CHAPTER XV
A CHASE OFF THE BERMUDAS
All the officers on board of the Bellevite who had never been in thenavy had spent their long vacation in the study and practice of gunneryand naval tactics; and the men had been carefully drilled by a competentofficer as soon as they reported for duty. But a considerable number ofthe latter had served for years on board of men-of-war, and a few weresheet-anchor men. The latter are sailors who have spent the greater partof their lives in the national sea-service, and they were competent toteach many of the junior officers.
Every day after the ship went into commission, both officers andseamen were drilled, and the captain declared that they had all madesatisfactory proficiency. He was ready to meet an enemy with them;but then the ship's company of the steam-yacht were of the very bestmaterial. They were all intelligent men, and sailors to begin with, sothat the task of qualifying them for active duty was not very laborious.
Christy was even better fitted for his duties than many of the olderofficers, for he was not only full of enthusiasm, but he was skilful andscientific, as a rule. He neither asked nor expected any favors onaccount of former relations with the captain and other officers, and hewas determined to make his way by merit rather than by favor. Besides,he had already been under fire, and he had an idea how it felt. Thoughhe was as prudent and careful as circumstances might require, he hadproved that he was as brave as a lion, and that shot and shell were notlikely to drive him from the post of duty.
Every man was in his place at the midship gun, seventeen of them,including the powder-boy, and Christy gave the orders for loading thepiece as though he had been in the navy all his life. The other guns,the broadsides, were loaded at the same time. But just now Paul Vapoorwas the most important man on board, and he was rapidly making himselffelt in the increasing speed of the Bellevite. Captain Breaker estimatedthat the steamer which had just come out of port was all of five milesahead. It was only seven o'clock in the early darkness of this latitude.Whether the chase was the Killbright or not, it was impossible to makeout in the darkness.
If it was the Killbright, Captain Passford's correspondent wrote thatshe was capable of making twenty knots an hour, as she had been builtmore for speed than anything else, though she could hardly be aprofitable commercial venture. But even accepting this speed as thedifficulty to be overcome, the Bellevite would probably overhaul her intwo or three hours. The engineer felt that his reputation and that ofthe ship were at stake, and could not think of such a thing as failurein the first actual encounter with the enemy.
"We are gaining on her without the ghost of a doubt, Mr. Passford," saidBoxie, who was ready for duty at the gun.
"No doubt of that, Tom Boxie," replied the third lieutenant. "But she istaking it very coolly. She has not yet even put out her lights."
"I suppose you know why she hasn't, Mr. Passford," added the captain ofthe gun.
"I am sure I don't know," replied Christy. "If I was in command of thatsteamer, and wanted to do just what she does, I should not proceed asshe does. But I am nothing but a boy."
"But you have got a long head on your shoulders, Mr. Passford, and Ishould like to know, if you please, what you would do."
"I would put her lights out before I winked twice."
"Right, Mr. Passford!" exclaimed the sheet-anchor man. "I am glad tohear you say that. The trouble with most of the boys is, when they go tosea to fight the battles of their country, they are as reckless as youngwildcats."
"I think it is possible to use proper caution without being a coward,Tom Boxie; and my father gave me a lesson on that subject not long ago."
"Eight bells, sir; and that steamer has had a good hour of running sofar. I will wager my day's grub that we are two knots nearer to her thanwhen she laid her course," added Boxie, delighted with the situation.
"I have no doubt of it. I think they are beginning to see it on board ofher. There go her lights! She has not a ghost of a glow in sight; and Isuppose there is going to be some monkeying about it, if she hasascertained that she cannot run away from us."
"Most likely, sir; but this is not a good night to play tricks, for wehave a bright night and a smooth sea."
"As that steamer has such a reputation for speed, I have no doubt theyput a very valuable cargo on board of her; probably she has a goodsupply of arms in her hold."
"So much the better for us, Mr. Passford. We don't fight forprize-money, but when a man gets to be as old as I am, a good round sumof money don't come amiss to him. But I am sorry to see that it lookslike a change of weather," continued the sheet-anchor man, as he hitchedup his trousers, and took a survey of the heavens.
The wind began to come from the west after it had been almost a deadcalm since noon. It looked as though a heavy shower was coming up, andclouds of mist and fog swept over the ocean. The usual lookouts had beendoubled, but, in spite of all precautions, the Bellevite lost sight ofthe chase when she could not have been more than a mile from her. Butthis weather was to be expected in this changeable latitude. CaptainBreaker was as perplexed as any one, however skilful, must have been inthe same situation. It was impossible to know what the chase would do,though it was plain enough, since she put out her lights, that she wouldchange her course.
