BRINGING OUT THE PRIZE
It seemed to Christy, after he had completed his examination of the
Reindeer, that she carried an enormous deck-load for a steamer of her
size, and that the bales were piled altogether too high for a vessel
that was liable to encounter a heavy sea. But the cotton was where it
could be readily thrown overboard if the safety of the steamer was
threatened by its presence. He found only the six men mentioned by
Stopfoot, though he had looked in every part of the vessel, even to the
fire-room and the quarters of the crew and firemen.
"I find everything as you stated, Captain Stopfoot; but I should say
that you were proposing to go to sea short-handed. I did not even see a
person whom I took for the mate. Is it possible that you could get along
without one?" said Christy, when he met the commander at the door of the
cabin.
"The truth is, that my men deserted me when they saw the two men-of-war
come into the bay, for they knew I had no adequate means of making a
defence. In fact, the Reindeer was as good as captured as soon as your
two steamers came into the bay, for you were morally sure to find her,"
replied the captain.
"But where are your men? How could they get away?" asked Christy.
"They have not got away a great distance. You could see the gangway to
the shore; and all they had to do was to land, without even the trouble
of taking to a boat. They are all on the long key; and without some sort
of a craft they will not be able to leave it. If you desire to spend
your time in hunting them down, I have no doubt you could find them
all."
"How many of them are there on the island, Captain Stopfoot?"
"The mate, four deck-hands, and two firemen. It would not be a difficult
task for you to capture them all, for I did not look upon them as
fighting material; they have crowded about all the men of that sort into
the army."
"I have no desire to find them, and they may stay on the key till
doomsday, so far as I am concerned," replied Christy. "We don't regard
the men employed on blockade-runners as of much account. But it is time
to get under way, Captain; I have men enough to do all the work, and I
think I have learned the channel well enough to find the way out into
the deep water of the bay."
"As I said before, Lieutenant Passford, I am willing to assist you, for
I am anxious to get back among my own people, and to find a position in
the old navy. I have been master of a vessel for the last ten years, and
I know the Southern coast better than most of your officers."
"No doubt you will find a place when you want one, for all competent men
are taken," replied Christy, as he went to the quarter to see if the
Bellevite's cutter was in condition to be towed by the Reindeer.
He had left the boat in charge of Quimp, or rather he had left him in it
without assigning any particular duty to him. He was no longer in the
cutter, and the officer concluded that he had taken to the long key, and
was fraternizing with the renegades who had deserted the Reindeer. The
long painter of the boat was taken to the stern and made fast in a
suitable place, and Christy hastened to the forward part of the vessel
with six of his men, leaving a quartermaster, who was the cockswain of
the cutter, with two others, in charge of the after part.
On his way he went into the engine-room, which opened from the main
deck, where he had before seen the two engineers, the chief of whom had
received him very politely. He suggested to the captain that he had made
no arrangement with these officers, and he was not quite sure that they
would be willing to do duty now that the steamer was a prize.
"There will be no trouble about them, for they are Englishmen, engaged
at Nassau, and they will do duty as long as they are paid for it, as
they have no interest in the quarrel between the North and the South,"
said Captain Stopfoot; and Christy could not help seeing that he was
making everything very comfortable for him.
"We are willing to work for whoever will pay us," added the chief
engineer, "and without asking any hard questions."
"I will see that you are paid," returned Christy. "You will attend to
the bells as usual, will you?"
"Yes, sir; we will do our duty faithfully," answered the chief.
Christy and the captain proceeded to the pilot-house, which appeared to
have been recently added to the vessel to suit the taste of her American
owners. The naval officer stationed one of his own men at the wheel, and
then took a careful survey of the position of the steamer. He directed
his crew to cast off the fasts.
"Is there a United States flag on board of this craft, Captain
Stopfoot?" asked Christy.
"To be sure there is, Lieutenant," said the captain with a laugh; "but I
do not get much chance to get under its folds."
"Of course you have Confederate flags in abundance?"
"Enough of them," replied the commander, as he drew forth from a
signal-box the flags required. "What do you intend to do with these?"
"I intend to hoist the United States flag over the Confederate to show
that this steamer is a prize, otherwise the Bellevite might put a shot
through her as soon as she shows herself outside of the key," replied
Christy.
"A wise precaution," added Captain Stopfoot.
The naval officer rang one bell as one of his men reported to him that
the fasts had been cast off, and that all was clear. The grating sound
of the engine was immediately heard, with the splash of the paddle
wheels. Very slowly the Reindeer began to move forward. Christy had very
carefully noted the bearings of the channel by which the steamer must
pass out into the deep water of the bay, and the instructions which the
captain volunteered to give him were not necessary.
