A Victorious Union by Oliver Optic (best way to read an ebook .txt) 📖

for the chase. Christy felt like himself again in his neat uniform, and his vigorous and well knit, as well as graceful form, did more to show off the dress than the dress did to adorn his person.

"I am very glad to see you again, Christy," said Captain Breaker, seating himself and pointing to an arm-chair for the lieutenant, while he came down 139 from the stately dignity of the commander of a man-of-war to the familiarity with which he treated his chief officer when they were alone. "I had no doubt that you would give a good account of yourself, as you always do. You were going on the enemy's territory, and you were in peril all the time. Now you come off in a schooner, which appears to be loaded with cotton, and how or where you picked her up is a mystery to me;" and the commander indulged in a laugh at the oddity of the young officer's reappearance. "Your messenger reported that the Trafalgar would sail at three o'clock in the morning, and I judge that she left at about that hour."

"Within ten minutes of it, and probably made an arrangement with the commandant of the fort to that effect," added Christy. "But they do not call her the Trafalgar now; though Weeks was not aware of the fact when I sent him on board. She is now the Tallahatchie, though I noticed that some in the vicinity of the fort still called her by her old name."

"Never mind the name; she will answer our purpose as well under one appellation as another. When I asked your messenger about you and the 140 other six men of your party, he was unable to give me any information in regard to your movements; and he could not tell me how you had ascertained the hour at which the steamer was to sail," continued the captain.

"Graines and myself separated from the party as soon as we landed on the point; and we had obtained our information before we joined them again on the shore of Mobile Bay, sir. At the same time we had learned all about the West Wind"—

"The what?" interposed the commander.

"I mean the schooner West Wind, the one from which we came on board of the Bellevite, which was to be towed out by the Tallahatchie, and which was towed out by her till we on board of her cast off the towline."

"Perhaps you had better narrate the events of your expedition seriatim, for all you say in this disconnected manner only thickens the mystery," said the commander: and he knew that his officer had an excellent command of the English language, and could make a verbal report in a very attractive and telling style, though perhaps his fatherly interest in the young man had something to do with the matter.

141 Christy began his narrative with the departure from the ship, passing lightly over the minor details till he came to the meeting with the deserters from the West Wind, bivouacking in the hollow. He described the drinking bout which followed, in which he and Graines had pretended to join, stating the information he had obtained from them. He rehearsed a portion of Captain Sullendine's speech, adding that most of his auditors were the seamen from the Bellevite, though he had sent four of them back to the ship before he reached the shore.

He detailed his interview with the master of the West Wind, explaining how he had shipped the new crew with him. The scenes in the cabin were described in full; in fact, every incident of any importance which had transpired during the night was related. The commander was deeply interested, and listened without comment to the narrative up to the moment when the narrator had come on board of the Bellevite. He was not sparing in his praise of the engineer, and separated what he had said and done as far as he could from his own words and actions.

The commander then questioned him in regard 142 to the armament of the Tallahatchie, and he repeated the meagre information he had obtained from Bokes. Some conversation concerning Armstrong guns followed; but both of them were well posted in regard to this long-range piece. Christy read the satisfaction with which the captain heard his statements on his face.

A knock at the door of the cabin disturbed the conference, and the lieutenant was directed to open the door. The shaking and straining of the ship had for some time indicated that Paul Vapoor was fully alive to the importance of getting the Bellevite's best speed out of her on the present occasion; and he did not intrust the duty to his subordinates. Christy opened the cabin door, and Midshipman Walters asked for the commander, and was admitted.

"Mr. Ballard directs me to inform you, sir, that we are gaining on the chase," said the young officer. "The fog has lifted again, and we can make her out very clearly. The Holyoke has abandoned the chase, and appears to be headed for the schooner that came to on the starboard of the ship."

"Tell Mr. Ballard to keep the ship as she is, headed for the Tallahatchie," replied Captain Breaker.

143 "The Tallahatchie, sir?" queried the midshipman.

"Formerly the Trafalgar," added the commander.

The young officer touched his cap and retired.

"This Captain Sullendine is still secured in his stateroom on board of the West Wind, is he?" asked the captain, rising from his arm-chair.

"He was when I left the schooner, sir," replied Christy. "French, the captain of the forecastle, is in charge of the vessel, with orders to anchor her a couple of miles to the eastward of the lighthouse. I have already commended French to your attention, Captain, as a faithful and reliable man, and I think he deserves promotion."

"Your recommendation will go a great way to procure it for him," added the commander with a significant smile.

"He is a thorough seaman, has been the mate of a large coaster, and would have become master of her if his patriotic duty had not led him to ship in the navy."

"He is a resolute and brave fellow in action, as I have had occasion to observe, and I shall remember him. When you are writing to your father it 144 would be well for you to mention him; and the thing will be done at your request if not at mine."

