THE INNOCENT CAPTAIN OF THE GARRISON
The firing of the musketry was continued from the end of the point by
a small squad of soldiers, though the most of them seemed to have gone
over to the other side of the peninsula to take part in the attempt to
recapture the schooners with boats, which had utterly failed. It was now
fairly light, the battle had been fought, and the boat expedition had
done all and more than all it had been expected to accomplish.
Christy had hardly expected to do anything more than obtain information
that would enable the Bronx to capture the schooners, and nothing had
been said about the steamer that had been found there. It appeared from
the statement of Captain Lonley that the Havana was the property of his
uncle Homer Passford; and doubtless he had chosen Cedar Keys as a safer
place, at this stage of the war, to send out his cotton than the
vicinity of his plantation.
Christy certainly had no desire to capture the property of his father's
brother rather than that of any other Confederate planter, for he had
had no knowledge of his operations in Florida. But he was quite as
patriotic on his own side as his uncle was on the other side, and as it
was his duty to take or destroy the goods of the enemy, he was not sorry
he had been so fortunate, though he did regret that Homer Passford had
been the principal sufferer from the visit of the Bronx to this coast.
The planter had now lost three schooners and one steamer loaded with
cotton; but Christy was satisfied that this would not abate by one jot
or tittle his interest in the cause he had espoused. The young man did
not think of such a thing as punishing him for taking part in the
rebellion, for he knew that Homer would be all the more earnest in his
faith because he had been a financial martyr on account of his devotion
to it.
The Havana, with one of the schooners on each side of her, was steaming
slowly down the channel, and the Bronx was approaching at a distance
of not more than three miles. For the first time since he obtained
possession of the prizes, he had an opportunity to look them over, and
collect his thoughts. From the very beginning of the enterprise he had
been extremely anxious in regard to the result.
His orders had been to obtain all the information he could in regard to
the position of the vessels that were reported to be at this port, and
to do anything the circumstances would permit without incurring too
much risk. The adventure had been full of surprises from first to last.
Something new and sometimes something strange had been continually
exposed to him, and it looked to him just as though all the preparations
to accomplish the result he had achieved had been made for his coming.
Before the boats went around into the bay, he had been satisfied with
the finding and carrying off of the twelve-pounders. He had hardly
expected to do anything more, and he knew that Captain Blowitt would be
amused as well as pleased at this rather singular feat. The removal of
the four field pieces had rendered the capture of the schooners possible
and even easy, as it would not have been if the order of Captain Rowly
to drag them over to the wharf could have been carried out.
The taking of the Havana had been rather a side incident, hardly
connected with the rest of the affair. Everything had favored the
young commander of the expedition, and he had made good use of his
opportunities, though he had embraced some of them blindly, without
being able to foresee the consequences of his action at the time it was
taken. He had time now to review the events of the morning, and the
result was in the highest degree pleasing to him.
On board of the two schooners the crew had put in an appearance; but
when he inquired of the negroes he learned that the captains of the
vessels were not on board. The mate of each was on deck, and they were
the only white men. On the rail of the one on the port side sat the fat
captain of the garrison of the place. Thus far he had said nothing, and
he appeared to be sitting figuratively on the stool of repentance, for
he had not been faithful to the trust reposed in him.
Dolly had said he had gone to visit a planter who had a daughter;
but this statement did not appear to be true, for he had put in an
appearance early, as the Havana was making fast to the first prize. He
had left his men in the barrack to sleep off their fatigue and apple
jack after their unaccustomed labor in loading the steamer. He had not
so much as posted a sentinel, who might have enabled him to defeat the
invaders of the port, even with his diminished force. If Homer Passford
had been on the spot, his faith in the Providence that watched over his
holy cause might have been shaken.
"Good morning, Captain Rowly," said Christy cheerfully, as he walked up
to the disconsolate captain. "I hope you are feeling quite well."
"Not very well; things are mixed," replied the fat officer, looking down
upon the planks of the deck.
"Mixed, are they?" added Christy.
"I can't see how it all happened," mused the military gentleman.
"How what happened, Captain Rowly?" inquired Christy.
"All the vessels in the place captured, and carried off!" exclaimed the
late commander of the garrison.
"I don't discover the least difficulty in explaining how it all
happened. You were so very obliging as to allow your men to go to sleep
in the barrack without even posting a sentinel at the battery. That made
the whole thing as easy as tumbling off a sawhorse," replied the leader
of the expedition, without trying to irritate the repentant captain of
the forces.
