Fighting for the Right by Oliver Optic (good books for high schoolers .TXT) 📗

you. Adieu for the present."

Captain Stopfoot left the cabin, locking the door behind him. The hands of the prisoners, ten in number, were tied behind them with ropes, for probably the steamer was not provided with handcuffs. Christy examined his men in regard to the manner in which they had been overcome. The three men who had been left near the cabin door 345 had been overthrown by those who jumped down upon them when they were separated, one at the stern, one on the bales, watching the Bellevite in the distance, and the third asleep on a cotton bale. The lieutenant had seen the rest of the enterprise.

"This thing is not going to last long, my men," said Christy, who realized that he should never be able to stand up under the obloquy of having brought out a blockade-runner for the enemy.

He caused the hands to march in front of him till he found one who had been carelessly bound. He backed this one up in the rear of Calwood, the quartermaster, and made him untie the line, which he could do with his fingers, though his wrists were bound. It was not the work of three minutes to unbind the rest of them.

Christy broke a pane of glass in the door, and unlocked it with the key the captain had left in the keyhole.

346 CHAPTER XXXI AN UNDESIRED PROMOTION

As Christy unlocked the cabin door, he discovered a negro lying on the deck, as close as he could get to the threshold. The man attempted to spring to his feet, but the officer seized him by the hair of the head, and pulled him into the cabin.

"Here, Calwood, put your hand over this fellow's mouth!" said Christy to the quartermaster, who laid violent hands on him, assisted by Norlock.

The latter produced a handkerchief, which he thrust into the mouth of the negro, so that he could not give the alarm. All the men were alert and eager to wipe out the shame, as they regarded it, of the disaster; and those who had been stationed near the cabin had certainly been wanting in vigilance. Two of them seized a couple of the lines with which they had been bound, and tied the arms of the negro behind him.

A second look at the negro assured Christy that 347 it was Quimp, and he was more mortified than before at the trick which had been played upon him. Thrusting his hand into the pocket of the fellow, he drew from it the three sovereigns and the three shillings he had paid him for his boat and his information. It was evident enough now that he belonged to the Reindeer, and that he had been sent out by Captain Stopfoot to do precisely what he had done, taking advantage of the general good feeling which prevailed between the negroes and the Union forces.

Christy thought that Captain Stopfoot had been over-confident to leave his prisoners without a guard; but it appeared now that Quimp had been employed in this capacity, though it was probable that he had been instructed not to show himself to them, and for that reason had crept to his station and lain down on the deck.

"Now, my men, take your arms from that bale of cotton; but don't make any noise," said Christy in a low tone, as he took his revolvers and cutlass from the heap of weapons; and the seamen promptly obeyed the order. "The captain of this steamer managed his affair very well indeed, and I intend to adopt his tactics."

348 The steamer was under way, and had been for some time. Christy climbed upon the bales of cotton far enough to see what the crew of the vessel were doing. The hatches appeared to have been taken off in the waist and forward, and the crew were lowering cargo into the hold. A portion of the cotton had either been hoisted out of the hold, or had been left on deck, to form the hiding-places for the men. The captain must have had early notice of the approach of the Bellevite and Bronx; but there had been time enough after the former began to fire at the battery to enable him to make all his preparations.

Captain Stopfoot was not to be seen, and was probably in the pilot-house. The officer concluded that there must be as many as four men in the hold attending to the stowage of the bales, and four more could be seen tumbling the cargo through the hatches. This accounted for eight men; and this was the number Christy had figured out as the crew of the Reindeer, though there was doubtless a man at the wheel. The force was about equal to his own, not counting the engineers and the firemen.

Christy stationed his men as he believed Captain 349 Stopfoot had arranged his force. The cabin was in a deck-house; between the door of it and the piles of cotton was a vacant space of about six feet fore and aft, which could not be overlooked from the forward part of the vessel. It was here that the first movement had been made. Calwood, who had been on duty here, said that two men had dropped down upon them; and when the third man came to learn the cause of the disturbance, he had been secured by two more.

This was the noise that Christy had heard when he sent two hands from the forecastle to ascertain the occasion of it. The three prisoners had been disarmed, bound, and concealed in the cabin. They were threatened with instant death if they made any outcry, and one of their own revolvers was pointed at them. Linman, who had been sent to learn what had become of Hopkins and White, was treated in the same manner. Then he went himself, and the mate had dropped upon him, while those from under the bales secured Bench and Kingman.

Every sailor was fully instructed in regard to the part he was to have in the programme, and Christy had crawled forward to the point where he 350 found the aperture in which Groomer, the mate, had been concealed. He was followed by Norlock, a very powerful man, who was to "make the drop" on Captain Stopfoot, and stuff a handkerchief into his mouth before he could call for assistance. Christy believed that the commander would be the first one to come aft when the men by the cabin fired their revolvers, as they had been instructed to do.

