receive a letter, wonder for five or ten minutes whom it is from before
they break the envelope, when a sight of the contents would inform them
instantly," added the captain, laughing.

"But I am afraid the contents of this envelope will be like the
explosion of a mine to me, and therefore I am not just like the old
ladies you have met," returned the lieutenant-commander. "One mine a day
let off in my face is about all I can stand."

"Open the envelope!" urged his father rather impatiently.

"It never rains but it pours!" exclaimed Christy, when he had looked
over the paper it enclosed. "I am appointed to the command of the St.
Regis! I think some one who gives names to our new vessels must have
spent a summer with Paul Smith at his hotel by the river and lake of
that name; and the same man probably selected the name of Chateaugay.
I suppose it is some little snapping gunboat like the Bronx; but I don't
object to her on that account."

"She is nothing like the Bronx, for she is more than twice as large; and
you have already seen some service on her deck."

"Some steamer that has had her name changed. But I have served regularly
only on board of the Bellevite and the Bronx, and it cannot be either of
them," said Christy, with a puzzled expression.

"She is neither the one nor the other. She has had three names: the
first was the Trafalgar, the second the Tallahatchie, and the third the
St. Regis," continued the captain.

"Is it possible!" exclaimed Christy, relapsing into silent
thoughtfulness, for he could hardly believe the paper from which he had
read his appointment; and officers far his senior in years would have
rejoiced to receive the command of such a ship.

"Not only possible, but an accomplished fact; and the only sad thing
about it is that you must sail in the St. Regis day after to-morrow."

"I am informed that my orders will come by to-morrow," added the
lieutenant-commander.

"The ship is all ready for sea. An eight-inch Parrot has been
substituted for the Armstrong gun, the same as the midship gun of the
Bellevite," the captain explained. "Perhaps you would like to know
something about your fellow-officers, Christy."

"I certainly should, father, for whatever success I may have will depend
largely upon them," replied the embryo commander of the St. Regis.

"Your executive officer will be Lieutenant George Baskirk," continued
Captain Passford, reading from a paper he took from his pocket.