Fighting for the Right Part 17

"What have you been doing to yourself, Mr. Gilfleur?" asked Christy, as soon as he discovered the detective, for he had completely changed his appearance, and looked like an elderly gentleman of fifty, with a full beard, grizzled with the snows of many winters.

"I don't care to be shut up in this stateroom during the voyage to New York," replied the Frenchman with a pleasant laugh. "This is one of my useful costumes, and I don't believe Captain Rombold will recognize me now."

"I am very sure he will not," added Christy, looking him over, and wondering at the skill which could so completely change his appearance.

"I want you to see the steamer which is approaching, bound to the westward. If I am not mistaken, we have seen her before."

"I am all ready, and I will go on deck with you; but you must contrive to let the captain know who I am, or he will order me below, or have too much to say about me," replied the detective, as he followed Christy to the quarter-deck.

Colonel Pa.s.sford and Captain Rombold had seated themselves abaft the mizzenmast, and seemed to be interested in the reports respecting the approaching steamer. Christy called Captain Chantor to the rail, and explained what the commander had already scented as a mystery in regard to the gentleman with the grizzled beard. He laughed heartily as he gazed at the apparent stranger, and declared that he thought he might be another Confederate commissioner, for he looked respectable and dignified enough to be one.

"I think that steamer is the Cadet, Captain Chantor; and I have brought Mr. Gilfleur on deck to take a look at her."

The Frenchman had no doubt the steamer was the Cadet, for she was peculiar enough in her build to be identified among a thousand vessels of her cla.s.s. For some time they discussed the character of the vessel, and minutely examined her build and rig. Neither of them had any doubt as to her ident.i.ty, and the pa.s.senger reported the result of the conference to the commander, who immediately ordered the American flag to be displayed at the peak; and gave the command to beat to quarters.

"We are over six hundred miles from any Confederate port, Mr. Pa.s.sford,"

said the captain. "I should not like to have one of my captures surrendered to her owners."

"Of course you have your law books in your cabin, Captain; but I have studied them so much that I can quote literally from one bearing on this case," continued Christy. "'The sailing for a blockaded port, knowing it to be blockaded, is, it seems, such an act as may charge the party with a breach of the blockade.' Besides the evidence of her course, and that of the nature of her cargo, there are two witnesses to the declaration of the captain that he was intending to run into Wilmington."

"She has come about, and is running away from you, Captain!" exclaimed the pa.s.senger, who was the first on the quarter-deck to notice this change.

The commander ordered a gun to be fired across her bow, for the Cadet was hardly more than a quarter of a mile from the Chateaugay. No notice was taken of the shot, and a moment later the midship gun sent a shot which carried away her pilot-house and disabled the wheel.

CHAPTER XVI

AMONG THE BAHAMAS

"I am sorry to disturb you, gentlemen, but I feel obliged to ask you to retire to my cabin until this affair is settled," said Captain Chantor, addressing Colonel Pa.s.sford and Captain Rombold.

"I beg your pardon, Captain Chantor, but do you consider that you have a right to capture that steamer?" asked the late commander of the Dornoch, who seemed to be very much disturbed at the proceedings of his captor.

"Undoubtedly; and I have no doubt I shall be able to procure her condemnation on the ground that she is loaded for a Confederate port, no other than Wilmington, and has the 'guilty intention' to run the blockade."

"I don't see where you could have obtained the information that enables you to make sure of her condemnation at the very first sight of her,"

replied the Confederate officer.

"Well, Captain Rombold, if I succeed in proving my position before the court, out of the mouth of Captain Vickers, her commander, would that satisfy you?" asked the commander with a cheerful smile. "But you must excuse me from discussing the matter to any greater length, for I have a duty to perform at the present time."

The Chateaugay was going ahead at full speed when the two gentlemen retired from the quarter-deck. She stopped her screw within hail of the Cadet. Her crew were clearing away the wreck of the pilot-house; but the destruction of her steering gear forward did not permit her to keep under way, though hands were at work on the quarter-deck putting her extra wheel in order for use. Of course it was plain enough to the captain of the Cadet that the Chateaugay, after the mischief she had done with a single shot, could knock the steamer all to pieces in a few minutes.

The first cutter, in charge of Mr. Birdwing, the executive officer, was sent on board of the disabled steamer, and Christy was invited to take a place in the boat. Captain Vickers was a broken-hearted man when he realized that his vessel was actually captured by a United States man-of-war.

"Do you surrender, Captain Vickers?" said Mr. Birdwing, as he saluted the disconsolate commander.

"How did you know my name?" demanded he gruffly.

"That is of no consequence, Captain Vickers. You will oblige me by answering my question. Do you surrender?" continued the lieutenant.

"I don't know that I can help myself, for this steamer is not armed, and I can make no resistance," replied the captain. "I had no idea that ship was a Yankee gunboat."

"But we had an idea that this was a blockade-runner," added Mr.

