CHAPTER XIII
THE FIRST SHOT OF BLUMENHOFF
Captain Breaker watched the Tallahatchie with the most earnestattention; and it was not five minutes after he had given out the newcourse before she changed her direction, though not to the south, butenough to carry her clear of the Passes of the Mississippi. Paul Vapoorwas still crowding the engine to the utmost that could be done withsafety, and he spent no little of his time in the fire room, personallydirecting the men in the work of feeding the furnaces.
It was evident to the commander that his ship was gaining on theTallahatchie, at least a knot an hour, as he estimated it, and the chasecould not now be more than four miles distant. This was within the rangeof her Armstrong gun, if it was of the calibre reported by Bokes, whoseinformation was mere hearsay, and was open to many doubts.
"She is changing her course again, Captain Breaker," said Mr. Ballard,who had been observing the chase with the best glass on board.
"Probably she has discovered a man-of-war in the distance," added thecaptain.
"I cannot make out anything to the westward of her," said Mr. Ballard,who had directed his glass that way.
"She knows very well that she is liable to encounter a Federal ship onthe course she is running. How does she head now?"
"As nearly south as I can make it out."
"Then we have made something on her by going to the south south-westin good season; and I am sorry I did not do it sooner," replied thecommander, as he went into a fine calculation, estimating sundry angles,and figuring on the gain he was confident he had already made.
"I think she is headed due south now, Captain," said Mr. Ballard.
"So I should say, and we are headed a little too much to the westward.Make the course south by west half west, Mr. Ballard."
This course was given to the quartermaster conning the wheel. Foranother hour the two steamers kept on the course taken, at the end ofwhich time the captain believed they were within three miles of eachother; and the appearance, as viewed by skilful and experiencedofficers, verified his estimate of the relative speed of both--thatthe Bellevite was gaining about a knot an hour on the chase.
They had hardly agreed upon the situation before a cloud of smoke wasseen to rise from the waist of the Tallahatchie, followed by the reportof a heavy gun. The projectile struck the water at least a quarter ofa mile ahead of the Bellevite, at which the watch on deck gave ahalf-suppressed cheer.
"They must have better gunners than that indicates on board of thatsteamer, for she has been fitted out as a cruiser," said the commanderwith a quiet smile.
Twenty minutes later another puff of smoke, followed by a second report,excited the attention of an officer on the deck of the loyal ship. Theshot struck the water only a little less ahead of the ship than theformer, and the crew gave a more vigorous cheer: but it was observedthat it hit the sea a little on the starboard bow, so that if it hadbeen better aimed it would not have reached the ship.
"She is wasting her ammunition," said the captain. "She seems to bejesting, or else she is trying to frighten us."
"I think it is some thing worse than that, Captain Breaker," replied Mr.Ballard.
"What could be worse?"
"I am inclined to the opinion that she cannot swing the gun around so asto make it bear on an object so far astern of her as this ship is at thepresent moment." said the lieutenant.
"He has an all sufficient remedy for that," added the captain. "He canswing his ship's head around so his gun will bear on us."
"But that would cause him to lose a quarter of a mile or more of hisadvantage; and she seems to be more inclined to run away from theBellevite than to fight her," suggested the lieutenant.
"Call all hands, Mr. Ballard," said the commander; and in a few minutesall the officers and seamen were at their stations.
The call awoke Christy from his slumber, which the report of the gun andthe cheering of the men had failed to do. But he understood the summons,and thought the action was about to begin. He adjusted his dress andhastened to the quarter deck, where he reported in due form to thecaptain. Mr. Ballard was relieved of his duties as acting executiveofficer, and went to his proper station to take command of his division.Christy took a careful survey of the situation, and saw that theBellevite had gained at least two knots on the chase. The Holyoke andthe West Wind were no longer in sight, though the fog seemed to be stillhanging about the entrance to Mobile Bay.
"The Tallahatchie has fired two shots at us, Mr. Passford; but shewasted her ammunition," said the commander. "I am inclined to agree withMr. Ballard that she cannot swing her Armstrong gun so as to cover theBellevite."
"She has stopped her screw, sir!" exclaimed the first lieutenant, whowas looking at the chase through the best glass.
"Make the course west, Mr. Passford!" said the captain with energy.
"Quartermaster, make it west!" shouted Christy.
"West, sir!" repeated the quartermaster, as he caused the helmsmen toheave over the wheel.
Directing his glass to the chase again, Christy saw the Tallahatchieswing around so that she was broadside to the Bellevite. Almost at thesame moment the smoke rose from her deck, and the sound of the gunreached the ears of the officers and crew. The shot passed with a mightywhiz between the fore and main mast of the ship, cutting away one of thefore topsail braces, but doing no other damage. The seamen cheered asthey had before. The Tallahatchie started her screw as soon as she haddischarged her gun, and resumed her former course, the Bellevite doingthe same.
