xt7qz60bwc3z https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7qz60bwc3z/data/mets.xml Optic, Oliver, 1822-1897. 1888  books b92-167-30116708 English Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, : Boston : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Taken by the enemy  / by Oliver Optic [pseud.] ... ; with illustrations. text Taken by the enemy  / by Oliver Optic [pseud.] ... ; with illustrations. 1888 2002 true xt7qz60bwc3z section xt7qz60bwc3z 




















THE BLUE AND T u, GRAY - AFLOAT
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      TAKEN BY THE ENEMY
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      ON THE BLOCKADE
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      FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHT
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THE BLUE AND THE GRAY-ON LAND
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      BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER
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      A LIEUTENANT AT EIGHTEEN
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LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS BOSTON



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"TIMI;EE ChESERS FOR CAPTALN PASSFORD " (Page 75)



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The Blue and the



Gray Series



TAKEN BY THE ENEMY



                       BY

             OLIVER OPTIC



AUTHOR OF "THE ARMY AND NAVY SERIES" "YOUNG AMERICA ABEOAD
  "THE GREAT WESTERN SERIES" "THE WOODVILLE STORIES"
     " THE STARRY-FLAG SERIES" "'THE BOAT-CLUB STORIES"
     "THE ONWARD AND UPWARD SERIES" "THE YACHT-
         CLUB SERIES" "THE LAKE-SHORE SERIES"
           "THE RIVERDALE SERIES" "THE
             BOAT-BUILDER SERIES" ni.





          WITH ILL USTRA TIONS





                BOSTON
  LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS

 












































COFYRIGHT, i888, BY LEE AND SHEPARD6


          All rights reserved.





          TAKEmN BY THzE ENEMY.

 

























          TO

      MY NEPHEW,

HERBERT W. ADAMS,

       Cri0 I3ooh

 IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.

 
This page in the original text is blank.

 













PREFACE



  "1 TAKEN BY THE ENEMY " is the first of a new
series of six volumes which are to be associated
under the general title of "Tlhe Blue and the
Gray Series," which sufficiently indicates the char-
acter of the books. At the conclusion of the
war of the Rebellion, and before the writer had
completed "The Army and Navy Series," over
twenty years ago, some of his friends advised
hinm to make all possible haste to bring his war
stories to a conclusion, declaring that there could
be no demand for such works when the war had
come to an end. But the volumes of the series
mentioned are as much in demand to-day as any
of his other stories, though from their nature the
field of their circulation is more limited. Surpris-
ing as this may appear, it is still the fact; and
certainly the author has received more commend.
atory letters front young people ill regard to the
                                   5

 






PREFACE



books of this series than concerning those of any
other.
  Among these letters there has occasionally
been one, though rarely, in which the writer
objected to this series for the reason that he was
" on the other side " of the great issue which shook
the nation to the centre of its being for four years.
Doubtless the writers of these letters, and many
who wrote no letters, will be surprised and
grieved at the announcement of another series
by the author on war topics. The writer had
little inclination to undertake this task; for he
has believed for twenty years that the war is over,
and he has not been disposed to keep alive old
issues which had better remain buried. He has
spent some time in the South, and has always
found himself among friends there. He became
personally acquainted with those who fought on
the Confederate side, from generals to privates,
and he still values their friendship. He certainly
is not disposed to write any thing that would cause
him to forfeit his title to the kind feeling that was
extended to him.
  It is not, therefore, with the desire or intention
to rekindle the fires of sectional animosity, now



6

 






PREFACE



happily subdued, that the writer begins another
series relating to the war. The call upon him to
use the topics of the war has been so urgent, and
its ample field of stirring events has been so
inviting, that he could not resist; but, while his
own opinions in regard to the great question of
five-and-twenty years ago remain unchanged, lhe
hopes to do More ample justice than perhaps was
done before to those "who fought on the other
side."
  The present volume introduces those which are
to follow it, and presents many of the characters
that are to figure in them. Though written from
the Union standpoint, the author hopes that it
will not be found unfair or unjust to those whG
looked from the opposite point of view.



