"So Percy has just reported to me."

"But you will get killed if you stay here," said the captain, with genuine solicitude in his looks and manner.

"But I must stay here, all the same," replied Christy, who felt too proud to desert the post of duty because it happened to be the post of danger at the same time.

"But let me take your place, Christy," continued Captain Pecklar, finishing the ascent of the ladder.

"No, no, captain! Don't expose yourself," protested Christy. "It is as safe for me as it will be for you."

"But I have got about to the end of my chapter of life; and there is not more than a year, if there is as much as that, left for me. You are a young fellow, and the pride of your father, I have no doubt; at any rate, you ought to be. Give me that place, and you will be safer in the engine-room."

Captain Pecklar insisted for some time, but Christy obstinately refused to leave his post.

"Men pulling in the boat with all their might!" shouted Percy.

"I think I can bring their labors in that way to an end," added the captain. "But do you understand what the Bellevite is doing, Christy?"

"She is coming this way; that is all I know."

"She is coming this way because the major has been fool enough to fire on the Leopard. The shooting a.s.sures your father that this tug is an enemy."

The captain went below again, leaving Christy to consider his last remark. But he had not been gone five minutes before the report of a cannon shook the hull of the Leopard, and the pilot saw that it was on the forecastle of the tug.

CHAPTER XXVII

A CANNON-BALL THROUGH THE LEOPARD

The gun on the forecastle of the Leopard was placed as far aft as possible, so that Christy could not see it without putting his head out at the front windows of the pilot-house, and for this reason he had not seen what Captain Pecklar was about. But the piece must have been loaded before, for he could not have charged it without being seen.

The captain had remarked that he could bring the labors of those in the long-boat to an end, for Major Pierson was urging his men to their utmost with their oars in order to reach the tug. The smoke prevented Christy from seeing to what extent he had succeeded, though the fact that he had fired the gun at the boat was all he needed to satisfy him of the fidelity of the acting engineer to the cause he had just espoused.

Christy had not deemed it advisable to change the course of the Leopard; for the long-boat was approaching her at right angles, and he thought she would get out of its way, for those in charge of it made no calculation of the distance the tug would run while the boat was approaching her.

The smoke blew aside in a moment, and Christy discovered that the long-boat had not been struck by the shot; or, if it had, it had received no material damage. The major was still urging his men to increase their efforts, and he seemed to be not at all disconcerted by the shot which had been fired at him. But Christy saw that he was losing the game, as he probably would not have done if he had been a sailor, for his calculations would have been better made.

When the pilot of the Leopard realized that the major was too much occupied in increasing the speed of the long-boat to continue the firing at the tug, he had resumed his place at the window; but he kept his eye on the enemy. He looked out at the window; but he could not see Captain Pecklar, though he heard him shovelling coal a minute later. The engine still appeared to be doing its best, and the tug was in a fair way to pa.s.s clear of the long-boat.

"Look out, up there, Christy!" shouted the engineer, a little later.

The pilot turned his attention to the boat again, and saw that the major and the lieutenant were loading their muskets again, and the two men not at the oars were doing the same. The commandant evidently began to feel that he was to miss his prey if he depended upon the oars of the soldiers, and he was about to turn his attention again to the business of disabling the pilot of the tug. Christy dropped down on the floor again, and steered by the compa.s.s, which was still where he had placed it before.

He could hear a rumbling sound on the forward deck, and he was curious to know what the captain was doing; but it was not prudent to look out at the window. After a great deal of hard kicking and prying, he succeeded in removing a narrow board from the front of the pilot-house near the floor; and through this aperture he could see that the acting engineer had just finished reloading the gun, and was changing its position so as to bring it to bear on the long-boat.

The enemy were now a little forward of the beam of the tug, and not more than fifty yards from her; but Christy was satisfied that the Leopard would go clear of the long-boat if his craft was not disabled. The major and his companions could not help seeing that Captain Pecklar had deserted their cause, and that, with the gun on the deck, he was a dangerous enemy.

The report of a musket in the direction of the boat caused Christy to look very anxiously to the forward deck; but to his great satisfaction he saw that the captain had not been hit. But he immediately retired under the pilot-house, so that he could not see him. He was brave enough to stand up and be shot at, but he was also prudent enough not to expose himself unnecessarily.

