A Victorious Union | Page 3

not to say startled, at the remark
of the commander.
"Not in the slightest degree, my dear boy!" returned Captain Breaker
with very decided emphasis. "You have served in your present capacity
for four months; and if you were fifty years old, and had twenty years
of naval experience behind you, it would be hardly possible for you to
be more correct and dignified in the performance of the details of your
office."
"I thank you, Captain, for the partial view you take of what I have
done," added Christy, taking off his cap and bowing to his superior.
"Well, you ought to be a good officer in any situation, my dear fellow,"
continued the commander. "I doubt if there is another officer in the
navy who has enjoyed the advantages you have had in preparing
himself for the duties of his profession. You were brought up, so to say,
on board of the Bellevite. You were a good scholar in the first place.
Without including myself, you have had excellent teachers in every
department of science and philosophy, among whom your father was
one of the wisest. Poor Dashington was one of the best seamen that
ever trod a deck; and he took especial delight in showing you how to
make every knot and splice, as well as in instructing you in the higher
details of practical seamanship. Blowitt and myself assisted him, and
old Boxie, who gave his life to his country, was more than a
grandfather to you."
"I have certainly been very grateful to you and to them for all they did
for me," replied Christy with a sad expression on his handsome face as
the commander recalled the three shipmates of both of them who slept
in heroes' graves.
"Perhaps the brilliant genius of our engine-room did quite as much for
you as any other person, though not many years your senior."

"Paul Vapoor is my friend and crony; and if he had been my professor
in a college he could have done no more for me. I assure you, Captain,
that I keep alive my gratitude to all my instructors, including some you
have not mentioned."
"I was only explaining why you are what you ought to be, for you have
had very exceptional opportunities, better by far than any other officer
in the service. But it is altogether to your credit that you have used
those opportunities wisely and well."
"I should have been a blockhead if I had not."
"That is very true; but the mournful wrecks of wasted opportunities
strew the tracks of many, many young men. I think you can look back
upon as few of them as any one within my knowledge," said the
commander, bestowing a look of genuine affection upon his chief
officer. "More than once, even before we entered upon this terrible war,
I have told your father how happy he ought to be in having such a son
as you are."
"Come, come, Captain Breaker, you are praising me!" exclaimed
Christy impatiently.
"I am speaking only the simple truth, and I have very rarely said as
much as I say now. It was when you asked me if you had failed in the
discharge of the duties of your present position that I was led into this
line of remark; and I am sure you will not be spoiled by honest and just
praise," replied the captain.
"Then, to go back to the point where you began, why do you almost
wish that I were second or third lieutenant, instead of executive officer,
of the Bellevite, Captain?" continued Christy, rising from his seat, and
fixing an earnest gaze upon the face of the commander, for he was very
sensitive, and he could not help feeling that he had been lacking in
something that would make him a better executive officer than he was.
"Mr. Ballard, the second lieutenant, and Mr. Walbrook, the third, are
gentlemen of the highest grade, and excellent officers; but they are both

somewhat wanting in dash and cool impetuosity."
"'Cool impetuosity' is very good, Captain," added Christy with a laugh.
"But that is precisely what I mean, my boy, and no two words could
express the idea any better. You cannot carry an enemy by boarding
with the same precision you man the yards on a ceremonious occasion,
or as a regiment of soldiers go on dress parade. It requires vim, dash,
spirit. The officers named have this quality in a very considerable
degree, yet not enough of it. But what they lack more is ingenuity,
fertility in expedients, and the expansive view which enables them to
take advantage promptly of circumstances. You never lose your head,
Christy."
"I never knew the gentlemen named to lose their heads, and I have
always regarded