DORCHESTER, June 12, 1888.



7

 
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CONTENTS



                 CHAPTER I.
ASTOUNDING NEWS FROM THE SHORE

                 CHAPTER Il.
THE BROTHER AT THE SOUTH.  .

                 CHAPTER Ill.
DANGEROUS AND SOMZEWHAT IRREGULAR

                CHAPTER IV.
TIIE FIRST MISSION OF THE BELLEVITE.

                 CHAPTER V.
TILE BELLEVITE AND THOSE ON BOARD OF HER.

                CHAPTER VI.
MR. PERCY PIERSON INTRODUCES HIMSELF

                CHAPTER VIL
A COMPLICATION AT GLENFIELD .

                CHAPTER VIII.
A DISCONSOLATE PURCHASER OF VESSELS

                CHAPTER IX.
CHRISTY MATURES A PROMISING SCHEME



  PAGE
. 13



. 24



. 35



. 47



, 58



. 69



. 80



   91



. 102
9

 










10                CONTENTS


                 CHAPTER X.
THE ATTEMPT TO PASS INTO MOBILE BAY .

                CHAPTER XI.
THE MAJOR IN COMMAND OF FORT GAINES.

                CHAPTER XII.
How THE BELLEVITE PASSED FORT MORGAN



                CHAPTER XIII.
A DECIDED DIFFERENCE OF OPINION

                CHAPTER XIV.
THE BLUE AND THE GRAY  .

                CHAPTER XV.
BROTHER AT WAR WITH BROTHER

                CHAPTER XVI.
CHRISTY FINDS HIMSELF A PRISONER

               CHAPTER XVIL
MAJOR PIERSON IS PUZZLED .

               CHAPTER XVIII.
THE MORNING TRIP OF THE LEOPARD.



   .  . 146



   .  . 157



   .  . 168



   ,  . 179



   .  . 190



  .   . 201



               CHAPTER XIX.
THE REPORT OF THE SCOUT FROM THE SHORE

                CHAPTER XX.
A REBELLION IN THE PILOT-HOUSE  .



. 212



. 223



    PAGU
 . 113



  . 124



 . 135

 










                  CONTENTS                11

                CHAPTER XXI.             PAGE
THE SICK CAPTAIN OF THE LEOPARD  .  .   . 234

               CHAPTER XXII.

THE PROCEEDINGS ON THE LOWER DEC .  .    245

               CHAPTER XXIII.
THE EXPEDITION FROM THE LEOPARD.  .  .  . 256

               CHAPTER XXIV.
THE ENGINEER GOES INTO THE FORECASTLE  .  . 267

               CHAPTER XXV.
THE FIRST LESSON FOR A SAILOR..  .        278

              CHAPTER XXVI.
THE POST OF DUTY AND OF DANGER .  .  .  . 289

              CHAPTER XXVIL.
A CANNON-BALL THROUGH THE LEOPARD  .    . 00

              CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE AMERICAN FLAG AT THE FORE.            311

               CHAPTER XXIX.
Ow BOARD OF THE BELLEVITE   .  .    .   . 322

               CHAPTER XXX
RUNNING THE GANTLET.  .   .  .   .  .   . 333

 
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      TAKEN BY THE ENEMY



                CHAPTER I

     ASTOUNDING NEWS FROM THE SHORE

  "THis is most astounding news!" exclaimed
Captain Horatio Passford.
  It was on the deck of the magnificent steam-
yacht Bellevite, of which he was the owner;
and with the newspaper, in which he had read
only a few of the many head-lines, still in his
hand, he rushed furiously across the deck, in a
state of the most intense agitation.
  It would take more than one figure to indicate
the numnber of millions by which his vast wealth
was measured, in the estimation of those who
knew most about his affairs; and he was just
returning from a winter cruise in his yacht.
  His wife and son were on board; but his daugh-
ter had spent the winter at the South with her

