crew of the privateer before he captured her.
+
+"I never suspected that you were the possessor of so much audacity,
+Christy," said he, when the lieutenant had put him in possession of all
+the facts.
+
+"I did not know that I had more than my fair share, sir, and I don't
+know what I have done that is at all audacious," replied Christy, very
+meekly.
+
+"It is a very dark and foggy night, but I don't believe that I have
+another officer who would have cheek enough to pretend to be a pilot
+in Pensacola Bay, and to be in possession of the guard-boat at the same
+time."
+
+"Captain Folkner put the idea into my head, and I think I should have
+been an idiot not to make use of it, considering the nature of my
+mission on board of the Teaser."
+
+"It is a wonder that no one knew you were not Gilder."
+
+"The men in the guard-boat did not expose me, and admitted by their
+silence that I was the person I claimed to be," replied Christy, with
+a twinkle of the eyes.
+
+"Your scheme would have failed ninety-nine times out of a hundred."
+
+"If it had failed, I had force enough to clean out the enemy on board,
+so that I ran no risk; but I was ordered to avoid a fight, and I did
+so," argued Christy.
+
+"You were exceedingly fortunate; and the next time you try such a trick,
+it may lead you into a rebel prison."
+
+"It was not my fault that the ship's company of the Teaser were at issue
+among themselves, and I should have been an imbecile to fail to profit
+by it."
+
+"I approve all you have done, Mr. Passford."
+
+"Thank you, sir. Though I was of Captain Folkner's opinion that the
+sound was the best way out of the bay in the first place, I abandoned
+that view before I started on the expedition. I was sorry that I could
+not indorse Captain Folkner's opinion, and that I was obliged to take
+sides with his men," said Christy, chuckling.
+
+"I understand your position perfectly. Now, what do you mean by
+finishing your work, Mr. Passford?" asked Captain Breaker, curiously.
+"We have the Teaser, and we ought to be satisfied with your brilliant
+success."
+
+"I am not quite satisfied, sir."
+
+"You ought to be."
+
+"We put twelve men ashore at Town Point rather than have a fight with
+them; and I have the feeling that we have a mortgage on those men,
+to say nothing of thirty more at Pensacola who were to join the Teaser.
+I told them they could get on board of their steamer from the island.
+I shall be sorry to disappoint them, for I suppose the whole forty or
+more are counting on a handsome allowance of prize money to be made for
+them by the Teaser. I should be sorry to disappoint them," continued
+Christy, chuckling all the time.
+
+"Precisely so! I suppose you would be greatly grieved to blast their
+hopes, and you propose to take them on board of the steamer."
+
+"That is the idea, sir. Taking a more patriotic view of the question,
+it would be a great pity to allow forty good sailors to waste their
+energies in the service of the Confederacy."
+
+"Undoubtedly it would," said Captain Breaker, his brow knitting under
+his earnest thought. "What do you propose to do? Explain your plan
+fully, Mr. Passford."
+
+"The principal of the malcontents on board of the Teaser was a man by
+the name of Lonley," Christy explained. "We left them at the point where
+the rest of the Teaser's crew were to join them. They are all anxious
+to get to sea in the Teaser, and I have no doubt they will come down
+to-night."
+
+"I should think they would," the captain assented. "But they will expect
+to find the steamer in the sound, and not outside of the island. If the
+Teaser could get through the sound at all, she would not be where you
+intend to put her."
+
+"I told Lonley to get upon the island, and be on the lookout for the
+Teaser; and as they have to come from Pensacola in a boat, it will be as
+easy for them to go to the island as to land at the point. Very likely
+they will get the Times to bring them off, or some other steamer,"
+Christy argued.
+
+"It is certainly very desirable to capture these men, for it will do so
+much to weaken the enemy; but I am afraid you are a little too audacious
+in some of your movements, Mr. Passford," replied Captain Breaker, with
+a softening smile.
+
+"I beg you will not consider that I am asking for the command of the
+Teaser, Captain Breaker, if she is sent upon this duty," returned the
+lieutenant, somewhat set back at the prudence of the commander.
+
+"I think I had better send Mr. Blowitt in command of the Teaser, and you
+shall go as his first officer," added the captain.
+
+"I have no objection, even in my heart, to this arrangement," replied
+Christy.
+
+"But I shall have to send the prize to New York, and I will appoint you
+prize-master," continued the captain, afraid that he was disappointing
+the ambitious young officer. "You have done exceedingly well, Christy,
+and I shall not fail to mention you favorably in my report; and you will
+write out yours as soon as possible."
+
+Christy would not allow himself to think that he was unappreciated
+because an older officer was appointed to conduct the enterprise he
+suggested. He was ready to do his whole duty either as principal or
+subordinate. Mr. Blowitt was summoned from his stateroom, and forty
+men, including all who had taken part in the capture of the prize,
+were detailed to man the Teaser. The second lieutenant was one of the
+jolliest men on board, but he weighed nearly two hundred pounds, and he
+was not as active on this account in boat service as some others. He was
+an excellent officer, and had been in command of a steamer, though he
+had never before been in the navy.
+
+At three o'clock in the morning the fasts of the Teaser were cast off,
+and she backed away from the Bellevite. She was to proceed to a point
+about six miles to the eastward, which was beyond the camp of the "Pet
+Lambs." Here she was to look out for the Teaser's crew.
+
+She had not made half this distance when all hands heard rapid and
+continued firing on Santa Rosa Island.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+LIEUTENANT PASSFORD ON A MISSION
+
+
+The officers on board of the Teaser could not explain the occasion of
+the firing on the island, though it sounded as though an engagement of
+some sort was in progress. It had been foggy during the preceding day,
+and if any movement on the part of the enemy had been indicated it could
+not have been seen on board of the ships off the entrance to the bay.
+
+"I hope this business we are to do this morning will not take us long,"
+said Mr. Blowitt. "We may be wanted on board, and I should not like to
+be absent from the Bellevite if she is to take part in an engagement of
+any kind."
+
+"And I am sure I should not," added Christy. "I should not be surprised
+if the enemy made an attempt to capture Pickens; but even if they storm
+it in the darkness, I do not see that the ships can do anything until
+they are able to see what they are to do."
+
+"But this affair may keep us away from the ship for a day or two,"
+suggested the second lieutenant.
+
+"I don't think so, sir; I believe you will be on board again before
+seven bells in the morning watch," replied Christy. "The ship's company
+of the Teaser were to be somewhere on the shores of the sound where they
+could be taken on board."
+
+"But the men you landed at the point believed that the Teaser was to
+get out through the sound," replied Mr. Blowitt. "They took you for the
+pilot Gilder, and you did not tell them that you intended to run the
+blockade."
+
+"Of course I did not; if I had, they would have remained on board. But
+the guard-boat attempted to stop us, and the artillery on the island
+fired into it, though it is probable that they did not hit it in the
+dense fog," Christy explained. "Our men may have learned from the
+guard-boat that we took the steamer out through the main channel."
+
+"If they did they probably learned that the Teaser went out with the
+assistance of the garrison at the fort," suggested Mr. Blowitt.
+
+"I am confident that the officer of the guard-boat would have no means
+of knowing that fact," argued Christy. "Of course, he heard the firing
+in the neighborhood of the fort, and he would naturally conclude that
+they were firing upon the steamer to prevent her from running out."
+
+"That may be; but, to tell you the truth, Mr. Passford, I am afraid we
+shall not find these men," added the second lieutenant. "From the firing
+we hear, I should judge that a movement of some kind is in progress, and
+our men may be better informed than you expect."
+
+"Of course, they may be; but I expect to find these men at some point
+along the shore," replied Christy, who thought the second lieutenant was
+just a little obstinate in not accepting his theory in full.
+
+The steamer continued on her course to the eastward, and nothing more
+passed between the two principal officers in regard to the crew from
+Pensacola. But Flint was quite as confident as the third lieutenant that
+the forty men, more or less, would be captured. The noise of the firing
+could no longer be heard, and then Christy suggested that the whistle be
+sounded as a signal to the men if they were in the vicinity.
+
+The depth of water was three or four fathoms close up to this part
+of the island. The soundings indicated that the steamer was as near
+as it was prudent to go in the dense fog. Christy was sure that the
+privateer's crew could not have gone any farther to the eastward by this
+time, and the screw was stopped, while all hands made an anxious use of
+their ears to detect any sounds that came from the shore. But nothing
+could be heard at first, and Mr. Blowitt again intimated that they were
+engaged in a "wild-goose chase." But he had hardly uttered this cooling
+reflection before Beeks came aft to report that a number of pistol
+shots, as he thought they were, had been heard in the distance.
+
+"Nobody can tell what they mean," said the sceptical Mr. Blowitt. "They
+may be a part of the affair we heard going on soon after we left the
+ship."
+
+"In what direction were the shots, Beeks?" asked Christy.
+
+"They sounded as though they were about half a mile or less to the
+westward of us," replied the quartermaster.
+
+"Blow the whistle in short blasts, Beeks," added Mr. Blowitt, who seemed
+to have gathered a little faith from the report of the quartermaster.
+
+The order was obeyed, and Beeks again reported that pistol shots had
+been heard from the westward. The third lieutenant was in a hurry to
+have the business finished, for he felt confident that the Bellevite
+would soon be engaged in an affair of more importance than picking up
+a couple of score of prisoners. He ordered the steamer to come about,
+and move to the westward; but after she had been under way about five
+minutes, he rang to stop her, and then sounded the whistles again.
+Several pistol shots responded to this signal. Again he started the
+screw, and pointed the bow of the Teaser squarely to the north.
+
+The steamer moved very slowly, and two men sounded all the time till
+they reported "by the mark two," when there could not have been more
+than three feet of water under the keel of the vessel. The screw was
+stopped and backed so that she might not run upon any shoal place ahead
+of her, and the officers waited with interest and anxiety for further
+action on the part of the party on shore. By this time no one doubted
+that there were men on this part of the island; but whether they were
+the crew of the privateer or not was yet to be proved.
+
+"Steamer, ahoy!" shouted some one on the shore.
+
+"On the island!" replied Christy, as he was instructed to do by his
+superior.
+
+"What steamer is that?" demanded the speaker on the island.
+
+Whoever he was, he could not help knowing that a steamer was there, for
+the engineer had begun to blow off steam as soon as the screw stopped,
+though neither party could see the other in the fog and darkness.
+
+"The Teaser," replied Christy. "Who are you?"
+
+"We are the ship's company of the Teaser, and we want to get on board,"
+replied the speaker. "Is Captain Folkner on board?"
