"Very well the last time I saw them, which was three weeks ago. They are busy making garments for the soldiers," answered the planter.
"When did you last hear from Corny, uncle Homer?"
"It is all of two months since I had any news in regard to him. He is still a soldier and has not yet been promoted. His company is still at Fort Gaines; but he has been sent away once or twice on detached duty. He is not given to writing many letters; but the last time I was in Mobile I was told that he had again been sent off on some sort of secret service with a naval officer by the name of Galvinne. I do not know whether the report was true or not."
"It was quite true, uncle Homer; and he has been quite as unfortunate as he was in his former expedition to the North," added Christy very quietly.
"What do you know about him, Christy?" asked the colonel with the deepest interest.
"I can assure you first that he is alive and well. I am not informed how he got to New York, but he did get there, and in company with two naval officers, one by the name of Byron, as well as Galvinne."
"Byron was an actor in Mobile; he had been the mate of a cotton ship, and he obtained a commission in the navy; but for the want of a steamer both of them were unemployed," the planter explained.
"In New York they got up a plan to obtain a small steamer, about the size of the Bronx," continued Christy. "Galvinne had been in the navy, and he readily obtained an appointment as second lieutenant of the store-ship Vernon. Byron shipped as a seaman. Corny was appointed by the two officers to take the place of a regular officer, who came down in the Vernon. He looked something like the officer whom he personated, who was to command a small steamer in the gulf."
"It was a hazardous plan," suggested Colonel Passford, "and I should suppose that Corny was hardly competent to play such a rôle. I hope the scheme was successful, for, as you know very well, all my prayers and all my aspirations are for the triumph of the Confederate cause."
"The scheme was successful up to a certain point, and Corny obtained the command of the steamer, passing for the genuine officer before the commodore, and even on board of the vessel where the commander was well known."