nley," added the
commander of the expedition.

"Transgressor, sir!" ejaculated the captain of the Havana. "What do you
mean by that, Mr. Passford?"

"Well, captain, you are in arms against the best government that the
good God ever permitted to exist for eighty odd years; and that is the
greatest transgression of which one can be guilty in a patriotic sense."

"I hold no allegiance to that government."

"So much the worse for you, Captain Lonley; but we will not talk
politics. Do you surrender?"

"This is not an armed steamer, and I have no force to resist; I am
compelled to surrender," replied the captain as he glanced at the
cutlasses of the men from the Bronx.

"That is a correct, though not a cheerful view of the question on
your part. I am very happy to relieve you from any further care of the
Havana, and you may retire to your cabin, where I shall have the honor
to wait upon you later."

"One word, Mr. Passford, if you please," said Captain Lonley, taking
Christy by the arm and leading him away from the rest of the boarding
party. "This steamer and the cotton with which she is loaded are the
property of your uncle, Homer Passford."

"Indeed?" was all that Christy thought it necessary to say in reply.

"You have already taken from him one valuable cargo of cotton; and it
would be magnanimous in you, as well as very kind of a near relative,
to allow me to pass on my way with the property of your uncle."

"Would it have been kind on the part of a near relative to allow his own
brother to pass out of Mobile Bay in the Bellevite?"

"That would have been quite another thing, for the Bellevite was
intended for the Federal navy," protested the Confederate captain. "It
would have been sacrificing his country to his fraternal feelings. This
is not a Confederate vessel, and is not intended as a war steamer,"
argued Lonley.

"Every pound of cotton my uncle sells is so much strength added to the
cause he advocates; and I hope, with no unkind thoughts or feelings in
regard to him, I shall be able to capture every vessel he sends out.
That is my view of the matter, and I am just as strong on my side of the
question as Uncle Homer is on his side. I would cut off my right hand
before I would allow your vessel or any other to escape, for I have
sworn allegiance to my government, and when I fail to do my duty at any
sacrifice of personal feeling, it will be when I have lost my mind; and
my uncle would do as much for h