e Bronx was to obtain information, and he
procured a good deal of it, though not all of it was as reliable as
it might have been."

"Indeed! Then he was a traitor," added the surgeon.

"He is a gentleman in spite of the role he has been playing, and I am
sorry he has been injured, though Mr. Sampson obeyed my order when he
struck him down in the engine room."

"Struck me from behind like an assassin," added Hungerford feebly.

"Did you expect to arrange a duel with him at such a time, Mr.
Hungerford?" asked Christy. "You went into the engine room to disable
the machine when you found you could do nothing else. If you had
returned to the deck when the engineer told you to do so, he would not
have disabled you. You crowded past him, and then he did his duty."

"I have been in the habit of serving with men who were square and above
board," muttered Hungerford.

"Was that where you learned to listen at my cabin door, and to conceal
yourself under the berth in my state room?" asked Christy, rather
sharply for him. "Is that the reason why Mr. Pawcett wished to have
you do the copying of my papers?"

"I can only say that I tried to do my duty to my country and I have
failed," added Hungerford, as he turned over in his berth, and showed
his back to the captain.

"May I ask, Captain Passford, who told you my name?" asked the late
second lieutenant, who seemed to be confounded by what he had heard.

"You called Mr. Hungerford by his real name, and he called you by yours,
in the interview you had with him the first night out from New York.
I have known you from the first," replied Christy.

Pawcett was as disgusted as the other had been, and he turned his face
to the ceiling of his berth. Christy was satisfied that these men would
give him no more trouble at present.

CHAPTER XVIII

A TRIANGULAR ACTION WITH GREAT GUNS

When Mr. Baskirk went on deck to take his watch at midnight, the fog
had disappeared, and a fresh breeze was blowing from the westward. This
change was reported to the captain, and he went on deck. No sail had
been seen since the fog cleared off, and Christy returned to his state
room, where he was soon asleep again. He was called, as he had directed,
at four in the morning, but no change in the weather was reported, and
no sail had been seen.

At four bells in the morning watch two sails were reported to him, one
dead ahead, and the other on the port beam. He hastened to the deck, and
foun