A NON-COMBATANT ON BOARD THE BRONX  
Colonel Passford was reclining on the divan when the commander entered the cabin; but he rose to his feet as soon as he saw his nephew. Christy thought he looked thinner and paler than when he had last seen him. He was now only forty-two years old, but he looked like a man of fifty.
 
"I have been wanting to see you, Christy," said the planter, as he approached his nephew. "I learn, with no little astonishment, that you are the commander of this steamer."
 
"I am, uncle Homer," replied the young man.
 
"Then you can tell me better than any one else in regard to my status on board of the Bronx," added the colonel, who had won this title years before in the militia. "Am I considered a prisoner of war?"
 
"I do not so consider you, uncle Homer; but I cannot say how my superior officer will look at 236 the matter when I report to him. You were taken in a sloop that fired upon the first cutter of the Bronx, wounding one of the crew and the officer in command."
 
"That was the folly of Captain Flanger; and I protested the moment I discovered what had been done," added the planter, who seemed to be anxious to relieve himself of all responsibility for the discharge of the muskets.
 
"Were you in charge of the sloop, uncle Homer?"
 
"I was not; I had nothing to do with the sloop. She belonged to Captain Flanger."
 
"Who is Captain Flanger?" asked Christy.
 
"You have him on board, and perhaps he had better answer the question himself," replied Colonel Passford with a smile.
 
"It was a superfluous question, for I know all about him. He is the captain of the Floridian, though that would not make him a combatant unless he fights his ship; and that is what he did on board of the Magnolia. I regard him and his companions, except the skipper of the sloop, as prisoners of war. You proved by your words and conduct that you were not a combatant, and you are at liberty to depart when you please."
 
237 The young commander did not feel entirely sure that his ruling was correct, for a naval officer must be learned in a great variety of subjects which he had not had time to study; but he was willing to take the responsibility in the present instance.
 
"It is easy enough to say that I may depart; but how shall I do it?" added the planter with a smile. "I cannot swim ashore."
 
"I will put you ashore in a boat at the nearest land when the fog clears off," replied Christy.
 
"The nearest land is an island, and there is hardly anything like a village on the entire Bay of St. Andrew's. The region is deserted now, and I might wander about there for a month, till I starved to death, before I could get to a settled region."
 
"I shall not compel you to land, and you can remain on board till I report to the flag-officer of the Eastern Gulf squadron, off Pensacola, if you desire to do so; but you will be subject to his decision and not mine then."
 
"I prefer that to starving to death in this region," replied the colonel.
 
"Very well, uncle Homer, that is settled," 238 added Christy. "Now, how are aunt Lydia and Gerty? I hope they are well."
 
"Very well the last time I saw them, which was three weeks ago. They are busy making garments for the soldiers," answered the planter.
 
"When did you last hear from Corny, uncle Homer?"
 
"It is all of two months since I had any news in regard to him. He is still a soldier and has not yet been promoted. His company is still at Fort Gaines; but he has been sent away once or twice on detached duty. He is not given to writing many letters; but the last time I was in Mobile I was told that he had again been sent off on some sort of secret service with a naval officer by the name of Galvinne. I do not know whether the report was true or not."
 
"It was quite true, uncle Homer; and he has been quite as unfortunate as he was in his former expedition to the North," added Christy very quietly.
 
"What do you know about him, Christy?" asked the colonel with the deepest interest.
 
"I can assure you first that he is alive and well. I am not informed how he got to New York, but 239 he did get there, and in company with two naval officers, one by the name of Byron, as well as Galvinne."
 
"Byron was an actor in Mobile; he had been the mate of a cotton ship, and he obtained a commission in the navy; but for the want of a steamer both of them were unemployed," the planter explained.
 
"In New York they got up a plan to obtain a small steamer, about the size of the Bronx," continued Christy. "Galvinne had been in the navy, and he readily obtained an appointment as second lieutenant of the store-ship Vernon. Byron shipped as a seaman. Corny was appointed by the two officers to take the place of a regular officer, who came down in the Vernon. He looked something like the officer whom he personated, who was to command a small steamer in the gulf."
 
"It was a hazardous plan," suggested Colonel Passford, "and I should suppose that Corny was hardly competent to play such a rôle. I hope the scheme was successful, for, as you know very well, all my prayers and all my aspirations are for the triumph of the Confederate cause."
 
"The scheme was successful up to a certain 240 point, and Corny obtained the command of the steamer, passing for the genuine officer before the commodore, and even on board of the vessel where the commander was well known."
 
"That sounds like a story for a novel," added the planter, smiling.
 
"If there had been no setback, Corny would have gone into Pensacola Bay in a few hours more, in nominal command of the steamer, though o............