A Victorious Union by Oliver Optic (most life changing books TXT) 📗

was repeated to the quartermaster who was conning the wheel.

The screw of the St. Regis began to turn, and she went ahead very slowly. The tender was a short distance from her, and all the ladies were waving their handkerchiefs with all their might; and their signals were returned, not only by Christy and Paul, but by all the officers on deck. The seamen could not comfortably "hold in," and they saluted the tender with three rousing cheers, for they knew that the family of their young commander were on board of her.

The little steamer followed the ship till she had passed the Battery, a repetition of the former salute, and then the tender sheered off, and went up North River, the ship proceeding on her course for the scene of her future exploits. The parting of Christy with his father, mother, and sister had been less sad than on former occasions; for they believed, whether with good reason or not, that the son, brother, and lover was to be exposed to less peril than usual.

Christy had received his sealed orders on board from an officer sent specially to deliver them to him in person; and he was instructed to open the 309 envelope off Cape Henlopen. At six o'clock the St. Regis was off Sandy Hook. Four bells, which was the signal to the engine room to go ahead at full speed, had been sounded as soon as the ship had passed through the Narrows.

After the young commander had taken his supper, solitary and alone in his great cabin, he went on deck. No one shared his spacious apartment with him, and he was literally alone in his glory. But he did not object to his solitude, for he had enough to think of; and though he did not betray it in his expression, he was in a state of excitement, for what young fellow, even if "fully developed before he was twenty-one," could have helped being exhilarated when he found himself in command of such an exceptionally fine and fast ship as the St. Regis.

When he went on deck, for he seemed to need more air than usual to support the immense amount of internal life that was stirring his being, he met Paul Vapoor coming up from the ward room, where he messed with seven other officers.

"I hope you are feeling very well, Captain Passford," said Paul, as he touched his cap to the commander, for all familiarities were suspended unless 310 when they were alone; and habit generally banished them even then.

"As well as usual, Mr. Vapoor," replied Christy. "How do you find the engine?"

"In excellent condition, Captain. It was thoroughly overhauled at the yard, boilers and machinery, and I have examined it down to the minutest details."

"I have an idea that our speed will be more in demand than our fighting strength on this cruise," added Christy.

"We are ready for speed in the engine room. The coal that remained on board on the arrival of the ship at the yard was very bad; but it has all been taken out, and our bunkers are filled with the best that could be had, the master-machinist informed me yesterday," replied the chief engineer. "I don't believe she could overhaul the Bellevite, for I am of the opinion that she is the fastest sea-going steamer in the navy."

"I don't think we shall find any blockade-runner that can run away from the Bellevite; for she has overhauled every one she chased off Mobile Bay, and made a prize of her. I am to open my orders off Henlopen, and then we shall know what our work is to be."

311 "About eight hours from Sandy Hook, as we are running now," added Paul.

"I am very impatient to read my orders, and I shall be called at one o'clock for that purpose," added Christy, as he began to plank the deck on the weather side.

The wind was from the north-west, and quite fresh. The men had had their suppers, and he ordered Mr. Baskirk to make sail. The St. Regis was bark rigged, and could spread a large surface of canvas. He desired to test the qualities of his crew; and in a short time everything was drawing. Christy "turned in" at nine o'clock; but he was excited, and he had not slept a wink when he was called at the hour he had indicated.

312 CHAPTER XXVIII OFF THE COAST OF NORTH CAROLINA

Having assured himself that the ship was fully up with Cape Henlopen, Christy retired to his cabin, and still "alone in his glory," he broke the seal of the official envelope. He was to cruise outside of the blockaders, and report to the flag-officer when opportunity presented. Just then it was believed that Richmond, which received all its foreign supplies from Wilmington, could not long hold out if it was captured; and the Secretary of the Navy was giving special attention to the forts which protected it.

It was evident to the young commander that he was not to rust in inactivity, as had been the case of late off Mobile Bay, and a wide field of operations was open to him. His instructions were minute, but they did not confine his ship to the immediate vicinity of the mouth of the Cape Fear River. It was evident that the speed of the St. 313 Regis had been an important factor in framing the secret orders.

If a blockade-runner eluded or outsailed the vessels of the fleet near the coast, the St. Regis was expected to "pick her up." On the other hand, the fastest of the vessels were sent out farther from the shore, and the ship was expected to support them. Christy realized that he should be called upon to exercise his judgment in many difficult situations, and he could only hope that he should be equal to such occasions.

"Good-morning, Captain Passford," said Paul Vapoor, saluting him on the quarter-deck. "I hope you slept well in your brief watch below."

"I did not sleep a wink, I was so anxious to read my orders. But I know them now, and I feel as cool as an arctic iceberg. I shall sleep when I turn in again."

"Well, where are we going, Captain, if it is no longer a secret?" asked the engineer.

