COMING TO THE POINT
Captain Folkner of the Teaser was evidently somewhat timid, and he had
heard of the arrival of the Bellevite. Just now the large ships-of-war
which had been there were absent on their duty, though they were
expected to return at any time. There was liable to be some
unpleasantness at any time between Fort Pickens and Fort Barrancas;
but everything was quiet just now.
Flint had come on board of the Teaser with Christy, but none of the
boat's crew had attended them. The situation was very novel to the
lieutenant, and he did not feel competent to arbitrate between the
contending parties. Besides, he was not willing to believe that he could
be entirely impartial, for he had a personal and patriotic interest in
the issue of the quarrel.
The seamen, under the leadership of Lonley, who appeared to be an
officer, were the more powerful party, and the more to be dreaded. He
was disposed to decide against them, if he could get them out of the way
by doing so. They were willing to leave the matter to him, and he began
at last to see his way through it.
"The captain of a ship is the authority to be respected, Lonley," said
he, when he had made up his mind what to do.
"We might as well bury ourselves in the sands as try to go through
there," replied the leader of the mutiny, who seemed to be a very
intelligent man, and Christy concluded from his language and manner
that he was not a common sailor.
"That may be; but the captain is supreme on the deck of his own ship,"
argued Christy.
"We are not on the high seas, and the Teaser has not yet gone into
commission. It was only this afternoon in Pensacola that Captain Folkner
told his ship's company that he was going to burrow through the sand in
Santa Rosa Sound. We all said we would not go with him; but a dozen of
us came down with him when he told us that he had a way to float the
steamer through, and he was sure it would work. We did not understand
that we were to become mud-diggers. When we got here, we were satisfied
that his plan amounted to nothing, and would not work."
"I am satisfied that it will work," interposed Captain Folkner.
"The agreement in the articles was to run the blockade. If we got
through the sound, it would take a week of constant drudgery, which
we did not ship to do."
"Are you ready to do duty on board of the Teaser when she is in deep
water, Lonley?" asked Christy.
"Every one of us; and every one of the party on shore!" protested the
leader.
"Will that satisfy you, Captain Folkner?" continued Christy, appealing
to him.
"It would if I had the steamer in deep water," replied the captain. "But
how am I to get her into deep water if my crew will not work?"
"Run the blockade, according to the articles!" exclaimed Lonley.
"When are the rest of the ship's company to join you?" asked Christy of
the leader of the mutineers.
"They are coming down in boats at midnight or later; and we shall join
them then and wait till the ship is ready to take us on board. They will
come across from Pensacola to Navy Cove, and then walk till they come to
the Teaser."
"All right," said the lieutenant. "I will land you at Navy Cove, and you
can wait there till the rest of the crew come."
"I am perfectly satisfied with that arrangement," replied Lonley.
"But I am not," interposed the captain, angrily. "What can I do without
any crew to help get the steamer through the sound?"
"I have men enough to take care of you and the Teaser, Captain Folkner;
and the men in the boat will do everything that is required to be done
on board of the Teaser."
"That's another thing," replied the captain, appeased by the implied
promise.
"I can hardly blame your men because they are not willing to go through
the sound with a steamer drawing ten feet of water when there is not
more than six feet of water to float her," said Christy. "Besides, if
you do not get to the other end of the sound before morning, you will
be seen by some of the blockaders, and they could blow this steamer to
pieces, and kill half your people in a few minutes."
"It may be dangerous, but so is running the blockade," added the
captain.
"Going out in a dark night and spending a week in sight of the
blockaders are two different things. But we need not discuss the matter
any more. I will put your men on the point yonder, and then I will
return and help you out of your present difficulty. Am I to take off the
men in the engine department?" asked Christy, as he went to the side
where the boat was.
"No; the engineers and firemen are all right, for they were not called
upon to do any work out of the vessel."
Christy and Flint stepped into the boat, and the crew followed them.
There were twelve of them, and the lieutenant thought they were all good
seamen. He did not like to have them reserved for use in the Confederate
Navy; but he could not help himself then, and he soon landed the party
on the point. The situation had been explained to the crew of the boat,
and they had avoided saying anything to commit themselves.
Though it involved a risk to do it, Christy had dressed in an ordinary
suit of clothes for the occasion, and the party wore nothing by which
they could be identified as sailors of the navy. As soon as the boat had
landed its passengers, it returned to the Teaser at the best speed the
crew could produce.
"I had no idea that you had a plan like this in your head, Mr.
Passford," said Flint, as soon as the boat was clear of Town Point.
