by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER I
ASTOUNDING NEWS FROM THE SHORE
"This is most astounding news!" exclaimed Captain Horatio Passford.
It was on the deck of the magnificent steam-yacht Bellevite, of which hewas the owner; and with the newspaper, in which he had read only a fewof the many head-lines, still in his hand, he rushed furiously acrossthe deck, in a state of the most intense agitation.
It would take more than one figure to indicate the number of millions bywhich his vast wealth was measured, in the estimation of those who knewmost about his affairs; and he was just returning from a winter cruisein his yacht.
His wife and son were on board; but his daughter had spent the winter atthe South with her uncle, preferring this to a voyage at sea, being inrather delicate health, and the doctors thought a quiet residence in agenial climate was better for her.
The Bellevite had been among the islands of the Atlantic, visiting theAzores, Madeira, the Canary Islands, and was now coming from Bermuda.She had just taken a pilot fifty miles from Sandy Hook, and was bound toNew York, for the captain's beautiful estate, Bonnydale, was located onthe Hudson.
As usual, the pilot had brought on board with him the latest New-Yorkpapers, and one of them contained the startling news which appeared tohave thrown the owner of the Bellevite entirely off his balance; and itwas quite astounding enough to produce this effect upon any American.
"What is it, sir?" demanded Christopher Passford, his son, a remarkablybright-looking young fellow of sixteen, as he followed his father acrossthe deck.
"What is it, Horatio?" inquired Mrs. Passford, who had been seated witha book on the deck, as she also followed her husband.
The captain was usually very cool and self-possessed, and neither thewife nor the son had ever before seen him so shaken by agitation. Heseemed to be unable to speak a word for the time, and took no noticewhatever of his wife and son when they addressed him.
For several minutes he continued to rush back and forth across the deckof the steamer, like a vessel which had suddenly caught a heavy flaw ofwind, and had not yet come to her bearings.
"What is the matter, Horatio?" asked Mrs. Passford, when he came nearher. "What in the world has happened to overcome you in this manner, forI never saw you so moved before?"
But her husband did not reply even to this earnest interrogatory, butagain darted across the deck, and his lips moved as though he weremuttering something to himself. He did not look at the paper in hishands again; and whatever the startling intelligence it contained, heseemed to have taken it all in at a glance.
Christy, as the remarkably good-looking young man was called by all inthe family and on board of the Bellevite, appeared to be even moreastonished than his mother at the singular conduct of his father; buthe saw how intense was his agitation, and he did not follow him in hisimpulsive flights across the deck.
Though his father had always treated him with great consideration, andseldom if ever had occasion to exercise any of his paternal authorityover him, the young man never took advantage of the familiarity existingbetween them. His father was certainly in a most extraordinary mood forhim, and he could not venture to speak a word to him.
He stood near the companion way, not far from his mother, and heobserved the movements of his father with the utmost interest, notunmingled with anxiety; and Mrs. Passford fully shared with him thesolicitude of the moment.
The steamer was going at full speed in the direction of Sandy Hook.Captain Passford gave no heed to the movement of the vessel, but forseveral minutes planked the deck as though he were unable to realizethe truth or the force of the news he had hastily gathered from thehead-lines of the newspaper.
At last he halted in the waist, at some distance from the other membersof his family, raised his paper, and fixed his gaze upon the staringannouncement at the head of one of its columns. No one ventured toapproach him; for he was the magnate of the vessel, and, whatever hishumor, he was entitled to the full benefit of it.
He only glanced at the head-lines as he had done before, and thendropped the paper, as though the announcement he had read was all hedesired to know.
"Beeks," said he, as a quartermaster passed near him.
The man addressed promptly halted, raised his hand to his cap, andwaited the pleasure of the owner of the steamer.
"Tell Captain Breaker that I wish to see him, if you please," addedCaptain Passford.
The man repeated the name of the person he was to call, and hastenedaway to obey the order. The owner resumed his march across the deck,though it was evident to the anxious observers that he had in a greatmeasure recovered his self-possession, for his movements were lessnervous, and the usual placid calm was restored to his face.
In another minute, Captain Breaker, who was the actual commander of thevessel, appeared in the waist, and walked up to his owner. Though notmore than forty-five years old, his hair and full beard were heavilytinted with gray; and an artist who wished for an ideal shipmaster,who was both a gentleman and a sailor, could not have found a betterrepresentative of this type in the merchant or naval service, or on thedeck of the finest steam-yacht in the world.
