Fighting for the Right Part 25

"I mean to give you as good a stateroom as I have myself; but it will contain two berths, and the mate will occupy the lower one, to prevent you from escaping, if you should take it into your head to do so,"

replied the captain, as he opened the door of one of the rooms.

"I can hardly get into the upper berth with my wrists ironed," said the prisoner, exhibiting his fetters.

"That is so," replied the captain, taking the key of the manacles from his pocket and removing them. "But I warn you that any attempt to escape may get you into a worse sc.r.a.pe than you are in now. When we get to sea you shall have your liberty."

"Thank you, Captain, for this indulgence. I suppose you will not make a long voyage of it to Mobile. I presume you go to the northward of Great Abaco Island?" asked Christy, though he hardly expected to receive an answer to his question.

"Why do you presume such a stupid idea as that?" demanded the captain, who seemed to regard the inquiry as an imputation upon his seamanship; and the inquirer had put the question to provoke an answer. "I have been sailing nearly all my life in these waters, and I know where I am. Why should I add three hundred miles to my voyage when there is no reason for it?"

"I am not much acquainted down here."

"I shall go through the North-west, or Providence Channel."

Captain f.l.a.n.g.er did not know that the steamer Chateaugay was cruising somewhere in the vicinity of the Bahamas; but his prisoner did know it, and the information given him was not pleasant or satisfactory. Captain Chantor had told him that he intended to stand off and to the eastward of Great Abaco, and he had been cherishing a hope that he would fall in with the Snapper, though he might not find evidence enough on board of her to warrant her capture.

If he fell in with the steamer, he would be likely to examine her; and that would lead to the release of the involuntary pa.s.senger. But if the Snapper went through the Providence Channel, the Chateaugay would not be likely to fall in with her. It looked to the unfortunate officer as though he was booked for a rebel prison. He could see no hope of escape, though he was duly grateful for the change which had come over his vicious persecutor. If he was allowed his liberty, he might find some avenue of escape open. It was useless to groan over his fate, and he did not groan; but he had come to the conclusion that it would be a long time before he took possession of his stateroom in the ward room of the Bellevite.

Availing himself of the permission given to him, he went into the room, and turned in with his clothes on, so that he might be in readiness for any event. Mr. Gilfleur would miss him at the rendezvous agreed upon; but he would have no means of knowing that anything had happened to him.

Tired as he was, he was not inclined to sleep. Presently he heard a conversation which was not intended for his ears, for it was carried on in very low tones.

"Do you know, Captain f.l.a.n.g.er, that I believe we are getting into a very bad sc.r.a.pe?" said Percy Pierson in a subdued tone.

"What are you afraid of?" demanded the captain, in a voice hardly above a whisper.

"My father refused at first to permit the capture of Pa.s.sford," added Percy. "He would consent to it only after you had promised to treat him well."

"I am treating him as well as I know how, though it goes against my grain. We will get him into the jail in Mobile, and keep him there till the Yankees have acknowledged the independence of the Confederacy, and paid for all the damage they have done to our country. How is any one in Washington or London to know anything about this little affair of to-night?"

"I don't know how; but if it should get out, the Yankees would make an awful row, and England would be obliged to do something about it."

"But we must make sure that it does not get out. The young cub has a deal of spirit and pluck, and he would not live long if he were shut up on such rations as our men have."

Percy seemed to be better satisfied than he had been, and the conversation turned to other subjects in which the listener had no interest. Without much of an effort he turned over and went to sleep.

When he woke in the morning he heard the tramp of footsteps on the deck over his head, and he concluded that the steamer was getting under way.

If the mate had slept in the berth below him, he had not seen or heard him. He leaped out of the bed, and descended to the floor. When he tried the door he found that it was locked.

Presently he heard the movement of the screw, and felt the motion of the vessel. There was a port light to the room, and he placed himself where he could see out at it. But there was nothing to be seen which afforded him any hope of comfort. There must be a pilot on board, and he began to wonder if there could be any way to communicate with him. He took from his pocket a piece of paper and pencil. He wrote a brief statement of the outrage which had been perpetrated upon him, folded the paper, and put it in his vest pocket, where he could readily slip it into the hand of the pilot, if he found the opportunity to do so. The captain had promised to give him his liberty when the vessel got out to sea, and he hoped to be able to go on deck before the pilot left the steamer.

The Snapper continued to go ahead, and in a short time she made a sort of a plunge, as she went over the bar. The motion of the steamer began to be rather violent, and Christy saw through the port the white caps that indicated a strong north-west wind. When the vessel had continued on her course for a couple of hours, she stopped, and the prisoner saw the pilot boat drop astern a little later. The opportunity to deliver his statement had pa.s.sed by, and he tore up the paper, keeping the fragments in his pocket, so that they should not expose his intention.

He had scarcely destroyed the paper before his door was thrown open by Percy Pierson, who informed him that he was at liberty to go on deck if he wished to do so. He accepted the permission. He could see the land in the distance in several directions, but he had no interest in anything.

He was called to breakfast soon after, and he took a hearty meal, for the situation had not yet affected his appet.i.te. In the middle of the forenoon, with the light at Hole in the Wall on the starboard, and that on Stirrup Cay on the port, the course of the Snapper was changed to the north-west.

