A Victorious Union

CHAPTER XXVIII

OFF THE COAST OF NORTH CAROLINA

Having assured himself that the ship was fully up with Cape Henlopen, Christy retired to his cabin, and still "alone in his glory," he broke the seal of the official envelope. He was to cruise outside of the blockaders, and report to the flag-officer when opportunity presented. Just then it was believed that Richmond, which received all its foreign supplies from Wilmington, could not long hold out if it was captured; and the Secretary of the Navy was giving special attention to the forts which protected it.

It was evident to the young commander that he was not to rust in inactivity, as had been the case of late off Mobile Bay, and a wide field of operations was open to him. His instructions were minute, but they did not confine his ship to the immediate vicinity of the mouth of the Cape Fear River. It was evident that the speed of the St. Regis had been an important factor in framing the secret orders.

If a blockade-runner eluded or outsailed the vessels of the fleet near the coast, the St. Regis was expected to "pick her up." On the other hand, the fastest of the vessels were sent out farther from the shore, and the ship was expected to support them. Christy realized that he should be called upon to exercise his judgment in many difficult situations, and he could only hope that he should be equal to such occasions.

"Good-morning, Captain Passford," said Paul Vapoor, saluting him on the quarter-deck. "I hope you slept well in your brief watch below."

"I did not sleep a wink, I was so anxious to read my orders. But I know them now, and I feel as cool as an arctic iceberg. I shall sleep when I turn in again."

"Well, where are we going, Captain, if it is no longer a secret?" asked the engineer.

"It is not a secret now; and we are to cruise off the mouth of the Cape Fear River," replied the commander, as he proceeded to give the information more in detail.

"We are not likely to have any hot work then if we are only to chase blockade-runners," added Paul.

"Probably we can render greater service to our country in this manner than in any other way, or we should not have been sent to this quarter," said Christy, with a long gape.

Paul saw that his friend was sleepy, and he bade him good-night. The commander went to his stateroom, and was soon fast asleep, from which he did not wake till eight o' clock in the morning. When he went on deck the ship was carrying all sail. The second lieutenant had the deck, and he asked him what speed the steamer was making.

"The last log showed seventeen knots an hour," replied Mr. Makepeace.

"I hope you slept well, Captain Passford," said the chief engineer, saluting him at this minute.

"I slept like a log till eight bells this morning," replied Christy.

"Mr. Makepeace reports the last log at seventeen knots," continued Paul. "But the ship is not making revolutions enough per hour for more than fifteen, for I have got the hang of her running now. The wind is blowing half a gale, and the canvas is giving her two knots."

No events transpired on board worthy a special chronicle during the day. The men were drilled in various exercises, and gave excellent satisfaction to their officers. The next morning the St. Regis was off Cape Hatteras, and though it is a greater bugbear than it generally deserves, it gave the ship a taste of its quality. The wind had hauled around to the south-west, and was blowing a lively gale. The sails had been furled in the morning watch, and off the cape the course had been changed to south-west.

Just before eight bells in the afternoon watch, when the ship was making fifteen knots an hour, the lookout man on the top-gallant forecastle called out "Sail, ho!" and all eyes were directed ahead.

"Where away?" demanded the officer of the deck sharply.

"Close on the lee bow, sir!" returned the lookout.

The commander was in his cabin studying the chart of the coast of North Carolina; but the report was promptly sent to him, and he hastened on deck.

"Another sail on the port bow, sir!" shouted a seaman who had been sent to the fore cross trees with a spy-glass.

"What are they?" asked Christy, maintaining his dignity in spite of the excitement which had begun to invade his being.

"Both steamers, sir," replied the officer of the deck.

"The head one is a blockade-runner, I know by the cut of her jib, sir," shouted the man with the glass on the cross trees.

All the glasses on board were immediately directed to the two vessels. Christy could plainly make out the steamer that had the lead. She was a piratical-looking craft, setting very low in the water, with two smoke stacks, both raking at the same angle as her two masts. The wind was not fair, and she could not carry sail; but the "bone in her teeth" indicated that she was going through the water at great speed.

"A gun from the chaser, sir!" shouted the man aloft.

The cloud of smoke was seen, and the report of the gun reached the ears of all on board the St. Regis.

"There is no mistaking what all that means, Mr. Baskirk," said Christy when he had taken in the situation.

At the first announcement of the sail ahead, the commander had ordered the chief engineer to get all the speed he could out of the ship. The smoke was pouring out of the smoke stacks, for the St. Regis had two, and presently she indicated what was going on in the fire room by beginning to shake a little.

"Another sail dead ahead, sir!" called the man on the fore cross trees.

The glasses were directed to the third sail, and she proved to be a steamer, also pursuing the one first seen. It was soon evident to the observers that the blockade-runner, for the man aloft who had so defined her was entirely correct, was gaining all the time on her pursuers. If she had nothing but her two pursuers to fear, her troubles were really over.

Both of the Federal ships were firing at the chase; but they might as well have spared their powder and shot, for they could not reach her into at least a quarter of a mile. The wind was still at the south-west, and already there were signs of fog. The rakish steamer had probably come from the Bermudas, where she must have obtained a skilful pilot, for without one she would have had no chances at all; and she stood boldly on her course as though she had nothing to fear on account of the navigation.

