CHAPTER IX.
A MORAL PHILOSOPHER.
The temporary berth was finished, the bedding put into it, and Christy took possession of it.

For the present he had done all the thinking he cared to do, and he felt that his present duty was in action.

He was a prisoner of war, and as such he was in disgrace in a loyal ship's company; at least, he felt that he was so under present circumstances.
He was not disgusted at his failure to establish his identity, nor disheartened at the prospect before him.

More than ever before in the two years of his experience as a naval officer, he realized that it was his duty to "Stand by the Union." The watch below were all around him.

Some of them were mending their clothes, others were reading newspapers they had brought with them, but the greater part of them were in squads engaged in talking about the events of the war.