Part 9 (1/2)
”His name is Baskirk; and he is a quartermaster now. I wrote to him, and promised to do the best I could to advance him. He is not a graduate of a college, but he is a well-informed man, well read, sober, honest, and a man of good common-sense.”
”The others?”
”McSpindle was a cla.s.smate of mine in college, and he is a capital fellow. Unfortunately, he got into the habit of drinking more than was good for him, and spoiled his immediate future. He has made two foreign voyages, and he is a good seaman. He came home second mate of an Indiaman, promoted on his merit. He is also a quartermaster,” said Flint, who was evidently very deeply interested in the persons he described.
”Any more?”
”Luffard is a quartermaster, for I selected the best men I had for these positions. He is a young fellow, and the son of a rich man in Portland.
He is a regular water bird, though he is not over eighteen years old.”
”His age is no objection,” added Christy with a smile.
”I suppose not; but I have taken Luffard on his bright promise rather than for anything he has ever done, though I have seen him sail a forty-footer in a race and win the first prize. The other men I happen to think of just now have been sailors on board of my coaster. They are good men, and I can vouch for their loyalty, though not for their education. They are all petty officers.”
”I have a mission for your men, to be undertaken at once, and I shall be likely to want the first three you named for important positions, if my orders do not fetter me too closely,” said Christy. ”As the matter stands just now, Mr. Flint, it would hardly be expedient for us to capture a schooner running the blockade for the want of an officer to act as prize master.”
”The three quartermasters I named are competent for this duty, for they are navigators, and all of them have handled a vessel.”
”I am glad to hear it; we are better off than I supposed we were. My father told me that several vessels had been sent to the South short of officers, and we are no worse off than some others, though what you say makes us all right.”
”I can find three officers on board who are as competent as I am, though that is not saying much,” added Flint.
”I can ask no better officers, then. But to return to this letter.
I have spent a considerable part of my time at Bonnydale in talking with my father. He is in the confidence of the naval department.”
”He ought to be, for he gave to the navy one of its best steamers, to say the least.”
”I don't want to brag of my father,” suggested Christy, laughing; ”I only wanted to show that he is posted. Coming to the point at once, putting this and that together of what I learned on sh.o.r.e, and of what I have discovered on board of the Bronx, I am inclined to believe that Pawcett and Hungerford have their mission on board of this steamer in connection with the Scotian and the Arran. I will not stop now to explain why I have this idea, for I shall obtain more evidence as we proceed. At any rate, I thought I would put the ghost of a stumbling-block in the path of these conspirators; and this is the reason why I have put thirteen American seamen on board of each of the expected steamers. If my conjectures are wrong the stumbling-block will be nothing but a ghost; if I am right, it will make our men somewhat cautious as to what they do if we should be so fortunate as to fall in with the two vessels.”
”I understand you perfectly, Captain Pa.s.sford. You said that you had something for my men to do at once; but you did not explain what this duty was,” said Flint. ”If you require their services at once, I will instruct them.”
”I did not explain, for I have so many irons in the fire that I am afraid I am getting them mixed, and I forgot to tell you what they were to do. But I shall leave the details to be settled in your own way.
I want to know who are loyal men and who are not. There are at least six men, according to the report of Dave, who are followers of Pawcett and Hungerford. We don't know who they are; but doubtless they have been selected for their shrewdness. Probably they will be looking for information among the men. Spoors is one of them, and by watching him some clew may be obtained to the others.”
”I am confident my men can find out all you want to know,” added the first lieutenant.
”It should be done as soon as possible,” replied the commander.
”Not a moment shall be lost. I have the deck at eight this morning, and one of the quartermasters will be at the wheel. I will begin with him.”
Mr. Flint left the cabin, for his breakfast was waiting for him in the ward room. Christy walked through to the steerage, where he found Mulgrum attending to the wants of the warrant officers as well as he could. He looked at this man with vastly more interest than before he had listened to Dave's report. It was easy to see that he was not an ordinary man such as one would find in menial positions; but it was not prudent for him to make a study of the man, for his quick eye was taking in everything that occurred near him.
Eight bells struck, and Mr. Flint hastened on deck to relieve the second lieutenant. Christy took his morning meal at a later hour, and when he had finished it, he sent for Pink Mulgrum. Of course the conversation had to be written, and the captain placed the scullion opposite himself at the table.
”I learn from Mr. Lillyworth that you are a good writer, and that you are well educated,” Christy wrote on a piece of paper, pa.s.sing it to the deaf mute.
Mulgrum read the sentence, and nodded his head with something like a smile. If Christy was a judge of his expression, he was certainly pleased, evidently to find that his confederate's plan was working well.
”I have a letter of which I desire several copies. Can I trust you to make these copies?” Christy wrote.