Birdwing, as he proceeded to take formal possession of the vessel, and called for her papers.

An examination was made into the character of the cargo, which consisted largely of arms and ammunition. The extra wheel was soon in working order. Before noon a prize crew was put on board, and both vessels were headed for New York. In three days more the Chateaugay was at anchor off the Navy Yard, with the Cadet near her. The return of the ship caused a great deal of surprise, and one of the first persons to come on board of her was Captain Pa.s.sford. He gave his son his usual warm welcome.

Christy gave his father the narrative of the brief voyage, and astounded him with the information that his brother was on board. The two brothers had not met since they parted at the plantation near Mobile, and the meeting was as tender as it was sad; but both of them refrained from saying anything unpleasant in regard to the war. The prisoners were taken from the Chateaugay by a tender, and conveyed to Fort Lafayette; but Captain Pa.s.sford soon obtained a parole for his brother, which he consented to give for a limited period.

"I suppose the Chateaugay will sail again by to-morrow, Christy; but you will have time to go home and see your mother and sister. I am so busy that I cannot go, and you must take Uncle Homer with you," said his father.

They landed on the New York side, and took a carriage for the station.

Perhaps the streets of the great city were never more crowded with all kinds of vehicles, and especially with wagons loaded with merchandise of all kinds. They pa.s.sed up Broadway, and Colonel Pa.s.sford was silent as he witnessed the marvellous activity of the city in the midst of a great war.

"I think you will not be able to find any gra.s.s growing in the streets of New York, Uncle Homer," said Christy, as they pa.s.sed the Park, where the crowd seemed to be greater than elsewhere.

"There is certainly no gra.s.s here, and I am surprised to see that the city is as busy as ever," replied the commissioner in a subdued tone.

"We have been told at the South that business was paralyzed in the cities of the North, except what little was created by the war."

"The war makes a vast amount of business, Uncle Homer," added Christy.

But the gentleman from the South was not disposed to talk, and he soon relapsed into silence. Mrs. Pa.s.sford and Florry were very much astonished to see Christy again so soon, and even more so to meet Uncle Homer; but his welcome was cordial, and nothing was said about the exciting topic of the day. The visitor was treated like a friend, and not an enemy, and everything was done to make him forget that he was not in his own home.

Early the next morning the young lieutenant hastened to report on board of the Chateaugay, where Mr. Gilfleur had remained, though he had divested himself of his disguise as soon as Captain Rombold was conveyed to other quarters. They were kept very busy that day giving their depositions in regard to the character of the Cadet, and of the admissions of Captain Vickers in regard to his intention to run the blockade. The ship had been coaled, and the next day she sailed again.

She gave the Bermudas a wide berth, for she had another mission now, though she could probably have picked up one or two more of the blockade-runners Christy and his companion had seen in the harbor of St.

George's.

Four days from Sandy Hook, very early in the morning, Abaco light was seen; and about fifty miles south of it was Na.s.sau, on the island of New Providence, a favorite resort for blockade-runners at that time. The mission of the detective was at this port. Christy had again volunteered to be his companion, and they desired to get into the place as they had done in the Bermudas, without attracting the attention of any one, and especially not of those engaged in loading or fitting out vessels for the ports of the South.

As soon as the light was discovered, Captain Chantor ordered the course of the ship to be changed to east; and till eight bells in the afternoon watch she continued to steam away from the Great Abaco Island. It was his intention to avoid being seen, though there was a chance to fall in with a blockade-runner. Standing to the south-west the last part of the day, the light at the Hole in the Wall, the southern point of Great Abaco Island, was made out in the evening. South-east of this point is the northern end of Eleuthera Island, where the Egg Island light could be seen. This was the locality where Mr. Gilfleur had decided to begin upon his mission.

His boat had been repaired by the carpenter after the shot from the Dornoch struck it, and it was now in as good condition as it had ever been. At eleven o'clock in the evening the Eleuthera was lowered into the water, with a supply of provisions and water, and such clothing and other articles as might be needed, on board. The weather was as favorable as it could be, with a good breeze from the north-west.

"Now, Mr. Gilfleur, I hope you will bring back as important information as you did from the Bermudas," said the captain, when the adventurers were ready to go on board of the boat.

"I hope so myself; but I don't know," replied the Frenchman. "I expect to find the Ovidio at Na.s.sau; and, like the Dornoch, she is intended for a man-of-war. Mr. Pa.s.sford and I will do the best we can."

"How long do you mean to be absent on this business?"

"About three days, as well as I can judge, though I have not had a chance to look over the ground. I have no doubt there are blockade-runners there, and we shall ascertain what we can in regard to them."

"I shall expect to pick you up to the eastward of the Hole in the Wall, and on the fourth night from the present time," added the captain. "You know that the navigation of this region is very dangerous."

"I am aware of it; but I have been here before, and I provided myself with a good chart in New York. I have studied it very attentively, and I have the feeling that I can make my way without any difficulty," replied Mr. Gilfleur confidently.