THE CONSPIRACY ON BOARD THE MIDDY.
“Swing round the guns!” said Captain Bankhead; and when the
rebels advanced, they were confronted by the black muzzles of the
twenty-four-pounders.
“There! what do you think of that, my beauties?” added Tom Longstone,
who stood with the lock-string in his hand, ready to scatter the iron
hail among the conspirators.
“Silence!” commanded the captain.
The rebels, seeing what kind of a trap they had fallen into, began to
retreat.
“Halt!” shouted the captain in a voice of thunder. “If a man of you
moves, I will give the order to fire!”
There was no mistaking this insinuating request; and the party stood in
dumb amazement before the frowning guns. It was impossible for them to
help seeing, that, if they made any movement, it would result in the
certain destruction of half their number. Their plans had certainly
been well laid; and nothing but the discovery of them interfered with
their success. Expecting an easy victory, they were confounded to find
the whole project suddenly ruined.
Dunnett looked savagely discontented with the result; and Captain
Bankhead was afraid he would be rash enough to rush upon the guns, and
sacrifice his party. It would have been a terrible necessity to him to
give the order for the destruction of so many human beings as must have
followed the discharge of the twenty-four-pounders, especially as the
engineers and two seamen were also exposed to the fire.
“You understand the matter now,” said Captain Bankhead, after the
rebels had stared at the guns long enough to understand the situation.
“It only remains for you to surrender.”
“Never!” yelled Dunnett, stamping his foot with rage.
“Very well: you can take your choice.”
The villain looked behind him, glancing at the shore ahead of the
steamer. He evidently had something to hope for; as the rebels had
the wheel and engine in their power, and could take the Middy where
they pleased. Captain Bankhead then nipped this hope in the bud by
sending Mr. McBride, with Jack Somers and two marines, to recover the
wheel-house.
Unfortunately, the rebels who had captured Mr. Deane, the pilot, had
taken his pistols from him; and the two men at the wheel were thus
supplied with weapons. The lieutenant and his men were equally well
armed, it is true; but the capture of the rebels involved the loss of
some life, which a prudent officer should always avoid if possible.
There was no other way, however; for the Confederates at the wheel,
beginning to understand the state of affairs below, were putting the
steamer about, probably with the intention of running her under the
guns of some battery in the vicinity.
Mr. McBride ordered the marines to advance, and take the men at the
wheel. They obeyed; but the rebels were prompt and decided in their
resistance, and one of the marines fell. The other, intimidated by
the fall of his companion, discharged his musket, and retreated. Jack,
seeing how matters were going, climbed upon the top of the pilot’s
stateroom,--which was a continuation of the wheel-house,--and advanced
towards the scene of action.
“Shoot them, Somers!” said Mr. McBride, fearful that Jack might attempt
to compromise the matter.
“Ay, ay, sir!” replied our sailor-boy, lying down upon his stomach, and
creeping forward, with his revolver in his hand.
The lieutenant then approached the wheel-house with the marine, ready
to take advantage of the panic which the other movement might occasion;
though they did not show themselves to the enemy. Jack had now reached
a point where he could see the rebels; for, as the reader remembers,
the roof of the wheel-house had been blown off by the shot from the
battery on shore. The two men were crouching behind the door, pistols
in hand, ready to repel an assault in that direction. Jack took
deliberate aim at the man who had one hand on the wheel, and fired. The
wretch uttered an oath, and let go his hold, which caused the wheel
to roll over; for the steamer was in the act of coming about. His
companion, dismayed by this unexpected assault, turned to see whence
it came, and to be in readiness to repel it. As he did so, Mr. McBride
fired his pistol, but missed his aim.
The rebel, finding himself attacked in front and in flank, and not
knowing from what direction the next assault might come, crouched down
in the corner of the wheel-house, and cried for “quarter.” Jack Somers
then dropped into the apartment from the broken roof, and grasped the
wheel, while Mr. McBride and the marine seized the discomfited rebel.
Mr. Deane, who had been thrust into the pilot’s stateroom for safe
keeping, was called out; and the Middy, which had nearly run into the
bank of the river during the affray, was again headed down stream.
The steamer was now a “house divided against itself,” having a Union
pilot and a rebel engineer. The latter soon manifested his opposition
to the dominant power in the wheel-house by stopping the engine. Mr.
McBride, after the wounded rebel and the wounded marine had been placed
in the pilot’s room, left the hurricane-deck to report to the captain
on the quarter.
While these events were transpiring, Captain Bankhead had been
parleying with Dunnett, endeavoring to prevent the scene of bloodshed
which must follow more decided operations. When the rebel engineer
stopped the engine at a signal from the chief conspirator, it was plain
that no further temporizing must be allowed.
“I give you two minutes to surrender!” said the captain sternly. “At
the end of that time, we shall fire upon you!”
“And blow your boat all to pieces!” sneered Dunnett, who evidently
did not believe Captain Bankhead would put his threat into execution,
except in self-defence.
“Whatever happens, we shall fire!” said the captain, taking out his
watch.
Dunnett waited with compressed lips and glaring eyes until the captain
announced that the time had nearly expired.
“Lie down, boys!” shouted the rebel leader; and, suiting the action to
the words, he threw himself flat upon the deck, and the others followed
his example.
Without any orders from the Captain, Tom Longstone and Raymond
depressed the muzzles of the guns till they pointed into the midst of
the two groups in the passageways.
“Those who wish to surrender, come aft!” said Captain Bankhead in a
loud tone, so that all the rebels could hear him.
Before Dunnett could counteract the effects of this invitation upon his
party, the miserable rebels began to crawl aft; for it was not in the
nature of man to face the muzzles of those terrible guns, which at any
instant might tear them in pieces. It was folly and madness to stand up
or lie down in range of such savage persecutors.