+
+"He is on board--of the Bellevite," the third lieutenant would have
+finished the sentence if he had told the whole truth, for he uttered
+only the first part of the sentence.
+
+"All right. The first and second lieutenants are with us. Is Gilder on
+board?"
+
+"He is; and he wants to get back to the other side of the inland,"
+answered Christy, who considered it his duty to make his replies as
+suitable to the occasion as possible. "Who is speaking?"
+
+"Lieutenant Lonley," replied the man; and Christy knew him, though he
+did not know his rank before. "He wants to see Gilder before he goes on
+board. Tell him to come on shore in his canoe."
+
+"What is that for?" demanded Christy, rather surprised at the unexpected
+request.
+
+"I want to see him on particular business; I have a message for him,
+which I cannot deliver in presence of any other person," replied Lonley.
+
+"All right; you shall see him soon," answered Christy.
+
+"Get out the boats to take us on board," continued Lonley. "Send them
+about a mile to the eastward, where we have left our bags."
+
+"All right," repeated Christy.
+
+But he said what he did not believe, for everything did not look right
+to him. He could not understand why the bags of the men should be a mile
+to the eastward. He could not imagine what business Lonley could have
+with Gilder or his representative; and if he had any, why it should be
+necessary to meet him on the island.
+
+"Of course you don't expect me to carry on the programme that fellow has
+marked out," said Mr. Blowitt. "I don't quite like the looks of the
+things that we can't see, Mr. Passford."
+
+"Neither do I, Mr. Blowitt," replied the third lieutenant frankly.
+
+"I shall not send a boat from the steamer till I understand this matter
+a great deal better than I do now, and especially I shall not send the
+boats a mile to the eastward," added the second lieutenant.
+
+"Of course it is possible that my plan has miscarried already," added
+Christy.
+
+"I shall do everything I can to carry out your plan, as I am instructed
+to do by the captain; but I have the feeling, in spite of myself, that
+we are crawling into a hornet's nest," added Mr. Blowitt, with some
+anxiety in his tones. "You will call all hands quietly, and be ready to
+repel boarders. It is well to be prepared for whatever may come. The
+firing at the west end of the island indicated that something was going
+on, and perhaps these men on the shore know about it."
+
+Christy obeyed the order promptly, and the next minute, every seaman on
+board was ready with his cutlass and revolver to meet an attack. But no
+sound came from the shore just then, and the officers were in a state of
+uncertainty in regard to the situation which allowed them to do nothing.
+They waited for half an hour, when the leadsman reported that the water
+was shoaling, which indicated that the Teaser was drifting towards the
+island.
+
+"On board the Teaser!" shouted Lonley, so distinctly that he could
+hardly have been more than three hundred feet from the steamer.
+
+"On shore," replied Christy, prompted by Mr. Blowitt.
+
+"I am waiting for Gilder! Why don't he come on shore?" shouted Lonley,
+his impatience apparent in his tones.
+
+"Where are all the men?" demanded Christy, as requested by the second
+lieutenant.
+
+"They have gone a mile to the eastward where they left their bags."
+
+"We will run down in the steamer for them," added Mr. Blowitt, talking
+through Christy.
+
+"Don't do that!" protested the speaker on shore. "There is a Yankee
+steamer off in that direction. We heard her steam an hour ago."
+
+"All right!" replied Christy.
+
+"That settles the matter in my mind," said Mr. Blowitt. "They are trying
+to play what they call a Yankee trick upon us. When we send our boats to
+the eastward, we shall send them into a trap. If the boats are to bring
+off forty men, they will expect them to go with only men enough to pull
+the oars; and when they get possession of them, they expect to retake
+the Teaser."
+
+"I think you are right, Mr. Blowitt," replied Christy, who began to
+believe that his scheme was rapidly approaching a failure, though he did
+not give it up just yet.
+
+"This Lonley is still on the shore near us," said Mr. Blowitt. "I should
+very much like to know what has been going on to-night on the island,
+and it may be that he knows all about it. As you are the representative
+of Gilder, Mr. Passford, you may take the canoe that is astern, and have
+a talk with Lonley at close quarters, if you don't object."
+
+"I should have proposed it myself if I had not feared that the idea
+would be charged to my audacity," replied Christy. "I will take only
+Flint with me, as he was with me before."
+
+The canoe was brought up to the gangway, and Flint took his place at the
+oars. Mr. Blowitt charged the young officer in the most serious manner
+not to run any risks, and the boat was shoved off. It required but a few
+strokes of the oars to bring it into shoal water by the beach. Only a
+single man could be seen on the shore, and this one must be Lonley.
+There seemed to be no risk, and Christy landed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+CHRISTY BECOMES A VICTIM
+
+
+Everything was perfectly still on the island, and only a single man
+was in sight; but Christy put his hand upon his revolver as he went
+on shore. Though he had never been a fighting young man, he had the
+impression that he should not tamely submit to the assault of an enemy,
+or run away from any single man that stood up in front of him. He had
+always been prudent, even while he had been daring, and he hardly needed
+the solemn admonition of the second lieutenant to be extremely cautious.
+
+"Is that you, Captain Gilder?" asked the man on the shore, who stood a
+little way from the waterside.
+
+"Yes; and I take it for granted that you are Lonley," replied Christy,
+advancing towards the other. "You have done all the talking this night,
+and I ought to know you."
+
+"All the talking except what you have done, and I ought to know you,"
+replied Lonley. "I am Lieutenant Lonley, of the Teaser, and our men are
+all ready to go on board."
+
+"And Captain Folkner is all ready to have them go on board," returned
+Christy, who had no doubt of the truth of what he said, though he
+understood that he was telling a "story" all the same.
+
+"I have no doubt he is. But I don't quite understand how you happen to
+be on this side of the island, and so far to the westward at this time
+in the morning. We expected to find the Teaser burrowing through the
+sound, and we had about made up our minds to take possession of her and
+run the blockade, as other Christians do. We did not believe she would
+get through the sound in a week, if she ever did."
+
+"I succeeded in persuading Captain Folkner that he had better come out
+by the main channel; and that is the way we did come out, and that
+explains how we happen to be here at this time in the morning," replied
+Christy, very cheerfully.
+
+"You must have very strong powers of persuasion, Captain Gilder," said
+Lonley, laughing.
+
+"I have in a case such as this was," added the lieutenant, with a
+chuckle, as he thought of the particular kind of persuasion he had
+used upon the captain of the privateer.
+
+"I would give a good deal if I had just such powers, for they are
+sometimes of very great service to an officer."
+
+"You are quite right, Mr. Lonley. I suppose you are the first lieutenant
+of the Teaser."
+
+"No, I am not; kissing goes by favor, and the captain's brother is the
+first; and he is no more fit for his position than the captain is for
+his duty. I was in hope that the government would take possession of
+the steamer, and send her to sea properly officered," added Lonley,
+very good-naturedly.
+
+"Good officers are quite necessary in the service," suggested Christy.
+"I have no doubt you will fill the bill, and be all that could be
+possibly desired."
+
+"Thank you, Captain Gilder. Did you have any trouble in getting out of
+the bay?"
+
+"No, none at all. By the way, Mr. Lonley, we have been hearing firing at
+the west end of the island to-night. Do you know what it means?"
+
+"The first thing was to clean out that regiment of Zouaves; and I have
+no doubt that has been done before now; and our boys may get a hack at
+Pickens. A big force was landed in the fog, and the Yankees will not
+stay on this island much longer," replied Lonley.
+
+His information was entirely correct, though his prediction was not
+equally reliable.
+
+"I was sure there was fighting going on over there," added Christy.
+"You seem to be all alone, Mr. Lonley. Where are all your men?"
+
+"I told you before you came ashore that I had sent them all over to the
+place where they had left their bags, about a mile to the eastward of
+us. I suppose Captain Folkner has sent the boats over there for them
+before this time?"
+
+"He was inclined to run over in the steamer," added Christy.
+
+"I hope he did not do that," said the privateersman, with a good deal
+more energy than the other thought the occasion warranted. "I warned you
+that there was a Yankee gunboat over that way."
+
+"The Teaser has not gone over that way," replied Christy.
+
+"If she has, she will be gobbled up by that gunboat, and all my men with
+her."
+
+"I persuaded Captain Folkner not to do it," added the Bellevite's
+officer, very quietly.
+
+"He ought to have done just what I asked him to do; and that was to send
+his boats over to the place named for the men."
+
+"And I persuaded him to do that also," continued Christy, as
+unblushingly as though he had not been strictly in the habit of
+telling the truth all his lifetime.
+
+"Good for you, Captain Gilder!" exclaimed Lonley, grasping the hand of
+his companion as though he had been his brother. "You beat all the men
+I ever knew on power of persuasion; and when I get the command of the
+Teaser, as I expect to have before this year ends, I shall want you to
+serve as my first lieutenant."
+
+"Thank you, Lieutenant Lonley; you are very kind; and if I ever go into
+the privateering service, I shall certainly go in with you," replied
+Christy.
+
+"An officer with your power of persuasion will be invaluable to me,"
+replied Lonley, still holding the hand of the other. "If I were gifted
+in this respect as you are, Captain Gilder, do you know what I would
+do?"
+
+"I am sure I have not the least idea, unless it would be to persuade
+Jeff Davis to send you a commission as a captain in the regular navy,"
+said Christy, laughing at the idea.
+
+"I am afraid I should have too little cheek to attempt to do that, for
+the president is a rather obstinate man, and I fear he would not see the
+point. Besides, I am a very modest man, though you may not have observed
+this shining trait in my character. No; I am too diffident to ask for a
+place I have not won by service."
+
+"Then what would you do in the way of persuasion?" asked Christy, though
+he wondered why he was prolonging the interview.
+
+"I should use my powers of persuasion upon you, Captain Gilder, in the
+first place."
+
+"I don't think it would be of any use, for I am too well posted in that
+way of doing it to be influenced," replied Christy, trying to withdraw
+his hand from the grasp of the privateersman. "I must go on board of the
+Teaser again when you have delivered your message to me, as that was
+what you wished to see me for."
+
+"I did say I had a message for you, didn't I? Well, upon my life, I have
+quite forgot what it was, but it was from President Jefferson Davis,
+and he was particular that I should deliver it to you to-night or this
+morning. Isn't it very strange that I should forget a message of so much
+importance that it could not be trusted to writing?"
+
+"Passing strange, I should say," answered Christy, who began to
+understand that he had fallen into a trap of some sort. "While you are
+thinking of it, I will go on board, and persuade Captain Folkner not to
+run the Teaser to the eastward if he should take it into his head to do
+so. I had no idea there was a Yankee gunboat in that direction, and I
+don't believe the captain had. Besides, he don't know where he is in
+this fog, and he needs me."
