After rendering his decision it was evident that Captain Battleton had something to say to Christy, for he waited in silence till Corny had closed the door behind him before he even looked at the officer standing before him. The lieutenant from the moment the envelopes were opened and their contents exposed to the view of all present, had fully expected the result just announced. Whatever he thought, suspected, or surmised when he saw the blank papers taken from his official envelope, he kept to himself. "You have heard the decision I have just given, Mr. Passford, for I have no doubt that is your real name," said the captain, when the cabin door was closed. "I have, captain," replied Christy, bowing respectfully. "Have you anything to say in regard to it?" "Nothing at all," replied Christy, bowing again, and bearing himself with the dignity of a veteran officer; and in the matter of demeanor, the Confederate Captain Carboneer had presented to him one of the best models he had seen, both in action and as a prisoner. "You do not wish to make any explanation of the remarkable situation in which you find yourself placed at the present moment?" "At present, I do not, captain." "You certainly could not have been aware that your official envelope contained only blank paper. I cannot believe that one more simple-minded than I believe you to be would have had the effrontery to present such matter as evidence that he was an officer of the United States Navy," continued Captain Battleton, with a look of greater severity than he had before assumed, possibly because he realized that the real Lieutenant Passford was higher in rank than he was himself. "I supposed the official envelope contained my commission and orders." "You believe that your papers were taken from you, and the blanks substituted for them?" "I cannot explain the matter at present, and you must excuse me from offering merely vague suspicions and conjectures." "Do you realize your present situation, Mr. Passford?" asked the captain, apparently disappointed at the unwillingness of the young man to attempt an explanation. "I think I do, captain, and I submit to your authority as the commander of the ship," answered Christy, with a dignified bow. "As I said before, I have no doubt you are a Passford; and I have been compelled to decide that you are not the son of Captain Horatio Passford, the distinguished gentleman who has done so much for his country in the present war." "With the evidence before you, I do not see how you could have decided otherwise." "Whether the decision be just or not, I am obliged to regard you as son of the Homer Passford who supports the government of the Confederacy. You and the other Mr. Passford have recognized each other as cousins." "We are cousins." "Then it follows that one of the two must be a Confederate who is on board of a United States ship for some purpose not yet explained, but fairly supposed to be hostile."