Then the brave captain sent on board Lieutenant Fairfax,—which in the Norse tongue is Harfager or Fair-Haired; since it runneth in the family to be sea-kings, and brave on the ocean.
And he, mounting the ship, cried aloud, 'Where are they?'
Then the Englishman replied, 'I know not whom ye seek,—lo, they are not here!'
Then he, seeing Mason a little apart, cried, 'Lo! here he is.'
And Mason, hearing this, turned to the color of ashes; his knees smote together; he became even as a boiled turkey-cock; there was no soul left in him.
Yea, even his collar wilted, and the stock of his heart went down ninety-five per cent.
Howbeit he said, with Slidell, 'We will not go save we be forced.'
'Then' replied Fairfax, 'I shall take you by force.'
So they held a council together, and resolved to go.
But their wives and little ones they sent on to Europe, and gave instructions to poor Eustis.