answered Captain Breaker with a polite bow, as he went to the quarter and rang the bell to stop her.
When he had done this, he conducted Major Pierson to the quarter-deck, where Captain Pa.s.sford and Christy were seated, and formally presented him to both of them.
"I am most happy to make your acquaintance, Captain Pa.s.sford," said the commander of Fort Gaines, as he extended his hand to the owner, which was taken, though the expression of the gentleman from the North did not indicate that he was very well pleased with him.
To Christy he was as polite as to his father, and to both he was almost obsequious. It was rather difficult for father or son to realize that this was the man who had threatened to send his own brother to the fort as a soldier, to say nothing of the abusive language he had used.
"I am very glad to see you in the State of Alabama, Captain Pa.s.sford, and especially at this time," the major began; and it looked as though the cordiality of his welcome was to compensate for former rudeness.
"I am not a total stranger here," added the owner rather coldly.
"It affords me a degree of pleasure I cannot express to see you come here, as events are getting big all around us, and with such a fine steamer. I am sure the Government will regard you as one of its greatest and truest benefactors," continued Major Pierson.
"It is my intention to serve the good cause with whatever measure of ability I may possess; but I do not care to say any thing at all about my purpose till I have talked with my brother. I hope I shall find my brother Homer in full sympathy with me in my views," added the owner, though it was not a pleasure to him even to deceive an enemy.
"Colonel Pa.s.sford!" exclaimed the major. "Have you any doubt about him?"
"Hardly any, though I prefer to talk with him before I say much on my own account."
"Colonel Pa.s.sford is not a very demonstrative man, but no one in the vicinity of Glenfield has any doubt as to how he stands on the great question."
"I think no one will have any doubt as to how I stand, as soon as I take my position."
"Certainly, sir, you will give no doubtful sound."
"I hope not."
"I came on board to examine this steamer before we permitted her to pa.s.s the forts," continued Major Pierson. "I find her in charge of my brother, in the absence of any letter from my father or other Confederate agent. I humbly apologize for the rudeness of which I was guilty, though I a.s.sure you I have had abundant provocation for it."
"That is a family affair with which we have nothing to do beyond the proper protection of the young agent in charge of the steamer."
"I wish to say that I am entirely satisfied, Captain Pa.s.sford, and I am heartily delighted to learn that you are about to make your residence in this section of the country," said the major, who seemed to have a.s.sured himself on this point without much a.s.sistance from those most deeply concerned.
The owner looked at him, and tried to ascertain what was pa.s.sing in his mind; and it was not a very difficult enterprise to accomplish his purpose. The hint he had received about the frequent visits of Major Pierson at Glenfield seemed to explain the present operations of his mind. Florry Pa.s.sford was a beautiful young lady of eighteen, and any young man of twenty-six could easily have been excused for making his visits very often at the mansion in which she resided.
Though the fond father was not disposed to interfere unnecessarily with the choice of his daughter, even the hint that she might be entangled more than a thousand miles from her home had given him a positive shock.
Now that he had seen the young man, and observed his conduct on board of the Bellevite, he most earnestly hoped that she was not in any degree committed to him. He had an additional inducement to get her away from the home of his brother, and the thought of it nerved him to increased exertion. What he had seen of the commander of Fort Gaines, though he appeared to be a faithful, patriotic, and energetic young man, as he understood his duty to his country, a.s.suredly he was not the person he would have chosen for Florry. But his brother could tell him more about it, and how far the matter had gone, when he saw him.
By the time Captain Pa.s.sford had settled his conclusions as far as he could, the tug came up to the steamer, towing the boat from the fort, Percy felt that he had won a victory over his brother, and a Bantam rooster could not have made a wider spread on the deck. He seemed to feel that he was in command of the steamer, though he did not venture to interfere with any thing on board.
"I am very sorry to have given you any annoyance, Captain Pa.s.sford,"
said the major, as the tug came up to the gangway. "I think we should have understood each other better if your steamer had not got aground."
"We have suffered little or no inconvenience, sir."