The movement soon became general; and, as the rebels came aft, they
were disarmed and secured by the seamen.
“Cowards!” yelled Dunnett. “Will you desert me? Will you put your necks
into a halter?”
The words hissed from his mouth in the fearful rage he exhibited when
he saw himself deserted by nearly all his party. He was a desperate
man, and evidently had no regard for his own life or the lives of
his men. He had risen from his recumbent posture when the stampede
of his forces became general. Finding his words had no effect upon
his frightened followers, he began to flourish his bowie-knife, and
threatened to take the life of anyone who accepted the captain’s offer.
The force of example was potent; and apparently there were not more
than half a dozen who were willing to stand by him in his reckless
measures. The battle among the rebels themselves had actually
commenced; and the desperado had stabbed two or three of his miserable
crew, when Captain Bankhead considered it time for him to interfere.
He ordered six marines to advance with bayonets, under the direction
of Mr. Dickey, to be supported by half the crew with cutlasses and
pistols.
Mr. Dickey, with his sword drawn, advanced valiantly to the charge.
Dunnett, and the half-dozen rebels who still adhered to his failing
fortunes, retreated to the bow of the steamer, passing over the wounded
and frightened ones who had been vainly striving to escape the fury of
their own leader.
“Come on, my men!” shouted Mr. Dickey, who led the way ten feet ahead
of the marines, when the rebels fled from the heavy force sent to
capture them.
He rushed forward, flourishing his sword in the air exactly as he
had seen the weapon displayed in pictures of such desperate affrays.
Dunnett probably inspired with a supreme contempt for this puny
antagonist, and more likely with a desire to wreak his vengeance upon
the authors of his discomfiture, advanced upon him; and the captain
trembled for the fate of his little officer. But Mr. Dickey parried
the blow of the bowie-knife with the trusty blade, which had hitherto
been only an ornament in his hand; and, stepping back a pace or two, he
drew his pistol, and fired. Dunnett fell. The marines then charged upon
the others who supported him. Disheartened by the fate of their chief,
they gave way, and, throwing down their knives, were made prisoners.
The battle was ended, and the Middy still remained in possession of the
original officers and crew.
“Mr. Dickey, you have done nobly!” said Captain Bankhead, when the
gallant tars had given the cheers which are almost irrepressible after
a victory.
“Hurrah!” shouted the crew, as the captain took the hand of his
second-lieutenant.
“Thank you, sir. I have only endeavored to do my duty,” replied Mr.
Dickey.
“You have done it bravely; and I thank you for your valuable services,
which, I assure you, I shall not fail to embody in my report to the
flag-officer.”
“I am very grateful to you, sir, both for the opportunity you afforded
me of serving the cause, and for your kind appreciation of my humble
endeavors to do my duty,” added Mr. Dickey.
“But there is another man on board who ought to be remembered at this
time,--one who ferreted out this plot, and gave me the information in
time to prevent its execution. Where is Somers?”
“Somers again!” exclaimed Mr. Dickey, facetiously repeating the
captain’s words on a former occasion.
“I am here, sir,” said Jack, who, after the engine started, had come
down from the wheel-house to witness the exciting events transpiring on
the main-deck,--“I am here, sir; but----”
“Hurrah!” shouted the crew.
“The credit does not belong to me, Captain Bankhead,” continued Jack.
“It was Tom Longstone----”
“Vast heavin’, my darling!” interposed that veteran. “It was Jack
Somers, your honor. Don’t believe a word he says about me, sir.”
“It was Longstone who first found out about it, sir. He told me when he
came up to relieve the wheel, at dinner-time.”
“Hurrah!” shouted the crew, swinging their caps in honor of the veteran
quartermaster.
“Silence, my lads!” said the captain.
“Who climbed up the wind-sail, and heard what the lubbers had to say?”
persisted Tom stoutly.
“We owe our safety to both of you; and both of you have behaved very
handsomely during the affair.”
“Somers certainly has,” added Mr. McBride, who now reported the events
which had taken place at the wheel-house.
“Somers again!” added Mr. Dickey.
Jack blushed, and was glad when the orders were given to dispose of the
rebel prisoners. Dunnett was the only man killed during the exciting
affray; the ball from Mr. Dickey’s pistol passing through his head. The
marine wounded on the hurricane-deck was in a critical condition. The
ball from Jack’s pistol had passed through the rebel’s shoulder; but
his wound was not mortal. Three of the desperadoes, stabbed by Dunnett
and his immediate supporters, appeared not to be dangerously hurt.
All of these sufferers were placed in the cabin, and the surgeon was
already attending to them.
When the usual order and quiet of the steamer had been restored,
Captain Bankhead examined the prisoners in relation to the desperate
enterprise they had undertaken. It was ascertained that Dunnett was a
lieutenant in the light-battery which had fired upon the Middy in her
passage up the river, and that the men were, most of them, members of
the company. Dunnett had suggested the plot, and selected the men to
carry it out. Knowing that the steamer would soon be beaten back by the
heavy battery above, he had awaited her return, and hailed her under
cover of a flag of truce. They had been provided with bowie-knives,
which they had concealed about their persons, though they had not
expected to be deprived of their guns and pistols. The wariness of
Captain Bankhead had prevented the earlier execution of the treacherous
scheme, which could hardly have failed of ultimate success if the
suspicions of Tom Longstone and the investigations of Jack Somers had
not disclosed it in season to prevent its accomplishment.
The Middy reached the Mississippi at dark, and joined the fleet which
was blockading the mouth of the Red River. The next day, she reported
to the flag-officer at Baton Rouge, and was ordered to New Orleans for
repairs.