Taken by the Enemy by the Enemy by Oliver Optic (romantic books to read .txt) 📗

week, for steamers have no occasion to come up here now."

"Perhaps you may find a pilot among the men in that boat," suggested Christy, as he looked about the pilot-house, where the conversation took place.

The captain's glass was lying on a shelf in front of the wheel, and he took a look through it in order to find the boat. After searching in every direction, he discovered the boat, which was pulled by two men, with a third in the stern-sheets. He indicated the position of it to the major, and gave him the glass.

"That's Dallberg, without any doubt; but he must be five miles off. He can't reach the 214 steamer for a long time," said the major, when he had examined the boat. "But we shall be no better off than we are now when she gets here, for not one of those in it is a sailor."

Christy was not a little interested in the situation; for he thought his father must have gone on board of the Bellevite, or she would not have changed her position. It was all a mystery to him as well as to the commandant of Fort Gaines, and the boat in the distance had been to the shore for the purpose of investigating it.

He had an idea in his head, and he continued to examine the interior of the pilot-house till he found a number of paper rolls in a drawer, which looked very much like local charts of the bay. He examined several of them, and found one which covered the portion of the waters around him. He had noted the direction taken by the Bellevite the day before, and he had no difficulty in placing the inlet where she had moored at the wharf.

"What have you got there, Mr. Passford?" asked the major, who had been looking on the floor, thinking what he should do in his present dilemma.

"You a Sailor?" (Page 215)

215 "It is a chart of these waters, which appears to have been considerably improved with a pen and ink," replied Christy, still examining it.

"That is the work of Captain Pecklar. They call him the best pilot for Mobile Bay there is about here, though he has been here but two years."

"Here is the inlet, or river, where we passed the night; and the captain has marked the wharf on it."

"What good is the chart without a man that knows how to steer a steamer?" asked the major, who was becoming very impatient in the presence of the delay that confronted him; for the illness of Captain Pecklar deprived him of the ability to do any thing, even to return to the fort.

"You forget that I am a sailor, Major Pierson," said Christy.

"You a sailor? I thought you were the son of a millionnaire, who could not possibly know any thing except how to eat and sleep," replied the soldier, laughing.

"I have steered the Bellevite for a great many hundred miles, and my father says I am competent to do duty as a quartermaster."

216 "You astonish me; and, as we are both engaged in the same good cause, I am heartily delighted to find that you are a sailor."

"Probably I shall astonish you still more before we have got through. With this chart before me, I have no doubt I can find my way about here in the Leopard," said Christy.

"Then I give you the command of the steamer in the absence of Captain Pecklar," continued the major. "This boat and another are in the service of the forts; and if you don't want to join the army with Percy, perhaps I can obtain the appointment for you, especially as you are hardly old enough to go into the ranks. We will see about that."

"We will leave all that open for future action, if you please, Major Pierson," replied Christy, as he rang the bell for the steamer to go ahead.

The major watched him with the most intense interest, as though he feared that the young man would prove to be a failure as a steamboat captain. But the steamer went ahead at the sound of the bell, and in a minute or two Christy had her on her course in the direction of the approaching boat. He examined the chart very carefully, and 217 satisfied himself that there was water enough for the tug anywhere outside the headlands which projected into the hay.

The Leopard held her course as steadily as though the sick captain were still at the wheel; and the major was entirely satisfied with the qualifications of the new master, after he had watched him for a while.

"Spottswood, how is the captain?" called the major from the pilot-house.

"Just the same: he don't seem to be any better," replied the sergeant.

"He ought to have a doctor; for the poor fellow may die here, away from any proper attendance," said the major, with more feeling than the new captain supposed he possessed.

"There is a very skilful surgeon on board of the Bellevite," suggested Christy. "Dr. Linscott served in the army in Mexico, and had a large practice in New York."

"Then he shall see Pecklar. Dr. Linscott is just the sort of a surgeon we want in our army; and I suppose he would not be on board of the Bellevite if he was not of our way of thinking," added the major.

218 Christy knew he was nothing but a Union man, and not of the way of thinking which the soldier suggested: so he said nothing. The Leopard was a faster tug than the one which had come off from Fort Gaines, and she came up with the boat which contained Lieutenant Dallberg and his two men, the latter of whom were nearly exhausted with the long pull they had taken; for, as they were not sailors, they did not row to the best advantage.

The new captain rang the bell to stop her, as soon as the boat came near, and the party came on board. The two men seated themselves on the rail as though they never intended to do another stroke of work, for they had been using the oars most of the time since the evening before.

"Come up here, Dallberg," called the major from the pilot-house.

