A COUPLE OF ASTONISHED CONSPIRATORS
The fog had been very variable in its density, and had been lifting and
settling at times during the day of the capture. By the time the two
vessels were ready to get under way, it had become more solid than
before. The night had come, and the darkness with it, at about the same
time. The lookouts were still in their places; but so far as seeing
anything was concerned they might as well have been in the hold. If the
Arran was still in the vicinity, as no doubt she was, the Bronx might
run into her. Wherever she was, it was well assured that her officers
knew nothing of the capture of the Ocklockonee, for not a great gun had
been discharged, and the combat had been so quickly decided that there
had been very little noise of any kind.
Everything worked without friction on board of the Bronx; and Captain
Passford felt even more elastic than usual. Doubtless the capture he had
just made afforded him a good deal of inspiration; but the fact that the
mystery of the deaf mute and the second lieutenant had been solved, and
the unfathomable catastrophe which their presence on board threatened
had been escaped was a great source of relief.
The two conspirators were disabled and confined to the sick bay, and
they were not likely to make any trouble at present. If they had had any
definite plan on which they intended to act, they had certainly lost
their opportunities, for the visit of Hungerford to the engine room of
the Bronx, no doubt for the purpose of disabling the machinery, and the
effort of Pawcett to warn the officers of the prize, had been simply
acts of desperation, adopted after they had evidently failed in every
other direction.
Pawcett was not really a loyal officer, and his expression and
manners had attracted the attention of both the captain and the first
lieutenant. The deaf mute had been brought on board in order to obtain
information, and he had been very diligent in carrying out his part of
the programme. As Christy thought the matter over, seated at his supper
in his cabin, he thought he owed more to the advice of his father at
their parting than to anything else. He had kept his own counsel in
spite of the difficulties, and had done more to blind the actors in the
conspiracy than to enlighten them. He had hoped before he parted with
the prize for the present to obtain some information in regard to the
Arran; but he had too much self-respect to ask the officers of the
Ocklockonee in regard to such matters.
The seamen who had been spotted as adherents of the late second
lieutenant had done nothing, for there had been nothing that they could
do under the circumstances. Spoors and two others of them had been
drafted into the other vessel, while the other three remained on board
of the Bronx. They were not regarded as very dangerous enemies, and they
were not in condition to undertake anything in the absence of their
leaders.
Christy had inquired in regard to the condition of Pawcett and
Hungerford before he went to his cabin, and Dr. Spokeley informed him
that neither of them would be in condition to do duty on either side for
a considerable period. They were in no danger under careful treatment,
but both of them were too seriously injured to trouble their heads with
any exciting subjects.
"Good evening, Captain Dinsmore," Christy said, when he went into his
cabin, after he had attended to all the duties that required present
attention. "I hope you are feeling better this evening."
"Hardly better, Captain Passford, though I am trying to reconcile myself
to my situation," replied the late captain of the Ocklockonee.
"Supper is all ready, sir," interposed Dave, as he passed by the
captain, after he had brought in the dishes from the galley.
"Take a seat at the table, Captain Dinsmore," continued Christy, placing
a chair for him, and looking over the table to see what cheer he had to
offer to his guest.
It looked as though the cook, aware that the commander had a guest, or
thinking that he deserved a better supper than usual after the capture
of a prize, had done his best in honor of the occasion. The broiled
chickens looked especially inviting, and other dishes were quite
tempting to a man who was two hours late at the meal.
"Thank you, captain," replied the guest, as he took the seat assigned
to him. "I can't say that I have a very fierce appetite after the
misfortune that has befallen me; but I am none the less indebted to
you for your courtesy and kindness."
"I acknowledge that I am in condition to be very happy this evening,
Captain Dinsmore, and I can hardly expect to be an agreeable companion
to one with a burden on his mind; but I can assure you of my personal
sympathy."
"You are very kind, captain. I should like to ask if many of the
officers of the old navy are young gentlemen like yourself?" inquired
the guest, looking at his host very curiously.
"There are a great many young officers in the navy at the present time,
for the exigency has pushed forward the older ones, and there are not
enough of them to take all the positions. But we shall all of us grow
older," replied Christy good-naturedly, as he helped the officer to a
piece of the chicken, which had just come from the galley fire.
"Perhaps you are older than you appear to be," suggested the guest.
"I should judge that you were not over twenty, or at least not much
more."
"I am eighteen, sir, though, unlike a lady, I try to make myself as old
as I can."
"Eighteen!" exclaimed Captain Dinsmore.
But Christy told something of his experience on board of the Bellevite
which had prepared him for his duties, and his case was rather
exceptional.
"You have physique enough for a man of twenty-five," added the guest.
"And you have been more fortunate than I have."