+
+As he spoke, Christy tried to withdraw his hand from the grasp of
+Lonley, as he had not succeeded in doing before when he tried. But the
+privateersman suddenly fell upon him, and both of them went down. A
+tremendous struggle followed, but before it was decided, two men rushed
+out of the gloom, and took part in the affair; and they soon settled the
+matter in favor of the Confederacy, much to the chagrin of the second
+lieutenant of the Bellevite.
+
+  [Illustration: "A tremendous struggle followed."--Page 284.]
+
+Flint had remained in the canoe, which had been partly drawn up on
+the beach; but the moment he sprang out upon the sand to go to the
+assistance of his officer, he was set upon by two men and secured. Both
+of them were deprived of their weapons, and their hands tied behind
+them. Beyond a doubt the lieutenant and the master's mate were prisoners
+before they had any clear idea of the situation.
+
+"Are you there, Mr. Folkner?" called Lonley, as soon as the prisoners
+were secured, speaking now in an energetic tone, as he had not before.
+
+"I am here," replied a man who seemed to be in a boat not far from the
+spot. "You have kept me a long time waiting for you!"
+
+"I wanted to give the Yankee boats time to get at least a mile from
+the Teaser before anything was done. Shove off now, and make things as
+lively as you can," said Lonley. "Go to your places in the boats,"
+he continued to four men who had assisted in the capture of the two
+officers.
+
+By this time Christy had a chance to see that he was a victim of a trick
+which was to eventuate in the recapture of the Teaser; and he was sorry
+that he was not the only victim, as he looked at Flint. He realized too
+that the scheme had been very well planned, though he was really happy
+in the belief that it would be a failure in the end. Lonley seemed to
+be the leading spirit in the affair, and managed the details. He had
+intended that the boats should be sent from the Teaser to a point at
+least a mile off.
+
+He had taken it for granted that the steamer would come to pick them
+up, or in other words, to capture the forty prisoners. If he was weak
+in accepting as the truth Christy's statement that the boats had
+been actually sent away, as desired, he could see no reason why the
+Yankee officer should try to deceive him. It appeared now that the
+privateersmen had two boats, which had been brought across the island
+for the purpose. Lonley had naturally wished that only a few men should
+be on board, and concluded that it would be an easy matter to capture
+the steamer, and then to secure the men in the boats when they returned
+from the eastward.
+
+The four men on shore, who had been put in a place where they could
+assist Lonley, hastened to the boats, and they shoved off, pulling as
+silently as though the oars had been muffled, as probably they had been.
+In a moment more they disappeared in the darkness and fog.
+
+"I think I have improved a great deal in the art of persuasion,"
+said Lonley, as the boats disappeared. "I suppose I persuaded you
+as effectually as you did Captain Folkner."
+
+"You have done very well, Mr. Lonley," replied Christy, in a patronizing
+tone, for he was determined that his companion should derive no
+satisfaction from seeing him cast down by his misfortune.
+
+"You informed me a little while ago that Captain Folkner was on board
+of the Teaser; and I wish to ask if you are uniformly in the habit of
+speaking the truth?" continued Lonley.
+
+"Well, that depends upon circumstances. If I have not done so, you
+cannot expect me to contradict myself."
+
+"You claimed that you were Captain Gilder."
+
+"Hardly, my excellent friend: when Captain Folkner addressed me by that
+name, I did not object to it."
+
+"That was just as much a lie as though you had claimed it in so many
+words," protested Lonley.
+
+"I admit it; and I hardly expect a true patriot to tell the truth to
+the enemy. If I remember rightly, you told me yourself that your men
+had gone to the eastward where they had left their bags. I don't believe
+that your conscience reproached you when they showed themselves in the
+boats."
+
+At this moment pistol shots were heard on the water.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE ACTION ON THE DECK OF THE TEASER
+
+
+As the Teaser was but a short distance from the shore, Christy had no
+doubt that the attempt to board her had been made by this time. Mr.
+Blowitt had quite as many men on board of the steamer as could have been
+contained in the two boats, and he was not much concerned about the
+result of the attack, especially as he knew that the second lieutenant
+was fully prepared and on the lookout for it. The only thing that
+Christy regretted was that he was not on board of the Teaser to take
+part in the affair of repelling boarders.
+
+"There seems to be some music in the air," said Lonley, after he had
+listened for a few moments to the sounds that came from the direction of
+the steamer.
+
+"To return to the subject of the morality of telling stories, your men
+do not seem to be a mile to the eastward, where their bags were left,"
+added Christy good-naturedly.
+
+"You had a glance at them in the boats, though the darkness and fog were
+rather too thick for you to count them," replied Lonley, chuckling over
+the deception he had practised upon the lieutenant of the Bellevite.
+
+"Yes, I saw them, and I concluded that they could not be where their
+bags were."
+
+"All is fair in war."
+
+"That seems to be the generally received maxim, and he is the smartest
+man who the most thoroughly deceives the enemy," added Christy, who
+found himself tolerably well satisfied with the situation, though he was
+a prisoner.
+
+"That is so, and of course I can find no fault with you for deceiving
+me," returned Lonley, chuckling as though he was even better satisfied
+with the situation than his companion.
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Lonley; you are magnanimous, and with equal sincerity
+I can say that I have no fault to find with you," replied the Union
+officer. "But I have my doubts whether, after this, either of us will be
+likely to believe what the other says. But, for my part, I wish to say
+that I don't believe in telling anything but necessary and patriotic
+lies."
+
+"That is my view of the matter exactly; and if there is any man that
+despises a liar, I am that man," said Lonley warmly. "But it seems to
+me they are making a good deal of a racket off there," he added, as the
+noise of pistol shots and the clash of cutlasses came over the smooth
+waters of the gulf.
+
+"They seem to be at it quite earnestly," replied Christy.
+
+"By the way, how many men did you leave on board of the Teaser?" asked
+the privateersman, whose manner seemed to have suddenly become
+considerably changed.
+
+"How many men?" repeated the lieutenant of the Bellevite.
+
+"That is the question I asked," replied the lieutenant of the Teaser.
+
+"I suppose you would not believe me if I should tell you," answered
+Christy.
+
+"I judge that you can speak the truth if you try," added Lonley, with
+more asperity than the occasion seemed to require.
+
+"I know that I could," said Christy, very decidedly; "and I may add that
+I was in the habit of doing so on all occasions before this cruel war
+began."
+
+"Then suppose you try to do so just now, and tell me how many men your
+people had on board of the Teaser."
+
+"You must excuse me for the present, for I do not like to make
+statements to one who will not believe what I say," answered Christy,
+rather facetiously.
+
+"You are a prisoner now."
+
+"I am painfully aware of the fact, but I doubt if the government service
+will suffer very much in my absence from duty."
+
+"You are too modest by half, Mr.--but I have not even the pleasure of
+knowing your name, and conversation is annoying under such
+circumstances."
+
+"I am simply Midshipman Passford, at your service."
+
+"Only a midshipman!" exclaimed Lonley. "Upon my word, you ought to be a
+commodore. Passford? Possibly you are a cousin of Colonel Passford of
+Glenfield."
+
+"Colonel Passford is my uncle. Do you know him?" asked Christy.
+
+"I do know him; and there is not a finer man or a truer patriot in the
+South than Colonel Passford. He is loading a schooner with cotton, and
+he offered me the command of it. Then you are his nephew, I have heard
+of you."
+
+"I hope my uncle is quite well, for I have not heard from him for
+several weeks, or since I left New York."
+
+"I saw him ten days ago, and he was very well then. I am very happy
+to have made a prisoner of his enterprising nephew, who appears to be
+capable of doing our cause a great deal of mischief," replied Lonley,
+looking earnestly in the direction of the Teaser.
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Lonley; I certainly intend to do it all the mischief I
+can in a legitimate way. I am speaking the truth now," said Christy.
+
+"But you have not answered my question in regard to the number of men on
+board of the Teaser when you left her."
+
+"And you will excuse me for the present if I do not answer it," added
+the Union lieutenant.
+
+"Very well, Mr. Passford; I cannot compel you to answer it, though doing
+so would do no harm to your cause, for I should judge that the question
+of the hour is settled."
+
+"What is the question of the hour, Mr. Lonley?"
+
+"The question is which side is in possession of the Teaser, yours or
+mine," replied the privateersman, still gazing out into the gloom.
+
+"Is that question settled?" asked Christy, with interest.
+
+"Of course I don't know, but I should think that it was. We hear no
+more pistol shots and no more clashing of cutlasses," replied Lonley,
+uneasily. "But I expected to hear the triumphal shout of our men when
+they had carried the deck of the Teaser."
+
+"I have not heard anything like a triumphal shout," added Christy, very
+quietly. "It is barely possible that your men have not carried the deck
+of the Teaser."
+
+"Of course, it is possible they have not; but I don't believe they have
+failed," replied Lonley.
+
+The privateersman listened for a few minutes in silence. He appeared
+to be entirely confident that the victory must be with his men. He
+evidently believed that the captors of the Teaser had sent her two boats
+off to a distance of a mile, and thus weakened whatever force she had on
+board of her. He did not seem to have any idea that the party he had
+met in Pensacola Bay had been increased in numbers, or that the officer
+in command had reported to the ship to which they belonged. Christy
+realized what Lonley was thinking about, and he clearly believed that
+the Teaser had been left in charge of not more than a dozen or fifteen
+men, reduced by at least six then on boat duty.
+
+"Help! help!" shouted a man in the water at no great distance from the
+shore.
+
+"What does that mean?" said Lonley, springing to his feet.
+
+"It is a call for help, and, as my hands are tied behind me, I cannot
+respond to it, as I would gladly do, be the man who needs it friend or
+enemy," replied Christy. "There is the canoe in which we came ashore,
+Lieutenant Lonley, and you can use that."
+
+The privateersman sprang into the boat, shoved it off, and pulled in
+the direction from which the appeal came. He disappeared in the fog in a
+moment; but a little later was seen again approaching the shore. He had
+not taken the sufferer into the boat, but he had clung to it. As he got
+upon his feet, Christy saw that there were two of them, for one helped
+the other up the beach.
+
+"What does this mean?" demanded Lonley, very much excited. "Have you run
+away from the others?"
+
+"No, sir; but we were beaten in the fight, our boats captured, and all
+hands taken prisoners except us two," replied the uninjured of the two
+men.
