"Then he is the man my father wants to see; that is, if the vessel is what she appears to be, for no one is allowed to go on board of her."

"I am sorry to tear myself away from you, but positively I must go now; for the Chinese admiral will get very impatient if I am not on time, and I have some important business with him before dinner," said Christy, as he increased his pace and got away from Mr. Percy Pierson, though he was afraid he would follow him.

But he did not; instead of doing so, he began to talk with a boatman who had some kind of a craft at the landing. Christy was not in so much of a hurry as he had appeared to be, and he waited in the vicinity till he saw his Southern friend embark in a boat which headed for the Bellevite.

He concluded that his communicative friend meant to go on board of her, thinking the vessel was for sale.

CHAPTER VII

A COMPLICATION AT GLENFIELD

The boat in which Christy had come on sh.o.r.e carried off to the steamer the last load of supplies, and she sailed in the middle of the afternoon. Captain Pa.s.sford and Christy were standing on the quarter deck together; and, as the latter had not had time to tell his father his adventure before, he was now relating it.

The captain was amused with the story, and told his son that he had been approached by a gentleman who said his name was Pierson, and he was probably the father of the enterprising young man who had been so zealous to a.s.sist in the purchase of a suitable vessel for the service of the Confederates.

"Let me alone! Take you hands off of me!" shouted a voice that sounded rather familiar to Christy, as he and his father were still talking on the deck. "Let me alone! I am a Southern gentleman!"

"I know you are," replied Mr. Dashington, as he appeared on deck, coming up from the companionway that led to the cabin and ward-room, holding by the collar a young man who was struggling to escape from his strong grasp. "Don't make a fuss, my hearty: I want to introduce you to the captain."

"What have you got there, Mr. Dashington?" asked Captain Breaker, who was standing near the owner.

"I have got a young cub who says he is a Southern gentleman; and I suppose he is," replied the first officer. "But he is a stowaway, and was hid away under my berth in the ward-room.--Here you are, my jolly frisker: and that gentleman is the captain of the steamer."

As he spoke, the officer set his victim down rather heavily on the deck, and he sprawled out at full length on the planks. But he was sputtering with rage at the treatment he had received; and he sprang to his feet, rushing towards Mr. Dashington as though he intended to annihilate him.

But, before he reached his intended victim, he stopped short, and eyed the tall and wiry first officer from head to foot.

He concluded not to execute his purpose upon him, for he could hardly have reached his chin if he resorted to violence. But he turned his back to the captain, so that the owner and his son did not get a look at his face. Captain Breaker walked up to him and began to question him.

"If you are a Southern gentleman, as I heard you say you were, don't you think it is a little irregular to be hid in the ward-room of this vessel?" was the first question the commander asked.

"I am what I said I was, and I am proud to say it; and I don't allow any man to put his hands on me," bl.u.s.tered the prisoner.

"But I think you did allow Mr. Dashington to put his hands on you,"

replied the captain.

"Of course I did not know that he was a Southern gentleman when I snaked him out from under the berth," added the first officer.

"I accept your apology," said the prisoner, coming down from his high horse with sudden energy; possibly because he felt that he had a mission on board of the steamer.

All present laughed heartily at the apology of the giant mate, and Christy changed his position so that he could see the front of the stowaway.

"Why, that is the gentleman I met on sh.o.r.e,--Mr. Percy Pierson!"

exclaimed the owner's son, as soon as he saw the face of his late companion at the landing.

"I am glad to see you again, Mr. Percy Pierson," said the original of that name, as he extended his hand to Christy.

"I did not expect to meet you again so soon, and under such circ.u.mstances," replied he, taking the offered hand; for his father had proclaimed his own principle on board, that, though the war was not to be conducted on peace principles, it was to be carried on in an enlightened, and even gentlemanly manner, so far as he was concerned.

"I am right glad to see you, Mr. Percy Pierson, for I think you can a.s.sist me in the object I have in view," said the first officer's victim, looking now as though he was entirely satisfied with himself.

"What do you mean by calling each other by the same name?" inquired Captain Breaker, somewhat astonished at this phase of the conversation.

"That is the most astonishing thing in the world, that my friend here should have the same name I have; and he even thought I was playing a game upon him when I told him what my name was," replied Percy, laughing, and apparently somewhat inflated to find a friend on board.

"Precisely so," interposed Captain Pa.s.sford, before the commander had time to say any thing more about the name. "But, as you both have the same name, it will be necessary to distinguish you in some manner, or it may make confusion while you remain on board."

"I see the point, sir, though I do not expect to remain on board for any great length of time; or possibly you may not," answered Percy.

"Then, I suggest that you be called simply Percy, for that is a n.o.ble name; and the other young man shall be addressed as Pierson. By doing this we shall not sacrifice either of you," continued the owner, who did not understand what his son had been doing.

"I have not the slightest objection. My friend Pierson gave me some information in regard to this steamer which made me very desirous to get on board of her. That must explain why I was found here under circ.u.mstances somewhat irregular, though a true gentleman can sacrifice himself to the needs of his suffering country."

"To what country do you allude, Mr. Percy?" asked Captain Pa.s.sford.

"To _our_ country," replied Percy with strong and significant emphasis, as though he were sure that this would cause him to be fully understood.

"Exactly so," added the owner.

"But I see that you are sailing away from Na.s.sau as fast as you can, and I think I had better explain my business as soon as possible," continued Percy, who seemed to be as confident as though he had already accomplished his purpose as hinted at in his conversation with Christy.

"I shall have to ask you to excuse me for a few minutes, for I have a little business with the captain of the steamer and this young man,"

said Captain Pa.s.sford. "The tall gentleman who so gracefully apologized for his seeming rudeness to you will entertain you while I am absent."

The owner presented the tall first officer by name to his late victim, and at the same time gave him a look which Mr. Dashington understood to the effect that he was to keep the young man where he was. With a signal to his son and to the captain, he went below.

"I do not understand this masquerade, Christy," said he, as he seated himself at the cabin table. "What have you been telling this young fellow?"

Christy had only informed his father that he had been approached by Percy, and that he had, as well as he could, evaded his questions, and he had fooled the young man. He then gave the substance of the conversation at the landing, which amused both the owner and the commander very much; though he could not recall the Chinese names, invented on the spot, which he had used.

"All right, Christy. This young man is evidently the son of the gentleman by the name of Pierson who approached me for the purpose of purchasing the Bellevite. I went so far as to tell him that the vessel was for service in Southern waters. At any rate, he inferred that she was intended for the navy of the Confederate States, and I did not think it necessary to undeceive him. With this belief, he sought no further to buy the vessel, and I had no difficulty in shaking him off. It seems that the same mission absorbs the attention of the son, and that he has come on board to purchase the steamer."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Let Me alone, I am a Southern Gentleman" (Page 81)]

"I told him that you wanted to get rid of her, and that you would do so soon, by which, of course, I meant that she was to go into the service of the Government," added Christy.

"I should not have taken this young man on board; but, as he is here, he may be of use to us. But it is necessary to conceal from him the real character of the Bellevite, and we will keep up the farce as long as we please. So far as he is concerned, Christy, you may be my nephew instead of my son."

Captain Pa.s.sford led the way back to the deck, where they found the first officer evidently on the best of terms with his prisoner. But Mr.

Dashington had been as discreet as a man could be, and Percy had not obtained a particle of information from him.

"Now, Mr. Percy, I am at your service," said the owner, when he reached the deck. "I think you said you had some business with me."

"I have not the pleasure of knowing who or what you are, sir; and Mr.

Dashington and my friend Mr. Pierson are all I know on board by name,"

added Percy.