At this point Christy discovered a three-masted steamer, which had also excited the attention of Captain f.l.a.n.g.er. It looked like the Chateaugay; and the prisoner's heart bounded with emotion.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE CHATEAUGAY IN THE DISTANCE

The steamer which Christy had discovered was a long distance from the Snapper. She had just come about, and this movement had enabled the prisoner to see that she had three masts; but that was really all there was to lead him to suppose she was the Chateaugay. She was too far off for him to make her out; and if he had not known that she was cruising to the eastward of the Bahamas, it would not have occurred to him that she was the steamer in which he had been a pa.s.senger two days before.

Captain f.l.a.n.g.er discovered the sail a few minutes later, and fixed his attention upon it. In the business in which he was engaged it was necessary to practise the most unceasing vigilance. But, at this distance from any Confederate port, the commander of the steamer did not appear to be greatly disturbed at the sight of a distant sail, believing that his danger was nearer the sh.o.r.es of the Southern States. Doubtless he had papers of some sort which would show that his vessel had cleared for Havana, or some port on the Gulf of Mexico.

Christy did not deem it wise to manifest any interest in the distant sail, and, fixing his gaze upon the deck-planks, he continued to walk back and forth, as he was doing when he discovered the steamer. He had not been able to make out her course. He had first seen her when she was in the act of turning, obtaining only a glance at the three masts.

Whether or not she was "end-on" for the Snapper, he could not determine, and Captain f.l.a.n.g.er seemed to be studying up this question with no little earnestness.

The princ.i.p.al mission in these waters of the Chateaugay was to look up the Ovidio, of which Captain Pa.s.sford in New York had obtained some information through his agents. This vessel was not simply a blockade-runner, but was intended for a cruiser, though she had sailed from Scotland without an armament. It was known that she would proceed to Na.s.sau, and this fact had suggested to Mr. Gilfleur his visit to that port to obtain reliable information in regard to her, as well as incidentally to look into the methods of fitting out vessels for running the blockade.

Captain Chantor was expecting to fall in with the Ovidio, even before the return of his two pa.s.sengers. He did not believe the authorities at Na.s.sau would permit her to take on board an armament at that port; but a rendezvous had probably been arranged, where she was to receive her guns and ammunition. But the only safe channel for any vessel to get to the deep sea from Na.s.sau was by the one that had received the name of Providence. This channel is a continuation of what is called "The Tongue of the Ocean," which extends over a hundred miles south of New Providence, a hundred and fifty fathoms in depth, and bordered by innumerable cays, reefs, and very shoal water.

South of Great Abaco Island, this channel, from thirty to forty miles wide, divides into the North-east and North-west Channels, and all vessels of any great draught can safely get out to sea only through one of them. It was evident enough to Captain Chantor, who was familiar with the navigation of these seas, that the Ovidio must come out through one of the channels indicated. Christy had talked with the commander of the Chateaugay in regard to these pa.s.sages, and knew that it was his intention to keep a close watch over them.

He could not be sure that the steamer in the distance was the Chateaugay; but the more he recalled what had pa.s.sed between himself and Captain Chantor, and considered the situation, the stronger became his hope that it was she. He was sure that she had come about, and he reasoned that she had done so when her commander ascertained that the steamer he had sighted laid her course through the North-west Channel.

This was as far as he could carry his speculations.

Without understanding the situation as well as did his prisoner, Captain f.l.a.n.g.er seemed to be nervous and uneasy. He watched the distant sail for a long time, sent for his spy-gla.s.s and examined her, and then began to plank the deck. When he came abreast of Christy he stopped.

"Do you see that sail off to the eastward, Mr. Pa.s.sford?"

"I see it now, Captain," replied the prisoner, as indifferently as possible, for he felt that it would be very imprudent to manifest any interest in the matter.

"Can you make out what she is?" continued the captain.

"I cannot; she must be eight or ten miles from us," replied Christy, as he glanced to the eastward.

"I shouldn't wonder if that was one of your Yankee gunboats," added Captain f.l.a.n.g.er, spicing his remark with a heavy oath, for he could hardly say anything without interlarding his speech with profanity.

"It may be, for aught I know," replied the prisoner with something like a yawn.

"Whatever she is, the Snapper can run away from her, and you need not flatter yourself that there is any chance for you to escape from a Confederate prison; and when they get you into it, they will hold on very tight."

"I must take things as they come," added Christy.

He wanted to ask the captain why he wondered if the sail was a Yankee gunboat, but he did not think it would be prudent to do so. The captain seemed to have, or pretended to have, great confidence in the speed of the Snapper. When he left his prisoner he went to the engine-room, and it was soon evident from the jar and shake of the vessel that he had instructed the chief engineer to increase the speed.

Christy watched the distant sail for about three hours before he could come to any conclusion. At the end of this time he was satisfied that the three-masted steamer was gaining very decidedly upon the Snapper. He began to cherish a very lively hope that the sail would prove to be the Chateaugay. Captain f.l.a.n.g.er remained on deck all the forenoon, and every hour that elapsed found him more nervous and excitable.

"I reckon that's a Yankee gunboat astern of us, Mr. Pa.s.sford; but I am going to get away from her," said the captain, as they sat down to dinner.

"Is she gaining upon you, Captain?" asked Christy.

"I don't think she is; but if she does get any nearer to us, I shall give her the slip. The Snapper is going into Mobile Bay as sure as you live. You can bet your life on it," insisted the captain.