A VERY IMPORTANT SERVICE
The Reindeer went ahead at full speed, while the Bellevite stood up the
bay, picking up the crew of Mr. Blowitt's boat on the way, evidently
with the intention of taking part in the action which the Bronx had
initiated. The loud reports at intervals indicated that the Bronx was
using her big midship gun, while the feebler sounds proved that the
metal of the battery was much lighter. The prize was not a fast steamer,
and she was over an hour in making the dozen miles to Egmont Island, on
which was the tower of a lighthouse forty feet high, but no use was made
of it at that time.
The Bellevite proceeded very slowly, sounding all the time; but at the
end of half an hour the Reindeer was at least ten miles from her, which
was practically out of sight and hearing. About this time Christy
observed that Captain Stopfoot left the pilot-house, where he had
remained from the first; but he paid no attention to him. He had three
men on the quarter-deck of the steamer, one in the pilot-house with him,
and five more in other parts of the vessel.
Christy knew the channel to the south of the lighthouse, and piloted
the steamer to a point about half a mile to the westward of the island.
He was looking through one of the forward windows of the pilot-house,
selecting a proper place to come to anchor, in accordance with the
orders of Captain Breaker. While he was so engaged he heard some sort of
a disturbance in the after part of the steamer.
"On deck there!" he called sharply; and the five men who had been
stationed in this part of the steamer stood up before him, jumping up
from the beds they had made for themselves on the cotton bales, or
rushing out from behind them. "Hopkins and White, go aft and ascertain
the cause of that disturbance," he added.
The two men promptly obeyed the order, and the naval officer directed
the other three to stand by to anchor the steamer. In a few minutes the
anchor was ready to let go. Perhaps a quarter of an hour had elapsed,
when Christy began to wonder what had become of the two men he had sent
aft to report on the disturbance.
"Linman," he called to one of the three men on the forecastle, "go aft
and see what has become of Hopkins and White."
Linman proceeded to obey the order, but had not been gone twenty
seconds, before the noise of another disturbance came to Christy's ears,
and this time it sounded very much like a scuffle. Up to this moment,
and even since Captain Stopfoot had left the pilot-house, Christy had
not suspected that anything on board was wrong. The sounds that came
from the after part of the vessel excited his suspicions, though they
did not assure him that the ship's company of the steamer were engaged
in anything like a revolt.
"Follow me, Bench and Kingman!" he shouted to the two men that remained
on the forecastle. "Strike two bells, Landers," he added to the
wheelman.
Christy had drawn the cutlass he carried in his belt, and was ready,
with the assistance of the two men he had called, to put down any
insubordination that might have been manifested by the ship's company of
the prize. He would have been willing to admit, if he had given the
matter any attention at that moment, that it was the natural right of
the captured captain and his men to regain possession of their persons
and property by force and violence; but he was determined to make it
dangerous for them to do so.
"On the forecastle, sir!" exclaimed Landers, the wheelman.
Christy had put his hand upon the door of the pilot-house to open it as
the two men were moving aft; but he looked out the window at the
exclamation of the wheelman. The cotton bales seemed to have become
alive all at once, for half a dozen of them rolled over like a spaniel
just out of the water, and four men leaped out from under them, or from
apertures which had been formed beneath them.
[Illustration:
"His assailant put his arms around him and hugged him like a bear."
Page 339.]
Bench and Kingman seemed to be bewildered, and both of them were thrown
down by the movement of the bales. The four men who had so suddenly
appeared sprang upon them, and almost in the twinkling of an eye had
tied their hands behind them. Christy drew one of the revolvers from his
belt; but he did not fire, for he was as likely to hit his own men as
their assailants. The victors in the struggle dragged the two men into
the forecastle, and disappeared themselves.
Christy was almost confounded by the suddenness of the attack; but he
did not give up the battle, for he had at least six men in the after
part of the steamer. Bidding Landers draw his cutlass and follow him, he
rushed out at the door he had before opened. He could not see anything
aft but the walls of cotton bales, with a narrow passage between them
and the bulwarks. He moved aft with his eyes wide open; but he had not
gone ten feet before a man dropped down upon him from the top of the
deck-load with so much force as to carry him down to the planks.
His assailant put his arms around him and hugged him like a bear, so
that he could neither use his cutlass nor his revolvers. At the same
moment another man dropped down on Landers in like manner. It was
impossible to resist an attack made from overhead, where it was least
expected, and when they were taken by surprise. Christy was a prisoner,
and his hands were bound behind him.
At this moment Captain Stopfoot presented himself before the
prize-master, his face covered with smiles, and nervous from the excess
of his joy at the recapture of the Reindeer. Christy could not see what
had become of the rest of his men. He knew that three of them had been
secured, but he did not know what had become of the other six, and he
had some hope that they had escaped their assailants, and were in
condition to render him needed assistance, for it seemed impossible that
all of them could have been overcome.
