"And you were willing to go with him, for then you could keep out of danger. Father is getting old, and he is not fit to serve in the army; and you have been his pet since you were born. But that is no excuse for you; and if I can get you back into the army, I mean to do so."
Percy was afraid he might succeed, and he did not feel as confident as he had been; and he lost, for the time, some of his self-possession. He was confronting the fate he had dreaded when he found the steamer was leaving Nassau.
"What are you doing here?" demanded the major, looking down upon the deck of the vessel for the first time.
"I am taking this steamer into the bay, where she is to go into the service of the Confederate States," answered Percy, plucking a little more confidence from the nature of his present occupation.
"You are taking her into the bay!" exclaimed the older brother.
"That is what I said, and that is what I mean," added Percy, glad to see that his mission had produced an impression.
"Taking this steamer into the bay!" repeated the major, evidently unable to comprehend the mission of his brother. "Do you mean to say that you are taking her in, Percy?"
"That is what I mean to say, and do say."
"Are you the pilot of the steamer? I should think you might have been, for she was aground just now," sneered the commander of the fort.
"I am not the pilot, and I don't pretend to be a sailor; but the steamer is in my charge," replied Percy, elevating his head to the need of the occasion.