"What are we going to have for weather, Mr. Makepeace?" asked Christy, after a long look to windward.

"It looks a little nasty off towards the shore, sir," replied the second lieutenant. "I should say it was going to be just what that pirate would like to have."

"Why do you call her a pirate?" asked the commander with a smile. "Probably she is not armed."

"I call her a pirate because she looks like one; but I think a blockade-runner is a hundred degrees better than a pirate; and our British friends plainly look upon them as doing a legitimate business. I rather think that highflyer will run into a fog before she gets to the shore."

"She has nothing to fear from the two steamers that are chasing her," added Christy. "We are to have a finger in this pie."

"No doubt of that; and I hope we shall make a hole through her before she gets to the coast."

"She is not more than a mile and a half from us now, and our midship gun is good for more than that; but I don't think it is advisable to waste our strength in firing at her just yet."

"That's just my way of thinking," said Mr. Makepeace, with something like enthusiasm in his manner; and he was evidently delighted to find that the commander knew what he was about, as he would have phrased it.

"The rakish steamer seems to be headed to the west south-west, and she is exactly south-east of us. We can see that she is sailing very fast; but how fast has not yet been demonstrated. How high should you rate her speed, Mr. Makepeace?"

"I should say, Captain Passford, that she was making eighteen knots an hour. She is kicking up a big fuss about it; and I'll bet a long-nine cigar that she is doing her level best."

"I don't believe she is doing any better than that," added Christy. "Make the course south south-west, Mr. Baskirk."

"South south-west, sir," replied the executive officer.

The course of the ship was changed, and Christy planked the deck from the quarter-deck to the forecastle in order to obtain the best view he could of the relative positions of the St. Regis, the chase, and the two steamers astern of her. The blockade-runner showed no colors; and no flag could have been of any service to her. She appeared still to be very confident that she was in no danger, evidently relying wholly upon her great speed to carry her through to her destination.

The "highflyer," as the second lieutenant called her every time he alluded to the blockade-runner, and the two pursuers, occupied the three angles of a triangle. The latter were both sending needless cannon balls in the direction of the chase, but not one of them came anywhere near her.

On the other hand, the highflyer and the St. Regis formed two angles of another triangle, the third of which was the point where they would come together, if nothing occurred to derange their relative positions. By this time Paul Vapoor had developed all the power of the ship's boilers, and the screw was making more revolutions a minute than her highest record, which was found in a book the former chief engineer had left in his stateroom.

"I don't think that highflyer quite understands the situation, Mr. Baskirk," said the commander, as he observed that she did not vary her course, and stood on to her destination, apparently with perfect confidence.

"I don't think she does, sir," replied the first lieutenant. "She can see the American flag at the peak, and she knows what we are. Doubtless she is making the mistake of believing that all the Federal ships are slow coaches."

"Heave the log, Mr. Baskirk," added Christy, and he walked forward.

It was a matter of angles when it was desirable to come down to a close calculation, and the young commander found his trigonometry very useful, and fortunately not forgotten. With an apparatus for taking ranges he had procured the bearing of the highflyer accurately as soon as the last course was given out, perhaps half an hour before. He took the range again, and found there was a slight difference, which was, however, enough to show that the form of the triangle had been disturbed.

Both ships were headed for the same point, and the sides of the triangle were equal at the first observation. Now the St. Regis's side of the figure was perceptibly shorter than its opposite. This proved to the captain that his ship had gained on the other. The two chasers had been losing on the chase for the last half-hour, and Christy regarded them as out of the game.

There was some appearance of fog in the south-west, and no land could be seen in any direction. For another hour the St. Regis drove ahead furiously on her course, and the highflyer was doing the same. The two steamers, regardless of the speed of either, were necessarily approaching each other as long as they followed the two sides of the triangle. They had come within half a mile the one of the other, when the commander gave the order to beat to quarters. Ten minutes later the frame of the ship shook under the discharge of the big Parrot. The shot went over the chase; but she promptly changed her course to the southward.

CHAPTER XXIX

THE FIRST PRIZE OF THE ST. REGIS

The shot from the Parrot passed between the funnel and the mainmast of the chase, as judged by the splash of the ball in the water just beyond her. It had come near enough to the mark to wake up the captain of the highflyer. He appeared to believe that the pursuer from the northward had simply cut him off by approaching on the shorter side of the triangle, and that all he had to do was to escape to the southward, evidently satisfied that no steamer in the Federal navy could overhaul him in a fair and square race.

"Now comes the tug of war," said Mr. Baskirk, when the St. Regis had been headed for the chase.

"The game will not last all day," added Christy. "If I owned that highflyer, I should not employ her present captain to sail her for me. He is overloaded with a blind confidence, and he has made a very bad use of his opportunities. If I had been in command of that steamer I should have made her course so as to run away from all three of my pursuers as soon as I made them out. It is six o'clock now, and I should have got far enough into the darkness to give them all the slip, and gone into Wilmington on a new track."

"Her captain appears to trust entirely to his heels, and to look with contempt upon anything like manœuvring," replied the first lieutenant.

"But we must finish him up before the darkness enables him to give us the slip. I have no doubt we could knock her all to pieces with the midship gun in the next fifteen minutes; but if she can make eighteen knots an hour, which we seem to be all agreed that she can do, she will not be a useless addition to the United States Navy, and it would be a pity to smash her up, for she is a good-looking craft. We are gaining two knots an hour on her, and Mr. Vapoor is keeping things warm in the engine and fire rooms."

