A COMPLICATION AT GLENFIELD
The boat in which Christy had come on shore carried off to the steamer
the last load of supplies, and she sailed in the middle of the
afternoon. Captain Passford and Christy were standing on the quarter
deck together; and, as the latter had not had time to tell his father
his adventure before, he was now relating it.
The captain was amused with the story, and told his son that he had been
approached by a gentleman who said his name was Pierson, and he was
probably the father of the enterprising young man who had been so
zealous to assist in the purchase of a suitable vessel for the service
of the Confederates.
"Let me alone! Take you hands off of me!" shouted a voice that sounded
rather familiar to Christy, as he and his father were still talking on
the deck. "Let me alone! I am a Southern gentleman!"
"I know you are," replied Mr. Dashington, as he appeared on deck, coming
up from the companionway that led to the cabin and ward-room, holding by
the collar a young man who was struggling to escape from his strong
grasp. "Don't make a fuss, my hearty: I want to introduce you to the
captain."
"What have you got there, Mr. Dashington?" asked Captain Breaker, who
was standing near the owner.
"I have got a young cub who says he is a Southern gentleman; and I
suppose he is," replied the first officer. "But he is a stowaway, and
was hid away under my berth in the ward-room.--Here you are, my jolly
frisker: and that gentleman is the captain of the steamer."
As he spoke, the officer set his victim down rather heavily on the deck,
and he sprawled out at full length on the planks. But he was sputtering
with rage at the treatment he had received; and he sprang to his feet,
rushing towards Mr. Dashington as though he intended to annihilate him.
But, before he reached his intended victim, he stopped short, and eyed
the tall and wiry first officer from head to foot.
He concluded not to execute his purpose upon him, for he could hardly
have reached his chin if he resorted to violence. But he turned his back
to the captain, so that the owner and his son did not get a look at his
face. Captain Breaker walked up to him and began to question him.
"If you are a Southern gentleman, as I heard you say you were, don't
you think it is a little irregular to be hid in the ward-room of this
vessel?" was the first question the commander asked.
"I am what I said I was, and I am proud to say it; and I don't allow any
man to put his hands on me," blustered the prisoner.
"But I think you did allow Mr. Dashington to put his hands on you,"
replied the captain.
"Of course I did not know that he was a Southern gentleman when I snaked
him out from under the berth," added the first officer.
"I accept your apology," said the prisoner, coming down from his high
horse with sudden energy; possibly because he felt that he had a mission
on board of the steamer.
All present laughed heartily at the apology of the giant mate, and
Christy changed his position so that he could see the front of the
stowaway.
"Why, that is the gentleman I met on shore,--Mr. Percy Pierson!"
exclaimed the owner's son, as soon as he saw the face of his late
companion at the landing.
"I am glad to see you again, Mr. Percy Pierson," said the original of
that name, as he extended his hand to Christy.
"I did not expect to meet you again so soon, and under such
circumstances," replied he, taking the offered hand; for his father
had proclaimed his own principle on board, that, though the war was
not to be conducted on peace principles, it was to be carried on in an
enlightened, and even gentlemanly manner, so far as he was concerned.
"I am right glad to see you, Mr. Percy Pierson, for I think you can
assist me in the object I have in view," said the first officer's
victim, looking now as though he was entirely satisfied with himself.
"What do you mean by calling each other by the same name?" inquired
Captain Breaker, somewhat astonished at this phase of the conversation.
"That is the most astonishing thing in the world, that my friend here
should have the same name I have; and he even thought I was playing
a game upon him when I told him what my name was," replied Percy,
laughing, and apparently somewhat inflated to find a friend on board.
"Precisely so," interposed Captain Passford, before the commander had
time to say any thing more about the name. "But, as you both have the
same name, it will be necessary to distinguish you in some manner, or it
may make confusion while you remain on board."
"I see the point, sir, though I do not expect to remain on board for any
great length of time; or possibly you may not," answered Percy.
"Then, I suggest that you be called simply Percy, for that is a noble
name; and the other young man shall be addressed as Pierson. By doing
this we shall not sacrifice either of you," continued the owner, who did
not understand what his son had been doing.
"I have not the slightest objection. My friend Pierson gave me some
information in regard to this steamer which made me very desirous to
get on board of her. That must explain why I was found here under
circumstances somewhat irregular, though a true gentleman can sacrifice
himself to the needs of his suffering country."
"To what country do you allude, Mr. Percy?" asked Captain Passford.
"To _our_ country," replied Percy with strong and significant emphasis,
as though he were sure that this would cause him to be fully understood.
"Exactly so," added the owner.
"But I see that you are sailing away from Nassau as fast as you can, and
I think I had better explain my business as soon as possible," continued
Percy, who seemed to be as confident as though he had already
accomplished his purpose as hinted at in his conversation with Christy.
