Stand By The Union by Oliver Optic (english readers txt) 📗

his daring scheme, whatever it was.

"Your second lieutenant?"

"Ensign Frederick Jones," answered Corny, with some hesitation.

"Now will you inform me, Mr. Passford, who your officers were?" The commander pointed at Christy. "Your executive officer?"

"My cousin gave his name and rank correctly."

"And the second lieutenant?"

"Ensign Philip Bangs."

"Here you differ. Did you make a report of your voyage home, Lieutenant Passford?" continued the captain, pointing at Corny.

"I did, sir; for we captured a privateer on the voyage," answered Corny.

85 "Did you keep a copy of that report?"

"I did, captain; I keep copies of all my reports. I have them in my valise," answered he of the South in a matter-of-fact manner.

Christy laughed in spite of the importance of the investigation at the coolness and self-possession of his cousin; but he could not understand how Corny would be able to produce a copy of his report, which was in his valise with several such papers.

"I must trouble you to produce it, Lieutenant Passford," added the commander.

"Perhaps I ought to say in the beginning that it is not in my own handwriting, for after I had written it, Mr. Jones copied it for me," Corny explained, and, perhaps, thought he might be called upon to give a specimen of his chirography.

"That is immaterial," added Captain Battleton, as Corny left the cabin to procure the document. "Have you a copy of your report, Lieutenant Passford?" He pointed to Christy.

"I have, captain; and it is in my own handwriting," replied the officer addressed.

"Produce it, if you please."

He had placed his valise in the gangway, and 86 he had not far to go to procure the report, his first draft of the document, which he had revised and copied at Bonnydale.

"I don't think we are getting ahead at all, Mr. Salisbury," said the captain, while the cousins were looking for their reports.

"I confess that I am as much in the dark as I was in the beginning," replied the executive officer.

"I can make nothing of it," added the surgeon. "It looks to me as though the commission alone would have to settle this matter."

"I don't see how I can go behind the official documents," replied the commander as Corny presented himself at the door.

A minute later Christy appeared with his report in his hand, and both of them were presented to the captain. The handwriting was as different as possible in the two papers. Corny's was in a large, coarse hand, but it was a fair copy, while Christy's contained several corrections and inter-lineations. No one could recognize the writing of either of the claimants, and the documents proved nothing at all. The captain was evidently weary of the investigation, and nothing but the commission 87 seemed to throw any reliable light upon the claim of either one or the other.

"Any further questions, Mr. Salisbury?" asked the captain, bestowing a bored look upon the executive officer.

"Nothing more, Captain Battleton."

"Dr. Connelly?"

"Nothing, captain."

"Now, gentlemen, I will thank you to retire to the ward room, and I will send for you to hear my decision," continued the commander, and the cousins retired together, and both of them appeared to be as good-natured as though they were in perfect accord on the question in dispute.

"What is your opinion, Mr. Salisbury?" asked the captain, when the claimants had retired, careful not to indicate his own conclusion.

"While I acknowledge that I am somewhat prepossessed in favor of the Lieutenant Passford who came on board this morning, I do not think he has established his claim to be the true Lieutenant Christopher Passford. The other uses some peculiarly Southern phrases, as though he had been 'raised' in the South, and he is not perfect in the geography of Bonnydale. I think 88 the commission is the only evidence upon which you can properly rely," replied the first lieutenant.

"Your views, if you please, Dr. Connelly."

"One of these officers is evidently a Confederate, and the other a loyal citizen. The commission, as Mr. Salisbury suggests, outweighs all the rest of the evidence. One or the other of the two men is an impostor, and without the commission, I should decide that my patient was the false Lieutenant Passford," answered the surgeon.

"We appear to agree, gentlemen, for you have expressed my own views as well as I could state them myself," added the captain. "But when I decide that the holder of the commission, which I am satisfied is a genuine document, is the loyal officer, and entitled to be received as the future commander of the Bronx, I must declare that the other is a Confederate; and not only that, but also that he is acting as a spy; that he is on board of the Vernon with mischievous intentions. It will be my duty to regard him as a prisoner of war, at least. What do you think of it, Mr. Salisbury?"

89 "I do not see how you can escape that conclusion," replied the first lieutenant.

"I am a sort of peace officer," added Dr. Connelly, when the captain glanced at him, "and I will express no opinion as to the status of the officer, though it appears to be as you describe it."

"This is an informal conference, doctor, and I hope you will express your views freely," said the captain.

"There is something in the situation which I cannot explain. I will only say that it is just possible there is a conspiracy at the bottom of the whole affair; and I should think it would be well to keep a close watch upon both of these officers. Why, on the voyage of the Bronx to the Gulf, Ensign Passford, as he was then, discovered two Confederate officers in his crew, and squarely defeated their efforts to capture his ship in the action with the Scotian, I believe it was."

"I have heard of it; and in quite a number of instances, Confederates have been put on board of steamers for the purpose of taking them from their officers," added the captain. "At the same time, I do not see that I can decide this question 90 on any other evidence than that of the commission and other official documents."

