er writing materials for him,
and placed them before him. Then he seated himself again opposite the
copyist, and fixed his gaze upon him; unfolding the letter, of which he
had made a fair copy himself, he placed it under the eyes of the deaf
mute. Mulgrum had retained his smile till this moment. He had arranged
his paper and taken a pen in his hand. Then he began to read; as he
proceeded the smile deserted his face. He was plainly startled.

CHAPTER X

THE UNEXPECTED ORDERS

Christy sat for some minutes watching the expression of Mulgrum as he
read the letter he was to copy. Like a careful man, he was evidently
taking a glance at it as a whole. The interested observer could see that
he fixed his gaze upon the last part of the letter, the extract from the
missive of Warnock, relating to the twelve loyal American seamen and
their officer. In fact, he seemed to be paralyzed by what he read.

The commander was satisfied with what he had seen, and he rose from his
chair. His movement seemed to restore the self-possession of the deaf
mute, and he began to write very rapidly. Christy went into his state
room, where he kept all his important papers in his desk. He gave
himself up to a consideration of the situation in which he was placed.
He had partly closed the door. But he had not been in the room half an
hour before he heard a knock.

"Come in," said he, supposing the caller was Dave.

The door was pushed open, and Mulgrum came in with his tablet in his
hand. The deaf mute had certainly heard his reply to the knock, for
he had heeded it instantly, and he smiled at the manner in which the
conspirator had "given himself away." The scullion presented his tablet
to the captain with a very deferential bow.

"There is an error in the copy of the letter you gave me--in the
extract. If you will give me the original letter from Mr. Warnock,
I will correct the mistake," Christy read on the tablet. It was not
impossible that he had made a mistake in copying his letter; but the
object of Mulgrum in desiring to see the original of the letter from
England was sufficiently apparent. "Bring me my copy of the letter,"
he wrote on the tablet, and handed it back to the owner.

The captain took from his desk a bundle of letters and selected one,
which he opened and laid on the table, though not where his copyist
could see it. Mulgrum returned and presented him the letter, pointing
out the mistake he had discovered. He looked a