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," blustered 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 shore, - 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 circumstances," 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 assist 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 Passford, 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."