"That is taking an economical view of the subject," added Mr. Baskirk, laughing at the commander's utilitarian views.

"If we continue to fire into her, we must swing to every shot we send, and that would take so much from our speed," argued Christy. "We are as sure of her as though we already had her in our clutches. There are plenty of officers in the navy who would like to command her when she is altered over into a cruiser."

"You are quite right, Captain Passford; and there are some of them on the deck of the St. Regis at this moment," said the first lieutenant, laughing.

"Heave the log, Mr. Baskirk," said the captain.

The report from the master, who attended to this duty, was soon reported to the executive officer, who transmitted it to the commander.

"Rising twenty knots, sir," said he.

"That will do," replied Christy. "That is enough to enable us to overhaul the chase within half an hour."

Within fifteen minutes it could be seen that the St. Regis was rapidly gaining on the Raven, for the latter was near enough now to enable the pursuers to read the name on her stern, and the captain of the highflyer could not help realizing that he had not the slightest chance to escape. The chaser was within the eighth of a mile of her, and the result was only a matter of minutes.

"She has stopped her screw, sir!" reported the third lieutenant in the waist, passing the word from the second lieutenant on the forecastle.

"She has stopped her screw, Captain," repeated Mr. Baskirk.

"That means mischief," replied Christy, as he directed his gaze to the Raven.

"She is getting out two boats on her port side!" shouted Mr. Makepeace from the top-gallant forecastle; and the report was repeated till it reached the commander, though he had heard it before it was officially communicated to him. "That means more mischief."

"Ready to stop and back her!" he cried through the speaking-tube to the chief engineer.

"All ready, sir," replied Paul.

"Some of these blockade-runners are desperate characters, and that captain intends either to burn or sink his ship," continued Christy, with a trifle of excitement in his manner, though he looked as dignified as a college professor in the presence of his class.

The St. Regis was still rushing with unabated speed towards her prey, and a minute or two more would decide whether or not she was to be a prize or a blazing hulk on the broad ocean.

"Lay him aboard on the port side, Mr. Baskirk!"

"The two boats are there, Captain, as you can see," replied the executive officer.

"Board on the port side, Mr. Baskirk!" repeated the commander very decidedly, and somewhat sharply; and at the same time he rang one bell on the gong to slow down the engine. "Board on the port side, Mr. Baskirk!" he repeated again. "Mr. Drake, have the steam pump and long hose ready to extinguish fire!"

Whether the captain of the Raven had ordered his men to scuttle the steamer, or to fire her in several places, Christy could not know; and he did not much care, for he was ready to meet either emergency. The St. Regis was bearing down on her victim with a reduced speed. The men forward and in the waist were all ready with the grappling irons to fasten to her, and the boarders were all prepared to leap upon her deck, though no fighting was expected.

The bow of the St. Regis was near the stem of the Raven, and Christy rang one bell to stop her, and then two to back her. Then he sprang upon the starboard rail of the ship where he could observe his men as they boarded the other steamer.

"What are you about, sir?" yelled a man on the quarter-deck of the Raven, who appeared to be the captain of the vessel, in a rude voice. "Don't you see that you are crushing my two boats and the men in them?"

"I did not order the boats or the men there," replied Christy calmly, and in a gentle tone, for the captain of the blockade-runner was not ten feet from him.

"I did," added the captain of the prize, for such she really was by this time.

"Then you are responsible for them," said the commander of the St. Regis.

"Do you mean to murder them?" gasped the other captain furiously.

"If they are killed you have sent them to their death!"

But the commander had no time to argue the matter with the irate captain. He had rung three bells, and the ship was backing at full speed. The momentum had not been sufficiently checked to stop her, and the two boats were crushed to splinters. The seamen who were in them saw what was coming, and they seized the ropes which had been dropped to them by the boarders on the rail at the command of the captain, who did not wish them to be sacrificed to the madness of their commander, and they climbed to the chains of the Federal ship with the aid of the boarders.

"Lay her aboard!" shouted Christy as soon as the headway of the ship had been checked, and the grappling irons had been made fast.

The willing and active seamen poured from the rails to the deck of the prize, their officers leading the way. The main hatch had been removed and a light smoke was coming up through the opening. The hose from the steam pump of the ship had been drawn on board, and the master was in charge of it. At the command of the officers the men leaped below at all the openings in the deck, and it was found that she had been fired in half a dozen places.

In most of them the combustibles had only been lighted a few moments before, and they had not become well-kindled. Except at the main hatch, the men extinguished the flames with their hands and feet, and a stream from the hose put out the one amidships. The hoseman shut off the water, and the ship's company of the St. Regis were in full possession of the prize.

"Anything more to be done, Captain Bristler?" asked the mate, as he approached the commander.

"Nothing more can be done, Mr. Victor," replied the captain, who appeared to be overwhelmed with wrath at the unexpected termination of his voyage. "It is too late to scuttle her, and that vampire of a Yankee has smashed both of our boats into kindling wood. We did not begin the end soon enough."

