He charges his misfortune altogether to his antiquated steamer, her failure in her promised speed, and the neglect of the Confederate commissioners to provide him with a suitable vessel." "Mr.Gilfleur will keep out of the captain's sight during the run to New York; but I was acting as a servant when we met him, and did not sit at the same table.

I will speak to my uncle now." Captain Chantor attended him to the quarter-deck, where the commissioner was taking his morning walk.

They fell in behind him as he was moving aft, so that he did not observe his nephew.
"Colonel Passford, I have a young gentleman on board of my ship who bears your name; allow me to present to you Lieutenant Christopher Passford, who is simply a passenger on the Chateaugay," said the captain, directing the attention of the commissioner to the young man.
"My nephew!" exclaimed Colonel Passford, as he recognized Christy, and extended his hand to him.
"I am very glad to see you, Uncle Homer, though I am sorry to meet you under present circumstances," replied the nephew, taking the offered hand.

"I hope you are very well, sir." "Not very well, Christy; and I am not likely to improve in health in a Yankee prison," answered the colonel with a very sickly smile.
"Probably my father will be able to obtain a parole for you, and he will be extremely glad to have you with him at Bonnydale," added Christy.
"The last time I met you, Christy, you looked upon me as a non-combatant, released me, and sent me on shore." "I am not sure that I did wisely at that time." "I was not taken in arms; and I could hardly be regarded as a prisoner of war." "But you were engaged in the Confederate service, Uncle Homer, for you were shipping cotton for the benefit of the cause." "But I was merely a passenger on board of the Dornoch." "Yet you are a Confederate commissioner, seeking a passage in some vessel bound to England, for the purpose of purchasing steamers to serve in your navy," added Christy with considerable energy, and without thinking that he was in danger of compromising himself and his companion in the visit to the Bermudas.
Colonel Passford stopped short, and gazed into the face of his nephew.
He appeared to be utterly confounded by the statement, though he did not deny the truth of it.
"Without admitting the truth of what you say, Christy, I desire to ask upon what your statement is founded," said the commissioner, after some hesitation.
"As you are on one side in this great conflict, and I am on the other, you must excuse me for not answering your question," replied Christy very promptly, and declining to commit himself any farther.
"It is very sad to have our family divided so that we should be enemies, however friendly we may be personally," added Colonel Passford in a tone that indicated his profound grief and sorrow.
"I know how useless it is for us to discuss the question, Uncle Homer, for I am sure you are as honest in your views as my father is in his." "I have no desire to argue the question; but I believe the North will come to its senses in good time--when the grass grows in the streets of New York, if not before." "You will have an opportunity to see for yourself, Uncle Homer, that New York was never so busy, never so prosperous, as at the present time; and the same may be truthfully said of all the cities of the North," replied Christy with spirit.
"Sail, ho!" shouted the lookout forward.
An hour later the sail was reported to be a steamer, bound to the westward, and her streak of black smoke indicated that she was English.
She was low in the water, had two smoke-stacks, and presented a very rakish appearance.

She was a vessel of not more than eight hundred tons, and her build was quite peculiar.