Taken by the Enemy, the Enemy by Oliver Optic [the beach read TXT] 📗

you from?"

"I told you the vessel was from Nassau."

"But she don't hail from Nassau. Where did she come from before that?"

"From Bermuda," answered Percy, as instructed.

"But she don't belong to Bermuda."

The volunteer agent of the Confederate cause was not able to answer any questions in this direction, and the commander did not tell him what more to say.

"Can you tell me who is in command of Fort Gaines at the present time?" demanded Percy, branching out on his own account.

"I can; but I want you to tell me something more about the steamer, before I answer any questions. Is the steamer armed?"

121 "She is armed; and she could blow your tug into ten thousand pieces in four minutes if she should open upon you," added Percy; and the listeners were of the opinion that he was beginning to use strong speech.

"That may be; but with a fort on each side of you, I don't think you will get into the bay in broad daylight," said the captain of the tug. "The commander of Fort Gaines is in that boat, and I suppose he is coming off to examine the steamer. As you are not disposed to answer my questions, you can wait for him; but if you try to get into the bay, you will find that a shot from both forts can reach you."

"I am an agent of the Confederate government, and my father has been sent to Nassau to obtain vessels for our navy," continued Percy, as he saw that the boat from the fort was still some distance from the vessel.

"Why didn't you say so before?" demanded the captain of the tug rather impatiently. "Of course you have some papers from the agent at Nassau, to show what the vessel is."

"Not a single paper; he had no time to give me any."

122 "Who is the agent?"

The question was evidently put as a test; for if the young agent, as the captain could see that he was, gave a known name, it would be some evidence that he told the truth.

"Colonel Richard Pierson; and he is my father."

"Your father!" exclaimed the other, evidently impressed with the fact, and his tone was more respectful.

"You can come on board and see her for yourself," suggested Percy, prompted by the commander; for there was nothing on board to betray her true character, the guns having been concealed.

"I will not do that, as the commander of the fort will soon be here, and he may make the examination for himself. But perhaps you will be willing to give me your name?" added the captain.

"My name is Percy Pierson; and, as I told you, I am the son of Colonel Richard Pierson."

"Then you are the brother of Major Pierson, who is in command of Fort Gaines. I think it must be all right."

123 "Of course it is all right. Do you think I would bring a vessel into this bay if she were not all right?" inquired Percy with becoming indignation.

"I suppose you have heard there is going to be a war, and it is necessary to find out what vessels go into the bay," said the captain of the tug, when he had brought his craft quite near the steamer. "That is a very fine vessel."

"It is the fastest and strongest steamer that floats, and she will give a good account of herself when the trouble begins in earnest."

"Here comes the boat from the fort, and I see that Major Pierson is in the stern sheets. I have no doubt he will find you all right," said the captain.

The boat came alongside of the Bellevite, and the major went on board.

124 CHAPTER XI THE MAJOR IN COMMAND OF FORT GAINES

Percy Pierson retained his position on the rail when his brother the major came up the gangway steps, which had been put over for him. As the latter went up, he could not help seeing him; and his astonishment evidently mounted to the highest degree, as manifested in his expression. The owner and the commander stood near the rail, to give the visitor a pleasant reception.

But the major took no notice of them; for his attention was plainly absorbed in his surprise at seeing his brother, dressed in uniform, on the rail of the steamer. He halted as soon as he had mounted the rail, over which he must pass to reach the deck. He looked at Percy for some time, without being able to say a word, and seemed to be not quite sure that it was he.

The younger brother was as silent as the older 125 one; for he had had some rather exciting times with him in the matter of enlisting, and he was not very confident of his reception at the hands of the commander of Fort Gaines. He looked at him with interest, not unmingled with some painful solicitude for the future.

"Percy!" exclaimed Major Pierson at last, when he was entirely satisfied that the young man was his brother, in spite of the uniform of blue he wore, though the gray had not yet come into extensive use.

"Lindley!" added the younger, evidently desiring to go no faster than the occasion might require of him.

"I am glad to see you back again," continued the major, without offering to take his hand. "You deserted like a coward, and I have been ashamed of you ever since. A young fellow like you, eighteen years old, who will not fight for his country, ought to lose the respect of even his own brother."

"That is a pleasant greeting," replied Percy, with the suspicion of a sneer on his face.

"It is all that a coward deserves," replied Lindley severely.

126 "I am no coward, any more than you are," protested Percy. "You know that father did not wish me to join the army, though I wished to do so."

"I know that you wished to do so just as any other coward does,—over the left."

"What could I do when father told me not to go to the war?"

"What could you do? You could have gone! If you had not been a poltroon, you would have joined the first regiment that came in your way."