But the beginning had evidently ended sooner than had been expected, and the Raven was the prize of the St. Regis. Christy still stood on the rail, and saw that all his orders had been executed to the letter. Mr. Makepeace had sent the carpenter and his gang into the hold, or as far as they could get, to ascertain if the steamer had been scuttled. It could not have been done without breaking out a portion of the cargo, and this would have been a work of no little time. The carpenter reported that everything was all right below the deck of the Raven, and the commander on the rail was so informed.

"The stream struck the commander with force." Page 331.

"This is a heathenish outrage, Captain, if a young cub like you can be the commander of a ship like that!" exclaimed Captain Bristler, foaming with rage over the result of the affair; and he interlarded his speech with all the oaths in the vocabulary of a pirate.

"Captain Bristler, when you address me as one gentleman should another, I will talk with you; but not till then," replied Christy with dignity.

"A gentleman!" gasped the other captain. "You tried to murder half a dozen of my men! You are a Yankee pirate! That's what you are!"

We cannot soil this page with even a description of the oaths and curses with which he mixed his language. Christy was disgusted with him; and while he still continued his impious ravings, he sent a midshipman with an order to Mr. Makepeace who was in charge of the hose pipe on board of the Raven. While Captain Bristler was pouring forth anathemas that made the blood of the loyal officers run cold in their veins, the man who held the hose pipe directed it to him, and the water was turned on.

The stream struck the commander with force enough to knock him down. But the bath was not suspended on that account, and it was continued till it had extinguished the fire of profanity. Christy made a sign, and the steam-pump ceased to work. The mate rushed to the assistance of the captain, put him on his feet, and was conducting him towards the companion, seeking a retreat in his cabin; but he was silent, perhaps from his inability to speak.

"Stop, Mr. Victor!" called Christy to the mate. "I cannot trust that man to remain on board of the Raven"; and at the same time he directed Mr. Baskirk to have him arrested and put in irons, if he was violent.

"But this gentleman is the commander of the steamer," interposed the mate.

"I don't care what he is; if he were a gentleman, as you call him, I would treat him like one; but he is a brute, and I shall treat him as such," replied Christy, as two of his men, attended by two more, laid hands on the dripping captain. "You may send his clothes on board of this ship, Mr. Victor. Have him committed to the brig, Master-at-Arms."

There was no appeal from the decision of Commander Passford, for his authority was supreme. The refractory commander was committed to the brig of the St. Regis, and his own steward was sent to him with his clothes, with order to exchange his wet garments for dry ones.

"Sail, ho!" shouted the man on the cross trees, who had remained there during the scene which had just transpired, while the commander was descending from the rail.

Possibly the lookout man had been more attentive to the proceedings on the deck of the Raven than to his duty, for the sail must have been in sight some little time before he reported it. The two steamers, which had been vainly chasing the prize, were now within half a mile of the St. Regis.

CHAPTER XXX

ANOTHER SAILING CONTEST INAUGURATED

Although the Raven had not yet been disposed of, the ship's company were immediately interested in the vessel which the lookout had tardily announced; and the vigor with which he had given the hail to the deck indicated that he was conscious of the defect.

"Where away?" returned Mr. Baskirk; though it was a superfluous question, for all on the deck who cast their eyes to the westward could see the sail.

"On the starboard, sir."

Commander Passford was already examining the distant sail with his glass, as were all the officers who were not otherwise occupied. There were fog banks in that direction; and the craft might have suddenly loomed up out of them, though this did not appear to have been the case. The sail was too far off to be made out with anything like distinctness. It was a steamer headed to the east, and the quantity of smoke that trailed in the air above indicated that she had been liberal in the use of coal in her furnaces.

As the sail was diminishing her distance from the St. Regis, Christy turned his attention again to the prize alongside his ship. The two chasers that had been pursuing the Raven, neither of which appeared to be capable of making more than fourteen knots an hour, were now almost within hailing distance.

The Raven was a steamer of nearly the size of the St. Regis. She was not armed, and had a ship's company of about thirty men, including officers. Her cargo was miscellaneous in its character, consisting of such merchandise as was most needed in the Confederacy, especially in the army. A watch had been set below on board of her to extinguish fires if any more appeared; but this peril had been effectually removed. The attempt to destroy the steamer and her cargo looked like malice and revenge, and some of the officers of the ship thought it ought to be regarded and treated as an act of war.

To burn, scuttle, blow up, run ashore, or otherwise destroy a blockade-runner after her situation has become absolutely hopeless can result only to the benefit of the enemy, since it deprived the Federals of the property that would otherwise be confiscated under international law. But blockade-runners are regarded as neutrals unless proved to be Americans, in which case they are subject to the penalties of treason, and the forfeiture of the ship and cargo is the only punishment.

Christy had never been able to regard this class of persons with much respect, for they appeared to be in league with the enemy. Captain Bristler had not only attempted to break through the blockade, which he and many of his countrymen regarded as a legitimate business; but he had attempted to burn his vessel. He had got out his boats; and when she was wrapped in flames, he evidently expected the Federal victor to pick up himself and his ship's company, and treat the whole of them as though they had not been, at least constructively if not really, in the service of the enemy.

"The cold water applied to the commander of the Raven has had a good effect upon him," said the first lieutenant, as he touched his cap on the quarter-deck of the St. Regis. "He sends word that he regrets his conduct, and asks to be released from confinement."