Both of the other officers assented to this view, and the captain sent for the two claimants. Neither of them had spoken a word to the other during their stay in the ward room. Christy looked upon his cousin as a Confederate who was serving what he called his country, and he had not the slightest disposition to quarrel with him, and especially not to lead him to utter any unnecessary falsehoods. Possibly Corny was somewhat diffident about playing his assumed character before his cousin when they were alone, for they had always been the best of friends.

"Gentlemen, I have come to a decision in this matter," said the captain, when the two claimants had placed themselves before him in a standing position. "I cannot go behind the commission presented by the officer who came on board last evening, and I consider it my duty to regard him as the real Lieutenant Passford, recently promoted to his present rank. There is nothing more to be said."

"Of course I expected that would be your decision," replied Corny, as he took the papers 91 which the captain returned to him, including his commission and report.

"You may retire now, if you please, Mr. Passford," added the commander.

Corny bowed politely to the officers at the table, and left the cabin. He did not even glance at Christy, and his face did not look like that of one who had just won a decided victory. Christy remained standing where he had placed himself; and he began to wonder what disposition would be made of him under present circumstances.

92 CHAPTER VIII THE PRISONER OF WAR

After rendering his decision it was evident that Captain Battleton had something to say to Christy, for he waited in silence till Corny had closed the door behind him before he even looked at the officer standing before him. The lieutenant from the moment the envelopes were opened and their contents exposed to the view of all present, had fully expected the result just announced. Whatever he thought, suspected, or surmised when he saw the blank papers taken from his official envelope, he kept to himself.

"You have heard the decision I have just given, Mr. Passford, for I have no doubt that is your real name," said the captain, when the cabin door was closed.

"I have, captain," replied Christy, bowing respectfully.

"Have you anything to say in regard to it?"

93 "Nothing at all," replied Christy, bowing again, and bearing himself with the dignity of a veteran officer; and in the matter of demeanor, the Confederate Captain Carboneer had presented to him one of the best models he had seen, both in action and as a prisoner.

"You do not wish to make any explanation of the remarkable situation in which you find yourself placed at the present moment?"

"At present, I do not, captain."

"You certainly could not have been aware that your official envelope contained only blank paper. I cannot believe that one more simple-minded than I believe you to be would have had the effrontery to present such matter as evidence that he was an officer of the United States Navy," continued Captain Battleton, with a look of greater severity than he had before assumed, possibly because he realized that the real Lieutenant Passford was higher in rank than he was himself.

"I supposed the official envelope contained my commission and orders."

"You believe that your papers were taken from you, and the blanks substituted for them?"

"I cannot explain the matter at present, and 94 you must excuse me from offering merely vague suspicions and conjectures."

"Do you realize your present situation, Mr. Passford?" asked the captain, apparently disappointed at the unwillingness of the young man to attempt an explanation.

"I think I do, captain, and I submit to your authority as the commander of the ship," answered Christy, with a dignified bow.

"As I said before, I have no doubt you are a Passford; and I have been compelled to decide that you are not the son of Captain Horatio Passford, the distinguished gentleman who has done so much for his country in the present war."

"With the evidence before you, I do not see how you could have decided otherwise."

"Whether the decision be just or not, I am obliged to regard you as son of the Homer Passford who supports the government of the Confederacy. You and the other Mr. Passford have recognized each other as cousins."

"We are cousins."

"Then it follows that one of the two must be a Confederate who is on board of a United States 95 ship for some purpose not yet explained, but fairly supposed to be hostile."

"I admit the correctness of your conclusion."

"I have already recognized the Union officer, and therefore you must be the Confederate."

"Without reflecting upon your decision, I must deny that I am a Confederate, and proclaim that my motto is 'Stand by the Union!'"

"In spite of your denial and your motto, I shall have to regard you as a prisoner of war, and treat you as such," said the captain, rising from his chair, the others following his example.

"I submit to your authority, Captain Battleton," replied Christy, bowing to the commander.

"But I do not wish to subject you to any unnecessary restraint, and I shall be willing to accept your parole that you will engage in no hostile movement on board of the Vernon," continued the captain, in milder tones.

"I cannot accept a parole, captain, for that would be equivalent to an admission that I am a Confederate; and I claim to be a loyal officer."

"If you are, I am sorry that you are unable to prove your claim. I have only one officer on board as a passenger, for the reason that I had only 96 one spare stateroom. There is no place for you in the ward room, and it does not appear that you are an officer."

"I shall find no fault with my accommodations, whatever they are," replied Christy.

"I must object to your wearing the shoulder straps of a lieutenant on board of the Vernon," added Captain Battleton.

"I have a plain frock in my valise which I wore when the Teaser was captured," added Christy with a smile. "I will remove my coat and wear that."

"Now I will see where I can find a place for you to berth," said the captain as he left the cabin.

"I am sorry you did not explain the blank paper in your envelope, Mr. Passford," said the surgeon, as they were leaving the cabin.

"I cannot explain it—how can I?" replied Christy. "Whoever took out my papers and put the blanks in their place, did not make