The lieutenant looked as though he had just been through one war; for he had slept none the night before, and had been on duty without intermission. He came to the hurricane-deck, and entered the pilot-house, where he dropped on the sofa abaft the wheel as though he were not in much better condition than the captain when he fell at his post.

219 "You have made a night of it, Dallberg," the major began, seating himself by the side of the lieutenant.

"I am about used up, major. I believe I walked ten miles on shore; and I am not as strong as I wish I was," replied Mr. Dallberg. "But I found out all I wanted to know, and I expected the Leopard would be somewhere near the creek."

"I beg your pardon, Major Pierson," said Christy, who was standing at the wheel. "What am I to do now?"

"I will tell you in a moment.—Can you tell me, Dallberg, where the Bellevite is at the present time?" asked the major, turning to the lieutenant.

"She seems to be running up and down across the head of the bay. She is beyond that point now, and you will see her when you go within a mile of the land," replied the lieutenant.

"Have you been near her?"

"Not within a mile of her, I should say."

"All right, you may head her within a mile of that point, Captain Passford," added the major; and Christy rang to go ahead.

When the major applied this high-sounding 220 title to the new captain, the lieutenant opened his eyes a little; but he asked no questions, for he had learned as he came on board that Captain Pecklar had fainted at his post.

"Well, what have you been about, Dallberg?" asked the major rather impatiently, as soon as the boat was under way again.

"Walking, talking, and rowing most of the time. As the poet says, 'Things are not what they seem,'" replied the scout; for such appeared to be the duty in which he had been engaged.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Major Pierson, opening his eyes very wide.

"We discovered that the steamer had left the wharf last night, and you sent me to investigate when you started off in that wagon."

"That's so; and Pecklar reported to me early this morning that the steamer had left the wharf, and was standing off and on in the bay."

"I went ashore in the evening, leaving Pecklar to watch the steamer. I don't know any thing about his movements."

"He reported to me this morning about daylight. It is all right as far as he is concerned. What have you done?"

221 "I landed at the wharf where the Bellevite had been moored, about eleven o'clock, I should say, for I could not see my watch. I went up to Colonel Passford's house, and found it all in commotion."

"What was the matter?"

"Colonel Passford was not there: he had gone off to procure assistance."

"Assistance for what?" demanded the major. "You are sleepy, Dallberg, and you are mixing your story."

"I am sleepy and exhausted, but I will try to do better. I saw Mrs. Passford. She told me that her brother-in-law, Captain Horatio Passford, had come to the house that day, with his son; and you are aware, I believe, that his daughter, Miss Florence, has been there all winter."

"I know all about that. Go ahead, Dallberg."

"The two brothers had been shut up in the library all the afternoon, engaged in an earnest discussion; though the colonel's wife did not know what it was about. Captain Horatio left Colonel Homer in the library some time in the evening, and the colonel remained there till after ten. Then it was found that the captain had left the 222 house secretly, with his daughter and his son; though some of the servants had seen the young man going up the road with Percy Pierson."

"Exactly so; never mind the young man now. The captain had left the house, and his daughter went with him?" repeated the major, beginning to be a good deal excited.

"The house was searched, but they could not be found; and the young lady's trunk had been removed from her room. Then the colonel went down to the wharf, and found that the Bellevite had left."

Major Pierson sprang to his feet, hardly able to contain himself.

223 CHAPTER XX A REBELLION IN THE PILOT-HOUSE

Captain Passford had obtained the idea, from the fact that Florry did not like to have the major gaze at her all the time, that she was not very deeply interested in him; and the conclusion afforded him a great deal of satisfaction. She did not like to leave her uncle and aunt and her two cousins without saying good-by to them; but she had not said a word about the military gentleman who was supposed to have made frequent visits at the mansion on her account.

When Lieutenant Dallberg informed Major Pierson that Miss Florry had left the house, and that her trunk had been removed, indicating that she did not intend to return, the effect upon him was very decided. However it may have been with the young lady, it was plain enough 224 that he was stirred to the very centre of his being.

"Then Captain Passford has left the mansion?" said the Major, after he had strode several times across the little pilot-house, as he halted in front of the lieutenant.

"No doubt of that; the family and the servants hunted the house all over in search of him and his daughter," replied Mr. Dallberg with a yawn.

"Well, what did Colonel Passford say about him?" demanded the major.

"He was not at the house when I got there. As I said, he had gone for assistance. I could do nothing till I had seen him. I sent my men on ahead to look for him, and then I went myself. We did not find him till one o'clock in the morning. He had given up all his horses for the service, and we had to go on foot," continued the lieutenant.

"But you saw Colonel Passford?"

"I did; but he had been unable to find the persons of whom he had been in search, and he could procure no such assistance as he wished. I walked back to his mansion with him. At first he was not inclined to say any thing to