the bellevite lay in the river, off the estate of captain passford, though at a little distance below the mansion, from the windows of which she could not be seen. corny walked down the avenue and over the hill, in the direction of the anchorage of the steamer. the boat-house was near the mansion, and to the float attached to it a variety of small craft were made fast. but the water was not deep enough there for the bellevite. corny had been to bonnydale, and passed many weeks there, so that he was familiar with the localities.
as he passed the boat-house, he noticed that the florence, which was christy's favorite sailing craft, was not at her moorings, and he concluded that his cousin was away in her on some excursion. when he reached the boundary line of the estate, he discovered the sailboat with her bow on the beach, though her mainsail was still set. a 28 gentle breeze was blowing, with which the florence could make good headway; but there seemed to be no one on board of her. corny watched her for some time, waiting for the appearance of christy. it was not an easy matter to climb the high fence which bounded the estate, and the planter's son could hail the boat, and be taken on board of her as soon as she got under way again.
but christy did not appear, and it was getting darker and darker every minute. something must have attracted the attention of the skipper on shore, and he had doubtless landed. but while corny was waiting for his cousin, he saw two men making their way through the grove on the other side of the fence towards the river. one of them he recognized, and gave a peculiar whistle, which drew the two men in the direction from which it came.
"is that you, major?" asked corny, in a low tone.
"hush! you are a simpleton, corny!" exclaimed one of the men, as he came up to the palisades of the fence. "didn't i tell you not to call me by name?"
"i didn't call you by name," replied corny, smartly.
29 "you called me major, and that is about the same thing," added the speaker on the other side of the fence.
"the woods are full of majors now, both in the north and the south, and no one knows you especially by that name. but i will remember in future, mr. mulgate," replied corny.
"that sounds better, neal. if we lose the game it will be by your blundering," continued the major, or mulgate, as he preferred to be called on the present occasion.
"i suppose you have no talent for blundering, mulgate; and that is the reason why you happen to be here at the present moment," retorted corny, not at all pleased with the speech of the other.
"none of your impudence, neal!" said mulgate, sharply.
"if you lose the game, you say that it will be by my blundering, mulgate," continued corny. "that makes it seem as though i was to bear the responsibility of a failure; and i don't like the looks of things. if i am to be responsible for a failure, i ought to have something to say about the manner of conducting the enterprise."
"shut up, neal! we have no time to talk 30 nonsense of that sort. i am to conduct the enterprise, and you are to obey my orders. that is the whole of it," replied mulgate, impatient at the position taken by the young man. "you are still under my command, and you will obey me or take the consequences. now to business: what have you learned?"
"nothing at all," answered corny, rather sullenly.
"what have you been about? haven't you discovered anything?"
"nothing at all; i have but just arrived here. i took supper with my uncle, and told him the fish story you invented for me."
"did he believe it?"
"i don't know whether he did or not; but he and the rest of the family treated me very handsomely, which made me feel meaner than a dead catfish."
"never mind your feelings; you are here to assist in a great enterprise, and you are expected to do your duty to your country without regard to your own notions. report what you have done."
"i haven't done anything but introduce myself into the house, and explain how i happen to be 31 here," replied corny, as he proceeded to give the details of his meeting with his uncle.
"is miss florry at home?" asked mulgate, in a more gentle tone, as though he had a deeper interest in the direction he had indicated.
"she is at home, and was at the supper table with us."
"how does she seem to be?" asked the stranger.
"first rate; she is as jolly as though no one ever heard of such a thing as war," replied corny, with enthusiasm.
"did she say anything about her stay at glenfield?" inquired mulgate, whose interest seemed to mount to the pitch of anxiety.
"not a word; she did not even hint at glenfield, or anything connected with it," answered corny; and, after the sharp tones of the other, he seemed to take pleasure in thorning him with negative answers.
"did she say anything about me?"
"not a word."
"didn't she mention my name?"
"she did not."
"didn't she ask about my health, or want to know where i was?"
32 "florry did not allude to you in any manner. if she wanted to know where you were, she did not say a word about it to me," replied corny, in the most decided tones.
it was still light enough to see that there was something like a frown on the brow of mr. mulgate. he had evidently believed that the daughter of the millionnaire of bonnydale was interested in him, and his inquiries indicated that he expected her to ask about him; but she had not made the remotest allusion to him. besides, she was as jolly as she had been at glenfield, when war was a matter of the future, which few believed would ever be realized. she had not grown thin and pale during her absence from him, and she did not appear to be wasting her sweetness in pining for him.
"what in the world are you talking about, mulgate?" suddenly demanded his companion on his side of the fence. "i thought we were here for business, and you are talking about some girl."
"she is the lady of whom i spoke to you; she spent the last winter with her uncle at the glenfield plantation. i am interested in her," replied 33 mulgate, as though he had given a sufficient excuse for the questions he had put to corny.
"are we to capture her and take her back to the state of alabama?" demanded the other, who seemed to be a gentleman of forty at least.
"i don't know; that depends; but, captain carboneer, i hope you will be my friend in this little matter," added mulgate.
"i don't know any thing about the little matter; but i am not willing to jeopardize the enterprise that brings us here to help you out with a love affair," replied the older gentleman. "there will be time enough for you to look for a wife after the war is over, and you have more time to attend to the affair."
"mr. mulgate, i should like to know something more about your intentions before we go any farther," interposed corny, in a tone so decided that mulgate had to listen to him, especially as he had obtained so little sympathy from the elderly gentleman.
"speak quick then, for we have no time to spare," added mulgate.
"do i understand from what you have said that you intend to take florry passford back to 34 the south with you?" asked corny, with his teeth closely pressed together, so that it was rather difficult for him to speak intelligibly.
"i answer, as i did before, that i don't know what i shall do; that depends," replied mulgate evasively.
"depends upon what?"
"i have no time to discuss that matter now," added mulgate, turning to his companion.
"but i have time to say that i will ruin the whole enterprise if you mean to commit an outrage such as you appear to have in your mind," replied corny, as vigorously as though he had been the military equal of the one he had called "major" by accident.
"do you mean to be a traitor to your country, neal?" demanded mulgate angrily.
"neither to my country nor to my uncle."
"your uncle is a yankee, and is doing all he can to subjugate the free south. he has no rights which we are bound to respect," said mulgate fiercely.
"this will never do," interposed captain carboneer; and this may or may not have been his real name. "we are getting into a disagreement at the very first step of our enterprise."
35 "i don't know you, captain carboneer, but i wish to be understood as meaning every word i have said; and i will wreck this enterprise, if i am shot for it, rather than allow my cousin to be carried off in connection with it," protested corny stoutly. "i will do my duty faithfully; but i will not assist in robbing my uncle of his daughter."
"you are quite right, young man; and i would rather be sent to the fort as a prisoner of war than take part in such an enterprise," added captain carboneer, in mild but forcible tones.
"you astonish me, captain!" said mulgate. "why do you talk about an outrage? i claim to be a gentleman, and to be above any such villainy as you and corny suggest. i do not propose to rob captain passford of his daughter. what i may do depends—depends upon the consent of the lady. if she is willing to go with me"—
"she is not willing to go with you; and she never will be willing to go with you," corny interposed. "i don't know what you are thinking about, mr. mulgate; but florry cares no more about you than she does about uncle pedro, my father's house-servant. she saw you both at glenfield, and i can't tell which she likes best."
36 "we had better drop the subject," added captain carboneer.
"drop it, then," replied mulgate sullenly. "get over the fence, corny. nobody is using that sailboat, and we may as well take it for a while."