"Whether you have or not, you shall suffer no more. The tug has come alongside, and I will see that you are not delayed a moment after I can get to Fort Morgan, which will certainly fire upon you if I do not interfere; and I will go to it in the tug," continued the major, who was still struggling to make all the atonement in his power for his former conduct.
"You are very kind, Major Pierson, and I am under obligations to you.
I have not seen my daughter for nearly six months, or my brother; and the sooner I meet them, the better I shall like it," replied the owner.
"I have had the pleasure of meeting your daughter several times, as your brother"s plantation is next to my father"s. It is possible that, if the exigencies of the coming war permit, I may desire to address a communication to you at no distant day," said Major Pierson, with considerable embarra.s.sment in his manner.
Captain Pa.s.sford made no reply to this remark; for he thought it was entirely out of place under present circ.u.mstances, and hoped matters had not gone far enough even to think of future formalities. The major shook hands with the owner and his son, and then with the commander, and went over the side. As he did so, he requested Captain Breaker not to advance till he reached the fort, or at least not to attempt to pa.s.s it.
The tug-boat went off on its course, but it was nearly half an hour before it got near enough to the fort to allow the Bellevite to start her screw. As there was nowhere less than three fathoms of water, and Captain Breaker knew every inch of bottom, he directed Mr. Vapoor to hurry the engine, so that no one should have time to change his mind.
The steamer shot by the fort as though she did not like the looks of it, and in another half an hour she was out of the reach of its guns.
The commander had piloted the steamer to her present destination before; and there was plenty of water till she nearly reached the wharf, where the planter could load small vessels with cotton. It was not within the city of Mobile, though it was not far from it; and it was a sort of low-ground paradise, which money and taste had made very beautiful.
"What am I to do now, Mr. Pierson?" asked Percy, when the steamer had come to her moorings alongside the wharf.
"That will be for you to decide, Mr. Percy: but you had better take that uniform off before you live any longer, for I am afraid some one will mistake your character if you wear it on sh.o.r.e," replied Christy.
"I don"t know that I shall go on sh.o.r.e," replied the agent doubtfully.
"I got by my brother very nicely, thanks to Captain Breaker; for I should have been sent to the fort if he had not started the screw."
"Do you think you are in any danger here?" asked Christy.
"I know I am. My father"s house is over in that direction about half a mile. My brother can leave the fort any time he likes; and he will either do so, or send some of his men up here in the fast tug to catch me."
"Why don"t you go into the army, if your brother is so anxious about it, Percy?"
"That is just what I want to do, but my father positively forbid my doing so," replied the volunteer agent. "I should like to get back to Na.s.sau; for I know I shall be forced into the army, in spite of my father, if I stay here."
"My boy," called his father, "I am going on sh.o.r.e now, and I should like to have you go with me to see your uncle."
Christy was glad to do so; and he departed with the owner, leaving Percy in charge of the commander.
CHAPTER XIII
A DECIDED DIFFERENCE OF OPINION
If Homer Pa.s.sford was not a rich man in the sense that his brother was, he was still a wealthy man, and lived in a style as elegant as that of any nabob in the South. More than this, and of vastly more consequence, he was a good and true man. He was a member of his church, and his brother believed that he was a genuine and true religious man. The same principles of justice, humanity, and fairness had been born into both of the brothers, and inherited from the same father.
This was the brother whom he from the North was about to visit on the most solemn and momentous questions which could unite or separate the only two sons of the same father. Though Horatio had reasoned himself into the belief that Homer was as strongly a Union man as he was himself, he had argued without any adequate premises; and now, when he was almost on the threshold of his door, he did not feel sure of the position of his brother, though his hope was very strong.
It was with no little trepidation on this account that he rang the bell at the front door of Glenfield. A few minutes or an hour or two would settle the momentous question, and decide whether or not all the family, as well as Florry, would take pa.s.sage in the Bellevite for a more Northern clime.
"De Lo"d!" exclaimed the venerable colored man that came to the door.
"De hull family done be wery glad to see you, Ma.s.sa "Ratio."
"I hope you are very well, Pedro," replied Captain Pa.s.sford, as he gave his hand to the old servant. "Here is Christy."
"De Lo"d bless Ma.s.sa Christy!" And he shook hands with the son as he had with the father.