"I shall have to ask you to excuse me for a few minutes, for I have a
little business with the captain of the steamer and this young man,"
said Captain Passford. "The tall gentleman who so gracefully apologized
for his seeming rudeness to you will entertain you while I am absent."
The owner presented the tall first officer by name to his late victim,
and at the same time gave him a look which Mr. Dashington understood to
the effect that he was to keep the young man where he was. With a signal
to his son and to the captain, he went below.
"I do not understand this masquerade, Christy," said he, as he seated
himself at the cabin table. "What have you been telling this young
fellow?"
Christy had only informed his father that he had been approached by
Percy, and that he had, as well as he could, evaded his questions,
and he had fooled the young man. He then gave the substance of the
conversation at the landing, which amused both the owner and the
commander very much; though he could not recall the Chinese names,
invented on the spot, which he had used.
"All right, Christy. This young man is evidently the son of the
gentleman by the name of Pierson who approached me for the purpose of
purchasing the Bellevite. I went so far as to tell him that the vessel
was for service in Southern waters. At any rate, he inferred that she
was intended for the navy of the Confederate States, and I did not think
it necessary to undeceive him. With this belief, he sought no further to
buy the vessel, and I had no difficulty in shaking him off. It seems
that the same mission absorbs the attention of the son, and that he has
come on board to purchase the steamer."
[Illustration: "Let Me alone, I am a Southern Gentleman" (Page 81)]
"I told him that you wanted to get rid of her, and that you would do so
soon, by which, of course, I meant that she was to go into the service
of the Government," added Christy.
"I should not have taken this young man on board; but, as he is here, he
may be of use to us. But it is necessary to conceal from him the real
character of the Bellevite, and we will keep up the farce as long as we
please. So far as he is concerned, Christy, you may be my nephew instead
of my son."
Captain Passford led the way back to the deck, where they found the
first officer evidently on the best of terms with his prisoner. But Mr.
Dashington had been as discreet as a man could be, and Percy had not
obtained a particle of information from him.
"Now, Mr. Percy, I am at your service," said the owner, when he reached
the deck. "I think you said you had some business with me."
"I have not the pleasure of knowing who or what you are, sir; and Mr.
Dashington and my friend Mr. Pierson are all I know on board by name,"
added Percy.
"Then you must be made better acquainted before any thing can be done,"
replied the owner, pointing to the captain of the steamer. "Mr. Percy,
this is Captain Breaker, the commander of the steamer."
"And this," added Captain Breaker, pointing at the owner, "is Captain
Passford, who is the fortunate owner of this vessel, though she is soon
to pass into other hands."
"Captain Passford!" exclaimed Percy, bowing to both gentlemen as he
was presented to them. "That is a familiar name to me; and upon my word,
I thought it was Colonel Passford of Glenfield when I first looked at
him."
"He is my brother; but I never heard him called 'colonel' before," added
the owner, laughing at the odd-sounding title, as it was to him.
"Colonel Homer Passford is the name by which he is often called near his
residence," Percy explained. "He is the nearest neighbor of my father,
Colonel Richard Pierson."
"Indeed! then you probably know my brother," said Captain Passford,
interested in spite of himself.
"As well as I know any gentleman in the State of Alabama," replied
Percy. "By the great palmetto! you are Colonel Passford's brother; and
I think you must know Miss Florence Passford, who has been staying all
winter with her uncle."
"She is my daughter," replied the owner with some emotion, which he
could not wholly conceal when he thought of his mission in the South.
"I have met her several times, though not often, for I have been away
from home at school. But my brother, Major Lindley Pierson, I learn from
my letters, is a frequent visitor at your brother's house: and they even
say"--
But Percy did not repeat what they said, though he had gone far enough
to give the father of Florry something like a shock.
"What were you about to say, Mr. Percy?" he asked.
"I think I had better not say it, for it may have been a mere idle
rumor," answered Percy, who was now beginning to disclose some of his
better traits of character.
"Does it relate to my daughter, sir?" asked the captain rather sternly;
for, in the present condition of the country, he was more than
ordinarily anxious about his daughter.
"I ought not to have said any thing, sir; but what I was about to say,
but did not say, does relate to Miss Florence," replied Percy, not a
little embarrassed by the situation. "But I assure you, sir, that it was
nothing that reflects in the slightest degree upon her. As I have said
so much, I may as well say the rest of it, or you will think more than
was intended was meant."
"That is the proper view to take of it, Mr. Percy."
"It was simply said that my brother Lindley was strongly attracted to
your brother's house by the presence of your daughter. That is all."
But the fond father was very anxious. Of course the major was a
Confederate.