"Major Pierson, this steamer has stopped without any bell from the pilot-house, and I have been unable to start her again," said Christy, hailing the commander of the fort.
"All right, Mr. Pa.s.sford: I told the engineer to stop her," replied the major, who appeared to be in a hurry, though he could not make the long-boat work as he desired. "Oblige me by remaining in the pilot-house for the present, and keep a sharp lookout for the Bellevite."
"Certainly, Major Pierson, if you desire it; but permit me to suggest that you will not be able to do any thing with that boat while the tug remains in the trough of the sea," replied Christy, who was more afraid that the major would not carry out his plan than that he would do so.
"I don"t see that it can be helped, though I am no sailor," replied the commandant, looking up with interest to the acting captain. "For reasons of my own, which I cannot stop to explain, I don"t wish to take this tug any nearer to the Bellevite; and I am going off in the boat after Dr.
Linscott. But it looks now as though the boat would be smashed in pieces."
"I should say that it would be," added Christy. "If you will start the engine again, I think I can help you out of this difficulty."
"How do you expect to do it?" asked the major, who seemed to be incredulous on the point.
"If you will let me get the tug out of the trough of the sea, you can easily haul the boat up on the lee side of her," Christy explained. "The steamer will shelter the water on that side of her."
"Spikeley!" called the major, in a loud voice; and the engineer came out of his den. "Start her up now."
"Run her at about half speed, major," and the commandant repeated his direction to the engineer.
Christy retreated to the pilot-house, and threw over the wheel of the boat; so that, when the screw began to turn, the bow of the tug soon headed to the southward, which gave her the wind ahead. Then he brought her so that the water was comparatively smooth on her port quarter, where the long-boat was.
Without the loss of a moment, the major drove all his men into the boat, and they shoved off. The men were soldiers, and they had had but little practice in rowing, having taken it up at the fort. They made rather bad work of it; but, more by luck than skill, the boat cleared the tug without being stove.
"Spikeley!" shouted the major.
"Here, sir," replied the engineer, hobbling out of his room.
"Stop the engine, and remember what I told you," added the commandant.
"All right, sir: I will do just as you ordered me."
"What does he want to stop the engine for?" asked Percy. "She don"t roll so badly when the engine is going."
"That is very true; but your brother knows what he is about," replied Christy, his eyes beginning to light up with an unwonted fire.
"Well, what is he about?"
"He is going to capture the Bellevite."
"He will have a nice time of it!" exclaimed Percy. "That steamer can blow him out of the water a dozen times before he gets near her."
"I don"t believe your brother has any idea that the Bellevite is heavily armed," added Christy.
"But he has been on board of her."
"That is very true; but the two heavy guns were covered up, and the others were sent down into the hold. All the soldiers in the boat with your brother have their muskets; and he would not have taken the lieutenant and six men with him if he were simply going for the doctor for Captain Pecklar, as he told me he was."
"I believe Lindley is a fool to think of such a thing as capturing the Bellevite with eight men," added Percy.
"I don"t know what else he can intend to do, but I do know why he don"t take the tug any nearer to the steamer. He don"t want my father to know what has become of me."
"Can"t you make some sort of a signal to him, Christy?"
"I can do something better than that."
"What"s that?"
"I can show myself to him. But, before I do that, I must know how you stand, Percy."
"How I stand? You know as much about me as I know about myself. I want to get on board of the Bellevite, and I am not a bit anxious to fight my brother"s battle for him. I know what he is after, now I think of it."
"Well, what is he after?"
"He is after the Bellevite; and if he can take her, he is sure of a colonel"s commission."
"I should say that he could not do any thing better for the Confederacy than to present it with the finest steamer in the world. But you are not with him, you say, Percy."
"I am not. I belong to the Confederacy the same as he does; but I want to get aboard of the Bellevite, and then I shall have a good chance to reach Na.s.sau," replied Percy.
Christy had a good deal better opinion of Major Pierson than he had of his brother in the pilot-house with him; but just then the latter was able to be more useful to him than the commandant of the fort.
"I can now almost promise that you shall be put on board of the Bellevite, if I succeed in reaching her myself," said Christy.
"That is all I can expect of you; and I will do whatever you tell me, if it be to sink the Leopard. But we can"t do a thing. The engineer will not start the engine for us; and I don"t see but what we must stay here till my brother comes back from his errand, whatever it may be."
"I don"t feel quite so helpless as that," added Christy, as he took a revolver from his hip-pocket, where he had carried it all the time since the steamer left Na.s.sau, and while she was there.
"What are you going to do with that, Christy?" asked Percy, impressed with the sight of the weapon.
"I am going to start this tug with it, if necessary. Now hear me."
Percy was all attention.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE ENGINEER GOES INTO THE FORECASTLE
The wind from the southward seemed to be increasing in force, though it was not yet what old salts would call any thing more than half a gale, and hardly that; but the long-boat from the Leopard made bad weather of it, and rolled wildly in the trough of the sea. The soldiers pulled badly, for they had had no training in the use of the oars, and very little experience.
The boat had made very little progress towards the Bellevite, and Christy was in no hurry to put his plan in operation. He showed his revolver to Percy, and then restored it to his hip-pocket. But he watched the expression of his companion in the pilot-house very closely; for, as the case then stood, one of them belonged to the blue, while the other was of the gray. But Percy"s patriotism was hardly skin deep, and he had already spoken freely enough to make himself understood.
"I don"t see how you are going to start the tug with that pistol if the fellow at the engine don"t look at it in that light," said Percy, as his companion restored the weapon to his pocket.
"I don"t intend to use it if it can be avoided," replied Christy.
"I shall not ask Spikeley to start the engine, and if he don"t interfere with me, I shall not harm him; for he seems to be a cripple, and it would hurt my feelings to have to lay hands on him, or even to point a revolver at his head."