RUNNING THE BLOCKADE.
"Mr. Swayne, you will get the ship under way at once," said Somers, as
he turned from the crew, and walked aft.
The first lieutenant gave his orders, and the crew were soon walking
round the capstan. The officers of the Tallapoosa had certainly used
their time to advantage, for the crew was well disciplined, though the
twenty-four petty officers and seamen from the Chatauqua were the spice
of every movement.
"Where is the pilot, Mr. Swayne?" asked Somers.
"We have one on board, sir. He berths in the steerage. Shall I send for
him, Captain Pillgrim?"
"If you please, do so."
A master's mate was ordered to find the pilot.
"Is he up to his business?" continued Somers, to whom the pilotage of
the vessel was of the last importance.
"Yes, sir; he is the best pilot in these waters. He has taken out a
great many vessels on worse nights than this."
"I could take the vessel out myself, so far as that is concerned," said
Somers, nervously. "Does he know how to get through the obstructions?"
"O, yes, sir; he is perfectly familiar with everything about the bay."
"And the channel is full of those infernal torpedoes."
"It is, sir; but the pilot knows exactly where every one of them is
located. We are in no danger from them; but they will blow the Yankee
fleet sky high when they attempt to come up, as they probably will in a
short time."
"So I understand."
"There will be fun here in a few days," added Mr. Swayne, rubbing his
hands with delight, as he contemplated the destruction of the naval
force gathered on the other side of the bar for the demonstration.
"The admiral down there is no joker," suggested Somers. "He won't feel
his way, and then back out."
"It would be better for him if he did. Admiral Buchanan is his equal in
every respect. With his ram he will stave in every wooden ship in the
fleet. His monitors will be blown up on the torpedoes."
"I hope the affair will come out right," said Somers, rather
indefinitely.
"It will; you may depend upon it, captain. Whoever is here when the
thing is done will see the greatest smash-up that has happened since the
war began."
"I hope so," replied Somers. "But suppose Admiral Farragut should run by
the forts."
"He can't do it; the thing is utterly impossible. The torpedoes will
sink his monitors--they are like lead, and if you shake them up a
little, they will plump down on the bottom like a solid shot. His wooden
vessels, even if he gets by the fort,--which can't be done,--would be
all chawed up in half an hour by the ram Tennessee."
"Anchor apeak, sir!" shouted Boatswain Longstone, who was doing duty as
second lieutenant.
"Captain Column, the pilot, sir," said the first lieutenant, presenting
a person who had been waiting a moment at his side.
"I am happy to see you, Captain Column;" and Somers took his hand.
"Thank you, sir," replied the pilot, who was evidently astonished at the
degree of intimacy with which the commander condescended to treat him.
Already the new captain had won a hard reputation abaft the mainmast.
His stern and decisive measures with Langdon had been privately
discussed among the officers, and it was the unanimous opinion that they
had "caught a Tartar."
"Well, Captain Column, have you got your weather eye open? This is a
dark and foggy night."
"Wide open, sir," replied the pilot, cheerfully; for Somers's cordial
greeting had already produced a good effect upon him. "The darker and
foggier the better, captain, for such a job as this. But there are so
many Yankee ships outside, you can hardly get clear of them without a
shot or two."
"O, I don't mind that, if you can get us well over the torpedoes, and
through the obstructions."
"The obstructions are not of much account, and as for the torpedoes, I
could put my hand on every one of them with my eyes shut."
"Good; but I don't want you to put your hand or my ship on them."
"Certainly not, captain," laughed the pilot. "I know how to keep clear
of them."
"That will suit me better. The ship is in your hands, Captain Column."
A quartermaster from the Chatauqua was placed at the wheel, and when the
anchor was heaved up, the Tallapoosa started on her course. Her wheels
began to turn very slowly at first, and before she had gathered any
headway, a boat touched at her side.
"Boat alongside, Captain Pillgrim," reported Mr. Swayne.
"What boat?"
"I don't know, sir."
"I have no more time to waste; keep the ship moving."
As the Tallapoosa gathered headway, a gentleman, clothed in naval
uniform, stepped on the rail from the accommodation ladder. When he had
reached this point, he stopped and looked down at the boat.
"Stop the steamer!" shouted he, in tones of authority; and to those who
had heard it before there was no mistaking that voice.
It was Pillgrim, without a doubt! Somers was vexed and disappointed at
this accident, which threatened to overthrow all his plans; but he
promptly decided to treat him as he had Langdon.
"See what he wants," said the commander to Swayne, "but don't let the
ship be delayed a single instant."
"Stop the steamer!" shouted Pillgrim, with a volley of oaths, because
his first order had not been heeded. "Stop the steamer, or you will
swamp my gig!"
"Your business, sir, if you please," said Swayne, stepping up to him.
"Don't you hear what I say?" replied Pillgrim, angrily. "Stop the
steamer."
"It can't be done, sir."
"Can't be done!" gasped the traitor. "It can and shall be done."
"Who are you, sir, that step upon this deck in that overbearing manner?"
demanded the first lieutenant, roused by the tones and the manner of the
new comer.
"I'll let you know who I am. Where is Langdon?"
"None of your business where he is," said Swayne, spunkily. "What do you
want here?"
"You shall soon know what I want here!"
Pillgrim was boiling over with passion at the rough reception given him
by his officers on board his own ship. He was disposed to be even more
stern and severe in his discipline than Somers had been.
"Who are you?" demanded Swayne.
"None of your business who I am, if you don't know; but I will soon
bring you to your senses," roared Pillgrim, as he leaped down upon the
deck, and with the step of a conqueror moved aft towards the wheel.
