by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER III
THE DIGNIFIED NAVAL OFFICER
Corny climbed over the high palisade fence, with the assistance ofMulgate, and the party walked to the sailboat at the beach below. Bythis time it was dark, though the gloom was not very dense under a clearsky.
"Do you know anything about this boat, Corny?" asked Mulgate, as thetrio approached the handsome craft, for such she was beyond a doubt.
The crusty tones of the speaker indicated that he had not yet recoveredfrom the set-back he had plainly received in the late conversation,though he denied that he had any evil intentions in regard to MissFlorry.
"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 disposedto 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 notreturn to supper," replied Corny, becoming a little more pliable.
"This is a rather large boat, Captain Carboneer," added Mulgate, as hesurveyed the trim sloop. "She is rather too large for our purpose."
"She will answer very well," replied the captain, as he applied hisshoulder to the stem of the craft to ascertain how heavily she restedupon the beach. "Now, do you know whether there is any person on boardof 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," continuedMulgate, rather sharply.
"I have not had time to find out anything," Corny explained, with someindignation 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 badblood with this young man, Mulgate. It appears now that you have apurpose of your own to accomplish, and that Corny will not allow youto 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 youwill decide to make it your principal purpose," added Captain Carboneer."I am not satisfied with the situation. I have done everything I can toaccomplish our patriotic object. You endanger it by your crusty mannerto this young man, who seems to be willing to do his duty; and he is ina position to be of great service to our enterprise."
"If you think it is necessary, I will take off my cap to this youngman," 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 takinga lady passenger with you in the steamer," replied Captain Carboneer, ina 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, andconvey her to our destination," said the captain, rather earnestly.
"Not against her will, as you and Corny will have it," protestedMulgate.
"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 Ibelieve she will be, I know of no reason why she should not go as apassenger," argued Mulgate.
"I think we had better abandon the enterprise in the beginning, for Ithink we can be of more service to our country at liberty than withinthe walls of Fort Lafayette," added the captain, with not a littledisgust mingled with his indignation.
Whatever his object in visiting this locality, he was clearly ahigh-toned gentleman, and the idea of prosecuting a love adventurein connection with what he regarded as a highly patriotic duty wasrepulsive to his nature. He found by trial that the Florence was notgrounded very hard on the beach, for the tide was rising, and he drewthe boat farther up from the water, as he turned to walk away from thespot.
"Am I to understand that you retire from this enterprise, CaptainCarboneer?" asked Mulgate.
"Am I to understand that you renounce your scheme to carry off a womanas 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 apassenger 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 goeswillingly 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 Irequire. With your private affairs, I have nothing to do. If you chooseto marry this young lady, I have nothing to say about that; but no womancan be a passenger in a war vessel under my command. After I have landedyou at Bermuda or Nassau, I shall not attempt to run the blockade, whichis now enforced, in order to land you and the lady. Besides, we may bein action at any time after we get under way."
"Then if I do not yield the point, you intend to leave me to carry outthis 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 leaveBonnydale 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 myresources, you can do nothing at all, and it would be foolish for you toattempt 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 herto sea."
"I have no doubt I could find a hundred men in New York, includinghalf a score of navigators, to assist me in this enterprise," repliedMulgate.
"I have another steamer in view, though the Bellevite is vastly superiorto anything I know of in speed and general fitness. Do as you thinkbest, Mulgate; and I shall be able to explain in a satisfactory mannermy 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 suggestedby the last remark of the other. Possibly he considered that the failureof such an important enterprise because he had insisted upon bringinga lady into the affair would not sound well at home. Whatever he wasthinking about, he was greatly agitated, and Captain Carboneer walked inthe direction of the road, half a mile from the river. He had no time toconsider 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 andretraced his steps to the beach. He did not seem to be at all excitedbecause his associate had changed his mind, for in his judgment it wouldhave 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 tosay, Mulgate," said he.
"I renounce my scheme, and I will not ask that the lady be a passengereven to Bermuda or Nassau," replied Mulgate, though not without aconsiderable display of emotion.
"Very well; that is enough. Nothing more need be said about yourpurpose, 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 hisusual quiet manner, and whether he was a Confederate or a Unionist, onecould hardly have failed to be impressed by his dignified deportment.
At the request of Captain Carboneer, Mulgate climbed to the forward deckof the Florence. She was twenty-eight feet long, and her deck coveredmore than half of her length. She had a very large cabin for a boat ofher size, which was fitted up with berths, with a cook-room forward ofit, for Christy Passford was often absent a week in her.
"I think Corny had better go back to the house, and keep an eye onChristy, so as to make sure that he does not disturb us," suggestedMulgate, 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 thecaptain, as one would speak when he expected to be obeyed.
Corny climbed up the stem of the Florence. He had never seen the captainbefore, and had not even been informed who and what he was; but heappeared to be a more important person than Mulgate, and he did not waitfor the latter to argue his point. He had sailed in the Florence veryoften, and he knew all about her. He took a boathook, and planted itspoint on the beach, in readiness to shove off.
"Not yet, Corny," said the naval officer, as he sprang lightly to thedeck of the sailboat. "Let us see where we are before we do anything."
Captain Carboneer seated himself on one of the cushioned seats in thestanding-room, and looked about him. A steamer towing a multitude ofcanal boats was approaching, and he waited for it to pass. Then nosteamer 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 boardof the Bellevite, and I think we have not a moment to lose," said thenaval officer, when he saw that the river was clear of everything thatmight interfere with his plans. "But we must go on board of her, andmake sure of everything before we commit ourselves."
"As you said, Captain Carboneer, I am no sailor; and you don't think oftaking the steamer out of the river alone?" added Mulgate.
"I have not come here on a fool's errand, Major Pierson," replied thecaptain. "We are alone now, and we may call things by their rightnames."
"But I don't care to have my name used in this vicinity," interposedthis gentleman, when addressed by his own name.
"Your wish in this respect shall be respected, Mr. Mulgate. I was aboutto say that I had a ship's company all ready to take possession of thiscraft, 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 stillto 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.