Taken by the Enemy | Page 7

truly a Union man as I am."
"I am glad that he is."
"I do not say that he is a Union man; but judging from his silence, and
what I know of him, I think he is. And it is as much a part of my desire
and intention to bring him and his family out of the enemy's country as

it is to recover Florry."
"Then we shall have them all at Bonnydale this summer?" suggested
Mrs. Passford. "Nothing could suit me better."
"Though I am fully persuaded in my own mind that Homer will be true
to his country in this emergency, I may be mistaken. He has lived for
many years at the South, and has been identified with the institutions of
that locality, as I have been with those of the North. Though we both
love the land of our fathers on the other side of the ocean, we have both
been strongly American. As he always believed in the whole country as
a unit, I shall expect him to be more than willing to stand by his
country as it was, and as it should be."
"I hope you will find him so, but I am grievously sorry that Florry is
not with us."
"Tug-boat alongside, Captain Passford," said the commander.
The owner of the Bellevite wished the tug to wait his orders.
CHAPTER III
DANGEROUS AND SOMEWHAT IRREGULAR
In various parts of the deck of the Bellevite, the officers, seamen,
engineers, and coal-passers of the steamer were gathered in knots,
evidently discussing the situation; for the news brought on board by the
pilot had been spread through the ship.
Captain Passford hardly noticed the announcement made to him by the
commander, that the tug was alongside, for he was not yet ready to
make use of it. Even the wife and the son of the owner wondered what
the mission of the little vessel was to be; but the husband and father had
not yet disclosed his purpose in coming to anchor almost in sight of his
own mansion.
"Why have you come to anchor here, Horatio?" asked Mrs. Passford,

taking advantage of the momentary pause in the interesting, and even
exciting, conversation, to put this leading question.
"I was about to tell you. I have already adopted my plan to recover
Florry, and bring my brother and his family out of the enemy's
country," replied the owner, looking with some solicitude into the face
of his wife, as though he anticipated some objection to his plan.
"You have adopted it so quick?" inquired the lady. "You have not had
much time to think of it."
"I have had all the time I need to enable me to reach the decision to
rescue my child from peril, and save my brother and his family from
privation and trouble in the enemy's country. But I have only decided
what to do, and I have yet to mature the details of the scheme."
"I hope you are not going into any danger," added the wife anxiously.
"Danger!" exclaimed Captain Passford, straightening up his manly
form. "War with all its perils and hardships is before us. Am I a villain,
a poltroon, who will desert his country in the hour of her greatest need?
I do not so understand myself."
"Of course I meant any needless exposure," added Mrs. Passford,
impressed by the patriotic bearing of her husband.
"You may be assured, Julia, that I will incur no needless peril, and I
think I am even more careful than the average of men. But, when I have
a duty to perform, I feel that I ought to do it without regard to the
danger which may surround it."
"I know you well enough to understand that, Horatio," said the lady.
"I believe there will be danger in my undertaking, though to what
extent I am unable to say."
"But you do not tell me how you intend to recover Florry."
"I intend to go for her and my brother's family in the Bellevite."

"In the Bellevite!" exclaimed the lady.
"Of course; there is no other possible way to reach Glenfield," which
was the name that Homer Passford had given to his plantation.
"But Fort Morgan, at the entrance of Mobile Bay, is in the hands of the
Confederates, and has been for three or four months," said Christy, who
had kept himself as thoroughly posted in regard to events at home as
the sources of information would permit.
"I am well aware of it; and I have no doubt, that, by this time, the fort is
strongly garrisoned, to say nothing of other forts which have probably
been built in the vicinity," replied Captain Passford.
"It says in this paper that the ports of the South have been blockaded,"