"Are you doing all you can in the engine room, Mr. Sampson?" asked Christy, pausing at the engine hatch.
"Everything, Captain Pa.s.sford, and I think we must be making sixteen knots," replied the chief engineer.
"Is Mr. Bockburn on duty?"
"He is, sir; and if he were a Connecticut Yankee he could not do any better, or appear to be any more interested."
"He seems to be entirely impartial; all he wants is his pay, and he is as willing to be on one side as the other if he only gets it," said Christy. "Has any damage been done to the engine?"
"None at all, sir; a shot from one of those broadside guns went through the side, and pa.s.sed just over the top of one of the boilers," replied the engineer. "Bockburn plugged the shot hole very skilfully, and said it would not be possible for a shot to come in low enough to hit the boilers. He knows all about the other two vessels, and has served as an engineer on board of the Arran on the other side of the Atlantic."
Just at that moment a shot from the Arran struck the bridge and a splinter from the structure knocked two men over. One of them picked himself up, but said he was not much hurt, and refused to be sent below.
The other man was Veering; he seemed to be unable to get up, and was carried down by order of the boatswain. This man was one of the adherents of Hungerford and Pawcett, though so far he had been of no service to them.
Christy hastened forward to ascertain the extent of the damage done to the bridge. It was completely wrecked, and was no longer in condition to be occupied by an officer. But the pilot house was still in serviceable repair, and the quartermaster had not been disturbed. By this time, the Ocklockonee had obtained a position on the port bow of the Arran, and the commander directed the quartermaster at the wheel to run directly for the other side of the enemy.
The time for decisive and final action had come. Mr. Baskirk placed the boarders in position to be thrown on board of the Arran. He was to command the first division himself, and Mr. Amblen the second. The Ocklockonee was rushing at all the speed she could command to the work before her.
[Ill.u.s.tration: The captain of the Arran.]
For some reason not apparent the Arran had stopped her screw, though she had kept in motion till now, doing her best to secure the most favorable position for action. Possibly her commander believed a collision between the vessels at a high rate of speed would be more fatal to him than anything that could result from being boarded. It was soon discovered that she was backing, and it was evident then that her captain had some manoeuvre of his own in mind, though it was possible that he was only doing something to counteract the effect of a collision. Doubtless he thought the two vessels approaching him at such a rapid rate intended to crush the Arran between them, and that they desired only to sink him.
He was not allowed many minutes more to carry out his policy, whatever it was, for the Ocklockonee came up alongside of the Arran, the grapnels were thrown out, and the whole boarding force of the steamer was hurled upon her decks. But the commander was a plucky man, however he regarded the chances for or against him, and his crew proceeded vigorously to repel boarders. Christy had timed the movements of the Bronx very carefully, and the Ocklockonee had hardly fastened to the Arran on one side before he had his steamer grappled on the other.
"Boarders, away!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, and flourishing his sword over his head, not however with the intention of going into the fight himself, but as a demonstration to inspire the men.
Baskirk and Amblen rushed forward with cutla.s.ses in their hands, leaping upon the deck of the enemy. The crew was found to equal in numbers about the force that the Ocklockonee had brought to bear upon them. The boarders from the Bronx attacked them in the rear while they were fully occupied with the boarders in front of them. The officers of the enemy behaved with distinguished gallantry, and urged their men forward with the most desperate enthusiasm. They struck hard blows, and several of the boarders belonging to the consort had fallen, to say nothing of wounds that did not entirely disable others. Some of the men belonging to the Arran, doubtless shipped on the other side of the ocean or at the Bermudas, were disposed to shirk their duty, though their officers held them well up to the work.
One of the brave officers who had done the boarders a good deal of mischief fell at a pistol shot from Mr. Amblen; this loss of his leadership caused a sensible giving way on the part of his division, and his men began to fall back. The other officers, including the captain, who fought with a heavy cutla.s.s, held out for a short time longer; but Christy saw that it was slaughter.
The captain of the Arran was the next to go down, though he was not killed. This event practically ended the contest for the deck of the steamer. The boarders crowded upon the crew and drove them to the bow of the vessel, where they yielded the deck, and submitted to the excess of numbers.
"Don"t butcher my men!" cried the captain of the Arran, raising himself partially from his place where he had fallen. "I surrender, for we are outnumbered two to one."
But the fighting had ceased forward. Mr. Baskirk was as earnest to save any further slaughter as he had been to win the fight. Christy came on board of the prize, not greatly elated at the victory, for it had been a very unequal affair as to numbers. The Arran was captured; that was all that could be said of it. She had been bravely defended; and the "honors were even," though the fortunes of the day were against the Arran and her ship"s company.
"Allow me to introduce myself as the commander of the United States steamer Bronx," said Christy, approaching the fallen captain of the Arran. "I sincerely hope that you are not seriously injured, sir."
