"Excuse me, Captain Battleton; may I ask a question?" interposed the first lieutenant.

"Certainly, Mr. Salisbury. This is not a court-martial, but an informal investigation, and I shall be glad to have you and Dr. Connelly entirely free to ask any questions you please," replied the captain, who was anything but a martinet.

"Where did you say your father lived, Mr. Passford?" asked the executive officer.

"At Bonnydale, on the Hudson," answered Corny, as we may call him now that the reader knows who he is.

75 "Is Bonnydale the name of the town or city in which your father lives?"

"It is the name of my father's place," replied Corny; and Christy, who was observing him very closely, saw that he was a little disturbed.

"Bonnydale sounds like a fancy name, such as any gentleman might give to his estate, as Sunnyside was the home of Washington Irving. Is this the fact?" asked Mr. Salisbury.

"I suppose it is," answered Corny, with increasing confusion.

"Don't you know?"

"We always called it Bonnydale; and I know no other name for it."

"But Bonnydale is not an incorporated town. In what city or town is your father's place situated?"

"I know no name but Bonnydale," replied Corny; and the flush of fever or something else was on his cheeks now.

"Nothing more, captain," said the first lieutenant; and the stock of the other claimant mounted a little.

"Mr. Passford," continued the captain, indicating Christy with his finger, "your father's name, if you please."

76 "Horatio Passford," replied Christy with a smile.

"Where does he live?"

"At Bonnydale, on the Hudson."

"Permit me, Captain Battleton," interposed Mr. Salisbury; and the commander nodded his acquiescence. "Is Bonnydale the name of the town or city in which you