On The Blockade

by Oliver Optic

  CHAPTER XII

  A SAIL ON THE STARBOARD BOW

  Before Captain Passford had read two lines of the document in his hands,a noise as of a scuffle was heard in the passage way to the ward room.Mr. Baskirk was sent to ascertain the cause of the disturbance, and hethrew the door wide open. Dave was there, blocking the passage way, andPink Mulgrum was trying to force his way towards the cabin door. Thesteward declared that no one must go to the cabin; it was the order ofthe captain himself. Mulgrum found it convenient not to hear on thisoccasion. The moment Baskirk appeared, the deaf mute exhibited a paper,which he passed to the new lieutenant, evidently satisfied that he couldget no nearer to the door. When he had delivered the paper, he hastenedup the ladder to the deck. Dave came into the cabin and explained thatMulgrum had tried to force him out of the way, and he had resisted. Theintruder did not exhibit any paper till the third lieutenant appeared atthe door.

  "That man is very persevering in his efforts to procure information,"said Christy, as he unfolded the paper. "'The fog is very dense ahead,and we shall soon be shut in by it,'" he read from the paper. "Mr.Lillyworth might have found a man that could speak for his messenger,"he continued, "but of course he wanted to assist his confederate toobtain more information."

  "I don't see what he wants to know now, for Mulgrum has told him thecontents of the sealed envelope before this time, and he knows that thegates are closed against us," added Flint. "It is plain enough that theyhave had their heads together."

  "Certainly they have; but Mr. Lillyworth may not be any better satisfiedwith his information than you are, Mr. Flint," replied the captain, withan expressive smile, though he felt that his fellow officer had beentantalized long enough by the circumstances. "I have read and studied myorders very attentively. They direct me to proceed with all reasonabledespatch to the Gulf of Mexico, and report to the flag officer of theEastern Gulf Squadron, or his representative."

  "'But information has been received,'" continued Christy, reading whathe had not read before, "'that two steamers, probably fitted out forservice in the Confederate navy, are approaching the coast of theSouthern States, and it is very important that they should beintercepted. Both of these vessels are reported to have small crews,but they are said to be fast. The department regrets that it has not asuitable steamer available to send in search of these two vessels; butrelying upon your well-known patriotism and the excellent record youhave already made, you are instructed to intercept them, even if youare delayed a week or more by any hopeful circumstances.' That is thematerial portion of my orders," added Christy, as he read the lastsentence. "But I beg you to bear in mind that I did not write thecommendatory expressions in the paper."

  "But they are as true as the holy Gospels!" exclaimed Flint, springingout of his chair in the heat of the excitement which the new reading ofthe orders produced in his mind. "But I thought you had read the sealedorders to us before, Captain Passford."

  "I read but a very small part of them before; and as I had to improvisethe greater part of what I read, or rather did not read, but simplyuttered, the language was not all well chosen," replied Christy,laughing in spite of all his attempts to maintain his dignity. "The factis, Mr. Flint, I had too many listeners when I read the paper before."

  "There was no one in the cabin but Mr. Baskirk and myself, and Dave hadbeen stationed at the door; or at least he was there, for he beckonedyou out into the gangway just as you were beginning to read the orders,"argued Flint. "Possibly I should have understood the first readingbetter if I had not seen for myself that you had taken all precautionsagainst any listener. You went out when Dave called you; but you werenot gone half a minute; and that was not long enough for the steward tospin any long yarn."

  "But it was long enough for Dave to tell me that Pink Mulgrum was undermy berth, with the state room door open," replied Christy.

  "Just so; I comprehend the whole matter now," said Flint, joining thecaptain in the laugh.

  "Now you know what my instructions are, gentlemen," continued thecommander, "and I hope and believe that Mr. Lillyworth and his righthand man do not know them. I think you have been already posted, Mr.Baskirk, in regard to the anomalous state of affairs on board of theBronx," added the captain.

  "Not fully, Captain Passford; but Mr. Flint has told me something aboutthe situation," replied the third lieutenant.

  "It may not be necessary, gentlemen, that I should say it, but not aword of what passes in my cabin is to be repeated in any other part ofthe ship; not even in the ward room when you believe you are entirelyalone," said the captain, very earnestly and impressively. "If the doorsand keyholes do not have ears, there may be ears behind them, as some ofus have learned to our entire satisfaction."

  "Not a word from me, Captain Passford," added Baskirk.

  "And not one from me," repeated Flint.

  "Unquestionably the curiosity of Mr. Lillyworth and his confederateare and will continue to be excited to the highest pitch," continuedChristy. "I shall have occasion to change the course of the ship, andhead her more to the eastward. Of course the second lieutenant willobserve this, and will understand that I am not following the ordersreported to him by Mulgrum. You are my only confidants on board, and itwill be necessary for you to refer Mr. Lillyworth to me when he asks forfurther information."

  "Perfectly understood," replied Flint, who was now in most excellenthumor.

