Brave Old Salt; or, Life on the Quarter Deck: A Story of the Great Rebellion

by Oliver Optic

  CHAPTER XVII.

  OFF MOBILE BAY.

  Somers was now entirely relieved from duty. He had delivered up theprize and handed the prisoners over to the proper officers. On thefollowing day he went on shore to spend a few hours before the supplysteamer sailed. On visiting the fortress, he received the astonishingintelligence that Mr. Pillgrim had escaped from the officer having himin charge, even before he had been placed in the casement appropriatedto his use. Somers had cautioned the lieutenant to whom he had deliveredhim, of the danger of removing the irons, but his advice had not beenheeded. The careless officer was now under arrest for his neglect ofduty.

  By none was this unfortunate event more deeply regretted than by him whohad been the means of foiling the schemes of the traitor and handing himover to the custody of the government. Pillgrim had boasted that hewould soon be at liberty. He was certainly a talented and a daringfellow; and to handle him safely, it was necessary to understand himthoroughly. Somers had a suspicion that the officer from whom thewretch escaped was bribed by his prisoner; but of course there could beno evidence on this interesting point.

  A careful search had been made by the garrison of the fort, but withoutsuccess. Pillgrim was dressed in the full uniform of a naval lieutenant,and in this garb his ingenuity would enable him to pass the militarylines, if indeed he was not provided with the means of doing so by thefaithless officer in charge of him. The prisoner had escaped on thepreceding day, and there was now little hope of recapturing him; butSomers gave such information as he possessed in regard to the fugitive.Captain Walmsley had been less fortunate, and was still in durance.

  The story of the traitor's escape was a very simple one. When the boatwhich had conveyed the prisoners from the steamer to the shore reachedthe pier, and they had landed, Walmsley began to protest against hisconfinement, being a British subject. He insisted upon seeing thecommandant of the fortress; and while everybody was listening to thisdebate, Pillgrim slipped into the crowd and disappeared, passing thesentinels, who had no suspicion that he was a prisoner, without achallenge. Immediate search was made for him; but he must have taken tothe water, since there was no other place of concealment which was notexamined. A calker's stage was moored to the shore near the pier, andit was afterwards surmised that he had crawled under this, securing aposition so that his head was out of water, and remained there tillevening.

  He was gone, and that was all it was necessary to know. The officer whohad permitted him to escape would be court-martialed and broken, andthat would be the end of it. At noon, as Somers was about to embark onthe supply steamer, a letter was handed to him, which had been broughtin by a contraband. The negro said it had been handed to him by "agemman wid de anchors on his shoulders," whom he had met on the road toWilliamsburg, nine miles from the fort.

  The epistle was from Pillgrim, as Somers would have known from thewriting, without the contraband's description of the person who hadgiven it to him. He put it in his pocket, and did not open it till hehad taken possession of his state-room on board the steamer. He wasconfident that it contained nothing but threats and abuse, and he feltbut little interest in its contents. The writer, chagrined at thefailure of his plot, was running over with evil thoughts and maliciouspurposes. Somers opened the letter and read as follows:--

  OLD POINT COMFORT, July 14.

  SOMERS: You have been promoted. You remind me of the fable. The goatwent down into the well. The fox sprang upon his horns and leaped out.You are the fox; you jumped over my head; you went up; you are a masternow. I congratulate you. You are the only man in the world I hate.

  The Tallahassee is doing a good business for the South. She has capturedfifty vessels. The Ben Nevis was her sister. You have her. There aremore of the same family. You believe I am used up. No. I write thisletter to inform you that I am not even singed yet, say nothing of beingburned out. I shall be afloat soon. The Ben Lomond, twin sister of theBen Nevis and the Tallahassee, will be at work in a fortnight. She willthen be called the Tallapoosa. Look out for her.

  The Ben Nevis was captured; my agents bought her again. The Ben Lomondis now at--you wish you knew where! I shall command her. I could notresist the temptation to inform you of my plan. I know you will enjoy myprospects!

  You would like to make a little arrangement for the capture of the BenLomond. I wish you might. You will hear of her on the broad ocean in afew weeks,--capturing, burning, bonding Yankee ships. It will please youto read the papers then! I shall strike for a California steamer. Hertreasure will make good my losses.

  I am so anxious to meet you again that I am tempted to tell you where myship is. I would like to meet you on her quarter deck. You are aremarkably enterprising fellow; perhaps we shall meet. If we do, Ishould feel justified in hanging you at the yard-arm. You belong to theSouth. You accepted a commission in her navy. You betrayed your trust. Ishall _endeavor_ to see you again.

  Give my regards to the officers of the Chatauqua. Inform them of mypresent brilliant prospects. Remember me kindly to Kate Portington.Possibly she may be a little _chilly_ when you see her again.

  If you capture the Ben Lomond, otherwise the Tallapoosa, it would makeyou a lieutenant. Do it by all means.

  PILLGRIM.

  Somers read this singular letter three times before he could form anopinion whether or not its statements were mere idle boasts, and whetheror not they had a foundation of truth. Was there any such vessel inexistence as the Ben Lomond? This was the interesting and importantquestion to him. At this time the Tallahassee was making fearful ravagesamong the shipping on the coast, and the success and impunity with whichshe carried on her depredations offered plenty of encouragement for therebels to send forth similar vessels, if they could obtain them.

  The Ben Nevis had been named after a mountain in Scotland; Ben Lomondwas the name of another. The former was a Clyde-built vessel, and itwould have been natural to give these twin names to twin steamers.Pillgrim, in the character of "Coles," had given him a certain amountof correct information in respect to the Ben Nevis, though he haddeceived him in regard to her destination. He had obtained thisknowledge by accident, and the Ben Nevis had been captured.

