Part 4 (2/2)

But I will tell you all about it.”

”No! no! I don't wish you to do that, Mr. Gilfleur, if you deem it wise to keep the matter to yourself,” interposed Christy. ”My curiosity is a little excited, but I can control it.”

”I shall tell you all about it, for this affair is different from the ordinary practice of my profession,” replied the detective; and he proceeded to give a history of the boat in the waist, and then detailed the use to which it was to be applied.

”I am quite satisfied, and I should be glad to take part in the expedition in which you intend to use it,” said Christy when the explanation in regard to the boat was finished.

”You would be willing to take part in my little enterprise!” exclaimed the Frenchman, his eyes lighting up with pleasure.

”I should; why not?”

”Because it may be very dangerous, and a slight slip may cost us both our lives,” replied the detective very impressively, and with another of his keen and penetrating glances.

”I have not been in the habit of keeping under cover in my two years'

service in the navy, and I know what danger is,” added Christy.

”I know you are a very brave young officer, Mr. Pa.s.sford, but this service is very different from that on the deck of a s.h.i.+p of war in action. But we will talk of that at a future time,” said Mr. Gilfleur, as he rose hastily from his arm-chair at the desk, and rushed out into the ward room.

Christy had heard footsteps outside of the door, and he followed his companion. They found there Mr. Suppleton, the s.h.i.+p's steward, with the two extra officers who had been sent on board.

”Do you speak French, gentlemen?” asked the detective, addressing himself to the two officers.

”Not a word of it,” replied Mr. Gwyndale, one of them.

”Not a syllable of it,” added Mr. Tempers, the other.

”Excuse me, gentlemen,” said Mr. Gilfleur, as he retreated to his room.

Mr. Suppleton introduced the two new officers to Christy, and he then followed his a.s.sociate. The Frenchman was afraid the new-comers understood his native language, and had been listening to his explanation of the use of the strange boat; but he had spoken in a whisper, and no one could have heard him, even if the listener had been a Frenchman.

”We are all right,” said the detective when they had both resumed their seats, and the Frenchman had begun to overhaul his papers.

Mr. Gilfleur proceeded to explain in what manner he had obtained his knowledge of the plot to send the gun-making machinery to the South. One of Captain Pa.s.sford's agents had ascertained the name of Hillman Davis, who was in correspondence with those who were fitting out the s.h.i.+ps for the Confederate service.

”But that is all we learned from the letters--that the men who were sending out the s.h.i.+ps were in correspondence with this man Davis, who is a very respectable merchant of New York,” Mr. Gilfleur proceeded.

”Is that all you had to start with, my friend?” asked Christy.

”That was all; and it was very little. Your American detectives are more cautious than Frenchmen in the same service.”

”I don't see how in the world you could work up the case with nothing more than a mere name to begin with,” added Christy, beginning to have a higher opinion than ever of the skill of the French detective.

”I tell you it was a narrow foundation on which to work up the case. It may amuse you, but I will tell you how it was done. In the first place, Captain Pa.s.sford gave me all the money I needed to work with. I applied for a situation at Mr. Davis's warehouse. He imported wines and liquors from France; when his corresponding clerk, who spoke and wrote French, was commissioned as a lieutenant in the army, he was looking for a man to take his place. He employed me. I had charge of the letters, and carried the mail to him in his private counting-room every time it came.”

”I don't believe that any of our American detectives would have been competent to take such a position,” suggested Christy, deeply interested in the narrative.

”That is where I had the advantage of them. I was well educated, and was graduated from the University of France, with the parchment in that valise, signed by the minister of education. The carrier brought all the letters to my desk. I looked them over, and when I found any from England or Scotland, or even France, I opened and read them.”

”How could you do that?” asked Christy curiously.

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