"He has behaved himself more like a swine than a gentleman; but I have no ill-will towards him, for I regarded him as beneath my contempt," replied Captain Passford. "I can understand his condition, for of course he is suffering under a tremendous disappointment; but that does not atone for his brutality."

"Certainly not, sir. He was running away from the two blockaders that were pursuing him, and had beaten them both. He was absolutely sure of his escape till he encountered the fleet in shore when the St. Regis came upon the scene," added Mr. Baskirk.

"Her captain had no particular respect for our steamer when he saw her, and kept on his course as if in contempt of her, till we dropped a shot near him. If he had headed to the south when he first made out the St. Regis, he would have improved his chances, but he would only have given us a longer chase. Let Captain Bristler out of the brig, Mr. Baskirk; we will see if he can behave himself any better; but I will not allow any man to swear at me if I can help myself."

A little later Captain Bristler came on deck in charge of the ship's corporal. He was dressed in his best clothes, and his personal appearance had been greatly improved.

"Captain Passford," said he, raising his cap to the commander, "under the influence of my awful disappointment at the failure of the Raven to outsail you, I was rude and ungentlemanly, and some of my forecastle habits came back to me. I beg your pardon; and I shall show you that I know how to be a gentleman, if I did forget myself for a time."

"That is sufficient, and I accept your apology, Captain Bristler," replied Christy with abundant dignity.

"I did not believe there was a ship in the Federal navy that could outsail the Raven, for she was built more for speed than for cargo," continued the captain of the prize.

"The St. Regis is not the only one that can outsail the Raven. I have served in a steamer that could beat her four knots an hour in an emergency," added Christy.

"What steamer is that, Captain?" asked Captain Bristler.

"That is not important, but it was the one that outsailed and captured the St. Regis when she had another name."

"Then your ship was a blockade-runner?"

"She was, and also a Confederate man-of-war; she was the Trafalgar."

"Ah! Then I know her very well; and the company owning the Raven, of which I am a member, offered nearly double what it cost to build the Raven for her," replied Captain Bristler. "I can understand now how I happened to be so thoroughly beaten in the last chase. She was built for a yacht, and no money was spared upon her."

By this time the two steamers that had first chased the Raven had stopped their screws, and a boat was on its way from each of them. The two cutters came up to the gangway, and the officer in each ascended to the deck. Christy permitted the captain of the Raven to take care of himself, while he waited for the visitors to present themselves.

"I am very glad to see you, Mr. Amblen!" exclaimed Christy, as he extended his hand; for he recognized in the first officer the gentleman who had been his third lieutenant in the Bronx.

"I am delighted to see you again, Captain Passford," replied Lieutenant Amblen, for such was his present rank. "I am now the executive officer of the Muskegon. I have the pleasure of presenting to you Mr. Cartright, first lieutenant of the St. Croix."

"I am happy to meet you, Mr. Cartright."

"I have often heard of you, Captain Passford, and I am glad to see you in command of so fine and fast a steamer as the St. Regis, though I never heard of her before," added the executive officer of the St. Croix. "Of course you are aware that there is a steamer in sight to the westward of us."

"I am aware of it; and for that reason we should hasten our present business," replied Christy, as he glanced at the steamer in the distance and the trails of smoke astern of her. "I do not know who is the ranking officer here; and I have not yet reported to the admiral, for I took part in the chase from the moment of my arrival."

"You are a lieutenant"—Mr. Amblen began.

"A lieutenant-commander, if you please," interposed Christy with a smile.

"Then you are the ranking officer, Captain Passford, for both of the other commanders are lieutenants," added the executive officer of the Muskegon. "We are ready to transmit your orders to our superiors."

"My orders will depend somewhat upon the steamer astern of us; and if you will excuse me a few moments, I shall soon be ready to issue them," replied Christy, as he took his spy-glass from the brackets, and directed it to the approaching steamer from the west. "What do you make of her, Mr. Baskirk?"

The executive officer had been observing the steamer astern with his glass; and she was not more than four miles distant by this time.

"She is a large vessel, I judge, not less than a thousand tons. She has all sail set and drawing, and she seems to be making very rapid progress through the water," replied the first lieutenant. "But there are not less than three steamers pursuing her, though they are a long way astern of her."

"I make out the chasers, and I should judge that she is getting away from them," added Christy.

"The leading steamer is turning her head to the south!" exclaimed Mr. Baskirk, with no little excitement in his manner.

"I only wonder she has not done so before," added the commander, rejoining the officers of the other steamers. "I believe Captain Wright of the Muskegon outranks Captain Boyden of the St. Croix," he continued.

"He does, Captain Passford," replied Mr. Amblen.

"If you will excuse me a moment, I will write an order for him;" and Christy retired to his cabin for this purpose.

His communication directed Captain Wright to take possession of the Raven, and treat her precisely as though she were the prize of the Muskegon and her consort; and constructively she was concerned in the capture of the vessel, especially in the distribution of the prize-money. He added to the order the fact that what appeared to be a blockade-runner astern of his ship was outsailing her pursuers, and the St. Regis being a very fast steamer, his duty did not permit him to make any further delay in taking part in the chase.

With this order in the hands of Mr. Amblen, Christy took leave of the two officers and they departed in their boats. But he was obliged to await the arrival of one or both of the blockaders before starting the screw, for he was not willing to leave any number of his crew in charge of the prize. While he was waiting, he wrote a letter to the acting admiral of the station, announcing his arrival, and copying into it the material portion of his orders from the department.

