Taken by the Enemy by the Enemy by Oliver Optic (novel books to read txt) 📖

come somewhere near intercepting the Bellevite; and then he found an object on the shore, many miles distant, for the guidance of the pilot.

295 But the long-boat was now almost within hailing-distance of the Leopard. Major Pierson was certainly aware that the tug was under way, and he made the most energetic demonstrations for her to stop her screw. Suddenly the Bellevite changed her course again, and run directly towards the tug.

This movement was apparently noticed by the major; for his men doubled their efforts at the oars, pulling for the Leopard. The boat was then out of the trough of the sea, and its progress was much better. Then the Bellevite changed her course again; and it was impossible to determine what she intended to do, though possibly she was following a crooked channel.

"Leopard, ahoy!" shouted Major Pierson; and he was near enough now to be distinctly heard.

"In the boat!" returned Christy, though he knew the parley could amount to nothing.

"Stop her!" yelled the major.

"Not yet!" replied the acting captain.

"Stop, or I will fire into you!"

"I'm not going to stand here and be shot down!" exclaimed Percy. "My brother don't 296 know that I am at the wheel, and I shall be the first one to get hit."

Christy could not blame Percy for not wishing to be shot by the party under his brother's command; and he had no more relish for being shot himself, quite in sight of his father's steamer. But to abandon the helm was to abandon the control of the tug, and the major could recover possession of her and of his prisoner within a few minutes.

"Go below, Percy, and put yourself in the fire-room, for you will be safe there," said Christy.

At that moment the crack of a musket was heard, and a bullet crashed through the pine boards of the pilot-house. It was the first evidence of actual war which Christy had seen, and it impressed him strongly.

"It isn't safe for me to show myself," said Percy, as his companion took the wheel from him.

"You must be your own judge of that," replied Christy, as he dropped down on the floor, with the compass in his hand.

"What are you going to do down there?" asked Percy.

297 "I have no wish to be shot any more than you have. I am going to keep out of sight, and steer the steamer by compass," replied Christy.

"I will steer her if I can keep out of sight," added Percy.

"You can't steer by compass; but you can do something if you are willing," suggested the pilot.

"I am willing to do all I can; but I don't want my brother to shoot me, as much for his sake as my own. What shall I do?" asked Percy.

"Crawl out of the pilot-house on the port-side, where they can't see you from the boat, and then keep watch of all the other steamers. Report to me just where they all are, and what they are doing."

"All right; I will do that," replied Percy, as he obeyed the order.

The boat continued to fire at the pilot-house of the Leopard, and though a shot came uncomfortably near Christy, he stuck to his post; for to leave it was to give up the battle.

"The Bellevite is headed directly towards us," called Percy, outside of the pilot-house. "The other steamers are just as they were."

298 "All right; keep your eye on them all the time."

"The Bellevite is headed directly towards us," said Captain Pecklar, coming to the top of the ladder on the port-side.

"So Percy has just reported to me."

"But you will get killed if you stay here," said the captain, with genuine solicitude in his looks and manner.

"But I must stay here, all the same," replied Christy, who felt too proud to desert the post of duty because it happened to be the post of danger at the same time.

"But let me take your place, Christy," continued Captain Pecklar, finishing the ascent of the ladder.

"No, no, captain! Don't expose yourself," protested Christy. "It is as safe for me as it will be for you."

"But I have got about to the end of my chapter of life; and there is not more than a year, if there is as much as that, left for me. You are a young fellow, and the pride of your father, I have no doubt; at any rate, you ought to be. Give me that place, and you will be safer in the engine-room."

299 Captain Pecklar insisted for some time, but Christy obstinately refused to leave his post.

"Men pulling in the boat with all their might!" shouted Percy.

"I think I can bring their labors in that way to an end," added the captain. "But do you understand what the Bellevite is doing, Christy?"

"She is coming this way; that is all I know."

"She is coming this way because the major has been fool enough to fire on the Leopard. The shooting assures your father that this tug is an enemy."

The captain went below again, leaving Christy to consider his last remark. But he had not been gone five minutes before the report of a cannon shook the hull of the Leopard, and the pilot saw that it was on the forecastle of the tug.

300 CHAPTER XXVII A CANNON-BALL THROUGH THE LEOPARD

The gun on the forecastle of the Leopard was placed as far aft as possible, so that Christy could not see it without putting his head out at the front windows of the pilot-house, and for this reason he had not seen what Captain Pecklar was about. But the piece must have been loaded before, for he could not have charged it without being seen.

The captain had remarked that he could bring the labors of those in the long-boat to an end, for Major Pierson was urging his men to their utmost with their oars in order to reach the tug. The smoke prevented Christy from seeing to what extent he had succeeded, though the fact that he had fired the gun at the boat was all he needed to satisfy him of the fidelity of the acting engineer to the cause he had just espoused.