+
+Lieutenant Lonley, whatever his views of the morality of lying to the
+enemy, uttered an exclamation which grated very harshly on the ears of
+Lieutenant Passford. The result, as stated by the man who had swum to
+the shore, was as unwelcome as it was unexpected. He had not deemed a
+defeat even possible. He learned from the guard-boat that the steamer
+had been captured. He had spent the time after he was landed with his
+companions at Town Point, and organized his force for the recapture of
+the Teaser. The failure of the final attack was as severe upon him as
+the loss of his vessel had been upon Captain Folkner.
+
+"Who are you?" demanded Lonley, when he had in some measure recovered
+from the shock which the failure gave him.
+
+"I am Levick, the boatswain; and this is Lieutenant Folkner, who was
+wounded in the shoulder in the first of it," replied the man. "He was
+knocked from the rail into the water when we boarded, and he held on to
+an oar. When the fight was over, and we had lost it, I slipped into the
+water, and helped the lieutenant along on his oar, till I was about used
+up, and then I called for help."
+
+"Are you much hurt, Mr. Folkner?" asked Lonley of the injured officer.
+
+"I don't know; my shoulder feels numb, and I can't use my arm," replied
+Folkner. "But I can use my legs, and I think that is what we had better
+be doing."
+
+"I don't understand it," protested Lonley, very much dissatisfied with
+the result of the action, as may well be supposed. "I was sure you would
+carry her deck at once."
+
+"I was as sure as you were, Lonley; but I believe they had fifty men
+all ready for us. They let us leap on deck without much opposition, and
+then they surrounded us, and took us by surprise, for I did not suppose,
+after what you said, that they had a dozen men," replied the wounded
+lieutenant.
+
+"I did not suppose they had even a dozen men left on board," Lonley
+explained, with humiliation in his tones.
+
+"I staid in the boat till I had seen all my men on deck," continued Mr.
+Folkner. "They surrounded our force, and tumbled them into the hold as
+though they had been pigs, slashing them with their cutlasses if they
+tried to get out. I saw the fat officer in command of the enemy; he was
+very active, and I leaped on deck, determined to cross weapons with him.
+But he hit me in the shoulder with his cutlass, and I lost my hold on
+the rail."
+
+"You ought to have led your men, not followed them," said Lonley
+bitterly.
+
+"That is easy enough for you to say; but I wanted to be where I could
+see my men," retorted the first lieutenant, of whom the second had a
+very mean opinion, perhaps because he got his position on account of
+being the captain's brother.
+
+"Whether I did right or not, I can tell you all one thing; and that is,
+that we shall be prisoners if we stay here any longer. They have got our
+men under the hatches, and they have ordered out a boat to look for an
+officer they sent ashore."
+
+"We can do nothing here, and we may as well put ourselves in safer
+quarters, for we have two prisoners to lose," said Lonley. "Mr.
+Passford, I shall have to trouble you to march to the other side of
+the island."
+
+"I am your prisoner, Mr. Lonley, and I must obey your orders, though
+I am sorry to be away from my ship in the hour of victory," replied
+Christy submissively.
+
+But he felt that his plan had been fully carried out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+A VISIT FROM COLONEL HOMER PASSFORD
+
+
+With his arms securely tied behind him, Christy realized that he could
+make no resistance to his captors. Flint was in the same unfortunate
+situation, and both of them had been deprived of their revolvers. But
+in spite of his unpleasant surroundings, the young lieutenant felt that
+the balance of advantage was on the side of the Union. If the government
+was deprived of the services of a midshipman and a master's mate, a
+dangerous privateer had been captured, and about forty prisoners had
+been taken from the employ of the Confederacy. In the face of this
+decided gain, Christy felt that he had no right to complain.
+
+By this time the light of day had begun to have some effect on the
+darkness and fog, though the gloom seemed to be hardly less. Lonley
+directed his two prisoners to walk side by side behind the wounded
+lieutenant, while he and Levick took their places in the rear. The
+second lieutenant of the Teaser was duly impressed by what the first
+had said about a probable visit to the island in search of the missing
+midshipman, and he directed Folkner to march as rapidly as he could. He
+took the control of the party out of the hands of his superior, and very
+likely he wished he had done so sooner.
+
+Folkner, as he had before suggested, still had the use of his legs, and
+he certainly used them well, for he travelled like a man who was in a
+hurry; but both Christy and Flint were in excellent condition, though
+they had been on active duty all night, and they had no difficulty in
+keeping up with their leader.
+
+Lonley and Levick were both armed, and they kept their weapons in
+readiness for immediate use, for the former recognized the enterprising
+character of the young officer in front of him, and knew that he would
+escape if he could. But Christy did not feel called to take any
+desperate chances in order to restore himself at once to the service of
+his country, and he and his companion in captivity marched along very
+quietly. The two armed men soon dropped several paces to the rear, so
+that the lieutenant could listen to the details of the action on the
+deck of the Teaser. The prisoners could not hear what was said, and they
+started a conversation on their own account.
+
+"We are in a bad box," said Flint. "I did not expect to come out of the
+little end of the horn in this way."
+
+"You must take a broader view of the situation than that," replied
+Christy. "The Teaser is certainly a prize of the Bellevite, with as many
+as forty prisoners. That is the result of our night's work, though we
+are counted out just now in the business of crowing over the success of
+our side. That is the way to look at it; and this view makes me quite
+satisfied with the night's work."
+
+"I did not see it in that light, and I suppose you are right, Mr.
+Passford," replied Flint.
+
+"And you will not lose your share of the prize-money for the Yazoo or
+the Teaser," added Christy, though, as the son of a millionnaire, he
+felt no interest at all in the spoils of war.
+
+"What do you suppose will be done with us, sir?" asked the master's
+mate.
+
+"I have not the least idea, any more than you have; but I have no doubt
+we shall be kept in close confinement, and I don't believe we shall live
+as well in our prison, wherever it may be, as we do on board of the
+Bellevite. But I am rather fond of johnny-cake, and I don't expect to
+starve on bacon."
+
+"Don't you think it was a mistake to send us ashore in the canoe on the
+part of Mr. Blowitt?" asked Flint, rather timidly.
+
+"If it was, it was as much my mistake as it was his. But I don't think
+it was a mistake. I cannot say that we did not succeed in the action on
+the deck of the steamer because we were sent ashore," replied Christy.
+
+"I don't see how that can be," replied Flint.
+
+"In the first place, Lonley wanted me to come on shore, and asked that
+I should do so. On the strength of what I said to him, he believed that
+our boats had been sent to the eastward, and that induced him to make
+the advance he did. After he had told us where to find the men, he had
+good reason to believe that the boats would be sent for them. We did not
+fall into the trap he set for us. I think it is all right as it is; but
+whether it is or not, it's no use to grumble about it."
+
+"I did not mean to grumble; and I am willing to believe that everything
+has been for the best," replied Flint, apparently resolved to be
+satisfied, as his superior officer was, whether he felt so or not.
+
+Folkner led the way in a northwesterly direction, and evidently knew
+where he was going. When they had been marching about half an hour,
+the party heard the report of fire-arms in the rear of them; but the
+discharges were at regular intervals, and did not sound as though they
+came from a battle. A little later, they heard loud shouts.
+
+"That is the party who are out in search of us," said Christy.
+
+"That is so, Mr. Passford; the sounds are only signals, and they are
+intended to notify you that your friends are in search of you," added
+Lonley, hastening up to the advance of the party. "I should be very
+sorry to do such a thing, but if you shout, or do anything to inform
+that party where you are, it will be my duty to shoot you."
+
+"I am not disposed to be rash, Mr. Lonley. If our friends overtake your
+party, it will not be my fault," replied Christy.
+
+"You do not expect me to shoot you in that case, I hope?" added the
+privateersman.
+
+"I did not know but that your revolver might go off by accident."
+
+"You may be assured that it will not; I claim to be a gentleman and a
+Christian, and I intend to be fair even to my enemies."
+
+"I beg your pardon for my thoughtless remark. I have no occasion to
+complain of you. I shall endeavor to be a gentleman and a Christian
+also, though I intend to do my best in fighting my country's battles;
+and I am not disposed to talk politics with you under present
+circumstances."
+
+The march was continued for some time longer, and the signals in
+the rear were repeated till increasing light enabled the prisoners to
+see that they were approaching Pensacola Bay. Not a little to their
+astonishment, the shore seemed to be alive with soldiers, and they
+learned that a battle, or something like one, had been fought on the
+island. The Confederate forces had been sent to attack Wilson's Zouaves,
+in camp to the eastward of the fort. Some very severe fighting had been
+done in the darkness and fog, with heavy losses on both sides.
+
+The Zouaves had been re-enforced from the fort, and with marines from
+the ships. Though the Confederates claimed the victory, it was clear
+enough to the two prisoners from the south side of the island that the
+Southern troops were retreating from the field. A soldier who fought
+with them wrote to a paper in Georgia: "I scarcely know whether we
+achieved a victory, or suffered a defeat." He also said that in the
+fog and darkness: "We shot down our friends in numbers."
+
+A few prisoners had been captured by the enemy, including two officers.
+But Folkner led the way to a point on the bay not very near the steamers
+which had brought over the expedition from the mainland. The Confederate
+troops embarked in the steamers and launches by which they had come; but
+the Union troops followed them to the end. Their steamers were aground,
+and a merciless fire was poured into them by the pursuing companies.
+
+"They are having hot work of it over there," said Lonley, as they came
+to a boat on the shore. "But that is not our affair, and it is quite
+proper for us to keep out of the way of the flying bullets."
+
+Christy and Flint were directed to take seats in the boat, and the
+lieutenant and boatswain manned the oars. They were not out of the
+reach of the bullets of the Federal troops, and the oarsmen pulled with
+all their might for a time. It was five miles to Pensacola, but the
+privateersmen landed their prisoners there. They were committed to a
+sort of guard-house; but in the afternoon they were sent to Mobile with
+about twenty others, who had been captured in the battle of the night
+before.
+
+There was not a great number of prisoners in the city, and it was
+intended to remove them to other quarters arranged for their
+accommodation.
+
+Christy and Flint were confined in an unoccupied warehouse, and were fed
+tolerably well, and they were supplied with some kind of dried grass for
+beds. It was not at all like the luxurious stateroom of the lieutenant
+on board of the Bellevite, or even the quarters of Flint; but they were
+determined to make the best of it. Flint had become reconciled to his
+situation, and Christy was even cheerful.
+
+After he had been in the warehouse a few days, Christy was not a little
+surprised to receive a visit from his uncle, Colonel Passford. He was
+not surprised at the kindness of the planter in making the visit, but
+that he should know so soon that he was a prisoner of war, for he had
+fully decided not to make any appeal to his uncle; and he could not
+imagine how he had discovered his situation.