If the loyal ship had not promptly altered her course, the projectilewould have raked her, and must have inflicted much greater injury inthe spars and rigging. But both vessels promptly resumed their formerrelative positions, though the Tallahatchie had lost some of heradvantage by coming to, while her pursuer had only made a small circuitwithout stopping her engine for a moment.
"If she does that again, Mr. Passford, we must be ready to return herfire," said the captain. "Have the pivot gun ready, and aim for herArmstrong, which seems to be sufficiently prominent on her deck to makea good target."
Christy hastened forward, and gave the order to Mr. Ballard, in whosedivision the great Parrot was included. The signal was promptly givenfor manning the gun, and seventeen men immediately sprang to theirstations. The men were armed with cutlasses, muskets, battle-axes,pistols, and pikes, which were so disposed as to be in readiness forboarding the enemy, or repelling boarders.
"A solid shot, and aim at the pivot gun of the enemy," said Christy ina low tone to the second lieutenant, who had the reputation of being anexpert in the handling of guns of the largest calibre.
There were two captains to the pivot gun, one on each side, stationednearest to the base of the breech. Seventeen men were required to workthe pivot gun, whose duties were defined in the names applied to them,the powderman being the odd one. The first and second captains werenumbers one and two; the odd numbers being on the right, and the evenon the left of the piece: number three was the first loader, four thefirst sponger, five the second loader, six the second sponger, seven thefirst shellman, eight the second shellman, nine the first handspikeman,ten the second handspikeman, eleven the first train tackleman, twelvethe second train tackleman (the last two at the breech, next tothe captains), thirteen first side tackleman, fourteen second sidetackleman, fifteen first port tackleman, sixteen second port tackleman.
The gun crew had been frequently drilled in the management of the piece,and the men were entirely at home in their stations. Other hands hadbeen trained in serving the gun, so that the places of any disabled inaction could be replaced. The service at the Parrot was not all that wasrequired of the men forming the gun crew, for each was also a first orsecond boarder, a pumpman, or something else, and to each number oneor two weapons were assigned, as musket and pike, sword and pistol,battle-axe. When the order to board the enemy was given, every manknew his station and his proper officer.
"Silence, men!" commanded the second lieutenan
t, "Cast loose andprovide!"
These orders were repeated by the first captain of the gun. It is hisduty to see the piece cleared and cast loose, and everything made readyfor action. He and the second captain "provide" themselves with waistbelts and primers, and the first with some other implements. But thehandling of one of these great guns is about as technical as a surgicaloperation would be, and it would be quite impossible for the uninitiatedto understand it, though it is every-day work to the ordinaryman-of-war's-man.
Prompted by the executive officer, who had been further instructed bythe captain, all the series of steps had been taken which put the piecein readiness to be discharged, and all that remained to be done was toadjust the aim, which is done by the first captain. At this time thedistance between the two ships had been considerably reduced. Thecaptain and the first lieutenant were closely watching the chase withglasses.
The crew of the Tallahatchie could be seen at work at the long gun, andanother shot from it was momentarily expected. The instant the bow ofthe enemy began to swerve to port, the captain of the Bellevite gave theorder to put the helm to starboard. Almost at the same instant the enemystopped her screw, swung round and fired her long gun. The projectilecrashed through the bulwarks between the foremast and top-gallantforecastle, wounding two men with the splinters which flew in everydirection.
Dr. Linscott and his mates had established themselves in the cockpit,to which the wounded are conveyed, in action, for treatment. The two menwho had been injured by the splinters were not disabled, and they wereordered to report to the surgeon. Before the enemy could resume hercourse, the captain of the pivot gun had caught his aim, and dischargedthe Parrot. All hands watched for the result of the shot, and theglasses of the captain and the first lieutenant were directed to thechase.
She was near enough now to be observed with the naked eye with tolerableaccuracy, and a shout went up from the men at the pivot gun, in whichthe rest of the crew on deck joined, as they saw that the shot hadstruck the midship gun of the enemy, or very near it; and this was thepoint where old Blumenhoff, the captain of the gun, had been directedto aim. He was a German, but he had served for twenty-one years inthe British navy, and had won a brilliant reputation in his presentposition.
It could not be immediately determined whether or not the Armstrong hadbeen disabled. The Tallahatchie had swung round again and resumed herflight; but her commander must have realized by this time that he wasgetting the worst of it. Paul Vapoor had not left his post in the engineand fire room, to ascertain how the battle was going, but still pliedall his energies in driving the Bellevite to the utmost speed she couldpossibly attain. The log was frequently heaved, and the last result hadbeen sent down to him by Midshipman Walters, and it was twenty-oneknots.
During the next hour the long gun of the enemy was not again discharged,and the officers of the loyal ship were assured that it had beenrendered useless by Blumenhoff's only shot.