Part 36 (1/2)

”Captain Breaker requests you to report on board of the s.h.i.+p, and I am directed to take charge of the prize you have captured, Mr. Pa.s.sford.”

”I will go on board at once, Mr. Walbrook,” replied Christy. ”It is necessary for me to inform you before I leave that this steamer has changed hands twice to-day, and her s.h.i.+p's company have given me a great deal of trouble. The prisoners are in the cabin under guard, and I must caution you to be vigilant. Calwood will inform you in regard to the particulars.”

”I am sorry to inform you that Mr. Blowitt was severely, if not dangerously wounded in the action with the battery up the bay, where we had some sharp work,” added Mr. Walbrook.

”That is very bad news to me,” replied Christy, who had known the wounded man as second officer of the Bellevite when she was his father's yacht, and had served under him when she became a man-of-war, and as his first lieutenant in the Bronx.

The intelligence filled him with anxiety and sorrow; but while he was fighting for the right, as he had been for three years, he could not give way to his feelings. Without asking for the result of the action up the bay, he went over the side into the cutter, and ordered the crew to pull for the s.h.i.+p. Mr. Blowitt had been more than his superior officer, he had been his friend, and the young lieutenant was very sad while he thought of the wounded officer.

He found Captain Breaker on the quarter-deck; and he could see from his expression that he was greatly affected by the condition of his executive officer. Mr. Das.h.i.+ngton, his first officer in the yacht, had been killed in action the year before, and now another of his intimate a.s.sociates might soon be registered in the Valhalla of the nation's dead who had perished while fighting for the right.

”We have sad news for you, Mr. Pa.s.sford,” said the commander, who seemed to be struggling with his emotions.

”But I hope there is a chance for Mr. Blowitt's recovery, Captain Breaker,” added Christy.

”I am afraid there is not. Dr. Linscott has very little hope that he will live. But we have no time to mourn even for our best friends. You have captured a steamer and brought her out; but I saw that you were coming up from the southward when I first discovered the steamer. What does that mean, Mr. Pa.s.sford?”

”I hardly know, Captain, whether I brought her out, or she brought me out,” replied Christy, who felt very tender over the Southern Yankee trick which had been played upon him. ”The steamer is the Reindeer, Captain Stopfoot. My boat's crew were overpowered by her s.h.i.+p's company, and we were all made prisoners; but we rebelled against the humiliating circ.u.mstances, and recaptured the steamer.”

”Then you have redeemed yourself,” added the captain.

Christy gave a detailed report of all the events that had occurred during his absence from the s.h.i.+p. The commander listened to him with the deepest interest; for the young officer was in some sense his _protege_, and had sometimes been his instructor in navigation and seamans.h.i.+p. In spite of the sadness of the hour, there was a smile on his face when he comprehended the scheme of the captain of the Reindeer to get his vessel out of the bay in the face of two men-of-war.

While Christy was still on the quarter-deck, Mr. Lobscott came on board, and reported the capture of the schooner Sylphide, full of cotton. Her s.h.i.+p's company, consisting of six men, were on board of the Bronx.

Captain Breaker planked the deck for some time, evidently making up his mind what to do with the prizes and with their crews, for he did not regard these men as prisoners of war. He asked the second lieutenant some questions in regard to the character of the Reindeer. She was an old-fas.h.i.+oned craft, but a good vessel.

”We are rather overburdened with prisoners, and I desire only to get rid of them,” said the captain.