Taken by the Enemy | Page 3

planked the deck as though he were unable to realize the truth or the force of the news he had hastily gathered from the head-lines of the newspaper.
At last he halted in the waist, at some distance from the other members of his family, raised his paper, and fixed his gaze upon the staring announcement at the head of one of its columns. No one ventured to approach him; for he was the magnate of the vessel, and, whatever his humor, he was entitled to the full benefit of it.
He only glanced at the head-lines as he had done before, and then dropped the paper, as though the announcement he had read was all he desired to know.
"Beeks," said he, as a quartermaster passed near him.
The man addressed promptly halted, raised his hand to his cap, and waited the pleasure of the owner of the steamer.
"Tell Captain Breaker that I wish to see him, if you please," added Captain Passford.
The man repeated the name of the person he was to call, and hastened away to obey the order. The owner resumed his march across the deck, though it was evident to the anxious observers that he had in a great measure recovered his self-possession, for his movements were less nervous, and the usual placid calm was restored to his face.
In another minute, Captain Breaker, who was the actual commander of the vessel, appeared in the waist, and walked up to his owner. Though not more than forty-five years old, his hair and full beard were heavily tinted with gray; and an artist who wished for an ideal shipmaster, who was both a gentleman and a sailor, could not have found a better representative of this type in the merchant or naval service, or on the deck of the finest steam-yacht in the world.
"You sent for me, Captain Passford," said the commander, in respectful but not subservient tones.
"You will take the steamer to some point off Fire Island, and come to anchor there," replied the owner, as, without any explanation, he walked away from the spot.
"Off Fire Island," added Captain Breaker, simply repeating the name of the locality to which his order related, but not in a tone that required an exclamation-point to express his surprise.
Whatever the captain of the Bellevite thought or felt, it was an extraordinary order which he received. It was in the month of April, and the vessel had been absent about five months on her winter pleasure cruise.
In a few hours more the yacht could easily be at her moorings off Bonnydale on the Hudson; but when almost in sight of New York, the captain had been ordered to anchor, as though the owner had no intention of returning to his elegant home.
If he was surprised, as doubtless he was, he did not manifest it in the slightest degree; for he was a sailor, and it was a part of his gospel to obey the orders of his owner without asking any questions.
No doubt he thought of his wife and children as he walked forward to the pilot-house to execute his order, for he had been away from them for a long time. The three papers brought on board by the pilot had all been given to the owner, and he had no hint of the startling news they contained.
The course of the Bellevite was promptly changed more to the northward; and if the pilot wished to be informed in regard to this strange alteration in the immediate destination of the vessel, Captain Breaker was unable to give him any explanation.
Captain Passford was evidently himself again; and he did not rush across the deck as he had done before, but seated himself in an armchair he had occupied before the pilot came on board, and proceeded to read something more than the headlines in the paper.
He hardly moved or looked up for half an hour, so intensely was he absorbed in the narrative before him. Mrs. Passford and Christy, though even more excited by the singular conduct of the owner, and the change in the course of the steamer, did not venture to interrupt him.
The owner took the other two papers from his pocket, and had soon possessed himself of all the details of the astounding news; and it was plain enough to those who so eagerly observed his expression as he read, that he was impressed as he had never been before in his life.
Before the owner had finished the reading of the papers, the Bellevite had reached the anchorage chosen by the pilot, and the vessel was soon fast to the bottom in a quiet sea.
"The tide is just right for going up to the city," said the pilot, who had left his place in the pilot-house, and addressed himself to the owner in