The midshipman put the letter into his pocket without reading it. In his chamber he looked it over, and found that it meant business, and he was delighted with the idea of having something to do before he reached the port for which the ship was bound, for the inactivity of the blockade was not wholly to his mind. He slept as soundly as usual, for already he had come to regard war as the business in which he was engaged, and he had but little sickly sentiment over it.
It was a tearful parting with his mother and sister before he took the train with his father, and it was a sad one with his father when he went off to the Bellevite in the boat. But neither of them shed any tears, for both felt that they were called upon to discharge their duty to their country.
Captain Breaker had always trained his officers and seamen to perform their duty in conformity with the discipline of the navy so far as it was practicable to do so, and consequently his ship's company were very nearly at home from the beginning of the voyage. He had received his sealed orders, and at noon the Bellevite went down the bay on her mission to the South, though no one on board knew where the ship was bound. The crew had been re-enforced by as many men as she had usually carried, and the first day was a very busy one in putting everything in order. Christy had handed the letter his father had given him to the captain, and after dinner he spoke of it.
"Did you read this letter, Mr. Passford?" asked the captain.
"I did, sir; my father told me to read it," replied Christy.
"It appears that a very fast steamer loaded with a valuable cargo sailed from Belfast eleven days ago, clearing for the Bermudas. We shall all be very happy to pay our respects to her; but I can say nothing till I have opened my orders to-morrow," said Captain Breaker.
"If she sailed eleven days ago from Belfast, she ought to be well up with the Bermudas, if she is as fast as represented, sir," added Christy, hoping the orders would permit the Bellevite to look out for the Killbright, as she was called.
The next day, as the observations indicated the latitude in which the sealed orders were to be opened, the seal of the official envelope was broken. Captain Breaker read the letter, and a smile came over his bronzed face. The orders were evidently to his satisfaction; and Christy, who was on duty near him, remembered what his father had said to him, and asked no question, as he would have been likely to do under other circumstances. But the commander was kind enough to call his officers to him, and inform them of the duty assigned to the ship.
The government had received information which indicated the approach to our shores of a considerable fleet of blockade runners, and the Bellevite, on account of her reputed fast sailing, was to cruise for a given time off the coast in search of these blockade runners.
"I have no doubt these blockade runners will go into the Bermudas, especially the Killbright. If we go into St. George, we shall not be allowed to sail till twenty-four hours after this fast vessel leaves," said Captain Breaker. "On the other hand, if we are seen off the port, she will not come out."