wharf.

"That will be for you to decide, Mr. Percy: but you had better take that
uniform off before you live any longer, for I am afraid some one will
mistake your character if you wear it on shore," replied Christy.

"I don't know that I shall go on shore," replied the agent doubtfully.
"I got by my brother very nicely, thanks to Captain Breaker; for I
should have been sent to the fort if he had not started the screw."

"Do you think you are in any danger here?" asked Christy.

"I know I am. My father's house is over in that direction about half
a mile. My brother can leave the fort any time he likes; and he will
either do so, or send some of his men up here in the fast tug to catch
me."

"Why don't you go into the army, if your brother is so anxious about it,
Percy?"

"That is just what I want to do, but my father positively forbid my
doing so," replied the volunteer agent. "I should like to get back to
Nassau; for I know I shall be forced into the army, in spite of my
father, if I stay here."

"My boy," called his father, "I am going on shore now, and I should like
to have you go with me to see your uncle."

Christy was glad to do so; and he departed with the owner, leaving Percy
in charge of the commander.

CHAPTER XIII

A DECIDED DIFFERENCE OF OPINION

If Homer Passford was not a rich man in the sense that his brother was,
he was still a wealthy man, and lived in a style as elegant as that of
any nabob in the South. More than this, and of vastly more consequence,
he was a good and true man. He was a member of his church, and his
brother believed that he was a genuine and true religious man. The same
principles of justice, humanity, and fairness had been born into both of
the brothers, and inherited from the same father.

This was the brother whom he from the North was about to visit on the
most solemn and momentous questions which could unite or separate the
only two sons of the same father. Though Horatio had reasoned himself
into the belief that Homer was as strongly a Union man as he was
himself, he had argued without any adequate premises; and now, when he
was almost on the threshold of his door, he did not feel sure of the
position of his brother, though his hope was very strong.

It was with no little trepidation on this account that he rang the bell
at the front door of Glenfield. A few minutes or an hour or two would
settle the momentous question, and decide whether or not all the fa