THE DIGNIFIED NAVAL OFFICER
Corny climbed over the high palisade fence, with the assistance of
Mulgate, and the party walked to the sailboat at the beach below. By
this time it was dark, though the gloom was not very dense under a clear
sky.
"Do you know anything about this boat, Corny?" asked Mulgate, as the
trio approached the handsome craft, for such she was beyond a doubt.
The crusty tones of the speaker indicated that he had not yet recovered
from the set-back he had plainly received in the late conversation,
though he denied that he had any evil intentions in regard to Miss
Florry.
"I do; I know all about her," replied Corny.
"Well, why don't you tell what you know?" demanded Mulgate.
"What do you wish to know about her?" inquired Corny, who was disposed
to maintain his equality in spite of the military rank of his companion,
which he had incautiously betrayed in the beginning.
"Whose boat is it?" asked Mulgate.
"She belongs to my cousin, Christy Passford."
"Where is he now?"
"I don't know, sir."
"Was he at the house when you were there?"
"He was not; and his mother had become rather anxious because he did not
return to supper," replied Corny, becoming a little more pliable.
"This is a rather large boat, Captain Carboneer," added Mulgate, as he
surveyed the trim sloop. "She is rather too large for our purpose."
"She will answer very well," replied the captain, as he applied his
shoulder to the stem of the craft to ascertain how heavily she rested
upon the beach. "Now, do you know whether there is any person on board
of that steamer?"
"Of course, I don't know anything about it," said Mulgate.
"I am sure I don't," added Corny.
"I sent you up here to ascertain all about the Bellevite," continued
Mulgate, rather sharply.
"I have not had time to find out anything," Corny explained, with some
indignation in his tones.
"Corny has done as well as he could in the time he has had to do it in,"
interposed Captain Carboneer. "I think you are inclined to stir up bad
blood with this young man, Mulgate. It appears now that you have a
purpose of your own to accomplish, and that Corny will not allow you
to carry it out."
"My first purpose is the same as your own," replied Mulgate.
"You admit that you have a second object; and I cannot tell when you
will decide to make it your principal purpose," added Captain Carboneer.
"I am not satisfied with the situation. I have done everything I can to
accomplish our patriotic object. You endanger it by your crusty manner
to this young man, who seems to be willing to do his duty; and he is in
a position to be of great service to our enterprise."
"If you think it is necessary, I will take off my cap to this young
man," said Mulgate, with a sneer in his tones.
"Be reasonable, Mulgate."
"What can I do more than I have done?" demanded the military gentleman,
as his title indicated that he was.
"The first thing to do on your part is to renounce this idea of taking
a lady passenger with you in the steamer," replied Captain Carboneer, in
a very decided tone. "Women are not permitted on board of naval vessels,
especially in time of war."
"I don't think I have any idea to renounce," muttered Mulgate.
"You certainly hinted that you desired to take a lady on board, and
convey her to our destination," said the captain, rather earnestly.
"Not against her will, as you and Corny will have it," protested
Mulgate.
"Do you renounce that plan or that idea, whatever it may be?"
"I do not renounce it. If the lady is willing to go with me, as I
believe she will be, I know of no reason why she should not go as a
passenger," argued Mulgate.
"I think we had better abandon the enterprise in the beginning, for I
think we can be of more service to our country at liberty than within
the walls of Fort Lafayette," added the captain, with not a little
disgust mingled with his indignation.
Whatever his object in visiting this locality, he was clearly a
high-toned gentleman, and the idea of prosecuting a love adventure
in connection with what he regarded as a highly patriotic duty was
repulsive to his nature. He found by trial that the Florence was not
grounded very hard on the beach, for the tide was rising, and he drew
the boat farther up from the water, as he turned to walk away from the
spot.
"Am I to understand that you retire from this enterprise, Captain
Carboneer?" asked Mulgate.
"Am I to understand that you renounce your scheme to carry off a woman
as a part of the enterprise?" demanded the captain.
"I do not renounce it, though I have no intention to carry off a woman,
as you put it. The most I have asked is that she be permitted to go as a
passenger of her own free will," replied Mulgate.
"She never will go with him of her own free will," interposed Corny.
"I will not have a woman on board of the vessel, whether she goes
willingly or otherwise. Do you renounce that scheme entirely?"
"I think you are driving me into a small corner, Captain Carboneer."
"After what you have said before, I think I am fully justified in what I
require. With your private affairs, I have nothing to do. If you choose
to marry this young lady, I have nothing to say about that; but no woman
can be a passenger in a war vessel under my command. After I have landed
you at Bermuda or Nassau, I shall not attempt to run the blockade, which
is now enforced, in order to land you and the lady. Besides, we may be
in action at any time after we get under way."