"I never was in the habit of disobeying my father," pleaded the young agent.

"You were not? You ran away to New Orleans last winter when your father told you not to go. You came home from the academy when he told you to remain there. You have spent the evening in Mobile when he told you not to go there. I could tell you instances all day in which you disobeyed him, and mother too," continued the soldier warmly.

"That was different."

"It was different; and you could obey your father in a bad cause, but not in a good one. I 127 am heartily ashamed of you, and I don't feel willing to own you as a brother of mine."

"But my father told me that I could better serve the good cause by going with him than I could by joining the army."

"And you were willing to go with him, for then you could keep out of danger. Father is getting old, and he is not fit to serve in the army; and you have been his pet since you were born. But that is no excuse for you; and if I can get you back into the army, I mean to do so."

Percy was afraid he might succeed, and he did not feel as confident as he had been; and he lost, for the time, some of his self-possession. He was confronting the fate he had dreaded when he found the steamer was leaving Nassau.

"What are you doing here?" demanded the major, looking down upon the deck of the vessel for the first time.

"I am taking this steamer into the bay, where she is to go into the service of the Confederate States," answered Percy, plucking a little more confidence from the nature of his present occupation.

128 "You are taking her into the bay!" exclaimed the older brother.

"That is what I said, and that is what I mean," added Percy, glad to see that his mission had produced an impression.

"Taking this steamer into the bay!" repeated the major, evidently unable to comprehend the mission of his brother. "Do you mean to say that you are taking her in, Percy?"

"That is what I mean to say, and do say."

"Are you the pilot of the steamer? I should think you might have been, for she was aground just now," sneered the commander of the fort.

"I am not the pilot, and I don't pretend to be a sailor; but the steamer is in my charge," replied Percy, elevating his head to the need of the occasion.

"In charge of the steamer! I would not trust a coward like you in charge of a sick monkey," added Lindley, with his contempt fully expressed in his face.

"See here, Lindley, I don't mean to be insulted on board of this steamer by my own brother. If you can't be decent, I have nothing more to say 129 to you!" cried Percy, his wrath breaking out quite violently.

"If you give me an impudent word, I will take you into the boat and put you into the fort," added the major, as he stepped down upon the deck.

"No, you won't. I will jump overboard before I will be carried to the fort. I have done just what my father told me to do, to say nothing of my mother; and I won't be insulted by you. It is you who are the coward and the poltroon, to do so," continued Percy, boiling over with rage.

Whatever provocation the major had had for his savage treatment of his brother, the owner of the Bellevite thought his conduct was unjustifiable. The young man was under age; and whether or not his father was less a patriot than his older son, the latter was certainly unkind, ungenerous, and even brutal. Without being a "milk-and-water man," Captain Passford was full of kindness, courtesy, and justice. He did not like the behavior of the major towards his brother.

It looked like a family quarrel of the two brothers on board of the steamer; for Percy was evidently "a weak chicken," after all, though he 130 had become desperate under the stings and reproaches of the major. Under present circumstances, it did not appear that Percy could be of any service on board of the Bellevite, for his brother would not hear a word he said. Captain Passford directed the commander to have every thing ready for a hurried movement at once, for there was but little hope of satisfying a man as unreasonable as the commander of the fort had proved himself to be in his dealing with his brother.

The captain of the steamer went to Mr. Vapoor, who was standing near the door of the engine-room, and said something to him, which soon produced a lively effect among the coal-passers below.

"I will attend to your case in a few minutes, Percy, for I do not allow any one to be impudent to me," growled the major.

"Nor I either. If you put a finger on me, I will put a bullet through your head, if you are my brother!" yelled Percy, as he took a small revolver from his hip-pocket.

This demonstration increased the anger of Lindley; and he ran up the steps to the rail 131 again, where he called upon two soldiers to come on deck. At the same moment, Captain Breaker, as instructed by the owner, rang the bell on the quarter, and the engine began to move again. Before the men from the boat could leave it, the steamer was moving, and it was no longer possible for them to obey the order.

"What are you about, sir?" demanded Major Pierson, rushing to the commander, not a little excited by what had been done.

"I think this thing has gone about far enough, sir," replied Captain Breaker, as calmly as though there had not been a ripple on the surface of affairs.

"But I came on board of this steamer to make an examination of the character of the vessel," protested the major, who evidently did not like the present aspect of the situation.

"I have waited for you to do so; but I do not care to lose the tide while you are quarrelling with your brother, sir," added the commander.

"But I order you to stop, sir!" continued the major.

"What am I to do, Mr. Percy?" asked Captain Breaker, addressing the young man with a revolver in his hand.

132 There was something on the part of the commander which indicated that he was playing a part, as were all on board, though he