Three other shots followed the first, one of the b.a.l.l.s pa.s.sing through the boards of the pilot-house, above the helmsman's head; and he saw a splinter fly from a stanchion forward. Captain Pecklar waited for the fourth shot,--and he had evidently noticed how many men had muskets in their hands,--then he sprang out from his hiding-place, sighted the gun, and pulled the lock-string.

Through the aperture he had made, Christy looked with intense interest to ascertain the effect of this shot. As soon as the smoke blew away, he saw that the shot had pa.s.sed obliquely into the boat, striking the stern-board just behind Major Pierson, and splitting off the plank near the water-line.

There was a commotion in the ranks of the enemy, and it was plain enough that the water was flowing into the craft. The soldiers stopped rowing, and the lieutenant and one of the extra men were sent into the bow. This change settled the bow of the boat down into the water, and lifted the stern. The major appeared to be equal to the emergency; he gave his orders in a loud voice, and the rowing was renewed with the delay of not more than a couple of minutes. But that was enough to defeat his present purpose, though he still urged his men to exert themselves to the utmost.

The long-boat went astern of the tug, and Christy came out from his place on the floor to the windows. Captain Pecklar was loading the gun, as he had done before, by swinging it around so that the muzzle was under the pilot-house.

"I think you will have no further use for that gun," said Christy, when he saw what the captain was doing.

"Perhaps not; but it is best to have it ready for the next time we want it. The major kept it loaded all the time, and I shall follow his example," replied the captain.

"Have you been hit, Percy?" asked Christy, looking out at the side under which the late pilot had bestowed himself for safe-keeping.

"I have not been hit; they could not see me where I am. Have you been hit, Christy?" replied Percy.

"Not at all; I took good care not to be seen while they were firing. But your brother has dropped astern of the Leopard in his boat, and there is no danger here now: so you can come in and take the helm, if you like."

Percy was glad to have something to do, for he was very nervous; and he came into the pilot-house. He was not half as airy as he had been before, and the sound of the muskets and the twelve-pounder on the forward deck had undoubtedly made an impression upon him. But he was as glad to take the wheel as Christy was to have him, for he desired to study the situation after all the changes which had been made in the position of the several vessels.

"You have had an awful time of it, Christy," said Percy, as he took the wheel. "I wonder that you have not been killed."

"Not a very awful time of it, and I took good care not to be killed,"

replied Christy. "A fellow isn't good for much after he has been killed, and it is always best to look out and not get killed; though I suppose one cannot always help it."

"Did you fire the field-piece on the deck below?"

"No, I did not; that was done by Captain Pecklar."

"My brother will have him hanged when he gets hold of him," added Percy, shaking his head.

"Very likely he will if he gets hold of him, but we don't intend to let him get hold of him."

Christy left the pilot-house, and went out on the hurricane deck, where he could better see all that was to be seen, and be alone with his own thoughts. His first care was to ascertain the position of his most active enemy, the long-boat. He could see it a short distance astern of the tug. It had changed its course, and was following the Leopard, which was now gaining rapidly upon it.

Directly ahead of the tug was the Bellevite, not more than a quarter of a mile distant; but while she was going off to the north-west, the Dauphine had kept more to the southward and was now nearer than the steamer of Captain Pa.s.sford.

The remark which Captain Pecklar had made when he came partly upon the hurricane deck, that the Bellevite had changed her course because Major Pierson had been fool enough to fire at the tug, came up in Christy's mind again. He had thought of it at the time it was uttered, and several times since; but he had not had the time to weigh its meaning.

The owner's son knew very well that every incident connected with the tug, and with the other vessels in sight, had been carefully observed and weighed by his father and Captain Breaker. They had seen the boat leave the Leopard. It looked like a stupid movement to do such a thing, when the approach to the Bellevite could be made so much more rapidly and safely in the tug.

There must be a motive for such a singular step. Of course the pa.s.sage of the boat had been closely observed, and the starting up of the screw of the Leopard had been duly noted. As the tug came near the long-boat, the latter had fired upon it. This must have been seen; and the question naturally would come up as to why those in the boat fired upon their own people in the Leopard.

It was not likely that they could answer the question in a satisfactory manner on board of the Bellevite; but the firing indicated that an enemy was in possession of the tug. This was enough, in the opinion of Christy, as it had been in that of Captain Pecklar, to produce the change in her course.

The firing from both craft since the first demonstration must have deepened the impression. Those on board of the Leopard must be on the side of the Union, or the party in the boat would not repeatedly fire upon them. Christy was satisfied that his father would know what all the indications meant before he abandoned the investigation.