"Then if I do not yield the point, you intend to leave me to carry out
this enterprise alone?" demanded Mulgate.
"In that case, I wish to go with you, Captain Carboneer," added Corny,
with emphasis. "But I want it understood that I shall not leave
Bonnydale without telling my uncle to look out for his daughter."
"Then you mean to be a traitor, Corny?" said Mulgate angrily.
"Call it what you like."
"All this is absurd, Mulgate," interposed Captain Carboneer. "Without my
resources, you can do nothing at all, and it would be foolish for you to
attempt the capture of the vessel. You are not a sailor or a navigator,
and you could do nothing with the vessel if you succeeded in getting her
to sea."
"I have no doubt I could find a hundred men in New York, including
half a score of navigators, to assist me in this enterprise," replied
Mulgate.
"I have another steamer in view, though the Bellevite is vastly superior
to anything I know of in speed and general fitness. Do as you think
best, Mulgate; and I shall be able to explain in a satisfactory manner
my failure to obtain this vessel."
"The fault will be mine, I suppose," muttered Mulgate.
"The court-martial will decide that point," replied the captain.
Mulgate seemed to be buried in his own reflections, no doubt suggested
by the last remark of the other. Possibly he considered that the failure
of such an important enterprise because he had insisted upon bringing
a lady into the affair would not sound well at home. Whatever he was
thinking about, he was greatly agitated, and Captain Carboneer walked in
the direction of the road, half a mile from the river. He had no time to
consider the matter: he must yield at once, or abandon the scheme.
"I will do anything you ask, Captain Carboneer!" he shouted, forgetting,
in his excitement, the demand for secrecy.
The naval officer, as his conversation indicated that he was, turned and
retraced his steps to the beach. He did not seem to be at all excited
because his associate had changed his mind, for in his judgment it would
have been worse than madness for him to persist in his intentions.
"I have stated the case as I understand it, and I have nothing more to
say, Mulgate," said he.
"I renounce my scheme, and I will not ask that the lady be a passenger
even to Bermuda or Nassau," replied Mulgate, though not without a
considerable display of emotion.
"Very well; that is enough. Nothing more need be said about your
purpose, since you have renounced it. Now we will visit the Bellevite,
and learn what we can in regard to her," said the naval officer, in his
usual quiet manner, and whether he was a Confederate or a Unionist, one
could hardly have failed to be impressed by his dignified deportment.
At the request of Captain Carboneer, Mulgate climbed to the forward deck
of the Florence. She was twenty-eight feet long, and her deck covered
more than half of her length. She had a very large cabin for a boat of
her size, which was fitted up with berths, with a cook-room forward of
it, for Christy Passford was often absent a week in her.
"I think Corny had better go back to the house, and keep an eye on
Christy, so as to make sure that he does not disturb us," suggested
Mulgate, as the planter's son was about to go on board of the yacht.
"I think we shall want him, and he had better be with us," replied the
captain, as one would speak when he expected to be obeyed.
Corny climbed up the stem of the Florence. He had never seen the captain
before, and had not even been informed who and what he was; but he
appeared to be a more important person than Mulgate, and he did not wait
for the latter to argue his point. He had sailed in the Florence very
often, and he knew all about her. He took a boathook, and planted its
point on the beach, in readiness to shove off.
"Not yet, Corny," said the naval officer, as he sprang lightly to the
deck of the sailboat. "Let us see where we are before we do anything."
Captain Carboneer seated himself on one of the cushioned seats in the
standing-room, and looked about him. A steamer towing a multitude of
canal boats was approaching, and he waited for it to pass. Then no
steamer or other craft was to be seen on the river.
"So far as I have been able to discover, there are only two men on board
of the Bellevite, and I think we have not a moment to lose," said the
naval officer, when he saw that the river was clear of everything that
might interfere with his plans. "But we must go on board of her, and
make sure of everything before we commit ourselves."
"As you said, Captain Carboneer, I am no sailor; and you don't think of
taking the steamer out of the river alone?" added Mulgate.
"I have not come here on a fool's errand, Major Pierson," replied the
captain. "We are alone now, and we may call things by their right
names."
"But I don't care to have my name used in this vicinity," interposed
this gentleman, when addressed by his own name.
"Your wish in this respect shall be respected, Mr. Mulgate. I was about
to say that I had a ship's company all ready to take possession of this
craft, to handle her at sea, and even to fight a battle if necessary."
"But where are your ship's company?" asked Mulgate, as he wished still
to be called.
"I will produce them at the right time. Now you may shove her off,
Corny," added the captain, as he took the wheel.