ANOTHER READING OF THE SEALED ORDERS Christy finished the reading of the orders, folded up the document, and put it in his pocket.

But he immediately took it out and unfolded it again, as though a new thought had struck him.

Flint watched him with the utmost attention, and he realized that the bearing of the commander was quite different from his usual manner; but he attributed it to the very unexpected nature of the orders he had just read.

He was distinctly directed to attempt no operations on the passage, and to proceed to the destination indicated with all reasonable despatch.
The wording of the order was rather peculiar, and somewhat clumsy, Flint thought; but then he had been a schoolmaster, and perhaps he was inclined to be over-critical.

But the meaning of the first clause could not be mistaken, however, though the word "operations" seemed to indicate something on a grander scale and more prolonged than an encounter with a blockade-runner, or a Confederate man-of-war; something in the nature of a campaign on shore, or a thorough scouring of the ocean in search of the vessels of the enemy.
But any such interpretation of the order was rendered impossible by what followed.