"Thank you, sir. Though I was of Captain Folkner's opinion that the sound was the best way out of the bay in the first place, I abandoned that view before I started on the expedition. I was sorry that I could not indorse Captain Folkner's opinion, and that I was obliged to take sides with his men," said Christy, chuckling.
"I understand your position perfectly. Now, what do you mean by finishing your work, Mr. Passford?" asked Captain Breaker, curiously. "We have the Teaser, and we ought to be satisfied with your brilliant success."
"I am not quite satisfied, sir."
"You ought to be."
"We put twelve men ashore at Town Point rather than have a fight with them; and I have the feeling that we have a mortgage on those men, to say nothing of thirty more at Pensacola who were to join the Teaser. I told them they could get on board of their steamer from the island. I shall be sorry to disappoint them, for I suppose the whole forty or more are counting on a handsome allowance of prize money to be made for them by the Teaser. I should be sorry to disappoint them," continued Christy, chuckling all the time.
"Precisely so! I suppose you would be greatly grieved to blast their hopes, and you propose to take them on board of the steamer."
"That is the idea, sir. Taking a more patriotic view of the question, it would be a great pity to allow forty good sailors to waste their energies in the service of the Confederacy."
"Undoubtedly it would," said Captain Breaker, his brow knitting under his earnest thought. "What do you propose to do? Explain your plan fully, Mr. Passford."
"The principal of the malcontents on board of the Teaser was a man by the name of Lonley," Christy explained. "We left them at the point where the rest of the Teaser's crew were to join them. They are all anxious to get to sea in the Teaser, and I have no doubt they will come down to-night."
"I should think they would," the captain assented. "But they will expect to find the steamer in the sound, and not outside of the island. If the Teaser could get through the sound at all, she would not be where you intend to put her."