Christy retreated to the pilot-house, and threw over the wheel of the boat; so that, when the screw began to turn, the bow of the tug soon headed to the southward, which gave her the wind ahead. Then he brought her so that the water was comparatively smooth on her port quarter, where the long-boat was.

Without the loss of a moment, the major drove all his men into the boat, and they shoved off. The men were soldiers, and they had had but little practice in rowing, having taken it up at the fort. They made rather bad work of it; but, more by luck than skill, the boat cleared the tug without being stove.

"Spikeley!" shouted the major.

"Here, sir," replied the engineer, hobbling out of his room.

"Stop the engine, and remember what I told you," added the commandant.

"All right, sir: I will do just as you ordered me."

"What does he want to stop the engine for?" asked Percy. "She don't roll so badly when the engine is going."

"That is very true; but your brother knows what he is about," replied Christy, his eyes beginning to light up with an unwonted fire.

"Well, what is he about?"

"He is going to capture the Bellevite."

"He will have a nice time of it!" exclaimed Percy. "That steamer can blow him out of the water a dozen times before he gets near her."

"I don't believe your brother has any idea that the Bellevite is heavily armed," added Christy.

"But he has been on board of her."

"That is very true; but the two heavy guns were covered up, and the others were sent down into the hold. All the soldiers in the boat with your brother have their muskets; and he would not have taken the lieutenant and six men with him if he were simply going for the doctor for Captain Pecklar, as he told me he was."

"I believe Lindley is a fool to think of such a thing as capturing the Bellevite with eight men," added Percy.

"I don't know what else he can intend to do, but I do know why he don't take the tug any nearer to the steamer. He don't want my father to know what has become of me."

"Can't you make some sort of a signal to him, Christy?"

"I can do something better than that."

"What's that?"

"I can show myself to him. But, before I do that, I must know how you stand, Percy."

"How I stand? You know as much about me as I know about myself. I want to get on board of the Bellevite, and I am not a bit anxious to fight my brother's battle for him. I know what he is after, now I think of it."

"Well, what is he after?"

"He is after the Bellevite; and if he can take her, he is sure of a colonel's commission."

"I should say that he could not do any thing better for the Confederacy than to present it with the finest steamer in the world. But you are not with him, you say, Percy."

"I am not. I belong to the Confederacy the same as he does; but I want to get aboard of the Bellevite, and then I shall have a good chance to reach Nassau," replied Percy.