THE GENTLEMAN WITH A GRIZZLY BEARD
The addition of about sixty persons to the full complement of the ship's
company of the Chateaugay made a considerable crowd on board of her; but
accommodations were provided for all, and in three days the ship would
deliver her human freight to the authorities in New York. The Dornoch
had gone to the bottom with all her valuable cargo; but her captors
would be remunerated in prize-money by the government, so that in a
material point of view she was not lost to them, and there was one less
cruiser to prey upon the commerce of the loyal nation.
Captain Rombold and Colonel Passford remained in the cabin all the rest
of the day; but the next morning both of them went on deck to take the
fresh air. Christy and Mr. Gilfleur were in the waist, and noticed them
as soon as they appeared. They had had some conversation the evening
before in regard to confronting the two most important prisoners, though
without arriving at a conclusion.
"Of course I must meet my uncle," said Christy. "I am not inclined to
skulk and keep out of sight rather than meet him. Though I have assisted
in doing him and his cause a great deal of mischief, I have done it in
the service of my country; and I have no excuses to offer, and no
apologies to make."
"I was not thinking of excusing myself, or apologizing for what I have
done," replied the detective quite earnestly. "That is not the point I
desire to make. Since I went to New York I have looked upon your country
as my own; and I would do as much to serve her as I ever would have done
for France."
"What is your point, Mr. Gilfleur?" asked Christy.
"I do not object to your fraternizing with your uncle, Mr. Passford, if
you are so disposed," continued the Frenchman; "but the case is quite
different with me. In the hotel at St. George's you were not presented
to Captain Rombold, and you did not allow the Confederate commissioner
to see and identify you. Neither of these gentlemen recognized you; but
the captain of the Dornoch would certainly know me, for I talked with
him a long time."
"Suppose both of them know us: what difference will that make?" demanded
the young lieutenant.
"It will explain to them in what manner we obtained our knowledge of the
force and weight of metal of the Dornoch. While we had as good a right
to be on shore in the Bermudas as the Confederates, if we were
recognized our method of operations would be betrayed, and in my opinion
that would be very bad policy, especially as we are to adopt the same
strategy in the Bahamas."
"I see; and I agree with you, Mr. Gilfleur, that it will be good policy
to keep our own counsel in regard to what we have done in the islands,"
added Christy, as he saw Captain Chantor approaching him.
"Good-morning, Mr. Passford. You and your uncle do not appear to be on
very friendly terms, for I notice that you do not speak to each other."
"Our relations have always been friendly, even while I was in a rebel
prison; but I have not happened to meet him since he came on board of
the Chateaugay."
"I will present you to him as his nephew, if you desire me to do so,"
continued the commander with a smile.
"I thank you, Captain: I intended to speak to him when an opportunity
came. But you will pardon me if I make a suggestion without being asked
to do so," said Christy, speaking in a low tone; and he proceeded to
state what had passed between him and Mr. Gilfleur. "I hope you have not
mentioned the fact that Mr. Gilfleur and myself have been in the
Bermudas."
"I have not, for it came to my mind that it would be very unwise to do
so," replied the captain. "Besides, I was not at all inclined to tell
Captain Rombold that I knew all about his ship, her size, the number of
her ship's company, and the weight of his guns. A man does not feel just
right when he finds he has been made the victim of a bit of strategy;
and I was disposed to spare his feelings. He charges his misfortune
altogether to his antiquated steamer, her failure in her promised speed,
and the neglect of the Confederate commissioners to provide him with a
suitable vessel."
"Mr. Gilfleur will keep out of the captain's sight during the run to New
York; but I was acting as a servant when we met him, and did not sit at
the same table. I will speak to my uncle now."
Captain Chantor attended him to the quarter-deck, where the commissioner
was taking his morning walk. They fell in behind him as he was moving
aft, so that he did not observe his nephew.
"Colonel Passford, I have a young gentleman on board of my ship who
bears your name; allow me to present to you Lieutenant Christopher
Passford, who is simply a passenger on the Chateaugay," said the
captain, directing the attention of the commissioner to the young man.
"My nephew!" exclaimed Colonel Passford, as he recognized Christy, and
extended his hand to him.
"I am very glad to see you, Uncle Homer, though I am sorry to meet you
under present circumstances," replied the nephew, taking the offered
hand. "I hope you are very well, sir."
"Not very well, Christy; and I am not likely to improve in health in a
Yankee prison," answered the colonel with a very sickly smile.
"Probably my father will be able to obtain a parole for you, and he will
be extremely glad to have you with him at Bonnydale," added Christy.
"The last time I met you, Christy, you looked upon me as a
non-combatant, released me, and sent me on shore."
"I am not sure that I did wisely at that time."
"I was not taken in arms; and I could hardly be regarded as a prisoner
of war."
