Part 7 (2/2)
The little boat was shoved away from the wharf by willing hands and in a moment was lost in the darkness of the bay. There was no moon, and the night was dark. There was no light save from the stars. The torpedo boat slipped through the water without making a sound. She became entirely invisible a hundred feet away. The officers rubbed their eyes as they stared in the direction where they had last seen her, almost fearing that she had again sunk beneath the sea. They stayed there perhaps five minutes, at least until the blockade-runners, none of them showing a light of any description, could get under way in obedience to a lantern signal from the general and noiselessly slip down the bay in the wake of the frail little craft which it was hoped would be able to clear the path for them.
”Now,” said Beauregard, turning away at last, ”for Mr. Sempland. I do not understand it. I never thought him a coward.”
”Nor am I, sir!” panted a voice out of the darkness, as a pale and breathless man burst through the group surrounding the general.
”Mr. Sempland!”
”For G.o.d's sake, sir, am I in time? The boat?”
”Gone.”
”How long? Call her back!”
”It is too late. She has been gone ten minutes. Where were you, sir?”
”Who took her out?”
”Major Lacy. Answer my question, sir!”
”He! My G.o.d! I am disgraced! Dishonored! And she-”
”Where were you, sir?”
”I-I-”
The young man hesitated.
”Why don't you answer? Do you realize your position? You begged this detail. Why were you not here?”
”Oh, General Beauregard-”
”How could you forget your honor, the South? Where were you, I say? Answer, or I will have you shot in the morning!”
”I-I-was detained, sir. I-”
”Is that your only excuse, sir?” sternly.
Sempland was in a fearful predicament. To have restrained him by force was an act of high treason. He could only explain himself by implicating the woman he loved. The consequences in either case were dreadful. f.a.n.n.y Glen a traitor to the South? Beauregard was a stern, inexorable soldier. He would not condone such an offence as hers. That she had failed in her effort to prevent the expedition would mean nothing to the general. f.a.n.n.y Glen, the pride of Charleston, the woman who had done more for the South than any other woman in the Carolinas, perhaps, to be disgraced, certainly to be punished, it might be-shot!
She had ruined him, but he had kissed her. He could not say the word which would incriminate her and leave him free. He was disgraced already, he would be cas.h.i.+ered. Well, what mattered it? His chance was gone, the woman did not love him. His heart was hot against her. Yet he remembered the scene in the strong room-had she indeed returned his kiss? He closed his lips firmly and said nothing. He would not, he could not betray her, even to himself.
”You do not answer, sir! What excuse have you to offer?”
”None.”
”You sought this detail. You forced yourself into the expedition. Have you nothing to say for yourself?”
<script>