"I did not know it myself, Flint. It has all grown out of the
circumstances as we found them," replied Christy. "But I did intend, if
I found the Teaser without a fighting crew on board of her, to capture
her if the situation warranted such a step."
"But you came prepared for just this thing," suggested Flint.
"I came prepared for anything. I hoped we might be able to capture the
Teaser, but I did not expect it."
"I suppose you expect to do it now."
"Yes, I do; and I ought to be broken if I don't do it. I am sorry to let
all those men enter the rebel navy; and that is all that vexes me at the
present moment."
"Perhaps they can be picked up to-morrow, or later to-night," suggested
Flint. "From what I heard, I think she was to have a fighting crew of
about forty men. Of course they will try to join the steamer to-night
or to-morrow; and why not let them do it?" chuckled Flint.
"We will attend to this affair first, but I like the idea."
They reached the Teaser in due time, and all hands went on board of her.
Captain Folkner, with a couple of men he had contrived to retain, with
two firemen, was at work on his apparatus to float a vessel drawing ten
feet in six feet of water or less. Alongside he had a hundred or more of
empty barrels which he was sinking under the sides by hauling them down
with a line under the bottom of the vessel. He did the work partly with
his windlass worked by steam, and he had lifted the bow of the Teaser at
least three feet out of water.
Captain Folkner expatiated with enthusiasm on his plan, and explained
the details to the lieutenant. Christy saw that he had considerable
mechanical genius, but he certainly lacked a balance-wheel. The officer
had set him down as a timid man, but this conversation assured him that
the captain was a brave man. He was carried away with his idea, though
it was plain that he had not examined the question in all its bearings.
"When I have lifted the steamer four feet, she can go through the sound,
for I have taken a boat through that drew six feet. With your men to
help me, I shall get the casks down by midnight, and then all we have
to do is to go ahead," continued the enthusiast.
"Precisely so; and the Teaser is a screw steamer," added Christy.
"Of course she is; you have known her for two months, Gilder."
"When she has been lifted up four feet, she is to go ahead," repeated
Christy, in the tone of a musing man.
"That is what I said; she is to go ahead."
"But what is to drive her ahead? Is she expected to go of herself?"
"Go of herself? Of course not. She is to be driven ahead by her engine
as she always is," replied Captain Folkner, suspending the work upon
which he was engaged, and trying to see the face of the pilot through
the darkness. "How do steamers generally go ahead?"
"If they are screw steamers, they are propelled by the pressure of the
blades of the screw," answered Christy.
"And that is just the way the Teaser will be propelled through the
sound," replied Captain Folkner. "This steamer is to be a privateer, and
I own her. She has cost me about all the money I have in the world, and
I don't want to lose her before I get to sea. If I can get into blue
water with her, I am not at all concerned but that she will run away
from anything afloat."
"How many knots can she do in a smooth sea?"
"Eighteen, and perhaps more."
"Then she is not fast enough for that blockader outside. I saw her
at Mobile when she was a big steam-yacht, and they said she had done
twenty-two knots more than once."
"I don't believe a word of it; and I am willing to take my chances to
run away from her in the Teaser, if I can get out."
"If she is good for eighteen knots, it will not take her more than about
two hours to run through the sound," added Christy, very much amused at
the talk of the captain and owner.
"I don't expect her to go at full speed in that shallow water," said the
enthusiast.
"Do you expect her to go at all when she is hoisted four feet out of
water?" asked Christy, hardly able to keep from laughing.
Captain Folkner was silent for a moment, during which Christy thought
he must have obtained a new idea, for it looked as though he had not
thought of the working of the screw after all his flotation schemes had
been successful.
"I reckon the propeller will have hold enough on the water to make her
go right along, Gilder. I don't reckon you need make any trouble about
that," added the man of mechanical ability, rather sheepishly.
Christy had brought his boat's crew on deck, and directed Flint how to
post them. He thought he had paid proper respect to the talent of the
enthusiast in listening to his theory, and that it was about time to
bring the adventure to an issue.
"I shall not make any trouble about the screw, Captain Folkner, for I
don't think we shall have any difficulty about it. But I believe we had
better not hoist it any higher out of water," added Christy. "I mean
that I think we had better go out of the bay by the main channel."
[Illustration:
"He placed one of his men on each side of the Captain."--Page 233.]
"That means to run the blockade?" said the captain.
"That's the idea."
"Gilder, I want you to understand that I command this steamer,"
continued Captain Folkner, angrily.
"Right, with a little correction: You did command her, and I command her
now," replied Christy, as he placed one of his men on each side of the
captain.