THE CASTING OFF OF THE TOWLINE
Christy Passford had been through this channel at least half a dozen
times in the Bellevite, and knew all the courses and bearings, though
the latter did not count in the dense fog which had settled down on the
vicinity of the fort. The lights in the binnacle of the West Wind had
not been put out, though they could not be noticed outside of the
schooner. The great fortress could not be seen, and it was as silent
as a tomb.
"How does she head, Christy?" asked Graines, as they met at the wheel.
"South a quarter west," replied the lieutenant, "which is the correct
course. The fog is very dense just now. I think we have passed the
obstructions by this time, though I do not know precisely where they
are placed."
"I should call it mighty ticklish navigation just here," added the
engineer.
"It is all of that, or will be in five or ten minutes more. Sand Island
Lighthouse is not more than a quarter of a mile from the middle of the
channel, and at that point the course changes. Perhaps the pilot can
make out the lighthouse in the fog. If he don't he will run into five
or six feet of water in a few minutes, out of eight fathoms or more."
"I suppose you are prepared to let go the towline if anything goes
wrong, Mr. Passford?" added the engineer, perhaps as a suggestion rather
than as a question.
"I hope it will not come to that, for the schooner might get aground on
the Knoll before we could make sail," replied Christy.
"The steamer has shifted her helm," said Graines, to the great relief of
the lieutenant. "The fog is lifting again, and the pilot must have seen
the lighthouse. We are headed more to the eastward now."
"The course is south by west, three-quarters west, when the lighthouse
bears west by south. We are out of the woods now, and there will be no
trouble at all till some blockader stirs up the waters," said Christy.
"I wonder where the Bellevite is just now," added Graines, as he looked
all about him as the fog lifted a little more, though it was still too
thick to make out any vessel, if there were any near.
"If my messenger reached the ship in time, she will be found somewhere
near the channel," replied Christy. "Call Lines, if you please, Mr.
Graines."
The seaman presently appeared; and the lieutenant directed him to take
the wheel, French instructing him how to keep the vessel in line with
the steamer.
"I believe you have sailed a schooner, French," said Christy, when he
had taken the man to the quarter.
"Yes, sir; I was mate of a coaster for three years, and I should have
become master of her if the war had not come, and I felt that I ought to
go into the navy, though I haven't got ahead much yet, as I expected I
should; but I am satisfied to fight for my country where I am."
"That is patriotic; and I hope a higher position will be found for you.
But we have not time to talk about that now," continued Christy. "It may
be necessary or advisable for Mr. Graines and myself to leave the West
Wind at any moment now. In that case I shall place this vessel in your
charge, and you will take her off where the Bellevite was moored last
night, and come to anchor."
"Thank you, sir; and I will endeavor to do my duty faithfully," replied
French, touching his cap.
"Now call the men aft, and I will explain the matter to them."
The lieutenant explained the situation, and directed the other five
seamen to respect and obey the man he had selected as captain. Then he
directed French to cast off the stops from the foresail and mainsail,
and have the jib and flying-jib ready to set at a moment's notice.
"I don't think Captain Sullendine can get out of his stateroom, where
he has been confined, or Bokes out of the deck-house; but if either of
them should do so, you must secure them as you think best," continued
Christy. "Do you fully understand your orders, French?"
"Perfectly, Mr. Passford; and I will do my duty as well as I know how,"
answered the able seaman, who, like many others in the service, deserved
a better position.
The new officer and crew went to work on the sails, and in a few minutes
they were ready to be set. Another bank of fog was rolling up, in which
the two vessels would soon be involved. But the Tallahatchie was in a
position where it was plain sailing now, and her future troubles would
all come from the blockaders.
"There you are!" exclaimed the engineer, as the peal of a gun boomed
over the water from the westward. "The steamer has been seen by a
blockader, and she will catch it now."
"I don't believe that was one of the Bellevite's guns," added Christy.
"Captain Breaker would not take a position over to the westward, for
that would give him the outside track, and he always goes at anything by
the shortest way."
"We have the fog again for the next ten or fifteen minutes. The
blockader that fired that shot must have got a sight at the steamer, and
she is still pegging away at her. We may get knocked over by our own
guns," continued Graines.
"There is no danger at present. She can't hit anything in this fog
except by a chance shot."
"And one of them sometimes does the most mischief. The fog is heavier
just now than it has been at any time during the night. I can't see the
Tallahatchie just now."
"It is blacker than a stack of blackbirds," added Christy. "I am
confident that we are at least a mile south of the lighthouse, and we
will take advantage of the gloom to hoist the mainsail, and then the
foresail if it holds as it is now;" and he gave the order to French,
who was assisted by the engineer in the work.
The lieutenant took the wheel, and sent Lines to assist the others.