  To Somers there appeared to be a strong probability that the statementscontained in the letter were wholly or partially true. There were onlytwo rebel ports into which it was possible for the Ben Lomond to haverun--Mobile and Wilmington. The conspirators had told him that the BenNevis was bound to Mobile when she was actually going to Wilmington.Pillgrim, in his letter, declared that he was to command the Tallapoosa.If there was any plan at all, of course it had been laid before theChatauqua sailed from Philadelphia.

  Why did Pillgrim start for Mobile in the Chatauqua? Was it not possiblethat he intended, as second lieutenant of a national ship, to obtain themeans of getting the Ben Lomond, or Tallapoosa, through the blockadingfleet? Did he not endeavor to involve the fourth lieutenant in themeshes of the conspiracy for the purpose of obtaining his assistance inthis work? It was plausible. Perhaps the recreant wretch had left somepapers in his state-room on board the Chatauqua, which would beintelligible in the light which he could bring to bear upon them.

  Bewildered and astonished by the prospect before him, as he read theletter again and again, and considered its remarkable statements inconnection with his previous knowledge, Somers spent the whole afternoonin his state-room, and was only aroused from his meditations by thesupper bell. In the evening he resumed his study of the case, and triedto reconcile the theory he had framed with reason and common sense.There was nothing to conflict with this theory but the fact thatPillgrim himself had given him the information upon which it was based.The traitor would not intentionally betray himself. Perhaps he did notexpect his statements would be credited; or if he did, he had twicebefore been equally reckless.

  Then Somers attempted to analyze the mental constitution of Pillgrim.The conspirator seemed to be able to endure all misfortunes. The loss ofthe Ben Nevis had not affected him, and he had endangered, d
efeated hisplan to recapture her by indulging in idle threats before the match wasapplied. He had been more desirous of mortifying, humiliating, andoverwhelming Somers, than of recovering his lost steamer. With greattalents for scheming and plotting, he had displayed the most amazingstupidity.

  At this point the remark to the letter that Kate Portington would be_chilly_ when he saw her again, came up for consideration. Pillgrimcertainly had some purpose in view which was equal to, or greater than,his desire to serve the South, or even himself, in a pecuniary point ofview. He was the friend of the commodore--had known the family beforethe war. Somers could not help believing that, in spite of histhirty-five years, he was an aspirant for the hand of Kate, and that thebond he had signed was for her use rather than his own.

  Miss Portington might well be _chilly_, if she discovered that Somershad pledged a part of her fortune at the present stage of proceedings!

  Somers was nervous and uneasy until he had reasoned and coaxed himselfinto a full belief in the theory which he had suggested. He could notwait for evidence, if, indeed, any could be obtained. For the present hewas satisfied, and determined to proceed upon his hypothesis, just asthough every point in the argument had been fully substantiated.

  Our young officer was never idle when it was possible to work. If any ofour readers believe that Somers was very "smart," very skilful, and veryfortunate in his previous career, we beg to remind them, and to impressit upon their minds in the most forcible manner, that he owed more tohis industry and perseverance than to the accidents of natural abilityand favorable circumstances combined. For example, when he captured theBen Nevis, instead of gaping idly about the deck, and thinking what agreat man he was, he went into the hold, and made a careful examinationof the steamer's cargo. The knowledge thus gained had prevented him fromabandoning the vessel when she was believed to be on fire, and thussaved the prize and confounded the conspirators.

  Somers was not idle now. He procured "Blunt's Coast Pilot," and "A Chartof the North Coast of the Gulf of Mexico, from St. Mark's to Galveston,"of the captain of the steamer, and diligently studied up, and evencommitted to memory, the bearings, distances, and depths of water inMobile Bay and vicinity. He carefully trained his mind on these mattersso important to a seaman; and being blessed with a retentive memory, hehoped and expected to have this knowledge at command when it should beserviceable. It was hard study--the hardest and dryest kind of study;but he stuck to it as though it had been a bewitching novel.

  To assist his design he drew maps and charts of the coast from memory,and was not satisfied till he could make a perfect diagram of the coast,shoals, islands, and bars, mark the prominent objects to be sighted froma vessel, and lay down the depth of water. He had nothing else to do onthe passage; and as the steamer glided swiftly over the summer sea, hefound it a more agreeable occupation than smoking, playing cards, and"spinning yarns," which were the employments of his fellow-passengers.

  On the eighth day from Fortress Monroe the supply steamer reached theblockading fleet off Mobile Bay, and Somers was warmly welcomed by hisbrother officers. Of course he had a long story to tell, which waslistened to with interest. The escape of the late second lieutenant wasreceived with becoming indignation. Somers was now the third lieutenantof the Chatauqua, and he moved into the state-room formerly occupied byMr. Garboard, who had also advanced one grade in his relative rank.

  "Somers, you are just in time for a big thing," said Mr. Hackleford."Our Brave Old Salt is going to take us up Mobile Bay in a few days."

  "Indeed?"

  "Yes, the Old Salamander has issued his orders."

  "God bless him!" ejaculated Somers, fervently, in much the same spiritthat a loyal subject speaks of a popular monarch.

  "Ay, God bless him!" replied the first lieutenant. "He is the ablestnaval commander the world has yet produced. In my opinion he is thesuperior of Nelson, Collingwood, Decatur, Porter, Preble, and Hull. Bythe way, Mr. Somers, you were with him on the Mississippi?"

  "Yes, sir; I was in the Harrisburg when the fleet passed Forts Jacksonand St. Philip. But I am rather sorry the attack is to take place sosoon."

  "Why so?"

  Then Somers showed him Pillgrim's letter; but as we intend to tell onlywhat was done, not what was said, we will not record the conversation.