The appearance of Walsh, fully2 dressed in the garb3 of a seaman4, was so great a surprise to Christy Passford, that he hardly noticed any other person on the deck of the Vernon. He had given no particular attention to the man when he saw him at his father's house, though he regarded him as a very good-looking and intelligent person for one in the situation in which he found him. The absconding5 man-servant had certainly made good use of his time since he left Bonnydale, for he appeared to have become a full-fledged sailor in the space of ten hours.
For the size of the steamer, she seemed to be manned by a very large crew; but the letter he had received from his father that morning informed him that the greater part of the crew of the Bronx had been transferred to other vessels7 upon more active service, and that a large number of seamen8 38 were to be sent immediately to reinforce the squadron. This was not pleasant intelligence, for he had become acquainted with all on board of the Bronx, and he would have preferred to begin his permanent service as commander with the former ship's company of the little steamer. However, the exigencies9 of the service required the change, and he could not complain.
It was probable that the greater part of his new crew would be made up from the men now on board of the Vernon; and this belief caused him to regard these men with more interest than he might otherwise have done. He had no fault to find after the glance he had bestowed10 upon them, for they presented a very trim appearance in their new uniform, and looked a great deal more tidy than they would after they had been on duty a few weeks.
Lieutenant11 Passford was on board of the Vernon, and he had no further solicitude12 in regard to a literal obedience13 to his orders. The commander of the steamer, whoever he was, did not appear to have noticed the new arrival, and no one gave any attention to Christy. He walked forward to take a better view of the crew, and the seamen touched 39 their caps to the shoulder straps14 of a lieutenant with which he had been careful to ornament15 his coat.
The men at work in the waist finished their task as Christy was returning from his promenade16, with the intention of presenting himself to the commander. Among those who saluted17 him in proper form was Walsh. He seemed to be a little diffident about encountering the son of his late employer, and turned his face away as he touched his cap. But the officer had fully identified him, and spoke18 to him, calling him by name. The sailor made no reply; but Christy had placed himself directly before him, and he could not escape without a breach19 of discipline.
"I spoke to you, Walsh," said the lieutenant, in the tone he had learned to use when he intended to enforce respect and obedience.
"I beg your pardon, sir; my name is not Walsh," replied the sailor, with all the deference20 the occasion required.
"Your name is not Walsh!" exclaimed Christy with a frown.
"No, sir; that is not my name, and I supposed that you spoke to some other man," pleaded the late man-servant of the mansion21 at Bonnydale.
40 The lieutenant gazed earnestly into the face of the sailor, for he was willing to admit to himself the possibility of a mistake. Walsh, or whatever his name might have been, was a man of robust22 form, not more than an inch or two short of six feet in height. He was clean-shaved, with the exception of his upper lip, whereon he sported a rather long dark brown mustache, of which a Broadway dandy might have been vain. As a servant, he had been rather obsequious23, though Christy had observed that he used very good language for one in his menial position. As the officer examined his form and features, and especially regarded the expression in general, he was satisfied that he could not be mistaken.
"I did not speak to another man; I spoke to you," added Christy, as he intensified24 the gaze with which he confronted the man, resorting to the tactics of a sharp lawyer in the cross-examination of an obdurate25 witness.
"I ask your pardon, sir, but you called me Welch, or some such name," replied the late servant, as Christy was sure he was in spite of his denial.
"I called you Walsh; and that is the name to 41 which you responded at two o'clock this morning," persisted the lieutenant.
"That is not my name, sir; and I refer you to the ship's papers to prove it. I am not the man to be ashamed of my name, which is not Welch or Walsh, sir, if you will excuse me for saying so."
"Will you deny that you were employed as a servant at the house of Captain Passford, at Bonnydale on the Hudson?" demanded Christy, with not a little energy in his tones and manner.
"Where, sir, if you please?" asked the sailor, with a sort of bewildered look.
"At Bonnydale!"
Possibly the man under examination was not wholly responsible for his distortion of the name of Captain Passford's estate, as Christy was beginning to reap the penalty of his imprudence the night before, in exposing himself barefooted and half-clothed to the chill midnight air, and was developing a cold in the head that already affected27 his enunciation28.
"Bonnydale!" repeated the officer, after using his handkerchief, and thus improving his utterance29 of the word.
42 "I never heard of the place before, sir," persisted the seaman.
"Byron!" called a boatswain's mate from the forecastle.
"That's my name—Byron, sir, at your service," said the man, as he touched his cap to the lieutenant, and rushed forward in answer to the call of his superior, evidently glad to escape from the inquisition to which he had been subjected. "On deck!" he added, as he made his way to the forecastle.
Christy was a passenger on board of the Vernon, and he had nothing to do. The commanding officer appeared to be engaged in the details of his duty, though the steamer was in charge of a pilot. He could see from his shoulder straps that he was an ensign, and the officers in the waist and on the forecastle were of the same rank. If there were any other passengers on board of the vessel6 who were commissioned officers, they were not visible on the deck, though they might be in their staterooms, arranging their affairs for the voyage.