In spite of his chagrin and mortification, Christy could not help seeing
that the affair on the part of Captain Stopfoot had been well managed,
and that the author of the plot was smart enough to be a Yankee, whether
he was one or not. It was evident enough now that the mate and the rest
of the crew had not "taken to the woods," but had been concealed in such
dens as could be easily made among the cotton bales.
"I hope you are not very uncomfortable, Mr. Passford," said Captain
Stopfoot, as he presented his smiling face before his late captor.
"Physically, I am not very uncomfortable, in spite of these bonds; but
otherwise, I must say that I am. I am willing to acknowledge that it is
a bad scrape for me," replied Christy as good-naturedly as possible, for
his pride would not allow him to let the enemy triumph over him.
"That would not be at all unnatural, and I think it is a very bad scrape
for a naval officer of your high reputation to get into," added the
captain. "But I desire to say, Mr. Passford, that I have no ill-will
towards you, and it will not be convenient for me to send you to a
Confederate prison, important as such a service would be to our cause."
"I judge that you are not as anxious as you were to get into the old
navy," added Christy.
"I confess that I am not, and that I should very much prefer to obtain a
good position in the Confederate navy. I hope you will excuse the little
fictions in which I indulged for your amusement. I was born in the very
heart of the State of Alabama, and never saw Long Island in all my
life," continued the captain. "By the way, my mate is not part owner of
the Reindeer, though he is just as faithful to her interests as though
he owned the whole of her; and it was he that pounced down upon you at
the right moment. I assure you he is a very good fellow, and I hope you
will not have any grudge against him."
"Not the least in the world, Captain Stopfoot," replied Christy.
"I hope I shall not be obliged to detain you long, Mr. Passford; and I
shall not unless one of your gunboats chases me. I shall endeavor to put
you and your men on shore at the Gasparilla Pass, where you can hail one
of the gunboats as it comes along in pursuit of the Reindeer, though I
hope they will not sail for this purpose before night."
"The Bellevite is not likely to discover the absence of the prize at
present, for she will have to remain up the bay over one tide," said the
mate.
"That is what I was calculating upon," added the captain. "Now, Mr.
Passford, I shall be compelled to take my leave of you, for we have to
stow the cotton over again before we go to sea. I am exceedingly obliged
to you for the very valuable service you have rendered me."
"I was not aware that I had rendered you any service," replied Christy,
wondering what he could mean.
"You are not? Then your perception is not as clear as I supposed it was.
When it was reported to me that two gunboats were coming into the bay I
considered the Reindeer as good as captured, as I have hinted to you
before. My cargo will bring a fortune in Nassau, and I am half owner of
the steamer and her cargo, if Mr. Groomer, the mate, is not. I was
almost in despair, for I could not afford to lose my vessel and her
valuable cargo. I considered myself utterly ruined. But just then I got
an idea, and I came to a prompt decision;" and the captain paused.
"And what was that decision?" asked Christy curiously.
"When I saw your boat coming, for I was on the long key, I determined
that you should bring the Reindeer out into the Gulf, and save me all
trouble and anxiety in regard to her, and I knew that you could do it a
great deal better than I could. Wherefore I am extremely grateful to you
for this very important service," said Captain Stopfoot, bowing very
politely. "But I am compelled to leave you now to your own pleasant
reflections. Mr. Passford, I shall ask you and your men to take
possession of the cabin, and not show yourselves on deck; and you will
pardon me if I lock the door upon you."
The captive officer followed the captain aft to the door of the cabin.
On a bale of cotton he saw the cutlasses and revolvers which had been
taken from him and his men, which had apparently been thrown in a heap
where they happened to hit, and had been forgotten. Seated on the cotton
he found all his men, with their hands tied behind them. Captain
Stopfoot opened the cabin door, and directed his prisoners to enter.
"Excuse me for leaving you so abruptly, Mr. Passford," continued the
captain while he was feeling in his pocket for the key of the door. "It
looks as though it were going to blow before night, and I must get ready
for it. Besides, the Bellevite may return on the present tide, and I am
informed that she is a very fast sailer, as the Reindeer is not, and I
must make the most of my opportunity; but when my fortune is made out of
my present cargo, I shall owe it largely to you. Adieu for the present."
Captain Stopfoot left the cabin, locking the door behind him. The hands
of the prisoners, ten in number, were tied behind them with ropes, for
probably the steamer was not provided with handcuffs. Christy examined
his men in regard to the manner in which they had been overcome. The
three men who had been left near the cabin door had been overthrown by
those who jumped down upon them when they were separated, one at the
stern, one on the bales, watching the Bellevite in the distance, and the
third asleep on a cotton bale. The lieutenant had seen the rest of the
enterprise.
"This thing is not going to last long, my men," said Christy, who
realized that he should never be able to stand up under the obloquy of
having brought out a blockade-runner for the enemy.
He caused the hands to march in front of him till he found one who had
been carelessly bound. He backed this one up in the rear of Calwood, the
quartermaster, and made him untie the line, which he could do with his
fingers, though his wrists were bound. It was not the work of three
minutes to unbind the rest of them.
Christy broke a pane of glass in the door, and unlocked it with the key
the captain had left in the keyhole.