e.

In another minute, Captain Breaker, who was the actual commander of the
vessel, appeared in the waist, and walked up to his owner. Though not
more than forty-five years old, his hair and full beard were heavily
tinted with gray; and an artist who wished for an ideal shipmaster,
who was both a gentleman and a sailor, could not have found a better
representative of this type in the merchant or naval service, or on the
deck of the finest steam-yacht in the world.

"You sent for me, Captain Passford," said the commander, in respectful
but not subservient tones.

"You will take the steamer to some point off Fire Island, and come to
anchor there," replied the owner, as, without any explanation, he walked
away from the spot.

"Off Fire Island," added Captain Breaker, simply repeating the name of
the locality to which his order related, but not in a tone that required
an exclamation-point to express his surprise.

Whatever the captain of the Bellevite thought or felt, it was an
extraordinary order which he received. It was in the month of April,
and the vessel had been absent about five months on her winter pleasure
cruise.

In a few hours more the yacht could easily be at her moorings off
Bonnydale on the Hudson; but when almost in sight of New York, the
captain had been ordered to anchor, as though the owner had no intention
of returning to his elegant home.

If he was surprised, as doubtless he was, he did not manifest it in the
slightest degree; for he was a sailor, and it was a part of his gospel
to obey the orders of his owner without asking any questions.

No doubt he thought of his wife and children as he walked forward to the
pilot-house to execute his order, for he had been away from them for a
long time. The three papers brought on board by the pilot had all been
given to the owner, and he had no hint of the startling news they
contained.

The course of the Bellevite was promptly changed more to the northward;
and if the pilot wished to be informed in regard to this strange
alteration in the immediate destination of the vessel, Captain Breaker
was unable to give him any explanation.

Captain Passford was evidently himself again; and he did not rush across
the deck as he had done before, but seated himself in an armchair he had
occupied before the pilot came on board, and proceeded to read something
more than the headlines in the paper.

He hardly moved or looked up for half an hour, so intensely was