 






TAKEN BY THE ENEMRY



uncle, preferring this to a voyage at sea, being
in rather delicate health, and the doctors thought
a quiet residence in a genial climate was better
for her.
  The Bellevite had been among the islands
of the Atlantic, visiting the Azores, Madeira,
the Canary Islands, and was now coming front
Bermuda. She had just taken a pilot fifty miles
from Sandy Hook, and was bound to New York,
for the captain's beautiful estate, Bonnydale, was
located on the Hudson.
  As usual, the pilot had brought on board with
him the latest New-York papers, and one of them
contained the startling news which appeared to
have thrown the owner of the Bellevite entirely
off his balance; and it was quite astounding enough
to produce this effect upon any American.
  "What is it, sir" demanded    Christopher
Passford, his son, a remarkably bright-looking
young fellow of sixteen, as he followed his father
across the deck.
  "lWhat is it, Horatio" inquired Mrs. Passford,
who had been seated with a book on the deck,
as she also followed her husband.
  The captain was usually very cool and self-



14

 






ASTOUNDING NEWS FROM THE SHORE



possessed, and neither the wife nor the son had
ever before seen him so shaken by agitation.
He seemed to be unable to speak a word for the
time, and took no notice whatever of his wife
and son when they addressed him.
  For several minutes he continued to rush back
and forth across the deck of the steamer, like a
vessel which had suddenly caught a heavy flaw
of wind, and had not yet come to her bearings.
  "What is the matter, Horatio" asked Mrs.
Passford, when lie came near her. "W hat in
the world has happened to overcome you in this
manner, for I never saw you so moved before ''
  But her husband did not reply even to this
earnest interrogatory, 1)ut again darted across tl'e
deck, and his lips moved as though    lie were
muttering something to himself. He d(id not look
at the paper in his hands again; and wlhatever the
startling intelligence it contained, he seemed to
have taken it all in at a glance.
  Christy, as the remarkably good-lookiiig young
man was called by all in the family and on board
of the Bellevite, appeared to be e-ven more
astonished than his mother at the singular con-
duct of his father; but he saw how intense was



15

 






TAIKEN BY TIHE ENEMY



his agitation, and lie tljd not follow him in his
impulsive flights across the deck.
  Though his father had always treated him with
great consideration, and seldom if ever had occa-
sion to exercise any of his paternal authority
over him, the young man never took advantage
of the familiarity existing between them. His
father was certainly in a most extraordinary
mood for him, and he could not venture to speak
a word to him.
  He stood near the companionway, not far from
his mother, and he observed the movements of
his father with the utmost interest, not unmingled
with anxiety; and Mrs. Passford fully shared
with him the solicitude of the moment.
  The steamer was going at full speed in the
direction of Sandy Hook. Captain Passford gave
no heed to the movement of the vessel, but for
several minutes planked the deck as though he
were unable to realize the truth or the force
of the news he had hastily gathered from the
headlines 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 unon the staling



16

 







ASTOUNDING NEWS FROM THIE SHORE



announcement at the head of one of its columns.
No one ventured to approach him; for lie 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.



17

 






TAKEN BY THE ENEMY



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 niavlal service, or on the deck
of the finest steam-yachlt in the world.
  "1 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, lie walked
away from the spot.
  "1 Off Fire Island," added Captain Breaker,
simply repeating the name of the locality to wihicL
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 be
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;



18

 






ASTOUNDING NEWS FRO'.M TILE SHORE 1



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 lhe 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 lie 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 lie did not rush across the deck as lie had
done before, but seated himself in an armchair he



19

 





TAKEN BY THE ENEMY



had occupied before the pilot came on board, and
proceeded to read something more than the head-
lines 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
lie 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 the waist.
  "1 But we shall not go up to the city," replied
Captain Passford, in a very decidod toue. "But