"And, like an infernal thieving Yankee, you went into the fort and stole
the guns!" exclaimed Captain Rowly, beginning to boil with rage as he
thought of his misfortune.
"Well, it did not occur to me that I ought to have waked you and told
you what I was about before taking the guns."
"It was a nasty Yankee trick!" roared the soldier.
"I suppose it was, captain; but we Yankees cannot very well help what
was born in our blood; and I have heard that some of your honest and
high-toned people have made bigger steals than this one. While I have
carried off only four twelve-pounders, your folks have taken entire
forts, including scores of guns of all calibres," replied Christy,
amused at the view the fat gentleman took of his operations.
"Our people took nothing that did not belong to them, for the forts were
within our territory," retorted the soldier.
[Illustration: Captain Rowly protests.]
"That was just my case. I have the honor to be an officer of the United
States Navy, and as these guns happened to be within the territory of
our government, of course it was all right that I should take them."
"You stole the vessels after I ordered you to stop," muttered Captain
Rowly.
"Precisely so; but, being in a hurry just then, I hadn't time to stop,"
laughed Christy.
"Where are you going now? You knew I was on the deck of this schooner,
and you have brought me off here where I didn't want to come. I am not
used to the water, and I am afraid I shall get sea-sick," continued the
fat officer.
"Perhaps we may be able to provide a nurse for you if you are very
sick."
"Why don't you answer my question, and tell me where you are going?"
demanded the soldier.
"We are going out here a mile or two farther, just to take the air and
get up an appetite for breakfast."
"But I object!"
"Do you indeed?"
"And I protest!"
"Against what?"
"Against being carried off in this way. You knew I was on board of the
schooner."
"I confess that I did know you were on board, though I must add that it
was your own fault."
"I had a right on board of the vessel."
"I don't deny it. You have a sword at your side; but as you neglected to
use it, you will excuse me if I ask you to give it to me," added
Christy, reaching out for the weapon.
"Give you my sword!" exclaimed Captain Rowly.
"It is a formality rather insisted upon on such occasions as the
present."
"I don't see it."
"You don't? Then I must say that I think you are rather obtuse, Captain
Rowly, and I shall be under the painful necessity of helping you to see
it. As a prisoner of war--"
"As what?" demanded the soldier.
"I regard you as a prisoner of war, and I must trouble you to give me
your sword in token of your surrender."
"I was not taken in a battle."
"Very true; your men fought the battle after you had left them. I have
no more time to argue the question. Will you surrender your sword, or
will you have the battle now? Two or three of my men will accommodate
you with a fight on a small scale if you insist upon it."
"Don't you intend to send me back to the Keys?" asked the captain, whose
military education appeared to have been neglected, so that his ideas of
a state of war were very vague.
"I have not the remotest idea of doing anything of the sort. Your sword,
if you please."
"This sword was presented to me by the citizens of my town--"
"Here, Boxie and Lanon, relieve this gentleman of his sword," added
Christy, as he saw the young lady coming up the companion way.
"Oh, I will give it up, if you really say so; but this is a queer state
of things when my sword, presented to me by my fellow-citizens, is to be
taken from me without any warrant of law," said Captain Rowly, as he
handed the sword to Christy, who returned it when it had done its duty
as a token of submission.
The prisoner was marched to the forecastle of the Havana, and put under
guard. Christy walked towards the young lady, who had evidently dressed
herself for the occasion. She was not only young, but she was beautiful,
and the young commander of the expedition was strongly impressed by her
grace and loveliness. He had heard her speak in the gloom of the early
morning, and she had a silvery voice. He could not but wonder what she
was doing on board of a blockade runner.
"Good morning, Miss ---- I have not the pleasure of being able to call
you by name," Christy began as he touched his cap to her, and bowed his
involuntary homage.
"Miss Pembroke," she added.
"I trust you are as comfortable as the circumstances will permit, Miss
Pembroke. I hope you have ceased to be alarmed, as you were when I saw
you before."
"I am not alarmed, but I am exceedingly anxious in regard to the future,
Mr. ----"
"Mr. Passford."
"I only wish to know what is to become of us, Mr. Passford."
"You speak in the plural, Miss Pembroke, as though you were not alone."
"I am not alone, sir; my father, who is an invalid, is in the cabin. The
excitement of this morning has had a bad effect upon him."
"I am sorry to hear it. I suppose you embarked in this steamer with the
desire to reach some other place?"
"We reside in the State of New York, and all that remain of our family
are on board of this steamer, and all we desire is to get home. We have
lived two years in Southern Georgia for my father's health."
Christy thought they would be able to reach New York.