LIEUTENANT PASSFORD ON A MISSION
The officers on board of the Teaser could not explain the occasion of
the firing on the island, though it sounded as though an engagement of
some sort was in progress. It had been foggy during the preceding day,
and if any movement on the part of the enemy had been indicated it could
not have been seen on board of the ships off the entrance to the bay.
"I hope this business we are to do this morning will not take us long,"
said Mr. Blowitt. "We may be wanted on board, and I should not like to
be absent from the Bellevite if she is to take part in an engagement of
any kind."
"And I am sure I should not," added Christy. "I should not be surprised
if the enemy made an attempt to capture Pickens; but even if they storm
it in the darkness, I do not see that the ships can do anything until
they are able to see what they are to do."
"But this affair may keep us away from the ship for a day or two,"
suggested the second lieutenant.
"I don't think so, sir; I believe you will be on board again before
seven bells in the morning watch," replied Christy. "The ship's company
of the Teaser were to be somewhere on the shores of the sound where they
could be taken on board."
"But the men you landed at the point believed that the Teaser was to
get out through the sound," replied Mr. Blowitt. "They took you for the
pilot Gilder, and you did not tell them that you intended to run the
blockade."
"Of course I did not; if I had, they would have remained on board. But
the guard-boat attempted to stop us, and the artillery on the island
fired into it, though it is probable that they did not hit it in the
dense fog," Christy explained. "Our men may have learned from the
guard-boat that we took the steamer out through the main channel."
"If they did they probably learned that the Teaser went out with the
assistance of the garrison at the fort," suggested Mr. Blowitt.
"I am confident that the officer of the guard-boat would have no means
of knowing that fact," argued Christy. "Of course, he heard the firing
in the neighborhood of the fort, and he would naturally conclude that
they were firing upon the steamer to prevent her from running out."
"That may be; but, to tell you the truth, Mr. Passford, I am afraid we
shall not find these men," added the second lieutenant. "From the firing
we hear, I should judge that a movement of some kind is in progress, and
our men may be better informed than you expect."
"Of course, they may be; but I expect to find these men at some point
along the shore," replied Christy, who thought the second lieutenant was
just a little obstinate in not accepting his theory in full.
The steamer continued on her course to the eastward, and nothing more
passed between the two principal officers in regard to the crew from
Pensacola. But Flint was quite as confident as the third lieutenant that
the forty men, more or less, would be captured. The noise of the firing
could no longer be heard, and then Christy suggested that the whistle be
sounded as a signal to the men if they were in the vicinity.
The depth of water was three or four fathoms close up to this part
of the island. The soundings indicated that the steamer was as near
as it was prudent to go in the dense fog. Christy was sure that the
privateer's crew could not have gone any farther to the eastward by this
time, and the screw was stopped, while all hands made an anxious use of
their ears to detect any sounds that came from the shore. But nothing
could be heard at first, and Mr. Blowitt again intimated that they were
engaged in a "wild-goose chase." But he had hardly uttered this cooling
reflection before Beeks came aft to report that a number of pistol
shots, as he thought they were, had been heard in the distance.
"Nobody can tell what they mean," said the sceptical Mr. Blowitt. "They
may be a part of the affair we heard going on soon after we left the
ship."
"In what direction were the shots, Beeks?" asked Christy.
"They sounded as though they were about half a mile or less to the
westward of us," replied the quartermaster.
"Blow the whistle in short blasts, Beeks," added Mr. Blowitt, who seemed
to have gathered a little faith from the report of the quartermaster.
The order was obeyed, and Beeks again reported that pistol shots had
been heard from the westward. The third lieutenant was in a hurry to
have the business finished, for he felt confident that the Bellevite
would soon be engaged in an affair of more importance than picking up
a couple of score of prisoners. He ordered the steamer to come about,
and move to the westward; but after she had been under way about five
minutes, he rang to stop her, and then sounded the whistles again.
Several pistol shots responded to this signal. Again he started the
screw, and pointed the bow of the Teaser squarely to the north.
The steamer moved very slowly, and two men sounded all the time till
they reported "by the mark two," when there could not have been more
than three feet of water under the keel of the vessel. The screw was
stopped and backed so that she might not run upon any shoal place ahead
of her, and the officers waited with interest and anxiety for further
action on the part of the party on shore. By this time no one doubted
that there were men on this part of the island; but whether they were
the crew of the privateer or not was yet to be proved.
"Steamer, ahoy!" shouted some one on the shore.
"On the island!" replied Christy, as he was instructed to do by his
superior.
"What steamer is that?" demanded the speaker on the island.
