I have nothing more to say about it."

"But as my father saved your life, you ought to stand by me in this sc.r.a.pe," pleaded Percy.

"Whatever was done by you or your father for me, was done from the fear of consequences; and you were the originator of the outrage against me,"

added Christy, as he descended to the ward room.

The next morning the Snapper was on her voyage to Key West, and the Chateaugay headed for the Hole in the Wall, though she gave it a wide berth, and stood off to the eastward. The next night, being the fourth since the Eleuthera left the ship, the boat containing Mr. Gilfleur was picked up about twenty miles east of the lights. The detective came on board, and was welcomed by the captain, who had been called by his own order.

CHAPTER XXVI

A VISIT TO TAMPA BAY

As soon as Mr. Gilfleur had been welcomed back to the Chateaugay the commander gave the order to the officer of the deck to have the Bahama boat hoisted to the deck, and disposed of as before.

"I beg your pardon, Captain Chantor; but be so kind as to allow the boat to remain alongside, for I must return to Na.s.sau," interposed the detective.

"Return to Na.s.sau!" exclaimed the captain.

"Yes, sir; it is really necessary that I should do so, for you see that I have come back without Mr. Pa.s.sford," replied the Frenchman. "He was attacked by a cowardly ruffian in front of a saloon in the town, and I lost sight of him after that. I have been terribly distressed about him, for the ruffian threatened to kill him, and I fear he has executed his threat."

"Don't distress yourself for another instant, Mr. Gilfleur, for Mr.

Pa.s.sford is on board of the ship at this moment, and doubtless asleep in his stateroom," said the captain, cutting short the narrative of the detective.

"On board of the ship!" exclaimed the Frenchman, retreating a few paces in his great surprise. "Impossible! Quite impossible! I found our boat just where we had left it at the back side of the island."

"But what I say is entirely true; and Mr. Pa.s.sford wished me to have him called when you came on board," added the commander, as he sent a quartermaster to summon Christy to the captain's cabin.

"I don't understand how Mr. Pa.s.sford can be on board of the ship,"

continued the bewildered Frenchman. "Ah, he might have hired a boat like the Eleuthera to bring him off."

"He might have done so, but he did not," replied Captain Chantor, as he directed the officer of the deck to go ahead, making the course east, as soon as he had secured the detective's boat. "Now, if you will come to my cabin, Mr. Gilfleur, Mr. Pa.s.sford shall inform you himself that he is on board of the ship; and he has quite an exciting story to tell."

The commander and the Frenchman went below, and seated themselves in the cabin of the former.

"Mr. Pa.s.sford has already informed me that the Ovidio is at Na.s.sau, but that she has been seized by a British gunboat for violation of the neutrality laws," said the captain.

"That is quite true, and it is not probable that the case will be settled for a month to come," replied Mr. Gilfleur. "But I ascertained by great good luck that her armament was waiting for her at Green Cay, if you know where that is: I do not."

"It is on the Tongue of the Ocean, as it is called, nearly a hundred miles to the southward of Na.s.sau. I supposed it would be managed in some such way as that," added the commander. "But do you think it will be a month before her case will be settled?"

"Of course I know nothing about it myself; but I found a court official who was very desirous of talking French, and he invited me to dine with him at his house. I began to ask him questions about the blockade, and the vessels in the harbor; and finally he gave me his opinion that a decision in the case of the Ovidio could not be reached in less than a month, and it might be two mouths."

At this moment there was a knock at the door of the cabin, and the captain called to the person to come in. Christy, who had taken the time to dress himself fully, opened the door and entered the cabin. The Frenchman leaped from his seat, and embraced the young officer as though he had been his wife or sweetheart, from whom he had been separated for years. Christy, who was not very demonstrative in this direction, submitted to the hugging with the best possible grace, for he knew that the detective was sincere, and had actually grown to love him, perhaps as much for his father's sake as for his own.

"Oh, my dear Mr. Pa.s.sford, you are to me like one who has come out of his grave, for I have believed for nearly three days that you had been killed by the ruffian that attacked you in the street!" exclaimed Mr.

Gilfleur, still pressing both of his late companion's hands in his own.

"I was never so rejoiced in all my life, not even when I had unearthed a murderer."

"Perhaps you expected to unearth another murderer," said Christy with a smile.

"That was just what I intended to do. I heard the villanous ruffian swear that he would kill you, and I was almost sure he had done so when you failed to meet me in the rear of the hotel."

At the request of the commander, Christy repeated the story of his adventure in Na.s.sau as briefly as possible, up to the time he had been picked up by the Chateaugay's cutter, and conveyed on board of the ship.

The detective was deeply interested, and listened to the narration with the closest attention. At the end of it, he pressed the hand of the young officer again, and warmly congratulated him upon his escape from the enemy.

Mr. Gilfleur then reported more in detail than he had done before, the result of his mission. He gave the names of all the intending blockade-runners in the harbor of Na.s.sau; but the captain declared that he could not capture them on any such evidence as the detective had been able to obtain, for it would not prove the intention.

"The Ovidio may not come out of Na.s.sau for two months to come, and then she will proceed to Green Cay," said Captain Chantor. "I do not think I should be justified in waiting so long for her, especially as she is to run her cargo into Mobile. The blockaders will probably be able to pick her up. I think my mission in the Bahama Islands is finished, and the Chateaugay must proceed to more fruitful fields."