"But you were engaged in the Confederate service, Uncle Homer, for you
were shipping cotton for the benefit of the cause."
"But I was merely a passenger on board of the Dornoch."
"Yet you are a Confederate commissioner, seeking a passage in some
vessel bound to England, for the purpose of purchasing steamers to serve
in your navy," added Christy with considerable energy, and without
thinking that he was in danger of compromising himself and his companion
in the visit to the Bermudas.
Colonel Passford stopped short, and gazed into the face of his nephew.
He appeared to be utterly confounded by the statement, though he did not
deny the truth of it.
"Without admitting the truth of what you say, Christy, I desire to ask
upon what your statement is founded," said the commissioner, after some
hesitation.
"As you are on one side in this great conflict, and I am on the other,
you must excuse me for not answering your question," replied Christy
very promptly, and declining to commit himself any farther.
"It is very sad to have our family divided so that we should be enemies,
however friendly we may be personally," added Colonel Passford in a tone
that indicated his profound grief and sorrow.
"I know how useless it is for us to discuss the question, Uncle Homer,
for I am sure you are as honest in your views as my father is in his."
"I have no desire to argue the question; but I believe the North will
come to its senses in good time--when the grass grows in the streets of
New York, if not before."
"You will have an opportunity to see for yourself, Uncle Homer, that New
York was never so busy, never so prosperous, as at the present time; and
the same may be truthfully said of all the cities of the North," replied
Christy with spirit.
"Sail, ho!" shouted the lookout forward.
An hour later the sail was reported to be a steamer, bound to the
westward, and her streak of black smoke indicated that she was English.
She was low in the water, had two smoke-stacks, and presented a very
rakish appearance. She was a vessel of not more than eight hundred tons,
and her build was quite peculiar. It was evident that she was a very
fast steamer. But she seemed to have no suspicions in regard to the
character of the Chateaugay.
Christy left his uncle, and went to the ward room, where he found Mr.
Gilfleur in his stateroom. He desired the advice of the Frenchman before
he said anything to the captain in regard to the approaching sail.
Together they had looked over all the steamers in the harbor of St.
George's, and those on board of them were not disposed to conceal the
fact that they were to run the blockade as soon as they could get over
to the coast of the United States.
"What have you been doing to yourself, Mr. Gilfleur?" asked Christy, as
soon as he discovered the detective, for he had completely changed his
appearance, and looked like an elderly gentleman of fifty, with a full
beard, grizzled with the snows of many winters.
"I don't care to be shut up in this stateroom during the voyage to New
York," replied the Frenchman with a pleasant laugh. "This is one of my
useful costumes, and I don't believe Captain Rombold will recognize me
now."
"I am very sure he will not," added Christy, looking him over, and
wondering at the skill which could so completely change his appearance.
"I want you to see the steamer which is approaching, bound to the
westward. If I am not mistaken, we have seen her before."
"I am all ready, and I will go on deck with you; but you must contrive
to let the captain know who I am, or he will order me below, or have too
much to say about me," replied the detective, as he followed Christy to
the quarter-deck.
Colonel Passford and Captain Rombold had seated themselves abaft the
mizzenmast, and seemed to be interested in the reports respecting the
approaching steamer. Christy called Captain Chantor to the rail, and
explained what the commander had already scented as a mystery in regard
to the gentleman with the grizzled beard. He laughed heartily as he
gazed at the apparent stranger, and declared that he thought he might be
another Confederate commissioner, for he looked respectable and
dignified enough to be one.
"I think that steamer is the Cadet, Captain Chantor; and I have brought
Mr. Gilfleur on deck to take a look at her."
The Frenchman had no doubt the steamer was the Cadet, for she was
peculiar enough in her build to be identified among a thousand vessels
of her class. For some time they discussed the character of the vessel,
and minutely examined her build and rig. Neither of them had any doubt
as to her identity, and the passenger reported the result of the
conference to the commander, who immediately ordered the American flag
to be displayed at the peak; and gave the command to beat to quarters.
"We are over six hundred miles from any Confederate port, Mr. Passford,"
said the captain. "I should not like to have one of my captures
surrendered to her owners."
"Of course you have your law books in your cabin, Captain; but I have
studied them so much that I can quote literally from one bearing on this
case," continued Christy. "'The sailing for a blockaded port, knowing it
to be blockaded, is, it seems, such an act as may charge the party with
a breach of the blockade.' Besides the evidence of her course, and that
of the nature of her cargo, there are two witnesses to the declaration
of the captain that he was intending to run into Wilmington."
"She has come about, and is running away from you, Captain!" exclaimed
the passenger, who was the first on the quarter-deck to notice this
change.
The commander ordered a gun to be fired across her bow, for the Cadet
was hardly more than a quarter of a mile from the Chateaugay. No notice
was taken of the shot, and a moment later the midship gun sent a shot
which carried away her pilot-house and disabled the wheel.