"I am treating him as well as I know how, though it goes against my grain. We will get him into the jail in Mobile, and keep him there till the Yankees have acknowledged the independence of the Confederacy, and paid for all the damage they have done to our country. How is any one in Washington or London to know anything about this little affair of to-night?"
"I don't know how; but if it should get out, the Yankees would make an awful row, and England would be obliged to do something about it."
"But we must make sure that it does not get out. The young cub has a deal of spirit and pluck, and he would not live long if he were shut up on such rations as our men have."
Percy seemed to be better satisfied than he had been, and the conversation turned to other subjects in which the listener had no interest. Without much of an effort he turned over and went to sleep. When he woke in the morning he heard the tramp of footsteps on the deck over his head, and he concluded that the steamer was getting under way. If the mate had slept in the berth below him, he had not seen or heard him. He leaped out of the bed, and descended to the floor. When he tried the door he found that it was locked.
Presently he heard the movement of the screw, and felt the motion of the vessel. There was a port light to the room, and he placed himself where he could see out at it. But there was nothing to be seen which afforded him any hope of comfort. There must be a pilot on board, and he began to wonder if there could be any way to communicate with him. He took from his pocket a piece of paper and pencil. He wrote a brief statement of the outrage which had been perpetrated upon him, folded the paper, and put it in his vest pocket, where he could readily slip it into the hand of the pilot, if he found the opportunity to do so. The captain had promised to give him his liberty when the vessel got out to sea, and he hoped to be able to go on deck before the pilot left the steamer.
The Snapper continued to go ahead, and in a short time she made a sort of a plunge, as she went over the bar. The motion of the steamer began to be rather violent, and Christy saw through the port the white caps that indicated a strong north-west wind. When the vessel had continued on her course for a couple of hours, she stopped, and the prisoner saw the pilot boat drop astern a little later. The opportunity to deliver his statement had passed by, and he tore up the paper, keeping the fragments in his pocket, so that they should not expose his intention.
He had scarcely destroyed the paper before his door was thrown open by Percy Pierson, who informed him that he was at liberty to go on deck if he wished to do so. He accepted the permission. He could see the land in the distance in several directions, but he had no interest in anything. He was called to breakfast soon after, and he took a hearty meal, for the situation had not yet affected his appetite. In the middle of the forenoon, with the light at Hole in the Wall on the starboard, and that on Stirrup Cay on the port, the course of the Snapper was changed to the north-west.
At this point Christy discovered a three-masted steamer, which had also excited the attention of Captain Flanger. It looked like the Chateaugay; and the prisoner's heart bounded with emotion.