"I have men enough to take care of you and the Teaser, Captain Folkner; and the men in the boat will do everything that is required to be done on board of the Teaser."
"That"s another thing," replied the captain, appeased by the implied promise.
"I can hardly blame your men because they are not willing to go through the sound with a steamer drawing ten feet of water when there is not more than six feet of water to float her," said Christy. "Besides, if you do not get to the other end of the sound before morning, you will be seen by some of the blockaders, and they could blow this steamer to pieces, and kill half your people in a few minutes."
"It may be dangerous, but so is running the blockade," added the captain.
"Going out in a dark night and spending a week in sight of the blockaders are two different things. But we need not discuss the matter any more. I will put your men on the point yonder, and then I will return and help you out of your present difficulty. Am I to take off the men in the engine department?" asked Christy, as he went to the side where the boat was.
"No; the engineers and firemen are all right, for they were not called upon to do any work out of the vessel."
Christy and Flint stepped into the boat, and the crew followed them.
There were twelve of them, and the lieutenant thought they were all good seamen. He did not like to have them reserved for use in the Confederate Navy; but he could not help himself then, and he soon landed the party on the point. The situation had been explained to the crew of the boat, and they had avoided saying anything to commit themselves.
Though it involved a risk to do it, Christy had dressed in an ordinary suit of clothes for the occasion, and the party wore nothing by which they could be identified as sailors of the navy. As soon as the boat had landed its pa.s.sengers, it returned to the Teaser at the best speed the crew could produce.
"I had no idea that you had a plan like this in your head, Mr.
Pa.s.sford," said Flint, as soon as the boat was clear of Town Point.
"I did not know it myself, Flint. It has all grown out of the circ.u.mstances as we found them," replied Christy. "But I did intend, if I found the Teaser without a fighting crew on board of her, to capture her if the situation warranted such a step."
"But you came prepared for just this thing," suggested Flint.
"I came prepared for anything. I hoped we might be able to capture the Teaser, but I did not expect it."
"I suppose you expect to do it now."
"Yes, I do; and I ought to be broken if I don"t do it. I am sorry to let all those men enter the rebel navy; and that is all that vexes me at the present moment."
"Perhaps they can be picked up to-morrow, or later to-night," suggested Flint. "From what I heard, I think she was to have a fighting crew of about forty men. Of course they will try to join the steamer to-night or to-morrow; and why not let them do it?" chuckled Flint.
"We will attend to this affair first, but I like the idea."
They reached the Teaser in due time, and all hands went on board of her.
Captain Folkner, with a couple of men he had contrived to retain, with two firemen, was at work on his apparatus to float a vessel drawing ten feet in six feet of water or less. Alongside he had a hundred or more of empty barrels which he was sinking under the sides by hauling them down with a line under the bottom of the vessel. He did the work partly with his windla.s.s worked by steam, and he had lifted the bow of the Teaser at least three feet out of water.
Captain Folkner expatiated with enthusiasm on his plan, and explained the details to the lieutenant. Christy saw that he had considerable mechanical genius, but he certainly lacked a balance-wheel. The officer had set him down as a timid man, but this conversation a.s.sured him that the captain was a brave man. He was carried away with his idea, though it was plain that he had not examined the question in all its bearings.
"When I have lifted the steamer four feet, she can go through the sound, for I have taken a boat through that drew six feet. With your men to help me, I shall get the casks down by midnight, and then all we have to do is to go ahead," continued the enthusiast.
"Precisely so; and the Teaser is a screw steamer," added Christy.
"Of course she is; you have known her for two months, Gilder."
"When she has been lifted up four feet, she is to go ahead," repeated Christy, in the tone of a musing man.
"That is what I said; she is to go ahead."
"But what is to drive her ahead? Is she expected to go of herself?"
"Go of herself? Of course not. She is to be driven ahead by her engine as she always is," replied Captain Folkner, suspending the work upon which he was engaged, and trying to see the face of the pilot through the darkness. "How do steamers generally go ahead?"
"If they are screw steamers, they are propelled by the pressure of the blades of the screw," answered Christy.
"And that is just the way the Teaser will be propelled through the sound," replied Captain Folkner. "This steamer is to be a privateer, and I own her. She has cost me about all the money I have in the world, and I don"t want to lose her before I get to sea. If I can get into blue water with her, I am not at all concerned but that she will run away from anything afloat."
"How many knots can she do in a smooth sea?"
"Eighteen, and perhaps more."
"Then she is not fast enough for that blockader outside. I saw her at Mobile when she was a big steam-yacht, and they said she had done twenty-two knots more than once."
"I don"t believe a word of it; and I am willing to take my chances to run away from her in the Teaser, if I can get out."
"If she is good for eighteen knots, it will not take her more than about two hours to run through the sound," added Christy, very much amused at the talk of the captain and owner.
"I don"t expect her to go at full speed in that shallow water," said the enthusiast.
"Do you expect her to go at all when she is hoisted four feet out of water?" asked Christy, hardly able to keep from laughing.
Captain Folkner was silent for a moment, during which Christy thought he must have obtained a new idea, for it looked as though he had not thought of the working of the screw after all his flotation schemes had been successful.
"I reckon the propeller will have hold enough on the water to make her go right along, Gilder. I don"t reckon you need make any trouble about that," added the man of mechanical ability, rather sheepishly.
Christy had brought his boat"s crew on deck, and directed Flint how to post them. He thought he had paid proper respect to the talent of the enthusiast in listening to his theory, and that it was about time to bring the adventure to an issue.
"I shall not make any trouble about the screw, Captain Folkner, for I don"t think we shall have any difficulty about it. But I believe we had better not hoist it any higher out of water," added Christy. "I mean that I think we had better go out of the bay by the main channel."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "He placed one of his men on each side of the Captain."--Page 233.]
"That means to run the blockade?" said the captain.
"That"s the idea."
"Gilder, I want you to understand that I command this steamer,"
continued Captain Folkner, angrily.
"Right, with a little correction: You did command her, and I command her now," replied Christy, as he placed one of his men on each side of the captain.
CHAPTER XXI
ON A DARK AND FOGGY NIGHT
"I reckon I don"t quite understand you, Gilder," said Captain Folkner, very nervously. "I thought I was still in command of the Teaser."