20

 





ASTOUNDING NEWS FROM THE SHORE



that shall make no difference in your pilot's fees.
- Captain Breaker."
  The captain of the steamer, who had also come
out of the pilot-house, had stationed himself with-
in call of the owner to receive the next order,
which might throw some light on the reason for
anchoring the steamer so near her destination on
a full sea.  Ie presented himself before the
magnate of the yacht, and indicated that he was
ready to take his further orders.
  "You will see that the pilot is paid bis full
fee for taking the vessel to a wharf," continued
Captain Passford.
  The captaini bowed, and started towards the
compallionway ; but the owner called himi back.
  " I see what looks like a tug to the westward
of us.  You will set the signal to bring her
alongside," the magnate proceeded.
  This order was even more Strange than that
under which the vessel had coine to anchor so
near home after her long cruise; but the captain
asked no questions, and mnade no sign. Calling
Beeks, he went aft with the pilot, and paid him
his fees.
  Whenj the American flag was displayed in the



21

 






2  TAKEN BY THE ENEMY



fore-rigging for the tug, Captain Passford, with
his gaze fixed on the planks of the deck, walked
slowly to the place where his wife was seated,
and halted in front of her without speaking a
word.   But there was a quivering of the lip
which assured the lady and her son that he was
still struggling to suppress his agitation.
  "What is the matter, Horatio" asked the
wife, in the tenderest of tones, while her expres-
sion assured those who saw her face that the
anxiety of the husband had been communicated
to the wife.
  " I need hardly tell you, Julia, that I am
disturbed as I never was before in all my life,"
replied he, maintaining his calmness only with
a struggle.
  " I can see that something momentous has
happened in our country," she added, hardly able
to contain herself, for she felt that she was in the
presence of an unexplained calamity.
  " Something has happened, my dear; something
terrible, -something that I did not expect, though
many others were sure that it would come," lie
continued, seating himself at the side of his wife.
  "1 But you do not tell me what it is," said the



22

 






    ASTOUNDING NEWS FROM THIE SHORE        23

lady, with a look which indicated that her worst
fears were confirmed.  "Is Florry worse   Is
she "-
  " So far as I know, Florry is as well as usual,"
interposed the husband. "s Btit a state of war
exists at the present iiiment between the North
and the South."


 






TAKEN BY THE ENEMY



                CHAPTER II

        THE BROTHER AT THE SOUTH

  Even five months before, when the Bellevite
had sailed on her Cruise, the rumble of coming
events had been heard in the United States; and
it had been an open question whether or not war
would grow out of the complications between the
North and the South.
  Only a few letters, and fewer newspapers, had
reached the owner of the yacht: and he and
his family on board had been very indifferently
informed in regard to the progress of political
events at home. Captain Passford was one of
those who confidently believed that no very
serious difficulty would result from the entangle-
ments into which the country had been plunged
by the secession of the most of the Southern
States.
  He would not admit even to himself that war



24

 






THE BROTHER AT THE SOUTH



was possible; and before his departure he had
scouted the idea of a conflict with arms between
the brothers of the North and the brothers of the
South, as lhe styled them.
  Captain Passford had been the master of a ship
in former times, though he had accumulated his vast
fortune after he abandoned the sea. His father
was an Englishman, who had come to the United
States as a young man, had married, raised his
two sons, and died in the city of New York.
  These two sons, Horatio and Homer, were
respectively forty-five and forty years of age.
Both of them were married, and each of themn
had only a son and a daughter. While Horatio
had been remarkably successful in his pursuit of
wealth in the metropolis, he had kept himself
clean and honest, like so many of the wealthy
men of the great city. When he retired fromn
active business, he settled at Boninydale on the
Hudson.
  His brother had been less successful as a
business-man, and soon after his marriage to
a Northern lady he had purchased a plantation
in Alabama, where both of his children had been
born, and where he wais a man of high standing,



25

 







