"Captain Breaker requests you to report on board of the ship, 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 ship"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 ship. 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. Dashington, 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 ship"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 ship. 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 seamanship. 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 ship"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-fashioned craft, but a good vessel.
"We are rather overburdened with prisoners, and I desire only to get rid of them," said the captain.
"Captain Stopfoot was considerate enough to announce his intention to put me and my men on sh.o.r.e at Gasparilla Pa.s.s; and I promised to reciprocate the favor by suggesting that he and his ship"s company be landed at the same place."
"That will be a good way to get rid of them, and I will adopt the suggestion," replied the commander.
All the rest of the day and a part of the night were used up in making the preparations for disposing of the prizes. A large number of hands were sent on board of the Reindeer, and her cotton was nearly all placed in the hold by good stowage. The prisoners from both prizes, except the engineers and firemen, who were willing to work for wages, were transferred to the Bronx. Mr. Lobscott was appointed prize-master of the steamer, which was to tow the schooner to Key West, where both were to be disposed of as circ.u.mstances might require.
The Bronx was to convoy the two vessels as far as the Pa.s.s, where she was to land her prisoners, and then return to her consort. At midnight this fleet sailed. A protest against being landed at the place indicated came from Captain Stopfoot before it departed; but the commander paid no attention to it, declaring that if the Pa.s.s was good enough for one of his officers, it was good enough for the captain of a blockade-runner.
"Mr. Pa.s.sford, by the lamentable accident to Mr. Blowitt, you become the ranking lieutenant in condition for service," said Captain Breaker, soon after the young officer had reported the capture of the Reindeer. "You therefore become the acting executive officer of the Bellevite."
"Of course I shall do my duty faithfully, Captain Breaker, in whatever position is a.s.signed to me," replied Christy, his bosom swelling with emotion. "I regret more than anything else the occasion that makes it necessary to put me in this place; and I am very sorry to be called upon to occupy a position of so much responsibility."
"You are competent to discharge the duties of executive officer, Mr.
Pa.s.sford, though I appreciate your modesty in not desiring such an important position; but there is no alternative at present."
It was therefore under Christy"s direction that all the arrangements for sending off the prizes were made. The Bronx returned at noon the next day, and both vessels sailed to the station of the flag-officer. The commander reported that he had silenced two batteries, captured a steamer and a schooner, sending them to Key West; but the shoal water in the vicinity of Tampa had prevented him from capturing the town.
Christy, in becoming first lieutenant, was relieved from duty as a watch officer; but his duties and responsibilities had been vastly increased.
He was the second in command, and a shot from another vessel or a battery on sh.o.r.e might make him the commander, and he certainly did not aspire to such a charge and such an honor. There was something in the situation that worried him greatly. Captain Breaker had not been to the North since he entered upon his duties, now very nearly three years, and the state of his health had given Dr. Linscott considerable uneasiness.
Mr. Blowitt was sent home by a store-ship; but he died soon after his arrival; and his loving companions-in-arms could not follow his remains to an honored grave.
The flag-officer, either because he believed that Christy was a faithful and competent officer, in spite of his age, though in this respect he had added a year to his span, or that no other officer was available for the vacant position, made no other appointment, and Christy was compelled to retain the place, very much against his desire. As he thought of it he was absolutely astonished to find himself, even temporarily, in so exalted a position.
Here we are obliged to leave him for the present, crowned with honors far beyond his most sanguine expectations, but always willing to do his duty while fighting for the right. The future was still before him; he had not yet done all there was for him to do; and in the early years of his manhood came his reward, in common with the loyal sons of the nation, in A VICTORIOUS UNION.