The blockader to the westward continued to discharge her guns; but her
people could see nothing, and her solid shot began to fall astern of
the West Wind, and the Tallahatchie took no notice of her or her guns.
Christy saw that the fog was lifting again, and this would reveal to the
steamer ahead what he had been doing. Besides, he had gone in tow as
long as he intended. Graines reported the two sails as set.
"Stand by to hoist the jib!" he shouted, deeming it no longer necessary
to conceal his movements.
"What are you doing there?" demanded the officer, who seemed to be in
charge of the after part of the steamer; and his tones, with the flood
of profanity he poured out, indicated that he was in a violent fit of
anger.
"I reckon we won't tow any farther," replied Christy, who was still at
the wheel, and the officer yelled loud enough for him to hear at the
helm; but French repeated his answer.
"All ready to hoist the jib," Graines reported.
"Cast off the towline!" shouted Christy at the top of his lungs. "Hoist
the jib!"
"Towline all clear!" called the engineer a moment later, and the jib
went up in a hurry.
The jib filled on the starboard tack, and the West Wind went off to the
south-east as Christy put up the helm. The fog lifted just enough to
enable the officer at the stern of the steamer to see the West Wind
as she went off on her new course. No one on the former could have
suspected that the latter had changed hands; for French had answered for
Captain Sullendine every time a call was made, and his voice was not
unlike that of the master of the schooner.
Christy could not understand why the officer who used so many expletives
should be dissatisfied, for the Tallahatchie could certainly make better
time when no longer encumbered by the towing of the West Wind. But it
must look to him just as though the schooner would be captured by the
steamer to the westward, which had been uselessly firing at the
blockade-runners in the densest of the fog. He could not help seeing
that the vessel in tow had set her sails, and therefore the casting off
of the wire rope could not have been caused by an accident.
The action of the captain of the schooner, for they had no reason to
suppose the change on board of the schooner was not made by him, must
have bewildered the officers of the Tallahatchie. But the fog was
lifting, the steamer to windward was now under way, though moving very
slowly, and her solid shot fell very near to the Confederate vessel.
By this time the sails of the West Wind were all drawing full, and the
craft was making very good headway through the water. The fog bank had
scattered, and appeared now to be in a dozen smaller masses, floating
off in the direction of Mobile Point. Christy still retained the wheel,
while Graines was putting everything in order forward and in the waist,
after setting the sails.
"Send French aft to take the wheel, Mr. Graines," called Christy, as the
engineer came aft to see the main sheet.
This man, who was the captain of the forecastle, one of the most
important and best-paid of the petty officers, hastened aft to relieve
the chief of the expedition, who went to work with his own hands when
the exigency of the service required.
"Make the course south-west, French," said Christy, as he abandoned the
wheel to the petty officer.
"South-west, sir," repeated the seaman.
"Can you make out the Bellevite, Mr. Graines?" asked he, as he met the
engineer on the quarterdeck.
"I have kept a sharp lookout for her, Mr. Passford, but I have not seen
her yet," replied Graines, as he looked earnestly in the direction in
which the schooner was headed.
"If Captain Breaker received my message sent by Weeks, the ship must
have taken a position somewhere below the entrance to the channel, and
that is about four miles south of the fort, and out of the reach of any
of its guns," added the lieutenant.
"There are half a dozen of those fog banks floating about near the water
in that direction, and she may be there," replied Graines, as he took a
spy-glass from the brackets in the companion. "Very likely she is down
that way somewhere, and the Tallahatchie may run right into her."
"I don't think Captain Breaker would place his ship where anything of
this kind would be likely to happen," replied Christy. "It is still as
dark as Egypt ahead, and I think we shall see the Bellevite very soon."
The Confederate steamer had sensibly increased her speed, and gave no
attention whatever to the schooner or the blockader to the westward of
her. Captain Rombold seemed to be possessed of a supreme confidence in
the speed of his steamer, and a complete assurance that he should escape
unscathed from all pursuers, if any attempted to follow him. He was not
aware that the Bellevite had recently had her bottom cleaned, and her
engine put in thoroughly good condition, so that she could make as many
knots in an hour as ever before; and that was saying more than could be
said of any other craft in the navy.
"I would give my month's pay to know what the Tallahatchie has for a
midship gun," said Christy, still gazing at the Confederate vessel as
she continued to increase her speed.
Suddenly, without saying anything, Graines, who had been at his side,
left him, and hastened to the companion, where he stooped down and gazed
into the cabin. Christy had heard nothing to attract his attention, but
he concluded that Captain Sullendine had escaped from his prison, and
he called the two men who had been stationed in the waist to the
quarter-deck to render such assistance as the engineer might need; but
this officer remained at the entrance to the cabin, and made no further
movement.