from
Captain Breaker, and proceeded to read portions of it, as follows:
"If Christy is not promoted and given an adequate independent command,
I shall be disappointed; and given such whether he consents or not. He
has never been wanting in anything; and though I say it to his father,
there is not a more deserving officer in the service, not even one
who is ten years older. I have expressed myself fully in my report.
I believe his gallant exploit in the late action with the Tallahatchie
saved the lives of at least one-fourth of my ship's company; and it
thinned out the ranks of the enemy in about the same proportion. Captain
Rombold insists that he should have captured the Bellevite if the tide
had not been thus turned against him; but I do not admit this,
of course.

"I still set the highest value upon the services of Chief Engineer Paul
Vapoor, and I should regret exceedingly to lose him. But Christy and
Paul have been the most intimate friends from their school days; and if
your son is appointed to an independent command, as I believe he ought
to be, it would do something towards reconciling him to his appointment
if his crony were in the same ship with him. For this reason, and this
alone, I am willing to sacrifice my own wishes to the good of the
service. I have talked with Paul about the matter, and he would be
delighted to be the companion of Christy, even in a small steamer."

"Captain Breaker is very kind and very considerate, as he always was;
and I shall certainly feel more at home on board of the St. Regis with
Paul Vapoor as her chief engineer," replied Christy; and the effect
seemed to be what the commander of the Bellevite anticipated. "Go on
with the list, father."

"Paul's first assistant engineer will be Charles Graines," continued
Captain Passford.

"That is very good; but Charley is a sailor as well as a machinist,
and I may borrow him of Paul on some special occasions, for he has what
Captain Breaker calls ingenuity, as well as bravery and skill."

"The second assistant is Amos Bolter, a brother of Leon, who has been
first assistant of the Bellevite from the beginning of the war, and who
has been promoted to chief at the suggestion of the commander in the
letter from which I have just read. The third assistant is John
McLaughlin, whom Paul knows if you do not. These are your principal
officers; and we had better go and see your mother and Florry now."

"I have good news for you and your family