+
+"I am glad to see you, Christy," said Colonel Passford, extending his
+hand, which Christy took without any hesitation.
+
+"And I suppose you are glad to see me here," added the nephew, with a
+smile.
+
+"While I am glad to see you deprived of the power to injure the cause I
+love, and to which I have pledged all that I have and all that I am, I
+am sorry that you should be in trouble, Christy. I hope I have Christian
+feeling enough to keep me from rejoicing at the misfortunes of any
+person, and especially of my brother's son. I can say sincerely that
+I am sorry you are in trouble," said the colonel solemnly.
+
+"Oh, I am not in trouble, Uncle Homer!" exclaimed Christy, laughing.
+"I have done my duty to my country, my conscience is clean, and I am
+not to be upset by an accident like this. I am really happy in the
+consciousness that I have been faithful to the cause of my country."
+
+  [Illustration: "I am glad to see you, Christy."--Page 308.]
+
+"I wish you had been; but we will not talk about that, for I suppose you
+and your father have the same views," replied the planter, looking very
+sad.
+
+"I don't believe we should agree if we talked about it for a year, and
+we had better give the subject the go-by. But how are Aunt Lydia and
+Gerty?"
+
+"Both are very well. I hope your father is in good health, as well as
+your mother and sister."
+
+"All very well."
+
+"I have not heard a word from any of you for about five months,"
+continued Colonel Passford. "In fact, not since you were here in May."
+
+"We got home all right, and the Bellevite is a man-of-war now. She
+captured one valuable prize off the coast of Carolina, and another at
+Pensacola," replied Christy cheerfully.
+
+"She ought never to have been allowed to leave Mobile Bay," added the
+colonel.
+
+"Your people certainly did everything they could to prevent her from
+leaving, and I hope you don't blame yourselves for letting her go. What
+about Corny, sir?" asked Christy.
+
+"Major Pierson was very much to blame for permitting the Bellevite to
+pass the forts when she came in, and he lost his command. But he has
+devoted all his life to redeem his fault by her recapture. He took Corny
+with him, and a naval officer; I only know that the attempt to recapture
+her failed from the fact that the Bellevite is now on the blockade."
+
+Finding that his uncle knew nothing of the events which had transpired
+at Bonnydale, Christy told him all about them, informing him at the end
+that Corny was a prisoner of war on parole at his father's house,
+recovering from his wound.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+AN ENTERPRISE FOR A DARK NIGHT
+
+
+"Corny wounded!" exclaimed Colonel Passford, rising with no little
+emotion from the box on which he had seated himself.
+
+"Not seriously, Uncle Homer," added Christy.
+
+"But how was he wounded? I have heard of no battle in the vicinity of
+New York till now, though our papers contain some news from outside,"
+continued the planter.
+
+"It was hardly a battle," replied Christy. "Captain Carboneer had
+brought a crew for a steamer through Canada, I believe, for the purpose
+of capturing the Bellevite as she lay at Bonnydale. Major Pierson and
+Corny were to assist him; and the major wished Captain Carboneer to take
+Florry on board of her, and convey her to the South, when he had taken
+possession of the steamer; but the naval officer was too high-toned to
+do anything of the kind."
+
+"I did not suppose Major Pierson could do such a thing," added the
+planter, biting his lips.
+
+"But the major insisted that he did not mean to take her against her
+own will. Captain Carboneer bought an old steamer, put his men on board
+of her, and started up the river to make the capture. I knew they were
+coming, and was ready for them. We fired only one shot at the old
+steamer, which smashed her walking-beam, and disabled her. A piece of
+the machinery struck Corny, and injured him in the shoulder. The doctor
+says he is not permanently injured, though it will be months before he
+is able to use his arm. He was paroled, and mother is taking as good
+care of him as though I had been wounded."
+
+"I am thankful it is not worse," added the colonel, with a sigh of
+relief. "What became of Major Pierson?"
+
+"I don't know, but I suppose he is a prisoner in Fort Lafayette. He
+refused to give his parole when he found he could not be a guest at
+Bonnydale. Captain Carboneer obtained the command of a steamer, but it
+was captured by the Bellevite, and probably he is with the major in the
+fort."
+
+The planter asked a great many questions in regard to the affair on the
+Hudson, and Christy answered them. He gave some of the particulars of
+the capture of the Teaser, and mentioned the name of Lonley, who had
+told him that Colonel Passford had offered him the command of a schooner
+he had loaded with cotton to run the blockade; but the planter said
+nothing to indicate that he had ever heard of the privateersman.
+
+"The Bellevite has been very fortunate so far, and she seems to have a
+charmed existence," added the colonel.
+
+"That is only because she is well handled," replied Christy, laughing.
+
+"And you seem to be equally fortunate, Christy, for you have twice been
+the means of saving your father's steamer. Corny has done nothing, is
+wounded, and practically a prisoner. But, Christy, the tide will turn,
+for Heaven is always on the side of a just cause," added the planter
+solemnly.
+
+"I believe it, uncle; and that will be the reason why the Union will
+prevail in the end. Besides, Napoleon believed that Heaven was always
+on the side of the stronger battalions."
+
+"That was an impious remark; and Heaven, by its own mysterious ways,
+will conduct the just cause of the South to a successful ending, and the
+Confederate States of America will be an honored member of the family of
+nations."
+
+"I think we had better not talk politics, even though we mix in a little
+religion," suggested Christy.
+
+"As your father has been kind to my boy, wounded and a prisoner in the
+midst of enemies, I ought to do something for you, Christy," continued
+Colonel Passford, looking on the floor.
+
+"Not at all, Uncle Homer; I am not wounded as Corny is, and there is
+no need of doing anything for me," interposed Christy, laughing in the
+serious face of the planter.
+
+"I can get you paroled, and then I shall be glad to have you remain at
+Glenfield until you are exchanged," said the planter.
+
+"I shall not accept a parole, Uncle Homer," replied Christy promptly.
+
+"Not accept a parole!" exclaimed the colonel. "Corny did so."
+
+"If I were wounded, as Corny is, I would accept it."
+
+"I hope you don't mean to try to escape, Christy," added his uncle, with
+a look of deep concern on his dignified face, as he looked about the
+apartment in which his nephew was confined.
+
+"I don't say that I shall; if I did say so, you would have our guard
+doubled, and ready to shoot me if they saw my head at a window,"
+answered Christy with earnestness.
+
+"You seem to think I am a heathen; but you forget that you are an active
+enemy of my country," added the planter, with a pained expression.
+
+"I don't forget it, uncle; but I am not half as active as I hope to be
+before this thing ends. I believe you would see me shot or hung by the
+neck till I was dead if it were for the benefit of what you call your
+country."
+
+"I hope and pray that I may never be placed in a situation to see
+anything of that kind."
+
+"I know you are earnest, honest, and sincere, Uncle Homer, and no
+partiality to your own kindred would permit you to shirk what you
+consider to be your duty. I find no fault with you; and I believe my
+father would be equally firm," said Christy warmly.
+
+"I think you understand me, my boy; but do not attempt any rash project.
+I cannot prevent the guard from shooting you if you attempt to escape."
+
+"I prefer to keep my own counsels in a matter of this kind, Uncle Homer.
+Give my love to Aunt Lydia and Gerty, for I suppose I am not likely to
+see them, as I am liable to be sent away any day."
+
+"Oh, yes, you will see them, for they shall call upon you here as soon
+as they return from Montgomery, where they have gone for a few days."
+
+"It will be very kind of them to do so," added Christy, though he did
+not believe he should be "at home" when they came.
+
+"I do not wish you were wounded, my dear boy, but if you were, we would
+do all that your father and mother are doing for poor Corny," replied
+Colonel Passford fervently, "Now, promise me, Christy, that you will not
+attempt to escape."
+
+"I can't make any promises, uncle."
+
+"I will do the best I can to have your condition improved, and see that
+you have a better diet, if I send your food from a hotel."
+
+"You are very kind, uncle, and I know that you will do all that your
+duty will permit you to do for me."
+
+"But I shall live in fear and trembling if I leave you without your
+promise to refrain from daring exploits. Just consider, my dear boy; you
+are in the fourth story of this warehouse, and the guard-room is below
+you. You have really no chance at all of success, and a fall or a shot
+may kill or disable you for life."
+
+"I do not say that I shall try to escape, uncle."
+
+"And you do not say that you will not try to escape."
+
+For half an hour longer Colonel Passford endeavored to induce his nephew
+to give the desired promise; but he remained obstinate to the end;
+and his uncle was compelled to leave him, to enter upon the fear and
+trembling in which he was to live while his enterprising nephew remained
+a prisoner. But he promised to call upon him every day, and to write to
+his wife and daughter to return at once.
+
+"I think I shall not wait for him to call," said Christy to Flint,
+as soon as he had gone.
+
+"Do you expect to get out of this place, Mr. Passford?" asked the
+master's mate, with lively interest.
+
+"This very night!" replied Christy, in an energetic whisper, as he put
+his finger on his lips to indicate that nothing more was to be said on
+the subject.
+
+The second lieutenant of the Bellevite had not been confined in the
+warehouse three days without considering his chances of escape, and
+the means of accomplishing such a purpose. He had looked the building
+over with the greatest care. The room the prisoners occupied was next
+to the roof. The rear windows opened upon a narrow alley, and he had
+ascertained by looking out at them that the warehouse was one of a long
+block. He had been in Mobile a great deal while the family were visiting
+at Glenfield, and he had been careful to notice the location when he was
+conducted to it with the others.
+
+At the end of the loft next to the main street were thirty or forty
+other prisoners, with whom Christy and Flint had been on good terms,
+though they belonged to the army, and seemed to be inclined to keep
+by themselves. They had been exhausted by hard service, and they had
+nothing to do but eat and sleep, though the former occupation did not
+occupy any great amount of their spare time. But as soon as it was
+fairly dark, they stretched themselves on their beds of vines and weeds,
+and most of them were soon asleep.
+
+The evening that followed the day on which Colonel Passford visited his
+nephew was dark, foggy, rainy, and as gloomy as even a blockade runner
+might ask. Christy seated himself under one of the rear windows of the
+loft, which appeared to have been intended only for storage, and was
+only from seven to eight feet between studs. Flint placed himself at the
+side of his companion, as he was requested to do.
+
+"This is just the kind of a night we want," said Christy, in a whisper,
+for he could hear the tramp of a sentinel outside the door of the loft.
