"You listened to the orders I read this noon," began Christy, with a pronounced twinkling of his eyes.
"Yes, sir; and, Captain Passford, I have felt as if the gates of honor and profit had been closed against the Bronx," added Flint.
"Perhaps a second reading of the orders will put a different aspect on the gates," said the captain with a significant smile, the force of which, however, the first lieutenant failed to comprehend.
"Under these orders there seems to be no alternative but to hasten to the Gulf of Mexico, and run away from any blockade runner we may happen to see," growled Flint.
"You are not as amiable as usual, Mr. Flint."
"How can one be amiable under such orders?" added Flint, trying to smile.
"I will read them over again, now that we have not as many auditors as before," said the captain.
Christy proceeded to read the document as it was written.