Fighting for the Right, Oliver Optic [easy novels to read .txt] 📗

more of this punishment. At eight bells in the afternoon watch she hauled down her flag. Christy had done nothing but watch the Dornoch, and report to Captain Chantor. As her flag came down, he discovered that her condition, after the last shot, was becoming desperate.

"She has settled considerably in the water, Captain Chantor, and that is evidently the reason why she hauled down her flag," said Christy, just as the ship's company were cheering at the disappearance of the Confederate flag from the peak of the enemy.

"I was confident she could not endure much more such hulling as Mr. Turreton has been bestowing upon her," replied the commander, after he had given the order to make the course directly towards the Dornoch.

Christy continued to watch the enemy's vessel. The ship's company were employed in stretching a sail over the bow, evidently for the purpose of stopping in whole or partially a dangerous leak in that part of the vessel; and she seemed to be in immediate peril of going to the bottom. They were also getting their boats ready, and the situation 166 must have been critical. In a short time the Chateaugay was within hailing distance of her prize.

"Dornoch, ahoy!" shouted Captain Chantor, mounted on the port rail. "Do you surrender?"

"I do," replied Captain Rombold; for Christy recognized his voice. "Our ship is sinking!"

By this time the havoc made by the big gun of the Chateaugay could be seen and estimated. The bow of the steamer had been nearly all shot away. Her bowsprit and her mainmast had gone by the board. Her bulwarks were stove in, and most of her boats appeared to have been knocked to pieces. In spite of the efforts to keep her afloat, it was plain that she was sinking; and Christy could see her settling in the water. The boats of the victor were promptly lowered, and crews sent away in them to the relief of the imperilled enemy. There were not more than sixty men on board of her, including the officers; and they were soon transferred to the deck of the Chateaugay.

Christy watched the boats with the most intense interest as they came alongside the ship; for he knew that his Uncle Homer was on board of the 167 Dornoch, if the plans arranged at the hotel had been fully carried out. Captain Rombold came in the last boat, and Colonel Passford was with him. His nephew did not care to meet him just then. The Confederate commissioner came on deck; and Christy looked at him with interest from behind the mizzenmast. His expression testified to his grief and sorrow at the early failure of his mission. The young lieutenant could pity the man, while he rejoiced at his ill success in building up the navy of the Confederacy.

His attention was drawn off from his uncle by the sudden sinking of the Dornoch; and the vortex that followed her disappearance extended to the Chateaugay. Most of the officers and seamen had brought off the whole or a part of their clothing and other articles.

When Captain Rombold came on deck, Captain Chantor politely saluted him, and returned the sword he surrendered to him. Colonel Passford kept close to him; and Christy thought he looked dazed and vacant.

"While I must rejoice in my own good fortune, Captain Rombold, I can sympathize personally with a brave commander who has lost his ship," 168 said Captain Chantor, taking the hand of the late commander of the Dornoch.

"I thank you for your consideration, Captain. I am sorry to have been so easy a victim to your strategy; and I can reciprocate by congratulating you on your victory, though your better guns enabled you to knock my ship to pieces at your leisure," replied Captain Rombold.

He then introduced Colonel Passford, and both of them were invited to the captain's cabin. The wounded were turned over to the surgeon, and the crew were sent below. It was clearly impossible for the ship to continue on her voyage with such an addition to her numbers; and the Chateaugay was at once headed back to New York.

169 CHAPTER XV THE GENTLEMAN WITH A GRIZZLY BEARD

The addition of about sixty persons to the full complement of the ship's company of the Chateaugay made a considerable crowd on board of her; but accommodations were provided for all, and in three days the ship would deliver her human freight to the authorities in New York. The Dornoch had gone to the bottom with all her valuable cargo; but her captors would be remunerated in prize-money by the government, so that in a material point of view she was not lost to them, and there was one less cruiser to prey upon the commerce of the loyal nation.

Captain Rombold and Colonel Passford remained in the cabin all the rest of the day; but the next morning both of them went on deck to take the fresh air. Christy and Mr. Gilfleur were in the waist, and noticed them as soon as they appeared. They had had some conversation the evening 170 before in regard to confronting the two most important prisoners, though without arriving at a conclusion.

"Of course I must meet my uncle," said Christy. "I am not inclined to skulk and keep out of sight rather than meet him. Though I have assisted in doing him and his cause a great deal of mischief, I have done it in the service of my country; and I have no excuses to offer, and no apologies to make."

"I was not thinking of excusing myself, or apologizing for what I have done," replied the detective quite earnestly. "That is not the point I desire to make. Since I went to New York I have looked upon your country as my own; and I would do as much to serve her as I ever would have done for France."

"What is your point, Mr. Gilfleur?" asked Christy.

"I do not object to your fraternizing with your uncle, Mr. Passford, if you are so disposed," continued the Frenchman; "but the case is quite different with me. In the hotel at St. George's you were not presented to Captain Rombold, and you did not allow the Confederate commissioner to see 171 and identify you. Neither of these gentlemen recognized you; but the captain of the Dornoch would certainly know me, for I talked with him a long time."

