stirred to the very centre of his being.

"Then Captain Passford has left the mansion?" said the Major, after he
had strode several times across the little pilot-house, as he halted in
front of the lieutenant.

"No doubt of that; the family and the servants hunted the house all over
in search of him and his daughter," replied Mr. Dallberg with a yawn.

"Well, what did Colonel Passford say about him?" demanded the major.

"He was not at the house when I got there. As I said, he had gone for
assistance. I could do nothing till I had seen him. I sent my men on
ahead to look for him, and then I went myself. We did not find him till
one o'clock in the morning. He had given up all his horses for the
service, and we had to go on foot," continued the lieutenant.

"But you saw Colonel Passford?"

"I did; but he had been unable to find the persons of whom he had
been in search, and he could procure no such assistance as he wished.
I walked back to his mansion with him. At first he was not inclined to
say any thing to me; but when I told him that you were over here in the
Leopard to look out for the steamer, he had more confidence in me."

"Well, what did he say?" asked the major impatiently.

"He would not say any thing till I had told him all I knew, including
the manner in which the steamer had passed the forts. By this time we
had reached his house, and we seated ourselves in the library."

"You need not stop to describe the chairs or the sofa," interposed the
excited commandant of the fort.

"I will not; but, if I omit any thing, it will not be my fault," said
the younger officer with a long gape. "He told me he and his brother had
been discussing the great question, as he called it, for over six hours;
and they understood each other perfectly in the end."

"Six hours! It is a wonder they did not talk each other to death!"
exclaimed the major.

"At any rate, they talked enough to enable them to come to a perfect
understanding. Colonel Passford is as true to the Confederacy as we all
know him to be, but Captain Passford is a Yankee to the marrow of his
bones; and the two brothers could not agree at all on the political
question, though they profess still to be friends."

"Then the owner of the Bellevite is on the other side?"

"No doubt of that; and the steamer did not come down here to go into the
service of the Confederacy," added the lieutenant.

"But she will go into it, all the same," said the major, gla