The Muskegon was the first to come alongside of the Raven, which she did on the starboard side. Captain Wright, crossing the deck of the Raven, presented himself to Captain Passford on the quarter-deck of the St. Regis; he was received with Christy's accustomed politeness, and the prize was handed over to him verbally, as it had been done before in writing.

Captain Wright began to compliment Captain Passford, with whose brilliant reputation he was already very familiar; but Christy interposed, declaring that he was in a great hurry, and could hear no more, if his orders were clearly understood. Mr. Baskirk had directed the recall of all the ship's company, with the exception of a master's mate, who was to remain on board to give any further information needed to the officers of the Muskegon, and to be a witness in New York at the prize court.

Captain Bristler and his effects were sent back to the Raven, the grappling irons and the fasts were cast off, and the St. Regis backed out from her position on the port side of the prize. During all this time Christy was very busy with his glass. As Mr. Baskirk had discovered, the leading steamer had three blockaders in chase of her. She was now headed to the south, having done so as soon as she saw the four vessels lying in her course.

"Make the course south-west by south, Mr. Baskirk," said the young commander, after he had brought his trigonometry into use again.

Then it became a very exciting question to ascertain which was the faster steamer of the two.

CHAPTER XXXI

A VICTORIOUS UNION

The fog was coming and going in the distance, and at times the land could be just discerned. In spite of the number and vigilance of the blockading fleet, several hundred blockade-runners had succeeded in making their way into Cape Fear River, though several hundred also had been captured, not to mention a very considerable number that had been run ashore or burned when escape became hopeless.

It was the policy of the Confederacy to send out vessels to prey upon the commerce of the United States. Some of them began their depredations without making a port in the South, and a few of the swift steamers that succeeded in getting into Mobile, Wilmington, and other safe places, were fitted out for the work of destruction. The fog that prevailed inshore was favorable to blockade-runners; and if there was a vessel of this character in Cape Fear River, the early morning had been such as to tempt her to try to make her way through the blockaders to sea.

"She is not one of the ordinary steamers that run in and out of the river," said Mr. Baskirk, while he and the commander were still watching the progress of the chase, and Paul Vapoor was warming up the engine as he had done before.

"She is larger than the St. Regis, but hardly equal in size to the Bellevite," added Christy. "She cannot draw more than twelve or fourteen feet of water, or she could not have come out through those shallow channels at the mouth of Cape Fear River. She seems to have the speed to run away from her pursuers; but probably not one of them can make fifteen knots an hour."

The three pursuers of the blockade-runner had changed their course when the chase did so; but it was already evident that they had no chance to overhaul her. They were still three miles astern of her, while the St. Regis, at sunset, was not more than three. Not a shot had been fired by any one of the steamers, and it would have been a waste of ammunition to do so.

"We are gaining on her," said Christy, half an hour later. "That steamer is making sixteen knots at least."

"If she has found out that we can outsail her, very likely she will count upon the darkness to enable her to give us the slip," suggested Mr. Baskirk.

"Mr. Vapoor has come to his bearings, and in another half hour we shall be within one mile of her. But I am afraid we shall not be able to settle this affair finally to-night," replied Christy.

The darkness gathered around the two ships, and none of the steamers in the distance could any longer be seen. The officers could just make out the steamer ahead, which still kept on her course. The midship gun was now brought into use, and a round shot was sent on its mission to her; but with little chance of hitting her in the increasing gloom, for the sky was obscured with clouds, and all the signs indicated fog during the night, which would be exceedingly favorable to the chase. A flash was seen in the distance, and then came the roar of a heavy gun.

"She is not merely a blockade-runner; for it appears now that she is an armed vessel, and has some heavy metal on board," said Christy.

"But no shot has come within hearing," added Mr. Baskirk. "Perhaps she only wished to inform us that she could bite as well as bark."

The St. Regis kept on her course for another hour. Christy was very anxious, for the chase was plainly a Confederate man-of-war, or a privateer; and if she escaped she might begin her work of destruction the very next day. At two bells in the first watch she could not be seen; but the commander kept on his course another half-hour, and then he ran into a fog.

The log indicated that the ship was making her best speed; and if the chase continued on her former course, she must have been within sight or hearing by this time. Christy peered through the gloom of the night and the fog, and listened for any sound. He kept up a tremendous thinking all the time, and acted as though he was in doubt.

"Make the course east, Mr. Baskirk," said he, calling the executive officer.

"East, Captain Passford?" interrogated the lieutenant; and if he tried to conceal the astonishment he felt, his tones failed him.

"East, Mr. Baskirk," repeated the commander.

The course was given to the quartermaster at the wheel; and the St. Regis came about gradually, and stood off in the direction indicated. Christy had a theory of his own, in regard to the probable movements of the chase, and he desired to be solely responsible for the result: therefore he kept his plan to himself.

"Call all hands, Mr. Baskirk, but without any noise at all," continued the commander, while the ship was still driving ahead at the rate of twenty knots an hour.

The ship's company silently took their stations, and no one on the deck spoke a loud word, though no order to this effect had been given. All the white cotton cloth that could be found on board was brought to the waist, where it was torn into strips about three inches wide, and two feet in length. These two pieces were distributed among the ship's company, with the order to tie them around the left arm, above the elbow.