"And I have been as unfortunate as you are, for I have seen the inside
of a Confederate prison, though I concluded not to remain there for any
length of time," added Christy, laughing.
"You are a fortunate young man, and I do not belong to that class,"
said Captain Dinsmore, shaking his head. "I have lost my steamer, and
I suppose that will finish my career."
"Perhaps not;" but Christy was satisfied that he had lost his vessel by
a want of care, and he could not waste any compliments upon him, though
he had profited by the other's carelessness.
"I was confident when the Bronx approached the Ocklockonee that she was
another vessel," continued the guest.
"What vessel did you take her to be?"
"You will excuse me if I decline to go into particulars. I can only say
that I was sure your steamer was another, and I had no suspicion that I
was wrong till that man mounted the rail of the Bronx, and began to tell
us to the contrary," replied Captain Dinsmore. "A bolt in the engine was
broken, and the engineer could not find another on board. We expected to
obtain one when the Bronx approached us. I was deceived; and that is the
reason why I am here instead of in the cabin of my own ship."
The guest seemed to feel a little better after he had made this
explanation, though it contained nothing new to the commander of the
Bronx. Possibly the excellent supper, of which he had partaken heartily
in spite of his want of appetite, had influenced his mind through the
body. He had certainly become more cheerful, though his burden was no
lighter than when he came on board of the Bronx. Christy was also
light-hearted, not alone because he had been so successful, but because
he felt that he was no longer compelled to watch the conspirators.
"I am sorry to be obliged to impose any restrictions upon you, Captain
Dinsmore," said Christy, as he rose from the supper table. "The
circumstances compel me to request you to remain in my cabin."
"Of course I am subject to your will and pleasure, Captain Passford,"
replied the guest.
"You are a gentleman, sir, and if you will simply give me your word to
remain here, there will be no occasion for any unpleasantness. It is
possible that we may go into action at any time; and in that case you
can remain where you please below."
"I give you my word that I will remain below until I notify you of
my intention to do otherwise," replied the prisoner, though Christy
preferred to regard him as his guest.
"I am entirely satisfied. I shall be obliged to berth you in the ward
room, and you are at liberty to pass your time as you please in these
two apartments. I shall be happy to introduce you to the first
lieutenant," added the captain, as he led the way to the ward room.
Mr. Baskirk received the prisoner very politely, a berth was assigned
to him, and Christy went on deck. It was as dark as Egypt there, but Mr.
Amblen, the new acting second lieutenant, on the bridge, said the wind
was hauling to the westward, and he thought there would be a change of
weather before morning. Mr. Baskirk had made all his appointments of
petty officers rendered necessary by sending a portion of the seamen to
the Ocklockonee. Everything was in good order on deck, and Christy next
went down to the sick bay, where Hungerford and Pawcett were the only
occupants. He found Dr. Spokeley there, and inquired in regard to the
condition of the wounded men. The surgeon described the wounds of his
patients, and pointed them out to the captain.
"Does Mr. Hungerford talk any now?" asked Christy.
"Who is Mr. Hungerford?" asked the doctor.
"He is the deaf mute. He was the first officer of the Confederate
steamer Yazoo when we captured her in the Bellevite last year," replied
the captain, upon whom the eyes of the wounded man were fixed all the
time.
"He has not spoken yet in my hearing, though I have thought that he
could hear."
"His duty on board of the Bronx was to obtain information, and he
procured a good deal of it, though not all of it was as reliable as
it might have been."
"Indeed! Then he was a traitor," added the surgeon.
"He is a gentleman in spite of the role he has been playing, and I am
sorry he has been injured, though Mr. Sampson obeyed my order when he
struck him down in the engine room."
"Struck me from behind like an assassin," added Hungerford feebly.
"Did you expect to arrange a duel with him at such a time, Mr.
Hungerford?" asked Christy. "You went into the engine room to disable
the machine when you found you could do nothing else. If you had
returned to the deck when the engineer told you to do so, he would not
have disabled you. You crowded past him, and then he did his duty."
"I have been in the habit of serving with men who were square and above
board," muttered Hungerford.
"Was that where you learned to listen at my cabin door, and to conceal
yourself under the berth in my state room?" asked Christy, rather
sharply for him. "Is that the reason why Mr. Pawcett wished to have
you do the copying of my papers?"
"I can only say that I tried to do my duty to my country and I have
failed," added Hungerford, as he turned over in his berth, and showed
his back to the captain.
"May I ask, Captain Passford, who told you my name?" asked the late
second lieutenant, who seemed to be confounded by what he had heard.
"You called Mr. Hungerford by his real name, and he called you by yours,
in the interview you had with him the first night out from New York.
I have known you from the first," replied Christy.
Pawcett was as disgusted as the other had been, and he turned his face
to the ceiling of his berth. Christy was satisfied that these men would
give him no more trouble at present.