Whoever he was, he could not help knowing that a steamer was there, for
the engineer had begun to blow off steam as soon as the screw stopped,
though neither party could see the other in the fog and darkness.
"The Teaser," replied Christy. "Who are you?"
"We are the ship's company of the Teaser, and we want to get on board,"
replied the speaker. "Is Captain Folkner on board?"
"He is on board--of the Bellevite," the third lieutenant would have
finished the sentence if he had told the whole truth, for he uttered
only the first part of the sentence.
"All right. The first and second lieutenants are with us. Is Gilder on
board?"
"He is; and he wants to get back to the other side of the inland,"
answered Christy, who considered it his duty to make his replies as
suitable to the occasion as possible. "Who is speaking?"
"Lieutenant Lonley," replied the man; and Christy knew him, though he
did not know his rank before. "He wants to see Gilder before he goes on
board. Tell him to come on shore in his canoe."
"What is that for?" demanded Christy, rather surprised at the unexpected
request.
"I want to see him on particular business; I have a message for him,
which I cannot deliver in presence of any other person," replied Lonley.
"All right; you shall see him soon," answered Christy.
"Get out the boats to take us on board," continued Lonley. "Send them
about a mile to the eastward, where we have left our bags."
"All right," repeated Christy.
But he said what he did not believe, for everything did not look right
to him. He could not understand why the bags of the men should be a mile
to the eastward. He could not imagine what business Lonley could have
with Gilder or his representative; and if he had any, why it should be
necessary to meet him on the island.
"Of course you don't expect me to carry on the programme that fellow has
marked out," said Mr. Blowitt. "I don't quite like the looks of the
things that we can't see, Mr. Passford."
"Neither do I, Mr. Blowitt," replied the third lieutenant frankly.
"I shall not send a boat from the steamer till I understand this matter
a great deal better than I do now, and especially I shall not send the
boats a mile to the eastward," added the second lieutenant.
"Of course it is possible that my plan has miscarried already," added
Christy.
"I shall do everything I can to carry out your plan, as I am instructed
to do by the captain; but I have the feeling, in spite of myself, that
we are crawling into a hornet's nest," added Mr. Blowitt, with some
anxiety in his tones. "You will call all hands quietly, and be ready to
repel boarders. It is well to be prepared for whatever may come. The
firing at the west end of the island indicated that something was going
on, and perhaps these men on the shore know about it."
Christy obeyed the order promptly, and the next minute, every seaman on
board was ready with his cutlass and revolver to meet an attack. But no
sound came from the shore just then, and the officers were in a state of
uncertainty in regard to the situation which allowed them to do nothing.
They waited for half an hour, when the leadsman reported that the water
was shoaling, which indicated that the Teaser was drifting towards the
island.
"On board the Teaser!" shouted Lonley, so distinctly that he could
hardly have been more than three hundred feet from the steamer.
"On shore," replied Christy, prompted by Mr. Blowitt.
"I am waiting for Gilder! Why don't he come on shore?" shouted Lonley,
his impatience apparent in his tones.
"Where are all the men?" demanded Christy, as requested by the second
lieutenant.
"They have gone a mile to the eastward where they left their bags."
"We will run down in the steamer for them," added Mr. Blowitt, talking
through Christy.
"Don't do that!" protested the speaker on shore. "There is a Yankee
steamer off in that direction. We heard her steam an hour ago."
"All right!" replied Christy.
"That settles the matter in my mind," said Mr. Blowitt. "They are trying
to play what they call a Yankee trick upon us. When we send our boats to
the eastward, we shall send them into a trap. If the boats are to bring
off forty men, they will expect them to go with only men enough to pull
the oars; and when they get possession of them, they expect to retake
the Teaser."
"I think you are right, Mr. Blowitt," replied Christy, who began to
believe that his scheme was rapidly approaching a failure, though he did
not give it up just yet.
"This Lonley is still on the shore near us," said Mr. Blowitt. "I should
very much like to know what has been going on to-night on the island,
and it may be that he knows all about it. As you are the representative
of Gilder, Mr. Passford, you may take the canoe that is astern, and have
a talk with Lonley at close quarters, if you don't object."
"I should have proposed it myself if I had not feared that the idea
would be charged to my audacity," replied Christy. "I will take only
Flint with me, as he was with me before."
The canoe was brought up to the gangway, and Flint took his place at the
oars. Mr. Blowitt charged the young officer in the most serious manner
not to run any risks, and the boat was shoved off. It required but a few
strokes of the oars to bring it into shoal water by the beach. Only a
single man could be seen on the shore, and this one must be Lonley.
There seemed to be no risk, and Christy landed.