"The mate, four deck-hands, and two firemen. It would not be a difficult task for you to capture them all, for I did not look upon them as fighting material; they have crowded about all the men of that sort into the army."
"I have no desire to find them, and they may stay on the key till doomsday, so far as I am concerned," replied Christy. "We don't regard the men employed on blockade-runners as of much account. But it is time to get under way, Captain; I have men enough to do all the work, and I think I have learned the channel well enough to find the way out into the deep water of the bay."
"As I said before, Lieutenant Passford, I am willing to assist you, for I am anxious to get back among my own people, and to find a position in the old navy. I have been master of a vessel for the last ten years, and I know the Southern coast better than most of your officers."
"No doubt you will find a place when you want one, for all competent men are taken," replied Christy, as he went to the quarter to see if the Bellevite's cutter was in condition to be towed by the Reindeer.
He had left the boat in charge of Quimp, or rather he had left him in it without assigning any particular duty to him. He was no longer in the cutter, and the officer concluded that he had taken to the long key, and was fraternizing with the renegades who had deserted the Reindeer. The long painter of the boat was taken to the stern and made fast in a suitable place, and Christy hastened to the forward part of the vessel with six of his men, leaving a quartermaster, who was the cockswain of the cutter, with two others, in charge of the after part.
On his way he went into the engine-room, which opened from the main deck, where he had before seen the two engineers, the chief of whom had received him very politely. He suggested to the captain that he had made no arrangement with these officers, and he was not quite sure that they would be willing to do duty now that the steamer was a prize.
"There will be no trouble about them, for they are Englishmen, engaged at Nassau, and they will do duty as long as they are paid for it, as they have no interest in the quarrel between the North and the South," said Captain Stopfoot; and Christy could not help seeing that he was making everything very comfortable for him.
"We are willing to work for whoever will pay us," added the chief engineer, "and without asking any hard questions."
"I will see that you are paid," returned Christy. "You will attend to the bells as usual, will you?"
"Yes, sir; we will do our duty faithfully," answered the chief.