"You sent for me, Captain Passford," said the commander, in respectfulbut not subservient tones.
"You will take the steamer to some point off Fire Island, and come toanchor there," replied the owner, as, without any explanation, he walkedaway from the spot.
"Off Fire Island," added Captain Breaker, simply repeating the name ofthe locality to which his order related, but not in a tone that requiredan exclamation-point to express his surprise.
Whatever the captain of the Bellevite thought or felt, it was anextraordinary order which he received. It was in the month of April,and the vessel had been absent about five months on her winter pleasurecruise.
In a few hours more the yacht could easily be at her moorings offBonnydale on the Hudson; but when almost in sight of New York, thecaptain had been ordered to anchor, as though the owner had no intentionof returning to his elegant home.
If he was surprised, as doubtless he was, he did not manifest it in theslightest degree; for he was a sailor, and it was a part of his gospelto obey the orders of his owner without asking any questions.
No doubt he thought of his wife and children as he walked forward to thepilot-house to execute his order, for he had been away from them for along time. The three papers brought on board by the pilot had all beengiven to the owner, and he had no hint of the startling news theycontained.
The course of the Bellevite was promptly changed more to the northward;and if the pilot wished to be informed in regard to this strangealteration in the immediate destination of the vessel, Captain Breakerwas unable to give him any explanation.
Captain Passford was evidently himself again; and he did not rush acrossthe deck as he had done before, but seated himself in an armchair he hadoccupied before the pilot came on board, and proceeded to read somethingmore than the headlines in the paper.
He hardly moved or looked up for half an hour, so intensely was heabsorbed in the narrative before him. Mrs. Passford and Christy, thougheven more excited by the singular conduct of the owner, and the changein the course of the steamer, did not venture to interrupt him.
The owner took the other two papers from his pocket, and had soonpossessed himself of all the details of the astounding news; and itwas plain enough to those who so eagerly observed his expression as heread, that he was impressed as he had never been before in his life.
Before the owner had finished the reading of the papers, the Bellevitehad reached the anchorage chosen by the pilot, and the vessel was soonfast to the bottom in a quiet sea.
"The tide is just right for going up to the city," said the pilot, whohad left his place in the pilot-house, and addressed himself to theowner in the waist.
"But we shall not go up to the city," replied Captain Passford, in avery decided tone. "But that shall make no difference in your pilot'sfees.--Captain Breaker."
The captain of the steamer, who had also come out of the pilot-house,had stationed himself within call of the owner to receive the nextorder, which might throw some light on the reason for anchoring thesteamer so near her destination on a full sea. He presented himselfbefore the magnate of the yacht, and indicated that he was ready totake his further orders.
"You will see that the pilot is paid his full fee for taking the vesselto a wharf," continued Captain Passford.
The captain bowed, and started towards the companionway; but the ownercalled him back.
"I see what looks like a tug to the westward of us. You will set thesignal to bring her alongside," the magnate proceeded.
This order was even more strange than that under which the vessel hadcome to anchor so near home after her long cruise; but the captain askedno questions, and made no sign. Calling Beeks, he went aft with thepilot, and paid him his fees.
When the American flag was displayed in the fore-rigging for the tug,Captain Passford, with his gaze fixed on the planks of the deck, walkedslowly to the place where his wife was seated, and halted in front ofher without speaking a word. But there was a quivering of the lip whichassured the lady and her son that he was still struggling to suppresshis agitation.
"What is the matter, Horatio?" asked the wife, in the tenderest oftones, while her expression assured those who saw her face that theanxiety of the husband had been communicated to the wife.
"I need hardly tell you, Julia, that I am disturbed as I never wasbefore in all my life," replied he, maintaining his calmness only witha struggle.
"I can see that something momentous has happened in our country," sheadded, hardly able to contain herself, for she felt that she was in thepresence of an unexplained calamity.
"Something has happened, my dear; something terrible,--something thatI did not expect, though many others were sure that it would come," hecontinued, seating himself at the side of his wife.
"But you do not tell me what it is," said the lady, with a look whichindicated that her worst fears were confirmed. "Is Florry worse? Isshe"--
"So far as I know, Florry is as well as usual," interposed the husband."But a state of war exists at the present moment between the North andthe South."