by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER VI
THE CABIN OF THE FLORENCE
If Captain Carboneer had felt any especial interest in the Florence asa sailing yacht, he might have desired to see the cabin of the craft,which had always been the delight of Christy Passford. He had expendeda great deal of his pocket-money upon the arrangement and furnishing ofthe cabin of his yacht, not only because he spent a considerable portionof his vacation hours in it, but because it had been a perpetual studywith him to enlarge and improve it.
It is very difficult to get three pints of liquid into a quart measure,and it was a conundrum of this sort that Christy was studying uponwhen he tried to make a parlor, bedroom, and dining-saloon of the verylimited space in the forward part of the Florence. Though he couldhardly get the three pints into the quart measure, he had done the besthe could, and succeeded to a rather remarkable degree. But spite of themiracle which had been wrought in the cabin, Captain Carboneer did noteven try the door of the apartment when he and his companions went onboard of the yacht. He was so absorbed in the enterprise in which he wasengaged, that his indifference to the miracle of the cabin may beexcused.
Even the double doors of the cabin were of handsome wood, elaboratelypolished; and they were not secured with the usual appliance of apadlock, but were provided with an expensive mortise-lock, which couldbe operated upon either side. If Captain Carboneer had tried to openthat door, he would have found that it was fastened; but perhaps hecould not have discovered that it had been secured upon the inside.Unless, therefore, he had taken the trouble to break open the door, hecould not have ascertained that Christy Passford was actually in thecabin.
Possibly, if he had opened the door by any means, he would not havediscovered that the proprietor of the boat was in this dainty apartment,for the skipper had taken a great deal of pains to conceal himself sothat he should not be seen, even if the intruders in the Florence hadsucceeded in opening the doors without the aid of the key in his pocket.Though he had two very nice berths in the cabin, miraculously arrangedas to space, Christy did not occupy one on the present occasion, for inthat case the unbidden visitors would have seen him if their curiosityhad led them to force the doors.
When the cook of the Florence, usually the skipper of the craft, wasengaged in the practice of the culinary art, he seated himself on whatlooked like a box in front of the stove. But the interior of this boxwas really a part of the cabin, for it contained the feet of any oneoccupying the berth on the starboard side. The cookroom had no end ofbins, lockers and drawers to contain the variety of provisions andstores necessary to get up a dinner for the skipper and his guests, whenhe had any. And even all these places could not contain everything thatwas needed on board. Under the two berths were large, though not verydeep, lockers, one of which contained the jib-topsail of the craft, andother spare sails, while the opposite one was the fuel locker of thesloop.
As the boat had not been used for a long time in cruising, the fuelreceptacle was empty, though a spare gaff-topsail had been throwninto it. This locker was big enough to admit the body-corporate ofthe skipper. It was not a particularly clean place, for a portion of ithad been economized for the stowage of the charcoal, which the skipperpreferred to wood. But he did not rebel at the blackness of the retreathe had chosen, for he wore his boating dress, which was hardly stylishenough for a dude or a dandy.
But Skipper Passford did not crawl into this black hole for the fun ofthe thing. He had been spending his time in waiting for a movement to bemade in regard to the Bellevite. He staid in the house all the forenoon,and, after lunch, he sailed down the river in the Florence, though withno object in doing so beyond passing the time. Not far from the beachwhere he had afterwards left the yacht, he discovered a boat rowed bytwo men with a third in the stern sheets.
The breeze was quite gentle, though the Florence would sail at a verytolerable speed when there was the least apology for a wind. She wasdoing so on the present occasion, and Christy had stretched himself outon the cushioned seat, with the spokes of the wheel where he could steerwithout any exertion, or next to none. The idleness of his days sincehis return from the eventful cruise of the Bellevite seemed to haveinfected him with an unnatural indolence.
He felt as though he was rather more than half asleep when he saw theboat with the two oarsmen. It was going up the river, while he was goingdown. He had to luff a little to keep clear of the oars, but he did notmove from his half-recumbent posture. When the boat was alongside, heglanced idly and carelessly at the person in the stern sheets. Instantlyhe was wide awake, though he did not change his position. The personlooked like a gentleman, and Christy was sure that he had seen himbefore. A couple of minutes of earnest cudgelling of his brain assuredhim that he had seen the stranger in Nassau; that he was one of the manywho wanted to purchase the Bellevite, ostensibly for a merchant vessel,but really for the Confederate navy.
After he had run a short distance farther down the river, Christy cameabout, the boat being some distance from him, but the gentleman soonlanded and walked up the river on the shore, or very near it. In a shorttime, he was joined by another person, whose form looked familiar to theskipper of the Florence. He could not identify him, for he was not nearenough to him to see his face. A puff of air came from across the river,and the Florence darted ahead, and Christy was soon out of sight of thetwo strangers.
