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-boatwould 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 whetherthey 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 thirdlieutenantwould 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 otherside 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 onshore. "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 myaudacity," 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.
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 thelieutenant, 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 regimentof 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 itwas, 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 of quoted scene"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 thathe 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 silentlyas 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.
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 mileto 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 thatI 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, verydecidedly; "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 toyour 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 senther 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 intothe 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 hadin 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 ifwe 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.
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 tooktheir 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 thelieutenant 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 inclose 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 willingto 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 theConfederates 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 mannedthe 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 makingthe 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 of quoted scene"I am glad to see you, Christy."—Page 308.
"I wish you had been; but we will not talkabout 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 shecame 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.