Two hands had been placed where they could fall upon the two who were rolling the cotton into the hold at the hatch in the waist; and two more were instructed to rush forward and fall upon the two men at work at the fore-hatch. The four men in the space in front of the cabin were to leap upon the bales and rush forward, revolvers in hand, and secure those at work in the hold. If there was any failure of the plan to work as arranged, the sailors were to rally at the side of their officer, ready for a stand-up fight.

Christy gave the signal for the two revolvers to be discharged. The captain did not appear at the report of the arms as expected; but he ordered the two hands at work at the after-hatch to go aft and look out for the prisoners. The two seamen 351 on that side of the steamer dropped upon them, gagged them, and secured them so quickly that they could hardly have known what had happened to them. The enterprise had been inaugurated without much noise; but the captain had heard it, and called one of the men at the fore-hatch to take the wheel, from which it appeared that he had been steering the steamer himself.

The naval officer saw this man enter the pilot-house, from which Captain Stopfoot had come out. He moved aft quite briskly with a revolver in his hand; but as soon as he had reached the point where the mate had dropped upon him, Christy leaped upon his head and shoulders, and he sank to the deck, borne down by the weight of his assailant. He was surprised, as the first victim of the movement had been, and a handkerchief was stuffed into his mouth. He had dropped his weapon, which Christy picked up and discharged while his knees were placed on the chest of the prostrate commander, and his left hand grappled his throat. He was conquered as quickly as the first victim had been.

The shots had been the signal for all not engaged to rally at the side of the lieutenant, and the men 352 rushed forward. All of them had removed their neck handkerchiefs to serve as gags, and they brought with them the lines with which they had been bound. The captain was rolled over, and his arms tied behind him. He was sent aft to the cabin, while Christy led six of his crew forward. The hands in the hold had attempted to come on deck, but the two sailors at each hatch dropped upon them.

In less than five minutes every one of the crew of the Reindeer had been "jumped upon," as the sailors put it, bound, and marched to the cabin. The battle was fought and the victory won. Christy was quite as happy as Captain Stopfoot had been when he had taken possession of the steamer. The man at the wheel had been the last to be secured, and Calwood was put in his place, with directions to come about and steer for Egmont Key.

Christy determined not to make the mistake Captain Stopfoot had committed in leaving his prisoners insufficiently guarded. He selected four of his best men, ordered them to hold the cutlass in the right hand and the revolver in the left, and to keep their eyes on the prisoners all the time. He 353 then went to those who had been gagged, and removed the handkerchiefs from their mouths.

"I am as grateful to you, Captain Stopfoot, as you were to me less than an hour ago," said Christy, and he removed the gag from his mouth. "I am happy to be able to reciprocate your complimentary speeches."

"I am not aware that I have done anything to merit your gratitude, Mr. Passford," said the chief prisoner.

"You are not? Why, my dear Captain, you could not have arranged everything better than you did for the recapture of the Reindeer," replied Christy.

"I did not think that ten men with their hands tied behind them could do anything to help themselves; but you Yankees are very ingenious, and it seems that you found a way to liberate yourselves. Besides, I had a hand here to watch you, with instructions to call me if there was any trouble," added the captain, in an apologetic tone.

"When the trouble came he was not in condition to call you," the lieutenant explained.

"No, sar! Dem beggars gagged me, and den robbed me of all my money!" howled Quimp, 354 whose greatest grievance was the loss of his fifteen dollars.

"That was hardly justifiable, Mr. Passford," added the captain shaking his head.

"It would not have been justifiable if the rogue had not first swindled me out of the money," replied the naval officer.

"How was that?" asked the chief prisoner.

Christy explained the manner in which he had encountered Quimp, saying that he had paid him five dollars for the loss of his boat, and ten for the information that a steamer was loaded with cotton and ready to sail behind the long key.

"Quimp is as smart as a Yankee," said Captain Stopfoot, laughing in spite of his misfortune. "The flatboat was one we picked up on one of the keys; and the information was precisely what I instructed Quimp to give you, without money and without price. I promised to give him ten dollars if he would pretend to be an honest nigger, and do the job properly. I have no fault to find with him; but under present circumstances I have not ten dollars to give him. I have lost the steamer and the cotton, and it seems to be all up with me."

"I hope you will get into a safer business, Captain. 355 I will suggest to the commander of the Bellevite that you and your party be landed at Gasparilla Pass; and I shall thus be able to reciprocate your good intentions towards me."

Christy had sent some of his men forward, and he now followed them himself. The engineers had remained in their room, and kept the machinery in motion. As the Reindeer approached Egmont Key, the Bellevite, followed by the Bronx towing a