"How is it possible for the Yankee Government to station ships-of-war on the coast of the Southern States? It is simply impossible," said Homer, warming up with the argument. "The business of fitting out vessels is already begun, I read in the newspapers; and it will be pushed to the utmost."
"I am confident that every Confederate port in the United States will be invested by one or more vessels within a reasonable time."
"But your steamer will be captured before you can get home, even if you get out of Mobile Bay."
"I don"t apprehend any difficulty on that account. If the Bellevite can"t keep out of the way of any thing that floats, she deserves to be captured. She will belong to the Government within a few weeks," added Horatio quietly.
"The Bellevite!" exclaimed Homer.
"The Bellevite, certainly. I should be ashamed to retain her a month after I knew that the Union needs her, and the Union shall have her as a free gift," added Horatio, quite as warmly as his brother had spoken.
"You will give your steamer to the Yankee Government!" gasped Homer, rising from his chair again, and darting across the room, as though he was both shocked and disgusted at the conduct of Horatio. "You will allow her to be used in subduing a free people? I am sorry."
Homer was very deeply grieved, and Horatio hardly less so.
CHAPTER XIV
THE BLUE AND THE GRAY
To Captain Pa.s.sford the question seemed to be settled; and he could no longer doubt that his brother fully sympathized with the leaders of the rebellion, if he was not one of them himself. He was certainly the most enthusiastic person he had yet seen on that side of the question. But Homer was thoroughly sincere, for he never was any thing else on any subject.
Horatio was unable to understand how his brother could reason himself into the belief that secession was right, when the duty of saving the Union was to him paramount; and certainly Homer was equally puzzled over the political faith of Horatio. Until the darkness of evening began to gather, they argued the tremendous question; and they discussed it ably, for both of them were thinking and reasoning men.
But, when the darkness gathered, they were not one hair"s-breadth nearer an agreement; and probably if they had continued to argue till morning, or even till the end of the year, they would have come no nearer together. Each had a sort of horror of the views of the other, though they had lived in peace and harmony all the days of their lives.
"Homer, you are my brother; and I am sure that an unpleasant word never pa.s.sed between us," said Horatio, when the sun had gone down on the fruitless discussion.
"Certainly not, brother; and it grieves me sorely to find that you are upon one side, while I am on the other," replied Homer with a strong manifestation of feeling. "I did not expect to see you at Glenfield; but I felt sure that you would not be found, actually or constructively, in the ranks of the enemies of the South."
"And I was equally sure that you would be found on the side of your country,--the whole country, and not a miserable fraction of it," added Horatio, with quite as much warmth as his brother. "I came here in the Bellevite as much to convey you to a place of safety, as to restore Florry to her mother."
"My country is here in the South. I have no other country; and I shall stand by it to the last ditch, wherein I am ready to cast all that I have and all that I am. If you thought it possible for me to desert the cause of the South, you strangely misjudged me; and I do not feel at all complimented by the formation of your opinion of me," said Homer, with a trifle more of bitterness in his tone and manner than he had used before.
"I see how it is with you, Homer; and I realize that it is worse than folly for us to discuss this important question. Your mind is made up, and so is mine; and I fear that we might quarrel if we should continue to bandy words on the subject. We had better drop it entirely, once for all."
"Perhaps we had; but it grieves me sorely, even to think of my only brother taking part with the hirelings of the North in an attempt to subdue the free, untamed, and untamable South. It would not hurt my feelings more to know that you were a buccaneer, roving on the ocean for the plunder of all nations."
"You should also consider my feelings when I think of you in armed rebellion against the best government G.o.d ever allowed to exist; that my own brother is a rebel and a traitor, who is liable to be shot or hung for his armed treason."
This was too much for Homer, and he gave vent to his emotion in a laugh at the picture his brother had drawn. He walked the library, and chuckled as though he were actually amused at the remarks of the other; and perhaps he was.
"I am really and heartily sorry for you, Horatio. Your future, I fear, will be terribly dark. Of course, all business will cease at the North: the gra.s.s will grow in the streets of New York and other large cities.