The fog was deep and dense; and the lookouts, who were stationed on the top-gallant forecastle and aloft, could not see a ship's length ahead. Christy had gone forward, and made his way out on the bowsprit, in order to get as far as possible from the noise of the engine. He listened there for a full half-hour, and while the ship had made ten miles.

"Starboard a little, Mr. Baskirk," he called to the executive officer, who had followed him forward.

"Starboard, sir," repeated the officer, as he sent the order aft.

"Port! Port!" exclaimed the commander with more energy.

The orders were passed rapidly through the line of officers till they reached the quartermaster conning the wheel. The captain continued to listen for another quarter of an hour.

"Steady!" he shouted aloud, and left his position on the bowsprit to take another on the top-gallant forecastle. "We are close aboard of her, Mr. Baskirk! Have your grappling irons ready! Lay her aboard as we come alongside!"

By this time all hands forward could see the dark hull of the enemy. The St. Regis was rapidly running alongside of her, for the chase did not seem to be going at her former speed; and no doubt her commander was busy working out some manœuvre he had devised to escape from his pursuers. The boarders threw their grappling-irons, and fastened to the side of the enemy.

The drum was heard on board of her, beating to quarters; but it was too late, for the boarders were springing over her rail. Christy heard one bell on the gong of the other ship, and instantly made the same signal on his own. It was evidently a surprise to the enemy, but the ship's company were promptly rallied. The enemy was overwhelmed in a few minutes, though not till several had fallen on both sides. The captain seemed to have been too busy with his manœuvre to escape to attend to present conditions.

While the commander of the St. Regis remained on the deck, or even on the top-gallant forecastle, the clang of his own engine prevented him from hearing any other sounds; and the enemy appeared not to have seen the ship till she emerged from the fog. The crew of the prize, as she was by this time, were all driven below, and the victory was complete.

"Do you surrender?" demanded Mr. Baskirk of the officer who appeared to be the captain.

"There appears to be no alternative," replied the commander very gloomily: and he did not attempt to explain how his misfortune had come upon him. He had counted upon the fog to insure his salvation; but it appeared to have been the primary cause of his capture, though he certainly had not been as vigilant as a commander should be. Christy came on board, and Mr. Baskirk introduced him.

"I am glad to see you, Captain Passford," said the commander as a matter of form. "I was absolutely sure that you would chase me to the westward, sir; and I had not the slightest expectation of encountering you on this course."

"I took my chances of finding you in this direction rather than in the opposite one," replied Christy. "It appears that I correctly interpreted your strategy, though I dared not even mention my plan to my executive officer."

"I have fallen into my own trap, and being captured as I was, is disgraceful to me," added Captain Winnlock, as his name proved to be; and the steamer was the Watauga.

Christy's opinion of the capture did not differ from that of the commander of the prize, but he made no remark upon it. The Watauga was loaded with cotton, which was to be sent to England from Nassau, while the steamer was to go on a cruise in search of defenceless merchantmen of the United States.

"I have a passenger on board, Captain Passford, who bears the same name that you do, and possibly he may be one of your relatives, though he is by no means a Federalist," said Captain Winnlock.

"Indeed! May I ask his name?" replied Christy very much surprised.

"Colonel Homer Passford, sir."

"My uncle again!"

Mr. French, the master, had already been appointed prize-master; and while Mr. Baskirk was making the arrangements for her departure for New York, Christy accompanied the captain to the cabin. Colonel Passford had learned the fate of the Watauga; and he sat at a table, his face covered with both hands.

"I have brought down to see you, Colonel Passford, your nephew," said the commander; and his uncle sprang to his feet, and gazed at his brother's son as though he had been a spectre.

"Christy!" he exclaimed; but he could say no more, and groaned in his anguish.

"He is a lieutenant-commander now, and captain of the steamer St. Regis, formerly the Tallahatchie. The Watauga is now unfortunately the prize of his ship," added Captain Winnlock, as he retired from the cabin.

"Captured again by my nephew," groaned the unhappy colonel. "I believe you are the emissary of the Evil One, sent to torment me."

"I am sent by the opposite Power, Uncle Homer," replied Christy very gently. "But I am more astonished to see you here than you ought to be to see me, for I go wherever the fortunes of war carry me."

"I was still trying to serve my country in her misfortunes. I raised another cargo of cotton among my friends, and it is now on board of this vessel. It has fallen into your hands, where most of my cotton has gone."

The victorious commander inquired for his aunt and cousins in the South, and informed him that his mother and sister were very well. He added that he should be obliged to send him to New York in the prize, and insured him a brotherly welcome at Bonnydale. He parted with his uncle pitying him very much; but he had chosen for himself which side he would take in the great conflict.

The Watauga had a crew of sixty men, who were to be re-enforced at Nassau, and a large prize-crew had to be sent with her; but French returned with his force in three weeks, and the St. Regis was again fully manned. Christy received a letter from the flag-officer, who commended him very highly for the service he had rendered; and the St. Regis was continued on her present station through the remainder of the summer, and during the winter on the outer limit of the blockaders.

She made several captures, though all of them without any fighting, for no more Confederate men-of-war, actually or intended as such, came out of Wilmington, or attempted to enter the Cape Fear; but he sent a large number of blockade-runners, loaded with cotton coming out, or with supplies for the Confederate armies going in, to New York.

