CHAPTER VIII.
An unlucky fight.
As soon as Frank was certain that the rebels had given up the pursuit,he called two of his men on deck, and directed them to carry the pilot,who now began to show signs of returning consciousness, into the cabin.
During the fight the lieutenant had remained behind one of thecotton-bales, where the pilot had thrown him, so completely overcomewith fear that he did not think of renewing his attempts to enforce hisauthority. But now that the danger was over, he arose to his feet andwalked out of the pilot-house. As the sailors came up, in obedience toFrank's order, they passed the lieutenant without giving the customarysalute, and acted as though they considered him beneath their notice.They lifted the pilot tenderly in their arms, carried him down stairs,and laid him on his bed.
There was no surgeon on board, and Frank was anxious to reach a gun-boatas soon as possible, in order to place the pilot, who was the only oneinjured, under the care of a medical man. He kept his place at thewheel, his supper being brought up to him by one of his men, and shortlyafter dark came within sight of the lights of a vessel which was lyingat anchor in the stream. He blew the whistle, to let her know that hewas approaching, to which the steamer, which proved to be a gun-boat,replied by hoisting her signal-lights. Frank having no signals, whistledagain, and rang the bells for the engineer to run slowly. As soon as hecame within hailing distance, a voice called out:
"Steamer ahoy!"
"Ay, ay, sir!" shouted Frank, in reply.
"What steamer is that?"
"Army transport Key-West, bound for the mouth of the river, withdispatches from the admiral."
"Come alongside, here," shouted the voice.
"Ay, ay, sir," replied Frank, and he commenced turning the boat's headtoward the vessel, while a hurrying of feet and a noise of droppinghandspikes on the gun-deck, told him in plain language that the captainof the gun-boat was not at all satisfied with the report he had made,and had called his crew to quarters, to be in readiness to sink thetransport if she should attempt to run by. It was an uncommon thingduring the expedition for boats to run in Red River after night, unlesssupplied with the necessary signals, and the young officer was not atall surprised at the precautions taken by the gun-boat.
Frank by this time had turned the transport around, and was coming up atthe stern of the gun-boat, when the lieutenant came on deck, andentering the pilot-house, inquired:
"Are you the captain of this ship?"
"I have had no orders to act as such," replied Frank.
"Then why do you answer hails, and land here without my permission? I'llhave you court-martialed."
"I answered the hails because you were not on deck; and I land herebecause I have been ordered to do so by the captain of that gun-boat."
"Well, I am not under his orders; he has no authority over me, and Iorder you to turn around at once, and start down the river again."
"If I should undertake that," replied Frank, with a laugh, "this vesselwouldn't last long. Every cannon on this aide of that gun-boat pointsstraight at us, and if we should turn around, they would blow us out ofwater."
"They would, eh?" said the lieutenant, angrily. "I'll have the whole lotof them up before a court-martial. I'm a second-lieutenant, sir, andmust not be detained, as I am on important business. Turn around atonce."
Frank made no reply, and at that moment the bow of the transport touchedthe gun-boat, and one of the sailors sprang out with a line. As soon asthe boat was made fast, he put on his side-arms, and taking hisdispatches, walked out of the pilot-house, leaving the lieutenant almostbeside himself with rage. As soon as he stepped on board the gun-boat,he was shown into the presence of Captain Wilson, the same who hadcommanded the Ticonderoga when Frank was attached to her.
"Oh, is it you, Mr. Nelson?" he exclaimed, seizing the young officer'shand and shaking it heartily. "Then it's all right. I did not know butyou were a rebel, and were going to run by; so I got my guns all readyto sink you. Sit down. Are you in command?"
Frank replied that he was not, and then proceeded to repeat the ordershe had received from the admiral, telling the captain of the fight withthe battery, but carefully omitting any thing that related to theconduct of the lieutenant, he ended by saying that the pilot waswounded, and requesting that the doctor might be sent on board to attendto him, which was done at once, the captain offering to send anotherpilot to take his place.
