"I have no doubt about your powers; but can you not aid me in getting to England?" persisted the colonel. "If you will take the chances, I can, Colonel Passford. If you will go on board of my ship to-morrow afternoon, and sail with me, I have no doubt we shall overhaul a steamer bound to England in the course of a week, for I will get into the track of these vessels." The agent promptly accepted this proposition, and soon after the conference ended, though not till the listener had taken himself out of the way, Christy had turned over in his mind a plan to terminate very suddenly his uncle's mission to purchase steamers, and to obtain possession of his drafts. M. Rubempre was adroit enough to accomplish almost anything, and he intended to have the detective make the colonel's acquaintance, and induce him to embark with them in the Eleuthera, pretending that he was going to France himself, and intended to intercept a French steamer from Progreso, whose course lay but a short distance south of the Bermudas. But the plan suggested by Captain Rombold, and adopted by Colonel Passford, saved him from what the young officer regarded as his duty in the deception and capture of his uncle. When the Bellevite, while she was still the yacht of Captain Horatio Passford, had gone to the vicinity of Mobile, to the home of his father's brother, Homer had done all in his power to capture the steamer for the use of his government, and had made war upon her with armed vessels. He had done so conscientiously, believing it to be his duty to his country. This fact from the past made it easier for Christy to think of such a thing as the capture of his uncle, even in a neutral country. The young man returned to the Atlantic Hotel. He found M. Rubempre still fast asleep, for his slumbers the night before had been very brief. He waked him, and told him all that had transpired during the evening, though not till the detective had ordered supper, which they had not partaken of so far. He stated the plan by which he had proposed to himself to prevent the purchase, for the present at least, of the Gateshead and Kilmarnock. "Not a practicable plan, Christophe," said the detective, shaking his head vigorously. "Why not?" demanded Christy; and he explained the conduct of his uncle in regard to the Bellevite, when she was on a peaceful errand to convey her owner's daughter back to her home. Then he related the attempt of the colonel's son, his cousin Corny, to capture the Bronx by a piece of wild strategy. "But I do not object to your scheme on moral grounds," interposed M. Rubempre. "Have you forgotten the affair of the Trent, when Messrs. Mason and Slidell were taken out of an English steamer? The British government made a tremendous tempest, and would certainly have declared war if the two envoys had not been returned to a British ship-of-war. The English flag waves over these islands, and they are supposed to be neutral ground."