Read Online Blockade Runner by Gilbert L. Morris - Free Book Online

you?”
    “Aw, nothin’, I reckon. But I won’t get paid—and this here has been a good ship.”
    “What about Captain Bier?”
    “He’ll go to jail—and so will Belle Boyd, I reckon.”
    Jeff was filled with despair, and when he saw Leah standing with Belle, he wanted to go talk to her. But the wall between them was too high, so he clenched his teeth and prepared for the worst.
    Captain Bier said he could now make out the ship that was bearing down on them. “I think she’s the
Dominant,”
he grunted.
    Lieutenant Mailer blinked. “She’s the one who sank the
Southern Star
then.”
    “Yes, she’s a fast one—and that captain is no fool.”
    Mailer looked up at the sky anxiously. “Maybe we can lose her after dark.”
    “She’ll be up to us before then—” Captain Bier broke off, and an idea seemed to take him.
    “What is it, Captain?”
    “You know that turpentine we’ve got on board?”
    “Yes, sir?”
    “Well, we’ve got forty barrels of it. Soak some cotton with the stuff and put it in with the coal.”
    “Why, yes, sir, but—”
    “That turpentine will burn hotter than any coal ever mined. I think it’ll give us some extra power. Go on—get the crew to working on it.”
    “Aye, sir!”
    Jeff was one of those pressed into action by Lieutenant Mailer. Obeying the frantic orders of the officer, he drew his knife and sliced through the bindings on a bale. After stuffing the fluffy white cotton into a sack, he ran down to the engine room. The pounding of the engine was deafening!
    “Douse that cotton with this turpentine!” Mailer shouted.
    Jeff began to pour the clear liquid onto the cotton. The pungent fumes of the chemical bit at his eyes and nose, and when he threw a handful of cotton into the firebox, it almost exploded. The heat struck him in the face, and he ducked back.
    “Keep it coming!” the chief yelled.
    “She might break apart, Chief!” Lieutenant Mailer cried, blinking from the fumes that filled the engine room.
    “You let me worry about that, sir! We got to get away from them Yankees!”
    Jeff ran back to the deck to get more cotton, and when he looked up he saw that thick gray smoke was now pouring out of the stack. He made the trip back and forth to the engine room so many times he lost count.
    Finally, when he staggered up on deck, Lieutenant Mailer took a hard look at his face. “You’re beat out, Majors. Take a break.”
    Jeff stumbled along the deck, sat down, and gasped for breath. He was sick from the fumes of the turpentine, and his face was crimson from the fierce heat of the engine room. He ducked his head and tried to keep from throwing up, feeling about as bad as he’d ever felt in his life.
    “Here—let me bathe your face, Jeff.”
    A coolness touched his neck, and when he looked up he saw that Leah had come with a basin of water. Her eyes were troubled, and as she bathed his face with the cool water, she said, “You’ve done too much, Jeff.”
    “Got to get away from that ship!”
    “It won’t help if you kill yourself,” she said firmly. She continued to move the cloth over his face and neck. “You’re close to having a heatstroke.”
    Jeff felt much better as the cool water sluiced over his head and face. The sickness went away, and at last he said, “Thanks, Leah—that’s good.”
    Leah considered him carefully. “Are you all right now, Jeff?”
    “Yes—I’m better.” He got to his feet and discovered that his legs were weak. “Guess I did get too hot.”
    “I got overheated once—when we were picking cotton. Do you remember that?”
    “Sure do. We must have been no more than nine years old.”
    “I was eight—and when you saw how red my face was you dragged me to the creek and put me in it.”
    “Seems like a long time ago,” Jeff murmured. He thought of that day and added, “You got pretty mad at me for dumping you into the creek.”
    “Yes, but afterwards I knew it was the right thing to do.” She looked into his eyes