“Mr. Wilkins, by order of the captain of the cutter, you will take possession of this yacht, and hold her till further orders,” said the officer of the boat, touching his cap to his superior. Mr. Wilkins was glad to receive the order. CHAPTER XXIX. CAPT. BENDIG’S BLUNDER. Mr. Wilkins immediately returned to the deck of the “Moonlight,” attended this time by eight seamen, part of whom had come from the cutter in the second boat. “Well, sir, what do you want now?” demanded Capt. Bendig, as Mr. Wilkins stepped upon the deck. “I am ordered to take possession of this vessel, and to hold her till further orders,” replied the naval officer. “What’s that for?” asked the astonished skipper, taken all aback by the announcement. “I don’t know. I obey orders, and ask no questions about things that do not concern me.--Stand by to lower the foresail!” added Wilkins to his men, as soon as they were on the deck of the “Moonlight.” “I call this high-handed!” exclaimed the captain; but he was not quite so crank as he had been. “You can call it what you please,” replied the lieutenant of the cutter, as his men gathered at the foresail halyards. “Lower away!” “Can’t you tell me what this is for?” demanded Capt. Bendig, as he realized that the command of the yacht had passed out of his hands. “I cannot. I don’t know, and I don’t care,” answered Wilkins curtly. “I don’t understand it,” added Capt. Bendig. “Neither do I; but, if anybody understands it, you ought to. I should judge the order comes on account of some information that boy has given; but I don’t know any thing about it,” added Wilkins; and he seemed to enjoy the chagrin of the captain. “No information has been conveyed to the commander of the cutter by any other person.” “Would the captain of the cutter hear what a little scalawag like that boy has to say?” demanded the skipper of the “Moonlight,” disgusted with this view of the question. “The commander of the cutter knows what he is about; and, if the boy tells the truth, he will hear him as readily as any other person,” replied Wilkins. The lieutenant of the cutter then ordered his men to anchor the yacht. When it was done, he took the most comfortable seat he could find, and gave himself up to the reading of a newspaper. He was perfectly at home; for the yacht, for the time being, was under his command. He did not care to talk any more with the captain, or with anybody else. Capt. Bendig was utterly cast down. He began to realize that he had made a blunder in treating the “wharf-rat” in the manner he had. When he saw the cutter coming, he had gone among the men, and given each of them fifty dollars of the money he had received for them. He was of the opinion that this was enough for them, and he proposed to keep the other fifty himself; for he had made the bargain with the principals, and the men did not know that one hundred had been paid for each one of them.