The young lieutenant leaned against the rail, and gave himself up to the consideration of what 43 had occurred since he came on board. He had been bewildered by one mystery the night before, and he could not help asking himself if the conduct of Walsh had anything to do with the visit of the intruder at Bonnydale. He could not trace out any connection between the two events; but, on the other hand, he was unable to satisfy himself that the mysterious visit, the sudden disappearance30 of the man-servant, and the denial of his identity by the latter, were not in some manner related to each other.
He had no premises31 on which to base an argument for or against one thing or another. All was dark to him, and he could not get hold of anything. After he had raised up a variety of suppositions, and combated vigorously with them, the darkness seemed only to become more dense32, and he was compelled to abandon the subject without arriving at any reasonable explanation. Under the instruction of his father, he had cultivated "a judicial33 mind," which compelled him to reject all mere34 speculation35.
Christy was not disposed to believe that he was a brilliant officer, or to accept unchallenged the extravagant36 praise that had been bestowed upon 44 him. He endeavored to follow the Gospel injunction "not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think." But while he tried to keep the flower of modesty37 in full bloom in his soul, he could not deny that he had given the enemies of his country a great deal of trouble, and subjected them to some heavy losses. Then he recalled the conspiracy38 on board of the Bronx while he was acting-commander of her; and though it was for the interest of the Confederacy to get rid of so active an officer, he believed it was the vessel and not himself that the conspirators39 desired to obtain.
Before the Vernon reached The Narrows, everything on her deck had been put in order by the large crew, and less activity prevailed on board. Christy thought it was time for him to report to the commander, and he moved aft for this purpose. He did not even know the name of this gentleman, and he saw no one to introduce him formally; but the ensign in command had doubtless received an order to take him as a passenger to the Gulf40.
Before he reached the sacred limits of the quarter-deck, Christy met a quartermaster, of whom he inquired the name of the commander.
"He has a good name for the captain of a fighting 45 ship," replied the petty officer, respectfully touching41 his cap to the shoulder straps of the inquirer. "The commander is Captain Battleton."
"Captain Battleton," repeated Christy, to assure himself that he had correctly understood the name.
"Captain Battleton," added the quartermaster. "I hope you are feeling better to-day, sir."
"I am feeling very well to-day, except that I have started a cold in the head," replied Christy, astonished at this display of interest in the state of his health.
"I am glad to hear it, sir, for you appeared to be quite sick last night when you came on board," added the quartermaster.
"Did I, indeed? I was not aware of it. I came on board last night? I was not aware of that fact," said Christy.
The petty officer did not hear his remarks, for he had been called by the second lieutenant in the waist, and, with a touch of his cap, hastened away. The lieutenant opened his eyes very wide, as he looked down at the seams in the deck, and wondered whether he were asleep or awake. He had been quite sick, and he had come on board the 46 night before! It was very strange that he was not at all aware of either of these facts. He felt reasonably confident that he had slept in his own chamber42 at Bonnydale the night before, and at that time he was certainly in a very robust state of health, however it might be at the present moment. Even now, he could not complain of anything more severe than an embryo43 cold in the head, which the medicine his mother had given him would probably reduce to a state of subjection in a day or two.
At first, he was disposed to be amused at the answers the quartermaster had given him, for it was evident to him then that he had been mistaken for another person. It looked as though some officer had come on board, and reported under his name, for he had not yet learned anything in regard to the gentleman who had appeared to be quite sick when he reported himself. It had the elements of another mystery in it. But the petty officer could easily have made an honest mistake; and this was the solution he accepted, without bothering his bewildered brain any further about it.
The commander appeared to be less occupied at this moment than he had been before, and Christy 47 stepped forward to the quarter-deck, and politely saluted him. Captain Battleton was not less punctilious44 in his etiquette45. He was a young man, though he was apparently46 six or seven years older than Christy. He was an ensign, and looked like a gentleman who was likely to give a good account of himself when he was called to more active duty than that of commanding a store ship.
"Good-morning, Lieutenant Passford!" said Captain Battleton, as he extended his hand to his passenger. "I am glad to see that you are better."
Christy was utterly confounded at this salutation.
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1
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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3
garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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seaman
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| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
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5
absconding
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| v.（尤指逃避逮捕）潜逃，逃跑( abscond的现在分词 ) | |
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6
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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7
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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8
seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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9
exigencies
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| n.急切需要 | |
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10
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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12
solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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14
straps
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| n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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15
ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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16
promenade
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| n./v.散步 | |
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17
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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18
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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19
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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20
deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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21
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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22
robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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23
obsequious
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| adj.谄媚的，奉承的，顺从的 | |
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24
intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
obdurate
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| adj.固执的，顽固的 | |
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26
runaway
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| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
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27
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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28
enunciation
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| n.清晰的发音；表明，宣言；口齿 | |
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29
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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30
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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31
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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32
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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33
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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34
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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35
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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36
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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37
modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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38
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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39
conspirators
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| n.共谋者，阴谋家( conspirator的名词复数 ) | |
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40
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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41
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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42
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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43
embryo
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| n.胚胎，萌芽的事物 | |
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44
punctilious
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| adj.谨慎的，谨小慎微的 | |
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45
etiquette
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| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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46
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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