TAKEN BY THE ENEMY



with wealth enough to maintain his position in
luxury, though his fortune was insignlificant
compared with that of his brother.
  Between the two brothers and their families the
most kindly relations had always existed; and
each made occasional visits to the other, though
the distance which separated them was too great
to permit of very frequent exchanges personally
of brotherly love and kindness.
  Possibly the fraternal feeling which subsisted
between the two brothers had some influence
upon the opinions of Horatio, for to him hostili-
ties meant making war upon his only brother,
whom he cherished as warmly as if they had not
been separated by a distance of over a thousand
miles.
  He measured the feelings of oth'ers by his own;
and if all had felt as he felt, war would have
been an impossibility, however critical and momen-
tous the relations between the two sections.
  Though his father had been born and bred in
England, Horatio was more intensely American
than thousands who came out of Plymouth Rock
stock; and he believed in the union of the
States, unable to believe that any true citizen



26

 






THE BROTHER AT TIHE SOUTH



could tolerate the idea of a separation of any
kind.
  The first paper which Captain Passford read on
the deck of the Bellevite contained the details
of the bombardment and capture of Fort Sumter;
and the others, a record of the events which had
transpired in the few succeeding days after the
news of actual war reached the North.
  This terrible intelligence was unexpected to
the owner of the yacht, believing, as he had, ill the
impossibility of war; and it seemed to him just as
though he and his cherished brother were already
arrayed ,against each other on the battle-field.
  The commotion between the two sections had
begun before his departure from home on the
yacht cruise  but his brother, perhaps because
he was fully instructed in regard to the Union
sentiment of Horatio, was strangely reticent, and
expressed no opinions of his own.
  But Captain Passford, measuring his brother
according to his own standard, was fully per-
suaded that Homer was as sound on the great
question as he was himself, though the excitement
and violence around him might have caused bim
to maintain a neutral position.



27

 







TAKEN BY THE ENEMY



  Certainly if the Northern brother had antici-
pated that a terrible war was impending, he
would not have permitted his daughter Florence,
a beautiful young lady of seventeen, to reside
during the winter in a hot-bed of secession and
disunion. The papers informed him what had
been done at the North and at the South to
initiate the war; and the thought that Florry was
now in the midst of the enemies of her country
was agonizing to him.
  Though he felt that his country demanded his
best energies, and though he was ready and will-
ing to give himself and his son to her in her hour
of need, he felt that his first duty was to his own
family, within reasonable limits; and his earliest
thoughts were directed to the safety of his daugh-
ter, and then to the welfare of his brother and
his family.
  "War!" exclaimed Mrs. Passford, when her
husband had announced so briefly the situation
which had caused such intense agitation in his
soul. "What do you mean by war, Horatio"
  "I mean all that terrible word can convey of
destruction and death, and, worse yet, of hate
and revenge between brothers of the same house-



28

 







THE BROTHER AT THE SOUTH



hold! " replied the husband impressively. "Both
the North and the South are sounding the notes
of preparation. Men are gathering by thousands
on both sides, soon to meet on fields which must
be drenched in the gore of brothers."
  ",But don't you think the trouble will be settled
in some way, Horatio" asked the anxious wife
and mother; and her thoughts, like those of her
husband, reverted to the loving daughter then in
the enemy's camp.
  " I do not think so; that is impossible now. I
did not believe that war was possible: now
I do not believe it wvill be over till one side or
the other shall be exhausted," replied Captain
Passford, wiping fromn his brow the perspiration
which the intensity of his emotion produced.
"A civil war is the most bitter and terrible of all
wars."
  "I cannot understand it," added the lady.
  "Is it really war, sir" asked Christy, who
had been an interested listener to all that had
been said.
  "It is really war, my son," replied the father
earnestly. "It will be a war which cannot be
carried to a conclusion by hirelings; but father,



29

 