It was over six hundred miles to Cape Hatteras, and she had room enoughto manoeuvre in any manner she pleased. The change in the weather hardlyamounted to a storm, and probably it would be all over in a few hours.But the chase might turn to any point of the compass, and the Bellevitewas as likely to pursue in the wrong as the right direction. But thefirst thing the commander ordered the chief engineer to do was to savehis coal; though he held to his course, and the ship continued at amoderate speed till daylight.
As the wise ones had predicted, the shower was of brief duration. Assoon as it was light enough to see, and the fog banks had been sweptaway, a sharp lookout was kept for the chase. If she was ahead, she hadoutsailed her pursuer; but Captain Breaker was sure she had not donethis, for she could not have had confidence enough in her heels to adoptsuch a course.
"Sail, ho!" yelled a man on the cross-trees, a few minutes later.
"Where away?" called the officer of the deck.
"On the port beam, sir."
Several officers mounted the rigging to obtain a sight of the reportedsail. She was at least ten miles off, and no one could make out whetheror not it was the chase of the night before. The captain ordered theship to be headed to the southward, and, after she had gone on thiscourse an hour, there was another hail from the cross-trees.
"Sail is a steamer, sir!" reported the lookout.
With the aid of the spyglasses, a long streak of black smoke could bemade out of the dark clouds that were retreating in that direction.A little later it was demonstrated that she was headed for the coastof the United States. Whether it was the chase they sought or not, sheneeded looking after. The course was laid in a direction to interceptthe steamer, for her inky smoke indicated that she was not American.
In another hour she could be very distinctly made out, though the chasehad not been so clearly made out the night before as to enable theofficers to identify her. Paul Vapoor was in his element again, and theBellevite was doing her best. The two vessels were approaching eachother, and Boxie suggested that there would be "music" in less than anhour.
The people on board of the strange steamer must have been as much in thedark in regard to the caliber of the naval vessel as those on board ofthe Bellevite were in respect to their confident rival. The chase was along craft, it could be seen now, with two masts and two smokestacks,all of which raked in the most dashing style. She was rather low in thewater, and, if it had been in the days of the pirates, the strangerwould have been a fair ideal of the freebooter's ship.
"She keeps on just as though she intended to mind her own business, andleave the Bellevite to do the same," said Boxie, as Christy took hisplace near the midship gun.
"I have no doubt the Bellevite knows her business in this
case, and thatshe will attend to it in due time," added the lieutenant.
"Good!" exclaimed the sheet-anchor man, suddenly.
This exclamation was called forth by a flag, which was run up at thepeak, and which proved to be that of the Confederacy as soon as it wasspread out to the breeze.
"She is plucky, anyhow," added Christy.
"There is no lack of pluck in the South. But I wonder what she means bysetting that rag."
"Beeks, hoist the ensign at the peak," said the captain, and thebrilliant banner was spread in the morning air.
"I reckon both sides understand the situation now. I don't know thecaptain of that craft, but he is an able fellow, and probably got hiseducation in the old navy, and not in the new one, where he is servingnow," continued Boxie.
"I think it is easy enough to see what he means," replied Christy. "Heascertained last night that, fast as his vessel is, he cannot outsailthe Bellevite; and there is really only one thing he can do, and that isto fight."
The lieutenant had hardly spoken the words before there was a puff ofsmoke from one side of the chase, and a heavy report came across thewater. But the two steamers were still a long distance apart, and theshot fell short, to the satisfaction of the captain. The chase had beenobliged to come to in order to bring her gun to bear, and she had losta little time in doing so. It could be easily seen on board of bothsteamers that the Bellevite was gaining rapidly on the other.
"Mr. Passford, I am as sure of capturing that vessel as though I hadher now, and I do not wish to injure her any more than is necessary,"said Captain Breaker, as he sighted the Parrot, and devoted especialattention to her. "She is a very fast steamer, and she will be veryvaluable in our navy in picking up just such vessels as she is herself."
Perhaps it was impudence for him to do so, but Christy could not helpcasting his eye along the gun. All possible precautions were taken tosecure a correct aim, and then the lieutenant gave the order to "Fire!"
"Hit her, sir!" shouted one of the lookout men aloft, who could see overthe cloud of smoke.
"Where did it strike her?" demanded the captain.
"Right in the broadside, abreast of the forward smokestack, sir! She hasstopped her screw!" added the lookout.
"Mr. Dashington, get the ship astern of the chase at once," continuedthe captain to the first lieutenant.
This was the work of at least half an hour; but the Bellevite wasrunning for the stern of the other steamer, as though she intended tocut her in two lengthwise. The chase lay helpless on the water, unableto bring her broadside guns to bear on her enemy.