"Halt, sir!" said Mr. Swayne, placing himself in front of the stranger;
for he was roused to a high pitch of anger and excitement by the
unwarrantable conduct of the interloper. "You can go no farther on this
deck, sir, till you explain who and what you are."
Somers stood where he could see without being seen; for his presence on
the deck of the Ben Lomond would have explained to Pillgrim the reason
for his uncourteous reception. He quietly sent the two firemen and a
couple of seamen to the assistance of Mr. Swayne.
"I am the captain of this ship," replied Pillgrim, who found it
necessary to make this statement.
"The man is crazy," muttered Swayne.
"You understand me now," growled Pillgrim. "Stop the ship!"
"I think not, sir," replied Swayne, coolly; and he evidently regarded
the claim of the stranger in the light of a joke, or as the whim of a
maniac.
"You think not!" gasped Pillgrim, roused almost to madness by this cool
disregard of his authority. "I'll have you in irons in three minutes,
you scoundrel."
"There, sir, I have heard enough of this!" said Swayne. "No man uses
such language as that to me with impunity."
"I tell you I am the commander of this steamer," added Pillgrim, who
doubtless felt that the epithet he had used was unbecoming an officer
and a gentleman.
"I don't care what you are. If your boat is alongside, you will go into
it, in double quick time."
Pillgrim began to storm again, shouted to the pilot to stop the steamer,
and behaved in the most violent manner. Mr. Swayne's patience was
totally exhausted, and he ordered the seamen who stood near him to
arrest the interloper. A sharp struggle ensued, in which Pillgrim was
overpowered, and was held fast by the stout tars of the Chatauqua.
The first lieutenant then explained to the captain what had passed, and
what he had done.
"Put him in irons!" said Somers, decidedly.
"Who is he, captain?"
"It matters not who he is. No man can behave in that manner on board of
this ship."
Swayne executed his orders to the letter, and the traitor, in spite of
his struggles, in spite of his explanations and appeals, was put in
irons on the quarter deck of his own ship. He was carried below, and put
in a state-room, which was guarded by Conant, who had orders to shoot
him if he did not keep quiet.
In the mean time, the Ben Lomond,--for Somers, in strict accordance with
the subsequent "ruling" of Mr. Seward, refused to recognize the vessel
by any other than her original name, calling her the Tallapoosa only in
the presence of the rebels,--the Ben Lomond, under the skilful guidance
of the pilot, was slowly making her way out of the bay. A quartermaster
had been stationed in the fore-chains when the steamer got under way, to
take the soundings, which seemed to be the pilot's principal reliance in
the difficult duty he had undertaken. Captain Column had placed himself
on the port rail, just abaft the foremast, and the steering directions
were sent aft through a line of officers to the helmsman.
"By the deep four," sang the quartermaster in the chains.
"Steady!" said the pilot. "Keep her sou'-west by west, half west."
"Steady!" responded the quartermaster at the wheel. "Sou'-west by west,
half west."
"By the mark five!" said the leadsman, a little later.
"We are getting into deep water," said Somers.
"Yes, sir; we shall deepen till we get seven fathoms."
"And a half five!" came from the chains. "By the deep six."
The pilot went on the bridge, and taking the cord attached to the
whistle of the engine, made a signal, consisting of several blasts, with
irregular intervals between them. A heavy bell on shore sounded several
times in answer to the signal.
"All right," said the pilot. "I know exactly where I am."
"By the deep six!" called the leadsman.
The pilot repeated the signal with the whistle, which was answered from
the shore by the bell.
"Quarter less seven!"
"It is all going right, captain," said the pilot to Somers, who stood on
the bridge with him.
"By the mark seven!"
"Hard a port!" shouted the pilot, as he gazed into the binnacle on the
bridge.
"Hard a port!" repeated the line of officers, till the order was
returned by the wheelman.
"Steady!" said the pilot.
"Mark under water seven!" cried the quartermaster in the chains.
"Keep her south by west," added the pilot.
"South by west!" returned the wheelman.
"This course will bring us into the midst of the Yankee fleet in about
twenty minutes," said Captain Column.
"I'm not at all afraid of the Yankee fleet," replied Somers.
"I'm not afraid of anything else," laughed the pilot.
"Where are the torpedoes?"
"Between us and Fort Morgan, which is only about a third of a mile
distant, on our beam."
"And the obstructions?"
"We have passed them; they are of no account. Captain, I think all your
troubles are yet to come," said the pilot, as he glanced ahead.
"Why so?"
"If we should happen to plump into one of those monitors, a fifteen inch
shot would finish this craft in less time than it would take to read a
man's epitaph."
"I have prepared for all such accidents. The Yankees will not fire on
me."
"No?" exclaimed the pilot, wonderingly.
"I think you don't know me."
"I heard the first lieutenant say you were coming down here in one of
the Yankee ships."
"I did."
"Did you, though?"
"We will come to anchor, pilot, when we get within hail of the Yankee
squadron."
"Come to anchor, sir?"
"Certainly; come to anchor, until the fog clears off, or we can get a
little daylight. I don't want much."
"Well, that beats me!" ejaculated Captain Column.
"I shall hoist The Yankee flag over the Confederate; then the Yankees
will think this ship is a prize, and will not fire into her."
"That beats me!" repeated the pilot.
"I came down here in a Yankee man-of-war, and I made the arrangements
for carrying this thing through before I left her."
"O, yes, I see!" laughed Captain Column. "You are playing them a Yankee
trick."
"Exactly so!"
"Capital! capital!" exclaimed the pilot.
Fifteen minutes later, the Ben Lomond came to anchor under the lee of
Sand Island, to wait for a favorable time to continue her voyage.