TAKEN BY THE ENEMY



son, and brother must take part in it, against
father, son, and brother."
  "It is terrible to think of," added Mrs. Passford
with something like a shudder, though she was a
strong-minded woman in the highest sense of the
words.
  Captain Passford then proceeded to inform his
wife and son in regard to all the events which had
transpired since he had received his latest papers
at Bermuda. They listened with the most intense
interest, and the trio were as solemn as though
they had met to consider the dangerous illness of
the absent member of the family.
  The owner did not look upon the impending
war as a sort of frolic, as did many of the people
at the North and the South, and he could not
regard it as a trivial conflict which would be
ended in a few weeks or a few months. To
him it was the most terrible reality which his
imagination could picture; and more clearly
than many eminent statesmen, he foresaw that it
would be a long and fierce encounter.
  "From what you say, Horatio, I judge that
the South is already arming for the conflict,"
said Mrs. Passford, after she had hacrid her



30

 






THE BROTHER AT THE SOUTh        3



husband's account of what had occurred on
shore.
  "The South has been preparing for war for
months, and the North began to make serious
preparation for coming events as soon as Fort
Sumter fell.  Doubtless the South is better
prepared for the event to-day than the North,
though the greater population and vast resources
of the latter will soon make up for lost time,"
replied the captain.
  "And Florry is right in the midst of the
gathering armies of the South," added the fond
mother, wiping a tear from her eyes.
  "She is; and, unless something is done at once
to restore her to her home, she may leave to
remain in the enemy's country for months, if not
for years," answered the father, with a - slight
trembling of the lips.
  "But what can be done" asked the mother
anxiously.
  "The answer to that question has agitated me
more than any thing else which has come to my
mind for years, for I cannot endure the thought
of leaving her even a single month at any point
which is as likely as any other to become a



31

 







TAKEN BY THE ENEMY



battle-field in a few days or a few weeks,"
continued Captain Passford, with some return
of the agitation which had before shaken him
so terribly.
   "Of course your brother Homer will take care
of her," said the terrified mother, as she gazed
earnestly into the expressive face of the stout-
hearted man before her.
  "Certainly he will do all for Florry that he
would do for his own children, but he may not
long be able to save his own family from the
horrors of war."
  "1 Do you think she will be in any actual danger,
Horatio "
  ",I nave no doubt she will be as safe at
Glenfield. if the conflict were raging there, as
she would be at Bonnydale under the same
circumstances. From the nature of the case, the
burden of the fighting, the havoc and desolation,
will be within the Southern States, and few, if
any, of the battle-fields will be on Northern soil,
or at least as far north as our home.7'
  ",From what I have seen of the people near the
residence of your brother, they are neither brutes
nor savages," added the lady.



32

 







THE BROTHER AT THE SOUTH



   "No more than the people of the North; but
war rouses the brute nature of most men, and
there will be brutes and savages on both sides,
from the very nature of the case."
  "In his recent letters, I mean those that came
before we sailed from home, Homer did not seem
to take part with either side in the political
conflict; and in those which came to us at the
Azores and Bermuda, he did not say a single
word to indicate whether lie is a secessionist, or
in favor of the Union. Do you know how he
stands, Horatio  "
  "My means of knowing are the same as yours,
and I can be no wiser than you are on this point,
though I have my opinion," replied Captain
Passford.
  "What is your opinion"
  "That he is as truly a Union man as I am."
  "I am glad that he is."
  "I do not say that he is a Uniov. 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."



33

 







TAKEN BY TILE ENEMY



  " Then we shall have them all at Bonnydale
this summer " suggested Mrs. Passford. " Noth-
ing could suit me better."
  "n 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 foi
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 thait 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 owjner of the Bellevite wished the tug to
wait his orders.



34


 







SOMEWHAT I1REGULA 1R



                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 announce-
ment 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 anld father bad 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 a(lvantage of the
momentary pause in the interesting, and even



35

 







TAKEN BY THE ENEMY



exciting, conversation, to put this leading ques-
tion.
   "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