  "Now, gentlemen, I will leave you in my cabin that Mr. Baskirk may bemore fully instructed in regard to the matters which have passed betweenMr. Flint and myself. I have great expectations in regard to you, Mr.Baskirk, and I am confident that you will realize them."

  Saying this, Christy bowed to his companions, and left the cabin,retiring to his state room and closing the door. He had on board a fullsupply of charts and nautical instruments of his own, in addition tothose belonging to the ship. Spreading out the chart of the SouthAtlantic on the desk, he went to work with his dividers and parallelrule. He made his figures on a piece of paper, and then laid off acourse on the chart with a pencil, to be deepened in red ink at anothertime.

  Writing "southeast by east" on a slip of paper, he restored his chartsand instruments to their places and left the state room. The twolieutenants were still in his cabin, but he did not disturb them andwent on deck. Before he reached the bridge, six bells struck, or threeo'clock in the afternoon. He then ascended the ladder to the bridge. Thefog which the second lieutenant had predicted had not yet enveloped theship; on the contrary, it looked more like clearing off, and somepatches of blue sky could be seen.

  "Mr. Lillyworth, you will make the course southeast by east," saidChristy, looking at the officer of the deck.

  "Southeast by east!" exclaimed the second lieutenant; and his remarkneeded an exclamation point after it, for though it was customary torepeat an order to make sure that it was understood, he did so in sucha tone and in such a manner as to manifest very clearly his astonishmentat the nature of the order. The former course had been south by west.

  One thing was fully evident from this surprise--that the officer of thedeck gave full faith to the bogus instructions which had been impartedto him by Mulgrum. He believed that the Bronx was to hasten to the Gulf,as the former course indicated. It was plain enough to Lillyworth thatthe captain was disregarding his instructions; but his lips were sealedin regard to this disobedience, for he could not indicate in any mannerthat he knew the purport of the sealed orders; and doubtless it did notoccur to him that the deaf mute had been blinded, in addition to hisother infirmities. The course was given out to the quartermaster at thewheel. The steamer promptly fell off, and began to ride quartering overthe smart billows, brought out by the wind from the south-southwest, asit had blown for the last hour or more.

  Christy believed that he had put everything in train for accomplishingthe mission of the Bronx on the new course he had just ordered. Therewere no more orders to be read, and he did not see that the conspiratorscould do anything more to derange the plans of the l
oyal officers andseamen on board. All they had attempted so far was to obtain informationin regard to the movements of the vessel; and Christy had taken carethat they should receive all the information they wanted, though not asreliable as it might have been. He was satisfied with the situation asit must remain till some decided event should call for energetic action.

  The captain and the two ward-room officers in his confidence wereobliged to conduct themselves with the utmost caution and discretion inorder not to undo anything which had been done in blinding the eyes ofthe conspirators. Christy had an abundance of writing to do, and it wasof a kind that would not betray any of his secrets; he called uponMulgrum to do this work, in order to keep up appearances. He did notcall any more conferences with his friends in the cabin, for there wasno need of any, and entire silence was the more prudent.

  The Bronx proceeded on the course the captain had given out until thetwentieth of the month, when the steamer was a little to the southwardof the Bermudas. She had not been near enough to the islands to be madeout from the shore. On this day, when the Bronx was three days fromSandy Hook, the fog which Mr. Lillyworth had been predicting settleddown on the steamer, not as dense as it might be, but thick enough toprevent those on board of her from seeing anything at any great distancefrom her. The second lieutenant, in charge of the deck, suggested to thecaptain that the whistle should be blown; but Christy answered veryemphatically that no whistles were to be blown; though he ordered thelookouts to be doubled, and the steamer to proceed at half speed.

  In the middle of the second dog watch, in charge of Mr. Baskirk, thelookout on the topsail yard made himself heard, and the others aloftrepeated the call.

  "Sail on the starboard bow, sir!" said the first lookout from the yard,hailing the bridge.

  Captain Passford heard the hail from aloft, for he was planking the deckwith the first lieutenant. Both of them rushed forward at a pace ratherundignified for a commander.

  "Silence, aloft!" shouted the captain. "We have made her out. Mr. Flint,you will take the deck, and call all hands without any unnecessarynoise."

  This order was given to Giblock, the boatswain, and in a minute or twoevery man on board was in his station. The first lieutenant remained onthe bridge, but the second took his place in the waist, and the thirdforward, though this arrangement of the officers was not sanctioned byancient usage. Silence was commanded, and the engine, working at halfspeed, made hardly any noise. The captain had spoken to Sampson, thechief engineer, and he had done his best to avoid all noise in hisdepartment.

  The captain and the first lieutenant remained on the bridge, anxiouslysighting in the direction in which the sail had been reported to be. Asthe captain had instructed the engineer to do, he had caused the firesto be reduced and a change of fuel used so that the smokestack of theBronx was just beginning to send up volumes of black smoke. The bunkerscontained a small portion of soft coal for this purpose.