"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.



"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.



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.



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.