"It is not a secret now; and we are to cruise off the mouth of the Cape Fear River," replied the commander, as he proceeded to give the information more in detail.

"We are not likely to have any hot work then 314 if we are only to chase blockade-runners," added Paul.

"Probably we can render greater service to our country in this manner than in any other way, or we should not have been sent to this quarter," said Christy, with a long gape.

Paul saw that his friend was sleepy, and he bade him good-night. The commander went to his stateroom, and was soon fast asleep, from which he did not wake till eight o' clock in the morning. When he went on deck the ship was carrying all sail. The second lieutenant had the deck, and he asked him what speed the steamer was making.

"The last log showed seventeen knots an hour," replied Mr. Makepeace.

"I hope you slept well, Captain Passford," said the chief engineer, saluting him at this minute.

"I slept like a log till eight bells this morning," replied Christy.

"Mr. Makepeace reports the last log at seventeen knots," continued Paul. "But the ship is not making revolutions enough per hour for more than fifteen, for I have got the hang of her running now. The wind is blowing half a gale, and the canvas is giving her two knots."

315 No events transpired on board worthy a special chronicle during the day. The men were drilled in various exercises, and gave excellent satisfaction to their officers. The next morning the St. Regis was off Cape Hatteras, and though it is a greater bugbear than it generally deserves, it gave the ship a taste of its quality. The wind had hauled around to the south-west, and was blowing a lively gale. The sails had been furled in the morning watch, and off the cape the course had been changed to south-west.

Just before eight bells in the afternoon watch, when the ship was making fifteen knots an hour, the lookout man on the top-gallant forecastle called out "Sail, ho!" and all eyes were directed ahead.

"Where away?" demanded the officer of the deck sharply.

"Close on the lee bow, sir!" returned the lookout.

The commander was in his cabin studying the chart of the coast of North Carolina; but the report was promptly sent to him, and he hastened on deck.

"Another sail on the port bow, sir!" shouted a 316 seaman who had been sent to the fore cross trees with a spy-glass.

"What are they?" asked Christy, maintaining his dignity in spite of the excitement which had begun to invade his being.

"Both steamers, sir," replied the officer of the deck.

"The head one is a blockade-runner, I know by the cut of her jib, sir," shouted the man with the glass on the cross trees.

All the glasses on board were immediately directed to the two vessels. Christy could plainly make out the steamer that had the lead. She was a piratical-looking craft, setting very low in the water, with two smoke stacks, both raking at the same angle as her two masts. The wind was not fair, and she could not carry sail; but the "bone in her teeth" indicated that she was going through the water at great speed.

"A gun from the chaser, sir!" shouted the man aloft.

The cloud of smoke was seen, and the report of the gun reached the ears of all on board the St. Regis.

"There is no mistaking what all that means, 317 Mr. Baskirk," said Christy when he had taken in the situation.

At the first announcement of the sail ahead, the commander had ordered the chief engineer to get all the speed he could out of the ship. The smoke was pouring out of the smoke stacks, for the St. Regis had two, and presently she indicated what was going on in the fire room by beginning to shake a little.

"Another sail dead ahead, sir!" called the man on the fore cross trees.

The glasses were directed to the third sail, and she proved to be a steamer, also pursuing the one first seen. It was soon evident to the observers that the blockade-runner, for the man aloft who had so defined her was entirely correct, was gaining all the time on her pursuers. If she had nothing but her two pursuers to fear, her troubles were really over.

Both of the Federal ships were firing at the chase; but they might as well have spared their powder and shot, for they could not reach her into at least a quarter of a mile. The wind was still at the south-west, and already there were signs of fog. The rakish steamer had probably come from 318 the Bermudas, where she must have obtained a skilful pilot, for without one she would have had no chances at all; and she stood boldly on her course as though she had nothing to fear on account of the navigation.

"What are we going to have for weather, Mr. Makepeace?" asked Christy, after a long look to windward.

"It looks a little nasty off towards the shore, sir," replied the second lieutenant. "I should say it was going to be just what that pirate would like to have."

"Why do you call her a pirate?" asked the commander with a smile. "Probably she is not armed."

"I call her a pirate because she looks like one; but I think a blockade-runner is a hundred degrees better than a pirate; and our British friends plainly look upon them as doing a legitimate business. I rather think that highflyer will run into a fog before she gets to the shore."

"She has nothing to fear from the two steamers that are chasing her," added Christy. "We are to have a finger in this pie."

"No doubt of that; and I hope we shall make a hole through her before she gets to the coast."

319 "She is not more than a mile and a half from us now, and our midship gun is good for more than that; but I don't think it is advisable to waste our strength in firing at her just yet."

"That's just my way of thinking," said Mr. Makepeace, with something like enthusiasm in his manner; and he was evidently delighted to find that the commander knew what he was about, as he would have phrased it.

"The rakish steamer seems to be headed to the