considered the matter.

The flag-officer of the Eastern Gulf Squadron was not off Mobile Point;
and Captain Breaker, as the senior officer present, was obliged to
dispose of his prizes himself. Some necessary repairs had to be made
upon both ships before anything could be done; and the carpenter and his
gang, with all the other seamen who could handle an axe or an adze, were
hurrying forward the work. The prize had lost her mizzen mast, her
steering gear had been knocked to pieces both forward and aft, she had
been riddled in a dozen places, and shot-holes in the hull had been
hastily plugged during the action.

Her Armstrong gun amidships had been disabled by Blumenhoff at his first
fire. Christy had not found the opportunity to examine this piece, as he
desired; but Mr. Graines had done so for him; and it was found that the
gun carriage had been knocked into a shapeless mass so that it could not
be put in condition for use. The machinists from the engine room of both
vessels, for those of the Tallahatchie had no feeling on the subject,
were restoring the steering apparatus, and were likely to have the work
completed the next day.

Captain Breaker was in great doubt as to what he ought to do with
Colonel Passford. He was certainly a non-combatant; and it could not be
shown that he had any mission to Nassau or elsewhere in the service of
the Confederacy, though it would have been otherwise if the steamer and
the West Wind had not been captures, for he was to sell the cotton in
England, and purchase a steamer with the proceeds; but his mission ended
with the loss of the vessels. He finally decided to send him to Fort
Morgan under a flag of truce.

Before he left he called upon his nephew. He was still in a state
of despondency over his own losses, and his failures to benefit the
Confederacy, whose loss he counted as greater than his own. He stated
that the commander had announced his intention to send him on shore.
Christy had seen him but for a moment, for his uncle had not desired to
meet him again.

"We will not talk about the war, Uncle Homer," said Christy. "How are
Aunt Lydia, Corny, and Gerty? I hope they are all very well."

"Your aunt is not very well, for the hardships of the war have worn upon
her. Except Uncle Jerry and Aunty Chloe, the cook, all our negroes have
left us, or been taken by the government to work on fortifications, and
my wife and Gerty have to do most of the housework," replied Uncle Ho