"I wish I were myself," replied the commander, in a tone so low that none but the visitors could hear him.
"No, you don't," interposed Mr. Blowitt. "You are commanding a little gunboat, though you are only eighteen."
"I thought I should like it, but I find I do not as well as I expected," answered Christy.
"You don't like it!" exclaimed the engineer of the Bellevite.
"I do not, Paul; I think it wears upon me, though I am willing to do my duty wherever I am ordered."
"If you wish to get back into the Bellevite, of course you can do so, for it is not every fellow that wears shoulder-straps who has such a backing as you have. You have only to speak, and anything reasonable is yours. But how are all at home, Christy?"
"Florry was very well the last time I saw her, not more than two weeks ago, and she talked a great deal about you, Paul," answered her brother, partly in a whisper.
"Did she?" added Paul with a gush. "Then she has not forgotten all about me. I almost wish I were not an engineer, for then I might be sent home once in a while in charge of a prize."
Christy had only time to tell very briefly the story of the adventure with Corny, and the capture of the Floridian, which he did for the purpose of introducing a matter of business in the line of his profession. The officers from the Bellevite asked him a great many questions, though he felt obliged to cut them short before they were half done with them.
"You must excuse me, Mr. Blowitt, for I am sailing under sealed orders, and the commodore hurried me off as soon as I returned with the Bronx from St. Andrew's Bay; and I do not know that my mission admits of any delay," said Christy. "I have a prisoner on board, and I want to get rid of him, for he is a dangerous character;" and he briefly related the incident of the evening with Captain Flanger.