+
+"I should as soon think of getting out if we were buried a hundred feet
+under ground as to think of getting out of this place," replied Flint,
+who was hardly as enterprising as his officer, though he was always
+ready to follow when he was well led. "There is a guard at the door,
+Mr. Passford."
+
+"He may stay there; we don't want anything of him," replied Christy.
+
+"I see no other way out of this den, unless we jump down into the
+street; but I will follow you, sir, if I fall a hundred feet in doing
+it," protested the master's mate.
+
+"You shall not fall six inches, and you will have no opportunity to do
+so. But if you are all ready to follow my lead, we may as well begin at
+once," added Christy, who had expected that it would require some
+persuasion to induce his companion to join him.
+
+The first thing the midshipman did was to take off his shoes, and to
+require Flint to do the same. With these in their hands, Christy paced
+off twenty steps, which brought him, according to a calculation he
+had made in the daylight, under a scuttle that led to the roof of the
+warehouse. Stationing the master's mate as a mark, he laid off five
+paces at right angles with the first line from the party-wall. It was as
+dark as Egypt, and the scuttle could not be seen; but the operator had
+located it mathematically, and was confident as to its position. Flint
+was planted under the opening, with the shoes of both at his side.
+
+The master's mate was nearly six feet in his stocking feet as he stood,
+and Christy whispered to him the next thing in his scheme. With the aid
+of his willing assistant, the midshipman was mounted on the shoulders of
+the former, where he stood up like an athlete in the gloom, though he
+almost instantly obtained a hold above with his hands. He unfastened the
+scuttle, and slid it off the aperture with the greatest care. Then he
+drew himself up with his strong hands, and was on the roof. Then Flint
+passed up the shoes, as he reached down for them. Seating himself on one
+side of the frame, he braced his feet against the other side, and
+grasped the hands of the mate. It did not work.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+THE NEW MATE OF THE COTTON SCHOONER
+
+
+Christy had given himself credit for more physical strength, or Flint
+for less weight, than the circumstances warranted, and found that he
+could not draw up his companion as he intended. He made several efforts
+to accomplish his purpose, but he failed every time. The fear of making
+a noise cramped his efforts to some extent.
+
+"Let go, Mr. Passford," whispered Flint, when he realized that his
+avoirdupois was too much for the young officer. "I will get that box,
+and then I can manage it myself."
+
+"All right; but don't make a particle of noise," added Christy.
+
+It required some time for the mate to find the box in the darkness, but
+he had it in position at last, standing upon one end. Mounting it, he
+found that his head was on a level with the roof, and he could easily
+draw himself up; but he did not do so at once.
+
+"What are you waiting for, Flint?" asked Christy, rather impatiently.
+
+"If I leave the box where it is, the guard will see where we have gone
+when they inspect the prison at ten o'clock," replied Flint.
+
+"That's so; I did not have the box in my plan, and that would tell the
+guard where to look for us," replied Christy. "We must make a line, and
+haul it up after you."
+
+"Here are two big handkerchiefs," added Flint, as he removed his
+neck-cloth, and passed up his pocket handkerchief with it.
+
+Christy tied the handkerchiefs together with great care, adding two more
+of his own to the length, which he thought would reach the box, Flint
+made it fast to the broken end of a board on the side, and then, without
+the least difficulty or noise, sprang lightly to the roof of the
+warehouse. With the aid of his companion, Christy drew up the box,
+careful that it should not strike against the frame of the scuttle. The
+door was closed, though of course they were unable to hook it on the
+inside, as they had found it; but the guard were not likely to notice
+that it was not fastened before morning.
+
+"What next, Mr. Passford?" asked the master's mate, after they had
+rested for a few minutes from their labors, though they had not been
+very arduous.
+
+"The next thing is to get down into the street, where we shall be as
+safe as though we were as patriotic, over the left, as my Uncle Homer.
+The burden of the work is done, but I hope we shall be able to kill two
+birds with one stone," replied Christy, though his meaning was
+mysterious to his companion.
+
+"It don't seem to me that we are much better off than we were in the
+loft," suggested the mate.
+
+"I believe we are, though I don't think we had better indulge in any
+long speeches just now. We have a favorable night, and we must make the
+best of it. I don't intend to be seen in this town in the morning, but
+we have the whole night before us."
+
+"There will be a lively time looking for us to-morrow, for I don't think
+they will be willing that you should get off, though it won't make much
+difference to them about me."
+
+"They would not be willing to part with you, my friend."
+
+"But you made yourself rather noted in helping the Bellevite out last
+May, and they will have a history of the loss of the Teaser in the
+newspapers in due time, if they have not had it already; and they will
+not like it a bit when they find that you have stepped out."
+
+"They are welcome to their own reflections," replied the lieutenant.
+
+"And they will send a searching party out to your uncle's estate at
+Glenfield; but of course we shall not go near there," said Flint.
+
+"That is just where I am going," replied Christy, decidedly, "for that
+is where I expect to kill one of the birds with the stone I fire. But we
+had better be moving, for we have a long tramp before us."
+
+The midshipman led the way, and though the roof, which was nearly flat,
+was wet with the falling rain, they walked, still in their stockinged
+feet, to the farther end of the block. Neither of them wore his uniform,
+as they remained as they had dressed for the duty they were to do on
+board of the Teaser. This was a point in their favor in the course they
+were to pursue, for their uniform would have betrayed them as soon as
+they were seen.
+
+Before they reached the end of the block of warehouses, they had found
+and tried all the scuttles on the roof, but they had not discovered one
+which had been left unfastened. At the last one this became a serious
+question. The scuttle at the end warehouse was securely hooked on the
+inside; but neither of the pair felt discouraged at this circumstance.
+Looking about them they found a piece of joist about ten feet long,
+which might have been left there when the building was finished. Christy
+examined the scuttle with the greatest care, to determine on which side
+the hooks were placed.
+
+While he was doing this, Flint detached a couple of bricks from the
+party-wall, which were used as a fulcrum for the lever, made of the
+joist. The building was not inhabited, and there was little to be feared
+at that height above the street from any noise they might make. Flint
+sat down on the end of the lever, and the scuttle flew up at once, the
+staple drawn out of the wood.
+
+The master's mate was the first to enter; and he "hung off" to the floor
+below. Then he assisted Christy to descend, and to close the scuttle
+after him. Acting upon their belief that all the warehouses were
+constructed on the same plan, they easily found the door by which they
+reached the staircase. On the lower floor, they opened a window and
+passed out into the alley in the rear of the building. They were on the
+ground, and Christy soon ascertained where he was. He made his way to a
+wharf where he was fortunate enough to find a boat.
+
+This locality seemed to be entirely deserted, and there was no one to
+challenge them, and no one appeared to take any notice of them on the
+way. It was not yet nine o'clock, and many stores were open, one of
+which they entered and bought a cooked ham and a large supply of bread.
+The woman in charge asked no questions, though Christy talked about a
+fishing trip to blind her. The boat they found was a very good one, and
+as it was the property of the enemy, Christy had no scruples in regard
+to confiscating it. He had money enough in his pocket to pay for it, but
+as the owner did not appear to dispute his taking possession of it, he
+dispensed with this ceremony.
+
+Taking the oars which they found in the boat, they pulled away from the
+wharf without interruption from any source. Christy took his bearings
+as well as he could, and they passed out into the fog and darkness,
+to which experience within a few days had accustomed them both. They
+crossed the Alabama River, and then followed the land to the southward.
+Striking across an inlet they reached the land again, and by midnight
+they reached a point of land where Christy felt entirely at home. He
+recognized it by the dilapidated wharf, from which he had embarked in
+the Leopard.
+
+It was still a long pull to Glenfield, and they went ashore to partake
+of a little refreshment. Flint was a smoker, and he had some dry matches
+which enabled them to make a fire, more for its light than its heat. The
+ham was good and so was the bread to hungry men like the fugitives. At
+the end of an hour by the midshipman's watch, they felt like new men,
+and they resumed their places in the boat, and pulled two hours longer,
+which brought them to the inlet at Glenfield. At the rude pier where the
+Bellevite had been moored lay a topsail schooner.
+
+"I don't find any fault, Mr. Passford, but it seems to me that it is
+rather dangerous for you to come here," said Flint, in a low tone, as
+soon as they had made out the schooner at the wharf. "I can't see what
+you are to make by it; and your uncle would hand you over to the rebel
+officers as readily as he would eat his breakfast."
+
+"I have no doubt he would do so; but I don't intend to give him the
+chance to do so," replied Christy, resting on his oar. "You see this
+schooner. She is loaded with cotton, and she is going to run the
+blockade about this time. I intend to take passage in her."
+
+"Then you knew about this vessel?" asked Flint curiously.
+
+"I did; and that is the particular reason why I came here. Lonley told
+me that my uncle had offered him the command of the schooner; and now
+that he has lost his position on board of the Teaser, I have no doubt
+he has already applied for the berth that was offered to him. I am
+confident that he has seen my uncle, and it must have been he who told
+him that I was a prisoner."
+
+"I begin to understand you now, Mr. Passford," added Flint.
+
+"If you do, we will say no more about it just now, for there may be some
+one within earshot of us," replied Christy.
+
+Nothing more was said, and the boat cautiously approached the schooner.
+No one appeared to be on board of her, and the fugitives found that she
+was loaded with cotton, even carrying a deck-load of this staple of the
+South, the price of which had bounded up to an enormous figure in the
+markets of the world. In the early morning the clouds and the fog were
+swept away, and the sun came out. Christy found a hiding-place on the
+other side of the creek, in a dense mass of bushes, where the boat was
+drawn out of the water.
+
+A spot which commanded a full view of the schooner had been selected,
+the boat was turned upside down so as to afford a shelter, and the weary
+Unionists went to sleep, for they were not likely to be disturbed on
+this side of the creek. It was noon when they woke, and it looked as
+though something was going on at the vessel. About half a dozen negroes
+were to be seen on the deck-load of cotton; and a little later in the
+day, Colonel Passford and Lonley were observed talking together. But
+nothing was done that day, and the night came on. Christy was not
+satisfied with his information, and as soon as it was dark, the boat
+was launched, and the fugitives pulled over to the schooner.
+
+"Who's in dat boat?" shouted a negro, showing himself at the rail of the
+vessel.
+
+"I am," replied Christy, rather indefinitely.
+
+"Be you de new mate, sar?" demanded the man.
+
+"I am," answered Christy, at a venture.
+
+"We done wait free days for you, an' Massa Lonley be mighty glad to see
+you."
+
+"Where is Captain Lonley now?" asked the lieutenant.
+
+"Stoppin' wid Massa colonel. He done tole me to call him if de mate
+come. Dis nigger gwine to do dat," added the man.
