He sat up in the berth, and wrote the two names he had heard in his
pocket-diary, in order to make sure that he did not forget them. While
he was thus engaged Dr. Connelly came into the quarters of the crew.

"Well, Mr. Passford, are you all right?" asked the surgeon, as soon as
he discovered Christy in the dim light of the place.

"All right in every respect," replied the young officer cheerfully.

"You are not sea-sick?" inquired the doctor, laughing.

"Sea-sick! No, sir; I believe I never was sea-sick in my life."

"You are more fortunate than your cousin, for he is having quite a hard
time of it," added the doctor, who seemed to be very much amused that
the future commander of the Bronx, who had been to sea so much, should
be afflicted in this manner.

"He was always sea-sick when he first went out, and it appears that he
has not yet got over the habit. He was so badly off on one occasion that
my father thought of taking him on shore, and sending him back to Mobile
by land."

"Do you refer to the lieutenant appointed to the command of the Bronx on
our arrival in the Gulf?" asked Dr. Connelly, laughing.

"I do not; I am that person myself," replied Christy very decidedly. "By
the way, I wonder that the commander did not subject the two claimants
to an examination in navigation and seamanship. It might have thrown
some light on the subject."

"Probably Captain Battleton did not think of that, taking it for granted
that you were both sailors; but the other Mr. Passford is not in
condition to undergo such an examination at present."

"I do not ask for it, though of course I am anxious to have the truth
come out, for just now I am in disgrace as an impostor, to say nothing
of being regarded as an enemy of the Union," replied Christy. "He
who occupies a stateroom in the steamer is my own cousin, and the
pleasantest relations have always subsisted between our families. I have
nothing against him personally, and I would do him a kindness as readily
as ever before in my life."

"But he has placed you in a very awkward position, Mr. Passford."

"I am willing to believe that he is doing his duty to his country, and
his grand mistake is in believing that the fraction of it in rebellion
is his country."

"If you are the genuine Lieutenant Passford, in spite of the captain's
decision, your cousin has told lies enough to-day to swamp a reprobate,
to to say nothing of a Christian," added the surgeon, seating himself a