not fired at the moment I did."

"Why didn't you shoot me like a gentleman, and not blow my nose off?"
demanded the captain bitterly.

"I had to fire in a hurry; and I did not aim at your nose. I could only
discharge my weapon on the instant, and I had no time to aim at any
particular part of you. I intended simply to cover your head."

"But you blowed my nose off all the same."

"I had no grudge against your nose. Do you think it would be honorable
for a soldier to revenge himself on neutral ground for a wound received
in the field?"

"But it was a sneaking Yankee trick to shoot at a man's nose, even in a
square battle by sea or by land," protested the captain with a rattling
oath.

It was useless to discuss the matter with such a man, though he had
probably been charged by Colonel Pierson not to do his prisoner any
injury, and Christy relapsed into silence.

"If you propose to treat me like a gentleman, whether I am one or not,
may I ask where you propose to berth me, for I am very much fatigued
to-night?" asked the prisoner later in the evening.

"I mean to give you as good a stateroom as I have myself; but it will
contain two berths, and the mate will occupy the lower one, to prevent
you from escaping, if you should take it into your head to do so,"
replied the captain, as he opened the door of one of the rooms.

"I can hardly get into the upper berth with my wrists ironed," said the
prisoner, exhibiting his fetters.

"That is so," replied the captain, taking the key of the manacles from
his pocket and removing them. "But I warn you that any attempt to escape
may get you into a worse scrape than you are in now. When we get to sea
you shall have your liberty."

"Thank you, Captain, for this indulgence. I suppose you will not make a
long voyage of it to Mobile. I presume you go to the northward of Great
Abaco Island?" asked Christy, though he hardly expected to receive an
answer to his question.

"Why do you presume such a stupid idea as that?" demanded the captain,
who seemed to regard the inquiry as an imputation upon his seamanship;
and the inquirer had put the question to provoke an answer. "I have been
sailing nearly all my life in these waters, and I know where I am. Why
should I add three hundred miles to my voyage when there is no reason
for it?"

"I am not much acquainted down here."

"I shall go through the North-west, or Providence Channel."

Captain Flanger did not know that the steamer