One day in August a large steamer was reported to the commander of the St. Regis as coming from the South. Christy was all ready for a battle if she proved to be a Confederate cruiser; but to his great joy she turned out to be the Bellevite. The ocean was as smooth as glass, and she came alongside the St. Regis. The young commander hastened on board of her, followed by his chief engineer.

Captain Breaker actually hugged him amid the repeated cheers and applause of the ship's company, and Paul Vapoor was received with hardly less enthusiasm. Christy had to shake hands for the next half-hour.

"But how do you and the Bellevite happen to be in this latitude, Captain Breaker?" asked the young commander when he had an opportunity to speak.

"Haven't you heard the news, Captain Passford?" demanded the captain of the Bellevite.

"What news? We don't get the news so far off shore," replied Christy.

"There was no farther use for my ship in the Gulf, and I am sent here to report to the flag-officer. Admiral Farragut turned his attention to Mobile Bay with his fleet; and I gave him the information you procured for me. The Bellevite took part in the battle, and it was the hottest action in which I was ever engaged. My ship was badly cut up in her upper works, but she came out all right."

"This is glorious news, Captain Breaker!" exclaimed Christy, waving his hat, whereupon the tars in the waist broke out in a volley of cheers.

"The carpenters have been busy since the action, and the Bellevite is as good as new," added her commander, as he proceeded to tell the story of the great battle, to which Christy and Paul listened with breathless interest. "Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines surrendered, and the bay is open to our ships."

The narrative has gone into history, and it is not necessary to repeat it. The Bellevite reported to the flag officer; and as her great speed fitted her for duty like that in which the St. Regis was engaged, she was employed as a cruiser till the end of the war, though she and Christy's ship took part in the bombardment and capture of Fort Fisher in January. The end was rapidly approaching. The Bellevite continued to cruise until the end of the war, announced to the world by the surrender of General Lee.

Among the steamers ordered up the James River were the Bellevite and the St. Regis, and the sailors of both were among those who put out the fire which threatened to consume the city of Richmond. Christy saw the President there, and was presented to him, which he will remember as long as he lives. In due time the St. Regis was ordered to the navy yard at New York. As early as possible he hastened to Bonnydale, where all the family and Bertha Pembroke were waiting for him. It was a sort of united embrace which welcomed him; and all the day and half the night were given to the narrative of the young commander's adventures. They were all supremely happy.

Peace had come, and the whole North was ringing with the rejoicings of the people. Thousands upon thousands had laid down their lives in the army and the navy in their devotion to their country, and were laid in graves far from home and kindred, or committed to the silent depths of the ocean.

They had won Peace and A Victorious Union.

It was far otherwise in the South, though Peace spread her mantle over the whole united nation. Her people had fought valiantly, and made sacrifices which no one beyond their borders can understand or appreciate. If the devotion and self-sacrifice of the South, the bravery and determination with which her sons fought, and the heroism with which they suffered and died, were the only considerations, they deserved success. But thirty years of peace have made the South more prosperous than ever before, and her people enjoy the benefits of the Victorious Union.

"Amid the cheers and applause of the ship's company." Page 356.

Homer Passford, like thousands of others in the South, was a ruined man at the close of the war. He had lost his plantation, and he and his family had nowhere to lay their heads. But he was a true Southerner, and he did not regret or repent of what he had done for what he called his country. His brother chartered a steamer to bring the family to Bonnydale, but only for a friendly visit. The reunion was a happy one; and neither brother was disposed to talk politics, and those of the North did not indulge in a single "I told you so!" in the presence of their defeated relatives. They were the same as they had been before the war; and it is needless to say that Horatio generously helped out Homer financially; and now he is as wealthy and prosperous as ever before.

When it came to disposing of the vessels that were no longer needed for the navy, Christy bought the St. Regis, for in a moderate way compared with his father he was a rich man. On the day he was twenty-one years old, Bertha Pembroke became his wife; and Paul Vapoor became the husband of Florry Passford on the same occasion. Over a year had elapsed since the war, and the St. Regis had been entirely reconstructed in her interior, and furnished in the most elegant manner.

Her first mission was a voyage to Mobile to bring the family of Uncle Homer to the wedding. It was the grandest occasion that had ever been known in the region of Bonnydale. The young couple were to spend the summer on their bridal trip on board of the elegant steam-yacht, visiting various ports of Europe.

In the multitude who came to Bonnydale to assist at the marriage of the young hero was Monsieur Gilfleur, who was received with distinguished consideration by all the family, including the bride elect; and it can be safely asserted that he was one of the happiest of the guests who rejoiced in the felicity of the ex-lieutenant-commander, for he had resigned his commission at the close of the war. This was not the first time they had met since their memorable campaigns in Bermuda and Nassau; for the detective had spent a fortnight at Bonnydale with his young friend, during which they had told the stories of their experience in secret service. They are fast friends for life.

Captain Passford, senior, presented to his son an elegant house, built and magnificently furnished while Christy and his wife were voyaging in European waters. It is on the Bonnydale estate: and the grandfather of two boys and a girl does not have to go far to visit the family, for he is nearly eighty years old. Christy is somewhat grizzled with iron gray hair and whiskers; but he is still the same as when he was a young officer, and still as devoted as ever to the country he helped to make A Victorious Union.

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