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

wish me to do, Horatio," added the lady.

"My mission will be a dangerous one at best, and the deck of the steamer will be no place for you, Julia."

"Very well; Christy and I will take the tug as soon as you are ready to have us leave you."

"Am I to go on shore, father?" demanded Christy, with a look of chagrin on his handsome face, browned by exposure to the sun on the ocean. "I want to go with you; and I am sure I can do my share of the duty, whatever it may be."

40 "You are rather young to engage in such an enterprise as that before me, Christy," added his father, as he gazed with pride at the face and form of his son, who had thrown back his head as though he felt the inspiration of all the manliness in his being.

"If there is to be a war for the Union, I am a Union man, or boy, as you like; and it would be as mean and cowardly for me to turn my back to the enemy as it would be for you to do so, sir," replied Christy, his chest heaving with patriotic emotion.

"I am willing you should go with me," added Captain Passford, turning from the young man to his mother.

There was a tear in the eyes of the lady as she looked upon her son. It was hard enough to have her husband leave her on such a mission: it was doubly so to have Christy go with him.

"Christy might be of great service to me," said his father. "I look upon this war as a very solemn event; and when a man's country calls upon him to render his time, his comfort, even his life, he has no moral right to put himself, his father, his brother, or his son in a safe place, and 41 leave mere hirelings, the thoughtless, reckless adventurers, to fight his battle for him."

"I am ready to go, sir," added Christy.

"He may go with you, if you think it best," said the mother with a quivering lip. "I shall miss him, but I am sure you would miss him more."

"My first mission is hardly in the service of my country; at least, it is not directly so, though I hope to be of some use to her during my absence. As I said before, I think my first duty—a duty committed to me by the Almighty, which takes precedence over all other duties—is, within reasonable limits, to my own family. I will not spare myself or my son, but I must save Florry and my brother's family."

"I think you are right, Horatio."

"On my return I shall present the Bellevite to the Government, which is in sore need of suitable vessels at the present time, and offer my services in any capacity in which I can be useful," continued Captain Passford. "Captain Breaker," he called to the commander.

"Here, sir."

"Pipe the entire ship's company on the forecastle, 42 and see that no one from the tug is near enough to hear what is said there."

Captain Breaker had formerly been a lieutenant in the navy, and the forms and discipline of a man-of-war prevailed on board of the steam-yacht. In a minute more the pipe of the boatswain rang through the vessel, and all hands were mustered on the forecastle. The tug was made fast on the quarter of the steamer, and no one from her had come on board.

Captain Passford and Christy walked forward, leaving the lady with her own thoughts. She was a daughter of a distinguished officer in the navy, and she had been fully schooled in the lesson of patriotism for such an emergency as the present. She was sad, and many a tear dropped from her still handsome face; but she was brave enough to feel proud that she had a husband and a son whom she was willing to give to her country.

The ship's company gathered on the forecastle; and every one of them seemed to be deeply impressed with the solemnity of the occasion, for not a light word was spoken, not a laugh played on any face. They had just learned that the country was in a state of war; and the present 43 occasion indicated that the owner had some serious question in his mind, which was now to be presented to them.

The Bellevite was heavily manned for a yacht; but every person had been selected for his position, from the highest to the lowest, with the utmost care by Captain Breaker, assisted by the owner. Every one of them had been attached to the steamer for at least a year, and some of them for a longer period. All of them were personally known to the owner and the members of the family, who had taken the greatest pleasure in improving and assisting them and their families, if they had any.

They were all devoted to the owner and the members of his family, who had taken such a strong personal interest in them and theirs. Many instances of the kindness of the lady in times of sickness and death, as well as in the brighter days of prosperity and happiness, could be related; and in return for all this generous and considerate treatment, there was not a man on board who would not have laid down his life for the family.

It was certainly a model ship's company; and 44 if there had ever been another owner and captain like those of the Bellevite, there might also have been such another collection of officers and seamen. But every one of them had been selected for his moral character, not less than for his nautical skill and knowledge. In fact, the personal history of any one of them would have been interesting to the general reader.

These men composed the audience of Captain Passford when he took his place at the bowsprit bitts; and, if the occasion had been less solemn, they would have cheered him, as they were in the habit of doing on every suitable opportunity, and even when it was not suitable.

The owner prefaced his remarks with a statement of the events which had occurred in the country since the last dates they had received, and then proceeded to describe his mission as indicated to his wife and son. He fully stated the perils of the enterprise, with the fact that his operations would be somewhat irregular; though he intended to make an immediate tender of the vessel to the Government, with his own services in any capacity in which he might be needed.