Near the boundary of his father's estate, he ran the yacht on the sandybeach, letting her strike the sand hard enough to stick where she wasfor half an hour, though she was not likely to get adrift, for thegentle breeze was blowing her farther on the shore as the tide rose.
Christy hauled down the jib of the sloop, and then seated himself, orrather reclined upon the cushions, though in such a position that hecould see the shore, or any persons who came upon it. No one was insight, and he had no one to watch. The swash of a great steamer passingin the channel made his boat roll heavily for a moment, with the forwardpart of the bottom resting on the sand. For the want of something betterto think of, he began to put conundrums to himself in the absence of anyother person to perplex with them. What was the gentleman that wanted tobuy a steamer in Nassau doing up the Hudson? This was the principal one:he could not answer it. He gave it up; as the French have it, he had to"throw his tongue to the dogs," having no use for it in this connection.
But while he was dreaming of the possible mission of the stranger,he heard voices on the beach. Not deeming it wise to show himself, herolled off the cushion upon the floor of the standing-room, and thenfixed himself in a position where he could see and hear what passedbetween the speakers. He could see without being seen. It did notrequire a second look for him to decide that the second person on thebeach was Major Pierson, though his companion called him Mulgate.
If Christy had been interested before, he was excited now. The twospeakers were within earshot of the boat, and in the stillness of thescene he could hear every word that was said. In a few moments he was infull possession of the statements of the captain and the major in regardto their intentions; and it appeared that the gentleman he had seen inNassau still desired to obtain a steamer.
Before it was dark, Christy was astonished to behold his cousin Corny onthe other side of the fence; and he readily understood that he was totake part in the enterprise in hand. As yet the listener had obtainedbut little more than the information in regard to the intention of thevisitors. When he found that they were disposed to take possession ofthe Florence, and make their visit to the Bellevite in her, the skipperretired from the standing-room of the boat to the cabin, where he lockedthe door, and put the key in his pocket. When he realized that theyreally meant to come on board, he crawled into the space under thestarboard berth, and arranged the sail so that it would conceal himin case the intruders pushed their investigation into the cabin.
When he had completed his preparations, he was quite satisfied thathe should not be discovered. The trio came on board, and Christy fixedhimself so that he could hear every word that was said, for
there was asmall opening under the berth through which the superfluous length of apair of oars could be thrust when not in use.
Christy, without the remotest suspicion on the part of the plottersthat they could be heard by any living being, and especially not by sodangerous a character as Christy had proved himself to be to the peaceand dignity of the Confederacy, heard all that was said, and he obtaineda full idea of the intentions of the conspirators. When they went onboard of the Bellevite, he was so excited that he could no longer remainin his prison, but came out, and crept up the accommodation ladder tothe deck of the steamer. But he was careful not to show himself, and,having a key to the cabin, he went into it, locking the door after him.Then he had a chance to think.
What should he do? He had no force at hand to beat off such a party asCaptain Carboneer mentioned. They might carry out their plot that verynight, as they had talked of doing. Perhaps it would be executed atonce, even while he was on board, and he would then be a prisoner. Thisidea was too galling to be considered, and he left the cabin to visitthe wardroom. Going still farther forward, he was surprised to hear theroar of the flames in the furnaces below. It looked at that moment asthough the Bellevite was doomed to sail under a Confederate flag. But ifhe could do nothing more, he could save himself, even if he had to jumpinto the river and swim to the shore.
Christy lost no time in making his way to the main deck of the vessel;but he was careful to avoid the visitors. He went back to the cabin, andwent on deck from it. Then he discovered that the trio were in the actof descending the accommodation steps. Mounting the rail he saw themembark in the Florence, and sail down the river. Dismounting from therail, he hastened to the engine-room, where he found Sampson getting theengine ready to be put in motion.
"Ah, Christy, I thought you had gone," said the oiler.
"Who were those two men who were on board?" asked Christy, not a littleexcited.
"They were two gentlemen you brought on board, Christy," repliedSampson, innocently enough.
"That I brought on board!" exclaimed the skipper of the Florence.
"Yes, sir: and I thought you had gone ashore with them," added theoiler.
"I brought no men on board, Sampson! What are you talking about?"demanded Christy impatiently.
"Didn't you bring two gentlemen on board, and didn't one of them want tomeasure the carriage of the big gun?"
"No! I did not! I have not seen you before now this evening," protestedChristy.
"Then I have lost my senses. Didn't you tell me to get up steam, becausethe steamer would be moved to the navy yard before daylight in themorning?" demanded Sampson, bewildered by the denial of the young man.
"I see now," added Christy. "You mistook Corny for me."
Sampson gave him all the details of the visit of the strangers.