"It certainly would not be done without your indorsement, for my father will not indulge in any favoritism aside from real merit," protested the lieutenant, with some warmth.

"You are quite right, Christy. We must go on deck now," added Captain Breaker, as he moved towards the door. "You have been up all night, my boy; it will be some hours before we come within reach of the chase, and you can turn in and get a little sleep before anything stirring takes place on board."

The excitement which had animated the young officer during the night had subsided with the rendering of his report, and the responsibility of a command no longer rested upon him, and for the first time since he embarked in the whaleboat, he began to feel tired and sleepy. He went on deck with the commander, and took a survey, first of the chase, then of the Holyoke, and finally of the West Wind.

Captain Breaker thought the Tallahatchie was about five miles distant. Seen through the glass, for the fog had all blown away, and the daylight 145 had begun to obscure the stars, the steamer seemed to be doing her best. The Holyoke was headed to the eastward, evidently intending to chase the West Wind, for she could not yet make out her flags, indicating that she was already a prize. She need not have troubled herself to pursue the schooner if she had known the facts in regard to her, for she was entitled to a share of the prize as a member of the blockading fleet at the time of her capture. But she could prevent her from being retaken by any boat expedition sent from the shore, as her lonely position where the Bellevite had been for several days might tempt some enterprising Confederate officer to do.

Although the last heaving of the log showed twenty knots, it was a quiet time of the deck of the Bellevite, and all the excitement on board was confined to the engine and fire rooms. With sundry gapes Christy had taken in the situation, and then he concluded to avail himself of the commander's permission to retire to his stateroom, where he was soon in a sound slumber.

Just before, Captain Breaker had retired to his cabin, where he had a chart of the Gulf of Mexico spread out on his table. Assuming the point 146 where the Tallahatchie had changed her course to the south-west, he drew a line in that direction, and realized that the chase could not go clear of the Passes of the Mississippi River; and she was likely to sight some Federal steamer in that locality.

As the daylight increased the weather improved so far as the fog was concerned and it promised to be a clear day, for the stars had not been obscured at any time during the night. The only alternative the commander could see for the chase, as he studied the chart, was to go to the southward before he could sight the Pass à l'Outre. He was so confident that this must be his course, that he decided to take advantage of the situation, and he went on deck at once, where he ordered the officer of the deck to make the course south south-west.

147 CHAPTER XIII THE FIRST SHOT OF BLUMENHOFF

Captain Breaker watched the Tallahatchie with the most earnest attention; and it was not five minutes after he had given out the new course before she changed her direction, though not to the south, but enough to carry her clear of the Passes of the Mississippi. Paul Vapoor was still crowding the engine to the utmost that could be done with safety, and he spent no little of his time in the fire room, personally directing the men in the work of feeding the furnaces.

It was evident to the commander that his ship was gaining on the Tallahatchie, at least a knot an hour, as he estimated it, and the chase could not now be more than four miles distant. This was within the range of her Armstrong gun, if it was of the calibre reported by Bokes, whose information was mere hearsay, and was open to many doubts.

"She is changing her course again, Captain 148 Breaker," said Mr. Ballard, who had been observing the chase with the best glass on board.

"Probably she has discovered a man-of-war in the distance," added the captain.

"I cannot make out anything to the westward of her," said Mr. Ballard, who had directed his glass that way.

"She knows very well that she is liable to encounter a Federal ship on the course she is running. How does she head now?"

"As nearly south as I can make it out."

"Then we have made something on her by going to the south south-west in good season; and I am sorry I did not do it sooner," replied the commander, as he went into a fine calculation, estimating sundry angles, and figuring on the gain he was confident he had already made.

"I think she is headed due south now, Captain," said Mr. Ballard.

"So I should say, and we are headed a little too much to the westward. Make the course south by west half west, Mr. Ballard."

This course was given to the quartermaster conning the wheel. For another hour the two steamers kept on the course taken, at the end of which 149 time the captain believed they were within three miles of each other; and the appearance, as viewed by skilful and experienced officers, verified his estimate of the relative speed of both—that the Bellevite was gaining about a knot an hour on the chase.

They had hardly agreed upon the situation before a cloud of smoke was seen to rise from the waist of the Tallahatchie, followed by the report of a heavy gun. The projectile struck the water at least a quarter of a mile ahead of the Bellevite, at which the watch on deck gave a half-suppressed cheer.

"They must have better gunners than that indicates on board of that steamer, for she has been fitted out as a cruiser," said the commander with a quiet smile.

Twenty minutes later another puff of smoke, followed by a second report, excited the attention of an officer on the deck of the loyal ship. The shot struck the water only a little less ahead