the captain anxiously.

"They have; they started some time ago. They are making bad weather of
it, for they don't know how to handle the boat in a sea," replied
Christy.

"They have gone!" exclaimed Captain Pecklar, getting out of his bunk.
"Then I need not stay in my berth any longer."

Christy looked at him with astonishment when he saw him get out of his
berth without any apparent difficulty; for he certainly looked like a
very sick man, though his appearance had somewhat improved since he left
the pilot-house.

"Do you feel able to get up, captain?" asked he, as the sufferer put on
his coat.

"I was exhausted and worn out by being on duty all night, and I had a
faint turn; but I am subject to them. If you are the son of the man that
owns that steamer, you will be able to understand me," replied the
captain; and his feeble condition seemed to make him somewhat timid.

"I am the son of Captain Passford, who owns the Bellevite," added
Christy.

"I should not have been down here now, if I could have got away; but
they seem to hold on to me, for the reason that I am a pilot of these
waters. I was brought up in the pilot-house of a steamer; and they say I
know the bottom of this bay better than any other man, though I have
been here but two years."

"Then you are not in sympathy with the secession movement?"

"In sympathy with it? I hate the very sound of the word! I will tell you
about it."

"Don't be long about it, for I have an affair on my hands," interposed
Christy, though he was not sorry to have the advice of one who knew
something about the situation in the vicinity.

"Only a minute. Major Pierson sent a glass of brandy to me, and I was
fit to take my place in the pilot-house then, for I felt a great deal
better; in fact, I was as well as usual, and I am now. But I had an idea
what the major was about, and I did not want to take any part in getting
your father's steamer into trouble. That's the whole of it; all I want
is to get on board of her, and get out of this country."

"All right, Captain Pecklar!" exclaimed Christy, delighted at the
frankness of his companion. "The steamer, I mean the tug, is already in
my possession."

"In your possession! What do you mean by that?" asked the captain with a
look of astonishment.

"I have driven the engineer into the forecastle, and fastened him down.
The major's brother is in the pilot-house, and he has learned something
about handling the wheel. I am go