301 Christy had not deemed it advisable to change the course of the Leopard; for the long-boat was approaching her at right angles, and he thought she would get out of its way, for those in charge of it made no calculation of the distance the tug would run while the boat was approaching her.

The smoke blew aside in a moment, and Christy discovered that the long-boat had not been struck by the shot; or, if it had, it had received no material damage. The major was still urging his men to increase their efforts, and he seemed to be not at all disconcerted by the shot which had been fired at him. But Christy saw that he was losing the game, as he probably would not have done if he had been a sailor, for his calculations would have been better made.

When the pilot of the Leopard realized that the major was too much occupied in increasing the speed of the long-boat to continue the firing at the tug, he had resumed his place at the window; but he kept his eye on the enemy. He looked out at the window; but he could not see Captain Pecklar, though he heard him shovelling coal a minute later. The engine still appeared to be doing its 302 best, and the tug was in a fair way to pass clear of the long-boat.

"Look out, up there, Christy!" shouted the engineer, a little later.

The pilot turned his attention to the boat again, and saw that the major and the lieutenant were loading their muskets again, and the two men not at the oars were doing the same. The commandant evidently began to feel that he was to miss his prey if he depended upon the oars of the soldiers, and he was about to turn his attention again to the business of disabling the pilot of the tug. Christy dropped down on the floor again, and steered by the compass, which was still where he had placed it before.

He could hear a rumbling sound on the forward deck, and he was curious to know what the captain was doing; but it was not prudent to look out at the window. After a great deal of hard kicking and prying, he succeeded in removing a narrow board from the front of the pilot-house near the floor; and through this aperture he could see that the acting engineer had just finished reloading the gun, and was changing its position so as to bring it to bear on the long-boat.

303 The enemy were now a little forward of the beam of the tug, and not more than fifty yards from her; but Christy was satisfied that the Leopard would go clear of the long-boat if his craft was not disabled. The major and his companions could not help seeing that Captain Pecklar had deserted their cause, and that, with the gun on the deck, he was a dangerous enemy.

The report of a musket in the direction of the boat caused Christy to look very anxiously to the forward deck; but to his great satisfaction he saw that the captain had not been hit. But he immediately retired under the pilot-house, so that he could not see him. He was brave enough to stand up and be shot at, but he was also prudent enough not to expose himself unnecessarily.

Three other shots followed the first, one of the balls passing through the boards of the pilot-house, above the helmsman's head; and he saw a splinter fly from a stanchion forward. Captain Pecklar waited for the fourth shot,—and he had evidently noticed how many men had muskets in their hands,—then he sprang out 304 from his hiding-place, sighted the gun, and pulled the lock-string.

Through the aperture he had made, Christy looked with intense interest to ascertain the effect of this shot. As soon as the smoke blew away, he saw that the shot had passed obliquely into the boat, striking the stern-board just behind Major Pierson, and splitting off the plank near the water-line.

There was a commotion in the ranks of the enemy, and it was plain enough that the water was flowing into the craft. The soldiers stopped rowing, and the lieutenant and one of the extra men were sent into the bow. This change settled the bow of the boat down into the water, and lifted the stern. The major appeared to be equal to the emergency; he gave his orders in a loud voice, and the rowing was renewed with the delay of not more than a couple of minutes. But that was enough to defeat his present purpose, though he still urged his men to exert themselves to the utmost.

The long-boat went astern of the tug, and Christy came out from his place on the floor to the windows. Captain Pecklar was loading the 305 gun, as he had done before, by swinging it around so that the muzzle was under the pilot-house.

"I think you will have no further use for that gun," said Christy, when he saw what the captain was doing.

"Perhaps not; but it is best to have it ready for the next time we want it. The major kept it loaded all the time, and I shall follow his example," replied the captain.

"Have you been hit, Percy?" asked Christy, looking out at the side under which the late pilot had bestowed himself for safe-keeping.

"I have not been hit; they could not see me where I am. Have you been hit, Christy?" replied Percy.

"Not at all; I took good care not to be seen while they were firing. But your brother has dropped astern of the Leopard in his boat, and there is no danger here now: so you can come in and take the helm, if you like."

Percy was glad to have something to do, for he was very nervous; and he came into the pilot-house. He was not half as airy as he had been before, and the sound of the muskets and the twelve-pounder on the forward deck had 306 undoubtedly made an impression upon him. But he was as glad to take the wheel as Christy was to have him, for he desired to study the situation after all the changes which had been made in the position of the several vessels.

"You have had an awful time of it, Christy," said Percy, as he took the wheel. "I wonder that you have not been killed."

"Not a very awful time of it, and I took good