In spite of the solemnity of the occasion, the 45 men broke out into cheers, and not a few of the sailors shouted out their readiness to go with him wherever he might go, without regard to danger or hardship. One old sheet-anchor man declared that he was ready to die for Miss Florry; and he was so lustily cheered that it was evident this was the sentiment of all.

"I have called the tug at the quarter alongside to convey Mrs. Passford to the shore, though Christy will go with me," added the owner.

At this point he was interrupted by a volley of cheers, for Christy was a universal favorite on board, as Florry had always been; and the ship's company regarded her as a sort of mundane divinity, upon whom they could look only with the most profound reverence.

"In view of the danger and the irregularity of the enterprise, I shall not persuade or urge any person on board to accompany me; and the tug will take on shore all who prefer to leave the vessel, with my best wishes for their future. Those who prefer to go on shore will go aft to the mainmast," continued Captain Passford.

46 Officers and seamen looked from one to the other; but not one of them took a step from his place on the forecastle, to which all seemed to be nailed.

47 CHAPTER IV THE FIRST MISSION OF THE BELLEVITE

Captain Passford looked over his audience with no little interest, and perhaps with considerable anxiety; for he felt that the success of his enterprise must depend, in a great measure, upon the fidelity and skill of the individual members of the ship's company.

"My remarks are addressed to every person in the ship's company, from Captain Breaker to the stewards and coal-passers; and any one has a perfect right to decline to go with me, without prejudice to his present or future interests," continued the owner.

More earnestly than before the officers and men gazed at each other; and it looked as though not one of them dared to move a single inch, lest a step should be interpreted as an impeachment of his fidelity to one who had been a Christian and a trusty friend in all his relations with him.

48 "I know that some of you have families, mothers, brothers, and sisters on shore; and I assure you that I shall not regard it as a disgrace or a stigma upon any man who does his duty as he understands it, without regard to me or mine," the owner proceeded.

Still not a man moved, and all seemed to be more averse than before to change their positions a particle; and possibly any one who was tempted to do so expected to be hooted by his shipmates, if he took the treacherous step.

"I sincerely hope that every man of you will be guided by his own sense of duty, without regard to what others may think of his action. I will not allow any man to suffer from any reproach or indignity on account of what he does in this matter, if by any means I can prevent it," continued Captain Passford, looking over his audience again, to discover, if he could, any evidence of faltering on the part of a single one.

Still officers and men were as immovable as a group of statuary; and not a face betrayed an expression indicating a desire to leave the vessel, or to falter in what all regarded as the allegiance they owed to the owner and his family.

49 "We will all go with you to the end of the world, or the end of the war!" shouted the old sheet-anchor man, who was the spokesman of the crew when they had any thing to say. "If any man offers to leave"—

"He shall go with my best wishes," interposed Captain Passford. "None of that, Boxie; you have heard what I said, and I mean every word of it. There shall be no persuasion or intimidation."

"Beg pardon, Captain Passford; but there isn't a man here that would go to the mainmast if he knew that the forecastle would drop out from under him, and let him down into Davy Jones's locker the next minute if he staid here," responded Boxie, with a complaisant grin on his face, as if he was entirely conscious that he knew what he was talking about.

"Every man must act on his own free will," added the owner.

"That's just what we are all doing, your honor; and every one of us would rather go than have his wages doubled. If any dumper here has a free will to go to the mainmast, he'd better put his head in soak, and"—

"Avast heaving, Boxie!" interposed the owner, 50 smiling in spite of himself at the earnestness of the old sailor.

"I hain't got a word more to say, your honor; only"—

"Only nothing, Boxie! I see that not one of you is inclined to leave the vessel, and I appreciate in the highest degree this devotion on your part to me and my family. I have some writing to do now; and, while I am engaged upon it, Mr. Watts shall take the name and residence of every man on board. I shall give this list to my wife, and charge her to see that those dependent upon you need nothing in your absence. She will visit the friends of every one of you, if she has to go five hundred miles to do so. I have nothing more to say at present."

The men cheered lustily for the owner, and then separated, as the captain went aft to draw up his papers to send on shore by Mrs. Passford. He was followed by Captain Breaker, while little groups formed in various parts of the deck to discuss the situation.

"I intended to have some talk with you, Breaker, before I said any thing to the ship's company; but, you know, it is very seldom that I ever say any 51 thing directly to them," said Captain Passford, as the commander came up with him.

"This was an extraordinary occasion; and I