"Suppose both of them know us: what difference will that make?" demanded the young lieutenant.

"It will explain to them in what manner we obtained our knowledge of the force and weight of metal of the Dornoch. While we had as good a right to be on shore in the Bermudas as the Confederates, if we were recognized our method of operations would be betrayed, and in my opinion that would be very bad policy, especially as we are to adopt the same strategy in the Bahamas."

"I see; and I agree with you, Mr. Gilfleur, that it will be good policy to keep our own counsel in regard to what we have done in the islands," added Christy, as he saw Captain Chantor approaching him.

"Good-morning, Mr. Passford. You and your uncle do not appear to be on very friendly terms, for I notice that you do not speak to each other."

"Our relations have always been friendly, even while I was in a rebel prison; but I have not happened 172 to meet him since he came on board of the Chateaugay."

"I will present you to him as his nephew, if you desire me to do so," continued the commander with a smile.

"I thank you, Captain: I intended to speak to him when an opportunity came. But you will pardon me if I make a suggestion without being asked to do so," said Christy, speaking in a low tone; and he proceeded to state what had passed between him and Mr. Gilfleur. "I hope you have not mentioned the fact that Mr. Gilfleur and myself have been in the Bermudas."

"I have not, for it came to my mind that it would be very unwise to do so," replied the captain. "Besides, I was not at all inclined to tell Captain Rombold that I knew all about his ship, her size, the number of her ship's company, and the weight of his guns. A man does not feel just right when he finds he has been made the victim of a bit of strategy; and I was disposed to spare his feelings. He charges his misfortune altogether to his antiquated steamer, her failure in her promised speed, and the neglect of the Confederate commissioners to provide him with a suitable vessel."

173 "Mr. Gilfleur will keep out of the captain's sight during the run to New York; but I was acting as a servant when we met him, and did not sit at the same table. I will speak to my uncle now."

Captain Chantor attended him to the quarter-deck, where the commissioner was taking his morning walk. They fell in behind him as he was moving aft, so that he did not observe his nephew.

"Colonel Passford, I have a young gentleman on board of my ship who bears your name; allow me to present to you Lieutenant Christopher Passford, who is simply a passenger on the Chateaugay," said the captain, directing the attention of the commissioner to the young man.

"My nephew!" exclaimed Colonel Passford, as he recognized Christy, and extended his hand to him.

"I am very glad to see you, Uncle Homer, though I am sorry to meet you under present circumstances," replied the nephew, taking the offered hand. "I hope you are very well, sir."

"Not very well, Christy; and I am not likely to improve in health in a Yankee prison," answered the colonel with a very sickly smile.

"Probably my father will be able to obtain a 174 parole for you, and he will be extremely glad to have you with him at Bonnydale," added Christy.

"The last time I met you, Christy, you looked upon me as a non-combatant, released me, and sent me on shore."

"I am not sure that I did wisely at that time."

"I was not taken in arms; and I could hardly be regarded as a prisoner of war."

"But you were engaged in the Confederate service, Uncle Homer, for you were shipping cotton for the benefit of the cause."

"But I was merely a passenger on board of the Dornoch."

"Yet you are a Confederate commissioner, seeking a passage in some vessel bound to England, for the purpose of purchasing steamers to serve in your navy," added Christy with considerable energy, and without thinking that he was in danger of compromising himself and his companion in the visit to the Bermudas.

Colonel Passford stopped short, and gazed into the face of his nephew. He appeared to be utterly confounded by the statement, though he did not deny the truth of it.

"Without admitting the truth of what you say, 175 Christy, I desire to ask upon what your statement is founded," said the commissioner, after some hesitation.

"As you are on one side in this great conflict, and I am on the other, you must excuse me for not answering your question," replied Christy very promptly, and declining to commit himself any farther.

"It is very sad to have our family divided so that we should be enemies, however friendly we may be personally," added Colonel Passford in a tone that indicated his profound grief and sorrow.

"I know how useless it is for us to discuss the question, Uncle Homer, for I am sure you are as honest in your views as my father is in his."

"I have no desire to argue the question; but I believe the North will come to its senses in good time—when the grass grows in the streets of New York, if not before."

"You will have an opportunity to see for yourself, Uncle Homer, that New York was never so busy, never so prosperous, as at the present time; and the same may be truthfully said of all the cities of the North," replied Christy with spirit.

"Sail, ho!" shouted the lookout forward.

176 An hour later the sail was reported to be a steamer, bound to the westward, and her streak of black smoke indicated that she was English. She was low in the water, had two smoke-stacks, and presented a very rakish appearance. She was a vessel of not more than eight hundred tons, and her build was quite peculiar. It was evident that she was a very fast steamer. But she seemed to have no suspicions in regard to the character of the Chateaugay.

Christy left his uncle, and went to the ward room, where he found Mr. Gilfleur in his stateroom. He desired the advice