You have an immense fortune, which I do not believe you can retain a single year; for the war is not to be confined to Southern soil, but will be carried into the North, where the expenses of our men will be paid by the enemy."
"I think we had better confine our attention to the present, and let the future take care of itself," said Horatio, with a smile at the prophetic croakings of his brother.
"Be that as it may, though I feel confident that all I predict will come to pa.s.s, I desire to have one thing understood: when you have lost your fortune, or wasted it on the hireling armies of the North, or on ships for its navy, you may always be sure of a home at Glenfield for yourself and all your family."
"If you do not lose or waste all that you have on the army of the other side," added Horatio with a smile. "But I am ready to drop this subject."
"It seems to be useless to continue it; though, if there were any possible way to convert you from the error of your way of thinking, I would struggle all night with you," said Homer.
"You cannot make a traitor of me, brother. But I must tell Florry to pack her trunk at once."
"Pack her trunk? Why are you in such a hurry?" demanded Homer.
"Because this is not a safe place for me and mine; and I have my two children with me."
"You ought to have left Christy at home."
"I think not. Though he is only sixteen, he has seen so much of the world, and is so bright, that he is almost a man. He will go into the navy within a few weeks, and I shall expect him to give a good account of himself."
"He is rather young. Corny is eighteen, and he has already enlisted with his mother"s blessing and mine. But I think you need not be in such a hurry, Horatio, to get away from here; for it is a long time since we met."
"I have expressed my political sentiments very freely to you, Homer, and you know as well as I do, that, if they were known, I should not be safe a single day."
"Not quite so bad as that, for I think I should have sufficient influence to save you from arrest," added Homer.
"The Bellevite cost me over half a million dollars, and she is worth all she cost. If I were safe a single day, the steamer and ship"s company on board of her would not be. I brought them down here, and I intend to take them back."
"And then you present this fine vessel to the Yankee Government, and doubtless the men on board of her will go into the service of the navy."
"I certainly expect as much as that of them."
"Then I question whether I ought to allow such a prize to pa.s.s out of the bay for such a purpose," said Homer.
"Then, with such a doubt as that in your mind, I ought not to remain here another hour," added Horatio quietly. "If you have gone far enough in treason to betray your own brother, coming here to your home for no warlike purpose, into the hands of the enemy, why, all I can do is to look out for myself."
"I did not say that I should betray you, Horatio. It is simply a question with me whether my duty to my country will allow me to let your steamer leave these waters. I have not settled the question in my own mind."
"I hope you will settle it soon. If I am to take my first step in this fratricidal war by defending myself against my own brother, let him speak, and I am ready," replied Horatio, shaken by an emotion deeper than he had ever experienced before.
"Horatio, whatever you may do, whatever I may do, each in the discharge of his duty to his country, his country as he understands it, let us have no unfraternal feeling," continued Homer, almost as much disturbed in his feelings as his brother.
"In other words, if you hand me and my vessel over to your leaders, and consequently take from me the means of bearing my daughter to a place of safety, I am to put my hand on my heart, and say that my brother has done right, for I will not use any stronger terms," said Horatio, struggling with his emotion.
"I must do my duty as I understand it," protested Homer. "The question I put to myself is this: can I justify myself, before G.o.d and my country, if I permit the finest steamer in the world, as you state it, to be transferred to the Yankee navy, to be used in killing, ravaging, and destroying within the free South? The steamer is here, and within my reach. After all you have said, she would be the lawful prize of any tug-boat in the bay that could capture her. I begin to realize that I should be guilty of treason to my country in letting her go."
"You must be your own judge in regard to that," replied Horatio bitterly, as he rose from his chair and walked towards the door.
"One word more, Horatio. I look upon the Bellevite as already belonging to the Southern Confederacy. Of course, being a private yacht, she is not armed?"
Homer paused and looked at his brother as though he expected an answer to this question; but the owner of the steamer made no reply.