+
+"Stop a little," added Christy, as he climbed on board of the vessel,
+followed by Flint. "How many men have you on board?"
+
+"Six men wid de cook."
+
+"Are these men sailors?"
+
+"Dey all done work aboard a vessel, but dey ain't much sailors."
+
+"All free niggers?"
+
+"No, sar; wish dey was."
+
+"Where are the rest of the men?"
+
+"In de fo'castle, sar. De capin specks de mate come to-night, an' I
+reckon we's gwine down de bay right off den."
+
+"Go and call the captain then," added Christy, as confidently as though
+he had stood on his own ground.
+
+The negro hastened away as fast as his legs would carry him, and in
+a few minutes Colonel Passford and Captain Lonley came on board. The
+latter seemed to be hung on wires, he was so active; and even before he
+saluted the new mate, he called all hands and directed them to hoist the
+mainsail.
+
+"I am glad to see you, Fetters," said the captain, extending his hand to
+him. "I expected you yesterday."
+
+"My business was such that I could not leave," replied Christy.
+
+It was very dark, and the captain did not recognize him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+THE PRIZE-MASTER OF THE JUDITH
+
+
+The weather had been clear all day, with quite a fresh breeze, and the
+same conditions prevailed after dark. Colonel Passford seemed to have a
+great deal to say to Captain Lonley, now that the time for sailing had
+come, and he occupied the attention of the latter so that neither of
+them could observe the new mate, if he were disposed to do so. As soon
+as Christy perceived the _role_ which circumstances had laid out for
+him, he put his hand into a slush-tub he found in the waist, and
+anointed his face with the filthy stuff. There was just color enough in
+the compound of grease and dirt to change his complexion, if it had been
+light enough to observe his physiognomy. Flint did the same thing.
+
+"You will have to take your chances when you come to the entrance of the
+bay," said Colonel Passford, nervously. "This cargo is worth a fortune,
+and we are in sore need of the supplies which its value will purchase
+for us."
+
+"I think I understand the matter perfectly, colonel," replied Lonley,
+who did not seem to take kindly to any advice from a landsman.
+
+"Do not take any unnecessary risks, Captain Lonley, for more than the
+value of the cotton is at stake," continued the planter.
+
+"I have a plan of my own which I am confident will take me through the
+blockade all right," added the captain.
+
+"You must remember that my brother's steamer is on the blockade, and
+that she makes over twenty knots an hour."
+
+"I shall pretend to be a prize of the Bellevite long enough to distract
+the attention of the fleet," added Lonley, impatiently.
+
+"I don't understand these things, and I shall leave you to manage the
+affair as you think best; but I beg you will use all proper caution,"
+continued Colonel Passford. "Here are the ship's papers. You will give
+the one on the top to the officer from the fort, and he will cause you
+no delay."
+
+Lonley took the papers, and thrust them into his pocket without any
+reply. Christy had taken charge of the hoisting of the mainsail without
+waiting for any special orders, and Flint was doing his best to assist
+him. The negroes, though not expert seamen, knew the ropes of a
+schooner, and they did very well with Flint in their midst.
+
+"We are going to have a fresh breeze, Fetters," said Captain Lonley,
+as the new mate came near him.
+
+"It looks like it now," added Christy, changing his voice as much as he
+could, and as he had done before when he spoke to the captain.
+
+"If things are not favorable when you get to the forte, I think you had
+better anchor inside of the point," suggested the planter, who could not
+be blamed for being deeply interested in the fate of his cotton, and the
+fortune which was locked up in it.
+
+"Of course, I shall have to do that if necessary; but I don't like to do
+that, for every blockader will watch her all the time if I do," replied
+Captain Lonley, still maintaining his respectful demeanor, though it
+seemed to be hard work.
+
+By this time the mainsail was set, and was banging in the lively breeze.
+The negro sailors seemed to have become weary with wasting the day
+in the sailing of the schooner, and they worked with a good deal of
+enthusiasm.
+
+"Now set the foresail, Fetters. I don't think we can carry the
+topsails," said the captain. "Isn't that a white man with the hands?"
+asked he, as the men went to the foremast.
+
+"That's a man I brought along with me," replied Christy. "He is an able
+seaman, and he is very anxious to get to some port outside where he can
+obtain a berth as mate."
+
+"All right; I thought the work was going on exceedingly well, and his
+presence explains it," added the captain.
+
+"He owns the boat in which we came over here, and I think we had better
+hoist it on deck," said the mate.
+
+"All right; do so, Fetters. I suppose you have nothing on your hands?"
+
+"Nothing very particular," replied Christy.
+
+"I am instructed to buy a fast steamer if I can find one, even if I have
+to go to England to obtain her. What do you say to taking the berth of
+first officer in her, Fetters, for I know that you are a sailor, and
+that you have pluck enough to fire a gun?"
+
+"Such a position would suit me first rate," replied Christy, with proper
+enthusiasm.
+
+Still Lonley did not recognize his voice, and he took especial pains
+that he should not. But this state of things could not long continue. If
+the Unionist went into the cabin where there was a light, he could not
+help betraying himself. It was necessary to provide against this or any
+similar emergency very soon. He had already arranged his plan, and it
+was his purpose to carry it into execution as soon as the vessel was
+fully clear of the creek.
+
+The boat was hoisted on the deck; the fore and main sail were set, and
+everything was in readiness for a departure. Colonel Passford, after
+repeating some of his admonition to the captain, shook hands with him,
+and stepped down upon the wharf. Lonley gave the order to stand by the
+jib, and cast off the fasts. The two principal sails filled on the
+starboard tack, the jib went up in the twinkling of an eye under the
+direction of Flint, and the schooner began to gather headway. The
+captain was at the helm, for he would trust no other there, and Christy
+went forward.
+
+"Set the fore topmast staysail," said the mate; but he was willing the
+crew should execute the order in their own way, for he called the
+master's mate to him. "The biggest job is yet to be done," he added,
+in a low tone.
+
+"What is that?" asked Flint.
+
+"To get possession of the vessel," replied Christy, impressively.
+
+"That will be an easy matter, with nothing but niggers on board," added
+Flint.
+
+They talked together for a few minutes, and the plan was arranged. Flint
+saw that the fore topmast staysail was properly set and trimmed. The two
+Unionists on board did not even know the name of the schooner, but she
+gathered headway as she approached the mouth of the creek, and went
+along at a very satisfactory rate. The mate of the vessel and his fellow
+fugitive then went aft to be ready for the decisive action in which they
+were to engage. But they had hardly reached the quarter-deck before the
+schooner was hailed by a boat.
+
+"Schooner, ahoy! On board the Judith!" shouted a man.
+
+"In the boat!" replied the captain. "Who's there?"
+
+"Fetters!" responded the boatman.
+
+"Fetters!" exclaimed Captain Lonley, apparently bewildered by the reply.
+"It seems to me that Fetterses are plenty to-night."
+
+But this was all he was permitted to say, for the stroke of a handspike,
+in the hands of Flint, fell upon his head at this instant, and he
+dropped upon the quarter-deck like a log. At the same moment, Christy
+sprang to the wheel, and the schooner was not allowed to broach to. She
+dashed on her course, increasing her speed every moment, without heeding
+the boat that had hailed her. In the darkness, the genuine Fetters, as
+doubtless he was in the boat, could not have seen in what manner Captain
+Lonley had been disposed of, and all the crew were forward, so that they
+were no wiser.
+
+"Judith, ahoy!" repeated the genuine and only true Fetters, at the top
+of his lungs, as the schooner hurried off on her course. "I am Fetters,
+the mate!"
+
+"All right!" replied Christy. "I will see you in the morning. Come on
+board at six o'clock."
+
+Mr. Fetters said no more, and probably he concluded that the Judith had
+gone to get firewood for the galley, to fill her water-casks, or for
+some similar purpose. The fictitious Mr. Fetters kept his place at the
+wheel. The binnacle had been lighted by the cook, and he knew the exact
+course for the entrance to the bay. He felt that he was in possession of
+the Judith and her valuable cargo; and he had become so hardened in his
+patriotic duty that he felt no compunction of conscience because the
+vessel and cotton had been wrested from his uncle.
+
+As Colonel Passford had not scrupled to attempt to capture the
+magnificent steamer of his own brother, it would be a poor rule that
+would not work both ways. Besides, the proceeds of the sale of the cargo
+were to be expended in the purchase of supplies, and a steamer to carry
+them, for the use of the Confederacy. His uncle, from his elevated
+standpoint of duty, would have an opportunity to consider the
+application of his stringent views on the other side of the question.
+
+"I hope he is not dead," said Christy, as Flint bent over the prostrate
+form of the captain.
+
+"I don't know; but I am going to take him below, and lock him up in his
+stateroom, where the crew will not see him," replied Flint.
+
+"That is right; and I would help you if I could leave the wheel long
+enough," replied Christy.
+
+"I can handle him alone; but see that none of the sailors come aft while
+I am about it," added the master's mate, as he dragged the form to the
+companion-way.
+
+In such a work as he had on his hands, he had the strength of two men.
+Without any great difficulty, he dragged the body to the cabin, and then
+into one of the two staterooms he found, which was lighted. It was a
+more difficult task, for Lonley was a heavy man, but he placed the form
+in the berth. His first duty was to examine very carefully the pockets
+of the captain. He secured the file of papers first, and then drew a
+large naval revolver from each of his hip pockets. Then he took his
+papers from his pocket-book, but left his money, watch, and other
+valuables where he found them.
+
+After a careful examination of the insensible form, he was satisfied
+that he was not dead, though he might yet die from the blow he had
+received. He locked the door of the room, and went on deck. He gave one
+of the revolvers to Christy, and retained the other, handing over to him
+also all the papers he had taken.
+
+"This is the biggest venture we have undertaken yet," said Flint, as he
+seated himself by Christy.
+
+"But everything has gone well so far," replied the lieutenant. "If you
+are not promoted for this and the Teaser affair, Flint, it shall not be
+for the want of any recommendation on my part."
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Passford; you are very kind. I hope your services will
+be recognized in the same manner," returned the master's mate.
+
+"I don't care so much for myself, and I should not cry if I were never
+to become anything more than a midshipman."
+
+"All I have done has been to obey your orders, and follow your lead;
+and if anybody is promoted for the two affairs in which we have been
+engaged, you are surely the one who is entitled to it."
+
+"Well, we will do our duty, whether we are promoted or not," added
+Christy.