"I suppose I am as really a Northern man in principle as you are, Mr.
Passford," said the captain, as the steamer crept very cautiously
through the pass between the keys.
"If you are, you have taken a different way to show it," replied
Christy, glancing at the speaker.
"But the circumstances have compelled me to remain in the service of my
Southern employer until the present time, and this promises to be the
first favorable opportunity to escape from it that has been presented to
me," Captain Stopfoot explained.
"You have been to Nassau a number of times, I judge; and it was possible
for you to abandon your employment any time you pleased," suggested the
naval officer.
"It was not so easy a matter as you seem to think; for there were no
Northern vessels there in which I could take passage to New York, or any
other loyal port.
"Mr. Groomer, the mate of the Reindeer, is part owner of her, though he
is not competent to navigate a vessel at sea, and he kept close watch of
me all the time, on shore as well as on board."
"But I understand that Mr. Groomer, the mate, has deserted you, and gone
on shore with the others of your ship's company," added Christy, rather
perplexed at the situation indicated by the captain.
"What else could he do?"
"What else could you do? and why did you not abandon the steamer when he
did so? If one of the owners would not stand by the vessel, why did you
do so?"
"I have told you before why I did not: because I wish to get back to my
friends in the North, and find a place in the old navy, which would be
more congenial to me than selling cotton for the benefit of the
Confederacy," replied Captain Stopfoot with considerable energy.
The explanation seemed to be a reasonable one, and Christy could not
gainsay it, though he was not entirely satisfied with the declarations
of the commander. He admitted that he regarded the Reindeer as good as
captured when he saw the Bellevite and Bronx come into the bay; and he
could easily have escaped in a boat to one of the gunboats after the
watchful mate "took to the woods," as he had literally done, for the key
was partly covered with small trees.
"And a quarter two!" reported the leadsman who had been stationed on the
forecastle.
"The water don't seem to vary here," added Christy.
"No, for the owners had done some dredging in this channel; in fact,
there was hardly anything like a channel here when they began the work,"
replied Captain Stopfoot. "To which of the steamers do you belong, Mr.
Passford?"
"To the Bellevite, the one which lies below the long key. The other has
gone up the bay."
"She has gone on a fruitless errand, for there is not another vessel
loading in these waters," said the captain. "I suppose you will report
on board of the Bellevite, Mr. Passford?"
"Of course I shall not leave the Reindeer without an order from the
commander of the ship," replied the lieutenant.
"And a half two!" shouted the leadsman.
"The channel deepens," said Christy.
"You will be in deep water in five minutes."
On this report Christy rang four bells, and the Reindeer went ahead at
full speed.
"By the mark three!" called the man at the lead.
The water was deepening rapidly, and presently the report of three and a
half fathoms came from the forecastle. It was soon followed by "And a
half four," upon which the lieutenant directed the wheelman to steer
directly for the Bellevite. He had hardly given the order before the
report of heavy firing from the upper waters of the bay came to his ear.
"What can that be?" he asked, looking at Captain Stopfoot.
"I don't know; but I suppose that the gunboat which went up the bay is
firing at some battery she has discovered. They have strengthened the
works in that direction which defend the town, since the only one there
was silenced by one of your gunboats," the captain explained.
The guns were heard on board of the Bellevite, and she began to move up
the bay as though she intended to proceed to the assistance of her
consort. Mr. Blowitt in the first cutter had followed the Bronx, and the
third cutter, in charge of Mr. Lobscott, had gone over to Piney Point,
to which there was a channel with from three to five fathoms of water,
and which seemed to be a favorable place to load a vessel with cotton.
As the Reindeer approached the Bellevite, the latter stopped her screw,
and Christy directed the wheelman to run the steamer alongside, and
within twenty or thirty feet of her. There was no sea in the bay, and
there was no danger in doing so. As the Reindeer approached the position
indicated, two bells were struck to stop her. The flags that had been
hoisted on board, informed Captain Breaker of the capture of the
steamer, so that no report was necessary.
"I have to report the capture of the Reindeer, loaded with cotton, and
ready to sail for Nassau," said Christy, mounting one of the high piles
of cotton bales, and saluting the commander of the Bellevite, who had
taken his place on the rail to see the prize.
"Do you know the cause of the firing up the bay, Mr. Passford?" asked
Captain Breaker.
"I do not, Captain; but I learn that the battery below the town has been
strengthened, and I should judge that the Bronx had engaged it."
"Have you men enough to hold your prize, Mr. Passford?"
"I think I have, Captain."
"You will go down the bay, and anchor outside of Egmont Key."
Christy rang one bell, and then four.