"We discovered that the steamer had left the wharf last night, and you sent me to investigate when you started off in that wagon."
"That"s so; and Pecklar reported to me early this morning that the steamer had left the wharf, and was standing off and on in the bay."
"I went ash.o.r.e in the evening, leaving Pecklar to watch the steamer.
I don"t know any thing about his movements."
"He reported to me this morning about daylight. It is all right as far as he is concerned. What have you done?"
"I landed at the wharf where the Bellevite had been moored, about eleven o"clock, I should say, for I could not see my watch. I went up to Colonel Pa.s.sford"s house, and found it all in commotion."
"What was the matter?"
"Colonel Pa.s.sford was not there: he had gone off to procure a.s.sistance."
"a.s.sistance for what?" demanded the major. "You are sleepy, Dallberg, and you are mixing your story."
"I am sleepy and exhausted, but I will try to do better. I saw Mrs.
Pa.s.sford. She told me that her brother-in-law, Captain Horatio Pa.s.sford, had come to the house that day, with his son; and you are aware, I believe, that his daughter, Miss Florence, has been there all winter."
"I know all about that. Go ahead, Dallberg."
"The two brothers had been shut up in the library all the afternoon, engaged in an earnest discussion; though the colonel"s wife did not know what it was about. Captain Horatio left Colonel Homer in the library some time in the evening, and the colonel remained there till after ten.
Then it was found that the captain had left the house secretly, with his daughter and his son; though some of the servants had seen the young man going up the road with Percy Pierson."
"Exactly so; never mind the young man now. The captain had left the house, and his daughter went with him?" repeated the major, beginning to be a good deal excited.
"The house was searched, but they could not be found; and the young lady"s trunk had been removed from her room. Then the colonel went down to the wharf, and found that the Bellevite had left."
Major Pierson sprang to his feet, hardly able to contain himself.
CHAPTER XX
A REBELLION IN THE PILOT-HOUSE
Captain Pa.s.sford had obtained the idea, from the fact that Florry did not like to have the major gaze at her all the time, that she was not very deeply interested in him; and the conclusion afforded him a great deal of satisfaction. She did not like to leave her uncle and aunt and her two cousins without saying good-by to them; but she had not said a word about the military gentleman who was supposed to have made frequent visits at the mansion on her account.
When Lieutenant Dallberg informed Major Pierson that Miss Florry had left the house, and that her trunk had been removed, indicating that she did not intend to return, the effect upon him was very decided. However it may have been with the young lady, it was plain enough that he was stirred to the very centre of his being.
"Then Captain Pa.s.sford has left the mansion?" said the Major, after he had strode several times across the little pilot-house, as he halted in front of the lieutenant.
"No doubt of that; the family and the servants hunted the house all over in search of him and his daughter," replied Mr. Dallberg with a yawn.
"Well, what did Colonel Pa.s.sford say about him?" demanded the major.
"He was not at the house when I got there. As I said, he had gone for a.s.sistance. I could do nothing till I had seen him. I sent my men on ahead to look for him, and then I went myself. We did not find him till one o"clock in the morning. He had given up all his horses for the service, and we had to go on foot," continued the lieutenant.
"But you saw Colonel Pa.s.sford?"
"I did; but he had been unable to find the persons of whom he had been in search, and he could procure no such a.s.sistance as he wished.
I walked back to his mansion with him. At first he was not inclined to say any thing to me; but when I told him that you were over here in the Leopard to look out for the steamer, he had more confidence in me."
"Well, what did he say?" asked the major impatiently.
"He would not say any thing till I had told him all I knew, including the manner in which the steamer had pa.s.sed the forts. By this time we had reached his house, and we seated ourselves in the library."
"You need not stop to describe the chairs or the sofa," interposed the excited commandant of the fort.
"I will not; but, if I omit any thing, it will not be my fault," said the younger officer with a long gape. "He told me he and his brother had been discussing the great question, as he called it, for over six hours; and they understood each other perfectly in the end."
"Six hours! It is a wonder they did not talk each other to death!"
exclaimed the major.
"At any rate, they talked enough to enable them to come to a perfect understanding. Colonel Pa.s.sford is as true to the Confederacy as we all know him to be, but Captain Pa.s.sford is a Yankee to the marrow of his bones; and the two brothers could not agree at all on the political question, though they profess still to be friends."
"Then the owner of the Bellevite is on the other side?"
"No doubt of that; and the steamer did not come down here to go into the service of the Confederacy," added the lieutenant.
"But she will go into it, all the same," said the major, glancing at the new captain of the Leopard.
Christy was quite as much excited over the conversation to which he could not help being a listener, even if he had wished not to be so. It was clear enough to him that the whole object of the voyage to Mobile Bay had come out, and the major needed no further information to enable him to act with promptness and decision. The fact that Miss Florry must be on board of the Bellevite was doubtless an additional incentive to make him do his entire duty to the Confederacy.
"I think I have told you the whole story, Major Pierson," said Lieutenant Dallberg with another prodigious yawn.
"Then Captain Pa.s.sford and his daughter are now on board of the steamer," added the major; though he seemed to be musing on the fact, rather than saying it to his companion.
"There can be no doubt of that," replied the other.
"As Captain Pa.s.sford is a Yankee at heart, of course he don"t intend to remain in these waters much longer," continued the major, giving utterance to his reflections.
"There is something more than that, which I forgot to tell you; for you hurried me so that I could not keep my thoughts about me," interposed the lieutenant.
"What more is there? You said you had told me the whole," said the major, with a sneer on his lips.
"The Bellevite is intended for the Yankee navy, and she has already been tendered to the Government for that purpose. More yet, Captain Pa.s.sford and the commander of the steamer have offered their services. The owner is sure that all hands will be volunteers for the service as soon as she returns from this trip," continued Dallberg, who had suddenly roused his energies to the requirements of the situation.
"I had no doubt that Captain Pa.s.sford would be with his brother in this war," mused the major.
"He could not be any farther from him. He came down here after his daughter, and his brother says he expected to remove him and his family to the North at the same time."
"His mission will be a failure in every sense," added Major Pierson, as though he regarded it as a matter of course.
"The colonel said his duty to his country and her cause would not allow him to suffer his brother to take the steamer back to the North to be handed over to the Yankee navy."
"That is where he was quite right."