+
+It was not more than nine o'clock in the evening when the Judith came
+out of the creek, and in about four hours she was approaching Fort
+Morgan. She was still within the enemy's lines, and her acting captain
+was disposed to do everything in a regular manner, especially as he
+had the means of doing so. He had not the same risk to run in getting
+through the blockading fleet that Captain Lonley would have had, and
+he promptly decided to take his chances without waiting for a dark
+and foggy night. A boat came off from the inner side of the fort, and
+Christy ordered Flint to bring her to.
+
+The permit to pass the forts was in due form, and signed by the proper
+officials. The officer in the boat examined it carefully by the light
+of a lantern, and declared that he was satisfied with it. Then he asked
+some questions, which the acting commander of the Judith answered. The
+toughest inquiry he made was as to how he expected to get through the
+blockaders in a clear night like that. Christy assured him that he had a
+plan which he was confident would carry him through without difficulty.
+
+The schooner filled away again, and passed through the main channel;
+and in another hour she was in the midst of the Union fleet. There was
+a rattling of drums, a hissing of steam, and energetic commands heard as
+soon as the Judith was made out in the darkness, and doubtless a vision
+of prize-money flitted through the brains of officers and seamen. But
+Christy soon impaired the vividness of these fancies by ordering the
+foresail of the schooner to be taken in, and then the fore topmast
+staysail. The expectant ships' companies were not willing to believe
+that the vessel had come out for the purpose of surrendering.
+
+"Schooner, ahoy!" shouted the officer of a boat sent off by the nearest
+blockader. "What vessel is that?"
+
+"The Judith, prize to the United States steamer Bellevite," replied
+Christy, "Kindly inform me where the Bellevite lies."
+
+In another half-hour, Christy had dropped his anchor a cable's length
+from the Bellevite. Instructing Flint to ascertain the condition of
+Lonley, the lieutenant went on board of her to make his report, using
+the boat they had captured at Mobile, pulled by two of the negroes.
+
+"I have come on board, Captain Breaker," said Christy, as he met the
+commander, who had come on deck at the alarm.
+
+"I see you have," replied the captain, grasping him by the hand. "I have
+been terribly worried about you, Christy."
+
+"I am all right, sir; and so is Mr. Flint, who was with me. We have
+brought off a schooner of two hundred tons, loaded with cotton,"
+continued Christy, as modestly as the circumstances would permit.
+
+"I am very anxious to hear your report, Mr. Passford," said the
+commander.
+
+"Excuse me, sir, but the captain of that schooner is badly wounded, and
+needs Dr. Linscott as soon as possible."
+
+The surgeon was sent on board of the Judith. As Paul Vapoor caught a
+sight of the returned third lieutenant, he hugged him as though he had
+been separated from him for years instead of a few days. His welcome
+was quite as cordial, though not as demonstrative, from the rest of the
+officers. Then he went to the cabin with the captain, where he reported
+all that had transpired since he had been separated from his companions
+on board of the Teaser. He was warmly commended for his bravery and
+skill, and Captain Breaker assured him that he should be remembered
+in the reports to the department.
+
+Captain Lonley was conveyed on board of the Bellevite, where he was
+committed to the sick bay. He had recovered his senses, but it was
+likely, the surgeon said, that it would be a month before his health was
+restored. The Teaser had not yet been sent away; but the next day the
+third lieutenant was appointed prize-master of the steamer, and Flint of
+the schooner, for he had been the master of a coaster, and was competent
+for the position.
+
+A considerable crew was put on board of the Teaser, and both vessels
+were sent to New York instead of Key West. The steamer was expected to
+tow the Judith when necessary, and defend her if she was attacked. But
+both arrived at their destination without any mishap, and both were
+condemned; the Teaser was purchased by the government, for she was
+likely to be a very useful vessel on account of her speed and light
+draught.
+
+Christy had a brief leave of absence after he had served as a witness
+against the captured vessels. He had seen his father, mother, and sister
+on his arrival, and they were as proud of him as though he had been
+made a rear-admiral. Captain Breaker had written to his father of his
+disappearance on Santa Rosa Island, and had no doubt he had been made
+a prisoner within the enemy's lines. Christy brought the news of his
+escape himself, which made him even doubly welcome at Bonnydale.
+Certainly the young lieutenant had never been so happy before in his
+life.
+
+Captain Passford was a man of great influence, though he held no
+position in authority. At the first opportunity he obtained to talk with
+him, Christy made a strong plea in favor of the promotion of Flint. The
+late owner of the Bellevite knew him well. The master's mate had been a
+schoolmaster, and was very well educated; but he had a taste for the
+sea. He had made several foreign voyages, and had bought a schooner
+then, of which he went as master. But he had sold his vessel to great
+advantage, and, having nothing to do, he shipped as third officer of the
+Bellevite.
+
+Sampson, who had come home as chief engineer of the Teaser, was also
+remembered by Christy, who interceded for his promotion, or rather
+appointment. The government promptly obtained possession from the court
+of the prize-steamer, and the repairs and alterations upon her were
+begun at once. She had proved herself to be a fast sailer, and had
+logged sixteen knots, so that much was expected of her.
+
+Captain Passford, after his son had pleaded so earnestly for the
+promotion of the master's mate and the fireman, asked Christy what he
+expected in the way of promotion for himself. The young officer did not
+ask for any promotion, he was abundantly satisfied with his present
+rank, and he rather preferred to retain it. His father laughed, and
+declared that he was very glad of it, for he had some delicacy in asking
+favors for a member of his own family.
+
+Corny still remained at the house of his uncle; and he was as
+thoroughbred a rebel as his father, though he said next to nothing
+about his "cause." At a later period both he and Major Pierson were duly
+exchanged; but the gallant officer had come to the conclusion that Miss
+Florry Passford was very far from being infatuated with him.
+
+As the Bronx, which was the name given to the Teaser at the suggestion
+of Captain Passford, was to be ready about as soon as the legal
+proceedings would permit of the departure of the officers and seamen of
+the Bellevite, they were ordered to return to their ship in her. Flint's
+commission as a master, and Sampson's as an assistant engineer, were
+received. Christy's companion in the night expeditions had not expected
+to be anything more than a midshipman, and he was immeasurably delighted
+at his good fortune. Then it appeared that other influences than that of
+Captain Passford had been employed, for Christy, almost in spite of
+himself, was promoted to the rank of master, his commission antedating
+that of Flint.
+
+Mr. Blowitt was appointed to the command of the Bronx, with Master
+Passford as first lieutenant, and Master Flint as second; and Christy
+was to take her to the Gulf. She was to be used at the discretion of the
+flag officer after she had delivered her passengers on board of the
+Bellevite, and received her new commander.
+
+The Bronx was soon ready for sea with her new ship's company, and sailed
+for her destination, where Christy was to make some further inquiries
+into operations ON THE BLOCKADE.
+
+
+
+
+_OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS._
+
+THE BLUE AND THE GRAY
+
+SERIES
+
+Illustrated. With Emblematic Dies. Each volume bound in Blue and Gray.
+Per volume, $1.50.
+
+  TAKEN BY THE ENEMY.
+
+  WITHIN THE ENEMY'S LINES.
+
+  The opening of a new series of books from the pen of Oliver Optic
+  is bound to arouse the highest anticipation in the minds of boy and
+  girl readers. There never has been a more interesting writer in the
+  field of juvenile literature than Mr. W. T. Adams, who, under his
+  well-known pseudonym, is known and admired by every boy and girl
+  in the country, and by thousands who have long since passed the
+  boundaries of youth, yet who remember with pleasure the genial,
+  interesting pen that did so much to interest, instruct and entertain
+  their younger years. The present volume opens "The Blue and the Gray
+  Series," a title that is sufficiently indicative of the nature and
+  spirit of the series, of which the first volume is now presented,
+  while the name of Oliver Optic is sufficient warrant of the
+  absorbing style of narrative. "Taken by the Enemy," the first book
+  of the series, is as bright and entertaining as any work that Mr.
+  Adams has yet put forth, and will be as eagerly perused as any that
+  has borne his name. It would not be fair to the prospective reader
+  to deprive him of the zest which comes from the unexpected, by
+  entering into a synopsis of the story. A word, however, should be
+  said in regard to the beauty and appropriateness of the binding,
+  which makes it a most attractive volume.--_Boston Budget._
+
+  "Taken by the Enemy" has just come from the press, an announcement
+  that cannot but appeal to every healthy boy from ten to fifteen
+  years of age in the country. "No writer of the present day." says
+  the Boston _Commonwealth_, "whose aim has been to hit the boyish
+  heart, has been as successful as Oliver Optic. There is a period in
+  the life of every youth, just about the time that he is collecting
+  postage-stamps, and before his legs are long enough for a bicycle,
+  when he has the Oliver Optic fever. He catches it by reading a few
+  stray pages somewhere, and then there is nothing for it but to let
+  the matter take its course. Relief comes only when the last page of
+  the last book is read; and then there are relapses whenever a new
+  book appears until one is safely on through the teens. The boys will
+  be delighted to know, therefore, that 'Taken by the Enemy' is but
+  the first of six books to come out in rapid succession, all based on
+  the thrilling incidents of the late war."--_Literary News._
+
+
+_OLIVER OPTIC'S BOOKS._
+
+THE BOAT-BUILDER SERIES
+
+Completed in Six Volumes. Illustrated.
+Per Vol., $1.25.
+
+1. ALL ADRIFT;
+      Or, The Goldwing Club.
+2. SNUG HARBOR;
+      Or, The Champlain Mechanics.
+3. SQUARE AND COMPASS;
+      Or, Building the House.
+4. STEM TO STERN;
+      Or, Building the Boat.
+5. ALL TAUT;
+      Or, Rigging the Boat.
+6. READY ABOUT;
+      Or, Sailing the Boat.
+
+  The series includes in six successive volumes the whole art of
+  boat-building, boat-rigging, boat-managing, and practical hints to
+  make the ownership of a boat pay. A great deal of useful information
+  will be given in this Boat-Building series, and in each book a very
+  interesting story is sure to be interwoven with the information.
+  Every reader will be interested at once in "Dory," the hero of
+  "All Adrift," and one of the characters to be retained in the future
+  volumes of the series, at least there are already several of his
+  recently made friends who do not want to lose sight of him, and this
+  will be the case of pretty much every boy who makes his acquaintance
+  in "All Adrift."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+           *       *       *       *
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Errata Noted by Transcriber:
+
+En Reconnaissance de la Bonte de son Pere,
+  _text reads "Pere" (with acute accent for grave)_
+and to be above any such villainy
+  _text reads "villany"_
+"He is on board--of the Bellevite," the third lieutenant
+  _text reads "lientenant"_
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Within The Enemy's Lines, by Oliver Optic
+
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