The transport lay alongside nearly two hours, during which time thepilot's wound, which was not dangerous, was dressed. The doctor thendeclared that he was able to go on to the mouth of the river, where hecould be placed under the care of an army surgeon. Frank then took hisleave of the captain, and stepped on board the transport, accompanied byone of the gun-boat pilots, who was well-known to the young officer, andhe was confident that the lieutenant, if he should again take it intohis head to give any unnecessary orders, would hear the truth plainlytold. He was an old acquaintance of the wounded pilot, from whom he hadheard the whole history of the trip from Alexandria; but as he had saidnothing about the matter to Frank, the latter was not aware that he knewit.
The pilot took his station at the wheel, while Frank seated himself onthe boiler-deck railing. The lieutenant stood close by, and, withoutwaiting to hear whether or not the engineers were ready to start,shouted:
"Untie that line."
"Hold on!" shouted the pilot. "Do you want to send us adrift without anysteam? Wait till I tell you we're all ready."
The engineers of the transport, taking advantage of the landing, hadallowed the steam to go down, in order to repair some part of themachinery that was out of order, and had the line been cast off justthen, the boat would have been at the mercy of the current, and indanger of sinking, for a short distance below lay an iron-clad ram,anchored in the river. The lieutenant had given his command in a loudtone, in order to be heard by the crew of the gun-boat, and the rebuffhe had met from the pilot did not tend to quiet his feelings, which wereconsiderably agitated by the thought that he was not in reality thecommander of the vessel. He was astonished at the pertinacity with whichhis subordinates (as he considered them) countermanded his orders, andwondered what was the use of being captain of a vessel if he was not tobe obeyed. But perhaps the new pilot did not know who he was. He wouldinform him. With this determination, he walked up to the pilot-house,and inquired:
"Do you know, sir, that I command this boat?"
"Yes," replied the pilot, "I know all about that. But you had better goand turn in; you are only in the way here. All ready, Mr. Nelson," hecontinued, as the engineer's bell rang at this moment.
Frank gave the necessary orders, and in a few moments they were again ontheir way down the river, while the lieutenant walked into the cabin andthrew himself on a lounge, heartily wishing there were no gun-boat menin existence. As soon as they were fairly under way, Frank, seeing thatthe lieutenant took no further notice of what was going on, ran below toset the watch; then, after satisfying himself that every thing was rightabout decks, and that their weapons were ready for instant use, hestretched himself on a blanket in the cabin, and with his preciousdispatches (which he had carried with him wherever he went) for apillow, was soon fast asleep.
About midnight he was suddenly awakened by a terrific crash, and sprangto his feet to find the cabin shrouded in darkness and filled withsmoke. Hastily thrusting his dispatches into his pocket, he commencedgroping for his side-arms, which, on retiring, he had placed by hisside, while a commotion on deck told him that the crew were hurrying totheir stations. When he had found his sword, he ran out of the cabin,and saw his men drawn up behind the cotton-bales, under charge of thecoxswain, who ran up to his officer and hurriedly asked for orders. Thelatter did not long remain ignorant of the nature of the attack, for ashell plunged into the cabin which he had just left, and, exploding witha deafening report, filled the air with fragments of furniture, and torea large hole in the deck above the boilers. The night was very dark, butstill there was ligh
t enough for Frank to see that the boat, no longerobeying her helm, was drifting broadside toward the battery, theposition of which could be easily determined by the flash of its guns;and it was evident that unless those guns could be speedily silenced,the transport would be altogether demolished, or disabled so that shewould fall into the hands of the rebels. Turning to the coxswain, Frankinquired:
"Is that cutter ready for immediate use?"
"All ready, sir," was the answer.
"Let loose those guns, then. Fire!"