"Who under the canopy are you?" demanded the commander of the prize, as he looked at the young officer with something like contempt in his expression.
"I have just informed you who under the canopy I am," replied Christy, not pleased with the manner of the other. "To be a little more definite, I am Captain Christopher Pa.s.sford, commander of the United States steamer Bronx, of which the Arran appears to be a prize."
"The captain!" exclaimed the fallen man. "You are nothing but a boy!"
"But I am old enough to try to be a gentleman. You are evidently old enough to be my father, though I have no comments to make," added Christy.
"I beg your pardon, Captain Pa.s.sford," said the captain of the Arran, attempting to rise from the deck, in which he was a.s.sisted by Christy and by Mr. Baskirk, who had just come aft. "I beg your pardon, Captain Pa.s.sford, for I did not understand what you said at first, and I did not suspect that you were the captain."
"I hope you are not seriously injured, sir," added Christy.
"I don"t know how seriously, but I have a cut on the hip, for which I exchanged one on the head, parrying the stroke so that it took me below the belt."
"Have you a surgeon on board, Captain ---- I have not the pleasure of knowing your name, sir."
"Captain Richfield, lieutenant in the Confederate Navy. We have a surgeon on board, and he is below attending to the wounded," replied the captain.
"Allow me to a.s.sist you to your cabin, Captain Richfield," continued Christy, as he and Baskirk each took one of the wounded officer"s arms.
"Thank you, sir. I see that you have been doubly fortunate, Captain Pa.s.sford, and you have both the Escambia and the Ocklockonee. I did the best I could to save my ship, but the day has gone against me."
"And no one could have done any more than you have done. Your ship has been ably and bravely defended; but it was my good fortune to be able to outnumber you both in ships and in men."
Captain Richfield was taken to his state room, and a.s.sisted into his berth. A steward was sent for the surgeon, and Christy and his first lieutenant retired from the cabin. The captured seamen of the Arran were all sent below, and everything was done that the occasion required.
Christy asked Captain Flint to meet him in the cabin of the Bronx for a consultation over the situation, for the sealed orders of the commander had been carried out to the letter so far as the two expected steamers were concerned, and it only remained to report to the flag officer of the Eastern Gulf squadron. But with two prizes, and a considerable number of prisoners, the situation was not without its difficulties.
"I hope you are quite comfortable, Captain Dinsmore," said Christy as he entered his cabin, and found his guest reading at the table.
"Quite so, Captain Pa.s.sford. I have heard a great deal of firing in the last hour, and I am rather surprised to find that you are not a prisoner on board of the Escambia, or perhaps you have come to your cabin for your clothes," replied the guest cheerfully.
"I have not come on any such mission; and I have the pleasure of informing you that the Confederate steamer Escambia is a prize to the Bronx," replied Christy quite as cheerfully. "I am sorry to add that Captain Richfield was wounded in the hip, and that Mr. Berwick, the first lieutenant, was killed."
The Confederate officer leaped out of his chair astonished at the news.
He declared that he had confidently expected to be released by the capture of the Bronx. Christy gave a brief review of the action; and Captain Dinsmore was not surprised at the result when informed that the Ocklockonee had taken part in the capture. The commander then requested him to retire to the ward room, and Flint came in. They seated themselves at the table, and proceeded to figure up their resources and consider what was to be done. Mr. Baskirk was then sent for to a.s.sist in the conference.
CHAPTER XX
THE NEW COMMANDER OF THE BRONX
"Captain Flint, the first question to be settled is in regard to the engineer force," said Christy, as the three officers seated themselves at the table.
"I think we shall have no difficulty on that score, Captain Pa.s.sford, for I have already sounded those on board of the Arran, or the Escambia, as her officers call her. As long as their wages are paid, they don"t care which side they serve. Mr. Pivotte is the chief, and he is as willing to go one way as the other."
"Very well; then he shall retain his present position, and Bockburn shall be restored to the Ocklockonee. Of course the arrangements made after the capture of the first vessel were only temporary, and I propose to report to the flag officer with everything as nearly as possible in the condition in which we left New York," continued Christy.
"Of course I expected to resume my former position on board of the Bronx as soon as we had disposed of the two steamers; and I can say that I shall not be sorry to do so," said Flint with a pleasant smile, as though he did not intend to grieve over the loss of his command.
"In a few days more, we shall move down a peg, and I shall cease to have a command as well as yourself," added Christy.
"And I suppose I shall be relegated to my position as a quartermaster,"
said Baskirk; "but I shall be satisfied. I don"t care to wear any spurs that I have not won, though I shall be glad to have a higher rank when I deserve it."
"You deserve it now, Mr. Baskirk, and if you don"t receive it, it will not be on account of any weakness in my report of the events of the last twenty-four hours," added Christy heartily.
"Thank you, captain; I suppose I could have procured a better position than that of able seaman, but I preferred to work my way up."