"But you have not made a bad voyage of it so far, Captain Chantor,"

added Christy. "You sent in the Ionian, sunk the Dornoch, and captured the Cadet and the Snapper, to say nothing of bagging a Confederate commissioner, and the son of another. I should have been glad if you had sent in Colonel Pierson, for he has already done our commerce a great deal of mischief."

"I am entirely satisfied, and doubtless the information obtained here and at the Bermudas will enable our fleet to pick up some more of the steamers you have spotted," added the captain, as he rose from his seat, and dismissed his guests.

The Frenchman was so exhausted by his labors, and the want of sleep, that he retired at once to his room, while Christy went on deck with the commander. The ship had been working to the eastward for over an hour; but the order was given for her to come about, and the course was laid for the light at the Hole in the Wall.

"Now, Mr. Pa.s.sford, we are bound for the Gulf of Mexico, putting in at Key West for the purpose of attending to the affair of the Snapper,"

said Captain Chantor. "In a few days more no doubt you will be able to report for duty on board of the Bellevite."

"I shall not be sorry to be on duty again, and especially in the Bellevite," replied Christy, as he went to his stateroom to finish his night's sleep.

The next day the Chateaugay overhauled the Snapper; but all was well on board of her, and the ship proceeded on her course. On the third day she went into the harbor of Key West. Christy and the captain went to work at once on the legal questions relating to the prize last taken. The evidence was deemed sufficient to warrant the sending of her to New York, and on her arrival the prize-master was directed to proceed to that port. Captain f.l.a.n.g.er and Percy Pierson were transferred to her, and she sailed the next day; but she encountered a tremendous storm on the Atlantic coast, and was totally wrecked on Hetzel Spit, near Cape Canaveral. The prisoners were put into one boat, which upset, and all in it were drowned, while the other boat, in charge of Lieutenant Carlin, succeeded in reaching the sh.o.r.e of Florida.

The Snapper's case was settled, therefore, outside of the courts.

Captain f.l.a.n.g.er perished in his wickedness, and Percy Pierson never reached his mother in Mobile. But it was weeks before the news of the disaster reached the Chateaugay and the Bellevite. Christy did not mourn the loss of his great enemy, and he was sorry only that the young man had not lived long enough to become a better man.

The Chateaugay proceeded on her voyage, and reported to the flag-officer of the Eastern Gulf Squadron; by whom she was a.s.signed to a place in the fleet off Appalachicola, while Christy was sent in a tender to the Bellevite, then on duty off the entrance to Mobile Bay.

At this point it became necessary for Christy and Mr. Gilfleur to separate, for the latter was to proceed to New York by a store-ship about to sail. The detective insisted upon hugging him again, and the young officer submitted with better grace than usual to such demonstrations. He had become much attached to his companion in the late enterprises in which they had been engaged, and he respected him very highly for his honesty and earnestness, and admired his skill in his profession. On the voyage from Key West, Christy had written letters to all the members of his family, as well as to Bertha Pembroke, which he committed to the care of Mr. Gilfleur when they parted, not to meet again till the end of the war.

When Christy went on board of the Bellevite he was warmly welcomed by Captain Breaker, who happened to be on deck. Mr. Blowitt was the next to grasp his hand, and before he had done with him, Paul Vapoor, the chief engineer, the young lieutenant's particular crony, hugged him as though he were a brother.

Most of the old officers were still in the ship, and Christy found himself entirely at home where-ever he went on board. He was duly presented to Mr. Walbrook, the third lieutenant, the acting second lieutenant having returned to the flag-ship in the tender.

For all the rest of the year the Bellevite remained on duty as a blockader off Fort Morgan. It was an idle life for the most part, and Christy began to regret that he had caused himself to be transferred from the command of the Bronx. The steamer occasionally had an opportunity to chase a blockade-runner, going in or coming out of the bay. She was the fastest vessel on the station, and she never failed to give a good account of herself.

Late in the year the Bellevite and Bronx were ordered to operate at Tampa Bay, where it was believed that several vessels were loading with cotton. On the arrival of the ships off the bay, a boat expedition was organized to ascertain what vessels were in the vicinity. But the entrance was protected by a battery, and it was supposed that there were field-works in several places on the sh.o.r.es. One of these was discovered just inside of Palm Key, and the Bellevite opened upon it with her big midship gun. Two or three such ma.s.sive b.a.l.l.s were enough for the garrison, and they beat a precipitate retreat, abandoning their pieces.

There was water enough to permit the steamer to go into the bay nearly to the town at the head of it.

No other batteries were to be seen, and the Bronx proceeded up the bay, followed by the Bellevite. When the latter had proceeded as far as the depth of water rendered it prudent for her to go at that time of tide, the Bronx went ahead some ten miles farther. The boat expedition, consisting of three cutters from the Bellevite and one from the Bronx, moved towards the head of the bay. Christy, in the second cutter of the Bellevite, was at least two miles from any other boat, when a punt containing a negro put out from the sh.o.r.e near him.

"Are you a frien' ob de colored man?" demanded the negro as soon as he came within speaking-distance of the cutter.

"Within reasonable limits, I am the friend of the colored man," replied Christy, amused at the form of the question.