The two howitzers belched forth their contents, but while they werebeing reloaded, another broadside from the battery plunged into theboat, followed by the hissing and shrieking of steam. A shot had struckthe boilers! The thought had scarcely passed through Frank's mind, whenthe pilot sprang down the steps, exclaiming:
"Mr. Nelson, the tiller-rope is shot away, sir, and the boat is onfire!"
In short, much sooner than Frank had expected, the transport was acomplete wreck.
The cotton-bales on the guards had been set on fire by a bursting shell;the tiller-rope shot away, rendering it impossible to steer the boat;the boilers penetrated, and the engine-room filled with hot steam, whichnow began to rise and envelop the men on the boiler-deck. Soldiers andsailors at once deserted their quarters and ran about in confusion,while Frank, with his handkerchief in his mouth, to prevent his inhalingthe steam, stood wondering, where so many things were to be done, whichought to be done first. He was quickly called to action by the pilot,who, as he ran down the steps that led to the forecastle, exclaimed:
"Let every man take care of himself!"
When that man, who had been in nearly all the battles fought on theMississippi River--who had run the batteries at Vicksburg, and hadtwice, in the heat of action, swam from a sinking vessel--when _he_deserted his post, it was useless for any one to remain. The transportcould be of no further use to them, and to stay on board was to courteither death from the hot, blinding steam, or the shells that all thewhile came crashing into the boat, or capture and hard treatment at thehands of the rebels. So thought Frank, as he followed his men to theforecastle, intending to enter the cutter, and, if possible, run by thebattery and reach the Mississippi.
The steam rolled over the lower deck in thick clouds, rendering itimpossible for him to go aft. There was now but one way to reach thecutter, and that was to jump overboard and swim to her. This order waspromptly given, and as promptly obeyed by the men, who sprang into thewater, one after another, followed by Frank, who, however, had lingereda moment to pull off his side-arms and coat, which would only impede hisprogress, and to secure his dispatches, which he tied to his waist witha strong cord he happened to have in his pocket.
But when he reached the stern of the boat, he found that this means ofescape had been destroyed. A shell from the battery had struck thecutter, and her wreck, still hold by the rope with which she had beenmade fast, floated along with the steamer, which was slowly driftingtoward the bank. Only one of his men was to be seen, and that was thecoxswain, who was holding on to the wreck, awaiting the appearance ofhis officer. The others, giving up all hopes of escape, had doubtlessturned toward the shore.
"Now, here's a job, sir," said the coxswain, apparently as unconcernedas if there had not been a rebel within a hundred miles. "Here _is_a job. What's to be done now, sir?"
Frank had just asked himself the same question. He could easily reachthe shore, which was but a few yards distant, but there he wouldcertainly be captured by the rebels, who were running along the bank,yelling like demons.
There was but one course he could pursue and save himself anddispatches, and that was to swim down the river and endeavor to pass thebattery. In the darkness he might escape undiscovered.
"Bob, are you a good swimmer?" he asked, turning to the coxswain.
"Yes sir! can swim all day," was the reply.
"Then follow me as silently as possible, and we may yet escape."
As Frank spoke, he swam down the river with swift, noiseless strokes,anxious to get as far as possible from the boat before the fire, whichnow began to make rapid headway, should light up the river and discoverthem to the rebels. The latter had ceased firing, and were scatteredalong the bank, making prisoners of the transport's crew as fast as theytouched the shore. When Frank had reached the place where the batterywas stationed, he turned upon his back, and allowed himself to floatalong with the current, and, aided by the darkness and the smoke of theburning transport, which blew down the river, he and his companionpassed the dangerous point undiscovered. Here Frank again struck out,his every movement followed by the coxswain, who was close behind him,and who floated through the water like a cork.
For nearly an hour they remained in the river, and it was not until theshouts of the rebels could be no longer heard, that Frank, feeling forthe present safe from pursuit, swam to the shore and sat down to rest,and to determine upon their future movements.