Within The Enemy's Lines Part 26

Christy rang to stop the engine, which was done, though the steamer continued to go ahead under the impetus of her former headway. The leadsman on the port side reported two fathoms a little later, and then there was a ring to back her, for there could not be more than two foot of water under the keel. At this moment the peal of a twelve-pounder came from the sh.o.r.e, and a little later the bursting of a sh.e.l.l was heard astern of the Teaser.

Beeks was very much perplexed by the strange speech which had pa.s.sed between the lieutenant and the sh.o.r.e, and now by the discharge of the gun on the island; but he was a well-disciplined quartermaster, and he asked no questions.

"I don't think that boat will come any farther this way," said Christy, as a second report from the gun reached his ears.

"Then I suppose the shots we hear are directed at the boat," added Beeks.

"They can hardly be directed at anything out in that fog and darkness; but I don't think the guard will be willing to take the risk of a chance sh.e.l.l bursting near them," added Christy.

"On board the Teaser!" shouted a voice quite near the bow of the steamer.

"In the boat!" replied Christy. "Sound that bell slowly, Beeks, to let him know where we are."

The ripple of oars was presently heard, and a boat came out of the gloom, rowed by two soldiers, with an officer in the stern. It came up to the forward gangway, and the person in the stern climbed on board.

The boat did not wait for him, but pulled directly back to the island.

"I am glad to see you, Captain Westover," said Christy, as the officer came into the pilot-house.

"And I am equally glad to see you, lieutenant," replied the captain.

"You seem to have been successful in your undertaking?"

"Successful so far, and I think the worst of it is over now."

As soon as Beeks heard the name of Captain Westover, he understood all that had been dark before. Even the Chinese lingo must have been agreed upon. The army and the navy officer had been very busy in talking over something when they came in the boat from the Bellevite, and after they landed on the island. What they had been talking about was plain enough now.

Captain Westover had not much confidence in the expectations of the young naval officer when he expressed a hope that he might capture the Teaser; but he had promised to render all the a.s.sistance in his power.

He had agreed to be on the sh.o.r.e of the island if the Teaser presented herself, and thus a.s.sure the lieutenant of his position on the bay. He had done more than this, for he had brought out a couple of guns and a section of artillerists to beat off the guard-boat if it interfered with the operations of the navy.

Christy had taken a course from the entrance of the sound, half way between the island and Town Point, west-southwest. He knew that the distance was about four miles; but he could not know, except by sounding, when he came to the island, and he had bargained with the army officer to be on the lookout for him. Captain Westover had heard the noise of the Teaser, and had hailed her, thus a.s.suring the lieutenant that his calculation had been correct, and that he was in the vicinity of Fort Pickens.

"I had no idea that you would accomplish anything, lieutenant," said Captain Westover.

"I found everything laid out just as I should have wished it to be,"

replied Christy. "We had plenty of information that the steamer would run out the first favorable night; and nothing could have been more favorable for blockade running than this fog and darkness."

"But nothing has been seen of this steamer from the fort."

"Where was she fitted out, Dave?" asked Christy, turning to the steward.

"Up by Emanuel Point, sir, about a mile above the town," replied Dave.

"Then she has not shown herself in the lower bay."

The conversation was interrupted by the roll of a drum on the sh.o.r.e.

"There you are, lieutenant," said the captain with a smile. "When you are ready to go ahead, don't wait on my account, for I will go on board of the ship."

"But what is the drum for?" asked the lieutenant, who was in the dark in his turn.

"I am not much of a sailor, lieutenant, but I have sent a drummer to follow the sh.o.r.e to the west end of the island, and you will know by the racket he makes where the island is, and how far off it is," replied the army officer.

"I am much obliged to you, Captain Westover; that will be a safe guide for me," said Christy, as he rang to go ahead.

He gave out the course west by north, and he thought he should be able to keep within hail of the island, though, as he could see nothing, it would be difficult to tell when he reached the northwest corner of it. If he continued on this course too long, he was likely to sc.r.a.pe acquaintance with Fort McRae, for there would be nothing in the soundings to indicate the approach to this dangerous neighbor.

Nothing more was heard of the guard-boat, though the section of artillery continued to discharge sh.e.l.ls into the fog for a short time.

On the other side of the bay Fort Barrancas kept up its fire at long intervals, and Fort Pickens could not reply without the danger of putting a shot into the Teaser after her recent reformation. The steamer kept on her course at half speed; but in ten minutes the sound of the drum fell astern of her, when the drummer could go no farther.

"Heave over the wheel, Beeks," said Christy.

Then he rang the bell to go ahead at full speed.

CHAPTER XXIII

ANOTHER NIGHT EXPEDITION

With the drum still beating on the sh.o.r.e, the Teaser rounded the northwestern point of the island, when the wheel was heaved over.

Christy was entirely confident in regard to the navigation, for he had steered the Bellevite through the same channel when on an excursion a year before. But he had daylight and sunshine at that time instead of fog and gloom as on the present occasion.

"Buoy on the starboard, sir!" reported the leadsman on that side.

"Buoy on the port hand!" cried the man on the other side, a minute later.

"We are all right," added the lieutenant. "We are between the middle ground and the island. The buoy on the port is the southwest point of the island."

The Bellevite was not the only man-of-war that lay off Pensacola, for the Brooklyn and other vessels were there to a.s.sist in the defence of Fort Pickens, which the enemy were determined to capture if possible.

The government had done everything within its means to "hold the fort,"

though an army of about ten thousand men had been gathered in the vicinity to reduce it. The dry-dock which had floated near Warrenton, and which the Confederates intended to sink in the channel, had been burned, and a force of Unionists, including the Zouaves, called "The Pet Lambs," had been quartered on the island of Santa Rosa. It had looked for several days as though the enemy were preparing for a movement in retaliation for the destruction of the dry-dock, which was a bad set-back for them.

The getting to sea of the Teaser had no connection with this movement, it appeared afterwards, and if Lieutenant Pa.s.sford's enterprise had been carried out only an hour or two later, he would have found the situation quite different. He had sent the most of Captain Folkner's force on board ash.o.r.e, and had it all his own way afterwards. He was sorry to leave these men, and the rest of the ship's company of the Teaser, to a.s.sist in fighting the battles of the Confederacy, and he was filled with the hope that they might yet be captured.

As soon as the Teaser was well to the southward of the island, Christy gave two short and a long blast on the steam whistle, which was the signal he had agreed to make when he approached the Bellevite, though Captain Breaker had laughed at him when he suggested that he might return in the prize. The same signal was made in reply, and repeated several times to aid him in finding the ship. The water was comparatively smooth, and the prize came alongside the Bellevite, where it was made fast.

The lieutenant's first duty was to report to the captain of the Bellevite, and taking Dave with him, he hastened on board. He found Captain Breaker on deck, for there was a feeling in the fleet and in the fort that some important event was about to transpire in the vicinity.

"I am glad to see you, Mr. Pa.s.sford," said he; and possibly it occurred to him that he had sent the young man on a difficult mission, practically within the enemy's lines. "You have brought the prize with you, I see; and I was before informed of the fact that you had her by the signal whistles."

"Yes, sir; the Teaser is alongside. She is not a vessel of the Confederate Navy, but was fitted out on private account. She is a privateer," replied Christy.

"So much the better that you have captured her," added the captain.

"Did you have a severe fight, Mr. Pa.s.sford?"

"We had no fight at all, sir. I was instructed to avoid a fight if possible, and I have done so. Not a blow has been struck or a shot fired, sir."